Hex

The game hex has simple rules but complex game play. A computer program was used to analyze different boards. This yielded an interesting insight in making the optimal Hex program

Arithmetical Structures on Paths With a Doubled Edge

An arithmetical structure on a graph is given by a labeling of the vertices that satisfies certain divisibility properties. In this note, we look at several families of graphs and attempt to give counts on the number of arithmetical structures for graphs in these families

Comparison of A-mode and B-mode Ultrasound for Measurement of Subcutaneous Fat

With lower-cost devices and technologic advancements, ultrasound has been undergoing a resurgence as a method to measure subcutaneous adipose tissue. We aimed to determine whether a low-cost, 2.5-MHz amplitude (A-mode) ultrasound, designed specifically for body composition assessment, could produce subcutaneous fat thickness measurements comparable to an expensive, 12-MHz brightness (B-mode) device. Fat thickness was measured on 40 participants (20 female, 20 male; 29.7 ± 11.1 y of age; body mass index 24.9 ± 4.5 kg/m2) at 7 sites (chest, subscapula, mid-axilla, triceps, abdomen, suprailiac and thigh) with both devices. Intraclass correlations exceeded 0.75 at all measurement sites. Mean differences in fat thickness were not significantly different (p \u3e 0.05) and within ± 1.0 mm. Variability between devices was greatest at the abdomen, the site with the greatest thickness. The low-cost, low-resolution A-mode ultrasound provides subcutaneous fat thickness measurements similar to the more expensive, high-resolution B-mode ultrasound

Mineral deposition and vascular invasion of hydroxyapatite reinforced collagen scaffolds seeded with human adipose-derived stem cells

Background: Collagen-based scaffolds reinforced with hydroxyapatite (HA) are an attractive choice for bone tissue engineering because their composition mimics that of bone. We previously reported the development of compression-molded collagen-HA scaffolds that exhibited high porosity, interconnected pores, and mechanical properties that were well-suited for surgical handling and fixation. The objective of this study was to investigate these novel collagen-HA scaffolds in combination with human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) as a template for bone formation in a subcutaneous athymic mouse model. Methods: Collagen-HA scaffolds and collagen-only scaffolds were fabricated as previously described, and a clinically approved bone void filler was used as a control for the material. Constructs were seeded with hASCs and were pre-treated with either control or osteogenic media. A cell-free group was also included. Scaffolds were implanted subcutaneously in the backs of athymic nude mice for 8 weeks. Mineral deposition was quantified via micro-computed tomography. Histological and immunofluorescence images of the explants were used to analyze their vascular invasion, remodeling and cellularity. Results: Cell-free collagen-HA scaffolds and those that were pre-seeded with osteogenically differentiated hASCs supported mineral deposition and vascular invasion at comparable rates, while cell-seeded constructs treated with the control medium showed lower mineralization after implantation. HA-reinforcement allowed collagen constructs to maintain their shape, provided improved cell-tissue-scaffold integration, and resulted in a more organized tissue when pre-treated in an osteogenic medium. Scaffold type and pre-treatment also determined osteoclast activity and therefore potential remodeling of the constructs. Conclusions: The results of this study cumulatively indicate that treatment medium and scaffold composition direct mineralization and angiogenic tissue formation in an ectopic model. The data suggest that it may be necessary to match the scaffold with a particular cell type and cell-specific pre-treatment to achieve optimal bone formation

Evaluation of TypeSeq, a Novel High-Throughput, Low-Cost, Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Assay for Detection of 51 Human Papillomavirus Genotypes.

BackgroundHuman papillomaviruses (HPV) cause over 500 000 cervical cancers each year, most of which occur in low-resource settings. Human papillomavirus genotyping is important to study natural history and vaccine efficacy. We evaluated TypeSeq, a novel, next-generation, sequencing-based assay that detects 51 HPV genotypes, in 2 large international epidemiologic studies.MethodsTypeSeq was evaluated in 2804 cervical specimens from the Study to Understand Cervical Cancer Endpoints and Early Determinants (SUCCEED) and in 2357 specimens from the Costa Rica Vaccine Trial (CVT). Positive agreement and risks of precancer for individual genotypes were calculated for TypeSeq in comparison to Linear Array (SUCCEED). In CVT, positive agreement and vaccine efficacy were calculated for TypeSeq and SPF10-LiPA.ResultsWe observed high overall and positive agreement for most genotypes between TypeSeq and Linear Array in SUCCEED and SPF10-LiPA in CVT. There was no significant difference in risk of precancer between TypeSeq and Linear Array in SUCCEED or in estimates of vaccine efficacy between TypeSeq and SPF10-LiPA in CVT.ConclusionsThe agreement of TypeSeq with Linear Array and SPF10-LiPA, 2 well established standards for HPV genotyping, demonstrates its high accuracy. TypeSeq provides high-throughput, affordable HPV genotyping for world-wide studies of cervical precancer risk and of HPV vaccine efficacy

Reliance on Cox10 and oxidative metabolism for antigen-specific NK cell expansion

Natural killer (NK) cell effector functions are dependent on metabolic regulation of cellular function; however, less is known about in vivo metabolic pathways required for NK cell antiviral function. Mice with an inducible NK-specific deletion of Cox10, which encodes a component of electron transport chain complex IV, were generated to investigate the role of oxidative phosphorylation in NK cells during murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection. Ncr1-Cox1

DGIdb 5.0: Rebuilding the Drug-Gene Interaction Database for precision medicine and drug discovery platforms

The Drug-Gene Interaction Database (DGIdb, https://dgidb.org) is a publicly accessible resource that aggregates genes or gene products, drugs and drug-gene interaction records to drive hypothesis generation and discovery for clinicians and researchers. DGIdb 5.0 is the latest release and includes substantial architectural and functional updates to support integration into clinical and drug discovery pipelines. The DGIdb service architecture has been split into separate client and server applications, enabling consistent data access for users of both the application programming interface (API) and web interface. The new interface was developed in ReactJS, and includes dynamic visualizations and consistency in the display of user interface elements. A GraphQL API has been added to support customizable queries for all drugs, genes, annotations and associated data. Updated documentation provides users with example queries and detailed usage instructions for these new features. In addition, six sources have been added and many existing sources have been updated. Newly added sources include ChemIDplus, HemOnc, NCIt (National Cancer Institute Thesaurus), Drugs@FDA, HGNC (HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee) and RxNorm. These new sources have been incorporated into DGIdb to provide additional records and enhance annotations of regulatory approval status for therapeutics. Methods for grouping drugs and genes have been expanded upon and developed as independent modular normalizers during import. The updates to these sources and grouping methods have resulted in an improvement in FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability) data representation in DGIdb

DGIdb 2.0: Mining clinically relevant drug-gene interactions

The Drug–Gene Interaction Database (DGIdb, www. dgidb.org) is a web resource that consolidates dis-parate data sources describing drug–gene interac-tions and gene druggability. It provides an intuitive graphical user interface and a documented applica-tion programming interface (API) for querying these data. DGIdb was assembled through an extensive manual curation effort, reflecting the combined in-formation of twenty-seven sources. For DGIdb 2.0, substantial updates have been made to increase content and improve its usefulness as a resource for mining clinically actionable drug targets. Specif-ically, nine new sources of drug–gene interactions have been added, including seven resources specifi-cally focused on interactions linked to clinical trials. These additions have more than doubled the over-all count of drug–gene interactions. The total num-ber of druggable gene claims has also increased by 30%. Importantly, a majority of the unrestricted, publicly-accessible sources used in DGIdb are now automatically updated on a weekly basis, providing the most current information for these sources. Fi-nally, a new web view and API have been developed to allow searching for interactions by drug identifiers to complement existing gene-based search function-ality. With these updates, DGIdb represents a com-prehensive and user friendly tool for mining the druggable genome for precision medicine hypothe-sis generation

Detailed Abundances in the Ultra-faint Magellanic Satellites Carina II and III

We present the first detailed elemental abundances in the ultra-faint Magellanic satellite galaxies Carina II (Car II) and Carina III (Car III). With high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy, we determined abundances of nine stars in Car II including the first abundances of an RR Lyrae star in an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy; and two stars in Car III. The chemical abundances demonstrate that both systems are clearly galaxies and not globular clusters. The stars in these galaxies mostly display abundance trends matching those of other similarly faint dwarf galaxies: enhanced but declining [alpha/Fe] ratios, iron-peak elements matching the stellar halo, and unusually low neutron-capture element abundances. One star displays a low outlying [Sc/Fe] = -1.0. We detect a large Ba scatter in Car II, likely due to inhomogeneous enrichment by low-mass AGB star winds. The most striking abundance trend is for [Mg/Ca] in Car II, which decreases from +0.4 to -0.4 and indicates clear variation in the initial progenitor masses of enriching core-collapse supernovae. So far, the only ultra-faint dwarf galaxies displaying a similar [Mg/Ca] trend are likely satellites of the Large Magellanic Cloud. We find two stars with [Fe/H] < -3.5, whose abundances likely trace the first generation of metal-free Population III stars and are well-fit by Population III core-collapse supernova yields. An appendix describes our new abundance uncertainty analysis that propagates line-by-line stellar parameter uncertainties.Comment: 21 pages + appendix, 9 figures, 6 tables, accepted to Ap