Recovering Social Networks from Individual Attributes

One of the most important challenges of network analysis remains the scarcity of reliable information on existing connection structures. This work explores theoretical and empirical methods of inferring directed networks from nodes attributes and from functions of these attributes that are computed for connected nodes. We discuss the conditions, under which an underlying connection structure can be (probabilistically) recovered, and propose a Bayesian recovery algorithm. In an empirical application, we test the algorithm on the data from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs.

Mauve Stingers (Pelagia noctiluca) as carriers of the bacterial fish pathogen Tenacibaculum maritimum

Aggregations or blooms of jellyfish are increasingly problematic for the aquaculture industry. Jellyfishassociated mass mortalities of sea-caged fish are most often caused by swarms of oceanic species like Pelagia noctiluca. These relatively large jellyfish get carried by tides and currents onto fish cages, causing them to break up into pathogenic nematocyst-containing pieces that are capable of passing through the mesh of the cages. The main effect on fish is gill damage leading to respiratory distress, but the lesions may also be compounded by bacterial infection, Tenacibaculum maritimum being one of the pathogens involved. In our previous study, we highlighted the ability of the jellyfish Phialella quadrata to carry this important pathogen. However, since these small jellyfish were collected around sea-cages of infected salmon, it was not possible to determine if the jellyfish or the fish themselves were the original source of the bacteria. Results of the current study demonstrate that these filamentous bacteria are present on the mouth of P. noctiluca that had no previous contact with farmed fish. These new results highlight the fact that some Cnidarian species harbour T. maritimum and suggest that jellyfishmight be a natural host for these bacteria whose environmental reservoir has not yet been determined.

Molecular dynamics and principal components analysis of human telomeric quadruplex multimers.

Guanine-rich DNA repeat sequences located at the terminal ends of chromosomal DNA can fold in a sequence-dependent manner into G-quadruplex structures, notably the terminal 150–200 nucleotides at the 3' end, which occur as a single-stranded DNA overhang. The crystal structures of quadruplexes with two and four human telomeric repeats show an all-parallel-stranded topology that is readily capable of forming extended stacks of such quadruplex structures, with external TTA loops positioned to potentially interact with other macromolecules. This study reports on possible arrangements for these quadruplex dimers and tetramers, which can be formed from 8 or 16 telomeric DNA repeats, and on a methodology for modeling their interactions with small molecules. A series of computational methods including molecular dynamics, free energy calculations, and principal components analysis have been used to characterize the properties of these higher-order G-quadruplex dimers and tetramers with parallel-stranded topology. The results confirm the stability of the central G-tetrads, the individual quadruplexes, and the resulting multimers. Principal components analysis has been carried out to highlight the dominant motions in these G-quadruplex dimer and multimer structures. The TTA loop is the most flexible part of the model and the overall multimer quadruplex becoming more stable with the addition of further G-tetrads. The addition of a ligand to the model confirms the hypothesis that flat planar chromophores stabilize G-quadruplex structures by making them less flexible.

Platinum resistant cancer cells conserve sensitivity to BH3 domains and obatoclax induced mitochondrial apoptosis

Resistance to cisplatin chemotherapy remains a major hurdle preventing effective treatment of many solid cancers. BAX and BAK are pivotal regulators of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, however little is known regarding their regulation in cisplatin resistant cells. Cisplatin induces DNA damage in both sensitive and resistant cells, however the latter exhibits a failure to initiate N-terminal exposure of mitochondrial BAK or mitochondrial SMAC release. Both phenotypes are highly sensitive to mitochondrial permeabilisation induced by exogenous BH3 domain peptides derived from BID, BIM, NOXA (which targets MCL-1 and A1), and there is no significant change in their prosurvival BCL2 protein expression profiles. Obatoclax, a small molecule inhibitor of pro-survival BCL-2 family proteins including MCL-1, decreases cell viability irrespective of platinum resistance status across a panel of cell lines selected for oxaliplatin resistance. In summary, selection for platinum resistance is associated with a block of mitochondrial death signalling upstream of BAX/BAK activation. Conservation of sensitivity to BH3 domain induced apoptosis can be exploited by agents such as obatoclax, which directly target the mitochondria and BCL-2 family.

Residual stress due to curing can initiate damage in porous bone cement: experimental and theoretical evidence

Residual stress due to shrinkage of polymethylmethacrylate bone cement after polymerisation is possibly one factor capable of initiating cracks in the mantle of cemented hip replacements. No relationship between residual stress and observed cracking of cement has yet been demonstrated. To investigate if any relationship exists, a physical model has been developed which allows direct observation of damage in the cement layer on the femoral side of total hip replacement. The model contains medial and lateral cement layers between a bony surface and a metal stem; the tubular nature of the cement mantle is ignored. Five specimens were prepared and examined for cracking using manual tracing of stained cracks, observed by transmission microscopy: cracks were located and measured using image analysis. A mathematical approach for the prediction of residual stress due to shrinkage was developed which uses the thermal history of the material to predict when stress-locking occurs, and estimates subsequent thermal stress. The residual stress distribution of the cement layer in the physical model was then calculated using finite element analysis. Results show maximum tensile stresses normal to the observed crack directions, suggesting a link between residual stress and preload cracking. The residual stress predicted depends strongly on the definition of the reference temperature for stress-locking. The highest residual stresses (4-7 MPa) are predicted for shrinkage from maximum temperature, in this case, magnitudes are sufficiently high to initiate cracks when the influence of stress raisers such as pores or interdigitation at the bone/cement interface are taken into account (up to 24 MPa when calculating stress around a pore according to the method of Harrigan and Harris (J. Biomech. 24(11) (1991) 1047-1058)). We conclude that the damage accumulation failure scenario begins before weight-bearing due to cracking induced by residual stress around pores or stress raisers. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Politics and Literary Prizes:A Case Study of Spanish America and the Premio Cervantes

The Premio Cervantes, one of the most prestigious prizes awarded for literature in the Spanish language, was established in 1976 as Spain negotiated the Transition to democracy in the post-Franco era. This article examines the context in which the prize was created and subsequently used to negotiate inter-continental relations between Spain and Latin America. The article highlights the exchanges of economic, political and symbolic capital which took place between the Spanish State, its representative, the King of Spain, and winning Latin American authors. Significantly, the involvement of the Spanish State is shown to bring political capital into play in a way that commercial prizes do not. In so doing, the Premio Cervantes gives those formerly at the colonial periphery the opportunity to speak out and negotiate the terms of a new kind of relationship with the former colonial center.

THE INTERSTELLAR-MEDIUM

The interstellar medium is the tenuous gas that fills the space between the stars of our Galaxy. Though insignificant optically, its variety and richness are revealed in observations at other wavelengths. From relatively dense clouds of gas new stars are formed. The deme clouds show, through infrared and millimetre wave measurements, a complex chemistry. We describe in particular how an understanding of the chemistry brings with it information about the nature of the clouds and how they are evolving. We show how the techniques that have been developed for interstellar clouds may also be applied to circumstellar environments and to ejecta from transient dramatic events such as novae and supernovae.

Adolescent part-time work and heavy drinking in Finland

Aims To examine the relationship between part-time work and heavy drinking among Finnish adolescents.