Statistical expansions and locally uniform Fréchet differentiability

Estimators which have locally uniform expansions are shown in this paper to be asymptotically equivalent to M-estimators. The M-functionals corresponding to these M-estimators are seen to be locally uniformly Fréchet differentiable. Other conditions for M-functionals to be locally uniformly Fréchet differentiable are given. An example of a commonly used estimator which is robust against outliers is given to illustrate that the locally uniform expansion need not be valid

High-fidelity correction of genomic uracil by human mismatch repair activities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Deamination of cytosine to produce uracil is a common and potentially mutagenic lesion in genomic DNA. U•G mismatches occur spontaneously throughout the genome, where they are repaired by factors associated with the base excision repair pathway. U•G mismatches are also the initiating lesion in immunoglobulin gene diversification, where they undergo mutagenic processing by redundant pathways, one dependent upon uracil excision and the other upon mismatch recognition by MutSα. While UNG is well known to initiate repair of uracil in DNA, the ability of MutSα to direct correction of this base has not been directly demonstrated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using a biochemical assay for mismatch repair, we show that MutSα can promote efficient and faithful repair of U•G mismatches, but does not repair U•A pairs in DNA. This contrasts with UNG, which readily excises U opposite either A or G. Repair of U•G by MutSα depends upon DNA polymerase δ (pol δ), ATP, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), all properties of canonical mismatch repair.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results show that faithful repair of U•G can be carried out by either the mismatch repair or base excision repair pathways. Thus, the redundant functions of these pathways in immunoglobulin gene diversification reflect their redundant functions in faithful repair. Faithful repair by either pathway is comparably efficient, suggesting that mismatch repair and base excision repair share the task of faithful repair of genomic uracil.</p

Quality and Nutritive Value of Alfalfa and Grass Silages with Biological Additives

The present study satisfactorily utilized some food industry byproducts for improving fermentation characteristics, quality and nutritive value of silages. Five kinds of preparations were made: sugar-enzymes based (beet molasses and brewer’s yeast, mycelium of Aspergillus niger, malted barley at 3:3:3:1); enzymes-bacteria based (mycelium of Aspergillus niger, malted barley, acidic whey, fermentation broth and lactic acid bacteria or skim milk powder at 3:0.9:3:0.1); sugar based (molasses and brewer’s yeast at 1:1) and concentrate of lactic acid bacteria only. Untreated or additive-treated first-cut low sugar (60g kg-1DM, 19.4% DM) alfalfa ( Medicago sativa) plus grasses (Phleum pratense and Dactylis glomerata) was ensiled. The percentage of forage in the mixture was 80:15:5, respectively. Data are given on chemical composition, energy content, PDI value, fermentation characteristics and quality of silages

System Response Kernel Calculation for List-mode Reconstruction in Strip PET Detector

Reconstruction of the image in Positron Emission Tomographs (PET) requires the knowledge of the system response kernel which describes the contribution of each pixel (voxel) to each tube of response (TOR). This is especially important in list-mode reconstruction systems, where an efficient analytical approximation of such function is required. In this contribution, we present a derivation of the system response kernel for a novel 2D strip PET.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; Presented at Symposium on applied nuclear physics and innovative technologies, Cracow, 03-06 June 201

Beam profile investigation of the new collimator system for the J-PET detector

Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is a multi-purpose detector which will be used for search for discrete symmetries violations in the decays of positronium atoms and for investigations with positronium atoms in life-sciences and medical diagnostics. In this article we present three methods for determination of the beam profile of collimated annihilation gamma quanta. Precise monitoring of this profile is essential for time and energy calibration of the J-PET detector and for the determination of the library of model signals used in the hit-time and hit-position reconstruction. We have we have shown that usage of two lead bricks with dimensions of 5x10x20 cm^3 enables to form a beam of annihilation quanta with Gaussian profile characterized by 1 mm FWHM. Determination of this characteristic is essential for designing and construction the collimator system for the 24-module J-PET prototype. Simulations of the beam profile for different collimator dimensions were performed. This allowed us to choose optimal collimation system in terms of the beam profile parameters, dimensions and weight of the collimator taking into account the design of the 24 module J-PET detector.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure