A fluorescence-based sequence-specific primer PCR for the screening of HLA-B(*)57:01

Abacavir (ABC) is an antiretroviral drug highly effective in the treatment of HIV, but its intake can cause severe hypersensitivity reaction (HSR). A strong association between HLA-B(*)57:01 and ABC HSRs was reported by several studies, which demonstrated that HLA-B(*)57:01 screening had a 100% negative predictive value and that it could accurately identify patients at high risk of ABC HSRs. We propose a new sequence-specific primer PCR assay based on fluorescence detection through CE which is highly sensitive, allowing the use of non-infective sources of DNA such as saliva and buccal swabs, in addition to blood and reproducible, allowing automation of the analytical process. The results of our study were first compared with a standard sequence-specific primer PCR technique and reported a concordance of 100%, and then a blind external validation further confirmed the accuracy of our method.     

Two Fast Marching Methods for Hamilton–Jacobi Equations

We introduce and analyze two new Fast Marching (FM) methods based on a semi-Lagrangian (SL) approximation (see [2] for a more complete presentation). The Characteristics driven Fast Marching method accepts more than one node at every iteration using a dynamic condition which leads to a faster convergence. The Buffered Fast Marching method allows to deal with convex and non–convex Hamilton–Jacobi equations including anisotropic front propagation and differential games. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Bounds and approximations for sums of dependent log-elliptical random variables

Dhaene, Denuit, Goovaerts, Kaas and Vyncke [Dhaene, J., Denuit, M., Goovaerts, M.J., Kaas, R., Vyncke, D., 2002a. The concept of comonotonicity in actuarial science and finance: theory. Insurance Math. Econom. 31 (1), 3-33; Dhaene, J., Denuit, M., Goovaerts, M.J., Kaas, R., Vyncke, D., 2002b. The concept of comonotonicity in actuarial science and finance: Applications. Insurance Math. Econom. 31 (2), 133-161] have studied convex bounds for a sum of dependent random variables and applied these to sums of log-normal random variables. In particular, they have shown how these convex bounds can be used to derive closed-form approximations for several of the risk measures of such a sum. In this paper we investigate to which extent their general results on convex bounds can also be applied to sums of log-elliptical random variables which incorporate sums of log-normals as a special case. Firstly, we show that unlike the log-normal case, for general sums of log-ellipticals the convex lower bound does no longer result in closed-form approximations for the different risk measures. Secondly, we demonstrate how instead the weaker stop-loss order can be used to derive such closed-form approximations. We also present numerical examples to show the accuracy of the proposed approximations.     

Experimental evaluation of modal damping in automotive components with different constraint conditions

The selection of reliable damping values for mechanical components of complex shape is very difficult from a theoretical point of view, above all in the case of complex constraint conditions. This work presents an example of experimental procedure for estimating the modal damping in a family of mechanical components. An Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) program has been carried out on different types of brackets used on diesel engines, and in different constraint conditions with the aim of collecting the damping values in a database. In particular, the EMA has been carried out on brackets in the freely-supported condition and in the clamped condition actually used in the engine, highlighting the variations in modal damping with the different constraint conditions. The results of the experimental measurements have been processed with different modal analysis algorithms in order to increase the robustness of the solution. The resulting damping plots represent very useful data in the field of numerical analysis.