Evaluation of the first automated thyroglobulin assay

The aim of this study was to investigate technical and analytical performance of the first automated thyroglobulin (Tg) assay (DPC-Immulite(R); Diagnostic Products Corporation, Los Angeles, USA). In imprecision studies using several human serum pools ranging from 21 to 58 replicates, a coefficient of variation of 9.0 % was obtained at a mean Tg concentration of 0.84 ng/ml and of 6.1 % at a Tg concentration of 62.1 ng/ml. In a method comparison with a non-automated assay (BRAHMS LUMItest Tg(R), BRAHMS, Berlin, Germany) using 383 sera of 303 patients with thyroid carcinoma, regression analysis according to Passing and Bablock yielded in the following equation: Immulite Tg=1.6 x BRAHMS Tg - 0.1 ng/ml (Pearson's r=0.979). Sera obtained from 59 patients with thyroid carcinoma enabled comparative follow-up studies; in all cases qualitative agreement was found with regard to increase or decrease of serum Tg; in eight cases, however, Tg was detected with the Immulite assay but not with the BRAHMS assay. Further follow-up proved the presence of thyroid tissue in these patients. From these and further methodological data (dilution linearity, interference studies, carry-over study, high-dose hook properties, and short report time) it is concluded that the DPC-Immulite Tg assay meets the requirements of routine diagnostic use

Multi-view Regularized Gaussian Processes

Gaussian processes (GPs) have been proven to be powerful tools in various areas of machine learning. However, there are very few applications of GPs in the scenario of multi-view learning. In this paper, we present a new GP model for multi-view learning. Unlike existing methods, it combines multiple views by regularizing marginal likelihood with the consistency among the posterior distributions of latent functions from different views. Moreover, we give a general point selection scheme for multi-view learning and improve the proposed model by this criterion. Experimental results on multiple real world data sets have verified the effectiveness of the proposed model and witnessed the performance improvement through employing this novel point selection scheme

Kerr-CFT From Black-Hole Thermodynamics

We analyze the near-horizon limit of a general black hole with two commuting killing vector fields in the limit of zero temperature. We use black hole thermodynamics methods to relate asymptotic charges of the complete spacetime to those obtained in the near-horizon limit. We then show that some diffeomorphisms do alter asymptotic charges of the full spacetime, even though they are defined in the near horizon limit and, therefore, count black hole states. We show that these conditions are essentially the same as considered in the Kerr/CFT corresponcence. From the algebra constructed from these diffeomorphisms, one can extract its central charge and then obtain the black hole entropy by use of Cardy's formula.Comment: 19 pages, JHEP3, no figures. V2: References added, small typos fixe

Conformal weights in the Kerr/CFT correspondence

It has been conjectured that a near-extreme Kerr black hole is described by a 2d CFT. Previous work has shown that CFT operators dual to axisymmetric gravitational perturbations have integer conformal weights. In this paper, we study the analogous problem in 5d. We consider the most general near-extreme vacuum black hole with two rotational symmetries. This includes Myers-Perry black holes, black rings and Kaluza-Klein black holes. We find that operators dual to gravitational (or electromagnetic or massless scalar field) perturbations preserving both rotational symmetries have integer conformal weights, the same for all black holes considered.Comment: 19 page

On Holographic description of the Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black holes

In this paper, we study the holographic description of the generic four-dimensional non-extremal Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black holes. We find that if focusing on the near-horizon region, for the massless scalar scattering in the low-frequency limit, there exists hidden conformal symmetry on the solution space. Similar to the Kerr case, this suggests that the Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black hole is dual to a two-dimensional CFT with central charges $c_L=c_R=\frac{6a(r_++r_\ast)}{k}$ and temperatures $T_L=\frac{k(r_+^2+r_\ast^2+2a^2)}{4\pi a\Xi(r_++r_\ast)}, T_R=\frac{k(r_+-r_\ast)}{4\pi a\Xi}$. The macroscopic Bekenstein-Hawking entropy could be recovered from the microscopic counting in dual CFT via the Cardy formula. Using the Minkowski prescription, we compute the real-time correlators of the scalar, photon and graviton in near horizon geometry of near extremal Kerr-AdS-dS black hole. In all these cases, the retarded Green's function and the corresponding absorption cross section are in perfect match with CFT prediction. We further discuss the low-frequency scattering of a charged scalar by a Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black hole and find the dual CFT description.Comment: 22 pages; minor corrections, conlusion unchanged, references added;published versio

Short-cut to new anomalies in gravity duals to logarithmic conformal field theories

Various massive gravity theories in three dimensions are conjecturally dual to logarithmic conformal field theories (LCFTs). We summarise the status of these conjectures. LCFTs are characterised by the values of the central charges and the so-called "new anomalies". We employ a short-cut to calculate these new anomalies in generalised massive gravity and in the recently proposed higher-derivative gravity theories with holographic c-theorem. Both cases permit LCFTs exhibiting intriguing features, like rank three Jordan cells or non-zero central charges. Finally, as an example we discuss in some detail the partially massless version of new massive gravity, a theory with several special properties that we call "partially massless gravity".Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures; v2: added references; v3: Several rewordings in the introduction and section 2, added references. Matches published versio

New Near Horizon Limit in Kerr/CFT

The extremal Kerr black hole with the angular momentum J is conjectured to be dual to CFT with central charges c_L=c_R=12J. However, the central charge in the right sector remains to be explicitly derived so far. In order to investigate this issue, we introduce new near horizon limits of (near) extremal Kerr and five-dimensional Myers-Perry black holes. We obtain Virasoro algebras as asymptotic symmetries and calculate the central charges associated with them. One of them is equivalent to that of the previous studies, and the other is non-zero, but still the order of near extremal parameter. Redefining the algebras to take the standard form, we obtain a finite value as expected by the Kerr/CFT correspondence.Comment: 25 pages, minor changes, references adde

The association between human endogenous retroviruses and multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The interaction between genetic and environmental factors is crucial to multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) are endogenous viral elements of the human genome whose expression is associated with MS. Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis and to assess qualitative and quantitative evidence on the expression of HERV families in MS patients. Methods: Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched for published studies on the association of HERVs and MS. Meta-analysis was performed on the HERV-W family. Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for association. Results: 43 reports were extracted (25 related to HERV-W, 13 to HERV-H, 9 to HERV-K, 5 to HRES-1 and 1 to HER-15 family). The analysis showed an association between expression of all HERV families and MS. For HERV-W, adequate data was available for meta-analysis. Results from meta-analyses of HERV-W were OR = 22.66 (95%CI 6.32 to 81.20) from 4 studies investigating MSRV/HERV-W(MS-associated retrovirus) envelope mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, OR = 44.11 (95%CI 12.95 to 150.30) from 6 studies of MSRV/ HERV-W polymerase mRNA in serum/plasma and OR = 6.00 (95%CI 3.35 to 10.74) from 4 studies of MSRV/HERV-W polymerase mRNA in CSF

Haemoglobin mass and running time trial performance after recombinant human erythropoietin administration in trained men

<p>Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) increases haemoglobin mass (Hbmass) and maximal oxygen uptake (v˙ O2 max).</p> <p>Purpose: This study defined the time course of changes in Hbmass, v˙ O2 max as well as running time trial performance following 4 weeks of rHuEpo administration to determine whether the laboratory observations would translate into actual improvements in running performance in the field.</p> <p>Methods: 19 trained men received rHuEpo injections of 50 IUNkg21 body mass every two days for 4 weeks. Hbmass was determined weekly using the optimized carbon monoxide rebreathing method until 4 weeks after administration. v˙ O2 max and 3,000 m time trial performance were measured pre, post administration and at the end of the study.</p> <p>Results: Relative to baseline, running performance significantly improved by ,6% after administration (10:3061:07 min:sec vs. 11:0861:15 min:sec, p,0.001) and remained significantly enhanced by ,3% 4 weeks after administration (10:4661:13 min:sec, p,0.001), while v˙ O2 max was also significantly increased post administration (60.765.8 mLNmin21Nkg21 vs. 56.066.2 mLNmin21Nkg21, p,0.001) and remained significantly increased 4 weeks after rHuEpo (58.065.6 mLNmin21Nkg21, p = 0.021). Hbmass was significantly increased at the end of administration compared to baseline (15.261.5 gNkg21 vs. 12.761.2 gNkg21, p,0.001). The rate of decrease in Hbmass toward baseline values post rHuEpo was similar to that of the increase during administration (20.53 gNkg21Nwk21, 95% confidence interval (CI) (20.68, 20.38) vs. 0.54 gNkg21Nwk21, CI (0.46, 0.63)) but Hbmass was still significantly elevated 4 weeks after administration compared to baseline (13.761.1 gNkg21, p<0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion: Running performance was improved following 4 weeks of rHuEpo and remained elevated 4 weeks after administration compared to baseline. These field performance effects coincided with rHuEpo-induced elevated v˙ O2 max and Hbmass.</p&gt

Cognitive impairment induced by delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol occurs through heteromers between cannabinoid CB1 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound of marijuana, induces numerous undesirable effects, including memory impairments, anxiety, and dependence. Conversely, THC also has potentially therapeutic effects, including analgesia, muscle relaxation, and neuroprotection. However, the mechanisms that dissociate these responses are still not known. Using mice lacking the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, we revealed that the analgesic and amnesic effects of THC are independent of each other: while amnesia induced by THC disappears in the mutant mice, THC can still promote analgesia in these animals. In subsequent molecular studies, we showed that in specific brain regions involved in memory formation, the receptors for THC and the 5-HT2A receptors work together by physically interacting with each other. Experimentally interfering with this interaction prevented the memory deficits induced by THC, but not its analgesic properties. Our results highlight a novel mechanism by which the beneficial analgesic properties of THC can be dissociated from its cognitive side effects