15,807 research outputs found
Hox Genes Regulate Muscle Founder Cell Pattern Autonomously and Regulate Morphogenesis Through Motor Neurons
The differentiation of myoblasts to form functional muscle fibers is a consequence of interactions between the mesoderm and ectoderm. The authors examine the role of segment identity in directing these interactions by studying the role of Hox genes in patterning adult muscles in Drosophila. Using the `four-winged fly' to remove Ultrabithorax function in the developing adult, the authors alter the identity of the ectoderm of the third thoracic segment towards the second and show that this is sufficient to inductively alter most properties of the mesoderm—myoblast number, molecular diversity, and migration pattern—to that of the second thoracic segment. Not all aspects of myogenesis are determined by the segment identity of the ectoderm. The autonomous identity of the mesoderm is important for choosing muscle founder cells in the correct segmental pattern. The authors show this by removal of the function of Antennapedia, the Hox gene expressed in the mesoderm of the third thoracic segment. This results in the transformation of founder cells to a second-thoracic pattern. The authors also report a role for the nervous system in later aspects of muscle morphogenesis by specifically altering Ultrabithorax gene expression in motor neurons. Thus, ectoderm and mesoderm segment identities collaborate to direct muscle differentiation by affecting distinct aspects of the process
Environment, morphology and stellar populations of bulgeless low surface brightness galaxies
Based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR 7, we investigate the environment,
morphology and stellar population of bulgeless low surface brightness (LSB)
galaxies in a volume-limited sample with redshift ranging from 0.024 to 0.04
and . The local density parameter is used to
trace their environments. We find that, for bulgeless galaxies, the surface
brightness does not depend on the environment. The stellar populations are
compared for bulgeless LSB galaxies in different environments and for bulgeless
LSB galaxies with different morphologies. The stellar populations of LSB
galaxies in low density regions are similar to those of LSB galaxies in high
density regions. Irregular LSB galaxies have more young stars and are more
metal-poor than regular LSB galaxies. These results suggest that the evolution
of LSB galaxies may be driven by their dynamics including mergers rather than
by their large scale environment.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, Accepted by A&
Introduced species in the Pantanal : implications for conservation
O uso da terra e a ocupação humana nos hábitats naturais do Pantanal têm facilitado a introdução de espécies invasivas de plantas e animais, incluindo espécies domésticas. As espécies exóticas ameaçam a biodiversidade regional porque modificam a estrutura das comunidades ecológicas, alteram hábitats e afetam a biodiversidade. A organização internacional União Internacional para a Conservação da Natureza (IUCN) e o Governo brasileiro identificam as espécies invasoras como a terceira maior ameaça para a biodiversidade, seguida da perda de hábitat e do efeito direto sobre espécies. Além disso, espécies exóticas são portadoras de patógenos ou podem funcionar como vetores ou reservatórios de doenças que afetam a biota. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTLand use and human occupation within the natural habitats of the Pantanal have facilitated introduction of invasive species of plants and animals, including domestic species. Exotic species threaten regional biodiversity because they modify ecological community structure, alter natural habitats and affect local biodiversity. An international organisation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Brazilian government, identify invasive species as the third most important threat to biodiversity, following habitat loss and direct effect on species. In addition, exotic species carry pathogens or may function as vectors or reservoirs for diseases that affect regional biota
The Potential Clinical and Economic Value of Primary Tumour Identification in Metastatic Cancer of Unknown Primary Tumour: A Population-Based Retrospective Matched Cohort Study.
PurposeSeveral genomic tests have recently been developed to identify the primary tumour in cancer of unknown primary tumour (CUP). However, the value of identifying the primary tumour in clinical practice for CUP patients remains questionable and difficult to prove in randomized trials.ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the clinical and economic value of primary tumour identification in CUP using a retrospective matched cohort study.MethodsWe used the Manitoba Cancer Registry to identify all patients initially diagnosed with metastatic cancer between 2002 and 2011. We defined patients as having CUP if their primary tumour was found 6Â months or more after initial diagnosis or never found during the course of disease. Otherwise, we considered patients to have metastatic cancer from a known primary tumour (CKP). We linked all patients with Manitoba Health databases to estimate their direct healthcare costs using a phase-of-care approach. We used the propensity score matching technique to match each CUP patient with a CKP patient on clinicopathologic characteristics. We compared treatment patterns, overall survival (OS) and phase-specific healthcare costs between the two patient groups and assessed association with OS using Cox regression adjustment.ResultsOf 5839 patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer, 395 had CUP (6.8%); 1:1 matching created a matched group of 395 CKP patients. CUP patients were less likely to receive surgery, radiation, hormonal and targeted therapy and more likely to receive cytotoxic empiric chemotherapeutic agents. Having CUP was associated with reduced OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.31; 95% confidence interval 1.1-1.58), but this lost statistical significance with adjustment for treatment differences. CUP patients had a significant increase in the mean net cost of initial diagnostic workup before diagnosis and a significant reduction in the mean net cost of continuing cancer care.ConclusionIdentifying the primary tumour in CUP patients might enable the use of more effective therapies, improve OS and allow more efficient allocation of healthcare resources
Critical behavior of the isotope yield distributions in the Multifragmentation Regime of Heavy Ion Reactions
Isotope yields have been analyzed within the framework of a Modified Fisher
Model to study the power law yield distribution of isotopes in the
multifragmentation regime. Using the ratio of the mass dependent symmetry
energy coefficient relative to the temperature, , extracted in
previous work and that of the pairing term, , extracted from this
work, and assuming that both reflect secondary decay processes, the
experimentally observed isotope yields have been corrected for these effects.
For a given I = N - Z value, the corrected yields of isotopes relative to the
yield of show a power law distribution, , in the mass range of and the distributions are
almost identical for the different reactions studied. The observed power law
distributions change systematically when I of the isotopes changes and the
extracted value decreases from 3.9 to 1.0 as I increases from -1 to 3.
These observations are well reproduced by a simple de-excitation model, which
the power law distribution of the primary isotopes is determined to
, suggesting that the disassembling system at the
time of the fragment formation is indeed at or very near the critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Isobaric Yield Ratios and The Symmetry Energy In Fermi Energy Heavy Ion Reactions
The relative isobaric yields of fragments produced in a series of heavy ion
induced multifragmentation reactions have been analyzed in the framework of a
Modified Fisher Model, primarily to determine the ratio of the symmetry energy
coefficient to the temperature, , as a function of fragment mass A. The
extracted values increase from 5 to ~16 as A increases from 9 to 37. These
values have been compared to the results of calculations using the
Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) model together with the statistical
decay code Gemini. The calculated ratios are in good agreement with those
extracted from the experiment. In contrast, the ratios determined from fitting
the primary fragment distributions from the AMD model calculation are ~ 4 and
show little variation with A. This observation indicates that the value of the
symmetry energy coefficient derived from final fragment observables may be
significantly different than the actual value at the time of fragment
formation. The experimentally observed pairing effect is also studied within
the same simulations. The Coulomb coefficient is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
Systematic corrections for bosonic and fermionic vector models without auxiliary fields
In this paper, colorless bilocal fields are employed to study the large
limit of both fermionic and bosonic vector models. The Jacobian associated with
the change of variables from the original fields to the bilocals is computed
exactly, thereby providing an exact effective action. This effective action is
shown to reproduce the familiar perturbative expansion for the two and four
point functions. In particular, in the case of fermionic vector models, the
effective action correctly accounts for the Fermi statistics. The theory is
also studied non-perturbatively. The stationary points of the effective action
are shown to provide the usual large gap equations. The homogeneous
equation associated with the quadratic (in the bilocals) action is simply the
two particle Bethe Salpeter equation. Finally, the leading correction in
is shown to be in agreement with the exact matrix of the model.Comment: 24 pages, uses REVTEX macros. Replaced with final version to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Security Evaluation of Support Vector Machines in Adversarial Environments
Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are among the most popular classification
techniques adopted in security applications like malware detection, intrusion
detection, and spam filtering. However, if SVMs are to be incorporated in
real-world security systems, they must be able to cope with attack patterns
that can either mislead the learning algorithm (poisoning), evade detection
(evasion), or gain information about their internal parameters (privacy
breaches). The main contributions of this chapter are twofold. First, we
introduce a formal general framework for the empirical evaluation of the
security of machine-learning systems. Second, according to our framework, we
demonstrate the feasibility of evasion, poisoning and privacy attacks against
SVMs in real-world security problems. For each attack technique, we evaluate
its impact and discuss whether (and how) it can be countered through an
adversary-aware design of SVMs. Our experiments are easily reproducible thanks
to open-source code that we have made available, together with all the employed
datasets, on a public repository.Comment: 47 pages, 9 figures; chapter accepted into book 'Support Vector
Machine Applications
The Isospin Dependence Of The Nuclear Equation Of State Near The Critical Point
We discuss experimental evidence for a nuclear phase transition driven by the
different concentration of neutrons to protons. Different ratios of the neutron
to proton concentrations lead to different critical points for the phase
transition. This is analogous to the phase transitions occurring in 4He-3He
liquid mixtures. We present experimental results which reveal the N/A (or Z/A)
dependence of the phase transition and discuss possible implications of these
observations in terms of the Landau Free Energy description of critical
phenomena.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figure
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