This paper describes a breast cancer classification performance trade-off analysis using two computational intelligence paradigms. The first, an evolutionary programming (EP)/adaptive boosting (AB) ...based hybrid, intelligently combines the outputs from an iteratively "called" weak learning algorithm (one which performs at least slightly better than random guessing) in order to "boost" the performance of an EP-derived weak learner. The second paradigm is support vector machines (SVMs). SVMs are new and radically different types of classifiers and learning machines that use a hypothesis space of linear functions in a high dimensional feature space. The most important advantage of a SVM, unlike neural networks, is that SVM training always finds a global minimum. Furthermore, the SVM has inherent ability to solve pattern classification without incorporating any problem-domain knowledge. In this study, the both the EP/AB hybrid and SVM were employed as pattern classifiers, operating on mammography data used for breast cancer detection. The main focus of the study was to construct and seek the best EP/AB hybrid and SVM configurations for optimum specificity and positive predictive value at very high sensitivities. Using a mammogram database of 500 biopsy-proven samples, the best performing SVM, on average, was able to achieve (under statistical 5-fold cross-validation) a specificity of 45.0% and a positive predictive value (PPV) of 50.1% at 100% sensitivity. At 97% sensitivity, a specificity of 55.8% and a PPV of 55.2% were obtained. The best performing EP/AB hybrid obtained slightly lower, but comparable, results.
The question of how many marine species exist is important because it provides a metric for how much we do and do not know about life in the oceans. We have compiled the first register of the marine ...species of the world and used this baseline to estimate how many more species, partitioned among all major eukaryotic groups, may be discovered.
There are ∼226,000 eukaryotic marine species described. More species were described in the past decade (∼20,000) than in any previous one. The number of authors describing new species has been increasing at a faster rate than the number of new species described in the past six decades. We report that there are ∼170,000 synonyms, that 58,000–72,000 species are collected but not yet described, and that 482,000–741,000 more species have yet to be sampled. Molecular methods may add tens of thousands of cryptic species. Thus, there may be 0.7–1.0 million marine species. Past rates of description of new species indicate there may be 0.5 ± 0.2 million marine species. On average 37% (median 31%) of species in over 100 recent field studies around the world might be new to science.
Currently, between one-third and two-thirds of marine species may be undescribed, and previous estimates of there being well over one million marine species appear highly unlikely. More species than ever before are being described annually by an increasing number of authors. If the current trend continues, most species will be discovered this century.
► ∼226,000 described eukaryotic marine species are accepted and ∼170,000 are not ► Experts and statistics predict that fewer than one million marine species exist ► 70,000 species may already be in specimen collections, waiting to be described ► Most of marine life may be discovered this century
Sprouty2 (Spry2) acts as a central regulator of tubular growth and branch patterning in the developing mammalian lung by controlling both magnitude and duration of growth factor signalling. To ...determine if this protein coordinates airway and vascular growth factor signalling, we tested the hypothesis that Spry2 links the primary cue for airway outgrowth, fibroblast growth factor-10 (FGF-10), to genomic events underpinning the expression and release of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). Using primary fetal distal lung epithelial cells (FDLE) from rat, and immortalised human bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE14o-), we identified a nuclear sub-population of Spry2 which interacted with regions of the rat and human VEGF-A promoter spanning the hypoxia response element (HRE) and adjacent 3′ sites. In FDLE cultured at the PO2 of the fetal lung, FGF-10 relieved the Spry2 interaction at the HRE region by promoting clearance of a 39 kDa form and this was accompanied by histone-3 S10K14 phosphoacetylation, promoter de-methylation, hypoxia inducible factor-1α activation and VEGF-A expression. This repressive characteristic of nuclear Spry2 was relieved in 16HBE14o- by shRNA knockdown, and stable expression of mutants (C218A; C221A) that do not interact with the VEGF-A promoter HRE region. We conclude that nuclear Spry2 acts as a molecular link which co-ordinates airway and vascular growth of the cardiopulmonary system. This identifies Spry2 as a contributing determinant of design optimality in the mammalian lung.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission has been validating its soil moisture (SM) products since the start of data production on March 31, 2015. ...Prior to launch, the mission defined a set of criteria for core validation sites (CVS) that enable the testing of the key mission SM accuracy requirement (unbiased root-mean-square error <0.04 m 3 /m 3 ). The validation approach also includes other ("sparse network") in situ SM measurements, satellite SM products, model-based SM products, and field experiments. Over the past six years, the SMAP SM products have been analyzed with respect to these reference data, and the analysis approaches themselves have been scrutinized in an effort to best understand the products' performance. Validation of the most recent SMAP Level 2 and 3 SM retrieval products (R17000) shows that the L -band (1.4 GHz) radiometer-based SM record continues to meet mission requirements. The products are generally consistent with SM retrievals from the European Space Agency Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity mission, although there are differences in some regions. The high-resolution (3-km) SM retrieval product, generated by combining Copernicus Sentinel-1 data with SMAP observations, performs within expectations. Currently, however, there is limited availability of 3-km CVS data to support extensive validation at this spatial scale. The most recent (version 5) SMAP Level 4 SM data assimilation product providing surface and root-zone SM with complete spatio-temporal coverage at 9-km resolution also meets performance requirements. The SMAP SM validation program will continue throughout the mission life; future plans include expanding it to forested and high-latitude regions.
Standard treatment for endometrial cancer involves removal of the uterus, tubes, ovaries, and lymph nodes. Few randomized trials have compared disease-free survival outcomes for surgical approaches.
...To investigate whether total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) is equivalent to total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) in women with treatment-naive endometrial cancer.
The Laparoscopic Approach to Cancer of the Endometrium (LACE) trial was a multinational, randomized equivalence trial conducted between October 7, 2005, and June 30, 2010, in which 27 surgeons from 20 tertiary gynecological cancer centers in Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong randomized 760 women with stage I endometrioid endometrial cancer to either TLH or TAH. Follow-up ended on March 3, 2016.
Patients were randomly assigned to undergo TAH (n = 353) or TLH (n = 407).
The primary outcome was disease-free survival, which was measured as the interval between surgery and the date of first recurrence, including disease progression or the development of a new primary cancer or death assessed at 4.5 years after randomization. The prespecified equivalence margin was 7% or less. Secondary outcomes included recurrence of endometrial cancer and overall survival.
Patients were followed up for a median of 4.5 years. Of 760 patients who were randomized (mean age, 63 years), 679 (89%) completed the trial. At 4.5 years of follow-up, disease-free survival was 81.3% in the TAH group and 81.6% in the TLH group. The disease-free survival rate difference was 0.3% (favoring TLH; 95% CI, -5.5% to 6.1%; P = .007), meeting criteria for equivalence. There was no statistically significant between-group difference in recurrence of endometrial cancer (28/353 in TAH group 7.9% vs 33/407 in TLH group 8.1%; risk difference, 0.2% 95% CI, -3.7% to 4.0%; P = .93) or in overall survival (24/353 in TAH group 6.8% vs 30/407 in TLH group 7.4%; risk difference, 0.6% 95% CI, -3.0% to 4.2%; P = .76).
Among women with stage I endometrial cancer, the use of total abdominal hysterectomy compared with total laparoscopic hysterectomy resulted in equivalent disease-free survival at 4.5 years and no difference in overall survival. These findings support the use of laparoscopic hysterectomy for women with stage I endometrial cancer.
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00096408; Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: CTRN12606000261516.
•mTORC1 and 2 play essential developmental roles from fertilisation to birth.•TSC2/Vps34 may link mTORC1 to Ca2+ spikes to reverse oocyte metaphase II arrest.•In gastrulation and placentation, mTORC2 ...links nutrients to stem cell behaviour.•In lung morphogenesis, mTORC1 unites the airway and vascular branching programmes.•At birth mTORC2 controls glucocorticoid-driven fluid clearance from lung.
The existence of a nutrient sensitive “autocatakinetic” regulator of embryonic tissue growth has been hypothesised since the early 20th century, beginning with pioneering work on the determinants of foetal size by the Australian physiologist, Thorburn Brailsford-Robertson. We now know that the mammalian target of rapamycin complexes (mTORC1 and 2) perform this essential function in all eukaryotic tissues by balancing nutrient and energy supply during the first stages of embryonic cleavage, the formation of embryonic stem cell layers and niches, the highly specified programmes of tissue growth during organogenesis and, at birth, paving the way for the first few breaths of life. This review provides a synopsis of the role of the mTOR complexes in each of these events, culminating in an analysis of lung branching morphogenesis as a way of demonstrating the central role mTOR in defining organ structural complexity. We conclude that the mTOR complexes satisfy the key requirements of a nutrient sensitive growth controller and can therefore be considered as Brailsford-Robertson's autocatakinetic centre that drives tissue growth programmes during foetal development.
Intrauterine levonorgestrel (LNG-IUD) is used to treat patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma (EAC) and endometrial hyperplasia with atypia (EHA) but limited evidence is available on its ...effectiveness. The study determined the extent to which LNG-IUD with or without metformin (M) or weight loss (WL) achieves a pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with EAC or EHA.
This phase II randomized controlled clinical trial enrolled patients with histologically confirmed, clinically stage 1 FIGO grade 1 EAC or EHA; a body mass index > 30 kg/m2; a depth of myometrial invasion of less than 50% on MRI; a serum CA125 ≤ 30 U/mL. All patients received LNG-IUD and were randomized to observation (OBS), M (500 mg orally twice daily), or WL (pooled analysis). The primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients developing a pCR (defined as absence of any evidence of EAC or EHA) after 6 months.
From December 2012 to October 2019, 165 patients were enrolled and 154 completed the 6-months follow up. Women had a mean age of 53 years, and a mean BMI of 48 kg/m2. Ninety-six patients were diagnosed with EAC (58%) and 69 patients with EHA (42%). Thirty-five participants were randomized to OBS, 36 to WL and 47 to M (10 patients were withdrawn). After 6 months the rate of pCR was 61% (95% CI 42% to 77%) for OBS, 67% (95% CI 48% to 82%) for WL and 57% (95% CI 41% to 72%) for M. Across the three treatment groups, the pCR was 82% and 43% for EHA and EAC, respectively.
Complete response rates at 6 months were encouraging for patients with EAC and EHA across the three groups.
U.S. National Library of Medicine, NCT01686126.
•LNG-IUD is commonly used to treat patients with EHA or EAC.•Complete response rates were 43% and 82%, for EAC and EHA, respectively.•Pathological complete response was 61% for LNG-IUD alone.•Pathological complete response was 67% for LNG-IUD plus weight loss.•Pathological complete response was 57% for LNG-IUD plus metformin.
We applied coincident Earth observation data collected during 2008 and 2009 from multiple sensors (RA2, AATSR and MERIS, mounted on the European Space Agency satellite Envisat) to characterise ...environmental conditions and integrated sea-air fluxes of CO2 in three Arctic seas (Greenland, Barents, Kara). We assessed net CO2 sink sensitivity due to changes in temperature, salinity and sea ice duration arising from future climate scenarios. During the study period the Greenland and Barents seas were net sinks for atmospheric CO2 , with integrated sea-air fluxes of -36 ± 14 and -11 ± 5 Tg C yr-1 , respectively, and the Kara Sea was a weak net CO2 source with an integrated sea-air flux of +2.2 ± 1.4 Tg C yr-1 . The combined integrated CO2 sea-air flux from all three was -45 ± 18 Tg C yr-1 . In a sensitivity analysis we varied temperature, salinity and sea ice duration. Variations in temperature and salinity led to modification of the transfer velocity, solubility and partial pressure of CO2 taking into account the resultant variations in alkalinity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Our results showed that warming had a strong positive effect on the annual integrated sea-air flux of CO2 (i.e. reducing the sink), freshening had a strong negative effect and reduced sea ice duration had a small but measurable positive effect. In the climate change scenario examined, the effects of warming in just over a decade of climate change up to 2020 outweighed the combined effects of freshening and reduced sea ice duration. Collectively these effects gave an integrated sea-air flux change of +4.0 Tg C in the Greenland Sea, +6.0 Tg C in the Barents Sea and +1.7 Tg C in the Kara Sea, reducing the Greenland and Barents sinks by 11% and 53%, respectively, and increasing the weak Kara Sea source by 81%. Overall, the regional integrated flux changed by +11.7 Tg C, which is a 26% reduction in the regional sink. In terms of CO2 sink strength, we conclude that the Barents Sea is the most susceptible of the three regions to the climate changes examined. Our results imply that the region will cease to be a net CO2 sink in the 2050s.
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