Surface Adjustment of Reverse Phase Protein Arrays using Positive Control Spots

Reverse phase protein arrays (RPPA) measure the relative expression levels of a protein in many samples simultaneously. Observed signal from these arrays is a combination of true signal, additive background, and multiplicative spatial effects. Background subtraction alone is not sufficient to remove all nonbiological trends from the data. We developed a surface adjustment that uses information from positive control spots to correct for spatial trends on the array beyond additive background. This method uses a generalized additive model to estimate a smoothed surface from positive controls. When positive controls are printed in a dilution series, a nested surface adjustment performs an intensity-based correction. When applicable, surface adjustment is able to remove spatial trends and increase within slide replicate agreement better than background subtraction alone as demonstrated on two sets of arrays. This work demonstrates the importance of including positive control spots on the array

Fluids Geochemistry of Stromboli

An accurate description of the geochemical system is presented here based on a review of scientific work performed during the past decade. The surface manifestations of the volcanic system of Stromboli have been investigated using several measuring techniques. Studying the chemical composition of the volcanic plume and of fumarolic emissions has provided information on magma degassing processes. The total fluxes of the emitted gases from both the plume and the soil were found to vary with changes in volcanic activity (from normal Strombolian activity to effusive and/or paroxysmal activity). Thermal water results from the interaction between volcanic gases, host rock, seawater and meteoric water and temporal changes observed in the chemical and the isotopic composition of the gases dissolved into thermal waters highlighted the rising of new magma batches. Combining modelling of gas-water-rock interactions with an understanding of the volcanic system allowed to identify preferential sampling sites and parameters for the geochemical monitoring of volcanic activity at Stromboli Island