Microsatellite markers in leukaemia and lymphoma: comments on a timely topic

Microsatellites are unique highly polymorphic and informative genetic markers dispersed in the human genome. Their detection by PCR is rapid and a wide variety of DNA sources including archival material are available for diagnostic purposes. Microsatellite typing of haematological neoplasms may be applied to the search for loss of heterozygosity at loci possibly harbouring tumour suppressor genes, for example in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The technique may detect submicroscopical chromosomal deletions which are not visible in the leukaemic karyotype. RER+ tumours exhibiting microsatellite instability appear to be rare among haematological cancers with the possible exception of lymphoid tumours in immunosuppressed patients and lymphomas derived from mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. An X-chromosomal microsatellite near the human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA) may be used for clonal X-inactivation analysis. Microsatellites therefore represent a collection of powerful genetic markers suitable to tackle questions relevant to basic research and clinical problems in leukaemia and lymphoma.     

Morphological and functional polymorphism within clonal thyroid nodules

Thirty-nine thyroid nodules, removed because of recent growth, were analyzed morphologically by serial histological sections for the classical histomorphological hallmarks of follicular cell replication and for immunohistochemically demonstrable overexpression of the growth-associated ras-gene product p21ras. Clonal analysis was performed using the highly informative probe M27 beta that detects polymorphisms on the locus DXS255 of the X-chromosome. Twenty-four nodules were of clonal and 15 nodules were of poly-clonal origin. Only 3 out of the 24 clonal nodules were histomorphologically uniform. In all others, the structural hallmarks of active growth and the P21ras growth-marker expression were remarkably heterogeneous throughout the tumors. There were no histomorphological characteristics distinguishing these clonal tumors from polyclonal nodules. Even if a clonal thyroid tumor may be originally homogeneous in respect to the parameters studied here, mechanisms must exist that create wide heterogeneity of growth and of morphogenetic potential among the individual follicular cells during further expansion of the nodule. Thus, clonal nodules are much more common in nodular goiters than hitherto assumed on grounds of the classical morphological criteria. The diagnosis of a true monoclonal nodule can no longer rely on morphological and functional criteria alone but requires molecular or cytogenetic analysis of clonality.     

Quantifying Whitewater Recreation Opportunities in Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River,Utah: Aggregating Acceptable Flows and Hydrologic Data to Identify Boatable Days

The structural norm approach was combined with the Potential for Conflict Index to define recreation streamflow needs for the Colorado River in Utah and Colorado. An online survey was completed by 128 commercial and non‐commercial boaters, who evaluated a range of flows for whitewater boating. For the Cataract Canyon reach, respondents rated the quality of their recreation experience of specific flows, describing the quality of boating opportunities across the full range of historical streamflows. Ranges for both acceptable and optimum flows were defined, as well as thresholds for unacceptable flows. These ranges were then evaluated against historical hydrologic records to quantify the timing, frequency, and duration of days when defined whitewater flows exist across different year types (i.e. average boatable days). Results indicated that on average, a total of 257 boatable days existed in dry years, and 353 total boatable days occurred in dry‐typical years. In wet and wet‐typical years, 362 and 365 total boatable days respectively, occurred on average. Results of the boatable days' analysis indicated that over the 23‐year period of record, whitewater boating opportunities occurred nearly every day of the year in all but the driest year types. Results from this study provide resource managers with information which can be used in the development of annual operating plans for the Colorado River Basin and help managers understand how changes in flow impact the quality of recreational opportunities. This application demonstrates the value of analysing boatable days on any river where recreation management is a priority. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paper‐Derived Ferroelectric Ceramics: A Feasibility Study

Preceramic paper may serve as a preform to manufacture single sheet as well as multilayer porous ferroelectric ceramic products. In this article, the authors discuss the formation, microstructure, and properties of preceramic papers highly loaded with BaTiO₃ filler ranging from 70 to 80 vol% and their conversion into ceramic materials. In order to increase the density of the single sheets, post calendering is applied. These sheets are used for the fabrication of multilayer ceramics using warm lamination technique. After binder burnout and sintering up to 1300 °C for 2 h in air, porous paper‐derived multilayer BaTiO₃ is obtained. The effect of ceramic filler content and calendering on the residual porosity in sintered samples is studied. Furthermore, the influence of porosity on the microstructure, mechanical, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties of the sintered BaTiO₃ ceramics is investigated.

     

Relationship between cleaved L-selectin levels and the outcome of acute myeloid leukemia

High plasma levels of the shed form of L-selectin (sL-selectin) are frequently detectable in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). sL-selectin can inhibit blast cell adhesion to vascular endothelium and may thereby influence the phenotype of AML. In this study, we have investigated the relationship between sL-selectin levels and clinical presentation or disease outcome in 100 patients with AML. Fifty-eight patients were found to have sL-selectin levels >/=3.12 microgram/mL (>/=3 SD above the mean of healthy controls: "increased"). Patients with extramedullary disease such as lymphadenopathies, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, and/or muco-cutaneous infiltration had significantly increased sL-selectin levels (P < .001). sL-selectin levels were significantly heterogeneous in the French-American-British subtypes (P = .0003). Patients with "normal" sL-selectin levels had higher probability of achieving complete remission (CR) than with "increased" levels: 81% versus 64%, respectively (P = .06). When adjusting for clinically relevant covariates predictive for CR (sex, age, Auer rods), "normal" sL-selectin levels were significantly associated with CR (odds ratio, 3.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 8.58; P = .03). Moreover, patients with "increased" sL-selectin levels (>/=3.12 microgram/mL) had shorter event-free survival (EFS) (median 7.3 v 12 months, P = .008) and overall survival (median 1 v 2.05 years, P = .03) than patients with sL-selectin <3.12 microgram/mL. Multivariate statistical analysis (adjusted for age and presence of Auer rods) indicated that sL-selectin was an independent prognostic factor for EFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.96; 95% CI, 1.21 to 3.17, P = .006) and overall survival (HR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.09 to 2.98; P = .02). Thus, plasma sL-selectin may be a useful prognostic marker in the evaluation of AML at diagnosis.     

Digit Pipelined Arithmetic for 3-D Massively Parallel Optoelectronic Circuits

A concept for a future integer arithmetic unit suitable for a realization with 3-D optoelectronic very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits is presented. Due to the use of optical interconnections running vertically to the circuit's surface no pin limitation is given. This allows massively parallelism and a higher throughput performance than in all-electronic solutions. To exploit the potential of optical interconnections in VLSI systems efficiently well-adapted low-level algorithms and architectures have to be developed. This is demonstrated for a pipelined arithmetic unit using a redundant number representation. A transistor layout for the optoelectronic circuits is given as well as a specification for the necessary optical interconnection scheme linking the circuits with free-space optics. It is shown that the throughput can be increased by a factor of 10 to 50 compared to current all-electronic processors by considering state-of-the-art optical and optoelectronic technology. Furthermore we present results we gained by investigations on a first realized optoelectronic VLSI test chip.     

Optical multiplexing techniques for photonic Clos networks in High Performance Computing Architectures

Future high-performance computing (HPC) architectures will consist of whole parallel computing systems integrated on chip-level and boards mounted with lots of computing chips and chip-external main memory. Photonic networks on board and photonic network on chips (NoCs) offer the potential to fulfill the high bandwidth requirements in such systems. In addition they need less power, offer better EMC capabilities and can reduce cabling effort compared to electronic networks. Due to their non-blocking property Clos networks are frequently used in HPC architectures. Therefore we investigated how a photonic on-board Clos network can be realized using Coarse Wavelength-Division-Multiplexing (CWDM) techniques with state-of-the art components based on fiber technology. In addition we present a new photonic Clos NoC architecture based on Wavelength Interchanging (WI) elements, optical waveguide structures, mode-locked laser sources, nanophotonic microrings and passive optical deflection elements to reduce the number of switches. We discuss the benefits and drawbacks for using different optical technologies for such an architecture.     

IPAS: a design framework for analysis,synthesis and optimization of image processing applications for heterogenous computing architectures

Recent trends in the image processing field have led to the use of more heterogeneous hardware architectures. The reason for this increase is that specialized cores, compared to standard CPUs, offer a more efficient way of achieving image processing applications. Specialized cores have less power, resource, and area consumption. On the other hand, designing such a heterogenous system with specialized cores is a challenging, error-prone and time-consuming task. Therefore, new frameworks are necessary for bringing an image processing application onto a given target platform by means of a tool chain. Some frameworks exist, but they do not address each need of a heterogeneous image processing application. Common weaknesses are (1) the low utilization of the image processing domain, (2) the inflexibility of the programming paradigms for different hardware architectures. Therefore, we define our own domain-specific design language called IPOL. To automate the derivation and optimization process, a synthesis tool named Image Processing Architecture Synthesis was created. This tool will be the focus of this work.     

Thermal and Electrical Conductivity of Amorphous and Graphitized Carbide‐Derived Carbon Monoliths

The influence of graphitization and composition of carbide‐derived carbon (CDC) monoliths on the electrical and thermal conductivity was investigated. Carbon monoliths with varying porosities were synthesized employing biomorphous macroporous TiC and SiC as precursors. Graphitization was carried out in situ during high‐temperature chlorination with and without addition of nickel, iron, and cobalt chloride to the carbide. The graphitized monoliths showed improved properties. The results demonstrate that despite graphitic carbon also glass‐like carbon, stemming from the carbide synthesis, increases the thermal and electrical conductivity significantly.