We introduce a cocktail algorithm, a good mixture of coordinate decent, the majorization-minimization principle and the strong rule, for computing the solution paths of the elastic net penalized Cox’s proportional hazards model. The cocktail algorithm enjoys a proven convergence property. We have implemented the cocktail algorithm in an R package fastcox. Numerical examples show that cocktail i...

CONTEXT Nuclear pharmacies prepare radiopharmaceutical products for use in common diagnostic procedures, including myocardial perfusion studies. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission has not been reported previously in the setting of nuclear imaging studies. OBJECTIVE To investigate an outbreak of acute HCV infection identified among patients who underwent myocardial perfusion studies on Octob...

The classical isoperimetric inequality in R states that the surface of smallest area enclosing a given volume is a sphere. We show that the least area surface enclosing two equal volumes is a double bubble, a surface made of two pieces of round spheres separated by a flat disk, meeting along a single circle at an angle of 120◦.

Background: Generation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDC) is induced in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4, and a maturation stimulus is added to the monocyte culture to obtain mature Dendritic Cells (DCs) suitable for therapy. TNF-α is the most common cytokine used for activating DCs and generating mature MDDC either alone or in combination with other cytokines. Objective: To compare effe...

INTRODUCTION The binding of radiopharmaceutical to serum proteins is thought to be an important factor that restricts its excretion and accumulation in tissue. We calculated the effect of inhibitors of serum protein binding using a hypothetical radiopharmaceutical. In vitro experiments and protein binding inhibitor-loaded monkey scintigraphy were then conducted using (123)I-N-isopropyl-p-iodoam...