Spatial RNA Sequencing Identifies Robust Markers of Vulnerable and Resistant Human Midbrain Dopamine Neurons and Their Expression in Parkinson’s Disease

Defining transcriptional profiles of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons is critical to understanding their differential vulnerability in Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Here, we determine transcriptomes of human SNc and VTA dopamine neurons using LCM-seq on a large sample cohort. We apply a bootstrapping strategy as sample input to DESeq2 and identify 33 stably differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between these two subpopulations. We also compute a minimal sample size for identification of stable DEGs, which highlights why previous reported profiles from small sample sizes display extensive variability. Network analysis reveal gene interactions unique to each subpopulation and highlight differences in regulation of mitochondrial stability, apoptosis, neuronal survival, cytoskeleton regulation, extracellular matrix modulation as well as synapse integrity, which could explain the relative resilience of VTA dopamine neurons. Analysis of PD tissues showed that while identified stable DEGs can distinguish the subpopulations also in disease, the SNc markers SLIT1 and ATP2A3 were down-regulated and thus appears to be biomarkers of disease. In summary, our study identifies human SNc and VTA marker profiles, which will be instrumental for studies aiming to modulate dopamine neuron resilience and to validate cell identity of stem cell-derived dopamine neurons.

Group Acceptance Sampling Plan for Resubmitted Lots: Size Biased Lomax Distribution

This research reveals a group acceptance sampling plan (GASP) for lot resubmitting is designed for conditions wherein an item life is taken from the size biased Lomax distribution (SBLD). The plan parameters of the GASP are obtained by fulfilling the prefixed producer’s and consumer’s risks as per the test completion time and the number of testers. The projected plan needs a minimal sample size in comparison with the standard GASP. This proposed plan is justified with an example.

Emergence of variation between groups through time in fish shoal collective motion

Despite extensive interest in the dynamic interactions between individuals that drive collective motion in animal groups, the dynamics of collective motion over longer time frames are understudied. Using three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculateus, randomly assigned to twelve shoals of eight fish, we tested how six key traits of collective motion changed over shorter (within trials) and longer (between days) timescales under controlled laboratory conditions. Over both timescales, groups became less social with reduced cohesion, polarisation, group speed and information transfer. There was consistent inter-group variation (i.e. collective personality variation) for all collective motion parameters, but groups also differed in how their collective motion changed over days in their cohesion, polarisation, group speed and information transfer. This magnified differences between groups, suggesting that over time the ‘typical’ collective motion cannot be easily characterised. The minimal sample size of independent groups and their divergence over time need to be considered in future studies.

Numerical modeling of a two-point correlator for the Lagrange solutions of some evolution equations

Статья посвящена двухточечным моментам решений, возникающих в простых лагранжевых моделях для уравнения индукции в случае конечного корреляционного времени случайной среды. Рассматривается вопрос о связи коммутационных свойств соответствующих алгебраических операторов с минимальным объемом выборки независимых случайных реализаций, который необходим в численном эксперименте для моделирования двуточечного коррелятора решения. Показано, что, как и для одноточечных моментов, численное исследование двуточечного коррелятора в случае коммутирующих операторов (случайные числа) требует существенно меньших объемов выборки, чем в случае, когда они не коммутируют (случайные матрицы). This paper is devoted to the two-point moments of the solutions arising in simple Lagrange models for the induction equations in the case of finite correlation time of a random medium. We consider the question on the connection between the commutative properties of the corresponding algebraic operators and the minimal sample size of independent random realizations necessary in numerical experiments for modeling the two-point correlator of the solution. It is shown that, as for the one-point moments, the numerical study of the two-point correlator in the case of commutating operators (random numbers) requires a much smaller sample size than in the case when they do not commute (random matrices).

System Availability Test Procedure with Minimum Operating Time

In order to solve problem about how to test inherent availability of repairable system under minimum operating time and lognormal repair time, an inherent availability test procedure with fixed sample size is presented. The test procedure which is divided into alternate operating and repair process, should meet stated levels of producer’s risk and consumer’s risk. It is noticeable that minimal sample size and critical value calculation method research is considered as the key point of procedure design. At the end of this paper, course of a test procedure design and operation of inherent availability test and evaluation are described by example analysis.

How to measure the onset of babbling reliably?

ABSTRACTVarious measures for identifying the onset of babbling have been proposed in the literature, but a formal definition of the exact procedure and a thorough validation of the sample size required for reliably establishing babbling onset is lacking. In this paper the reliability of five commonly used measures is assessed using a large longitudinal corpus of spontaneous speech from forty infants (age 0 ; 6−2 ; 0). In a first experiment it is shown that establishing the onset of babbling with reasonable (95%) confidence is impossible when the measures are computed only once, and when the number of vocalizations are not equal for all children at all ages. In addition, each measure requires a different minimal sample size. In the second experiment a robust procedure is proposed and formally defined that permits the identification of the onset of babbling with 95% confidence. The bootstrapping procedure involves extensive resampling and requires relatively few data.