STRATEGIC MULTIPLE SENSOR DATA FUSION FOR TIME-CRITICAL NATURAL DISASTER RESPONSE

Recently, large-scale natural disasters have been occurred in the various areas of the world. The super-sized multi-hazards over the world have required more and more scientific and systematic measurement technologies in the fields of management and response of natural disaster. The purpose of this study is to suggest a multi-sources data fusion approach like LiDAR, aerial images, and satellite imagery and evaluate its applicability for timely natural disaster response. In order to achieve a high-accurate mapping in time in disaster situation, we proposed strategic approach using multi-sensors data fusion in this paper. The data fusion approach using the satellite imagery, low altitude aerial imagery from the mini-UAV and the small manned helicopter, and LiDAR point data simultaneously is expected to enhance the capability for more accurate damage analysis and the faster hazard mapping

Lattice instabilities of cubic NiTi from first principles

The phonon dispersion relation of NiTi in the simple cubic B2 structure is computed using first-principles density-functional perturbation theory with pseudopotentials and a plane-wave basis set. Lattice instabilities are observed to occur across nearly the entire Brillouin zone, excluding three interpenetrating tubes of stability along the (001) directions and small spheres of stability centered at R. The strongest instability is that of the doubly degenerate M5' mode. The atomic displacements of one of the eigenvectors of this mode generate a good approximation to the observed B19' ground-state structure.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Air Bubble Size and Its Transition in a Horizontal Tube Produced by Venturi-Nozzle Bubble Generator

This paper investigates the air bubble size and its transition in a horizontal tube of 700 mm. The tube was assembled with a venturi-nozzle bubble generator. Air and water flow-rates vary in the present study. The data collection mainly used high-speed camera to capture the bubbles at different distances along the horizontal tube at water flow-rates (Qw) of 120-170 litre per min (LPM) and air flow-rates (Qa) of 2-10 LPM. MATLAB was used in image processing for evaluating the bubble size. The data interpretation used YW dimensionless parameter in representing the height of the bubbles’ vertical rise in the horizontal tube. The bubble size along the horizontal tube was characterized by the Weber number as well. The type of two-phase (water-air bubbles) flow along the horizontal tube from the venturi-nozzle bubble generator was determined using flow pattern map and Lockhart-Martinelli parameter. The bubble generator produced bubbles in the range of 0.8-3.1 mm at the inlet of horizontal tube. The bubble diameters increased as the bubbles moved horizontally from inlet to outlet of the horizontal tube and this finding was statistically significant. The vertical rise height of bubbles along the horizontal tube at different water and air flow-rates had been quantified and compared. The vertical rise height of bubbles increased axially from 41 % to 89 % from inlet to outlet of the horizontal tube. The bubbles’ vertical rise height increased when either the air flow-rate or water flow-rate is reduced. The mean Weber number increased along the horizontal tube due to an increase in bubble size. The decrease in water flow-rate caused a decrease in the mean Weber number. The Lockhart-Martinelli parameter of the water-air bubbles flow in the horizontal tube was within 0.58-2.94, indicating that it was a multiphase flow. The findings from this study give fundamental insight into bubble dynamics behaviour in its horizontal transition. This study focuses on the size and transition of air bubbles produced by venturi-nozzle bubble generator along a horizontal tube at different water and air flow-rates, unlike previous studies which only investigate the air bubbles inside or near bubble generator. These findings are very useful for practical industrial applications because the exact air bubble size before being used is known

Contribution of common and rare variants to bipolar disorder susceptibility in extended pedigrees from population isolates.

Current evidence from case/control studies indicates that genetic risk for psychiatric disorders derives primarily from numerous common variants, each with a small phenotypic impact. The literature describing apparent segregation of bipolar disorder (BP) in numerous multigenerational pedigrees suggests that, in such families, large-effect inherited variants might play a greater role. To identify roles of rare and common variants on BP, we conducted genetic analyses in 26 Colombia and Costa Rica pedigrees ascertained for bipolar disorder 1 (BP1), the most severe and heritable form of BP. In these pedigrees, we performed microarray SNP genotyping of 838 individuals and high-coverage whole-genome sequencing of 449 individuals. We compared polygenic risk scores (PRS), estimated using the latest BP1 genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics, between BP1 individuals and related controls. We also evaluated whether BP1 individuals had a higher burden of rare deleterious single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) and rare copy number variants (CNVs) in a set of genes related to BP1. We found that compared with unaffected relatives, BP1 individuals had higher PRS estimated from BP1 GWAS statistics (P = 0.001 ~ 0.007) and displayed modest increase in burdens of rare deleterious SNVs (P = 0.047) and rare CNVs (P = 0.002 ~ 0.033) in genes related to BP1. We did not observe rare variants segregating in the pedigrees. These results suggest that small-to-moderate effect rare and common variants are more likely to contribute to BP1 risk in these extended pedigrees than a few large-effect rare variants

Serum Adipocyte Fatty Acid–Binding Protein Levels Are Associated With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

OBJECTIVE—Adipocyte fatty acid–binding protein (A-FABP) is a major cytoplasmic protein in adipocytes and macrophages and is closely associated with metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Here, we investigated whether A-FABP was associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in type 2 diabetes

Seminal plasma as a source of prostate cancer peptide biomarker candidates for detection of indolent and advanced disease

Background:Extensive prostate specific antigen screening for prostate cancer generates a high number of unnecessary biopsies and over-treatment due to insufficient differentiation between indolent and aggressive tumours. We hypothesized that seminal plasma is a robust source of novel prostate cancer (PCa) biomarkers with the potential to improve primary diagnosis of and to distinguish advanced from indolent disease. <br>Methodology/Principal Findings: In an open-label case/control study 125 patients (70 PCa, 21 benign prostate hyperplasia, 25 chronic prostatitis, 9 healthy controls) were enrolled in 3 centres. Biomarker panels a) for PCa diagnosis (comparison of PCa patients versus benign controls) and b) for advanced disease (comparison of patients with post surgery Gleason score <7 versus Gleason score >>7) were sought. Independent cohorts were used for proteomic biomarker discovery and testing the performance of the identified biomarker profiles. Seminal plasma was profiled using capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry. Pre-analytical stability and analytical precision of the proteome analysis were determined. Support vector machine learning was used for classification. Stepwise application of two biomarker signatures with 21 and 5 biomarkers provided 83% sensitivity and 67% specificity for PCa detection in a test set of samples. A panel of 11 biomarkers for advanced disease discriminated between patients with Gleason score 7 and organ-confined (<pT3a) or advanced (≥pT3a) disease with 80% sensitivity and 82% specificity in a preliminary validation setting. Seminal profiles showed excellent pre-analytical stability. Eight biomarkers were identified as fragments of N-acetyllactosaminide beta-1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase​,prostatic acid phosphatase, stabilin-2, GTPase IMAP family member 6, semenogelin-1 and -2. Restricted sample size was the major limitation of the study.</br> <br>Conclusions/Significance: Seminal plasma represents a robust source of potential peptide makers for primary PCa diagnosis. Our findings warrant further prospective validation to confirm the diagnostic potential of identified seminal biomarker candidates.</br&gt

Reinspection of a Clinical Proteomics Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) Dataset with Cloud Computing Reveals Abundant Post-Translational Modifications and Protein Sequence Variants.

The Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) has provided some of the most in-depth analyses of the phenotypes of human tumors ever constructed. Today, the majority of proteomic data analysis is still performed using software housed on desktop computers which limits the number of sequence variants and post-translational modifications that can be considered. The original CPTAC studies limited the search for PTMs to only samples that were chemically enriched for those modified peptides. Similarly, the only sequence variants considered were those with strong evidence at the exon or transcript level. In this multi-institutional collaborative reanalysis, we utilized unbiased protein databases containing millions of human sequence variants in conjunction with hundreds of common post-translational modifications. Using these tools, we identified tens of thousands of high-confidence PTMs and sequence variants. We identified 4132 phosphorylated peptides in nonenriched samples, 93% of which were confirmed in the samples which were chemically enriched for phosphopeptides. In addition, our results also cover 90% of the high-confidence variants reported by the original proteogenomics study, without the need for sample specific next-generation sequencing. Finally, we report fivefold more somatic and germline variants that have an independent evidence at the peptide level, including mutations in ERRB2 and BCAS1. In this reanalysis of CPTAC proteomic data with cloud computing, we present an openly available and searchable web resource of the highest-coverage proteomic profiling of human tumors described to date

The human diabetes proteome project (HDPP): The 2014 update

Diabetes is an increasing worldwide problem leading to major associated health issues and increased health care costs. In 2012, 9.3% of the American population was affected by diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association, with 1.7 million of new cases since during the year (www.diabetes.org). Proteome initiatives can provide a deeper understanding of the biology of this disease and help develop more effective treatments. The collaborative effort of the Human Diabetes Proteome Project (HDPP) brings together a wide variety of complementary resources to increase the existing knowledge about both type 1 and type 2 diabetes and their related complications. The goals are to identify proteins and protein isoforms associated with the pathology and to characterize underlying disease-related pathways and mechanisms. Moreover, a considerable effort is being made on data integration and network biology. Sharing these data with the scientific community will be an important part of the consortium. Here we report on: the content of the HDPP session held at the 12th HUPO meeting in Yokohama; recent achievements of the consortium; discussions of several HDPP workshops; as well as future HDPP directions as discussed at the 13th HUPO congress in Madrid, with a special attention given to the lists of prioritized, diabetes-related proteins and the proteomic means to study them.</p

Perilipin 2 (PLIN2)-Deficiency Does Not Increase Cholesterol-Induced Toxicity in Macrophages

Interventions on macrophages/foam cells to redirect intracellular cholesterol towards efflux pathways could become a very valuable addition to our therapeutic arsenal against atherosclerosis. However, certain manipulations of the cholesteryl ester cycle, such as the inhibition of ACAT1, an ER-resident enzyme that re-esterifies cholesterol, are not well tolerated. Previously we showed that targeting perilipin-2 (PLIN2), a major lipid droplet (LD)-associated protein in macrophages, prevents foam cell formation and protects against atherosclerosis. Here we have assessed the tolerance of PLIN2-deficient bone marrow derived macrophages (BMM) to several lipid loading conditions similar to the found during atherosclerosis development, including exposure to modified low-density lipoprotein (mLDL) and 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC), a free cholesterol (FC) metabolite, in media with or without cholesterol acceptors. BMM isolated from mice that do or do not express PLIN2 were tested for apoptosis (TUNEL and cleaved caspase-3), ER stress (CHOP induction and XBP-1 splicing), and inflammation (TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA levels). Like in other cell types, PLIN2 deficiency impairs LD buildup in BMM. However, while most stress parameters were elevated in macrophages under ACAT inhibition and 7-KC loading, PLIN2 inactivation was well tolerated. The data support the safety of targeting PLIN2 to prevent foam cell formation and atherosclerosis

High-Resolution Characterization of Toxoplasma gondii Transcriptome with a Massive Parallel Sequencing Method†

For the last couple of years, a method that permits the collection of precise positional information of transcriptional start sites (TSSs) together with digital information of the gene-expression levels in a high-throughput manner was established. We applied this novel method, ‘tss-seq’, to elucidate the transcriptome of tachyzoites of the Toxoplasma gondii, which resulted in the identification of 124 000 TSSs, and they were clustered into 10 000 transcription regions (TRs) with a statistics-based analysis. The TRs and annotated ORFs were paired, resulting in the identification of 30% of the TRs and 40% of the ORFs without their counterparts, which predicted undiscovered genes and stage-specific transcriptions, respectively. The massive data for TSSs make it possible to execute the first systematic analysis of the T. gondii core promoter structure, and the information showed that T. gondii utilized an initiator-like motif for their transcription in the major and novel motif, the downstream thymidine cluster, which was similar to the Y patch observed in plants. This encyclopaedic analysis also suggested that the TATA box, and the other well-known core promoter elements were hardly utilized