A computationally efficient model selection in the generalized linear mixed model

This paper is concerned with model selection in spline-based generalized linear mixed model. Exploiting the fact that smoothing parameters can be expressed as the reciprocal ratio of the variances of random effect under the setting of estimation by regularization, we propose a computationally efficient model selection procedure. Applications to some real data sets reveal that the proposed method selects reasonable models and is very fast to implement.     

Reagent peak-free liquid chromatography–fluorescence analysis of carboxylic acids using a fluorous scavenging–derivatization method

We developed a fluorous scavenging–derivatization method for reagent peak-free liquid chromatography (LC)–fluorescence analysis of carboxylic acids. In this method, carboxylic acids were fluorescently derivatized with 1-pyrenemethylamine in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide and 1-hydroxy-1H-benzotriazole. Residual excess unreacted reagent was tagged with 2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl isocyanate and could be selectively removed by microfluorous solid-phase extraction before LC analysis. With use of this method, eight fluorescent derivatives of linear aliphatic carboxylic acids (C₁–C₈) can be separated within 30 min by reversed-phase LC with gradient elution. In the chromatogram obtained, the fluorous-tagged unreacted reagent peak is greatly decreased after microfluorous solid-phase extraction and does not interfere with the quantification of each acid. With use of microfluorous solid-phase extraction with 80% (v/v) aqueous methanol elution, over 99.9% of the unreacted fluorescent reagent was removed. The detection limits (signal-to-noise ratio of 3) for the carboxylic acids examined are 2.3–8.0 fmol per 10-μL injection. We also applied this method successfully to the analysis of highly polar carboxylic acids such as α-keto acids and tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites.     

Depsipeptides from a Guamanian Marine Cyanobacterium, Lyngbya bouillonii, with Selective Inhibition of Serine Proteases

Bouillomides A (1) and B (2) are two depsipeptide analogues of dolastatin 13. Isolated from a Guamanian sample of Lyngbya bouillonii, the planar structures were elucidated on the basis of HR-ESI-MS and NMR data, while the absolute configurations were determined by employing functional group conversions, modified Marfey’s analysis, and detailed analyses of ROESY correlations. Compounds 1 and 2 selectively inhibited serine proteases elastase (IC₅₀ = 1.9 μM for both) and chymotrypsin (IC₅₀ = 0.17 and 9.3 μM, respectively) while showing no inhibition of trypsin (IC₅₀ >100 μM).     

A photoelectrochemical device with a nanostructured SnO2 electrode modified with composite clusters of porphyrin-modified silica nanoparticle and fullerene

A silica nanoparticle has been successfully employed as a nanoscaffold to self-organize porphyrin and C60 molecules on a nanostructured SnO2 electrode. The quenching of the porphyrin excited singlet state on the silica nanoparticle is suppressed significantly, showing that silica nanoparticles are promising scaffolds for organizing photoactive molecules three-dimensionally in nanometer scale. Marked enhancement of the photocurrent generation was achieved in the present system compared with the reference system, where a gold core was employed as a scaffold of porphyrins instead of a silica nanoparticle. The rather small incident photon-to-current efficiency relative to a similar photoelectrochemical device using a silica microparticle may result from poor electron and hole mobility in the composite film due to poor connection between the composite clusters of a porphyrin-modified silica nanoparticle and C60 in micrometer scale.     

On the (in)efficiency of non-interactive secure multiparty computation

Secure multi-party computation (MPC) enables multiple players to cooperatively evaluate various functions in the presence of adversaries. In this paper, we consider non-interactive MPC (NIMPC) against honest-but-curious adversaries in the information-theoretic setting, which was introduced by Beimel et al. at CRYPTO 2014. Their main focus is to realize stronger security while completely avoiding interaction, and succeeded to show that every function admits a fully robust NIMPC protocol. In this paper, we further develop the study of NIMPC. We first present a simple lower bound on the communication complexity derived from the correctness requirement of NIMPC. Secondly, we present an efficient NIMPC protocol for indicator functions, which is an important building block of NIMPC protocols. An NIMPC protocol for arbitrary functions is also constructed from the proposed NIMPC for indicator functions by using the generic compiler introduced by Beimel et al. in CRYPTO 2014. The communication complexities of NIMPC protocols presented in this paper are much more efficient than the previous ones. In fact, the gap between the lower and upper bounds of the communication complexity is reduced from exponential in the input length to quadratic. Finally, we show some improvements on the efficiency in the so-called offline-online model. Specifically, for some sets of functions, the exponential amount of offline communication reduces the online communication to almost optimum amount in the standard model.     

Poly (acryloyl- -proline methyl ester) hydrogels obtained by radiation polymerization for the controlled release of drugs

Thermosensitive hydrogels were obtained by radiation-induced polymerization of acryloyl- -proline methyl ester in the presence of a crosslinking agent. The measurements of equilibrium water content in the temperature range between 0° and 60°C showed that the samples swelled at low temperatures while they shrank at high temperatures. These hydrogels were used as drug delivery systems for the controlled release of insulin. In vivo studies carried out on diabetic rats ascertained a significant reduction in the hyperglycemic level in the blood which continued for about 2 months.     

Determination of catecholamines and indoleamines in human urine based on intramolecular excimer-forming derivatization and fluorescence detection.

A liquid chromatographic (LC) determination of catecholamines and indoleamines is described. This is based on intramolecular excimer-forming fluorescence derivatization with 4-(1-pyrene)butanoyl chloride, followed by reversed-phase LC. The analytes, containing an amino moiety and phenolic hydroxyl moieties in a molecule, were converted to the corresponding polypyrene-labeled derivatives by one-step derivatization. They afforded intramolecular excimer fluorescence, which can clearly be discriminated from the normal fluorescence emitted from reagent blanks. The detection limits (S/N = 3) for catecholamines and indoleamines were femto-mole levels per 20-microL injection. Furthermore, this method was applied to a urine assay.     

An efficient total synthesis of (+)-heliannuol D

An efficient total synthesis of (+)-heliannuol D was accomplished in 14 steps and in 12% overall yield by employing a diastereoselective conjugate addition reaction to create a tertiary benzylic stereogenic center and simple assembly of the functionalized oxepane framework by an efficient one-pot transformation procedure as the key steps.