Circulating tumor cell detection in high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer

Purpose The detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) provides important prognostic information in men with metastatic prostate cancer. We aim to determine the rate of detection of CTCs in patients with high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer using the CellSearch® method. Method Samples of peripheral blood (7.5 mL) were drawn from 36 men with newly diagnosed high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer, prior to any initiation of therapy and analyzed for CTCs using the CellSearch® method. Results The median age was 70 years, median PSA was 14.1, and the median Gleason score was 9. The median 5-year risk of progression of disease using a validated nomogram was 39 %. Five out of 36 patients (14 %, 95 % CI 5–30 %) had CTCs detected in their circulation. Four patients had only 1 CTC per 7.5 mL of blood detected. One patient had 3 CTCs per 7.5 mL of blood detected, which included a circulating tumor microemboli. Both on univariate analysis and multivariate analysis, there were no correlations found between CTC positivity and the classic prognostic factors including PSA, Gleason score, T-stage and age. Conclusion This study demonstrates that patients with high-risk, non-metastatic prostate cancer present infrequently with small number of CTCs in peripheral blood. This finding is consistent with the limited literature available in this setting. Other CTC isolation and detection technologies with improved sensitivity and specificity may enable detection of CTCs with mesenchymal phenotypes, although none as yet have been validated for clinical use. Newer assays are emerging for detection of new putative biomarkers for prostate cancer. Correlation of disease control outcomes with CTC detection will be important.

Estimation of cosmological parameters using adaptive importance sampling

We present a Bayesian sampling algorithm called adaptive importance sampling or population Monte Carlo (PMC), whose computational workload is easily parallelizable and thus has the potential to considerably reduce the wall-clock time required for sampling, along with providing other benefits. To assess the performance of the approach for cosmological problems, we use simulated and actual data consisting of CMB anisotropies, supernovae of type Ia, and weak cosmological lensing, and provide a comparison of results to those obtained using state-of-the-art Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). For both types of data sets, we find comparable parameter estimates for PMC and MCMC, with the advantage of a significantly lower wall-clock time for PMC. In the case of WMAP5 data, for example, the wall-clock time scale reduces from days for MCMC to hours using PMC on a cluster of processors. Other benefits of the PMC approach, along with potential difficulties in using the approach, are analyzed and discussed.

Bayesian model comparison in cosmology with Population Monte Carlo

We use Bayesian model selection techniques to test extensions of the standard flat LambdaCDM paradigm. Dark-energy and curvature scenarios, and primordial perturbation models are considered. To that end, we calculate the Bayesian evidence in favour of each model using Population Monte Carlo (PMC), a new adaptive sampling technique which was recently applied in a cosmological context. The Bayesian evidence is immediately available from the PMC sample used for parameter estimation without further computational effort, and it comes with an associated error evaluation. Besides, it provides an unbiased estimator of the evidence after any fixed number of iterations and it is naturally parallelizable, in contrast with MCMC and nested sampling methods. By comparison with analytical predictions for simulated data, we show that our results obtained with PMC are reliable and robust. The variability in the evidence evaluation and the stability for various cases are estimated both from simulations and from data. For the cases we consider, the log-evidence is calculated with a precision of better than 0.08. Using a combined set of recent CMB, SNIa and BAO data, we find inconclusive evidence between flat LambdaCDM and simple dark-energy models. A curved Universe is moderately to strongly disfavoured with respect to a flat cosmology. Using physically well-motivated priors within the slow-roll approximation of inflation, we find a weak preference for a running spectral index. A Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum is weakly disfavoured. With the current data, tensor modes are not detected; the large prior volume on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r results in moderate evidence in favour of r=0.

Solving a part classification problem using simulated annealing-like hybrid

Part classification and coding is still considered as laborious and time-consuming exercise. Keeping in view, the crucial role, which it plays, in developing automated CAPP systems, the attempts have been made in this article to automate a few elements of this exercise using a shape analysis model. In this study, a 24-vector directional template is contemplated to represent the feature elements of the parts (candidate and prototype). Various transformation processes such as deformation, straightening, bypassing, insertion and deletion are embedded in the proposed simulated annealing (SA)-like hybrid algorithm to match the candidate part with their prototype. For a candidate part, searching its matching prototype from the information data is computationally expensive and requires large search space. However, the proposed SA-like hybrid algorithm for solving the part classification problem considerably minimizes the search space and ensures early convergence of the solution. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated by an example part. The proposed approach is applied for the classification of 100 candidate parts and their prototypes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

基于知识的计算机辅助工艺设计系统

介绍了一个较为通用的基于知识的计算机辅助工艺设计（ＣＡＰＰ）系统结构，包括知识表达和关联函数，知识库管理，任务分解与综合策略，解释机制，与其他系统的接口。

分布式问题求解在CIMS中的应用

本文介绍了一个应用于 CIMS 的分布式智能系统,该系统将 CAD,CAPP,CAM 有机地集成为一体.由于采用了分布式问题求解技术、通讯技术,使在不同地理位置上的计算机性能和资源得以充分发挥和利用.多个处理结点组成的基于黑板结构的分布式智能系统,可以高速、并行地执行分散在不同结点的知识源,提高系统的灵活性和处理能力.运行在三个结点(可扩充多个)的系统大体相同.主要包括:知识获取子系统、前端处理(负责接收与发送)、任务的分解、任务的评估与分配、任务的综合、后端处理(子问题求解)模块以及解释子系统.目前该系统已在由以太网连接的 SUN 计算机上运行,分布式智能系统本身由 C 语言写成,被集成的子系统由 C 和 FORTRAN 两种语言写成.

船体分段装配计算机辅助工艺设计系统研究与开发

为促进计算机辅助工艺设计系统向着集成化的方向发展，本文提出采用国际上先进的基于范例的推理（CBR）方法实现装配工艺的思路。本文重点研究利用CBR方法生成装配工艺中的关键技术，并以船体分段装配为背景利用基于范例推理的方法，开发出渤海造船厂计算机集成制造系统中的计算机辅助工艺设计系统，为船厂船体工艺设计提供有效的手段。在计算机辅助装配工艺设计子系统中，重点介绍了装配工艺在计算机内的表示和存储方法以及基于特征的索引和检索机制的建立（利用关系型数据库对范例分层存贮，建立工艺范例库）；根据相应的工艺特征，建立了最近邻法和归纳法两种索引方式；运用相联检索和层次检索相结合的检索方式，提供了方便灵活的检索功能；对于不满足用户需求的工艺范例，在生成装配工艺过程中系统提供批量统一修改或单个修改的方式，实现一定程度地机器自动修改。同时对维护工艺范例库提供了友好的人机界面。并且由于系统能够扩充工艺范例数据库，系统的适应性将逐渐增强。对于工艺计划子系统采用基于规则的方法表示工艺知识，结合工时定额和材料定额计算公式，自动生成工艺计划和工艺项目文件。至今，在国内只有几例采用CBR方法的CAPP系统，无更多的经验可以借鉴，本系统是对CBR方法在CAPP中的应用的一种尝试。

分布式问题求解系统及其在CIMS中的应用

分布式问题求解(Distributed Problem Solving)系统是分布式人工智能系统的一个十分重要的分支，它能够完成不同解题系统之间的合作解题，具有灵活、处理速度快、可靠性高、资源共享等优点，存在着广泛的应用领域。本论文详细介绍了一个应用于CIMS领域问题求解的分布式智能系统-分布式问题求解（DPS）系统的设计过程。该系统是由多个处理结点组成的基于黑板的分布式智能系统，它将CIMS中的CAD、CAPP、CAM有机地集成为一体，可以并行地执行分散在不同结点的知识源，并通过合适的控制策略通讯机制，使它们合作解题，同时使不同地理位置上的计算机性能得到充分发挥和利用。系统中每个结点的结构大体相同，主要包括：知识获取子系统、结点控制系统（包括负责接收与发送信息的前编处理模块、任务分解模块、任务综合模块、任务评估与分配模块、子任务调度与结果处理模块），子任务求解系统及黑板解释系统。该系统已在由以本网连接的SUV计算机上运行，在三个机器结点间实现合作解题，应用于CIMS领域问题求解，效果良好。

Towards Data Management Planning Support for Research Data

Görzig, H., Engel, F., Brocks, H., Vogel, T. & Hemmje, M. (2015, August). Towards Data Management Planning Support for Research Data. Paper presented at the ASE International Conference on Data Science, Stanford, United States of America.

A comparison of Diamond Forrester and coronary calcium scores as gatekeepers for investigations of stable chest pain

To determine if calcium scores (CS) could act as a more effective gatekeeper than Diamond Forrester (DF) in the assessment of patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). A sub-study of the Cardiac CT for the Assessment of Chest Pain and Plaque (CAPP) study, a randomised control trial evaluating the cost-effectiveness of cardiac CT in symptomatic patients with stable chest pain. Stable pain was defined as troponin negative pain without symptoms of unstable angina. 250 patients undergoing cardiac CT had both DF scores and CS calculated, with the accuracy of both evaluated against CT coronary angiogram. Criteria given in UK national guidelines were compared. Of the 250 patients, 4 withdrew. 140 (57 %) patients were male. The mean DF was 47.8 and mean CS 172.5. Of the 144 patients with non-anginal pain 19.4 % had significant disease (>50 % stenosis). In general the DF over estimated the presence of CAD whereas the CS reclassified patients to lower risk groups, with 91 in the high risk DF category compared to 26 in the CS. Both receiver operating curve and McNemar Bowker test analysis suggested the DF was less accurate in the prediction of CAD compared to CS [Formula: see text] Projected downstream investigations were also calculated, with the cost per number of significant stenoses identified cheaper with the CS criteria. Patients with suspected stable CAD are more accurately risk stratified by CS compared to the traditional DF. CS was more successful in the prediction of significant stenosis and appears to be more effective at targeting clinical resources to those patients that are in need of them.

Enfoque del paciente con trastornos del sueño

La importancia del sueño y las patologías relacionadas con el mismo son ampliamente reconocidas en el campo de la medicina y la neurología, sin embargo la mayoría de neurólogos dedican muy poco tiempo al estudio de estas entidades y muy raramente durante la valoración de los pacientes se indaga acerca de la presencia de trastornos relacionados con el sueño. Esto es sorprendente si tenemos en cuenta que pasamos casi un tercio de la vida durmiendo, además de la alta incidencia de trastornos de sueño en la población general. A continuación revisaremos los principales trastornos del sueño, su diagnóstico y tratamiento.

Política exterior de Canadá en el ártico: entre la seguridad nacional y la prosperidad económica (2006-2011)

En el año 2010 el gobierno de Canadá pública su estrategia de política exterior hacia el Ártico, en la cual manifiesta que esta región es una de las principales prioridades del Gobierno de Stephen Harper en materia de política exterior. Así las cosas, a partir de la perspectiva teórica del realismo neoclásico la investigación se enfoca en analizar por qué la seguridad nacional y la prosperidad económica son los principales intereses de este Gobierno en la zona.

Andalucía : la Educación General Básica en la Autonomía andaluza.

Se presentan algunos grupos de renovación pedagógica que surgen en Andalucía cuyo objetivo común es trabajar para transformar la escuela y los métodos de enseñanza desde un punto de vista liberador coordinando acciones pedagógicas. Estos grupos son: el Colectivo Andaluz de Pedagogía Popular (CAPP), los grupos pedagógicos de Jaén (MCEP), y el CREA de Málaga, colectivo de Renovación Educativa.