Bootstrap Techniques for Mortality Models

Biostatisticians, actuaries and demographers are interested in accurately finding the age specific mortality pattern of a population. Certain different approaches have been proposed in the literature for representing the mortality of a population. Among them laws of mortality assuming a specific functional parametrization for the mortality rates have become popular in recent years mainly because of the existence of computers to handle the vast number of computations needed. The uncertainty of such a functional representation has been overlooked. The researcher is interested in both the uncertainty on the parameters and the uncertainty on the curve itself. The former provides information for specific parts of the curve that directly correspond to certain parameters while the latter allows for comparisons over time or space. Manipulation of the uncertainty can be very helpful for prediction purposes. A bootstrap approach is described, as an alternative to standard inferential methods based on asymptotic standard error theory. Such an approach can provide standard errors for both the parameters and the curve as well as it can be used for direct comparison of different curves over time or space. Application to empirical data from Sweden is also provided.     

Differences in Quality of Life,Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation and Common Forms of Atrioventricular Reentry Supraventricular Tachycardias

Introduction

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences in quality of life and psychosocial stress parameters among patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) and common forms of atrioventricular reentry supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs).

Methods and Results

The total study population included 106 patients, 54 patients with paroxysmal AF (32 males, age 56.64±12.50 years) and 52 with SVTs (25 males, age 40.46±14.96 years). General health (p<0.01), physical function (p=0.004), role emotion (p=0.002) and role physical (p<0.01) scores were lower in patients who suffered AF. SF-36 physical and mental health summary measures were also significantly lower in the AF group compared to those in SVT group (p<0.01 and p=0.001, respectively). Lower SF-36 total score was observed in patients with AF compared to those with SVTs (p<0.01). Comparing the anxiety and depression scores all the values were higher in patients with AF. Higher STAI-state scores (p<0.01), STAI-trait scores (p=0.039) and BDI scores (p=0.077) were seen in patients who suffered AF comparing to those with SVTs.

Conclusions

Quality of life is significantly impaired and the level of anxiety is significantly higher in patients with AF comparing to those with common forms of SVTs.     

In vivo phage display: identification of organ-specific peptides using deep sequencing and differential profiling across tissues

In vivo phage display is widely used for identification of organ- or disease-specific homing peptides. However, the current in vivo phage biopanning approaches fail to assess biodistribution of specific peptide phages across tissues during the screen, thus necessitating laborious and time-consuming post-screening validation studies on individual peptide phages. Here, we adopted bioinformatics tools used for RNA sequencing for analysis of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data to estimate the representation of individual peptides during biopanning in vivo. The data from in vivo phage screen were analyzed using differential binding—relative representation of each peptide in the target organ versus in a panel of control organs. Application of this approach in a model study using low-diversity peptide T7 phage library with spiked-in brain homing phage demonstrated brain-specific differential binding of brain homing phage and resulted in identification of novel lung- and brain-specific homing peptides. Our study provides a broadly applicable approach to streamline in vivo peptide phage biopanning and to increase its reproducibility and success rate.     

One-electron reduction of selenomethionine oxide

Experimental evidence is provided that selenomethionine oxide (MetSeO) is more readily reducible than its sulfur analogue, methionine sulfoxide (MetSO). Pulse radiolysis experiments reveal an efficient reaction of MetSeO with one-electron reductants, such as e^-_aq (k = 1.2 × 10¹⁰M^-1s^-1), CO^·-₂ (k = 5.9 × 10⁸ M^-1s^-1) and (CH₃)₂) C^·OH (k = 3.5 × 10⁷M^-1s^-1), forming an intermediate selenium-nitrogen coupled zwitterionic radical with the positive charge at an intramolecularly formed Se_∴ N 2σ/1σ* three-electron bond, which is characterized by an optical absorption with λ_max at 375 nm, and a half-life of about 70 μs. The same transient is generated upon HO^· radical-induced one-electron oxidation of selenomethionine (MetSe). This radical thus constitutes the redox intermediate between the two oxidation states, MetSeO and MetSe. Time-resolved optical data further indicate sulfur-selenium interactions between the Se_∴ N transient and GSH. The Se_∴ N transient appears to play a key role in the reduction of selenomethionine oxide by glutathione.     

Effect of recirculation of currant-finishing wastewater (CFW) on its composition

The feasibility of recirculation of currant-finishing wastewater in a currant-wash process was investigated in a laboratory scale plant. Recycle ratios from 0% to 95% were examined. By increasing the recycle ratio, effluent BOD increased from 681 to 5378 mg/l, effluent COD from 3808 to 43,722 mg/l, total suspended solids from 12.3 to 57.7 g/l, total sugars from 2.57 to 42.13 g/l, total phosphorus from 0.79 to 5.14 mg/l, total Kjeldahl nitrogen from 7.36 to 51.9 mg/l and total phenolic compounds from 0.095 to 1.13 g/l, while fresh water addition decreased from 6 to 0.3 kg/kg of currants processed and total sugars loss from 15.43 to 12.64 g/kg of currants processed. For a recycle ratio of 95%, the mass of currants recovered as a final product increased by 10% due to the proportional decrease in the sugars wasted per kg of currants processed.     

Fruit juice consumption modulates antioxidative status,immune status and DNA damage

Polyphenolic compounds exert a variety of physiological effects in vitro including antioxidative, immunomodulatory and antigenotoxic effects. In a randomized crossover study in healthy men on a low-polyphenol diet, we determined the effects of 2 polyphenol-rich juices (330 ml/d) supplemented for 2 weeks on bioavailability of polyphenols, markers of antioxidative and immune status, and reduction of DNA damage. Juices provided 236 mg (A) and 226 mg (B) polyphenols with cyanidin glycosides (A) and epigallocatechin gallate (B) as major polyphenolic ingredients. There was no accumulation of plasma polyphenols after two weeks of juice supplementation. In contrast, plasma malondialdehyde decreased with time during juice interventions. Moreover, juice consumption also increased lymphocyte proliferative responsiveness, with no difference between the two juices. Interleukin-2 secretion by activated lymphocytes and the lytic activity of natural killer cells were significantly increased by both juices. Juice intervention had no effect on single DNA strand breaks, but significantly reduced oxidative DNA damage in lymphocytes. A time-delay was observed between the intake of fruit juice and the reduction of oxidative DNA damage and the increase in interleukin-2 secretion. We conclude that consumption of either juice enhanced antioxidant status, reduced oxidative DNA damage and stimulated immune cell functions. However, fruit juice consumption for 2 weeks did not result in elevated plasma polyphenols in subjects after overnight fasting. Further studies should focus on the time-delay between juice intake and changes in measured physiological functions, as well as on active polyphenolic metabolites mediating the observed effects.     

Untersuchungen Über Die Nukleolen

Zusammenfassung Die Nukleolarsubstanz wird bei der Karyokinese in gleichen Mengen auf beide Tochterzellen verteilt, infolgedessen sind die Nukleolen oder Nukleolensätze beider Tochterkerne gleich groß.Die Nukleolen oder Nukleolensätze beider Tochterzellen sind untereinander in Zahl, Form und Anordnung ähnlich. Jeder Nukleolus hat seinen Partner in der anderen Tochterzelle.In der ersten Zeit nach der Kernteilung liegen die Nukleolen in einer Ebene, die der Äquatorialplatte der Kernteilungsfigur parallel ist.Die Nukleolen können verschmelzen. Es sind aber auch alte Zellen zu treffen, die eine höhere Nukleolenzahl im Kerne führen.Eine Neubildung der Nukleolen, die nicht an die Kernteilung gebunden ist, wurde nicht beobachtet.     

Insect outbreaks produce distinctive carbon isotope signatures in defensive resins and fossiliferous ambers

Despite centuries of research addressing amber and its various inclusions, relatively little is known about the specific events having stimulated the production of geologically relevant volumes of plant resin, ultimately yielding amber deposits. Although numerous hypotheses have invoked the role of insects, to date these have proven difficult to test. Here, we use the current mountain pine beetle outbreak in western Canada as an analogy for the effects of infestation on the stable isotopic composition of carbon in resins. We show that infestation results in a rapid (approx. 1 year) (13)C enrichment of fresh lodgepole pine resins, in a pattern directly comparable with that observed in resins collected from uninfested trees subjected to water stress. Furthermore, resin isotopic values are shown to track both the progression of infestation and instances of recovery. These findings can be extended to fossil resins, including Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic and Late Cretaceous New Jersey amber, revealing similar carbon-isotopic patterns between visually clean ambers and those associated with the attack of wood-boring insects. Plant exudate δ(13)C values constitute a sensitive monitor of ecological stress in both modern and ancient forest ecosystems, and provide considerable insight concerning the genesis of amber in the geological record.