Integrated signaling pathway and gene expression regulatory model to dissect dynamics of <em>Escherichia coli </em>challenged mammary epithelial cells

AbstractCells transform external stimuli, through the activation of signaling pathways, which in turn activate gene regulatory networks, in gene expression. As more omics data are generated from experiments, eliciting the integrated relationship between the external stimuli, the signaling process in the cell and the subsequent gene expression is a major challenge in systems biology. The complex system of non-linear dynamic protein interactions in signaling pathways and gene networks regulates gene expression.The complexity and non-linear aspects have resulted in the study of the signaling pathway or the gene network regulation in isolation. However, this limits the analysis of the interaction between the two components and the identification of the source of the mechanism differentiating the gene expression profiles. Here, we present a study of a model of the combined signaling pathway and gene network to highlight the importance of integrated modeling.Based on the experimental findings we developed a compartmental model and conducted several simulation experiments. The model simulates the mRNA expression of three different cytokines (RANTES, IL8 and TNFα) regulated by the transcription factor NFκB in mammary epithelial cells challenged with E. coli. The analysis of the gene network regulation identifies a lack of robustness and therefore sensitivity for the transcription factor regulation. However, analysis of the integrated signaling and gene network regulation model reveals distinctly different underlying mechanisms in the signaling pathway responsible for the variation between the three cytokine's mRNA expression levels. Our key findings reveal the importance of integrating the signaling pathway and gene expression dynamics in modeling. Modeling infers valid research questions which need to be verified experimentally and can assist in the design of future biological experiments

Simulation of valveless micropump and mode analysis

In this work, a 3-D simulation is performed to study for the solid-fluid coupling effect driven by piezoelectric materials and utilizes asymmetric obstacles to control the flow direction. The result of simulation is also verified. For a micropump, it is crucial to find the optimal working frequency which produce maximum net flow rate. The PZT plate vibrates under the first mode, which is symmetric. Adjusting the working frequency, the maximum flow rate can be obtained. For the micrpump we studied, the optimal working frequency is 3.2K Hz. At higher working frequency, say 20K Hz, the fluid-solid membrane may come out a intermediate mode, which is different from the first mode and the second mode. It is observed that the center of the mode drifts. Meanwhile, the result shows that a phase shift lagging when the excitation force exists in the vibration response. Finally, at even higher working frequency, say 30K Hz, a second vibration mode is observed.Comment: Submitted on behalf of EDA Publishing Association (http://irevues.inist.fr/EDA-Publishing

Realistic interpretation of a superposition state does not imply a mixture

Contrary to previous claims, it is shown that, for an ensemble of either single-particle systems or multi-particle systems, the realistic interpretation of a superposition state that mathematically describes the ensemble does not imply that the ensemble is a mixture. Therefore it cannot be argued that the realistic interpretation is wrong on the basis that some predictions derived from the mixture are different from the corresponding predictions derived from the superposition state

Prospects for Higgs Searches via VBF at the LHC with the ATLAS Detector

We report on the potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson with the vector boson fusion mechanism in the mass range 115 with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Feasibility studies at hadron level followed by a fast detector simulation have been performed for H\to W^{(*)}W^{(*)}\to l^+l^-\sla{p_T}, $H\to\gamma\gamma$ and $H\to ZZ\to l^+l^-q\bar{q}$. The results obtained show a large discovery potential in the range 115. Results obtained with multivariate techniques are reported for a number of channels.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, contributed to 2003 Les Houches Workshop on Physics at TeV Colliders. Incorporated comments from ATLAS referee

Effect of Material Combinations and Relative Crack Size on the Stress Intensity Factors of Edge Interface Cracks

In this paper, the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of a single edge interface crack in the bi-material bonded strip subjected to in-plane tension and bending moment are investigated systematically. The SIFs are computed for arbitrary material combinations with varying the relative crack size a/W. Specifically, some necessary skills as refined mesh and extrapolations of the stress intensity factors are used to improve the accuracy of the calculation. For the edge interface crack, it is found that the dimensionless SIFs are not always finite for the edge interface cracks in the bonded semi-infinite plate depending on Dundurs’ material composite parameters11th International Conference on the mechanical behavior of Materials (ICM11), 5-9 June 2011, Como, Ital

Current status and future trends of precision agricultural aviation technologies

Modern technologies and information tools can be used to maximize agricultural aviation productivity allowing for precision application of agrochemical products. This paper reviews and summarizes the state-of-the-art in precision agricultural aviation technology highlighting remote sensing, aerial spraying and ground verification technologies. Further, the authors forecast the future of precision agricultural aviation technology with key development directions in precision agricultural aviation technologies, such as real-time image processing, variable-rate spraying, multi-sensor data fusion and RTK differential positioning, and other supporting technologies for UAV-based aerial spraying. This review is expected to provide references for peers by summarizing the history and achievements, and encourage further development of precision agricultural aviation technologies

Ground state properties of one-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixtures

Bose-Fermi mixtures in one dimension are studied in detail on the basis of an exact solution. Corresponding to three possible choices of the referecce state in the quantum inverse scattering method, three sets of Bethe-ansatz equations are derived explicitly. The features of the ground state and low-lying excitations are investigated. The ground state phase diagram caused by the external field and chemical potential is obtained

A Novel Definition of Equivalent Uniform Dose Based on Volume Dose Curve

© 2013 IEEE. With the improvement of mobile device performance, the requirement of equivalent dose description in intensity-modulated radiation therapy is increasing in mobile multimedia for healthcare. The emergence of mobile cloud computing will provide cloud servers and storage for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) mobile applications, thus realizing visualized radiotherapy in a real sense. Equivalent uniform dose (EUD) is a biomedical indicator based on the dose measure. In this paper, the dose volume histogram is used to describe the dose distribution of different tissues in target and nontarget regions. The traditional definition of EUD, such as the exponential form and the linear form, has only a few parameters in the model for fast calculation. However, there is no close relationship between this traditional definition and the dose volume histogram. In order to establish the consistency between the EUD and the dose volume histogram, this paper proposes a novel definition of EUD based on the volume dose curve, called VD-EUD. By using a unique organic volume weight curve, it is easy to calculate VD-EUD for different dose distributions. In definition, different weight curves are used to represent the biological effects of different organs. For the target area, we should be more careful about those voxels with a low dose (cold point); thus, the weight curve is monotonically decreasing. While for the nontarget area, the curve is monotonically increasing. Furthermore, we present the curves for parallel, serial, and mixed organs of nontarget areas separately, and we define the weight curve form with only two parameters. Medical doctors can adjust the curve interactively according to different patients and organs. We also propose a fluence map optimization model with the VD-EUD constraint, which means that the proposed EUD constraint will lead to a large feasible solution space. We compare the generalized EUD (gEUD) and the proposed VD-EUD by experiments, which show that the VD-EUD has a closer relationship with the dose volume histogram. If the biological survival probability is equivalent to the VD-EUD, the feasible solution space would be large, and the target areas can be covered. By establishing a personalized organic weight curve, medical doctors can have a unique VD-EUD for each patient. By using the flexible and adjustable EUD definition, we can establish the VD-EUD-based fluence map optimization model, which will lead to a larger solution space than the traditional dose volume constraint-based model. The VD-EUD is a new definition; thus, we need more clinical testing and verification

Probing the magnetic ground state of the molecular Dysprosium triangle

We present zero field muon spin lattice relaxation measurements of a Dysprosium triangle molecular magnet. The local magnetic fields sensed by the implanted muons indicate the coexistence of static and dynamic internal magnetic fields below $T^* ~35$ K. Bulk magnetization and heat capacity measurements show no indication of magnetic ordering below this temperature. We attribute the static fields to the slow relaxation of the magnetization in the ground state of Dy3. The fluctuation time of the dynamic part of the field is estimated to be ~0.55 $\mu$s at low temperaturesComment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.