Complex Price Dynamics in a Financial Market with Imitation

In this work a simple financial model with fundamentalists and imitators is being considered. In order to describe the price dynamics of the heterogeneous stock market, a synergetic approach is used and some global bifurcations arising in the model are being studied. It is shown that the fundamental equilibrium point P* may be destabilized through a subcritical Neimark–Sacker bifurcation and that two invariant closed curves, one attracting and one repelling, appear when P* is still stable. This particular bifurcation scenario allows us to show some noticeable features of the market that emerge when the imitation effect is emphasized. Among these features are, for instance, the volatility clusters associated with the presence of multistability (i.e. coexistence of attractors) and the hysteresis phenomenon.     

Estimating the growth kinetics of experimental tumors from as few as two determinations of tumor size: implications for clinical oncology

Clinical information on tumor growth is often limited to a few determinations of the size of the tumor burden taken at variable time. As a consequence, fitting of growth equations to clinical data is hampered by the small number of available data. On the other hand, characterising the tumor growth kinetics in terms of clinically relevant parameters, such as the doubling time of the tumors, is increasingly required to optimize and personalise treatments. A computational method is presented which can estimate the growth kinetics of tumors from as few as two determinations of its size taken at two successive time points, provided the size at which tumor growth saturates is known. The method is studied by using experimental data obtained in vitro with multicell tumor spheroids and in vivo with tumors grown in mice, and its outputs are compared to those obtained by fitting of experimental data with the Gompertz growth equation. Under certain assumptions and limitations the method provides comparable estimates of the doubling time of tumors with respect to the classical nonlinear fitting approach. The method is then tested against simulated tumor growth trajectories spanning the range of tumor sizes observed in the clinics. The simulations show that a relative classification of tumors on the basis of their growth kinetics can be obtained even if the size at which tumor growth saturates is not known. This result opens the possibility to classify patients bearing fast or slow growing tumors and, hence, to adapt therapeutic regimens under a more rationale basis.     

Lack of clonal BCRA2 gene deletion on chromosome 13 in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Chromosome 13q deletion is among the most common cytogenetic abnormalities in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). We investigated the 13q14.3 deletion in 44 CLL patients by Southern blotting following purification of clonal B CLL cells to >90%. Two sets of probes were used to investigate the site of clonal deletion, the D13S25 and D13S319 markers (at 13q14.3) and probes for exons 11 and 26-27 of the BRCA2 gene (at 13q12). Homozygous and heterozygous deletion at the 13q14.3 region was found in five and 17 patients, respectively. Despite the recent report of the BRCA2 gene involvement in >80% of CLL patients, we failed to detect a single case of homozygous or heterozygous deletion involving the 13q12 region. Our data support previous findings that the 13q14.3, and not the 13q12 region, is the major site of candidate tumour suppressor gene(s) in CLL.     

Single-mode regime of square-lattice photonic crystal fibers

The modal cutoff of square-lattice photonic crystal fibers with a finite number of air-hole rings has been accurately investigated to our knowledge for the first time. By analyzing the leaky behavior of the second-order mode, we have obtained a phase diagram that describes the regions of single-mode and multimode operation as well as the endlessly single-mode regime. Furthermore, starting from these results, we have obtained the cutoff normalized frequency according to two different formulations of the V parameter previously adopted for fibers with a triangular lattice. A final comparison of the cutoff properties of fibers characterized by a square lattice and a triangular lattice has been carried out.     

Ataxia-telangiectasia and T-cell leukemias: no evidence for somatic ATM mutation in sporadic T-ALL or for hypermethylation of the ATM-NPAT/E14 bidirectional promoter in T-PLL

The ATM gene deficient in ataxia-telangiectasia, a recessive multisystem disease associated with a high risk of lymphomas and leukemias, was found previously to be inactivated in a rare sporadic malignancy, T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL), which is often associated with cytogenetic aberrations of chromosome 14. The ATM gene was shown to sustain frequent loss-of-function mutations in T-PLL tumor cells, consistent with functioning as a tumor suppressor gene in this leukemia. To investigate the possibility of nonmutational or nonrecombinational mechanisms of T-PLL development, we have used bisulfite genomic sequencing to analyze DNA methylation in the putative bidirectional promoter region of the closely linked ATM and NPAT/E14 genes within the CpG island at 11q22-q23. We show that this region is completely demethylated in lymphocytes expressing ATM; however, no extensive hypermethylation was found in 9 T-PLL tumor DNA samples without evidence of ATM/p53 mutations. Because acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemias (T-ALL) were also observed in ataxia-telangiectasia patients and T-ALL tumor cells contain chromosome 14 abnormalities, 19 presentation samples of T-ALL patients were analyzed for ATM mutations. Although T-ALL patients exhibited rare nucleotide substitutions not previously found in ATM, all were identified in the germ-line, indicating constitutional polymorphisms, potentially confined to ethnic subpopulations. The absence of somatic nucleotide changes in ATM in T-ALL as compared with T-PLL suggests a distinct pattern of genetic events in the development of the two leukemias.     

All-silica double-pass StCtL band EDFA

The possibility to extend the erbium-doped fibre amplifier bandwidth from S- to L-band through all-silica erbium-doped fibres has been experimentally demonstrated. An amplifier with a parallel configuration for the S-, C- and L-bands and a double-pass scheme is proposed. The amplifier exploits the depressed-cladding fibre bending loss to obtain amplification in S-band     

Authentication of the ‘Annurca’ Apple in Agro-food Chain by Amplification of Microsatellite Loci

An increasing application of DNA fingerprinting in modern food biotechnology is the authentication of species and cultivars in commercial edible products. In this work we describe the genetic authentication of apple fruits from “Annurca” and “Annurca Rossa del Sud”, the leading varieties of the Italian Campania region, in two different highly-processed foodstuffs, nectar and purée. The identification was based on fluorescent-based capillary electrophoresis and automated size estimation of polymorphic DNA microsatellites. We selected 4 Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) able to distinguish 17 different apple accessions. Each SSR proved to be suitable to authenticate the presence of Annurca as ingredient in the analysed apple derivatives. This study represents the first application of DNA technology to the identification of apple cultivars in the agro-food chain.