Measurement of lipid flux to advance translational research: evolution of classic methods to the future of precision health

Over the past 70 years, the study of lipid metabolism has led to important discoveries in identifying the underlying mechanisms of chronic diseases. Advances in the use of stable isotopes and mass spectrometry in humans have expanded our knowledge of target molecules that contribute to pathologies and lipid metabolic pathways. These advances have been leveraged within two research paths, leading to the ability (1) to quantitate lipid flux to understand the fundamentals of human physiology and pathology and (2) to perform untargeted analyses of human blood and tissues derived from a single timepoint to identify lipidomic patterns that predict disease. This review describes the physiological and analytical parameters that influence these measurements and how these issues will propel the coming together of the two fields of metabolic tracing and lipidomics. The potential of data science to advance these fields is also discussed. Future developments are needed to increase the precision of lipid measurements in human samples, leading to discoveries in how individuals vary in their production, storage, and use of lipids. New techniques are critical to support clinical strategies to prevent disease and to identify mechanisms by which treatments confer health benefits with the overall goal of reducing the burden of human disease.Subject terms: Metabolomics, Translational research, Machine learning     

Particle interaction and coercivity for acicular particles

The influence of the packing factor on coercivity for an assembly of particles is calculated. A rigorously theoretical explanation for the origin of empirical constants in the phenomenologically linear expression is given. The nonlinear coercivity dependence for a small packing factor is attributed to the nonuniform distribution of particles and the surface effects.     

Modulation of electric field on persistent current of carbon nanotubes

We use tight-binding model including curvature effects to study the effect of transverse electric field on the persistent currents of armchair and zigzag carbon nanotubes (ACNTs and ZCNTs) threaded by longitudinal magnetic field. With increasing field strength, ZCNTs could undergo zero-gap transitions, whereas metallic ACNTs are not affected. The current amplitude, without electric field, in a (m,m$m,m$) ACNT is inversely proportional to m²$m^2$. However, for a (m,0$m,0$) ZCNT, it is determined by the modulus of m with respect to three. Electric field could enhance the current amplitude of an ACNT, but could not change its magnetism. As for a ZCNT, both electric-field-distorted electronic states and zero-gap transitions determine a change in magnetism that is pronouncedly related with nanotube's geometry.     

Global and local fuzzy energy-based active contours for image segmentation

This paper proposes a novel active contour model for image segmentation based on techniques of curve evolution. The paper introduces an energy functional including a local fuzzy energy and a global fuzzy energy to attract the active contour and stop it on the object boundaries. The local term allows the method to deal with intensity inhomogeneity in images. The global term, aside from driving the contour toward the desired objects, is used to avoid unsatisfying results led by unsuitable initial contour position, a common limitation of models using local information solely. In addition, instead of solving the Euler–Lagrange equation, the paper directly calculates the alterations of the fuzzy energy. By this way, the contour converges quickly to the object boundary. Experimental results on both 2D and 3D images validate the effectiveness of the model when working with intensity inhomogeneous images.     

Kinetic study of chitosan‐tripolyphosphate complex reaction and acid‐resistive properties of the chitosan‐tripolyphosphate gel beads prepared by in‐liquid curing method

Chitosan gel beads were prepared using an in‐liquid curing method by the ionotropic crosslinking with sodium tripolyphosphate. Crosslinking characteristics of the chitosan‐TPP beads were improved by the modification of in‐liquid curing mechanism of the beads in TPP solution. Chitosan gel beads cured in pH value lower than 6 were really ionic‐crosslinking controlled, whereas chitosan gel beads cured in pH values higher than 7 were coacervation‐phase inversion controlled accompanied with slightly ionic‐crosslinking dependence. According to the result, significantly increasing the ionic‐crosslinking density of chitosan beads could be achieved by transferring the pH value of the curing agent, TPP, from basic to acidic. The swelling behavior of various chitosan beads in acid appeared to depend on the ionic‐crosslinking density of the chitosan‐TPP beads that were deeply affected by the curing mechanism of the beads. The mechanism of chitosan‐TPP beads swollen in weak acid was chain‐relaxation controlled, while the mechanism of chitosan‐TPP beads swollen in strong acid seem to be not only chain‐relaxation but also chain‐scission controlled. Chitosan‐TPP beads prepared in acidic TPP solution decreased the chain‐scission ability due to the increase of ionic crosslinking density of the beads. By the transition of curing mechanism, the swelling degree of chitosan‐TPP beads was depressed, and the disintegration of chitosan‐TPP beads would not occur in strong acid. The mechanism of ionic‐crosslinking reaction of chitosan beads could be investigated by an unreacted core model, and the curing mechanism of the chitosan beads is mainly diffusion controlled when higher than 5% of chitosan was employed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 1551–1564, 1999     

Metal azelate coordination polymers containing a kinked dipyridyl tether: CdSO4 topology and “ligand vacancy” primitive cubic three-dimensional networks

Hydrothermal self-assembly has generated three coordination polymers incorporating the kinked hydrogen-bonding capable tethering ligand 4,4′-dipyridylamine (dpa) and the long flexible aliphatic dicarboxylate azelate dianion (⁻O₂C(CH₂)₇CO₂⁻, aze), [M(aze)(dpa)(H₂O)]_n (M = Co, 1; M = Ni, 2) and {[Cd(aze)(dpa)] · 2H₂O}_n (3). Complexes 1 and 2 possess crystallographically disordered azelate ligands, forming related three-dimensional (3-D) 4-connected “ligand vacancy” primitive cubic coordination polymer networks via the random intersection of two different types of [M(aze)(dpa)]_n idealized two-dimensional (2-D) layers. Compound 3 manifests a 3-D 6⁵8 CdSO₄ topology coordination polymer network, formed from orthogonal sets of parallel [Cd(aze)]_n double chains linked through dpa ligands. Luminescent properties for 3 and thermal properties are also discussed.     

Conformers and intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the oxalic acid monomer and its anions

Density functional theory, B3LYP/6‐31G** and B3LYP/6‐311+G(2d,p), and ab initio MP2/6‐31G** calculations have been carried out to investigate the conformers, transition states, and energy barriers of the conformational processes of oxalic acid and its anions. QCISD/6‐31G** geometrical optimization is also performed in the stable forms. Its calculated energy differences between the two most stable conformers are very near to the related observed value at 7.0 kJ/mol. It is found that the structures and relative energies of oxalic acid conformers predicted by these methods show similar results, and that the conformer L1 (C_2h) with the double‐interfunctional‐groups hydrogen bonds is the most stable conformer. The magnitude of hydrogen bond energies depends on the energy differences of various optimized structures. The hydrogen bond energies will be about 32 kJ/mol for interfunctional groups, 17 kJ/mol for weak interfunctional groups, 24 kJ/mol for intra‐COOH in (COOH)₂, and 60 kJ/mol for interfunctional groups in (COOH)COO⁻¹ ion if calculated using the B3LYP/6‐311+G(2d,p) method. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 76: 541–551, 2000     

Residual thermal birefringence in freely quenched plates of amorphous polymers: Simulation and experiment

Free quenching experiments were performed on thin plates of polystyrene (PS) and polycarbonate (PC). The thermal birefringence distribution along the thickness direction of the plates was measured. The birefringence data were compared with the results of a numerical simulation based on the linear viscoelastic and photoviscoelastic constitutive equations for the mechanical and optical properties, respectively, and the first‐order rate equation for volume relaxation. The effects of the initial temperature, quenching temperature, and quenching media on the development of residual thermal stresses and birefringence were evaluated. At higher initial temperatures (>105 °C), the thermal birefringence in quenched PS plates was negative at the center and positive at the surface, whereas at lower temperatures (close to the glass‐transition temperature), the birefringence became positive at the core and negative at the surface or positive through the entire cross section of the plate. The birefringence in freely quenching PC plates was positive at the center and negative at the surface at any initial temperature. These observations were in fair agreement with predicted data. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1850–1867, 2003     

Decomposition of Complete Graphs into Cycles and Stars

Let C _k denote a cycle of length k and let S _k denote a star with k edges. As usual K _n denotes the complete graph on n vertices. In this paper we investigate decomposition of K _n into C _l ’s and S _k ’s, and give some necessary or sufficient conditions for such a decomposition to exist. In particular, we give a complete solution to the problem in the case l = k = 4 as follows: For any nonnegative integers p and q and any positive integer n, there exists a decomposition of K _n into p copies of C ₄ and q copies of S ₄ if and only if ${4(p + q)={n \choose 2}, q\ne 1}$ if n is odd, and ${q\geq max\{3, \lceil{\frac{n}{4}\rceil}\}}$ if n is even.     

The Visual Design and Control of Trellis Display

Abstract

Trellis display is a framework for the visualization of data. Its most prominent aspect is an overall visual design, reminiscent of a garden trelliswork, in which panels are laid out into rows, columns, and pages. On each panel of the trellis, a subset of the data is graphed by a display method such as a scatterplot, curve plot, boxplot, 3-D wireframe, normal quantile plot, or dot plot. Each panel shows the relationship of certain variables conditional on the values of other variables. A number of display methods employed in the visual design of Trellis display enable it to succeed in uncovering the structure of data even when the structure is quite complicated. For example, Trellis display provides a powerful mechanism for understanding interactions in studies of how a response depends on explanatory variables. Three examples demonstrate this; in each case, we make important discoveries not appreciated in the original analyses. Several control methods are also essential to Trellis display. A control method is a technique for specifying information so that a display can be drawn. The control methods of Trellis display form a basic conceptual framework that can be used in designing software. We have demonstrated the viability of the control methods by implementing them in the S/S-PLUS system for graphics and data analysis, but they can be implemented in any software system with a basic capability for drawing graphs.