Epigenetics in diagnosis, prognostic assessment and treatment of cancer:An update

Cancer cells contain multiple genetic and epigenetic changes. The relative specificity of many epigenetic changes for neoplastic cells has allowed the identification of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for a number of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Moreover, epigenetically-acting drugs are already in routine use for cancer and numerous additional agents are in clinical trials. Here, we review recent progress in the development and application of epigenetic strategies for the diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment of cancer

Bargmann–Radon transform for axially monogenic functions

In this paper, we study the Bargmann-Radon transform and a class of monogenic functions called axially monogenic functions. First, we compute the explicit formula of the Bargmann-Radon transform for axially monogenic functions, by making use of the Funk-Hecke theorem. Then we present the explicit form of the general Cauchy-Kowalewski extension for radial function. Finally, by making use of the results we obtained, we give an application of the Bargmann-Radon transform for Cauchy-Kowalewski extension

A comprehensive investigation of gluten free bread dough rheology, proving and baking performance and bread qualities by response surface design and principal component analysis

Contribution of methylcellulose (MC), psyllium seed husk powder (PSY), and water addition level to gluten free bread quality and correlations between dough rheological properties and bread qualities were investigated by response surface design and principal component analysis. The generalised Maxwell model was applied to estimate the relaxation frequency of gluten free doughs. The addition of PSY has a complex influence on pasting viscosity at high temperature and an additional peak was observed. MC significantly influenced dough extensibility and work of adhesion, which are good predictors of bread volume and textural properties. Other rheological responses are less significantly correlated to specific volume, but they are sensitive to formulation variations, reflect dough structures and stability, related to proving behaviours, and correlated to loaf concavity. An inappropriate combination of water and hydrocolloids might lead to problems such as low stability of doughs, overexpansion, and weak crumb structure at high water addition levels, or, in contrast, high rigidity of dough, a trap of excessive air during mixing, and restrained gas cell expansion with high hydrocolloid addition and low water addition

Brainstem metastases treated with Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery: the Indiana University Health experience

Brainstem metastases offer a unique challenge in cancer treatment, yet stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has proven to be an effective modality in treating these tumors. This report discusses the clinical outcomes of patients with brainstem metastases treated at Indiana University with Gamma Knife (GK) radiosurgery from 2008 to 2016. 19 brainstem metastases from 14 patients who had follow-up brain imaging were identified. Median tumor volume was 0.04 cc (range: 0.01-2.0 cc). Median prescribed dose was 17.5 Gy to the 50% isodose line (range: 14-22 Gy). Median survival after GK SRS treatment to brainstem lesion was 17.2 months (range: 2.8-45.6 months). The experience at Indiana University confirms the safety and efficacy of range of GK SRS prescription doses (14-22 Gy) to brainstem metastases

Fast automatic airport detection in remote sensing images using convolutional neural networks

Fast and automatic detection of airports from remote sensing images is useful for many military and civilian applications. In this paper, a fast automatic detection method is proposed to detect airports from remote sensing images based on convolutional neural networks using the Faster R-CNN algorithm. This method first applies a convolutional neural network to generate candidate airport regions. Based on the features extracted from these proposals, it then uses another convolutional neural network to perform airport detection. By taking the typical elongated linear geometric shape of airports into consideration, some specific improvements to the method are proposed. These approaches successfully improve the quality of positive samples and achieve a better accuracy in the final detection results. Experimental results on an airport dataset, Landsat 8 images, and a Gaofen-1 satellite scene demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method

An Ambient-Physical System to Infer Concentration in Open-plan Workplace

One of the core challenges in open-plan workspaces is to ensure a good level of concentration for the workers while performing their tasks. Hence, being able to infer concentration levels of workers will allow building designers, managers, and workers to estimate what effect different open-plan layouts will have and to find an optimal one. In this research, we present an ambient-physical system to investigate the concentration inference problem. Specifically, we deploy a series of pervasive sensors to capture various ambient and physical signals related to perceived concentration at work. The practicality of our system has been tested on two large open-plan workplaces with different designs and layouts. The empirical results highlight promising applications of pervasive sensing in occupational concentration inference, which can be adopted to enhance the capabilities of modern workplaces.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Cellulose fibrillation and interaction with psyllium seed husk heteroxylan

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Fibrillated cellulose (FC) and its mixture with psyllium seed husk powder (PSY) were investigated to broaden the applications of these two materials by a novel combination. Purified cellulose was processed by a colloid mill and relatively stable suspensions were obtained. An FC suspension shows localised concentrations appearing as flocculates, which can be promoted by heating or centrifugation. The structures of unheated mixtures of FC and PSY appear to be binary phase dispersions while, after heat treatment, FC fibres were incorporated into PSY gels and form composites. Fibrillation on the FC surface does not influence the structure and rheological property of the composite mixtures while fibre disintegration contributes to a denser structure and higher moduli. Fluorescent images show the attachment of PSY heteroxylan aggregates on cellulose and fibrillated cellulose fibres. The interaction is weak and time-dependent because G’ during cooling was higher than that during heating, and declined back to the same value as the start of heating during an isothermal test at 20 °C. PSY was fractionated according to temperature and only F60 (fraction at 60 °C) clearly associates with the unfibrillated cellulose fibres, possibly via long arabinan sidechains (similar to hairy pectin) or/and backbone (via interaction with helical domains or/and conformational compatibility). The interaction was promoted by fibrillation, potentially trapping PSY heteroxylan aggregates within the cellulose dispersion. With further fibrillation, smaller FC fibres were generated and form interpenetrating particles with whole PSY or PSY fractions. Highly fibrillated cellulose has a higher surface area and smaller fibrils, which significantly increased the interaction resulting in a clumped structure

Starch replacement in gluten free bread by cellulose and fibrillated cellulose

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd This study investigated starch reduction and replacement by purified cellulose (FC0) and fibrillated cellulose (FC60) which included a comprehensive investigation on dough properties, proofing behaviours, cooking performance, and bread qualities. Replacing flour with FC0 and FC60 was found to strength the doughs without, however, altering the extension of the structural network according to the weak gel model. The relaxation time calculated by the generalised Maxwell model was found to be shorter than the deformation rate during proofing which suggests that the doughs behave like fluids during proofing. The relaxation time was less influenced by the additions of FC0 and FC60. Although the initial stage of proofing was less influenced, the later stage was significantly affected by the additions of FC0 and FC60 which increased dough rigidity and restrained the volume growth. The pasting properties were significantly influenced by the competition for water and volume between FC0/FC60 and flour. The bread qualities were characterised in terms of loaf volume and crumb properties. Loaves containing FC0 and FC60 had smaller specific volume and harder crumb. However, the addition of FC0 and FC60 is beneficial to the generation of a finer crumb structure. Fibrillation process is detrimental to maximise the addition of fibres. However, a small amount of fibrillated cellulose is beneficial to workability and crumb structure