Partially constrained group variable selection to adjust for complementary unit performance in American college football.

Given the importance of accurate team rankings in American college football (CFB) - due to heavy title and playoff implications - strides have been made to improve metrics for team performance evaluation, going from basic averages (e.g. points scored per game) to metrics that adjust for a team's strength of schedule, but one aspect that's yet to be accounted for is the ability of team's offense and defense to complement one another, termed 'complementary football'. American football is unique because the same team's offensive and defensive units typically consist of separate player sets that don't share the field simultaneously, which tempts one to evaluate them independently. Yet, some aspects of your team's defensive (offensive) performance may directly impact the complementary unit, e.g. turnovers forced by your defense could lead to easier scoring chances for your offense. Our main goal is to identify the most consistently influential features of complementary football in a data-driven way, subsequently adjusting each team's offensive (defensive) performance for that of their complementary unit. To achieve that, for the 2009-2019 CFB seasons, we incorporate natural splines with group penalty approaches, conducting partially constrained optimization to guarantee the full adjustment for the strength of schedule and home-field factor.

Using localized Twitter activity to assess harmful algal bloom impacts of Karenia brevis in Florida, USA.

Red tide blooms of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis (K. brevis) produce toxic coastal conditions that can impact marine organisms and human health, while also affecting local economies. During the extreme Florida red tide event of 2017-2019, residents and visitors turned to social media platforms to both receive disaster-related information and communicate their own sentiments and experiences. This was the first major red tide event since the ubiquitous use of social media, thus providing unique crowd-sourced reporting of red tide impacts. We evaluated the spatial and temporal accuracy of red tide topic activity on Twitter, taking tweet sentiments and user types (e.g. media, citizens) into consideration, and compared tweet activity with reported red tide conditions, such as K. brevis cell counts, levels of dead fish and respiratory irritation on local beaches. The analysis was done on multiple levels with respect to both locality (e.g., entire Gulf coast, county-level, city-level, zip code tabulation areas) and temporal frequencies (e.g. daily, every three days, weekly), resulting in strong correlations between local per-capita Twitter activity and the actual red tide conditions observed in the area. Moreover, an association was observed between proximity to the affected coastal areas and per-capita counts for relevant tweets. Results show that Twitter presents a trustworthy reflection of the red tide's local impacts and development over time, and can potentially augment the already existing tools for efficient assessment and a more coordinated response to the disaster.

Regularized Joint Estimation of Related Vector Autoregressive Models.

In a number of applications, one has access to high-dimensional time series data on several related subjects. A motivating application area comes from the neuroimaging field, such as brain fMRI time series data, obtained from various groups of subjects (cases/controls) with a specific neurological disorder. The problem of regularized joint estimation of multiple related Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models is discussed, leveraging a group lasso penalty in addition to a regular lasso one, so as to increase statistical efficiency of the estimates by borrowing strength across the models. A modeling framework is developed that it allows for both group-level and subject-specific effects for related subjects, using a group lasso penalty to estimate the former. An estimation procedure is introduced, whose performance is illustrated on synthetic data and compared to other state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, the proposed approach is employed for the analysis of resting state fMRI data. In particular, a group-level descriptive analysis is conducted for brain inter-regional temporal effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) patients as opposed to controls, with the data available from the ADHD-200 Global Competition repository.

[Restoration of contractile capacity of the muscles after closed malleolar fractures].

According to the literature data incomplete restoration of the muscular strength is observed after malleolar fractures that made us evaluate the contractile capacity of the tibial muscles after treatment of 59 adult patients with these fractures using Ilizarov method. Additionally, late follow-up of 5 cases were examined in complex. Practically, full restoration of the anatomical sizes, electrogenesis and contractile property of the tibial muscles is possible in the interval from 5 to 8 years after treatment that can be explained by fine reduction and reliable fixation of the bone fragments during treatment and increase of neuro-motor apparatus sensitivity to the specific impacts while muscles' work in the conditions of habitual motor activity.

[Efficacy of motor control at patients with cerebral hemiparesis in rehabilitation conditions with application of transosseous distraction cranio-osteosynthesis].

To study influence of transosseous distraction cranio-osteosynthesis on functional state of neuromotor system at patients with hemispheric stroke consequences, severe craniocerebral trauma analyzed dynamics of electroneuromyography index--cerebrospinal index, obtained by testing of extremities muscles at 28 persons in residual disease period. Data analysis obtained in control period testify to positive cerebrospinal index dynamics is maximum evident in long-term post-operative period and on leads from upper paretic limb. Thus, electrophysiologically identified increase of motor control efficacy of paretic limbs muscles at patients with cerebral alteration consequences in treatment by transosseous distraction cranio-osteosynthesis.

[Neurophysiological correlates of pyramidal insufficiency of ischemic and traumatic genesis in conditions of distraction osteosynthesis application].

Analyzed main trends in variations of quantitative electroneuromyographic characteristics at patients with stroke and severe craniocerebral trauma consequences in the treatment process using transosseous distraction osteosynthesis. Studied specific features of central nervous system reaction on present surgical treatment at patients depending on age, etiology and severity of initial brain structures damage. Formulated notions about staging and mechanisms of reactive change in the brain-cortex under the influence of rehabilitation by transosseous distraction osteosynthesis at patients of noted nosological groups.

[Peculiarities of cerebral structures functioning in adolescents with achondroplasia].

Complex neurophysiological examination (rheoencephalography, electroencephalography) was carried out in 12 adolescents 12 to 18 years old in order to reveal the peculiarities of cerebral structures functioning in adolescents with achondroplasia. Some deviations from the normal values were found out: reduced blood filling of the brain vessels in the pools of a. carotis interna and a. vertebralis, rheoencephalographic signs of intracranial hypertension of mild degree and brain cycling characterized by moderate and significant amplitude increase, presence of pathological types (delta-, theta-) of the rhythmics and the reduction of the physiological ones (alpha-, beta-). At the same time the peculiarities of rheoencephalographic indices were observed while functional testings (hypercapnia, hyperoxia). Brain cycling differed from normal values by weaker response to the weight-bearing, mainly in alpha- and beta-ranges.

[Exploration and identification of Physcomitrella patens moss peptides].

In the current study the isolation and identification of Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G. moss peptides are described. Physcomitrella patens moss is actively used in recent years as a model organism to study the biology of plants. Protoplasts, protonemata and gametophores of the moss are demonstrated for the first time to contain diverse small peptides. From gametophores was isolated and identified 58 peptides that are fragments of 14 proteins, and from protonemata - 49 peptides, fragments of 15 proteins. It was found that the protonemata and gametophores Ph. patens, which are the successive stages of development of this plant, significantly different from each other as a peptide composition and the spectrum of the precursor protein of identified peptides. Isolation of protoplasts of the enzymatic destruction of cell wall protonemata accompanied by massive degradation of intracellular proteins, many of whom are proteins of photosynthesis, which is a characteristic response of plants to stress the impact of environmental factors. A total of moss protoplasts were isolated and identified 323 peptides that are fragments of 79 proteins.

Proteome analysis of chloroplasts from the moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G.

Intact chloroplasts were prepared from protoplasts of the moss Physcomitrella patens according to an especially developed method. They were additionally separated into stroma and thylakoid fractions. The proteomes of intact plastids, stroma, and thylakoids were analyzed by 1D-electrophoresis under denaturing conditions followed by protein digestion and nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS of tryptic peptides from gel bands. A total of 624 unique proteins were identified, 434 of which were annotated as chloroplast resident proteins. The majority of proteins belonged to a photosynthetic group (21.3%) and to the group of proteins implicated in protein degradation, posttranslational modification, folding, and import (20.6%). Among proteins assigned to chloroplasts, the following groups are prominent combining proteins implicated in metabolism of: amino acids (6.9%), nucleotides (2.5%), lipids (2.2%), carbohydrates (2.4%), hormones (1.5%), isoprenoids (1.25%), vitamins and cofactors (1%), sulfur (1.25%), and nitrogen (1%); as well as proteins involved in the pentose-phosphate cycle (1.75%), tetrapyrrole synthesis (3.7%), and redox processes (3.6%). The data can be used in physiological and photobiological studies as well as in further studies of P. patens chloroplast proteome including structural and functional specifics of plant protein localization in organelles.

Proteome analysis of the moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G.

The sequencing of the moss Physcomitrella patens genome has facilitated studies of the plant proteome. To develop a proteome reference map based on the genome sequence, we conducted 2D electrophoreses of proteins extracted from moss protoplasts, protonemata, and gametophores grown under standard conditions on Petri dishes. On silver-stained gels, depending on the developmental stage of the moss, we resolved from 500 to 600 protein spots that were then excised and digested by trypsin, and 212 proteins were identified by PMF-MALDI-TOF. To enhance the proteome coverage, we performed 1D SDS-PAGE with subsequent separation of tryptic peptides derived from digested gel band slices by LC-ESI-MS/MS. The proposed approach allowed us to identify 186 proteins had not been determined by 2D PMF-MALDI-TOF. Proteins identified by both methods were categorized using a system of clusterization of orthologous genes as metabolism (26%), cellular processes and signaling (16%), and information storage and processing (7%). Proteome analysis by differential gel electrophoresis revealed moderate differences between filamentous protonemata and leafy shoots. Surprisingly, protoplasts isolated from protonema filaments displayed significant differences in protein composition compared with both protonemata and gametophores.