Profiling CpG island field methylation in both morphologically normal and neoplastic human colonic mucosa

Aberrant CpG island (CGI) methylation occurs early in colorectal neoplasia. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR profiling applied to biopsies was used to quantify low levels of CGI methylation of 18 genes in the morphologically normal colonic mucosa of neoplasia-free subjects, adenomatous polyp patients, cancer patients and their tumours. Multivariate statistical analyses distinguished tumour from mucosa with a sensitivity of 78.9% and a specificity of 100% (P=3 × 10−7). In morphologically normal mucosa, age-dependent CGI methylation was observed for APC, AXIN2, DKK1, HPP1, N33, p16, SFRP1, SFRP2 and SFRP4 genes, and significant differences in CGI methylation levels were detected between groups. Multinomial logistic regression models based on the CGI methylation profiles from normal mucosa correctly identified 78.9% of cancer patients and 87.9% of non-cancer (neoplasia-free+polyp) patients (P=4.93 × 10−7) using APC, HPP1, p16, SFRP4, WIF1 and ESR1 methylation as the most informative variables. Similarly, CGI methylation of SFRP4, SFRP5 and WIF1 correctly identified 61.5% of polyp patients and 78.9% of neoplasia-free subjects (P=0.0167). The apparently normal mucosal field of patients presenting with neoplasia has evidently undergone significant epigenetic modification. Methylation of the genes selected by the models may play a role in the earliest stages of the development of colorectal neoplasia

Towards methodological adventure in cost overrun research : linking process and product

The continued adoption of singular paradigms in the study of construction phenomena has elicited dialectical debates in scholarly literature. Calls have been made for more adventurous research methods, beyond the positivist versus interpretivist philosophical divide traditionally embraced by the industry. This study analyses the extensive scholarly debates, advancing and advocating philosophical positions to understand construction phenomena, and further narrows down the argument to within the specific domain of cost overrun research. A systematic and chronological literature review of the methodological/philosophical underpinnings of 41 papers was carried out. The papers were selected by following a staged exclusion criterion. The study outcome reveals that similar dialectical debates and methodological conservatism are still evident, with the predominance of mono-paradigm studies in the bulk of the empirical literature. Most of the empirical literature either provides interpretivist theoretical explanations from qualitative data or positivistically analyses quantitative data to provide technical explanations. To this end, mixed paradigm examples are spotlighted, demonstrating the relevance of linking process and product via methodological adventure in cost overrun research. Transcending the paradigmic divide is necessary to develop a more useful and contextually anchored view of practice, essential to mitigate and provide a holistic understanding of what drives cost overruns in public projects

Controlling waves in space and time for imaging and focusing in complex media

In complex media such as white paint and biological tissue, light encounters nanoscale refractive-index inhomogeneities that cause multiple scattering. Such scattering is usually seen as an impediment to focusing and imaging. However, scientists have recently used strongly scattering materials to focus, shape and compress waves by controlling the many degrees of freedom in the incident waves. This was first demonstrated in the acoustic and microwave domains using time reversal, and is now being performed in the optical realm using spatial light modulators to address the many thousands of spatial degrees of freedom of light. This approach is being used to investigate phenomena such as optical super-resolution and the time reversal of light, thus opening many new avenues for imaging and focusing in turbid medi

2021 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; First Aid Task Forces; and the COVID-19 Working Group

The International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation initiated a continuous review of new, peer-reviewed published cardiopulmonary resuscitation science. This is the fifth annual summary of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations; a more comprehensive review was done in 2020. This latest summary addresses the most recently published resuscitation evidence reviewed by International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task force science experts. Topics covered by systematic reviews in this summary include resuscitation topics of video-based dispatch systems; head-up cardiopulmonary resuscitation; early coronary angiography after return of spontaneous circulation; cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the prone patient; cord management at birth for preterm and term infants; devices for administering positive-pressure ventilation at birth; family presence during neonatal resuscitation; self-directed, digitally based basic life support education and training in adults and children; coronavirus disease 2019 infection risk to rescuers from patients in cardiac arrest; and first aid topics, including cooling with water for thermal burns, oral rehydration for exertional dehydration, pediatric tourniquet use, and methods of tick removal. Members from 6 International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation task forces have assessed, discussed, and debated the quality of the evidence, according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria, and their statements include consensus treatment recommendations or good practice statements. Insights into the deliberations of the task forces are provided in Justification and Evidence-to-Decision Framework Highlights sections. In addition, the task forces listed priority knowledge gaps for further research

New Techniques Of Photon-Limited Image Analysis

The ultimate limit in image processing is imposed by the quantum nature of light. This short review covers three recent developments in quantum-limited analysis: triple correlation techniques, image recognition ’ and classification and space-time image processing. © 1987 SPIE

MULTIPLE-SCATTERING FROM ROUGH DIELECTRIC AND METAL-SURFACES USING THE KIRCHHOFF APPROXIMATION

One hundred and forty five cellulolytic thermophilic actinomycete strains were isolated from 71 compost, soil, hay and dung samples. Streptomyces sp. (50,63%), Thermomonospora curvata (15,82%), T. chromogena (13,92%), and other species were identified. Endoglucanase, exoglucanase and β-glucosidase activities were evaluated from 10 cellulolytic actinomycete strains. Among these the Streptomyces sp. 7CMC10 strain showed the biggest activity levels corresponding to 20,14; 2,61 and 5,40 UI/mg of protein, respectively.Se aislaron 145 cepas de actinomicetos celulolíticos termófilos a partir de 71 muestras de compost, suelos, estiércol y heno de nuestro medio. Las especies de actinomicetos que más prevalencia tuvieron en las muestras estudiadas fueron Streptomyces sp. (50,63%), Thermomonospora curvata (15,82%), T. chromogena (13,92%), seguida de otras especies en menor proporción. Se evaluó la actividad endoglucanasa, exoglucanasa y β-glucosidasa de 10 cepas de actinomicetos celulolíticos. Entre éstas la cepa de Streptomyces sp. 7CMC10 mostró los mayores niveles de actividad correspondientes a 20,14; 2,61 y 5,40 UI/mg de proteína, respectivamente

BAYESIAN-ESTIMATION OF ATMOSPHERICALLY DISTORTED WAVE-FRONTS USING SHACK-HARTMANN SENSORS

International audienceA storm loss model for Germany is presented. Input data to the model are the daily maximum gust wind speeds measured at stations distributed over the country. The individual daily peak gust values are scaled with the local climatological upper 2% quantile at each station. This scaling serves to take local conditions at the stations into account, and thus permits a simple spatial interpolation of the storm field. The next step is the computation of a loss index for each storm. It is based on the excess of (scaled) wind speed over the upper 2% quantile, and on population numbers in the individual districts within Germany, with the latter serving as a proxy for the spatial distribution of values that could be affected by a storm. Using wind speeds in excess of the percentile value also serves to take spatial heterogeneity of vulnerability against storms into account. The aggregated storm index gives an estimate of the severity of an individual storm. Finally, the relation between actual loss produced by a storm and the index is estimated using published annual insurance loss due to windstorm in Germany. Index values are accumulated for each year, and the relation to actual loss is computed. The average ratio for the whole reference period is eventually used. It is shown that the interannual variability of storm-related losses can be reproduced with a correlation coefficient of r = 0.96, and even individual storm damages can be estimated. Based on these evaluations we found that only 50 storms account for about 80% of insured storm losses between 1970 and 1997