True Component Research Articles

Imaging of α-Synuclein Aggregates in a Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease Using Raman Microspectroscopy.

A hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the formation of Lewy bodies in the brain. Lewy bodies are rich in the aggregated form of misfolded α-Synuclein (α-Syn). The brain from PD patients can only be analyzed after postmortem, therefore, limiting the diagnosis of PD to the manifestation of motor symptoms. In PD patients and animal models, phosphorylated α-Syn was detected in the peripheral tissues including the gut, thus, raising the hypothesis that early-stage PD could be diagnosed based on colon tissue biopsies. Non-invasive marker-free technologies represent ideal methods to potentially detect aggregated α-Syn in vivo. Raman microspectroscopy has been established for the detection of molecular changes such as alterations of protein structures. Using Raman imaging and microspectroscopy, we analyzed the olfactory bulb in the brain and the muscularis mucosae of colon tissue sections of a human BAC-SNCA transgenic (TG) rat model. Raman images from TG and WT rats were investigated using principal component analysis (PCA) and true component analysis (TCA). Spectral components indicated protein aggregates (spheroidal oligomers) in the TG rat brain and in the colon tissues even at a young age but not in WT. In summary, we have demonstrated that Raman imaging is capable of detecting α-Syn aggregates in colon tissues of a PD rat model and making it a promising tool for future use in PD pathology.

Global Nature of Solar Coronal Shock Waves Shown by Inconsistency between EUV Waves and Type II Radio Bursts

Abstract We re-examine the physical relationship between extreme ultraviolet (EUV) waves and type II radio bursts. It has been thought that they are two observational aspects of a single coronal shock wave. However, a lack of their speed correlation hampers the understanding of their respective (or common) natures in a single phenomenon. Knowing the uncertainties in identifying true wave components from observations and measuring their speeds, we re-examine the speeds of EUV waves reported in previous literature and compare these with type II radio bursts and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). This confirms the inconsistency between the speeds of EUV waves and their associated type II radio bursts. Second, CME speeds are found to have a better correlation with type II radio bursts than EUV waves. Finally, type II speeds and their range tend to be much greater than those of EUV waves. We demonstrate that the speed inconsistency is in fact an intrinsic tendency and elucidate the nature of a coronal shock wave consisting of both driven and non-driven parts. This suggests that the speed inconsistency would remain even if all other uncertainties were removed.

Simulation of collision-induced absorption spectra based on classical trajectories and ab initio potential and induced dipole surfaces. II. CO2-Ar rototranslational band including true dimer contribution.

This paper presents further development of the new semi-classical trajectory-based formalism described in Paper I [Chistikov et al., J. Chem. Phys. 151, 194106 (2019)]. We report the results of simulation and analysis of the low-frequency collision-induced absorption (CIA) in CO2-Ar, including its true dimer component. Our consideration relies on the use of ab initio intermolecular potential energy and induced dipole surfaces for CO2-Ar calculated in an assumption of a rigid CO2 structure using the CCSD(T) method. The theory, the details of which are reported in Paper I [Chistikov et al., J. Chem. Phys. 151, 194106 (2019)], permits taking into account the effect of unbound and quasi-bound classical trajectories on the CIA in the range of a rototranslational band. This theory is largely extended by trajectory-based simulation of the true bound dimer absorption in the present paper. The spectra are obtained from a statistical average over a vast ensemble of classical trajectories restricted by properly chosen domains in the phase space. Rigorous classical theory is developed for two low-order spectral moments interpreted as the Boltzmann-weighted average of the respective dipole functions. These spectral moments were then used to check the accuracy of our trajectory-based spectra, for which both spectral moments can be evaluated independently in terms of specific integrals over the trajectory-based calculated spectral profiles. Good agreement between the spectral moments calculated as integrals over the frequency domain or the phase space largely supports the reliability of our simulated CIA spectra, which conform with the available microwave and far-infrared observations.

Validation and performance of a machine-learning derived prediction guide for total knee arthroplasty component sizing.

Anticipation of patient-specific component sizes prior to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is essential to avoid excessive cost associated with additional surgical trays and morbidity associated with imperfect sizing. Current methods of size prediction, including templating, are inconsistent and time-consuming. Machine learning (ML) algorithms may allow for accurate TKA component size prediction with the ability to make predictions in real-time. Consecutive patients receiving primary TKA between 2012 and 2020 from two large tertiary academic and six community hospitals were identified. The primary outcomes were the final femoral and tibial component sizes extracted from automated inventory systems. Five ML algorithms were trained with routinely corrected demographic variables (age, height, weight, body mass index, and sex) using 80% of the study population and internally validated on an independent set of the remaining 20% of patients. Algorithm performance was evaluated through accuracy, mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean-squared error (RMSE). A total of 17,283 patients that received one of 9 TKA implants from independent manufacturers were included. The SGB model accuracy for predicting ± 4-mm of the true femoral anteroposterior diameter was 83.6% and for ± 1 size of the true femoral component size was 95.0%. The SGB model accuracy for predicting ± 4-mm of the true tibial medial/lateral diameter was 83.0% and for ± 1 size of the true tibial component size was 97.8%. Patient sex was the most influential feature in terms of informing the SGB model predictions for both femoral and tibial component sizing. A TKA implant sizing application was subsequently created. Novel machine learning algorithms demonstrated good to excellent performance for predicting TKA component size. Patient sex appears to contribute an important role in predicting TKA size. A web-based real-time prediction application was created capable of integrating patient specific data to predict TKA size, which will require external validation prior to clinical use.

The role of surfaces in flexoelectricity

We develop the relationship between the strain derivative of the mean-inner potential and surface contributions to flexoelectricity, identifying the true surface-specific component of the flexoelectric response of finite samples. Density functional theory calculations on a range of experimentally observed, low energy SrTiO3, MgO, and Si surfaces demonstrate that the mean-inner potential and its contributions to flexoelectricity are sensitive to small differences in surface structure, chemistry, and adsorbates. We also introduce a method to estimate mean-inner potential contributions to flexoelectricity using electron scattering factors and use this approximation to predict total flexoelectric responses for a variety of insulators. Strategies to experimentally disentangle bulk and surface flexoelectric terms are also discussed.

Scientific Realism and Further Underdetermination Challenges

In an earlier article on this journal I argued that the problem of empirical underdetermination can for the largest part be solved by theoretical virtues, and for the remaining part it can be tolerated. Here I confront two further challenges to scientific realism based on underdetermination. First, there are four classes of theories which may seem to be underdetermined even by theoretical virtues. Concerning them I argue that (i) theories produced by trivial permutations and (ii) “equivalent descriptions” are compatible with the truth of standard theories; instead (iii) “as if” versions of standard theories are much worse from the point of view of theoretical virtues; finally (iv) mathematically intertranslatable theories either may become empirically decidable in the future, or can be discriminated by theoretical virtues, or realists may simply plead ignorance about their claims. Secondly, I consider Stanford’s underdetermination with respect unconceived alternatives, arguing that it essentially relies on the pessimistic meta-induction from the falsity of all past theories. Therefore, it can be resisted by (a) considering the radical advancement of present with respect to past science, and (b) arguing with selective realism that past successful theories, even if false, always included some true components.

Robust wavelet-based estimation for varying coefficient dynamic models under long-dependent structures

This paper considers a class of robust estimation problems for varying coefficient dynamic models via wavelet techniques, which can adapt to local features of the underlying functions and has less restriction to the smoothness of the functions. The convergence rates and asymptotic distributions of the robust wavelet-based estimator are established when the design variables are stationary short-range dependent (SRD) and the errors are long-range dependent (LRD). Particularly, a rate of convergence [Formula: see text] in terms of estimation consistency can be achievable when the true components satisfy certain smoothness for a LRD process. Furthermore, an asymptotic property of the proposed estimator is given to indicate the confidence level of our proposed method for varying coefficient models with LRD.

The autoreactivity phenomenon in the pathogenesis of asthma-COPD overlap (ACO)

The modern concept of development of bronchial asthma (BA) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) implies the leading role of immune reactions with the true inflammatory autoimmune pathogenetic components. Aim of the study was to evaluate the autoreactivity in patients with chronic immune-mediated respiratory diseases: BA, COPD, and their combination — ACO. Methods. The study enrolled 155 patients with the average age of 49 ± 17 years old. We modified quantitative ELISA for detection of IgE and IgG4-autoantibodies using commercial tissue antigens of epithelial keratin, type III and VI collagen, myosin and elastin (Sigma, USA), conjugates of monoclonal anti-IgE or anti-IgG4 antibodies and IgE and IgG4 reference reagents (Dr. Fooke, Germany). Results. Concomitant COPD and BA symptoms were accompanied by significantly higher levels of IgE autoAbs to epithelial keratin, type III and VI collagen and myosin and were associated with a higher detection rate of these Abs, especially in severe forms of the disease (50 — 80%). The IgE-autoAbs to myosin increased in individuals with ACO as compared to BA and reached the maximum values in patients with COPD. There was an opposite trend: the frequency of detection and concentration of IgG4-autoAbs decreased with the disease severity. The levels of IgG4-autoAbs to type III and IV collagens and to elastin decreased as the obstruction worsened and were undetectable in patients with COPD and ACO. IgE and IgG4 autoAbs were inversely correlated to type VI collagen, type III collagen, elastin and myosin (r = -0.38; -0.61). The spirometry showed the inverse correlations between the increased IgE-autoAbs to type III collagen and high-speed ventilation parameters (R = -0.79; p = 0.01). So, IgE-autoAbs may be considered a factor of the progressive course of BA in combination with COPD associated with a significant bronchial obstruction. Conclusion. Thus, the detection of IgE and IgG4-AT to tissue antigens of collagen, elastin and myosin can be further used for clinical and immunological monitoring of BA and COPD, especially with their combined phenotype (ACO). The increased levels of IgE-autoAbs can be considered one of the immunological prognostic markers of intense remodeling processes in the bronchial wall. These processes are also confirmed by an increased IgE-mediated immune response to miosine and elastine EG in patients with the severe disease. The developed assay of the level of autoAbs to tissue antigens can be used in the early diagnostics of adverse course of asthma, especially ACO, and can be used as a laboratory criterion of the control over the disease when making decisions on personalized pharmacotherapy and patient management.

Order spectrum analysis enhanced by surrogate test and Vold-Kalman filtering for rotating machinery fault diagnosis under time-varying speed conditions

Rotating machinery signals are usually dominated by rotating frequency harmonics, and the presence of these frequency components or change in their magnitudes indicate health condition. Order spectrum is widely applied in rotating machinery fault feature extraction, because of its capability in intuitive spectral representation of rotating frequency harmonics in order domain. However, some speed non-synchronous components are often present. They show wide-band features in order spectra, and hinder accurate identification of rotating frequency harmonic orders. To address this issue, a scheme is proposed to identify and remove speed non-synchronous components of either constant or time-varying frequency. To this end, surrogate test is generalized through new candidate construction method and nonstationarity based indicator for test criterion, to identify true nonstationary signal components adaptively and eliminate subjective influences. Vold-Kalman filter is used to separate signal components by exploiting its capability in mono-component decomposition of complex nonstationary signals. The proposed method is validated through analyses of both induction motor stator current signals and hydraulic turbine rotor vibration signal. The results demonstrate its advantages over conventional computed order spectrum analysis.

The value of novel ecosystems: Disclosing the ecological quality of quarry lakes

Intense sand and gravel mining has created numerous man-made lakes around the world in the past century. These small quarry lakes (1–50 ha) are usually hydrologically isolated, often deep (6–40 m) and stratify during summer and in cold winters. Due to their small size, these deep man-made lakes are usually not included in the regular monitoring campaigns, e.g. as required for the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Therefore, not much is known about the ecological functioning of these novel ecosystems. During two summers, we determined the macrophyte diversity and measured a range of physico-chemical and biological parameters in 51 quarry lakes in the catchment area of the rivers Meuse and Rhine. We compared the results of this campaign to the chemical and macrophyte sampling as performed for the WFD in the immediate surrounding shallow standing waters. Alpha (local) and beta diversity (regional), and local contribution to beta diversity were calculated for the whole region of which beta diversity was further partitioned into a true species replacement and richness difference component. Quarry lakes contain higher water quality reflected by lower nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentration compared with shallow water bodies. Additionally, quarry lakes contribute significantly to the regional macrophyte diversity pool by harboring distinctly different macrophyte communities (beta diversity — replacement). Specifically quarry lakes with a total phosphorus concentration in the water column below 35 μg P/l contribute most to beta diversity among quarry lakes.Novel ecosystems such as deep quarry lakes are often perceived as less valuable ecosystems, with strong implications regarding their management. Our results show that quarry lakes are in general of better chemical and biological quality compared with shallow standing waters. We therefore call for a more integrated assessment of the quality of quarry lakes and corresponding management strategy of these waters by water managers.

Spectral structures of backward stimulated Brillouin scattering driven by a picosecond laser

Laser plasma interaction (LPI) is an important content in laser plasma related research, and it is one of the key issues related to the success or failure of inertial confinement fusion ignition, and has received extensive attention. In order to suppress the relevant LPI process as much as possible, the major laboratories around the world have developed a variety of beam smoothing methods through decades of research. However, the current understanding and suppression of LPI are still far from enough, and further in-depth studies are still needed. Generally, the research of LPI is based on nanosecond laser driving, and focuses mainly on the effects of the related LPI process caused by nanosecond lasers. However, the LPI processes, such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), etc., occur and develop on a time scale of picoseconds.The comprehensive effect can be studied only on a longer scale of nanosecond. For highly nonlinear LPI processes, the comprehensive effect may be difficult to reflect the real physical laws. The emergence of the picosecond laser has made it possible to study the LPI process in more detail and on a more appropriate time scale. The present research tries to gain an understanding of LPI from a more refined perspective. The experimental research of picosecond laser driving LPI is carried out on the Shenguang-Ⅱ upgrade and picosecond laser facilities. First, a nanosecond laser is used to irradiate a target to generate a large-scale plasma, and a few nanoseconds later, the picosecond laser is injected as an interaction beam to drive the LPI scattering such as SBS and SRS. The spectral signal of backscatter light is measured experimentally by using the method of diffuse reflector. From the research results it is found that the backward signals of the band near the laser wavelength contain, in addition to the true backward SBS component, a large number of interference signals introduced by picosecond laser and nanosecond laser. The interference signal introduced by nanosecond laser can be eliminated by using specific measures, but the interference signal introduced by picosecond laser cannot be eliminated experimentally, which will affect the estimation of the true share of the backward SBS. The comprehensive results show that under different experimental conditions, the backward scatter energy of SBS may be less than half that of the total recorded signals. This result is helpful in further understanding and re-recognizing previous relevant experimental data.

Internal Combustion Engine Fault Diagnosis Method Based MICEEMD-PWVD

As to multi-signals, the figure of time-frequency distribution becomes difficult to understand due to cross-terms in the Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD). At present time, cross-terms suppression of time-frequency analysis is one of the top interests in signal processing, and more and more research had been put on this topic, but the present research on cross-terms suppression exist conflicting problem that these methods couldn’t suppress the cross-terms while holding high time-frequency resolution. A novel method of cross-terms suppression in the WVD based on Complementary Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (CEEMD) was proposed to solve the above problem. Firstly, multi-component signals were decomposed into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) which were single component signal by CEEMD; Secondly, the Mutual Information values of IMFS and original signal were calculated to judge and delete the CEEMD false components; Thirdly, these Wigner-Ville distributions of true component of IMFs were computed; Finally, WVDs of each single component signal were added linearly to reconstruct the WVD of original signal. Test on synthetic data shows the effectiveness of the proposed method, which can suppress the cross-terms while holding high time-frequency resolution. Apply MICEEMD - PWVD in internal combustion engine valve clearance fault diagnosis, useTD-2DPCA method to extract MICEEMD-PWVD time-frequency image feature, then classify the characteristic parameters with the nearest neighbor classifier. The results show that the IC Engine Fault Diagnosis Method Based MICEEMD-PWVD and TD-2DPCA can accurately diagnose IC engine valve fault.

Studying Protein-DNA Interactions by Hydrogen/Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry.

Protein hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) can be used to study interactions of proteins with various ligands, to describe the effects of mutations, or to reveal structural responses of proteins to different experimental conditions. It is often described as a method with virtually no limitations in terms of protein size or sample composition. While this is generally true, there are, however, ligands or buffer components that can significantly complicate the analysis. One such compound, that can make HDX-MS troublesome, is DNA. In this chapter, we will focus on the analysis of protein-DNA interactions, describe the detailed protocol, and point out ways to overcome the complications arising from the presence of DNA.

Collision Tumor Composed of Renal Oncocytoma and Mucinous Tubular and Spindle Cell Carcinoma: Not a Rare Occurrence

Abstract Primary renal collision tumors have been rarely reported in the literature. Our institution reported the first case of a renal collision tumor that comprised oncocytoma and mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma (MTSCC). In this study, upon review of this index case and a second case encountered in our practice, we performed molecular characterization of each component using next-generation sequencing, which did not detect any somatic mutations. In addition, we reviewed resection cases of oncocytomas for previously undetected MTSCC components. While no additional definitive oncocytoma-MTSCC collision tumor cases were identified, 2 cases with entrapped tubules within the central scar of the oncocytoma that possessed some features of MTSCC were encountered, raising the differential diagnosis of oncocytoma-MTSCC collision tumors versus entrapped renal tubules. We propose the following histomorphologic criteria to distinguish a true MTSCC component: (1) expansile mass lesion greater than 0.5 cm; (2) dense proliferation of tubules lined by plump cells; and (3) background of loose myxoid collagenous stroma. In contrast, entrapped tubules tend to form a smaller, stellate-shaped area with atrophic tubules within a dense collagenous stroma. Nevertheless, the occurrence of the 2 described cases provides evidence that the incidence of this collision tumor may not be extremely rare. Therefore, we recommend careful examination and generous sampling of oncocytomas, particularly from the central scarred region or in cases exhibiting atypical gross appearance. Further studies with additional cases are required to better document the relationship and molecular pathogenesis of MTSCC from the central scars of oncocytomas.

“The New Woman and the Manly Art”: Women and Boxing in Nineteenth-Century Canada

On July 27, 1859, “Canada” Kate Clark met two Americans, Nellie Stem and Mary Dwyer, for a pair of prize fights in Fort Erie, Canada West. Beginning their adventure in Buffalo, New York, they rowed their way across the Niagara River to the fighting grounds in the British colony. Like pugilists before them, they stripped to the waist to limit potential grappling in battle. Both the journey and pre-fight fight preparations were tried and true components of mid-nineteenth century prize fighting. Although the press, and later historians, overwhelmingly associated such performances with male combatants, women were indeed active in Canadian pugilistic circles, settling scores, testing their mettle, and displaying their fistic abilities both pre- and post-Confederation. In this article, we begin to untangle the various threads of female pugilism, situating these athletes and performers within the broader literature on both boxing and women's sport in Canada. By examining media reports of female boxers—both in sparring and prize fighting—we hope to provide a historiographic foundation for further discussions of early female pugilism, highlighting the various ways these women upheld and challenged the notion of the “new woman” in Canada.

On the optimization landscape of tensor decompositions

Non-convex optimization with local search heuristics has been widely used in machine learning, achieving many state-of-art results. It becomes increasingly important to understand why they can work for these NP-hard problems on typical data. The landscape of many objective functions in learning has been conjectured to have the geometric property that “all local optima are (approximately) global optima”, and thus they can be solved efficiently by local search algorithms. However, establishing such property can be very difficult. In this paper, we analyze the optimization landscape of the random over-complete tensor decomposition problem, which has many applications in unsupervised learning, especially in learning latent variable models. In practice, it can be efficiently solved by gradient ascent on a non-convex objective. We show that for any small constant $$\varepsilon > 0$$ , among the set of points with function values $$(1+\varepsilon )$$ -factor larger than the expectation of the function, all the local maxima are approximate global maxima. Previously, the best-known result only characterizes the geometry in small neighborhoods around the true components. Our result implies that even with an initialization that is barely better than the random guess, the gradient ascent algorithm is guaranteed to solve this problem. However, achieving such a initialization with random guess would still require super-polynomial number of attempts. Our main technique uses Kac–Rice formula and random matrix theory. To our best knowledge, this is the first time when Kac–Rice formula is successfully applied to counting the number of local optima of a highly-structured random polynomial with dependent coefficients.

Estimation of gravitational curvature through a deterministic approach and spectral combination of space-borne second-order gravitational potential derivatives

SUMMARY Second- and third-order gravitational potential derivatives can be employed for the determination of the medium- and high-frequency parts of the Earth's gravity field. Due to the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer mission, second-order derivatives (SOD) in particular, express currently observed functionals of high accuracy and global coverage. Third-order derivatives (TOD), or gravitational curvature data, provide significant gravity field information when applied regionally. The absence of directly observed TOD data underlines the importance of investigating the relationship between SOD and TOD. This paper discusses the combination of simulated SOD in order to obtain TOD at satellite altitude by applying the spectral combination method. For the determination of TOD integral equations are developed that utilize SOD data at satellite altitude, thus extending the well-known Meissl spectral scheme. The performance of the derived mathematical models is investigated numerically for the test area of Himalayas and the Tibet region. Two different TOD computational strategies are examined. First, we define a deterministic approach that recovers TOD data from noise-free simulated SOD data. Results show that retrieved TOD data at satellite level reach an agreement of the level of 1 × 10−17 m−1s−2 when compared with the true TOD data. Secondly, we propose a new mathematical model based on the spectral combination of integral relations and noisy SOD data with Gaussian noise for recovering TOD. Integral estimators of biased and unbiased types are examined in the cases of SOD data at satellite altitude. The used vertical SOD components show differences between the recovered and true vertical TOD components in the order of 1 × 10−17 m−1s−2 in magnitude, proving the vertical–vertical component of SOD as the best for validating purposes.

Sahrawi Refugees in Algeria: How Do “The People in Exile” Live?

The article is devoted to the study of the conditions of life of the Sahrawi people who live in refugee camps in Algeria since 1970s due to the Western Sahara conflict. The process of political settlement of the Western Sahara conflict has been de facto suspended, however the situation in the Sahrawi refugee camps remains unstable and requires new solutions and international cooperation. The article provides a historical overview of the emergence of the refugee camps in Tindouf and examines existing mechanisms for international supporting the Sahrawi people. The author tends to analyze activities of the UN system organizations and agencies. Annual events within the framework of the FiSahara Film Festival to support Sahrawi are reported. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of Islam in Sahrawi society and the possibilities to benefit from the Islamic identity of the Sahrawi people to the Islamic cooperation and helping for refugees from Muslimmajority states. It is shown that the authorities of the unrecognized Sahara Arab Democratic Republic (the front POLISARIO) create the image of the secular Sahrawi community to overcome Islamophobia and receive humanitarian aid from a wide range of non-governmental organizations, including Christian and secular ones. At the same time, the true religious component of refugees’ life is hidden from the international community.

Erectile dysfunction: new technologies and approaches in diagnostics and treatment

The analysis of literature data (PubMed and RSCI databases) is presented, which is devoted to new approaches and technologies in the diagnosis and treatment of various forms of erectile dysfunction (ED). ED is a very significant clinical and social problem at the present stage, which has a significant negative impact on the quality of life of men. The importance and relevance of the ED problem dictate the need to search for and develop new, more effective technologies for ED verification and treatment. This review study confirms the fact that the main diagnostic task in ED is to establish its true etiological component. A rational approach is to use research methods with proven effectiveness since this circumstance will ensure effective treatment of ED. Currently, there is a need to create a personalized diagnostic algorithm aimed at assessing the state of the cardiovascular system, endothelium, androgen status, angioarchitectonics, etc. This will increase the effectiveness and safety of treatment for men suffering from various forms of ED. X-ray endovascular, cellular and new technologies in the field of falloprosthesis are very promising with encouraging primary results.

Emerging Phenotype of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2–associated Pancreatitis

Emerging Phenotype of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2–associated Pancreatitis