GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits

A fast strategy for simulation of phase change phenomena at multiple length scales

Solid–liquid phase change phenomena are commonly encountered in many material processing operations, such as, crystal growth, casting, welding, laser processing, metal joining and so on. The physics of solid–liquid phase transition is highly complex involving many phenomena at many spatial and temporal scales, such as, fluid flow, heat transfer, undercooling, nucleation, atomic attachment and so on. Modeling of phenomena at a particular scale needs an appropriate computational strategy to capture the physics. In this paper, we present a brief overview on the various strategies for mathematical modeling of transport phenomena during solidification at macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic levels. This is followed by an algorithmic representation of an appropriate multiscale simulation strategy for solid–liquid phase change. At the macroscopic level, a modified mixture continuum model has been adopted where the turbulence fields have been appropriately modeled for evolution of solidification and coupled with the mass, momentum, energy and species conservation fields. At mesocopic level, transport phenomena within a grain envelope has been modeled following Rappaz and Thevoz. At microscopic level, the grain density, nucleation rate and the solidification path has been modeled with the help of a Gaussian distribution function, following Rappaz and Thevoz. A novel concept of fractal measure of the dendritic microstructure has been introduced and improved correlations for dendritic arm spacing and the permeability of the porous dendritic network have been derived and successfully validated with data from published literature for directional solidification of various alloy systems. The algorithm is arguably easier and faster to implement than other algorithms for macro–micro coupling published in the literature. The implementation of various aspects of this algorithm to problems of alloy solidification will be discussed elsewhere

Modelling of free boundary problems for phase change with diffuse interfaces

<p>We present a continuum thermodynamical framework for simulating multiphase Stefan problem. For alloy solidification, which is marked by a diffuse interface called the mushy zone, we present a phase filed like formalism which comprises a set of macroscopic conservation equations with an order parameter which can account for the solid, liquid, and the mushy zones with the help of a phase function defined on the basis of the liquid fraction, the Gibbs relation, and the phase diagram with local approximations. Using the above formalism for alloy solidification, the width of the diffuse interface (mushy zone) was computed rather accurately for iron-carbon and ammonium chloride-water binary alloys and validated against experimental data from literature.</p

Modelling of free boundary problems for phase change with diffuse interfaces

We present a continuum thermodynamical framework for simulating multiphase Stefan problem. For alloy solidification, which is marked by a diffuse interface called the mushy zone, we present a phase filed like formalism which comprises a set of macroscopic conservation equations with an order parameter which can account for the solid, liquid, and the mushy zones with the help of a phase function defined on the basis of the liquid fraction, the Gibbs relation, and the phase diagram with local approximations. Using the above formalism for alloy solidification, the width of the diffuse interface (mushy zone) was computed rather accurately for iron-carbon and ammonium chloride-water binary alloys and validated against experimental data from literature

Paroxetine overdose

Paroxetine is a commonly used antidepressant with a safe side-effect profile. A case of paroxetine overdose (560 mg) is reported in an 18-year-old female who attempted suicide and recovered without any sequelae, requiring only supportive treatment. This report highlights a case of pure paroxetine overdose and the safety profile of paroxetine in overdose

Bane to boon: tailored defect induced bright red luminescence from cuprous iodide nanophosphors for on-demand rare-earth-free energy-saving lighting applications

The long standing controversy concerning the defect band in cuprous iodide (CuI) has been addressed in this paper from a technological point of view of its solid state lighting application. Recently, solid state lighting technology using nanophosphors has been proposed as the prime candidate in the energy saving lighting paradigm. Herein, we demonstrate a novel rare-earth free and non-toxic CuI nanophosphor, which has been synthesized via a facile solvothermal route. These nanophosphors are able to show ultra-bright and stable red emission under near UV excitation. The spectral features of this easily derived nanophosphor are not less than any rare-earth or cadmium based conventional phosphor. Furthermore, it has been conclusively verified that the deep red emission is strongly related to the excess iodine induced optimized defect level engineering in the band structure. The concepts and results presented in this paper clearly establish that the CuI nanophosphor is a promising 'green' material for the state-ofthe-art rare-earth free lighting and display applications

Anticancer Potential of 3-(Arylideneamino)-2- Phenylquinazoline-4(3H)-One Derivatives

Different quinazoline derivatives have showed wide spectrum of pharmacological activities. Some 3- (arylideneamino)-phenylquinazoline-4(3H)-ones have been reported to possess antimicrobial activity. The present study has been undertaken to evaluate the anticancer effect of these quinazolinone derivatives. The quinazolinone derivatives were synthesized as reported earlier. Compounds containing NO2, OH, OCH3, or OH and OCH3 as substituent(s) on the arylideneamino group were named as P(3a), P(3b), P(3c), and P(3d) respectively. Out of these, P(3a) and P(3d) showed better cytotoxic activity than P(3b) and P(3c) on a panel of six cancer cell lines of different origin, namely, B16F10, MiaPaCa-2, HCT116, HeLa, MCF7, and HepG2, though the effect was higher in B16F10, HCT116, and MCF7 cells. P(3a) and P(3d) induced death of B16F10 and HCT116 cells was associated with characteristic apoptotic changes like cell shrinkage, nuclear condensation, DNA fragmentation, and annexin V binding. Also, cell cycle arrest at G1 phase, alteration of caspase-3, caspase- 9, Bcl-2 and PARP levels, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and enhanced level of cytosolic cytochrome c were observed in treated B16F10 cells. Treatment with multiple doses of P(3a) significantly increased the survival rate of B16F10 tumor bearing BALB/c mice by suppressing the volume of tumor while decreasing microvascular density and mitotic index of the tumor cells

GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) aims to accelerate biomedical advances by enabling the responsible sharing of clinical and genomic data through both harmonized data aggregation and federated approaches. The decreasing cost of genomic sequencing (along with other genome-wide molecular assays) and increasing evidence of its clinical utility will soon drive the generation of sequence data from tens of millions of humans, with increasing levels of diversity. In this perspective, we present the GA4GH strategies for addressing the major challenges of this data revolution. We describe the GA4GH organization, which is fueled by the development efforts of eight Work Streams and informed by the needs of 24 Driver Projects and other key stakeholders. We present the GA4GH suite of secure, interoperable technical standards and policy frameworks and review the current status of standards, their relevance to key domains of research and clinical care, and future plans of GA4GH. Broad international participation in building, adopting, and deploying GA4GH standards and frameworks will catalyze an unprecedented effort in data sharing that will be critical to advancing genomic medicine and ensuring that all populations can access its benefits