2,472 research outputs found
On the non-stationarity of financial time series: Impact on optimal portfolio selection
No full textWe investigate the possible drawbacks of employing the standard Pearson estimator to measure correlation coefficients between financial stocks in the presence of non-stationary behavior, and we provide empirical evidence against the well-established common knowledge that using longer price time series provides better, more accurate, correlation estimates. Then, we investigate the possible consequences of instabilities in empirical correlation coefficient measurements on optimal portfolio selection. We rely on previously published works which provide a framework allowing us to take into account possible risk underestimations due to the non-optimality of the portfolio weights being used in order to distinguish such non-optimality effects from risk underestimations genuinely due to non-stationarities. We interpret such results in terms of instabilities in some spectral properties of portfolio correlation matrices. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA Medialab srl
Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 mediates gonadotropin-releasing hormone signaling to a specific extracellularly regulated kinase-sensitive transcriptional locus in the luteinizing hormone beta-subunit gene
No full textG protein-coupled receptor regulation of gene transcription primarily occurs through the phosphorylation of transcription factors by MAPKs. This requires transduction of an activating signal via scaffold proteins that can ultimately determine the outcome by binding signaling kinases and adapter proteins with effects on the target transcription factor and locus of activation. By investigating these mechanisms, we have elucidated how pituitary gonadotrope cells decode an input GnRH signal into coherent transcriptional output from the LH beta-subunit gene promoter. We show that GnRH activates c-Src and multiple members of the MAPK family, c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2, p38MAPK, and ERK1/2. Using dominant-negative point mutations and chemical inhibitors, we identified that calcium-dependent proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 specifically acts as a scaffold for a focal adhesion/cytoskeleton-dependent complex comprised of c-Src, Grb2, and mSos that translocates an ERK-activating signal to the nucleus. The locus of action of ERK was specifically mapped to early growth response-1 (Egr-1) DNA binding sites within the LH beta-subunit gene proximal promoter, which was also activated by p38MAPK, but not c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2. Egr-1 was confirmed as the transcription factor target of ERK and p38MAPK by blockade of protein expression, transcriptional activity, and DNA binding. We have identified a novel GnRH-activated proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2-dependent ERK-mediated signal transduction pathway that specifically regulates Egr-1 activation of the LH beta-subunit proximal gene promoter, and thus provide insight into the molecular mechanisms required for differential regulation of gonadotropin gene expression
Qinhuangdao (China), looking towards the sea from the Great Wall
No full textThe Great Wall looking towards sea, Shan hai kuanImage is part of research conducted by F. G. Clapp for the article: Along and across the Great Wall of China
Author(s): Frederick G. Clapp
Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Apr. - Jun., 1920), pp. 221-249
Published by: American Geographical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/207727http://www.jstor.org/stable/207727Grayscal
Evidence from mitochondrial genomics supports the lower Mesozoic of South Asia as the time and place of basal divergence of cypriniform fishes (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi)
No full textFigure 4. Ancestral distribution ranges reconstructed parsimoniously using PAUP*. Two representative character state (see legend for Fig. 3) optimizations are shown on the upper (delayed transition) and lower (accelerated transition) rows. Minimum F optimization was the same as delayed transition. The parsimonious reconstruction of character states allows an unrealistic all zero state. It does not give the character state at the root. In such cases the character state was manually optimized (asterisks).Published as part of Saitoh, Kenji, Sado, Tetsuya, Doosey, Michael H., Bart Jr, Henry L., Inoue, Jun G., Nishida, Mutsumi, Mayden, Richard L. & Miya, Masaki, 2011, Evidence from mitochondrial genomics supports the lower Mesozoic of South Asia as the time and place of basal divergence of cypriniform fishes (Actinopterygii: Ostariophysi), pp. 633-662 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (3) on page 651, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00651.x, http://zenodo.org/record/575419
[[alternative]]The Regulatory Effect of Si-Jun-Zi-Tang and Its Four Ingredients on The Murine Immune Function
No full text[[abstract]]Si-Jun-Zi-Tang is a general tonic medicine that has been used in Asian countries for more than a thousand years. It is composed of four major ingredients including Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A Meyer), Bai-zhu (Atraclylodes macrocephala Koidz), Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch) and Fu-ling (Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf). In 1996, our research team had demonstrated that Si-Jun-Zi-Tang was a potential immunoregulatory medicine. Therefore, the research was taken through a series of carefully designed experiments to investigate closely into the mechanism by which the Si-Jun-Zi-Tang modulated the immune function. The reagents used in this study were prepared by boiling the Si-Jun-Zi-Tang and its four major ingredients separately in 50% ethanol. In the primary stage of the experiment, the mice were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with the extracts for three consecutive days. Results indicated that injecting the drug all significantly enhanced both IgG and IgA secretion by spleen cells, but IgM secretion was not augmented significantly by Si-Jun-Zi-Tang, Bai-zhu and Fu-ling. In the secondary stage, assayed for production of Th-1 type (IL-2, IFN-g) and Th-2 type (IL-4 and IL-10) cytokines by spleen cells cultured in vitro. Results indicated that treatment with drug all significantly enhanced both cytokine mRNA expression and cytokine secretion by spleen cells. This observation was further supported by showing that the IgG1, IgG2b (mediated by IL-4) and IgG2a (mediated by IFN-g) secretion by spleen cells were increased significantly after the drug treatments. The result also implied that antibodies production by the B-lymphocytes might undergo class-switch. In the third stage, the study was focused on the possible effects of the route and the duration of drug treatment on the Ginseng-mediated immunoregulation. Oral administration of Ginseng extract only enhanced the secretion of IgA, but showed a significantly suppressive effect on IgG and IgM secretion, suggesting that Ginseng might directly stimulate the mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue in gut and augmented IgA production though oral administration. Oral administration of Ginseng extract significantly enhanced Th-1 type cytokine production and IL-10 production. This observation was further supported by showing that the IgG2a secretion by spleen cells, which was induced by IFN-g, were increased significantly after the drug treatments; but IgG1 and IgG2b secretion, which was induced by IL-4, were suppressed. In addition, oral administration of Ginseng significantly increased the cytotoxic activity of natural kill cells (NK cells), suggesting that Ginseng can also induced an innate cell-mediated immune response. However, oral administration of Ginseng extract significantly reduced the percentage composition of CD3+ T-lymphocytes,CD4+8- and CD4-8+ subpopulations. The Ginseng-mediated immunoregulation was also affected by the duration of drug treatment. Long-term (30 days) oral treatment of Ginseng almost failed to modulate both immunoglobulin and cytokine productions, except that the production of IL-10 was significantly induced. Since, the major biological activity of IL-10 is to inhibit the synthesis of lymphokines and monokines. Therefore, long-term oral treatment of Ginseng extract might down-regulate the immune system by increasing IL-10 production. Finally, the effect of long-term oral treatment of Ginseng extract on the ovalbumin (OVA)-induced specific antibody response was studied. During the 30 days of treatment, the mice were primary immunized with OVA at day one and were boosted at day 14. The anti-OVA antibody titer of the mice treated with Ginseng was significantly higher than that of the control group. In conclusion, for the 50% ethanol extract of Ginseng, the dosage ranged from 0.4 g/kg/day to 4 g/kg/day, the short-term oral administration will up-regulate both MALT response and cell-mediated immune response, especially the cytotoxicity of NK cells. However, long-term oral administration will not be able to augment immune response but may have advantage in the antigen-specific antibody response.
Addressable plasma photonic crystals
No full textPhotonic crystals that comprise arrays of microplasmas can act as recon g-
urable lters in the microwave and THz spectral regions. When compared to
conventional photonic crystals fabricated in a solid, plasma photonic crystals
are recon gurable at electronic speeds which, in turn, allows for the transmis-
sion characteristics to be altered rapidly. This thesis will describe the theory
and characteristics of photonic crystals, and the design and performance of
photonic crystals based on arrays of microplasma jets will be discussed.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2017-12-01The student, Hee Jun Yang, accepted the attached license on 2015-12-07 at 14:19.The student, Hee Jun Yang, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2015-12-07 at 14:24.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2015-12-08 at 15:20.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #8954 on 2016-03-02 at 14:07:50Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-02T20:24:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Carboxymethyl inulin
No full textAbstract of corresponding document: US 5777090 (A) PCT No. PCT/EP94/04097 Sec. 371 Date Jun. 6, 1996 Sec. 102(e) Date Jun. 6, 1996 PCT Filed Dec. 9, 1994 PCT Pub. No. WO95/15984 PCT Pub. Date Jun. 15, 1995Disclosed is carboxymethyl inulin having a degree of substitution (DS) ranging from 0,15 to 2,5, preferably from 0,5 to 1,5, a process for the preparation of said carboxymethyl inulin by reacting inulin at a concentration of at least 100 g/l, preferably at least 200 g/l, at elevated temperature with an aqueous alkaline solution of monochloroacetic acid, followed by working up the reaction mixture according to a method known in the chemical art, and the use of said carboxymethyl inulin as inhibitor for the crystallization of calcium carbonate
Linkage of biopsy, cancer, and population records aimed at the estimation of family risks in neoplasia: a pilot study
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LINKAGE OF BIOPSY, CANCER, AND POPULATION RECORDS AIMED AT THE ESTIMATION OF FAMILY RISKS IN NEOPLASIA - A PILOT-STUDY
Author(s): BARRAI, I (BARRAI, I); NENCI, I (NENCI, I); GUIDI, E (GUIDI, E); DELLACQUA, G (DELLACQUA, G); FORMICA, G (FORMICA, G); BARBUJANI, G (BARBUJANI, G); MARZOLA, A (MARZOLA, A); MARANI, G (MARANI, G); BARALE, R (BARALE, R); BERETTA, M (BERETTA, M)
Source: JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Pages: 107-111 DOI: 10.1136/jech.45.2.107 Published: JUN 1991
Times Cited: 1 (from Web of Science)
Cited References: 15 [ view related records ] Citation Map
Abstract: Study objective-The aim was to link individual demographic and medical records into sibships to obtain the sibling distribution of biopsies and cancers, and thereby calculate heritability and recurrence risks in families, thus aiding early diagnosis and prevention of cancers.
Design-The 157 823 individual records of the inhabitants of the town of Ferrara in Italy were automatically linked into 106 821 sibships. A 10% sample (10 842 sibships) was then extracted from the distribution of sibships and tabulated, for linkage to medical records.
Patients-The biopsy records at the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of the University of Ferrara were manually linked to cancer records and then to sibships. It was possible to construct the distribution of 2062 biopsies and of 829 cancers in sibships.
Results-From the distribution of biopsies and tumours in sibships, it was possible to estimate the incidence of tumours in the population (0.052) and in siblings of affected (0.083), and to apply to such distributions current methods for the estimate of heritability (h2 = 0.246) and of recurrence risks of tumours in sibships, age independent.
Conclusions-The study shows that the procedure resulting in the estimation of incidences and recurrence risks for tumours could be completely automated, and extended to whole populations and homogeneous subgroups in post industrial cultures
Thiamet-G-mediated inhibition of O-GlcNAcase sensitizes human leukemia cells to microtubule-stabilizing agent paclitaxel
No full textAlthough the microtubule-stabilizing agent paclitaxel has been widely used for treatment of several cancer types, particularly for the malignancies of epithelia origin, it only shows limited efficacy on hematological malignancies. Emerging roles of O-GlcNAcylation modification of proteins in various cancer types have implicated the key enzymes catalyzing this reversible modification as targets for cancer therapy. Here, we show that the highly selective O-GlcNAcase (OGA) inhibitor thiamet-G significantly sensitized human leukemia cell lines to paclitaxel, with an approximate 10-fold leftward shift of IC50. Knockdown of OGA by siRNAs or inhibition of OGA by thiamet-G did not influence the cell viability. Furthermore, we demonstrated that thiamet-G binds to OGA in competition with 4-methylumbelliferyl N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminide dehydrate, an analogue of O-GlcNAc UDP, thereby suppressing the activity of OGA. Importantly, inhibition of OGA by thiamet-G decreased the phosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein Tau and caused alterations of microtubule network in cells. It is noteworthy that paclitaxel combined with thiamet-G resulted in more profound perturbations on microtubule stability than did either one alone, which may implicate the underlying mechanism of thiamet-G-mediated sensitization of leukemia cells to paclitaxel. These findings thus suggest that a regimen of paclitaxel combined with OGA inhibitor might be more effective for the treatment of human leukemia. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Biochemistry & Molecular BiologyBiophysicsSCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected]
Exploring the Central Sub-parsec Region of the γ-Ray Bright Radio Galaxy 3C 84 with VLBA at 43 GHz in the Period of 2002-2008
No full textFollowing the discovery of a new radio component right before the GeV γ-ray detection since 2008 August by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, we present a detailed study of the kinematics and light curve on the central sub-parsec scale of 3C 84 using the archival Very Long Baseline Array 43 GHz data covering the period between 2002 January and 2008 November. We find that the new component "C3," previously reported by the observations with the Very Long Baseline Interferometer Exploration of Radio Astrometry, was already formed in 2003. The flux density of C3 increases moderately until 2008, and then it becomes brighter rapidly after 2008. The radio core, C1, also shows a similar trend. The apparent speed of C3 with reference to the core C1 shows moderate acceleration from 0.10c to 0.47c between 2003 November and 2008 November, but is still sub-relativistic. We further try to fit the observed broadband spectrum by the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model using the measured apparent speed of C3. The fit can reproduce the observed γ-ray emission, but does not agree with the observed radio spectral index between 22 and 43 GHz
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