Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Boosting for high-dimensional linear models

We prove that boosting with the squared error loss, L 2 Boosting, is consistent for very high-dimensional linear models, where the number of predictor variables is allowed to grow essentially as fast as O(exp(sample size)), assuming that the true underlying regression function is sparse in terms of the 11 -norm of the regression coefficients. In the language of signal processing, this means consistency for de-noising using a strongly overcomplete dictionary if the underlying signal is sparse in terms of the l 1 -norm. We also propose here an AIC-based method for tuning, namely for choosing the number of boosting iterations. This makes L 2 Boosting computationally attractive since it is not required to run the algorithm multiple times for cross-validation as commonly used so far. We demonstrate L 2 Boosting for simulated data, in particular where the predictor dimension is large in comparison to sample size, and for a difficult tumor-classification problem with gene expression microarray data.
Src kinases mediate the interaction of the apical determinant Bazooka/PAR3 with STAT92E and increase signalling efficiency in Drosophila ectodermal cells

Intercellular communication depends on the correct organization of the signal transduction complexes. In many signalling pathways, the mechanisms controlling the overall cell polarity also localize components of these pathways to different domains of the plasma membrane. In the Drosophila ectoderm, the JAK/STAT pathway components are highly polarized with apical localization of the receptor, the associated kinase and the STAT92E protein itself. The apical localization of STAT92E is independent of the receptor complex and is due to its direct association with the apical determining protein Bazooka (Baz). Here, we find that Baz-STAT92E interaction depends on the presence of the Drosophila Src kinases. In the absence of Src, STAT92E cannot bind to Baz in cells or in whole embryos, and this correlates with an impairment of JAK/STAT signalling function. We believe that the requirement of Src proteins for STAT92E apical localization is mediated through Baz, as we can co-precipitate Src with Baz but not with STAT92E. This is the first time that a functional link between cell polarity, the JAK/STAT signalling pathway and the Src kinases has been established in a whole organism.
TrpC1 Is a Membrane-Spanning Subunit of Store-Operated Ca2+ Channels in Native Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract— Mammalian counterparts of the Drosophila trp gene have been suggested to encode store-operated Ca2+ channels. These specialized channels are widely distributed and may have a general function to reload Ca2+ into sarcoplasmic reticulum as well as specific functions, including the control of cell proliferation and muscle contraction. Heterologous expression of mammalian trp genes enhances or generates Ca2+ channel activity, but the crucial question of whether any of the genes encode native subunits of store-operated channels remains unanswered. We have investigated if TrpC1 protein (encoded by trp1 gene) is a store-operated channel in freshly isolated smooth muscle cells of resistance arterioles, arteries, and veins from human, mouse, or rabbit. Messenger RNA encoding TrpC1 was broadly expressed. TrpC1-specific antibody targeted to peptide predicted to contribute to the outer vestibule of TrpC1 channels revealed that TrpC1 is localized to the plasma membrane and has an extracellular domain. Peptide-specific binding of the antibody had a functional effect, selectively blocking store-operated Ca2+ channel activity. The antibody is a powerful new tool for the study of mammalian trp1 gene product. The study shows that TrpC1 is a novel physiological Ca2+ channel subunit in arterial smooth muscle cells.
Kinetics of immunoglobulin M and G responses of nude and normal mice to Trypanosoma musculi

A sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was designed to measure the kinetics of Trypanosoma musculi-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG responses in mice. Serum was obtained from congenitally athymic (nude) mice, their phenotypically normal, thymus-bearing littermates (NLM), and thymus cell-repaired nude mice (Nu-TC) at 6-day intervals throughout T. musculi parasitemia. NLM mice were shown to effect an antibody response to T. musculi that included an IgM to IgG shift and was correlated in time with reduction of parasite reproduction and stabilization of parasitemia. Nude mice were shown to effect a T. musculi-specific IgM response similar in onset and magnitude to that in NLM mice; this response was correlated in time with stabilization of parasitemia. Nu-TC mice were shown to effect IgM and IgG responses to T. musculi similar in time and magnitude to those in NLM mice. In marked contrast to NLM mice, Nu-TC mice did not exhibit suppression of T. musculi-specific IgM production after the IgM to IgG shift in response to this parasite.
Two classes of short interfering RNA in RNA silencing

RNA silencing is a eukaryotic genome defence system that involves processing of double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) into 21–26 nt, short interfering RNA (siRNA). The siRNA mediates suppression of genes corresponding to the dsRNA through targeted RNA degradation. In some plant systems there are additional silencing processes, involving systemic spread of silencing and RNA‐directed methylation/transcriptional suppression of homologous genomic DNA. We show here that siRNAs produced in plants from a green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgene are in short (21–22 nt) and long (24–26 nt) size classes, whereas those from endogenous retroelements are only in the long class. Viral suppressors of RNA silencing and mutations in Arabidopsis indicate that these classes of siRNA have different roles. The long siRNA is dispensable for sequence‐specific mRNA degradation, but correlates with systemic silencing and methylation of homologous DNA. Conversely, the short siRNA class correlates with mRNA degradation but not with systemic signalling or methylation. These findings reveal an unexpected level of complexity in the RNA silencing pathway in plants that may also apply in animals.
Cardiovascular manifestations of anabolic steroids in association with demographic variables in body building athletes

Background: The most common drug abuse among athletes is anabolic steroids which lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases and sudden death. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate cardiovascular outcomes of anabolic consumption in body building athletes. Materials and Methods: Totally, 267 male athletes at the range of 20-45 years old with the regular consumption of anabolic steroids for >2 months with at least once weekly. High-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride (TG), and hematocrit (Hct) levels were measured after 10 h of fasting. Data analysis was performed using K2, t-test, ANOVA and correlation coefficient through SPSS 17. Results: There was a nonsignificant difference between groups regarding HDL, TG, and total cholesterol. There was a significant decrease in the total and categorized LDL and Hct levels in consumers of anabolic steroid versus nonusers (P = 0.01 and P = 0.041, respectively). Results showed a significant increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) in anabolic steroid users which associates with duration of abuse (P = 0.02 and P = 0.03, respectively). No significant electrocardiography changes were found within the follow-up period. Conclusion: Increase in SBP or DBP is a common complication of these drugs which can lead serious vascular disorders. The lower LDL cholesterol level might be due to the higher amounts of lipid consumption in these athletes.
Who is Doing What to Whom? Young Infants' Developing Sense of Social Causality in Animated Displays

In two different experiments a visual habituation/dishabituation procedure was used to test groups of 3–10-month-old infants for their ability to discriminate the role reversal of two abstract figures (discs of different colors) chasing each other on a computer screen. Results of the first experiment point to a reliable age effect. Only 8–10-month-old infants tended to dishabituate to a role reversal between chaser and chasee. A second experiment shows that in dishabituating to the role reversal, 8–10-month-olds do base this discrimination on relational information between the two discs and not merely on the contrast between their respective vitality or discrete dynamic. By the age of 8–10 months, infants demonstrate sensitivity to information specifying what one disc does to the other, at a distance. These findings point to important changes in perceptual-cognitive development and are discussed in the context of a well described key transition in social-cognitive development occurring at around 9 months of age.
Collective motion and density fluctuations in bacterial colonies

Flocking birds, fish schools, and insect swarms are familiar examples of collective motion that plays a role in a range of problems, such as spreading of diseases. Models have provided a qualitative understanding of the collective motion, but progress has been hindered by the lack of detailed experimental data. Here we report simultaneous measurements of the positions, velocities, and orientations as a function of time for up to a thousand wild-type Bacillus subtilis bacteria in a colony. The bacteria spontaneously form closely packed dynamic clusters within which they move cooperatively. The number of bacteria in a cluster exhibits a power-law distribution truncated by an exponential tail. The probability of finding clusters with large numbers of bacteria grows markedly as the bacterial density increases. The number of bacteria per unit area exhibits fluctuations far larger than those for populations in thermal equilibrium. Such “giant number fluctuations” have been found in models and in experiments on inert systems but not observed previously in a biological system. Our results demonstrate that bacteria are an excellent system to study the general phenomenon of collective motion.
Co-Administration of Silymarin and Deferoxamine against Kidney, Liver and Heart Iron Deposition in Male Iron Overload Rat Model

Background: Tissue iron deposition may disturb functions of the organs. In many diseases like thalassemia, the patients suffer from iron deposition in kidney and heart tissues. Deferoxamine (DF) is a synthetic iron chelator and silymarin (SM) is an antioxidant and also a candidate for iron chelating. This study was designed to investigate the effect of DF and SM combination against kidney and heart iron deposition in an iron overload rat model. Methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups. The iron overloading was performed by iron dextran 100 mg/kg/day every other day during 2 weeks and in the 3rd week, iron dextran was discontinued and the animals were treated daily with combination of SM (200 mg/kg/day, i.p.) and DF (50 mg/kg/day, i.p.) (group 1), SM (group 2), DF (group 3) and saline (group 4). Group 5 received saline during the experiment. Finally, blood samples were obtained and kidney, heart and liver were immediately removed and prepared for histopathological procedures. Results: The results indicated no significant difference in kidney function and endothelial function biomarkers between the groups. However, combination of SM and DF did not attenuate the iron deposition in the kidney, liver and heart. DF alone, rather than DF and SM combination, significantly reduced the serum level of malondialdehyde (P < 0.05). Co-administration of SM and DF significantly increased the serum level of ferritin (P < 0.05). Conclusions: DF and SM may be potentially considered as iron chelators. However, combination of these two agents did not provide a protective effect against kidney, liver and heart iron deposition.
Exploiting Similarity Between Variants to Defeat Malware “ Vilo ” Method for Comparing and Searching Binary Programs

Many malicious programs are just previously-seen programs that have had some minor changes made to them. A slightly different variant hardly qualifies as a stealth attack: being 99% the same as a known piece of malware should be a dead giveaway. This white paper describes a method for searching database of programs for a match. The methods are adapted from ordinary text search and analysis; the key to making them work is in selecting the right aspects of the programs to compare. The aspects compared are features called “n-perms” which are constructed from abstracted, disassembled code. Two studies show that these methods can be applied successfully to the problems of matching malware.
Stable hole doping of graphene for low electrical resistance and high optical transparency

We report on the p doping of graphene with the polymer TFSA ((CF3SO2)2NH). Modification of graphene with TFSA decreases the graphene sheet resistance by 70%. Through such modification, we report sheet resistance values as low as 129 Ω, thus attaining values comparable to those of indium–tin oxide (ITO), while displaying superior environmental stability and preserving electrical properties over extended time scales. Electrical transport measurements reveal that, after doping, the carrier density of holes increases, consistent with the acceptor nature of TFSA, and the mobility decreases due to enhanced short-range scattering. The Drude formula predicts that competition between these two effects yields an overall increase in conductivity. We confirm changes in the carrier density and Fermi level of graphene through changes in the Raman G and 2D peak positions. Doped graphene samples display high transmittance in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, preserving graphene’s optical properties without any significant reduction in transparency, and are therefore superior to ITO films in the near infrared. The presented results allow integration of doped graphene sheets into optoelectronics, solar cells, and thermoelectric solar cells as well as engineering of the electrical characteristics of various devices by tuning the Fermi level of graphene.
Benefits of Stroke Treatment Using a Mobile Stroke Unit Compared With Standard Management: The BEST-MSU Study Run-In Phase

Background and Purpose— Faster treatment with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is likely to improve outcomes. Optimizing prehospital triage by mobile stroke units (MSUs) may speed treatment times. The Benefits of Stroke Treatment Delivered Using a Mobile Stroke Unit (BEST-MSU) study was launched in May 2014 using the first MSU in the United States to compare stroke management using an MSU versus standard management (SM). Herein, we describe the results of the prespecified, nonrandomized run-in phase designed to obtain preliminary data on study logistics. Methods— The run-in phase consisted of 8 MSU weeks when all-patient care occurred on the MSU and 2 SM weeks when the MSU nurse met personnel on scene or at the emergency department to ensure comparability with MSU patients. Telemedicine was independently performed in 9 MSU cases. Results— Of 130 alerts, 24 MSU and 2 SM patients were enrolled. Twelve of 24 MSU patients received tPA on board; 4 were treated within 60 minutes of last seen normal, and 4 went on to endovascular treatment. There were no hemorrhagic complications. Four had primary intracerebral hemorrhage. Agreement on tPA eligibility between the onsite and telemedicine physician was 90%. Conclusions— The run-in phase provided a tPA treatment rate of 1.5 patients per week, assured us that treatment within 60 minutes of onset is possible, and enabled enrollment of patients on SM weeks. We also recognized the opportunity to assess the effect of the MSU on endovascular treatment and intracerebral hemorrhage. Challenges include the need to control biased patient selection on MSU versus SM weeks and establish inter-rater agreement for tPA treatment using telemedicine.
A Novel Role for Glucocorticoid-induced Leucine Zipper Protein in Epithelial Sodium Channel-mediated Sodium Transport*

The steroid hormone aldosterone stimulates sodium (Na+) transport in tight epithelia by altering the expression of target genes that regulate the activity and trafficking of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). We performed microarray analysis to identify aldosterone-regulated transcripts in mammalian kidney epithelial cells (mpkC-CDc14). One target, glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper protein (GILZ), was previously identified by serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE); however, its function in epithelial ion transport was unknown. Here we show that GILZ expression is rapidly stimulated by aldosterone in mpkCCDc14 and that GILZ, in turn, strongly stimulates ENaC-mediated Na+ transport by inhibiting extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling. In Xenopus oocytes with activated ERK, heterologous GILZ expression consistently inhibited phospho-ERK expression and markedly stimulated ENaC-mediated Na+ current, in a manner similar to that of U0126 (a pharmacologic inhibitor of ERK signaling). In mpkCCDc14 cells, GILZ transfection similarly consistently inhibited phospho-ERK expression and stimulated transepithelial Na+ transport. Furthermore, aldosterone treatment of mpkCCDc14 cells suppressed phospho-ERK levels with a time course that paralleled their increase of Na+ transport. Finally, GILZ expression markedly increased cell surface ENaC expression in epidermal growth factor-treated mammalian kidney epithelial cells, HEK 293. These observations suggest a novel link between GILZ and regulation of epithelial sodium transport through modulation of ERK signaling and could represent an important pathway for mediating aldosterone actions in health and disease.
RECOMBINANT ALPHA-1-ANTITRYPSIN PITTSBURGH ATTENUATES EXPERIMENTAL GRAM-NEGATIVE SEPTICEMIA

Gram-negative septicemia is known to be associated with activation of the contact system and disseminated intravascular coagulation. Alpha-l-antitryosin-Pittsburgh (AT-P), a naturally occurring lethal nutation (358Met →> Arg) is a potent inhibitor of all the contact enzymes as well as the coagulation enzyme, thrombin. We hypothesized that the administration of AT-P might modulate the course of gram-negative sepsis. The pig was selected as the animal model of choice since its fibrinolytic, kinin-forming, and coagulation systems are similar to man as well as its response to endotoxin. Young pigs were infused with viable pseudomona aeruginosa (2x108 CFU), and were either untreated (Group I) or treated (Group II) for 6h, with recombinant AT-P (rAT-P), produced in yeast. Coagulation and hemodynamic parameters as well as survival rates were evaluated. The mean pulmonary artery pressure, mean systemic blood pressure, white blood count and platelet count were the same in both groups during the entire experiment. rAT-P was removed by immunoadsorp-tion prior to assay of coagulation parameters. At lh, the changes for all coagulation descriptors, AT-I II, Factor XI, fibrinogen, and fibrinogen degradation products were statistically significant (pπ.05). Prekal1ikrein levels, however, were not statistically different between groups. Survival rates in Group I were significantly less than Group II (pπ.05), during hours 2-5, but did not differ at 6h, when the functional plasma rAT-P levels were lowest. A discrepancy was observed between antigenic and functional levels of rAT-P that increased linearly during the course of the experiment. This suggested that activation of proteases was occurring with subsequent inactivation by rAT-P. This study indicates that rAT-P affords protection in experimental gram-negative septicemia by modulation of the activity of the serine proteases resulting from activation of the contact phase of blood coagulation, fibrinolysis, kallikrein and thrombin formation.
Type II collagen autoimmunity and Ménière's disease

Abstract Antibodies to type II collagen have been reported by some authors to be raised in patients with Ménière's disease. In this study the antibody levels to type I and II collagen have been measured in 37 patients with Ménière's disease and 20 controls, using a solid-phase, double-antibody, enzyme-linked, immunoassay. No significant difference in antibody levels between the two groups was found. These findings do not support previously reported work which suggests that some cases of Ménière's disease are due to type II collagen autoimmunity.
VR-OOS: The DLR's virtual reality simulator for telerobotic on-orbit servicing with haptic feedback

The growth of space debris is becoming a severe issue that urgently requires mitigation measures based on maintenance, repair, and de-orbiting technologies. Such on-orbit servicing (OOS) missions, however, are delicate and expensive. Virtual Reality (VR) enables the simulation and training in a flexible and safe environment, and hence has the potential to drastically reduce costs and time, while increasing the success rate of future OOS missions. This paper presents a highly immersive VR system with which satellite maintenance procedures can be simulated interactively using visual and haptic feedback. The system can be used for verification and training purposes for human and robot systems interacting in space. Our framework combines unique realistic virtual reality simulation engines with advanced immersive interaction devices. The DLR bimanual haptic device HUG is used as the main user interface. The HUG is equipped with two light-weight robot arms and is able to provide realistic haptic feedback on both human arms. Additional devices provide vibrotactile and electrotactile feedback at the elbow and the fingertips. A particularity of the realtime simulation is the fusion of the Bullet physics engine with our haptic rendering algorithm, which is an enhanced version of the Voxmap-Pointshell Algorithm. Our haptic rendering engine supports multiple objects in the scene and is able to compute collisions for each of them within 1 msec, enabling realistic virtual manipulation tasks even for stiff collision configurations. The visualization engine ViSTA is used during the simulation to achieve photo-realistic effects, increasing the immersion. In order to provide a realistic experience at interactive frame rates, we developed a distributed system architecture, where the load of computing the physics simulation, haptic feedback and visualization of a complex scene is transferred to dedicated machines. The implementations are presented in detail and the performance of the overall system is validated. Additionally, a preliminary user study in which the virtual system is compared to a physical test bed shows the suitability of the VR-OOS framework.
Scalable fault management for OpenFlow

In the OpenFlow based split architecture, data-plane forwarding is separated from control and management functions. Forwarding elements make only simple forwarding decisions based on flow table entries populated by the controller. While OpenFlow does not specify how topology monitoring is performed, the centralized controller can use Link-Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) messages to discover link and node failures and trigger restoration actions. This monitoring and recovery model has serious scalability limitations because the controller has to be involved in the processing of all of the LLDP monitoring messages. For fast recovery, monitoring messages must be sent with millisecond interval over each link in the network. This poses a significant load on the controller. In this paper we propose to implement a monitoring function on OpenFlow switches, which can emit monitoring messages without posing a processing load on the controller. We describe how the OpenFlow 1.1 protocol should be extended to support the monitoring function. Our experimental results show that data plane fault recovery can be achieved in a scalable way within 50 milliseconds using this function.