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Abstract

AbstractAssociations meet on a rarely traveled/trampled road: Corner of Yellow Brick Road and Appian WayNo room number or hotel specified. Ising required. This is not cake frosting in a can. So, what is the Ising model? Originally, a mathematical model devised to study magnetic fields, it was soon recognized as a powerful model for studies of inheritance. Unlike on/off models of genes, Ising genes are two‐state: +1 or −1 and describe the spin states of a magnetic dipole or the state of an allele that might or might not be shared by siblings. I'll save you the 14 equations that Li et al. apply to the model – they are not impenetrable. Working with an Affymetrix data set, 286 patients were lymph node negative to start. A Markov Random Field model identified 107 Differentially Expressed (DE) genes and the Ising model found 125. These included a number of previously unknown and unclassified networks and subnetworks.pp. 3845–3852Taxol, you've been a wonderful drugBut you've let me down, lately. Breast cancer is still the no. 1 killer of women. Prognosis is poor due to late tumor detection or rapid drug resistance. Some multiple drug combinations fail too frequently but Taxanes in combination with anthracyclines or Herceptin give some improvement, depending on the genetics of the patient (“personalized medicine”). The mechanism of action of the taxane resistance involves interactions with microtubules including β‐tubulin mutations, insufficient cyclin‐dependent kinase I, modulation of ERB‐B2, p53, or Bcl‐2. On the other hand, protein kinase phosphatase MKP‐1 has been nominated to mediate chemoresistance by inhibiting c‐Jun N kinase‐dependent apoptosis. Choices, choices, choices....pp. 3877–3886His and hers: Cardiovascular eventsSex‐change operations do not help: cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among both men and women if you adjust for age and menopause, inferring that both androgens and estrogens are contributors to the disease. Estrogen replacement has proven to have some protective value but results appear to be conflicting in human trials. Phytoestrogens are a group of potential candidates derived from plant materials. A particularly interesting compound is genistein (as long as the experimenter controls for variable levels in common lab chow). Schwab et al. took environmental age, sex, and heart condition into consideration in the proteomic study reported here. Addition of genistein as an oral dietary estrogen supplement had effects on both male and female mice at the levels of transcription and translation. Mitochondrial enzymes were affected, including fatty‐acid metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, and cytoskeletal components. Clearly obscure...pp. 3887–3904