FiGS: a filter-based gene selection workbench for microarray data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The selection of genes that discriminate disease classes from microarray data is widely used for the identification of diagnostic biomarkers. Although various gene selection methods are currently available and some of them have shown excellent performance, no single method can retain the best performance for all types of microarray datasets. It is desirable to use a comparative approach to find the best gene selection result after rigorous test of different methodological strategies for a given microarray dataset.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>FiGS is a web-based workbench that automatically compares various gene selection procedures and provides the optimal gene selection result for an input microarray dataset. FiGS builds up diverse gene selection procedures by aligning different feature selection techniques and classifiers. In addition to the highly reputed techniques, FiGS diversifies the gene selection procedures by incorporating gene clustering options in the feature selection step and different data pre-processing options in classifier training step. All candidate gene selection procedures are evaluated by the .632+ bootstrap errors and listed with their classification accuracies and selected gene sets. FiGS runs on parallelized computing nodes that capacitate heavy computations. FiGS is freely accessible at <url>http://gexp.kaist.ac.kr/figs</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>FiGS is an web-based application that automates an extensive search for the optimized gene selection analysis for a microarray dataset in a parallel computing environment. FiGS will provide both an efficient and comprehensive means of acquiring optimal gene sets that discriminate disease states from microarray datasets.</p

The Effect of Competitive Advantage and Human Advantage on Industrial Competitive Strategy (Case Study: Smis in Gorontalo Province)

Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) have a strategic role in the Indonesian economy, as they earn 61.9 percent of the foreign exchange which goes to make up the nation\u27s Gross Domestic Product, and nationally they are able to absorb 97 percent of the workforce. The Global Competitiveness Report also notes that SMIs serve as the business units that affect every nation\u27s competitiveness. Considering this strategic role, the selection of a competitive strategy for these SMIs is absolutely necessary. Through an in-depth literature review, this study aims to explore what variables influence the competitive strategy of industries, particularly the SMIs. By using a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with a total of 31 main literature (articles, papers and books), this study has found two dominant factors that influence industrial competitive strategy: Competitive advantage and human advantage, which are subsequently developed into six independent variables (construct variables), i.e. cost, delivery, product quality, product variety, know-how and innovativeness, with a total of 44 indicators. The results of measurements of the sample of SMIs in Gorontalo Province, using Structural Equation Modeling, found that both competitive advantage and human advantage jointly influence 40.2 percent of the industrial competitive strategies. These results indicate that competitive strategies, such as creating products with unique features, on-time delivery, flexibility in production, and employee involvement in the innovations, are indispensable to SMIs in order for them to produce quality products and be able to maintain their advantage

Transparent conducting film fabricated by metal mesh method with Ag and cu@ag mixture nanoparticle pastes

Transparent conducting electrode film is highly desirable for application in touch screen panels (TSPs), flexible and wearable displays, sensors, and actuators. A sputtered film of indium tin oxide (ITO) shows high transmittance (90%) at low sheet resistance (50 ??/cm2). However, ITO films lack mechanical flexibility, especially under bending stress, and have limitation in application to large-area TSPs (over 15 inches) due to the trade-off in high transmittance and low sheet resistance properties. One promising solution is to use metal mesh-type transparent conducting film, especially for touch panel application. In this work, we investigated such inter-related issues as UV imprinting process to make a trench layer pattern, the synthesis of core-shell-type Ag and Cu@Ag composite nanoparticles and their paste formulation, the filling of Ag and Cu@Ag mixture nanoparticle paste to the trench layer, and touch panel fabrication processes

Effect of an Ethanol Extract of Scutellaria baicalensis on Relaxation in Corpus Cavernosum Smooth Muscle

Aims of study. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether an ethanol extract of Scutellaria baicalensis (ESB) relaxes penile corpus cavernosum muscle in organ bath experiments. Materials and methods. Changes in tension of cavernous smooth muscle strips were determined by penile strip chamber model and in penile perfusion model. Isolated endothelium-intact rabbit corpus cavernosum was precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) and then treated with ESB. Results. ESB relaxed penile smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner, and this was inhibited by pre-treatment with NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME), a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, and 1H-[1, 2, 4]-oxadiazolo-[4,3-α]-quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), a soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) inhibitor. ESB-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with tetraethylammonium (TEA), a nonselective K+ channel blocker, and charybdotoxin, a selective Ca2+-dependent K+ channel inhibitor. ESB increased the cGMP levels of rabbit corpus cavernosum in a concentration-dependent manner without changes in cAMP levels. In a perfusion model of penile tissue, ESB also relaxed penile corpus cavernosum smooth muscle in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion. Taken together, these results suggest that ESB relaxed rabbit cavernous smooth muscle via the NO/cGMP system and Ca2+-sensitive K+ channels in the corpus cavernosum

The Effect of Total Thyroidectomy on the Speech Production

ObjectivesVoice and speech alternations that can occur after total thyroidectomy are usually due to recurrent or superior laryngeal nerve injury. These alterations may also be associated with other extralaryngeal factors, such as neck muscle dysfunction and scar contracture of the neck. We performed a prospective acoustic analysis on speech changes after surgery, in the absence of laryngeal nerve injury.MethodsPatients aged 19 to 58 years undergoing total thyroidectomy, in the absence of laryngeal/pulmonary disease, previous neck surgery, or other malignant diseases, were recruited prospectively. For the running speech analysis, the speaking fundamental frequencies (SFo), range of SFo and speaking intensity were evaluated before surgery, 7 days, and 1 and 3 months after surgery. For consonant analysis, the acoustic distinctions of stop consonant, the voice onset time (VOT), vowel duration and closure duration were evaluated at the same periods.ResultsSFo and range of SFo were specifically diminished after surgery, while speaking intensities were not changed significantly after surgery. The thyroidectomized speakers displayed systematically varied VOT for the consonant production, which was phonetically representative. However, VOT after surgery could be longer in the strong aspirated and glottalized stops, but not in the lax stop than before surgery. The vowel and closure durations were not affected before and after surgery.ConclusionPatients with thyroidectomy have some difficulty of pitch control and consonant articulation during speaking. VOT is also one of the meaningful acoustic parameters and provide a reference for comparing acoustic measures before and after thyroidectomy

Chemical Modification of the Human Ether-a-go-go-related gene(HERG) K* Current by the Amino-Group Reagent Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid

We investigated the effects of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS), an amino-group reagent, on the humanether-a-go-go-related gene (HERG) K+ channels expressed inXenopus oocytes. TNBS neutralizes the positively charged amino-agroups of peptideN-terminal and lysine residues. External application of TNBS at 10 mM for 5 min irreversibly shifted the curves for currents at the end of the pulse and tail currents of HERG to a more negative potential and decreased the maximal amplitude of the Itail curve (Itail, max). TNBS had little effect on either the activated current-voltage relationship or the reversal potential of HERG current, indicating that TNBS did not change ion selectivity properties. TNBS shifted the time constant curves of both activation and deactivation of the HERG current to a more hyperpolarized potential; TNBS's effect was greater on channel opening than channel closing. External H+ is known to inhibit HERG current by shifting V1/2 to the right and decreasing Itail, max. TNBS enhanced the blockade of external H+ by exaggerating the effect of H+ on Itail, max, not on V1/2. Our data provide evidence for the presence of essential amino-groups that are associated with the normal functioning of the HERG channel and evidence that these groups modify the blocking effect of external H+ on the current.We are grateful to Dr. Jokubas Ziburkus for reading and editing this manuscript and to Hee-Kyung Hong for technical support. Ji-Hyun Yun was the recipient of the BK21 fellowship for graduate students in 2006. This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD) (R04- 2003-000-10007-0)

Hybrid multilayer thin film supercapacitor of graphene nanosheets with polyaniline: importance of establishing intimate electronic contact through nanoscale blending

A hybrid electrode consisting of an electric double-layer capacitor of graphene nanosheets and a pseudocapacitor of the conducting polymer polyaniline exhibits a synergistic effect with excellent electrochemical performance for flexible thin film supercapacitors. This hybrid supercapacitor is constructed by a nanoscale blending method of layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly based on the electrostatic interactions between positively charged polyaniline (PANi) and negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The hybrid electrode provides not only improved electronic conductivity through the intimate contact with the graphene nanosheet, but also enhanced chemical stability during the charge-discharge process. We also investigated the dependence of the electrochemical performance on the various parameters of LbL assembly such as the number of bilayers and the post-thermal and chemical treatments that could affect the degree of reduction of GO and PANi. We found that after thermal treatment, the LbL-assembled thin film of PANi with GO nanosheets exhibited an excellent gravimetric capacitance of 375.2 F g(-1) at a discharge current density of 0.5 A g(-1) that outperformed many other hybrid supercapacitors reported to date. The hybrid supercapacitor maintained its capacity up to 90.7% over 500 cycles at a high current density of 3.0 A g(-1). This study opens up the possibility for the production of diverse graphene-based hybrid nanocomposites that are promising for future flexible supercapacitors.close413