Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Guarantees of Stochastic Greedy Algorithms

In this paper we analyze the robustness of stochastic variants of the greedy algorithm for submodular maximization. Our main result shows that for maximizing a monotone submodular function under a cardinality constraint, iteratively selecting an element whose marginal contribution is approximately maximal in expectation is a sufficient condition to obtain the optimal approximation guarantee with exponentially high probability, assuming the cardinality is sufficiently large. One consequence of our result is that the linear-time STOCHASTIC-GREEDY algorithm recently proposed in (Mirzasoleiman et al., 2015) achieves the optimal running time while maintaining an optimal approximation guarantee. We also show that high probability guarantees cannot be obtained for stochastic greedy algorithms under matroid constraints, and prove an approximation guarantee which holds in expectation. In contrast to the guarantees of the greedy algorithm, we show that the approximation ratio of stochastic local search is arbitrarily bad, with high probability, as well as in expectation.
Coexpression Network Analysis of Benign and Malignant Phenotypes of SIV-Infected Sooty Mangabey and Rhesus Macaque

To explore the differences between the extreme SIV infection phenotypes, nonprogression (BEN: benign) to AIDS in sooty mangabeys (SMs) and progression to AIDS (MAL: malignant) in rhesus macaques (RMs), we performed an integrated dual positive-negative connectivity (DPNC) analysis of gene coexpression networks (GCN) based on publicly available big data sets in the GEO database of NCBI. The microarray-based gene expression data sets were generated, respectively, from the peripheral blood of SMs and RMs at several time points of SIV infection. Significant differences of GCN changes in DPNC values were observed in SIV-infected SMs and RMs. There are three groups of enriched genes or pathways (EGPs) that are associated with three SIV infection phenotypes (BEN+, MAL+ and mixed BEN+/MAL+). The MAL+ phenotype in SIV-infected RMs is specifically associated with eight EGPs, including the protein ubiquitin proteasome system, p53, granzyme A, gramzyme B, polo-like kinase, Glucocorticoid receptor, oxidative phosyphorylation and mitochondrial signaling. Mitochondrial (endosymbiotic) dysfunction is solely present in RMs. Specific BEN+ pattern changes in four EGPs are identified in SIV-infected SMs, including the pathways contributing to interferon signaling, BRCA1/DNA damage response, PKR/INF induction and LGALS8. There are three enriched pathways (PRR-activated IRF signaling, RIG1-like receptor and PRR pathway) contributing to the mixed (BEN+/MAL+) phenotypes of SIV infections in RMs and SMs, suggesting that these pathways play a dual role in the host defense against viral infections. Further analysis of Hub genes in these GCNs revealed that the genes LGALS8 and IL-17RA, which positively regulate the barrier function of the gut mucosa and the immune homeostasis with the gut microbiota (exosymbiosis), were significantly differentially expressed in RMs and SMs. Our data suggest that there exists an exo- (dysbiosis of the gut microbiota) and endo- (mitochondrial dysfunction) symbiotic imbalance (EESI) in HIV/SIV infections. Dissecting the mechanisms of the exo-endo symbiotic balance (EESB) that maintains immune homeostasis and the EESI problems in HIV/SIV infections may lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of AIDS and the development of novel interventions for the rational control of this disease.
Programmable motion effects

Although animation is one of the most compelling aspects of computer graphics, the possibilities for depicting the movement that make dynamic scenes so exciting remain limited for both still images and animations. In our work, we experiment with motion depiction as a first-class entity within the rendering process. We extend the concept of a surface shader, which is evaluated on an infinitesimal portion of an object's surface at one instant in time, to that of a programmable motion effect, which is evaluated with global knowledge about all portions of an object's surface that pass in front of a pixel during an arbitrary long sequence of time. With this added information, our programmable motion effects can decide to color pixels long after (or long before) an object has passed in front of them. In order to compute the input required by the motion effects, we propose a 4D data structure that aggregates an object's movement into a single geometric representation by sampling an object's position at different time instances and connecting corresponding edges in two adjacent samples with a bilinear patch. We present example motion effects for various styles of speed lines, multiple stroboscopic images, temporal offsetting, and photorealistic and stylized blurring on both simple and production examples.
Long term safety of methotrexate in routine clinical care: discontinuation is unusual and rarely the result of laboratory abnormalities

Objective: To analyse patients with rheumatoid arthritis, treated with methotrexate in a weekly academic rheumatology clinic over 13 years, for continuation of courses and reasons for discontinuation. Methods: All 248 patients with an analysable longitudinal course who took methotrexate in standard care between 1990 and 2003 were studied. Continuation of courses was analysed using life tables. All abnormal and severely abnormal values for aspartate aminotransferase (AST) >40 U/l, >80 U/l, albumin <35 g/l, <30 g/l, white blood cell (WBC) count <4.0×109/l, <3.0×109/l, and platelet count <150×109/l, <100×109/l, were identified. Responses of the clinician and subsequent laboratory values were reviewed. Results: Over 1007 person-years, the probability of continuing methotrexate over five years was 79% (95% confidence interval, 72% to 84%). Severe laboratory abnormalities occurred in 2.9 per 100 person-years, specifically 0.9 for AST >80 U/l, 1.1 for albumin <30 g/l, 0.7 for WBC <3.0×109/l, and 0.3 for platelets <100×109/l. No severe laboratory abnormality progressed to further severity or clinical disease. Permanent discontinuations of methotrexate occurred in 46 patients (19%), 26 (10% of all patients) for adverse effects, 15 (32.6%) for inefficacy; only two discontinuations resulted from laboratory abnormalities, both of WBC, possibly from other sources. Conclusions: Methotrexate was associated with a high rate of continuation, and few clinically significant laboratory abnormalities. Discontinuation primarily reflected clinical rather than laboratory findings. Vigilance for methotrexate toxicity is required but methotrexate appears among the safest treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.
BCR-ABL1-Associated Reduction of Beta Catenin Antagonist Chibby1 in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Beta Catenin signaling is critical for the self-renewal of leukemic stem cells in chronic myeloid leukemia. It is driven by multiple events, enhancing beta catenin stability and promoting its transcriptional co-activating function. We investigated the impact of BCR-ABL1 on Chibby1, a beta catenin antagonist involved in cell differentiation and transformation. Relative proximity of the Chibby1 encoding gene (C22orf2) on chromosome 22q12 to the BCR breakpoint (22q11) lets assume its involvement in beta catenin activation in chronic myeloid leukemia as a consequence of deletions of distal BCR sequences encompassing one C22orf2 allele. Forty patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase were analyzed for C22orf2 relocation and Chibby1 expression. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analyses established that the entire C22orf2 follows BCR regardless of chromosomes involved in the translocation. In differentiated hematopoietic progenitors (bone marrow mononuclear cell fractions) of 30/40 patients, the expression of Chibby1 protein was reduced below 50% of the reference value (peripheral blood mononuclear cell fractions of healthy persons). In such cell context, Chibby1 protein reduction is not dependent on C22orf2 transcriptional downmodulation; however, it is strictly dependent upon BCR-ABL1 expression because it was not observed at the moment of major molecular response under tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Moreover, it was not correlated with the disease prognosis or response to therapy. Most importantly, a remarkable Chibby1 reduction was apparent in a putative BCR-ABL1+ leukemic stem cell compartment identified by a CD34+ phenotype compared to more differentiated hematopoietic progenitors. In CD34+ cells, Chibby1 reduction arises from transcriptional events and is driven by C22orf2 promoter hypermethylation. These results advance low Chibby1 expression associated with BCR-ABL1 as a component of beta catenin signaling in leukemic stem cells.
New Exome Data Question the Pathogenicity of Genetic Variants Previously Associated With Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia

Background—Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a lethal, rare hereditary disease with an estimated prevalence of 1:10 000. The genetic variants that cause CPVT are usually highly penetrant. To date, about 189 variants in 5 genes (RYR2, CASQ2, CALM1, TRND, and KCNJ2) have been associated with CPVT pathogenesis. Methods and Results—The Exome Sequencing Project database (ESP; n= 6503) was systematically searched for previously published missense and nonsense CPVT–associated variants reported in several comprehensive reviews and in 2 databases: The Human Gene Mutation Database and The Inherited Arrhythmias Database. We used 4 different prediction tools to assess all missense variants previously associated with CPVT and compared the prediction of protein damage between CPVT-associated variants identified in the ESP and those variants not identified in the ESP. We identified 11% of the variants previously associated with CPVT in the ESP population. In the literature, 57% of these variants were reported as novel disease-causing variants absent in the healthy control subjects. These putative CPVT variants were identified in 41 out of 6131 subjects in the ESP population, corresponding to a prevalence of CPVT of up to 1:150. Using an agreement of ≥3, in silico prediction tools showed a significantly higher frequency of damaging variants among the CPVT-associated variants not identified in the ESP database (83%) compared with those variants identified in the ESP (50%; P=0.021). Conclusions—We identified a substantial overrepresentation of CPVT-associated variants in a large exome database, suggesting that these variants are not necessarily the monogenic cause of CPVT.
Emerging Trends for Prevention and Treatment of Diabetic Nephropathy

BACKGROUND Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and it affects 30% of patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 20% of patients with type 2 DM. Clinical features in both types of DM are similar and are characterized by an underlying abnormality of the microcirculation, manifested by both retinopathy and nephropathy. Clinical hallmarks of DN include elevated blood pressure (BP) and elevated urinary protein excretion. Treatment consists of maintaining BP at <130/85 mm Hg in patients without proteinuria and <125/75 mm Hg in patients with microalbuminuria or overt DN. In addition, agents that inhibit the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) have been found to be effective in reducing the risk of progression to DN, a result independent of their antihypertensive effect. SUMMARY The earlier Collaborative Study Group (CGS) trial demonstrated that the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril lowered BP and provided renal protection in type 1 diabetic kidney disease beyond that attributable to the BP change. The Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial (IDNT) studied the effect of the angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) irbesartan on the reduction of BP, urinary protein excretion, and progression to DN. The study end points in the IDNT demonstrated that ARB therapy reduced BP, reduced urinary protein excretion, and provided renal protection against progression to DN. The Reduction of Endpoints in NIDDM With the Angiotensin II Antagonist Losartan (RENAAL) trial demonstrated that the ARB losartan, when combined with conventional antihypertensive agents, decreased urinary protein excretion by 35%. Losartan both lowered BP and provided renal protection against DN. In a study comparing an ACE inhibitor (trandolapril), an ARB (losartan), and a combination of the 2 agents (trandolapril and losartan), data showed that all 3 arms reduced BP to the same degree. However, a combination of the ARB plus the ACE inhibitor produced both a significant reduction in urinary protein excretion beyond that seen with either agent alone and a significantly greater protection against progression to doubling of serum creatinine or ESRD. The reduction in urinary protein excretion and renal progression seen with individual agents were not statistically different from each other. CONCLUSION These studies demonstrated that the combination blockade of the RAAS axis with an ARB plus an ACE inhibitor may play an important role in the prevention and treatment of DN and may turn the tide of increasing kidney disease due to DM, improve the overall quality of life of patients
Wideband acoustic records of explosive volcanic eruptions at Stromboli: New insights on the explosive process and the acoustic source

Wideband acoustic waves, both inaudible infrasound (<20 Hz) and audible component (>20 Hz), generated by strombolian eruptions were recorded at 5 kHz and correlated with video images. The high sample rate revealed that in addition to the known initial infrasound, the acoustic signal includes an energetic high‐frequency (typically >100 Hz) coda. This audible signal starts before the positive infrasound onset goes negative. We suggest that the infrasonic onset is due to magma doming at the free surface, whereas the immediate high‐frequency signal reflects the following explosive discharge flow. During strong gas‐rich eruptions, positively skewed shockwave‐like components with sharp compression and gradual depression appeared. We suggest that successive bursting of overpressurized small bubbles and the resultant volcanic jets sustain the highly gas‐rich explosions and emit the audible sound. When the jet is supersonic, microexplosions of ambient air entrained in the hot jet emit the skewed waveforms.
Differentiation of a Hydrous Arc Magma Recorded in Melt Inclusions in Deep Crustal Cumulate Xenoliths from Ichinomegata Maar, NE Japan

The Ichinomegata maar, located in the back‐arc side of the northeastern Japan arc, erupted calc‐alkaline andesitic magma with abundant deep‐crustal and mantle xenoliths at about 60–80 ka. We investigated the relationship between fractionated solids and differentiated silicic melts at middle to lower crust conditions through petrologic analyses of hornblende‐bearing cumulate xenoliths and melt inclusions. The Sr and Nd isotope compositions are similar to those of the host magmas, suggesting their cognate origin. The crystallization sequence is determined to be olivine, spinel → clinopyroxene → hornblende, magnetite → plagioclase → apatite, based on the observation of texture and solid solution compositions. Of the five types of xenolith studied, the leuco‐hornblende gabbro preserved interstitial glass and melt inclusions with a silica content (SiO2) of 63.9–74.0 wt % and high water content (up to 8.1 wt %). Hornblende geobarometry indicates an equilibrium pressure of 0.39–0.64 GPa, which corresponds to a depth of 15–24 km. The delay of plagioclase crystallization due to high water content characterizes differentiation of the hydrous arc magma. We successfully constructed an internally consistent differentiation model of the corundum‐normative calc‐alkaline trend to the silicic melt inclusions, starting from primitive basalt via successive fractionation of a calculated wherlite and cumulate xenoliths. In middle to late stage differentiation, hornblende gabbros are the dominantly fractionated assemblages. Our results are consistent with published differentiation experiments of hydrous arc magmas and the lithology of the deep crust beneath the back arc of the NE Japan arc as estimated from seismic tomography.
Physical and mechanical properties of dolomites related to sedimentary and diagenetic features – case study of the Upper Triassic dolomites from Medvednica and Samobor Mts., NW Croatia

Sedimentary and diagenetic features of Upper Triassic dolomites are determined and related to technical properties (apparent density, water absorption, open porosity and point load strength tested by Point Load Test, PLT) for possible use as building aggregate. Samples are taken from three quarries in the Medvednica and Samobor Mts. , in the NW Croatia. Samples from the Ivanec Quarry are determined as the early-diagenetic dolomite (EDD), late-diagenetic dolomite (LDD) and “transitional” dolomite (TD). Samples from the Dolje Quarry are determined as the early-diagenetic dolomite (EDD) and late-diagenetic dolomite (LDD). The samples from the Gradna Quarry are determined as the late-diagenetic dolomites (LDD). According to the physical and mechanical properties, the best variety to use as a crushed stone or as an aggregate proved to be is the late-diagenetic dolomite from the Dolje Quarry. Samples from the Dolje Quarry have the lowest values of open porosity and water absorption and the highest values of apparent density and PLT, due to their sedimentary-diagenetic features.
Phase transitions for scaling of structural correlations in directed networks

Analysis of degree-degree dependencies in complex networks, and their impact on processes on networks requires null models, i.e., models that generate uncorrelated scale-free networks. Most models to date, however, show structural negative dependencies, caused by finite size effects. We analyze the behavior of these structural negative degree-degree dependencies, using rank based correlation measures, in the directed erased configuration model. We obtain expressions for the scaling as a function of the exponents of the distributions. Moreover, we show that this scaling undergoes a phase transition, where one region exhibits scaling related to the natural cutoff of the network while another region has scaling similar to the structural cutoff for uncorrelated networks. By establishing the speed of convergence of these structural dependencies we are able to assess statistical significance of degree-degree dependencies on finite complex networks when compared to networks generated by the directed erased configuration model.
Orientation-Selective Adaptation during Motion-Induced Blindness

When a global moving pattern is superimposed on high-contrast stationary or slowly moving stimuli, the latter occasionally disappear for periods of several seconds (motion-induced blindness, MIB). Here, an adaptation paradigm was used to determine if orientation-selective adaptation still occurs for the stimulus that is no longer visible. Two slowly drifting high-contrast Gabor patches were presented to observers. As soon as both patches disappeared, one was eliminated from the screen. After 2 s, two low-contrast Gabor patches were presented as tests at the same locations and observers were asked to report their orientations. The observers' performance was significantly higher when the orientation of the low-contrast test patch was orthogonal to the orientation of the high-contrast adapting patch (p < 0.0001) for the location where the patch was present during MIB, even though it was perceptually invisible. The observers' performance was not significantly different at the adjacent control location where the stimulus was absent during the MIB. Although no stimulus was visible at either location, orientation-selective adaptation was preserved only for the location at which the patch remained present. Since orientation information is processed in low-level visual areas such as the primary visual cortex (V1), we conclude that MIB originates in an area higher than V1.
Translation and validation of brief patient health questionnaire against DSM IV as a tool to diagnose major depressive disorder in Indian patients.

CONTEXT Depression is frequently encountered in the primary care setting but is often unrecognized and hence untreated. There is a need for a uniform user-friendly screening instrument for depression for primary healthcare personnel in India. AIMS Translation and validation of the brief patient health questionnaire (BPHQ) as a screening tool for depression in major Indian languages. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospective study conducted at 18 sites, in psychiatric and general clinics. The English version of the BPHQ was translated into 11 Indian languages. The translations were reviewed by experts and volunteers and proofread for the final translated BPHQ. The validation exercise included more than 3000 subjects. A psychiatrist and a psychiatry social worker / coordinator conducted the study under the supervision of the principal investigator. For each language, the presence or absence of major depressive disorder (MDD) as diagnosed with the help of a patient-completed BPHQ and the psychiatrist DSM-IV diagnosis was matched. The kappa coefficient was used as a measure of inter-observer agreement between the two diagnostic methods. RESULTS Seven languages failed the primary validation exercise. These translations were reviewed and the updated versions, after proofreading were re-run for validation. The self-administered BPHQ was successfully translated and validated for diagnosis of MDD against DSM-IV diagnosis made by a psychiatrist, in English, Hindi, Marathi oriya, Malayalam, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali and Tamil. CONCLUSIONS BPHQ is a simple, quick and reliable instrument, which facilitates rapid and accurate diagnosis of depression in the primary care setting in our country.
The Effect of Degree of Immersion upon Learning Performance in Virtual Reality Simulations for Medical Education

Simulations are being used in education and training to enhance understanding, improve performance, and assess competence. However, it is important to measure the performance of these simulations as learning and training tools. This study examined and compared knowledge acquisition using a knowledge structure design. The subjects were first-year medical students at The University of New Mexico School of Medicine. One group used a fully immersed virtual reality (VR) environment using a head mounted display (HMD) and another group used a partially immersed (computer screen) VR environment. The study aims were to determine whether there were significant differences between the two groups as measured by changes in knowledge structure before and after the VR simulation experience. The results showed that both groups benefited from the VR simulation training as measured by the significant increased similarity to the expert knowledge network after the training experience. However, the immersed group showed a significantly higher gain than the partially immersed group. This study demonstrated a positive effect of VR simulation on learning as reflected by improvements in knowledge structure but an enhanced effect of full-immersion using a HMD vs. a screen-based VR system.