Identification of aquaporins and deciphering their role under salinity stress in pomegranate (Punica granatum)

Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Aquaporins (AQPs), pore-forming proteins, are known to involve in the transport of water and many other small solutes, and play a diverse role in...     

Solving the chemical master equation using sliding windows

Background  

The chemical master equation (CME) is a system of ordinary differential equations that describes the evolution of a network of chemical reactions as a stochastic process. Its solution yields the probability density vector of the system at each point in time. Solving the CME numerically is in many cases computationally expensive or even infeasible as the number of reachable states can be very large or infinite. We introduce the sliding window method, which computes an approximate solution of the CME by performing a sequence of local analysis steps. In each step, only a manageable subset of states is considered, representing a "window" into the state space. In subsequent steps, the window follows the direction in which the probability mass moves, until the time period of interest has elapsed. We construct the window based on a deterministic approximation of the future behavior of the system by estimating upper and lower bounds on the populations of the chemical species.     

Enhancing Confidence in Drinking Water Quality for Improved Risk Decisions

Reliance is often placed on “indirect” indicators to detect changes in water quality in real time. However, there are challenges in using these indirect indicators, as they cannot replace standardized laboratory tests. As an alternative, reliance on three successive test cases is examined, based on “joint and conditional probabilities” of hazard (contaminant level exceeding acceptable level) that could enhance confidence in monitoring results: (i) a simple and quick screening analysis sensor (primary analyzer, having type-1 error, i.e., α = 0.10 and type-2 error, i.e., β = 0.05), (ii) a repeat of the analysis with the same rapid analyzer is feasible, and (iii) further analysis of the sample with a highly reliable capability is feasible (secondary analyzer with α = 0.05 and β = 0.02). This three-level monitoring protocol for obtaining the posterior probability of hazard is examined and a method is proposed for taking improved risk management decisions by accounting for sensitivity and specificity of monitoring instruments. The revised probability of hazard will ensure that a positive harmful detect is proven false or real with much greater certainty and series of action (or no action) is taken at the earliest.     

Potential alternative treatment approach for pediatric patient with diffusely infiltrative primary rhabdomyosarcoma of the liver

Primary hepatic rhabdomyosarcoma is rare, making decisions regarding locoregional management with resection and/or conventional radiation difficult. We present a novel treatment approach for a pediatric patient diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma diffusely involving the liver. This patient underwent treatment with yttrium-90 (Y-90) microspheres followed by external beam radiation therapy (EBRT ) to residual disease, interdigitated with systemic chemotherapy. Initial post-radiation imaging showed significant response to treatment, and she experienced minimal acute toxicities and no long-term toxicities. She developed recurrent PET-avid disease 23 months after Y-90 treatment, necessitating further local and continued systemic therapies. We report on the tumor control following Y-90 and EBRT treatment.