ABSTRACT
We introduce Bilby-MCMC, a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm tuned for the analysis of gravitational waves from merging compact objects. Bilby-MCMC provides a parallel-tempered ...ensemble Metropolis-Hastings sampler with access to a block-updating proposal library including problem-specific and machine learning proposals. We demonstrate that learning proposals can produce over a 10-fold improvement in efficiency by reducing the autocorrelation time. Using a variety of standard and problem-specific tests, we validate the ability of the Bilby-MCMC sampler to produce independent posterior samples and estimate the Bayesian evidence. Compared to the widely used Dynesty nested sampling algorithm, Bilby-MCMC is less efficient in producing independent posterior samples and less accurate in its estimation of the evidence. However, we find that posterior samples drawn from the Bilby-MCMC sampler are more robust: never failing to pass our validation tests. Meanwhile, the Dynesty sampler fails the difficult-to-sample Rosenbrock likelihood test, over constraining the posterior. For CBC problems, this highlights the importance of cross-sampler comparisons to ensure results are robust to sampling error. Finally, Bilby-MCMC can be embarrassingly and asynchronously parallelized making it highly suitable for reducing the analysis wall-time using a High Throughput Computing environment. Bilby-MCMC may be a useful tool for the rapid and robust analysis of gravitational-wave signals during the advanced detector era and we expect it to have utility throughout astrophysics.
Abstract
The ocean is a sink for ~25% of the atmospheric CO
2
emitted by human activities, an amount in excess of 2 petagrams of carbon per year (PgC yr
−1
). Time-resolved estimates of global ...ocean-atmosphere CO
2
flux provide an important constraint on the global carbon budget. However, previous estimates of this flux, derived from surface ocean CO
2
concentrations, have not corrected the data for temperature gradients between the surface and sampling at a few meters depth, or for the effect of the cool ocean surface skin. Here we calculate a time history of ocean-atmosphere CO
2
fluxes from 1992 to 2018, corrected for these effects. These increase the calculated net flux into the oceans by 0.8–0.9 PgC yr
−1
, at times doubling uncorrected values. We estimate uncertainties using multiple interpolation methods, finding convergent results for fluxes globally after 2000, or over the Northern Hemisphere throughout the period. Our corrections reconcile surface uptake with independent estimates of the increase in ocean CO
2
inventory, and suggest most ocean models underestimate uptake.
Aim: The aim of this study is to test whether Bergmann's rule, a general intraspecific tendency towards larger body size in cooler areas and at higher latitudes, holds for birds throughout the world. ...Location: This study includes information on species of birds from throughout the world. Methods: I gathered data on body size variation from the literature and used two general meta-analytical procedures to test the validity of Bergmann's rule in birds: a modified vote-counting approach and calculation of overall effect sizes. Related species may show similar body size trends, thus I performed all analyses using nonphylogenetic and phylogenetic methods. I used tests of phylogenetic signal for each data set to decide which type of statistical analysis (nonphylogenetic or phylogenetic) was more appropriate. Results: The majority of species of birds (76 of 100 species) are larger at higher latitudes, and in cooler areas (20 of 22 species). Birds show a grand mean correlation coefficient of +0.32 for body size and latitude, and -0.81 for body size and temperature, both significant trends. Sedentary species show stronger body size trends in some, but not all, analyses. Neither males nor females consistently have stronger body size trends. Additionally, the strength of body size trends does not vary with latitude or body mass. Conclusions: Bergmann's rule holds for birds throughout the world, regardless of whether temperature or latitude (as a proxy) is used. Previous studies have suggested that Bergmann's rule is stronger for sedentary than migratory species, males than females and temperate than tropical taxa. I did not find strong support for any of these as general themes for birds, although few studies of tropical taxa have been conducted. The processes responsible for Bergmann's rule remain somewhat of a black box; however, fasting endurance is probably a more important factor than the traditional hypothesis of heat conservation.
Discrimination of brain cancer versus non-cancer patients using serum-based attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy diagnostics was first developed by Hands et ...al with a reported sensitivity of 92.8% and specificity of 91.5%. Cameron et al. then went on to stratifying between specific brain tumour types: glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) vs. primary cerebral lymphoma with a sensitivity of 90.1% and specificity of 86.3%. Expanding on these studies, 30 GBM, 30 lymphoma and 30 non-cancer patients were selected to investigate the influence on test performance by focusing on specific molecular weight regions of the patient serum. Membrane filters with molecular weight cut offs of 100 kDa, 50 kDa, 30 kDa, 10 kDa and 3 kDa were purchased in order to remove the most abundant high molecular weight components. Three groups were classified using both partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) and random forest (RF) machine learning algorithms; GBM versus non-cancer, lymphoma versus non-cancer and GBM versus lymphoma. For all groups, once the serum was filtered the sensitivity, specificity and overall balanced accuracies decreased. This illustrates that the high molecular weight components are required for discrimination between cancer and non-cancer as well as between tumour types. From a clinical application point of view, this is preferable as less sample preparation is required.
More than 18 million Americans are currently suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD): a compulsive behavior of alcohol use as a result of a chronic, relapsing brain disease. With alcohol-related ...injuries being one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, there is a dire need to find ways to assist those suffering from alcohol dependence. There still exists a gap in knowledge as to the potential of telemedicine in improving health outcomes for those patients suffering from AUD.
The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the measures of effectiveness, efficiency, and quality that result from the utilization of telemedicine in the management of alcohol abuse, addiction, and rehabilitation.
This review was conducted utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The articles used in this analysis were gathered using keywords inclusive of both telemedicine and alcohol abuse, which were then searched in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane, and MEDLINE (PubMed) databases. A total of 22 articles were chosen for analysis.
The results indicated that telemedicine reduced alcohol consumption. Other common outcomes included reduced depression (4/35, 11%), increased patient satisfaction (3/35, 9%), increase in accessibility (3/35, 9%), increased quality of life (2/35, 6%), and decreased cost (1/35, 3%). Interventions included mobile health (11/22, 50%), electronic health (6/22, 27%), telephone (3/33, 14%), and 2-way video (2/22, 9%). Studies were conducted in 3 regions: the United States (13/22, 59%), the European Union (8/22, 36%), and Australia (1/22, 5%).
Telemedicine was found to be an effective tool in reducing alcohol consumption and increasing patients' accessibility to health care services or health providers. The group of articles for analysis suggested that telemedicine may be effective in reducing health care costs and improving the patient's quality of life. Although telemedicine shows promise as an effective way to manage alcohol-related disorders, it should be further investigated before implementation.
ABSTRACT
Radio pulsar glitches probe far-from-equilibrium processes involving stress accumulation and relaxation in neutron star interiors. Previous studies of glitch rates have focused on individual ...pulsars with as many recorded glitches as possible. In this work, we analyse glitch rates using all available data including objects that have glitched never or once. We assume the glitch rate follows a homogeneous Poisson process, and therefore exclude pulsars that exhibit quasiperiodic glitching behaviour. Calculating relevant Bayes factors shows that a model in which the glitch rate λ scales as a power of the characteristic age τ is preferred over models that depend arbitrarily on powers of the spin frequency ν and/or its time derivative $\dot{\nu }$. For λ = A(τ/τref)−γ, where τref = 1 yr is a reference time, the posterior distributions are unimodal with $A=0.0066_{-0.002}^{+0.003}\ \rm {yr}^{-1}$ and $\gamma =0.27_{-0.03}^{+0.03}$. Importantly, the data exclude with 99 per cent confidence the possibility γ = 1 canvassed in the literature. When objects with zero-recorded glitches are included, the age-based rate law is still preferred and the posteriors change to give $A=0.0099_{-0.003}^{+0.004}\ \rm {yr}^{-1}$ and $\gamma =0.31_{-0.03}^{+0.03}$. The updated estimates still support increased glitch activity for younger pulsars, while demonstrating that the large number of objects with zero glitches contain important statistical information about the rate, provided that they are part of the same population as opposed to a disjoint population which never glitches for some unknown physical reason.
Abstract
We observe that the periodic variations in spin-down rate and beamwidth of the radio pulsar PSR B1828−11 are getting faster. In the context of a free precession model, this corresponds to a ...decrease in the precession period Pfp. We investigate how a precession model can account for such a decrease in Pfp, in terms of an increase over time in the absolute biaxial deformation (|εp| ∼ 10−8) of this pulsar. We perform a Bayesian model comparison against the ‘base’ precession model (with constant εp) developed in Ashton et al., and we obtain decisive odds in favour of a time-varying deformation. We study two types of time variation: (i) a linear drift with a posterior estimate of $\dot{\epsilon }_\mathrm{p}{\sim }10^{-18}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ and odds of 1075 compared to the base model, and (ii) N discrete positive jumps in εp with very similar odds to the linear εp drift model. The physical mechanism explaining this behaviour is unclear, but the observation could provide a crucial probe of the interior physics of neutron stars. We also place an upper bound on the rate at which the precessional motion is damped, and translate this into a bound on a dissipative mutual friction-type coupling between the star's crust and core.
Role of IL-35 in sublingual allergen immunotherapy Shamji, Mohamed H.; Layhadi, Janice A.; Achkova, Daniela ...
Journal of allergy and clinical immunology,
March 2019, 2019-03-00, 20190301, Letnik:
143, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Grass pollen–specific immunotherapy involves immunomodulation of allergen-specific TH2 responses and induction of IL-10+ and/or TGF-β+CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (induced Treg cells). ...IL-35+CD4+CD25+ forkhead box protein 3–negative T (IL-35–inducible regulatory T iTR35) cells have been reported as a novel subset of induced Treg cells with modulatory characteristics.
We sought to investigate mechanisms underlying the induction and maintenance of immunologic tolerance induced by IL-35 and iTR35 cells.
The biological effects of IL-35 were assessed on group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s); dendritic cells primed with thymic stromal lymphopoietin, IL-25, and IL-33; and B and TH2 cells by using flow cytometry and quantitative RT-PCR. Grass pollen–driven TH2 cell proliferation and cytokine production were measured by using tritiated thymidine and Luminex MagPix, respectively. iTR35 cells were quantified in patients with grass pollen allergy (seasonal allergic rhinitis SAR group, n = 16), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT)–treated patients (SLIT group, n = 16), and nonatopic control subjects (NACs; NAC group, n = 16).
The SAR group had increased proportions of ILC2s (P = .002) and IL-5+ cells (P = .042), IL-13+ cells (P = .042), and IL-5+IL-13+ ILC2s (P = .003) compared with NACs. IL-35 inhibited IL-5 and IL-13 production by ILC2s in the presence of IL-25 or IL-33 (P = .031) and allergen-driven TH2 cytokines by effector T cells. IL-35 inhibited CD40 ligand–, IL-4–, and IL-21–mediated IgE production by B cells (P = .015), allergen-driven T-cell proliferation (P = .001), and TH2 cytokine production mediated by primed dendritic cells. iTR35 cells suppressed TH2 cell proliferation and cytokine production. In addition, allergen-driven IL-35 levels and iTR35 cell counts were increased in patients receiving SLIT (all, P < .001) and NACs (all, P < .001) compared with patients with SAR.
IL-35 and iTR35 cells are potential novel immune regulators induced by SLIT. The clinical relevance of SLIT can be underscored by restoration of protective iTR35 cells.
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