OBJECTIVES: To investigate and replicate a multisystem model of biological risk, or allostatic load, in a sample of generally healthy older adults. METHODS: Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) was applied to data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n = 726). Blood samples were taken at a physical examination. Three markers of ...

A new "multiple-interaction model" for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) adsorption to a specific surface containing saccharide and alkanesulfonate ligands is proposed. The model suggests that there are interactions of the saccharide component beyond electrostatic interactions of alkanesulfonate component that both influence the LDL adsorption process. This concept of multiple interactions between ...

Equilibrium partition coefficients of organic chemicals from water to an organism or its tissues are typically estimated by the total lipid content in combination with the octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow). This estimation method can cause systematic errors if (1) different lipid types have different sorptive capacities, (2) nonlipid components such ...

Single-particle cryo-EM is a powerful approach to determine the structure of large macromolecules and assemblies thereof in many cases at subnanometer resolution. It has become popular to refine or flexibly fit atomic models into density maps derived from cryo-EM experiments. These density maps are typically significantly lower in resolution than ...

Site-specific glycosylation (SSG) of glycoproteins remains a considerable challenge and limits further progress in the areas of proteomics and glycomics. Effective methods require new approaches in sample preparation, detection, and data analysis. While the field has advanced in sample preparation and detection, automated data analysis remains an important goal. A ...

Contact rates and patterns among individuals in a geographic area drive transmission of directly-transmitted pathogens, making it essential to understand and estimate contacts for simulation of disease dynamics. Under the uniform mixing assumption, one of two mechanisms is typically used to describe the relation between contact rate and population density: ...

This paper investigates the impact of low cost traffic engineering measures (LCTEMs) on the improvement of road safety in urban areas. A number of such measures were considered, such as speed humps, woonerfs, raised intersections and other traffic calming measures, which have been implemented on one-way, one-lane roads in the ...

Abstract We analyze a stochastic quantitative genetic model for the joint dynamics of population size N and evolution of a multidimensional mean phenotype [Formula: see text] under density-dependent selection. This generalizes our previous theories of evolution in fluctuating environments to include density-dependent (but frequency-independent) selection on quantitative characters. We assume ...

Divergence estimators based on direct approximation of density ratios without going through separate approximation of numerator and denominator densities have been successfully applied to machine learning tasks that involve distribution comparison such as outlier detection, transfer learning, and two-sample homogeneity test. However, since density-ratio functions often possess high fluctuation, divergence ...

Control sera used as evaluation samples in external quality control of HDL-C and LDL-C sometimes show disparities in results between direct methods differing in reaction principles. As a result, the present standardization status is unclear. In 2008, we investigated the present status of standardization of HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG measurement ...

Background: The utility of high-resolution MS (HRMS) with post-acquisition data mining in DMPK goes much further than the now established approach to simultaneously acquire quantitative and qualitative information for lead compounds at the discovery stage. Indeed, HRMS has promise for addressing multiple complex drug-development applications in a single experiment. In ...

We propose a new method for a supervised online estimation of probabilistic discriminative models for classification tasks. The method estimates the class distributions from a stream of data in the form of Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). The reconstructive updates of the distributions are based on the recently proposed online kernel ...

OBJECTIVES: To identify the meteorological drivers of dengue vector density and determine high- and low-risk transmission zones for dengue prevention and control in Cairns, Australia. METHODS: Weekly adult female Ae. aegypti data were obtained from 79 double sticky ovitraps (SOs) located in Cairns for the period September 2007-May 2012. Maximum temperature, ...

The kernel-smoothed density-ratio or 'relative risk' function for planar point data is a useful tool for examining disease rates over a certain geographical region. Instrumental to the quality of the resulting risk surface estimate is the choice of bandwidth for computation of the required numerator and denominator densities. The challenge ...

Recovery of overexploited marine populations has been slow, and most remain below target biomass levels. A key question is whether this is due to insufficient reductions in harvest rates or the erosion of population resilience. Using a global meta-analysis of overfished stocks, we find that resilience of those stocks subjected ...

In this paper, we propose a class of Box-Cox transformation regression models with multidimensional random effects for analyzing multivariate responses for individual patient data in meta-analysis. Our modeling formulation uses a multivariate normal response meta-analysis model with multivariate random effects, in which each response is allowed to have its own ...

Methods to characterize chronic exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) can help to clarify potential health effects. Since UFP are not routinely monitored in North America, spatiotemporal models are one potential exposure assessment methodology. Portable condensation particle counters were used to measure particle number concentrations (PNC) to develop a land use ...

Visceral leishmaniasis, or kala-azar, is recognised as a serious emerging public health problem in India. In this study, environmental parameters, such as land surface temperature (LST) and renormalised difference vegetation indices (RDVI), were used to delineate the association between environmental variables and Phlebotomus argentipes abundance in a representative endemic region ...

Green infrastructure approaches have attracted increased attention from local governments as a way to lower flood risk and provide an array of other environmental services. The peer-reviewed literature, however, offers few estimates of the economic impacts of such approaches at the watershed scale. We estimate the avoided flood damages and ...

Abstract Background: The implementation of national and international guidelines is beginning to standardise clinical practice. However, since many guidelines have decision limits based on laboratory tests, there is an urgent need to ensure that different laboratories obtain the same analytical result on any sample. A scientifically-based quality control process will ...

Because of the large-scale destruction of Borneo's rainforests on mineral soils, tropical peat-swamp forests (TPSFs) are increasingly essential for conserving remnant biodiversity, particularly in the lowlands where the majority of habitat conversion has occurred. Consequently, effective strategies for biodiversity conservation are required, which rely on accurate population density and distribution ...

Biochemical compositional analysis of microbial biomass is a useful tool that can provide insight into the behaviour of an organism and its adaptational response to changes in its environment. To some extent, it reflects the physiological and metabolic status of the organism. Conventional methods to estimate biochemical composition often employ ...

Trissolcus basalis has been used as a biological control agent of its main host, Nezara viridula, in many countries. However, estimations of its functional and numerical responses in the field are lacking. We estimated the density of N. viridula eggs, the proportion of parasitized N. viridula eggs, and the number ...

Microalgae oil has been identified as a reliable resource for biodiesel production due to its high lipid productivity and potential cultivation in non-fertile locations. However, high scale production of microalgae based biodiesel depends on the optimization of the entire process to be economically feasible. The selected strain, medium, harvesting methods, ...

Dynamic model densities according to Mondal et al. [(2012), Acta Cryst. A68, 568-581] are presented for independent atom models (IAM), IAMs after high-order refinements (IAM-HO), invariom (INV) models and multipole (MP) models of α-glycine, DL-serine, L-alanine and Ala-Tyr-Ala at T ≃ 20 K. Each dynamic model density is used as prior ...

This paper proposes a procedure which evaluates clusters of traffic accident and organizes them according to their significance. The standard kernel density estimation was extended by statistical significance testing of the resulting clusters of the traffic accidents. This allowed us to identify the most important clusters within each section. They ...

SUMMARY Japan experienced dengue outbreaks vectored by Aedes albopictus during the Second World War. The probable vector density that caused the largest dengue outbreak in Nagasaki in 1942 was estimated using a mathematical simulation model. The estimated vector density was 15·0-558·0 per person when various assumptions of uncertain parameters were ...

This study examines the effect of situational variables on whether third parties intervene in conflicts in barroom settings, and whether they are aggressive or not when they intervene. Based on research on bystander intervention in emergencies, we hypothesized that third parties would be most likely to become involved in incidents ...

OBJECTIVES: To systematically evaluate the cost-effectiveness of screening and treatment of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH). METHODS: An extensive search strategy using MeSH terms was used to search Medline, Embase, EBM review (includes databases such as the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination database), the NHS Economic-Evaluation Database, the HTA database, the Cochrane ...

A negative relationship between population growth and population density (direct density dependence) is necessary for population regulation and is assumed in most models of harvested populations. Experimental tests for density dependence are lacking for large-bodied, harvested fish because of the difficulty of manipulating population density over large areas. We studied ...

The pilot field studies here presented are part of a long-term research program aimed to develop a cost-effective sterile insect technique (SIT) methodology to suppress Aedes albopictus (Skuse) populations. Aedes albopictus is a mosquito species mainly developing in man-made containers and with an island-like urban and suburban distribution. These two ...

BACKGROUND:: In vitro observations support the lipid sink theory of therapeutic action by confirming the capacity of lipid emulsions to successfully uptake bupivacaine from aqueous media. However, competing hypotheses and some in/ex vivo small animal studies suggest that a metabolic or positive inotropic effect underlies the dramatic effects of lipid ...

Abundance and population density are fundamental pieces of information for population ecology and species conservation, but they are difficult to estimate for rare and elusive species. Mark--resight models are popular for estimating population abundance because they are less invasive and expensive than traditional mark-recapture. However, density estimation using mark-resight is ...

Abstract Density-dependent selection is one of earliest topics of joint interest to both ecologists and evolutionary biologists and thus occupies an important position in the histories of these disciplines. This joint interest is driven by the fact that density-dependent selection is the simplest form of feedback between an ecological effect ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Geographic variables play an important role in the study of epidemics. The role of one such variable, population density, in the spread of influenza is controversial. Prior studies have tested for such a role using arbitrary thresholds for population density above or below which places are hypothesized to ...

Under stress conditions, microalgae are known to accumulate large amounts of neutral lipids and carbohydrates, which can be used for biofuel production. However, on-line measurement of microalgal biochemical composition is a difficult task which makes the microalgal process rather difficult to manage. In this paper, we propose a so called ...

A size and distance-based technique was used to assess the distribution, abundance and composition of floating marine debris in the northeast Indian Ocean. Densities of floating litter (>1cm) were greater and more variable in the Straits of Malacca (578±219itemskm(-2)) than in oceanic waters of the Bay of Bengal (8.8±1.4itemskm(-2)). The ...

Estimating population densities of key species is crucial for many conservation programs. Density estimates provide baseline data and enable monitoring of population size. Several different survey methods are available, and the choice of method depends on the species and study aims. Few studies have compared the accuracy and efficiency of ...

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and statins have been among the top three most prescribed medicines in Belgium for more than a decade. Multiple demand-side measures have been introduced to improve rational prescribing generally, as well as for these two classes. Objectives: First, assessing the influence of general and specific ...

Population size and landscape connectivity are key determinants of population viability, yet no methods exist for simultaneously estimating density and connectivity parameters. Recently developed spatial capture--recapture (SCR) models provide a framework for estimating density of animal populations but thus far have not been used to study connectivity. Rather, all applications ...

The ring-current aromaticity of the bicalicene molecule arises, in spite of the 16 π carbon perimeter, from strong local diatropic circulations on the two pentagonal rings, as shown by current-density maps computed at the ipsocentric RHF/6-311G** and DFT/6-311G** levels of theory. Conjugated-circuit models cannot capture this pattern of circulation as ...

Motivation: Large amounts of biological network data exist for many species. Analogous to sequence comparison, network comparison aims to provide biological insight. Graphlet-based methods are proving to be useful in this respect. Recently some doubt has arisen concerning the applicability of graphlet-based measures to low edge density networks-in particular that ...

Host condition is often likely to influence parasite virulence. Furthermore, condition may often be correlated with host density, and therefore, it is important to understand the role of density-dependent virulence (DDV). We examine the consequences of DDV to the evolution of parasites in both seasonal and non-seasonal environments. In particular, ...

In this letter, we consider a density-level detection (DLD) problem by a coefficient-based classification framework with ℓ(1)-regularizer and data-dependent hypothesis spaces. Although the data-dependent characteristic of the algorithm provides flexibility and adaptivity for DLD, it leads to difficulty in generalization error analysis. To overcome this difficulty, an error decomposition is ...

Intrinsically disordered proteins do not have stable secondary and/or tertiary structures but still function. More than 50 prediction methods have been developed and inherent relationships may be expected to exist among them. To investigate this, we conducted molecular simulations and algorithmic analyses on a minimal coarse-grained polypeptide model and discovered ...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The goal of malaria elimination necessitates an improved understanding of any fine-scale geographic variations in transmission risk so that complementary vector control tools can be integrated into current vector control programmes as supplementary measures that are spatially targeted to maximize impact upon residual transmission. This study examines the ...

In this study, we examine how high-altitude ecology and anthropogenic edges relate to the density and distribution of pygmy tarsiers. Pygmy tarsiers (Tarsius pumilus) are extremely small-bodied primates (55 g) that are endemic to high-altitude forest and exhibit several differences from lowland Sulawesian tarsier species. From June to September 2010 ...

Cluster randomized controlled trials (CRCT) can be susceptible to a wide range of methodological problems. Many of these problems are not commonly recognized by researchers. This article is focused on one potential problem, the issue of impure clustering (multiple patient membership) within the CRCT structures and how it can lead ...

The article investigates the large sample properties of the quantile normalization method by [3] which has become one of the most popular methods to align density curves in microarray data analysis. We prove consistency of this method which is viewed as a particular case of the structural expectation procedure for ...

Among numerous mechanisms shaping the unimodal relationship between diversity and community biomass, the trade-off model of "CRS" theory is the most famous one. However, recent researches indicate that this relationship may also emerge under the neutral model where all species are identical with each other. By using an individual-based spatially-explicit ...