33 research outputs found
Overweight and Obesity: Risk Factors in Calcium Oxalate Stone Disease?
Introduction. Several studies showed an association of overweight and obesity with calcium oxalate stone disease (CaOx). However, there are no sufficient data on the influence of body weight on the course of the disease and the recurrence rate. Patients and Methods. N = 100 consecutive stone formers with pure CaOx were studied. Different parameters were investigated. According to the BMI, patients were divided into three groups: (1) BMI ≤ 25; (2) BMI 25.1–30; (3) BMI > 30. Results. N = 32 patients showed a BMI ≤ 25, n = 42 patients showed a BMI of 25.1–30 and n = 26 patients showed a BMI ≥ 30. The groups differed significantly concerning BMI (by definition), urine pH, and urine citrate. The recurrence rate was not significantly different. Discussion. Our study demonstrated that body weight negatively influences single risk factors in CaOx, but obesity is not a predictor for the risk of recurrence in CaOx
Artificial Intelligence Meets IS Researchers: Can It Replace Us?
Given we live in an era with accelerating digitization and rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), AI may eventually automate more job tasks. However, researchers have scarcely if at all critically analyzed how AI will automate such tasks and what professions it will automate more than others. Some studies suggest that AI cannot conduct highly creative and knowledge-intensive tasks. Yet, AI algorithms have generated creative art pieces that even art critics could not distinguish from human-drawn paintings. As IS (and most other) researchers, we pride ourselves on our work’s scarcity, novelty, and creativity. In this context, we report on a panel at the 40th International Conference for Information Systems that debated whether AI can and will replace our major activity, IS research, or even IS researchers themselves
PARP Inhibitors Talazoparib and Niraparib Sensitize Melanoma Cells to Ionizing Radiation
(1) Background: Niraparib and Talazoparib are poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) 1/2 inhibitors. It is assumed that combining PARP inhibitors with radiotherapy could be beneficial for cancer treatment. In this study, melanoma cells were treated with Niraparib and Talazoparib in combination with ionizing radiation (IR). (2) Methods: The effects of Talazoparib and Niraparib in combination with IR on cell death, clonogenicity and cell cycle arrest were studied in healthy primary fibroblasts and primary melanoma cells. (3) Results: The melanoma cells had a higher PARP1 and PARP2 content than the healthy fibroblasts, and further increased their PARP2 content after the combination therapy. PARP inhibitors both sensitized fibroblasts and melanoma cells to IR. A clear supra-additive effect of KI+IR treatment was detected in two melanoma cell lines analyzing the surviving fraction. The cell death rate increased in the healthy fibroblasts, but to a larger extent in melanoma cells after combined treatment. Finally, a lower percentage of cells in the radiosensitive G2/M phase is present in the healthy fibroblasts compared to the melanoma cells. (4) Conclusions: Both PARP inhibitors sensitize melanoma cells to IR. Healthy tissue seems to be less affected than melanoma cells. However, the great heterogeneity of the results suggests prior testing of the tumor cells in order to personalize the treatment
26th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS*2017): Part 3 - Meeting Abstracts - Antwerp, Belgium. 15–20 July 2017
This work was produced as part of the activities of FAPESP Research,\ud
Disseminations and Innovation Center for Neuromathematics (grant\ud
2013/07699-0, S. Paulo Research Foundation). NLK is supported by a\ud
FAPESP postdoctoral fellowship (grant 2016/03855-5). ACR is partially\ud
supported by a CNPq fellowship (grant 306251/2014-0)
Genomic investigations of unexplained acute hepatitis in children
Since its first identification in Scotland, over 1,000 cases of unexplained paediatric hepatitis in children have been reported worldwide, including 278 cases in the UK1. Here we report an investigation of 38 cases, 66 age-matched immunocompetent controls and 21 immunocompromised comparator participants, using a combination of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and immunohistochemical methods. We detected high levels of adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) DNA in the liver, blood, plasma or stool from 27 of 28 cases. We found low levels of adenovirus (HAdV) and human herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) in 23 of 31 and 16 of 23, respectively, of the cases tested. By contrast, AAV2 was infrequently detected and at low titre in the blood or the liver from control children with HAdV, even when profoundly immunosuppressed. AAV2, HAdV and HHV-6 phylogeny excluded the emergence of novel strains in cases. Histological analyses of explanted livers showed enrichment for T cells and B lineage cells. Proteomic comparison of liver tissue from cases and healthy controls identified increased expression of HLA class 2, immunoglobulin variable regions and complement proteins. HAdV and AAV2 proteins were not detected in the livers. Instead, we identified AAV2 DNA complexes reflecting both HAdV-mediated and HHV-6B-mediated replication. We hypothesize that high levels of abnormal AAV2 replication products aided by HAdV and, in severe cases, HHV-6B may have triggered immune-mediated hepatic disease in genetically and immunologically predisposed children
Requirements, design and implementation of an adaptive and interactive interface for accessing transdisciplinary scientific data in the context of Earth System Analyses
Titelblatt, Inhaltsverzeichnis und Einführung
Teil A - Herausforderung Datenerschließung 5
1 Vorklärungen 6
2 Die Integration heterogener Daten 15
3 Hypothesenfreie Datenauswertung - Data Mining 49
4 Computergestützte Datenvisualisierung 68
5 Internet, World Wide Web und Grids 93
Teil B - Hinleitung zur Fragestellung 107
6 Das Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung (PIK) 108
7 Zu erschließende Datenräume 118
8 Analyse der Ausgangslage 122
9 Voraussetzungen und Herausforderungen 128
10 Zusammenfassung der Aufgabenstellung 131
Teil C - Lösungsstrategien und Konzeption der Schnittstelle 133
11 Eingesetzte Lösungsstrategien 134
12 Systemanforderungen 149
13 Grobkonzept 151
14 Feinkonzept 160
15 Entwurf der Programmlogik 166
16 Client und Server 178
17 IDA - Interactive Digital Atlas 182
Teil D - Ergebnisse 199
18 Ausgestaltung der zugänglichen Datenschicht 200
19 Fensterstruktur und Hauptfenster 218
20 Filtermodule 223
21 Auswertungsmodule 246
22 Zeitreihenzugriff 258
Teil E - Erreichter Stand, Bewertung und Ausblick 267
23 Betrieb 268
24 Akzeptanz 272
25 Nachnutzungen 279
26 Bewertung des erreichten Standes und Ausblick 283
Schlussbemerkung 297
Anhang i
Tabellenverzeichnis ii
Abbildungsverzeichnis iv
Literaturverzeichnis xiiEine ebenso beständige wie faszinierende Herausforderung besteht in der
Überwindung der natürlichen Kluft zwischen den sich rasant entwickelnden
Informationstechnologien und den Anforderungen der Menschen, die diese zur
Lösung bspw. von wissenschaftlichen Fragestellungen einsetzen wollen oder
müssen. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Konzeption und Realisierung einer
geeigneten, flexiblen Zugriffsschnittstelle, die der multidisziplinären
Wissenschaftlergemeinde des Potsdam-Instituts für Klimafolgenforschung (PIK)
\- sowie potentiell jedem seiner weltweit verteilten Kooperationspartner -
einen autonomen, komfortablen und funktionalen Zugriff auf wesentliche
Bestandteile der im Institut zusammengeführten und bereitgestellten komplexen
Datenräume eröffnet. Diese Aufgabe war in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der
Scientific Data Management Group (SDM) des Institutes zu lösen, deren Auftrag
die Bereitstellung von Metadaten und Daten von allgemeinem Institutsinteresse
ist.
Dabei bestanden im gegebenen Anwendungskontext besondere Herausforderungen
ebenso im Ziel der Akzeptanz der zu entwickelnden Lösung durch eine
vielfältige Disziplinen umfassende Nutzergruppe wie in der Einbeziehung ihres
Anforderungswissens ohne Beeinträchtigung des laufenden Forschungsbetriebes
des Institutes. Daher wurde ein iterativer Entwicklungsprozess zugrunde
gelegt, der eine schrittweise Erweiterung der zu erstellenden Software sowie
die informelle Einbeziehung von Anwendern ermöglichte. Zur Unterstützung der
Anwender wurden ferner Konzepte der Visualisierung integriert.
Die entstandene Zugriffsschnittstelle - bezeichnet als xDat \- wird von den
Wissenschaftlern des PIK akzeptiert und zur selbständigen Datenversorgung
eingesetzt. Sämtliche im Rahmen dieser Arbeit adressierten Datenressourcen des
Institutes können nun integriert in intuitiver und flexibler Weise genutzt
werden; dies umfasst insbesondere auch Möglichkeiten zum direkten Durchgriff
von zuvor ausgewählten Zeitreihenmetadaten auf entsprechende Zeitreihen zur
Visualisierung sowie zur Bereitstellung auf dem Rechner des Anwenders.
Die über die Schnittstelle adressierbaren Datenräume enthielten zum Zeitpunkt
der Abfassung dieser Dissertation neben rund 360 allgemeinen Metadatensätzen
insgesamt - mit teilweisen Überschneidungen in den einzelnen Datenräumen -
rund 376.140 Metadatensätze zu 71.925 nationalen und internationalen
Stationen. Ferner standen zu diesem Zeitpunkt rund 882 Millionen einzelner,
erhobener sowie berechneter Zeitreihenwerte aus den Bereichen Meteorologie,
Hydrologie, Wasserqualität und Phänologie bereit. Das auf diese Weise
zugängliche Datenvolumen wird vom Institut beständig erweitert; so stieg die
Anzahl der abrufbaren Zeitreihenwerte bis Anfang 2005 bereits auf rund 940
Millionen.Bridging the natural gulf between information technology and users remains a
fascinating and challenging task. The target addressed here was the conception
and realization of an appropriate and flexible access interface. It should
allow the multidisciplinary research community of the Potsdam Institute for
Climate Impact Research (PIK) \- as well as potentially any of its
collaborators around the globe - to use in an autonomous, comfortable and
functional way central parts of the complex data spaces brought together at
the institute. This task had to be solved in close co-operation with PIK's
Scientific Data Management Group (SDM), which is concerned with the allocation
of meta data and data of general interest for the institute's scientists.
In the given context, special challenges arose both from the goal of obtaining
acceptance by a heterogeneous research community covering various scientific
disciplines, and from the integration of their valuable knowledge on
requirements without affecting the institute's ongoing research. To meet these
challenges, an iterative development process was applied, allowing for
stepwise enhancement of the software to be implemented as well as for informal
inclusion of users. Furthermore, concepts of visualization were integrated to
support users in accessing the data.
The resulting access interface - named xDat \- was accepted by PIK's
scientists and is used for autonomous data provision. The institute's data
resources addressed within this work can now be utilized in an intuitive and
flexible manner; in particular, it is possible to access online time series
for visualization and downloads by selecting corresponding meta data.
At the time this dissertation was written, the interface allowed for access to
about 360 general meta data sets as well as (with some overlapping of the
individual data bases) around 376,140 meta data sets on 71,925 German and
international stations. Additionally, around 882 million individual time
series values (including observed, modelled and secondary statistical data for
the areas meteorology, hydrology, water quality and phenology) were available
at this time. The volume of data made available by these means is being
continually increased by the institute; thus by the beginning of 2005 about
940 million time series values were accessible
Novel Approaches for Web-Based Access to Climate Change Adaptation Information – MEDIATION Adaptation Platform and ci:grasp-2
Part 6: Human Interaction and Human Factors Driving Future EIS/EDSS DevelopmentsInternational audienceThis paper presents two novel web-based applications for disseminating climate change adaptation related information. (i) The MEDIATION Adaptation Platform, one of the core outputs of the European FP7 research project MEDIATION (Methodology for Effective Decision-making on Impacts and AdaptaTION), offers a set of decision trees that can be browsed graphically to navigate over adaptation challenges and available types of methods for addressing them. This framework is interlinked both with a Toolbox and a set of case study descriptions. (ii) ci:grasp-2, the successor of the BMU-funded Climate Impacts: Global and Regional Adaptation Support Platform (ci:grasp), provides access to a growing pool of global and regional information on climate stimuli and impacts, as well as on adaptation projects. The paper identifies central user tasks for both applications and presents interaction metaphors that have been chosen to support users in fulfilling these tasks