Our new approach, termed constrained fuzzy logic (cFL), converts a prior knowledge network (obtained from literature or interactome databases) into a computable model that describes graded values of protein activation across multiple pathways. We train a cFL-converted network to experimental data describing hepatocytic protein activation by inflammatory cytokines

and demonstrate the application of the resultant trained models for three important purposes: (a) generating experimentally testable biological hypotheses concerning pathway crosstalk, (b) establishing capability for quantitative prediction of TGF-beta inhibitor protein activity, and (c) prediction and understanding of the cytokine release phenotypic response. Our methodology systematically and quantitatively trains a protein pathway map summarizing curated literature to context-specific biochemical data. This process generates a computable model yielding successful prediction of new test data and offering biological insight into complex datasets that are difficult to fully analyze by intuition alone.”
“Galactic cosmic radiation is acknowledged as one of the major barriers to human space exploration. In space, astronauts are exposed to charged particles from Z = 1 (H) up to Z = 28 (Ni), but the probability of a hit to a

specific single cell in the human body is low. Particle microbeams Compound C cost can deliver single charged particles of different charge and energy to single cells from different tissues, and microbeam studies are therefore very useful for improving current risk estimates for long-term space travel. 2D in vitro cell cultures can be very useful for establishing basic molecular mechanisms, but they are not sufficient to extrapolate risk, given the substantial evidence proving tissue effects are key in determining

the response to radiation insult. 3D tissue or animal systems represent a more promising target for space radiobiology using microbeams.”
“The ArF laser induced absorption feature between 450 and 700 nm observed in the bulk of BMS-777607 research buy mono crystalline calcium fluoride (CaF(2)) upon prolonged 193 nm irradiation is shown to have two origins: The first band at 530 nm is revealed by a transient femtosecond (fs) laser transparency spectrum and attributed to Ca clusters (colloid). The second band at 600 nm originates from M(Na) centers as identified by their laser induced fluorescence excitation spectrum, emission wavelength, and fluorescence lifetime. The analysis of the absorption feature by fs pump-probe techniques benefits from the different lifetimes of the transient transparency (excited states of the Ca clusters) and the fluorescing M(Na) centers of about 5 ps and 22 ns, respectively. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.