Highly accurate detection of ovarian cancer using CA125 but limited improvement with serum matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry profiling

Objectives: Our objective was to test the performance of CA125 in classifying serum samples from a cohort of malignant and benign ovarian cancers and age-matched healthy controls and to assess whether combining information from matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight profiling could improve diagnostic performance. Materials and Methods: Serum samples from women with ovarian neoplasms and healthy volunteers were subjected to CA125 assay and MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS) profiling. Models were built from training data sets using discriminatory MALDI MS peaks in combination with CA125 values and tested their ability to classify blinded test samples. These were compared with models using CA125 threshold levels from 193 patients with ovarian cancer, 290 with benign neoplasm, and 2236 postmenopausal healthy controls. Results: Using a CA125 cutoff of 30 U/mL, an overall sensitivity of 94.8% (96.6% specificity) was obtained when comparing malignancies versus healthy postmenopausal controls, whereas a cutoff of 65 U/mL provided a sensitivity of 83.9% (99.6% specificity). High classification accuracies were obtained for early-stage cancers (93.5% sensitivity). Reasons for high accuracies include recruitment bias, restriction to postmenopausal women, and inclusion of only primary invasive epithelial ovarian cancer cases. The combination of MS profiling information with CA125 did not significantly improve the specificity/accuracy compared with classifications on the basis of CA125 alone. Conclusions: We report unexpectedly good performance of serum CA125 using threshold classification in discriminating healthy controls and women with benign masses from those with invasive ovarian cancer. This highlights the dependence of diagnostic tests on the characteristics of the study population and the crucial need for authors to provide sufficient relevant details to allow comparison. Our study also shows that MS profiling information adds little to diagnostic accuracy. This finding is in contrast with other reports and shows the limitations of serum MS profiling for biomarker discovery and as a diagnostic tool

New high technology product development: The case of light emitting diodes

New high technology products usher in novel possibilities to transform the design, production and use of buildings. The high technology companies which design, develop and introduce these new products by generating and applying novel scientific and technical knowledge are faced with significant market uncertainty, technological uncertainty and competitive volatility. These characteristics present unique innovation challenges compared to low- and medium technology companies. This paper reports on an ongoing Construction Knowledge Exchange funded project which is tracking, real time, the new product development process of a new family of light emitting diode (LEDs) technologies. LEDs offer significant functional and environmental performance improvements over incumbent tungsten and halogen lamps. Hitherto, the use of energy efficient, low maintenance LEDs has been constrained by technical limitations. Rapid improvements in basic science and technology mean that for the first time LEDs can provide realistic general and accent lighting solutions. Interim results will be presented on the complex, emergent new high technology product development processes which are being revealed by the integrated supply chain of a LED module manufacture, a luminaire (light fitting) manufacture and end user involved in the project.

Production and quality assessment of a smoked tuna (Euthynnus affinis) product

The sensory, instrumental, and chemical profile of a smoked tuna product comparable and competitive to smoked turkey and pork was studied, based on four experimental factors. Despite their different brining times, all brined, sliced portions of tuna were assessed by panelists as quite acceptable products in terms of firmness, juiciness, color, and saltiness. Protein denaturation seemed to be affected by the brining time. Lipid oxidation seemed quite extensive; the ratio of C22:6n-3/C16:0 was decreased at 15% and 20%. Histamine content was between 3.7 mg/ 100 g and 7.5 mg/100 g. After 3 mo in refrigeration, the aerobic bacteria was 19.10^5 to 250.10^6 in contrast to the unprocessed samples at 28.10^5.

Random orthogonal matrix simulation

This paper introduces a method for simulating multivariate samples that have exact means, covariances, skewness and kurtosis. We introduce a new class of rectangular orthogonal matrix which is fundamental to the methodology and we call these matrices L matrices. They may be deterministic, parametric or data specific in nature. The target moments determine the L matrix then infinitely many random samples with the same exact moments may be generated by multiplying the L matrix by arbitrary random orthogonal matrices. This methodology is thus termed “ROM simulation”. Considering certain elementary types of random orthogonal matrices we demonstrate that they generate samples with different characteristics. ROM simulation has applications to many problems that are resolved using standard Monte Carlo methods. But no parametric assumptions are required (unless parametric L matrices are used) so there is no sampling error caused by the discrete approximation of a continuous distribution, which is a major source of error in standard Monte Carlo simulations. For illustration, we apply ROM simulation to determine the value-at-risk of a stock portfolio.

Children playing branded video games: The impact of interactivity on product placement effectiveness

This study extends product placement research by testing the impact of interactivity on product placement effectiveness. The results suggest that when children cannot interact with the placements in video games, perceptual fluency is the underlying mechanism leading to positive affect. Therefore, the effects are only evident in a stimulus-based choice where the same stimulus is provided as a cue. However, when children have the opportunity to interact with the placements in video games, they may be influenced by conceptual fluency. Thus, placements are still effective in a memory-based choice where no stimulus is provided as a cue. Keywords: Perceptual fluency; Conceptual fluency; Video games; Interactivity; Children; Product placement

A study of the ethene-ozone reaction with photoelectron spectroscopy: measurement of product branching ratios and atmospheric implications

The ozone-ethene reaction has been investigated at low pressure in a flow-tube interfaced to a u.v. photoelectron spectrometer. Photoelectron spectra recorded as a function of reaction time have been used to estimate partial pressures of the reagents and products, using photoionization cross-sections for selected photoelectron bands of the reagents and products, which have been measured separately. Product yields compare favourably with results of other studies, and the production of oxygen and acetaldehyde have been measured as a function of time for the first time. A reaction scheme developed for the ozone-ethene reaction has been used to simulate the reagents and products as a function of time. The results obtained are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. For each of the observed products, the simulations allow the main reaction (or reactions) for production of that product to be established. The product yields have been used in a global model to estimate their global annual emissions in the atmosphere. Of particular interest are the calculated global annual emissions of formaldehyde (0.96 ± 0.10 Tg) and formic acid, (0.05 ± 0.01 Tg) which are estimated as 0.04% and 0.7% of the total annual emission respectively.

The Matrix

Review and critical reflection on 'The Matrix', in relation to questions of genre, aesthetics, representation, and cultural and industrial contexts.