Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A two-stage approach for leaf vein extraction

Living plant recognition is a promising but challenging task in the fields of pattern recognition and computer vision. As an inherent trait, the leaf vein definitely contains the important information for plant species recognition despite of its complex modality. In this paper, an efficient two-stage approach is presented for leaf vein extraction. At the first stage, a preliminary segmentation based on the intensity histogram of the leaf image is carried out to estimate the rough regions of vein pixels. This is followed at the second stage by a fine checking using a trained artificial neural network (ANN) classifier. Ten features distilled from a window centered at the pixel are used as the input to train the ANN classifier. Compared with conventional edge detection methods, experimental results show that the proposed method is capable of extracting more precise venation modality of the leaf for the subsequent leaf recognition.
Expression of Fatty Acid Synthase Depends on NAC1 and Is Associated with Recurrent Ovarian Serous Carcinomas

Our previous reports demonstrated that NAC1, a BTB/POZ domain-containing nuclear protein, upregulates in recurrent ovarian serous carcinoma and participates in developing drug resistance in cancer cells. The current study applies quantitative proteomics to identify the proteins controlled by NAC1 by comparing the proteomes of SKOV3 cells with and without expression of a dominant negative NAC1 construct, N130. From the proteins that are downregulated by N130 (upregulated by NAC1), we chose to further characterize fatty acid synthase (FASN). Similar to change in protein level, the FASN transcript level in SKOV3 cells was significantly reduced by N130 induction or by NAC1 knockdown. Immunohistochemistry showed that NAC1 and FASN immunointensities in ovarian serous carcinoma tissues had a highly significant correlation (P < .0001). Moreover, we found that recurrent serous carcinomas exhibited higher FASN immunointensities than their matched primary tumors (P < .001). Multivariate analysis showed that an FASN staining score of >1 in serous carcinomas was associated with a worse overall survival time (P < .01). Finally, C93, a new FASN inhibitor, induced massive apoptosis in carboplatin/paclitaxel resistant ovarian cancer cells. In conclusion, we show that NAC1 is essential for FASN expression in ovarian serous carcinomas and the expression of FASN significantly correlates with tumor recurrence and disease aggressiveness. The dependence of drug resistant tumor cells on FASN suggests a potential application of FASN-based therapeutics for recurrent ovarian cancer patients.
NuA4-Directed Chromatin Transactions throughout the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome

ABSTRACT Two of the major histone acetyltransferases in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are NuA4 and SAGA, which acetylate histones H4 and H3, respectively. Acetylated H3 and H4 tails have been implicated in binding bromodomain proteins, including Bdf1. Bdf1 interacts with the general transcription factor TFIID, which might promote preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly. Bdf1 also interacts with the SWR complex (SWR-C). SWR-C is responsible for the deposition of the histone H2A variant H2A.Z. The placement of these interactions into a connected pathway of PIC assembly has not been fully established. Moreover, it is not known how widespread and how variable such a pathway might be on a genomic scale. Here we provide genomic evidence for S. cerevisiae that PIC assembly (TFIID occupancy) and chromatin remodeling (SWR-C and H2A.Z occupancy) are linked in large part to NuA4-directed H4 acetylation and subsequent Bdf1 binding, rather than through SAGA-directed H3 acetylation. Bdf1 and its homolog Bdf2 tend to have distinct locations in the genome. However, the deletion of BDF1 leads to the accumulation of Bdf2 at Bdf1-vacated sites. Thus, while Bdf1 and Bdf2 are at least partially redundant in function, their functions in the genome are geographically distinct.
Somatostatin receptor profiling in hepatic metastases from small intestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms: immunohistochemical approach with potential clinical utility.

BACKGROUND The expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) on endocrine tumor (ET) cells forms the basis for somatostatin analog treatment of patients with SSTR-positive, hormonally active ETs. In patients with SSTR-negative ETs, the clinical response is generally absent or suboptimal, while nonfunctioning ETs with SSTR positivity show a variable response to such therapy. METHODS We retrospectively studied SSTR subtype expression in hepatic metastases from 14 adult patients with primary endocrine carcinomas (ECAs) of the small intestine and pancreas and compared SSTR subtype expression among the primary and metastatic ECAs. Polyclonal antibodies against the 5 SSTR subtypes were used on formalin-fixed, paraffin sections from each primary and metastatic ECA. Both qualitative and semiquantitative evaluation of the stained ECA sections was carried out. RESULTS Eleven (61%) of 18 hepatic metastases from small intestinal and pancreatic ECAs were positive for SSTR-1, 15 (83%) for SSTR-2, 13 (72%) for SSTR-3, 10 (56%) for SSTR-4, and 15 (83%) for SSTR-5. Among 11 hepatic ECA metastases from small intestinal ECAs (carcinoids), 7 (63%) expressed SSTR-1, 9 (81%) expressed SSTR-2, 8 (72%) expressed SSTR-3, 6 (54%) expressed SSTR-4, and 10 (91%) expressed SSTR-5. Of 7 hepatic ECA metastases from pancreatic ECAs, 4 expressed SSTR-1, 6 expressed SSTR-2, and 5 expressed SSTR-3 and SSTR-5 each. We also observed the immunohistochemical evidence of heterogeneity of expression of various SSTR subtypes in the primary enteropancreatic ECAs and their hepatic metastases. CONCLUSIONS SSTR subtype expression needs to be correlated to somatostatin analog therapy. Immunohistochemical profiling of various SSTR subtypes as a part of routine surgical pathologic analysis of enteropancreatic ETs may become a useful predictor of responsiveness of ETs to various SSTR analogs.
Population III stars: hidden or disappeared?

ABSTRACT A Pop III/Pop II transition from massive to normal stars is predicted to occur whenthe metallicity of the star forming gas crosses the critical range Z cr = 10 −5±1 Z ⊙ . Toinvestigate the cosmic implications of such process we use numerical simulations whichfollow the evolution, metal enrichment and energy deposition of both Pop III and PopII stars. We ﬁnd that: (i) due to ineﬃcient heavy element transport by outﬂows andslow ”genetic” transmission during hierarchical growth, large ﬂuctuations around theaverage metallicity arise; as a result Pop III star formation continues down to z = 2.5,but at a low peak rate of 10 −5 M ⊙ yr 1 Mpc −3 occurring at z ≈6 (about 10 −4 of thePop II one); (ii) Pop III star formation proceeds in a ”inside-out” mode in whichformation sites are progressively conﬁned at the periphery of collapsed structures,where the low gas density and correspondingly long free-fall timescales result in a veryineﬃcient astration. These conclusions strongly encourage deep searches for pristinestar formation sites at moderate (2 < z < 5) redshifts where metal free stars are likelyto be hidden.Key words: galaxies: formation - cosmology: theory - cosmology: observations -intergalactic medium
Plant growth and phenolic compounds in the rhizosphere soil of wild oat (Avena fatua L.)

The objectives of this study were to determine the pattern of dry matter (DM) accumulation and the evolution of phenolic compounds in the rhizosphere soil from tillering to the ripe seed stages of wild oat (Avena fatua L.), a widespread annual grassy weed. Plants were grown under controlled conditions and harvested 13 times during the growing season. At each harvest, shoot and root DM and phenolic compounds in the rhizosphere soil were determined. The maximum DM production (12.6 g/plant) was recorded at 122 days after sowing (DAS; kernel hard stage). The increase in total aerial DM with age coincided with reductions in the leaf/stem and source/sink ratios, and an increase in the shoot/root ratio. HPLC analysis shows production of seven phenolic compounds in the rhizosphere soil of wild oat, in order of their decreasing levels: syringic acid, vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, syringaldehyde, ferulic acid, p-cumaric acid and vanillic acid. The seasonal distribution for the total phenolic compounds showed two peaks of maximum concentrations, at the stem elongation stage (0.71 μg/kg; 82 DAS) and at the heading stage (0.70 μg/kg; 98 DAS). Thus, wild oat roots exude allelopathic compounds, and the levels of these phenolics in the rhizosphere soil vary according to plant maturity.
Limitations in Adult Orthodontics: A Review

Adults seeking orthodontic treatment have been increased considerably over the years as society is gradually becoming more esthetic oriented. These adults have already completed growth of craniofacial complex and treatment modality of growth modification is not an option for them. Many biological and psychosocial factors associated with adults need a change in biomechanics and treatment approach than that in growing adolescents. The present article attempts to explore the limitations in adult orthodontics.
Accurate and effective latent concept modeling for ad hoc information retrieval

Une requete est la representation du besoin d’information d’un utilisateur, et est le resultat d’un processus cognitif complexe qui mene souvent a un mauvais choix de mots-cles. Nous proposons une methode non supervisee pour la modelisation de concepts implicites d’une requete, dans le but de recreer la representation conceptuelle du besoin d’information initial. Nous utilisons l’allocation de Dirichlet latente (LDA) pour detecter les concepts implicites de la requete en utilisant des documents pseudo-pertinents. Nous evaluons cette methode en profondeur en utilisant deux collections de test de TREC. Nous trouvons notamment que notre approche permet de modeliser precisement les concepts implicites de la requete, tout en obtenant de bonnes performances dans le cadre d’une recherche de documents.
The role of maintenance pemetrexed in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer.

Until recently, the weight of evidence has supported the discontinuation of chemotherapy in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after 4-6 cycles of induction therapy. This allows patients with limited life expectancy a "treatment holiday. " A minority of cases then go on to receive second-line therapy, although many deteriorate rapidly and never receive further active treatment. There has been renewed interest in the concept of maintenance from trials with pemetrexed and erlotinib. Both these agents can be given for long periods without serious cumulative toxicity in most patients. Both trials have shown significant extension of progression free survival in placebo-controlled trials. In cases who are not receiving pemetrexed as induction therapy, a statistically significant 5-month prolongation of overall survival in nonsquamous NSCLC has been reported. Treatment was well tolerated. This effect may reflect the early administration of an active second-line agent and it remains to be seen whether similar benefits will accrue to patients having pemetrexed as induction therapy.
Public Health Risks from Mismanagement of Healthcare Wastes in Shinyanga Municipality Health Facilities, Tanzania

The increase of healthcare facilities in Shinyanga municipality has resulted in an increase of healthcare wastes, which poses serious threats to the environment, health workers, and the general public. This research was conducted to investigate management practices of healthcare wastes in Shinyanga municipality with a view of assessing health risks to health workers and the general public. The study, which was carried out in three hospitals, involved the use of questionnaires, in-depth interview, and observation checklist. The results revealed that healthcare wastes are not quantified or segregated in all the three hospitals. Healthcare wastes at the Shinyanga Regional Referral Hospital are disposed of by on-site incineration and burning and some wastes are disposed off-site. At Kolandoto DDH only on-site burning and land disposal are practiced, while at Kambarage UHC healthcare solid wastes are incinerated, disposed of on land disposal, and burned. Waste management workers do not have formal training in waste management techniques and the hospital administrations pay very little attention to appropriate management of healthcare wastes. In light of this, it is evident that management of healthcare solid wastes is not practiced in accordance with the national and WHO's recommended standards.
A σE-Mediated Temperature Gauge Controls a Switch from LuxR-Mediated Virulence Gene Expression to Thermal Stress Adaptation in Vibrio alginolyticus

In vibrios, the expression of virulence factors is often controlled by LuxR, the master quorum-sensing regulator. Here, we investigate the interplay between LuxR and σE, an alternative sigma factor, during the control of virulence-related gene expression and adaptations to temperature elevations in the zoonotic pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus. An rpoE null V. alginolyticus mutant was unable to adapt to various stresses and was survival-deficient in fish. In wild type V. alginolyticus, the expression of LuxR-regulated virulence factors increased as the temperature was increased from 22°C to 37°C, but mutants lacking σE did not respond to temperature, indicating that σE is critical for the temperature-dependent upregulation of virulence genes. Further analyses revealed that σE binds directly to -10 and -35 elements in the luxR promoter that drive its transcription. ChIP assays showed that σE binds to the promoter regions of luxR, rpoH and rpoE at high temperatures (e.g., 30°C and 37°C). However, at higher temperatures (42°C) that induce thermal stress, σE binding to the luxR promoter decreased, while its binding to the rpoH and rpoE promoters was unchanged. Thus, the temperature-dependent binding of σE to distinct promoters appears to underlie a σE-controlled switch between the expression of virulence genes and adaptation to thermal stress. This study illustrates how a conserved temperature response mechanism integrates into quorum-sensing circuits to regulate both virulence and stress adaptation.
Clinical Value of CD24 Expression in Retinoblastoma

Background. The expression of CD24 has been detected in a wide variety of human malignancies. Downregulation of CD24 inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in tumor cells, whereas its upregulation increases tumor growth and metastasis. However, no data on CD24 protein levels in retinoblastoma are available, and the mechanism of CD24 involvement in retinoblastoma progress has not been elucidated. The aim of this study was to explore the expression profile of CD24 in the retinoblastoma tumor samples and to correlate with clinicopathological parameters. Methods. Immunohistochemistry was performed for CD24 on the archival paraffin sections of retinoblastoma and correlated with clinicopathological features. Western blotting was performed to confirm immunoreactivity results. Results. CD24 immunoreactivity was observed in 72.0% (36/50) of the retinoblastoma specimens. Among the 35 low-risk tumors, CD24 was expressed in 62.9% (22/35) tumors and among the 15 high-risk tumors, CD24 was expressed in 93.3% (14/15) tumors. High-risk tumors showed significantly increased expression of CD24 compared to tumors with low-risk (P < 0.05). Conclusions. This is the first correlation between CD24 expression and histopathology in human retinoblastoma. Our study showed increased expression of CD24 in high risk tumors compared to low risk tumors. Further functional studies are required to explore the role of CD24 in retinoblastoma.
Dehn Filling of the "Magic" 3-manifold

We classify all the non-hyperbolic Dehn fillings of the complement of the chain-link with 3 components, conjectured to be the smallest hyperbolic 3-manifold with 3 cusps. We deduce the classification of all non-hyperbolic Dehn fillings of infinitely many 1-cusped and 2-cusped hyperbolic manifolds, including most of those with smallest known volume. Among other consequences of this classification, we mention the following: - for every integer n we can prove that there are infinitely many hyperbolic knots in the 3-sphere having exceptional surgeries n, n+1, n+2, n+3, with n+1, n+2 giving small Seifert manifolds and n, n+3 giving toroidal manifolds; - we exhibit a 2-cusped hyperbolic manifold that contains a pair of inequivalent knots having homeomorphic complements; - we exhibit a chiral 3-manifold containing a pair of inequivalent hyperbolic knots with orientation-preservingly homeomorphic complements; - we give explicit lower bounds for the maximal distance between small Seifert fillings and any other kind of exceptional filling.
Evolution of cooperation on different pairs of interaction and replacement networks with various intensity of selection

There are various discussions on the evolution of cooperation on different pairs of interaction network for playing games and the replacement network for imitation of strategies. This paper aims at clarifying the topological relationship between these networks that facilitates the evolution of cooperation by focusing on the intensity of selection for imitation process of strategies. We constructed an agent-based model of the evolutionary prisoner's dilemma on different pairs of interaction and replacement networks. The relationship between these networks can be adjusted by the scale of interaction and reproduction, and the intensity of selection can be adjusted from the almost deterministic selection of the best strategy to the extremely stochastic selection. The evolutionary experiments showed that the larger scale of reproduction than the scale of interaction brought about higher level cooperation when the intensity of selection was high, and the minimum scale of interaction and reproduction was the best for the evolution of cooperation when the intensity of selection was low.
Dietary assessment methods for micronutrient intake in elderly people: a systematic review

The European micronutrient recommendations aligned (EURRECA) Network of Excellence seeks to establish clear guidelines for assessing the validity of reported micronutrient intakes among vulnerable population groups. A systematic literature review identified studies validating the methodology used in elderly people for measuring usual dietary micronutrient intake. The quality of each validation study selected was assessed using a EURRECA-developed scoring system. The validation studies were categorised according to whether the reference method applied reflected short-term intake ( < 7 d), long-term intake ( ≥ 7 d) or used biomarkers (BM). A correlation coefficient for each micronutrient was calculated from the mean of the correlation coefficients from each study weighted by the quality of the study. Thirty-three papers were selected, which included the validation of twenty-five different FFQ, six diet histories (DH), one 24-h recall (24HR) and a videotaped dietary assessment method. A total of five publications analysed BM, which were used to validate four FFQ, and one 24HR, presenting very good correlations only for vitamin E. The analysis of weighted correlation coefficients classified by FFQ or DH showed that most of the micronutrients had higher correlations when the DH was used as the dietary method. Comparing only FFQ results showed very good correlations for measuring short-term intakes of riboflavin and thiamin and long-term intakes of P and Mg. When frequency methods are used for assessing micronutrient intake, the inclusion of dietary supplements improves their reliability for most micronutrients.
The effects of spatial correlation and the LOS component on the capacity of broadband MIMO channels

Over the last years a lot of papers on the topic of smart antennas have been published. The main motivation for the research on that field is the increase in capacity that can be achieved with the use of several antennas at one or both ends of a wireless channel [1]. Currently, there are some ongoing activities to identify technologies to be employed in future fourth generation wireless systems [2]. MIMO approaches are a main topic in these activities. Due to its simplicity and good properties to combat multipath propagation is OFDM a major candidate for 4th generation systems. For this reason the focus of our present work is set on OFDM in a MIMO context. This is new with respect to previous work on the issue of capacity of MIMO channels [1] [3] [4], where flat fading channels are assumed. Systems that employ several antennas at either one or both sides of a radio channel can, generally speaking, be viewed as MIMO approaches, the SISO, SIMO and MISO cases being understood as a particular case of them. Furthermore MIMO systems can be classified in two sets: systems that employ total or partial channel knowledge on the transmitter (e.g. beamforming, eigenbeamforming .) and systems that don't require any channel knowledge on the transmitter side and uniformly distribute the energy in all directions (e.g. BLAST, space-time coding .). The use of CSI at the transmitter requires under FDD schemes the existence of a backward channel so that the receiver can send channel estimates to the transmitter. As a consequence the bandwidth available for communication purposes decreases. The decrease in bandwidth becomes considerable when the radio channel varies very quickly and frequent updating of the CSI is required. This is the case for high mobility scenarios with rich scattering. In [3] it is shown that CSI at the transmitter does not yield any significant advantage with reference to the channel capacity when the MIMO channel is strongly uncorrelated, e.g. in a rich scattering environment [5]. Therefore, in this case, CSI at the transmitter side would provide little or no benefit while the cost in terms of bandwidth would be high. In this paper channel conditions are identified in which the presence of CSI at the transmitter could result advantageous. Fourth generation terminals should be able to work in a variety of scenarios and environments which might largely differ from each other. Besides, …
Brain Imaging Findings Predict Blood Pressure Response to Pharmacological Treatment

Hypertension appears to alter brain morphology, as well as the cerebrovascular support for information processing. Because these effects might reflect progressive effects of essential hypertension on the brain, we asked whether structural and functional brain indices would predict the success of pharmacological treatment of hypertension among 45 previously unmedicated individuals. After initial structural MRI and functional positron emission tomography imaging, subjects were randomly assigned in a double-blind fashion for treatment for 1 year with either lisinopril or atenolol. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreases after treatment stabilization were correlated to a pretreatment index of brain aging (combined ratings of ventricle and sulcal size and white matter hyperintensities) and the pretreatment change in regional cerebral blood flow during working memory in the thalamus and posterior parietal regions of interest. In multiple regression analyses, the structural brain index and the blood flow response in the thalamus predicted 20% of the variance in the systolic blood pressure response to treatment controlling for pretreatment blood pressure, age, gender, and type and dose of medication. Alcohol use influenced the thalamic response measure, but covariates did not alter the relation between greater indices of brain aging and less successful blood pressure response to treatment. The state of the brain may be an important factor in the remediation of blood pressure.