Evaluating the Performances of Biomarkers over a Restricted Domain of High Sensitivity

The burgeoning advances in high-throughput technologies have posed a great challenge to the identification of novel biomarkers for diagnosing, by contemporary models and methods, through bioinformatics-driven analysis. Diagnostic performance metrics such as the partial area under the ROC (pAUC) indexes exhibit limitations to analysing genomic data. Among other issues, the inability to differentiate between biomarkers whose ROC curves cross each other with the same pAUC value, the inappropriate expression of non-concave ROC curves, and the lack of a convenient interpretation, restrict their use in practice. Here, we have proposed the fitted partial area index (FpAUC), which is computable through an algorithm valid for any ROC curve shape, as an alternative performance summary for the evaluation of highly sensitive biomarkers. The proposed approach is based on fitter upper and lower bounds of the pAUC in a high-sensitivity region. Through variance estimates, simulations, and case studies for diagnosing leukaemia, and ovarian and colon cancers, we have proven the usefulness of the proposed metric in terms of restoring the interpretation and improving diagnostic accuracy. It is robust and feasible even when the ROC curve shows hooks, and solves performance ties between competitive biomarkers.

Changes in anterior femoral articular cartilage structure in collegiate rugby athletes with and without a history of traumatic knee joint injury following a five-month competitive season

This study aimed to examine anterior femoral cartilage morphology before (pre-season) and after (post-season) a 5-month competitive season in collegiate ruby players with and without a previous history of traumatic injury to ligamentous, meniscus, and/or cartilage structures at the knee joint. Using a prospective cohort design, 42 male collegiate rugby players with a previous history of traumatic intracapsular knee joint injury and 124 players without knee injury history were included in this study. Ultrasonography assessments of anterior femoral cartilage were performed before (pre-season) and following a 5-month athletic season (post-season). Rugby players with a history of traumatic knee joint injury had greater lateral condylar thickness (2.37 ± 0.35 mm, p = 0.03), intercondylar thickness (2.51 ± 0.47 mm, p = 0.03), and partial area (44.67 ± 7.28mm2, p = 0.02) compared to control players (lateral = 2.23 ± 0.35 mm, intercondylar = 2.32 ± 0.47 mm, partial area = 41.60 ± 7.26 mm2), regardless of pre-and post-season assessment time points. Pre-season ultrasonography assessment of lateral condylar thickness (2.34 ± 0.47 mm, p = 0.02), medial condylar thickness (2.05 ± 0.43 mm, p = 0.03), and partial area (44.10 ± 9.23 mm2, p = 0.001) were significantly greater than the post-season ultrasonography assessment time point (lateral = 2.26 ± 0.43 mm, medial = 1.98 ± 0.43 mm, partial area = 42.17 ± 8.82 mm2), regardless of group membership. Rugby players with a history of intracapsular knee joint injury displayed altered anterior femoral cartilage size via ultrasonography assessments. Regardless of a presence of injury history, collegiate rugby players showed a decrease in cartilage thickness and partial area following a 5-month competitive season.

The Effect of Hillslope Geometry on Hortonian Rainfall-Infiltration-Runoff Processes

<p>  Topography, one of the main factors in hillslope rainfall-runoff processes, is related to many environment problems initiated by rainfall, such as flash flood, soil erosion, and landslides, and crucial in hillslope hydrological models and large-scale hydrological-hydrodynamic models. This research investigated the effects of topography abstracted by the combination of longitudinal profile curvature and plan shape on the Hortonian rainfall-runoff processes. The results show that different profile curvature and plan shape leads to more than 10% difference in cumulative runoff and runoff rate and more than 20% difference in ponding time. Similar infiltration and runoff processes can occur on different hillslopes because of the similar slope gradient distributions, and partial area runoff can also occur in these hillslopes. The run-on effect causes more infiltration on convex hillslope topography. The soil property and rainfall temporal variability do not change the trends but can alter the magnitudes of the hillslope geometry effect. The study provides insights into the rainfall runoff processes on natural hillslopes that could benefit studies related to hillslope hydrology and geomorphology.</p>

Der Ausgleichsanspruch des Franchisenehmers analog § 89b HGB

The study examines the analogue application of the commercial agent compensation claim according to § 89b HGB (German Commercial Code) to franchisees, which the German Federal Court has not yet clarified conclusively. The study differentiates between the various types of franchise agreements that occur in practice. Taking into account the case law on authorised dealers, trademark licensees and others, the author advocates a limitation of analogy to a partial area of the distribution of goods. The study also examines the eligibility requirements and the calculation of compensation. It further offers the practitioner extensive case law references on all aspects of § 89b HGB.

Outlier concepts auditing methodology for a large family of biomedical ontologies

Background Summarization networks are compact summaries of ontologies. The “Big Picture” view offered by summarization networks enables to identify sets of concepts that are more likely to have errors than control concepts. For ontologies that have outgoing lateral relationships, we have developed the "partial-area taxonomy" summarization network. Prior research has identified one kind of outlier concepts, concepts of small partials-areas within partial-area taxonomies. Previously we have shown that the small partial-area technique works successfully for four ontologies (or their hierarchies). Methods To improve the Quality Assurance (QA) scalability, a family-based QA framework, where one QA technique is potentially applicable to a whole family of ontologies with similar structural features, was developed. The 373 ontologies hosted at the NCBO BioPortal in 2015 were classified into a collection of families based on structural features. A meta-ontology represents this family collection, including one family of ontologies having outgoing lateral relationships. The process of updating the current meta-ontology is described. To conclude that one QA technique is applicable for at least half of the members for a family F, this technique should be demonstrated as successful for six out of six ontologies in F. We describe a hypothesis setting the condition required for a technique to be successful for a given ontology. The process of a study to demonstrate such success is described. This paper intends to prove the scalability of the small partial-area technique. Results We first updated the meta-ontology classifying 566 BioPortal ontologies. There were 371 ontologies in the family with outgoing lateral relationships. We demonstrated the success of the small partial-area technique for two ontology hierarchies which belong to this family, SNOMED CT’s Specimen hierarchy and NCIt’s Gene hierarchy. Together with the four previous ontologies from the same family, we fulfilled the “six out of six” condition required to show the scalability for the whole family. Conclusions We have shown that the small partial-area technique can be potentially successful for the family of ontologies with outgoing lateral relationships in BioPortal, thus improve the scalability of this QA technique.

On the Rainfall Intensity–Duration–Frequency Curves, Partial-Area Effect and the Rational Method: Theory and the Engineering Practice

This research evaluates the partial-area effect and its relationship with the rainfall intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) equations. In the Rational Method, if the critical rainfall duration is shorter than the time of concentration, the partial-area effect occurs. We proved that the partial area could exist for the general ID equation i=a/(b+td)c, only when c>1. For these equations, in the application of the Rational Method, the maximum discharge at basin outlet occurs for rainfall duration (td) equal to b/(c−1). Nevertheless, for that case, the Depth Duration Frequency (DDF) has a maximum at that rainfall duration. These situations are present in engineering practice and will be discussed in this paper. Research was done to look for IDF equations with c>1 in hydrologic engineering practice. It found 640 inconsistent IDF equations (c>1) in four countries (Brazil, Mexico, India, and USA), which means that a fundamental principle for building consistent IDF equations (i.e., c>1), published in the scientific literature since 1998, did not reach the hydrologic engineering practice fully. We provided some analysis regarding this gap between theory and engineering practice.