Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Added value of SPECT/CT fusion in assessing suspected bone metastasis: comparison with scintigraphy alone and nonfused scintigraphy and CT.

PURPOSE To evaluate retrospectively if there is additional diagnostic value of fused single photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) and computed tomographic (CT) images in assessing possible bone metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS Institutional review board approval was obtained, and each patient provided written informed consent. Bone scintigraphy--including planar and SPECT imaging-and CT were performed with a combined SPECT/CT system in 45 oncologic patients (24 men, 21 women; mean age, 64.7 years +/- 8.7), with a total of 42 metastatic bone foci and 40 benign foci. The reference standard was follow-up radiologic imaging. Two independent readers first analyzed only bone scintigraphic images and next analyzed two separate sets of bone scintigraphic and CT images. They then analyzed bone scintigraphic, CT, and fused images and focused on the additional value of fused images. Diagnostic confidence for each lesion was scored. The three analyses were performed 7 days apart, and the images were presented in random order at each session. The value of additional fused images was assessed by using receiver operating characteristic analysis. RESULTS After review of fused images to classify indeterminate lesions, reviewer 1 became more confident in diagnosis of the 15 benign lesions and two metastases, and reviewer 2 became more confident in diagnosis of the seven benign lesions and one metastasis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for reviewer 1 was 0.589 for scintigraphic images, 0.831 for separate data sets of scintigraphic and CT images, and 0.947 for fused images. The corresponding areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for reviewer 2 were 0.771, 0.885, and 0.968, respectively. CONCLUSION Results demonstrate the increased diagnostic confidence obtained with fused SPECT/CT images compared with separate sets of scintigraphic and CT images in differentiating malignant from benign bone lesions.
The impact of brain size on pilot performance varies with aviation training and years of education

Abstract Previous studies have consistently reported age-related changes in cognitive abilities and brain structure. Previous studies also suggest compensatory roles for specialized training, skill, and years of education in the age-related decline of cognitive function. The Stanford/VA Aviation Study examines the influence of specialized training and skill level (expertise) on age-related changes in cognition and brain structure. This preliminary report examines the effect of aviation expertise, years of education, age, and brain size on flight simulator performance in pilots aged 45–68 years. Fifty-one pilots were studied with structural magnetic resonance imaging, flight simulator, and processing speed tasks. There were significant main effects of age (p < .01) and expertise (p < .01), but not of whole brain size (p > .1) or education (p > .1), on flight simulator performance. However, even though age and brain size were correlated (r = −0.41), age differences in flight simulator performance were not explained by brain size. Both aviation expertise and education were involved in an interaction with brain size in predicting flight simulator performance (p < .05). These results point to the importance of examining measures of expertise and their interactions to assess age-related cognitive changes. (JINS, 2010, 16, 412–423.)
Gamma-ray burst high energy emission from internal shocks

Aims. In this paper we study synchrotron and synchrotron self Compton (SSC) emission from internal shocks (IS) during the prompt and X-ray flare phases of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The aim is to test the IS model for the flare emission and for whether GRBs can be GeV sources. Methods. We determine the parameters for which the IS model can account for the observed prompt and X-ray flares emission, and study the detectability of the high energy SSC emission by the AGILE and GLAST satellites. Results. We find that the detectability of the SSC emission during the prompt phase of GRBs improves for higher values of the fireball Lorentz factor Γ and of the temporal variability t v . If IS is the mechanism responsible for the flare emission, and the Lorentz factor of the shells producing the flare is Γ ~ 100, the flare light curves are expected to present some substructures with temporal variability t v = 10-100 ms which are much smaller than the average duration of flares, and similar to those observed during the prompt phase of GRBs. If one assumes lower Lorentz factors, such as Γ ~ 10 $\div$ 25, then a larger temporal variability t v ~ 40 s can also account for the observed flare properties. However in this case we predict that X-ray flares do not have a counterpart at very high energies (MeV–GeV). Conclusions. An investigation on the substructures of the X-ray flare light curves, and simultaneous X-ray and high energy observations, will allow us to corroborate the hypothesis that late IS are responsible for the X-ray flares.
Predicting the mesiodistal width of unerupted canine and premolars by using width of the permanent mandibular incisors and first molar in the Himachal population

Introduction: The determination of tooth size to arch length discrepancy in mixed dentition requires an accurate prediction of mesiodistal width of unerupted permanent teeth. Presently available methods use only the mesiodistal width of mandibular incisors. Melgaco (2007) introduced a new method of estimating width of unerupted canine and premolars by using mesiodistal width of incisors and first permanent molar. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine linear regression equation for estimating the widths of mandibular permanent canines and premolars using mesiodistal width of mandibular incisors and first molars in the Himachal population. Materials and Methods: Dental casts of 250 subjects were selected from the Himachal population who had fully erupted mandibular permanent incisors, canine, premolar, and first molar. Actual mesiodistal width of all fully erupted teeth were measured with digital vernier caliper and the values obtained were subjected to statistical and regression analysis. Results: High values of correlation (0.957) were found while considering Melgaco's method. Conclusion: From this study, it can be evaluated that Melgaco's method gives better prediction of unerupted permanent canines and premolars, and the equation Y = 13.48 + 0.614X can be suggested for the present population.
Wnt3a is critical for endothelial progenitor cell-mediated neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation

The present study aimed to determine whether co-culture with bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) affects the proliferation and differentiation of spinal cord-derived neural stem cells (NSCs), and to investigate the underlying mechanism. The proliferation and differentiation of the NSCs were evaluated by an MTT cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assay, and immunofluorescence, respectively. The number of neurospheres and the number of β-tubulin III-positive cells were detected by microscopy. The wingless-type MMTV integration site family, member 3a (Wnt3a)/β-catenin signaling pathway was analyzed by western blot analysis and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to elucidate the possible mechanisms of EPC-mediated NSC proliferation and differentiation. The results revealed that co-culture with EPCs significantly induced NSC proliferation and differentiation. In addition, co-culture with EPCs markedly induced the expression levels of Wnt3a and β-catenin and inhibited the phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β). By contrast, Wnt3a knockdown using a short hairpin RNA plasmid in the EPCs reduced EPC-mediated NSC proliferation and differentiation, accompanied by inhibition of the EPC-mediated expression of β-catenin, and its phosphorylation and activation of GSK-3β. Taken together, the findings of the present study demonstrated that Wnt3a was critical for EPC-mediated NSC proliferation and differentiation.
Learning from Candidate Labeling Sets

In many real world applications we do not have access to fully-labeled training data, but only to a list of possible labels. This is the case, e.g., when learning visual classifiers from images downloaded from the web, using just their text captions or tags as learning oracles. In general, these problems can be very difficult. However most of the time there exist different implicit sources of information, coming from the relations between instances and labels, which are usually dismissed. In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised framework to model this kind of problems. Each training sample is a bag containing multi-instances, associated with a set of candidate labeling vectors. Each labeling vector encodes the possible labels for the instances in the bag, with only one being fully correct. The use of the labeling vectors provides a principled way not to exclude any information. We propose a large margin discriminative formulation, and an efficient algorithm to solve it. Experiments conducted on artificial datasets and a real-world images and captions dataset show that our approach achieves performance comparable to an SVM trained with the ground-truth labels, and outperforms other baselines.
Differential Expression of Aquaporins in Cervical Precursor Lesions and Invasive Cervical Cancer

Objective: Aquaporins (AQPs) are highly expressed in tumor cells of different origins, particularly the aggressive tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of AQP isoforms during progression of squamous cervical cancer (SCC) and explore their associations with clinicopathologic variables of SCC. Methods: Expression of AQP isoforms (1, 3, 4, 5, and 8) was detected by immunohistochemistry in 47 SCCs, 37 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and 16 normal cervical tissues. Specific expression of AQP protein in SCC was detected by Western blot. Double immunohistochemistry was used to examine whether AQPs and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are coexpressed in SCC. Results: Aquaporin 1 showed higher positivity rate in CIN than in SCC and normal cervical tissues (P < .05). The expression intensity of AQP3, 4, 5, and 8 was higher in SCC than that in normal cervical tissues, respectively (P < .05). The expression of AQP3 and 8 was higher in SCC than that in CIN, respectively (P < .05). The AQP4 expression was higher in CIN than in normal cervical tissues (P < .05). The expression of AQP3 in CIN III was higher than that in CIN I and II (P < .05). There was a significant increase in the expression of AQP1 in stage I than that in stage II (P < .05). Aquaporin 3 showed lower positivity in moderately and well-differentiated tumors compared to that in poorly differentiated tumors (P < .05). Finally, double immunohistochemistry illustrated that AQP1/AQP3/AQP8 and VEGF were coexpressed in SCC. Conclusions: Different AQP isoforms display specific expression patterns in normal cervical, CIN, and SCC tissues. This and the significant association with the clinicopathologic variables of SCC suggest that AQP isoforms might play different roles in the development of cervical cancer.
Presence of Rhodnius ecuadoriensis in Sylvatic Habitats in the Southern Highlands (Loja Province) of Ecuador

ABSTRACT The main vectors of Chagas disease in Ecuador are Triatoma dimidiata and Rhodnius ecuadoriensis. The latter species occupies domestic and peridomestic habitats, as well as sylvatic ecotopes—particularly associated with Phytelephas aequatorialis palm trees—in the western coastal region of Ecuador. In the southern highlands, however, such palm tree habitats are uncommon, and sylvatic populations of R. ecuadoriensis have not previously been reported to date. This study was carried out in five rural communities in Loja Province in southern Ecuador, where manual triatomine searches were conducted in various sylvatic habitats. A total of 81 squirrel nests (Sciurus stramineus) and >200 bird nests and other habitats were searched. One hundred three R. ecuadoriensis individuals were found in 11 squirrel nests (infestation index = 13.6%, density = 2 bugs per nest searched, crowding = 9.5 bugs per infested nest, colonization index = 72.7% of infested nests with nymphs). No triatomines were found in bird nests or other sylvatic habitats. The presence of sylvatic R. ecuadoriensis in the southern highlands of Ecuador has important implications for the long-term control of Chagas disease in the region because of the possibility of reinfestation of dwellings after insecticide-based control interventions.
Convergence of Translation Memory and Statistical Machine Translation

We present two methods that merge ideas from statistical machine translation (SMT) and translation memories (TM). We use a TM to retrieve matches for source segments, and replace the mismatched parts with instructions to an SMT system to fill in the gap. We show that for fuzzy matches of over 70%, one method outperforms both SMT and TM baselines.
10-nm filaments are induced to collapse in living cells microinjected with monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against tubulin

Cells were microinjected with four mouse monoclonal antibodies that were directed against either alpha- or beta-tubulin subunits, one monoclonal with activity against both subunits, and a guinea pig polyclonal antibody with activity directed against both subunits, to determine the effects on the distribution of cytoplasmic microtubules and 10-nm filaments. The specificities of the antibodies were confirmed by Western blots, solid phase radioimmunoassay, and Western blot analysis of alpha- and beta-tubulin peptide maps. Two monoclonals DM1A and DM3B3, an anti-alpha- and anti-beta-tubulin respectively, and the guinea pig polyclonal anti-alpha/beta-tubulin antibody (GP1T4) caused the 10-nm filaments to collapse into large lateral aggregates collecting in the cell periphery or tight juxtanuclear caps; the other monoclonal antibodies had no effect when microinjected into cells. The filament collapsing was observed to be complete at 1.5-2 h after injection. During the first 30 min after injection a few cytoplasmic microtubules near the cell periphery could be observed by fluorescence microscopy. This observation was confirmed by electron microscopy, which also demonstrated assembled microtubules in the juxtanuclear region. By 1.5 h, when most of the 10-nm filaments were collapsed, the complete cytoplasmic array of microtubules was observed. Cells injected in prophase were able to assemble a mitotic spindle, suggesting that the antibody did not block microtubule assembly. Metabolic labeling with [35S]methionine of microinjected cells revealed that total protein synthesis was the same as that observed in uninjected cells. This indicated that the microinjected antibody apparently did not produce deleterious effects on cellular metabolism. These results suggest that through a direct interaction of antibodies with either alpha- or beta- tubulin subunits, 10-nm filaments were dissociated from their normal distribution. It is possible that the antibodies disrupted postulated 10-nm filament-microtubule interactions.
How to Govern the Cloud? Characterizing the Optimal Enforcement Institution that Supports Accountability in Cloud Computing

This paper applies economic governance theory to the cloud computing industry. We analyze which governance institution may be best suited to solve the problems stemming from asymmetric information about the true level of data protection, security, and accountability offered by cloud service providers. We conclude that certification agencies - private, independent organizations which award certificates to cloud service providers meeting certain technical and organizational criteria - are the optimal institution available. Those users with high valuation for accountability will be willing to pay more for the services of certified providers, whereas other users may patronize uncertified providers.
Comparative Analysis of Mitochondrial Genomes of Five Aphid Species (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Phylogenetic Implications

Insect mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) are of great interest in exploring molecular evolution, phylogenetics and population genetics. Only two mitogenomes have been previously released in the insect group Aphididae, which consists of about 5,000 known species including some agricultural, forestry and horticultural pests. Here we report the complete 16,317 bp mitogenome of Cavariella salicicola and two nearly complete mitogenomes of Aphis glycines and Pterocomma pilosum. We also present a first comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes of aphids. Results showed that aphid mitogenomes share conserved genomic organization, nucleotide and amino acid composition, and codon usage features. All 37 genes usually present in animal mitogenomes were sequenced and annotated. The analysis of gene evolutionary rate revealed the lowest and highest rates for COI and ATP8, respectively. A unique repeat region exclusively in aphid mitogenomes, which included variable numbers of tandem repeats in a lineage-specific manner, was highlighted for the first time. This region may have a function as another origin of replication. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on protein-coding genes and the stem-loop structures of control regions confirmed a sister relationship between Cavariella and pterocommatines. Current evidence suggest that pterocommatines could be formally transferred into Macrosiphini. Our paper also offers methodological instructions for obtaining other Aphididae mitochondrial genomes.
Induction of human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase UGT1A1 by flavonoids-structural requirements.

Recent studies in our laboratory in the human hepatic and intestinal cell lines Hep G2 and Caco-2 have demonstrated induction of UGT1A1 by the flavonoid chrysin (5,7-dihydroxyflavone) using catalytic activity assays and Western and Northern blotting. In the present study, we examined which features of the flavonoid structures were associated with induction of UGT1A1 and whether common drug-metabolizing enzyme inducers also produce this induction. We also determined whether flavonoid treatment affected sulfate conjugation and CYP1A1 activity. We used intact Hep G2 cells for these studies, with chrysin as the model substrate. Both glucuronidation and sulfation were measured. Hep G2 cells were pretreated for 3 days with 25 microM concentrations of 22 flavonoids (n = 4-12). Only four flavonoids demonstrated induction of glucuronidation similar to that of chrysin (i.e., 3-5-fold in the intact cells). These were acacetin, apigenin, luteolin, and diosmetin, all of which, like chrysin, are 5,7-dihydroxyflavones with varying substituents in the B-ring. 5-Hydroxy-7-methoxyflavone and 5-methyl-7-hydroxyflavone produced a modest 1.5 to 2-fold induction, whereas all other flavonoids examined were without effect. None of the flavonoids caused more than a modest change in sulfation activity (60-140% of control). In contrast, all tested 5,7-dihydroxyflavones and -flavonols induced CYP1A1 activity (ethoxyresorufin deethylation). Of seven common drug-metabolizing enzyme inducers only 3-methylcholanthrene and oltipraz showed modest induction of chrysin glucuronidation but not 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or phenobarbital. Together, these results strongly suggest that the flavonoid induction of UGT1A1 is through a novel nonaryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated mechanism.
Efficient Ranking and Selection in Parallel Computing Environments

The goal of ranking and selection (R&S) procedures is to identify the best stochastic system from among a finite set of competing alternatives. Such procedures require constructing estimates of each system's performance, which can be obtained simultaneously by running multiple independent replications on a parallel computing platform. However, nontrivial statistical and implementation issues arise when designing R&S procedures for a parallel computing environment. Thus we propose several design principles for parallel R&S procedures that preserve statistical validity and maximize core utilization, especially when large numbers of alternatives or cores are involved. These principles are followed closely by our parallel Good Selection Procedure (GSP), which, under the assumption of normally distributed output, (i) guarantees to select a system in the indifference zone with high probability, (ii) runs efficiently on up to 1,024 parallel cores, and (iii) in an example uses smaller sample sizes compared to existing parallel procedures, particularly for large problems (over $10^6$ alternatives). In our computational study we discuss two methods for implementing GSP on parallel computers, namely the Message-Passing Interface (MPI) and Hadoop MapReduce and show that the latter provides good protection against core failures at the expense of a significant drop in utilization due to periodic unavoidable synchronization.
Domain-Oriented Masking: Compact Masked Hardware Implementations with Arbitrary Protection Order

Passive physical attacks, like power analysis, pose a serious threat to the security of embedded systems and corresponding countermeasures need to be implemented. In this talk, we demonstrate how the costs for protecting digital circuits against passive physical attacks can be lowered significantly. We introduce a novel masking approach called domain-oriented masking (DOM). Our approach provides the same level of security as threshold implementations (TI), while it requires less chip area and less randomness. DOM can also be scaled easily to arbitrary protection orders for any circuit. To demonstrate the flexibility of our scheme, we apply DOM to a hardware design of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The presented AES implementation is built in a way that it can be synthesized for any protection order. Although our AES design is scalable, it is smaller, faster, and less randomness demanding than other side-channel protected AES implementations. Our first-order secure AES design, for example, requires only 18 bits of randomness per S-box operation and 6 kGE of chip area. We demonstrate the flexibility of our AES implementation by synthesizing it up to the 15th protection order. Beside our theoretical security analysis, we also evaluate the security of the AES implementation with a t-test based side-channel leakage assessments up to the second protection order. To demonstrate the flexibility of our scheme, we apply DOM to a hardware design of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The presented AES implementation is built in a way that it can be synthesized for any protection order. Although our AES design is scalable, it is smaller, faster, and less randomness demanding than other side-channel protected AES implementations. Our first-order secure AES design, for example, requires only 18 bits of randomness per S-box operation and 6~kGE of chip area. We demonstrate the flexibility of our AES implementation by synthesizing it up to the 15th protection order. Beside our theoretical security analysis, we also evaluate the security of the AES implementation with a t-test based side-channel leakage assessments up to the second protection order.
Robust Subspace Recovery via Bi-Sparsity Pursuit

Successful applications of sparse models in computer vision and machine learning [3][2][5] imply that in many real-world applications, high dimensional data is distributed in a union of low dimensional subspaces. Nevertheless, the underlying structure may be affected by sparse errors and/or outliers. In this paper, we propose a bi-sparsity model as a framework to analyze this problem and provide a novel algorithm to recover the union of subspaces in presence of sparse corruptions. We further show the effectiveness of our method by experiments on both synthetic data and real-world vision data.