Genetic programming for mining DNA chip data from cancer patients

In machine learning terms DNA (gene) chip data is unusual in having thousands of attributes (the gene expression values) but few (<100) records (the patients). A GP based method for both feature selection and generating simple models based on a few genes is demonstrated on cancer data

Improved correction for the tissue fraction effect in lung PET/CT imaging

Recently, there has been an increased interest in imaging different pulmonary disorders using PET techniques. Previous work has shown, for static PET/CT, that air content in the lung influences reconstructed image values and that it is vital to correct for this 'tissue fraction effect' (TFE). In this paper, we extend this work to include the blood component and also investigate the TFE in dynamic imaging. CT imaging and PET kinetic modelling are used to determine fractional air and blood voxel volumes in six patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These values are used to illustrate best and worst case scenarios when interpreting images without correcting for the TFE. In addition, the fractional volumes were used to determine correction factors for the SUV and the kinetic parameters. These were then applied to the patient images. The kinetic parameters K1 and Ki along with the static parameter SUV were all found to be affected by the TFE with both air and blood providing a significant contribution to the errors. Without corrections, errors range from 34-80% in the best case and 29-96% in the worst case. In the patient data, without correcting for the TFE, regions of high density (fibrosis) appeared to have a higher uptake than lower density (normal appearing tissue), however this was reversed after air and blood correction. The proposed correction methods are vital for quantitative and relative accuracy. Without these corrections, images may be misinterpreted

Robust Control Synthesis for Gust Load Alleviation from Large Aeroelastic Models with Relaxation of Spatial Discretisation

This paper introduces a methodology for the design of gust load control systems directly from large aeroelastic models with relaxation of spatial discretisation. A convenient state-space representation of the vortex-panel unsteady aerodynamics suitable for control synthesis is presented. This allows a full understanding of the dynamics of the linearized vortex aeroelastic model and is suitable for control system design. Through the use of robust controllers, large reductions in loading could be achieved. Comparisons are also made between robust and classical control methods. It further demonstrates that controllers synthesized from models of coarse spatial discretizations and of an order of magnitude smaller in size were capable of rejecting disturbances on fully converged models, with performances comparable to expensive higher order controllers developed from full models

A natural killer cell receptor specific for a major histocompatibility complex class I molecule.

Target cell expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules correlates with resistance to lysis by natural killer (NK) cells. Prior functional studies of the murine NK cell surface molecule, Ly-49, suggested its role in downregulating NK cell cytotoxicity by specifically interacting with target cell H-2Dd molecules. In support of this hypothesis, we now demonstrate a physical interaction between H-2Dd and Ly-49 in both qualitative and quantitative cell-cell binding assays employing a stable transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line expressing Ly-49 and MHC class I transfected target cells. Binding occurred only when CHO cells expressed Ly-49 at high levels and targets expressed H-2Dd by transfection. Monoclonal antibody blocking experiments confirmed this interaction. These studies indicate that the specificity of natural killing is influenced by NK cell receptors that engage target cell MHC class I molecules

Localization of N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD) expression in mouse brain: A new perspective on N-acylethanolamines as Neural Signaling Molecules

The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.co

A hybrid 3-D reconstruction/registration algorithm for correction of head motion in emission tomography

Even with head restraint, small head movements can occur during data acquisition in emission tomography that are sufficiently large to result in detectable artifacts in the final reconstruction. Direct measurement of motion can be cumbersome and difficult to implement, whereas previous attempts to use the measured projection data for correction have been limited to simple translation orthogonal to the projection. A fully three-dimensional (3-D) algorithm is proposed that estimates the patient orientation based on the projection of motion-corrupted data, with incorporation of motion information within subsequent ordered-subset expectation-maximization subiterations. Preliminary studies have been performed using a digital version of the Hoffman brain phantom. Movement was simulated by constructing a mixed set of projections in discrete positions of the phantom. The algorithm determined the phantom orientation that best matched each constructed projection with its corresponding measured projection. In the case of a simulated single movement in 24 of 64 projections, all misaligned projections were correctly identified. Incorporating data at the determined object orientation resulted in a reduction of mean square difference (MSD) between motion-corrected and motion-free reconstructions, compared to the MSD between uncorrected and motion-free reconstructions, by a factor of 1.9

Asymptotic boundary forms for tight Gabor frames and lattice localization domains

We consider Gabor localization operators $G_{\phi,\Omega}$ defined by two parameters, the generating function $\phi$ of a tight Gabor frame $\{\phi_\lambda\}_{\lambda \in \Lambda}$, parametrized by the elements of a given lattice $\Lambda \subset \Bbb{R}^2$, i.e. a discrete cocompact subgroup of $\Bbb{R}^2$, and a lattice localization domain $\Omega \subset \Bbb{R}^2$ with its boundary consisting of line segments connecting points of $\Lambda$. We find an explicit formula for the boundary form $BF(\phi,\Omega)=\text{A}_\Lambda \lim_{R\rightarrow \infty}\frac{PF(G_{\phi,R\Omega})}{R}$, the normalized limit of the projection functional $PF(G_{\phi,\Omega})=\sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\lambda_i(G_{\phi,\Omega})(1-\lambda_i(G_{\phi,\Omega}))$, where $\lambda_i(G_{\phi,\Omega})$ are the eigenvalues of the localization operators $G_{\phi,\Omega}$ applied to dilated domains $R\Omega$, $R$ is an integer and $\text{A}_\Lambda$ is the area of the fundamental domain of the lattice $\Lambda$.Comment: 35 page

Mental States Are Like Diseases

While Quine’s linguistic behaviorism is well-known, his Kant Lectures contain one of his most detailed discussions of behaviorism in psychology and the philosophy of mind. Quine clarifies the nature of his psychological commitments by arguing for a modest view that is against ‘excessively restrictive’ variants of behaviorism while maintaining ‘a good measure of behaviorist discipline…to keep [our mental] terms under control’. In this paper, I use Quine’s Kant Lectures to reconstruct his position. I distinguish three types of behaviorism in psychology and the philosophy of mind: ontological behaviorism, logical behaviorism, and epistemological behaviorism. I then consider Quine’s perspective on each of these views and argue that he does not fully accept any of them. By combining these perspectives we arrive at Quine’s surprisingly subtle view about behaviorism in psychology