Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comorbid depression is associated with increased health care use and expenditures in individuals with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE This study ascertained the odds of diagnosed depression in individuals with diabetes and the relation between depression and health care use and expenditures. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS First, we compared data from 825 adults with diabetes with that from 20,688 adults without diabetes using the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Second, in patients with diabetes, we compared depressed and nondepressed individuals to identify differences in health care use and expenditures. Third, we adjusted use and expenditure estimates for differences in age, sex, race/ethnicity, health insurance, and comorbidity with analysis of covariance. Finally, we used the Consumer Price Index to adjust expenditures for inflation and used SAS and SUDAAN software for statistical analyses. RESULTS Individuals with diabetes were twice as likely as a comparable sample from the general U.S. population to have diagnosed depression (odds ratio 1.9, 95% CI 1.5-2.5). Younger adults (<65 years), women, and unmarried individuals with diabetes were more likely to have depression. Patients with diabetes and depression had higher ambulatory care use (12 vs. 7, P < 0.0001) and filled more prescriptions (43 vs. 21, P < 0.0001) than their counterparts without depression. Finally, among individuals with diabetes, total health care expenditures for individuals with depression was 4.5 times higher than that for individuals without depression ($247,000,000 vs. $55,000,000, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS The odds of depression are higher in individuals with diabetes than in those without diabetes. Depression in individuals with diabetes is associated with increased health care use and expenditures, even after adjusting for differences in age, sex, race/ethnicity, health insurance, and comorbidity.
Dual inhibition of autophagy and the AKT pathway in prostate cancer

Genetic inactivation of PTEN through either gene deletion or mutation is common in metastatic prostate cancer, leading to activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K-AKT) pathway, which is associated with poor clinical outcomes. The PI3K-AKT pathway plays a central role in various cellular processes supporting cell growth and survival of tumor cells. To date, therapeutic approaches to develop inhibitors targeting the PI3K-AKT pathway have failed in both pre-clinical and clinical trials. We showed that a novel AKT inhibitor, AZD5363, inhibits the AKT downstream pathway by reducing p-MTOR and p-RPS6KB/p70S6K. We specifically reported that AZD5363 monotherapy induces G2 growth arrest and autophagy, but fails to induce significant apoptosis in PC-3 and DU145 prostate cancer cell lines. Blocking autophagy using pharmacological inhibitors (3-methyladenine, chloroquine and bafilomycin A1) or genetic inhibitors (siRNA targeting ATG3 and ATG7) enhances cell death induced by AZD5363 in these prostate cancer cells. Importantly, the combination of AZD5363 with chloroquine significantly reduces tumor volume compared with the control group, and compared with either drug alone in prostate tumor xenograft models. Taken together, these data demonstrate that AKT inhibitor AZD5363, synergizes with the lysosomotropic inhibitor of autophagy, chloroquine, to induce apoptosis and delay tumor progression in prostate cancer models that are resistant to monotherapy, with AZD5363 providing a new therapeutic approach potentially translatable to patients.
Ambiotherm: Enhancing Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality by Simulating Real-World Environmental Conditions

In this paper, we present and evaluate Ambiotherm, a wearable accessory for Head Mounted Displays (HMD) that provides thermal and wind stimuli to simulate real-world environmental conditions, such as ambient temperatures and wind conditions, to enhance the sense of presence in Virtual Reality (VR). Ambiotherm consists of a Ambient Temperature Module that is attached to the user's neck, a Wind Simulation Module focused towards the user's face, and a Control Module utilizing Bluetooth communication. We demonstrate Ambiotherm with two VR environments, a hot desert, and a snowy mountain, to showcase the different types of simulated environmental conditions. We conduct several studies to 1) address design factors of the system and 2) evaluate Ambiotherm's effect on factors related to a user's sense of presence. Our findings show that the addition of wind and thermal stimuli significantly improves sensory and realism factors, contributing towards an enhanced sense of presence when compared to traditional VR experiences.
Notes on the Language of Taliabo

INTRODUCTION. Despite a few recent publications (Chlenov 1976; Stokhof 1980b; Blust 1981; Collins 1981, 1982)1 the languages of the Sulabesi islands are not well known. Although some attempts have been made at determining their relationships to other languages, little is known about their internal relationships.2 In this brief paper, some information is presented about the language spoken on Taliabo, the largest and westernmost island in this island group. (See Map A.) These remarks should be considered both as a refinement of the important pioneering work undertaken by J. Fortgens (1915, 1916, 1919, 1921, 1980a, 1980b, 1980c) and at the same time as only a preliminary description pending a more thorough examination.3 Van Hulstijn (1918:60) discusses the Taliabo language group (taalgroep). He suggests that among these dialects (dialecten) Soboyo is most closely related to Mange, and that the Kadai language (taal) is related to Mbono. He notes that the people of Taliabo report dialectal differences so great mutual intelligibility is threatened.
Dynamical Neural Networks for Mobile Robot Control

This paper describes research in applying dynamical neural networks (DNNs) to the control of real mobile robots. Three tasks were explored: predator avoidance, reactive navigation, and landmark recognition. For the predator avoidance and landmark recognition tasks, a genetic algorithm was used to evolve DNN controllers in simulation, then the networks were transferred to a real mobile robot for evaluation. In the reactive navigation task, a hand-designed DNN controller was used in combination with algorithms for detecting static and cyclic behavior. In all three of these experiments, the control systems were able to successfully perform the tasks in both simulation and on the real robot.
Assessment of Vulnerability Severity using Text Mining

Software1 vulnerabilities are closely associated with information systems security, a major and critical field in today's technology. Vulnerabilities constitute a constant and increasing threat for various aspects of everyday life, especially for safety and economy, since the social impact from the problems that they cause is complicated and often unpredictable. Although there is an entire research branch in software engineering that deals with the identification and elimination of vulnerabilities, the growing complexity of software products and the variability of software production procedures are factors contributing to the ongoing occurrence of vulnerabilities, Hence, another area that is being developed in parallel focuses on the study and management of the vulnerabilities that have already been reported and registered in databases. The information contained in such databases includes, a textual description and a number of metrics related to vulnerabilities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extend the assessment of the vulnerability severity can be inferred directly from the corresponding textual description, or in other words, to examine the informative power of the description with respect to the vulnerability severity. For this purpose, text mining techniques, i.e. text analysis and three different classification methods (decision trees, neural networks and support vector machines) were employed. The application of text mining to a sample of 70,678 vulnerabilities from a public data source shows that the description itself is a reliable and highly accurate source of information for vulnerability prioritization.
Protein Tyrosine Kinases and Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases Are Involved in Abscisic Acid-Dependent Processes in Arabidopsis Seeds and Suspension Cells1

Protein tyrosine (Tyr) phosphorylation plays a central role in many signaling pathways leading to cell growth and differentiation in animals. Tyr phosphorylated proteins have been detected in higher plants, and the roles of protein Tyr phosphatases and protein Tyr kinases in some physiological responses have been shown. We investigated the involvement of Tyr phosphorylation events in abscisic acid (ABA) signaling using a pharmacological approach. Phenylarsine oxide, a specific inhibitor of protein Tyr phosphatase activity, abolished the ABA-dependent accumulation of RAB18 (responsive to ABA 18) transcripts. Protein Tyr kinase inhibitors like genistein, tyrphostin A23, and erbstatin blocked the RAB18 expression induced by ABA in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Stomatal closure induced by ABA was also inhibited by phenylarsine oxide and genistein. We studied the changes in the Tyr phosphorylation levels of proteins in Arabidopsis seeds after ABA treatment. Proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and those phosphorylated on Tyr residues were detected using an anti-phosphotyrosine antibody by western blot. Changes were detected in the Tyr phosphorylation levels of 19 proteins after ABA treatment. Genistein inhibited the ABA-dependent Tyr phosphorylation of proteins. The 19 proteins were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Among the proteins identified were storage proteins like cruciferins, enzymes involved in the mobilization of lipid reserves like aconitase, enolase, aldolase, and a lipoprotein, and enzymes necessary for seedling development like the large subunit of Rubisco. Additionally, the identification of three putative signaling proteins, a peptidyl-prolyl isomerase, an RNA-binding protein, and a small ubiquitin-like modifier-conjugating enzyme, enlightens how Tyr phosphorylation might regulate ABA transduction pathways in plants.
Scheduling and synchronization for multi-core real-time systems

Multi-core processors are already prevalent in general-purpose computing systems with manufacturers currently offering up to a dozen cores per processor. Real-time and embedded systems adopting such processors gain increased computational capacity, improved parallelism, and higher performance per watt. However, using multi-core processors in real-time applications also introduces new challenges and opportunities for efficient scheduling and task synchronization. In this dissertation, we study this problem, characterize the design space, and develop an analytical and systems framework for multi-core real-time scheduling. Exploiting the co-located nature of processor cores, the general principle adopted in this thesis is to statically partition tasks among processor cores, co-allocate synchronizing tasks when possible, and introduce limited inter-core task migration and synchronization for improving system utilization as necessary. We model the multi-core real-time scheduling problem as a bin-packing problem and develop an object splitting algorithm for scheduling tasks on multi-core processors. We develop Highest-Priority Task Splitting (HPTS) to schedule independent sequential tasks on multi-core processors. We then analyze the overheads of inter-core task synchronization and provide mechanisms to efficiently allocate synchronizing sequential tasks on multi-cores by co-locating such tasks. We then generalize this approach to provide early solutions for scheduling parallel real-time tasks using the fork-join model. Next, we develop mechanisms to use such techniques in mixed-criticality systems. Finally, we describe the distributed resource kernel framework, where we demonstrate the practical feasibility of our approach. The results of this dissertation contribute to a system that can efficiently utilize multi-core processors to predictably execute periodic tasks with well-defined deadlines and analytically guarantee such deadlines. We provide a utilization bound of 65% for independent sequential tasks, demonstrate up to 50% reduction in the required number of cores using synchronization-aware allocation, and prove a 3.42 resource augmentation bound for parallel real-time task scheduling.
Multimedia courses generator for deaf children

In this paper, we present an environment developed in the research laboratory of technologies of information and communication (13) of the university of Tunis to aid deaf people in improving their social integration and communication capabilities. In fact, it is proved that sign language is not innate at deaf children and therefore it needs methodic and specific training. In this context, our environment is a specialized Learning Content Management System that generates multimedia courses to teach and learn sign language. According to our survey we did not find an Learning Content Management System witch can help teachers to generate courses to person with hearing disability. Moreover our tool is original in case that the sign animation is generated automatically from a textual description. The generated courses can be used either by deaf pupils to learn (or e-learn) sign language or also by hearing people to be able to communicate with deaf people. This educational environment uses mainly a web-based interpreter of sign language developed in our research laboratory and called websign (2, 6). It is a tool that permits to interpret automatically written texts in visual-gestured-spatial language using avatar technology.
Salmonella typhimurium Infection in Mice Induces Nitric Oxide-Mediated Immunosuppression through a Natural Killer Cell-Dependent Pathway

ABSTRACT Splenocytes isolated from C57BL/6J female mice 3 to 7 days after inoculation with an attenuated strain of Salmonella typhimurium produced high levels of nitric oxide (39 to 77 μM) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ). Additionally, spleen cell cultures fromSalmonella-inoculated mice were markedly suppressed in their ability to generate an in vitro plaque-forming cell (PFC) response to sheep erythrocytes. Depletion of natural killer (NK) cells from the immune splenocyte population markedly reduced nitric oxide production, prevented suppression of PFC responses, and completely abrogated IFN-γ release. Treatment of NK cell-depleted immune cells with IFN-γ restored nitric oxide production to levels comparable to those of intact immune cells and also restored the immunosuppression. These results suggest that NK cells regulate the induction of nitric oxide-mediated immunosuppression following infection with S. typhimurium through the production of IFN-γ.
Using input delay approach for synthesizing an anti-windup compensator to AQM in TCP/IP networks

In this paper, input delay theory is used as a key tool to design an effective anti-windup compensator which is applied to active queue management (AQM) at router to avoid congestion. The desired anti-windup compensator can be computed by the solution of convex optimization problem. The simulation results suggest that our methodology is effective and is an improvement over previous ones.
Proteomic Response to Acupuncture Treatment in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Previous animal and clinical studies have shown that acupuncture is an effective alternative treatment in the management of hypertension, but the mechanism is unclear. This study investigated the proteomic response in the nervous system to treatment at the Taichong (LR3) acupoint in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Unanesthetized rats were subject to 5-min daily acupuncture treatment for 7 days. Blood pressure was monitored over 7 days. After euthanasia on the 7th day, rat medullas were dissected, homogenized, and subject to 2D gel electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF analysis. The results indicate that blood pressure stabilized after the 5th day of acupuncture, and compared with non-acupoint treatment, Taichong-acupunctured rat’s systolic pressure was reduced significantly (P<0.01), though not enough to bring blood pressure down to normal levels. The different treatment groups also showed differential protein expression: the 2D images revealed 571±15 proteins in normal SD rats’ medulla, 576±31 proteins in SHR’s medulla, 597±44 proteins in medulla of SHR after acupuncturing Taichong, and 616±18 proteins in medulla of SHR after acupuncturing non-acupoint. In the medulla of Taichong group, compared with non-acupoint group, seven proteins were down-regulated: heat shock protein-90, synapsin-1, pyruvate kinase isozyme, NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-2, protein kinase C inhibitor protein 1, ubiquitin hydrolase isozyme L1, and myelin basic protein. Six proteins were up-regulated: glutamate dehydrogenase 1, aldehyde dehydrogenase 2, glutathione S-transferase M5, Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor 1, DJ-1 protein and superoxide dismutase. The altered expression of several proteins by acupuncture has been confirmed by ELISA, Western blot and qRT-PCR assays. The results indicate an increase in antioxidant enzymes in the medulla of the SHRs subject to acupuncture, which may provide partial explanation for the antihypertensive effect of acupuncture. Further studies are warranted to investigate the role of oxidative stress modulation by acupuncture in the treatment of hypertension.
Detection of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen with Two Systems in the follow-up of Patients with Cervical Cancer

Since squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) testing became commercially available on the Architect platform, the previously established method on the Abbott IMx platform has been progressively replaced. Aim of this work was to compare SCC-Ag values obtained with the 2 methods. Clinical and laboratory data of 188 patients for whom SCC-Ag determination was requested, were reviewed. IMx was used to determine the levels of SCC-Ag from June 2007 to May 2009, while the Architect system was used from June 2009 to April 2011. Only patients consistently diagnosed with no evidence of disease, for whom at least 2 determinations with each analyzer were available were used. Comparison of the results obtained with the 2 systems was then performed. Mean values for SCC-Ag were 0.56 ng/mL (Standard Error (SE): 0.08) with the IMx method, and 1.08 ng/mL (SE 0.10) with Architect (p<0.0001). False positive results were found in 4.8% of patients with the IMx method and in 9.5% of patients with Architect (p=0.049). The values of SCC-Ag determined on the Architect platform are higher than those obtained on the IMx, with a higher percentage of false positive results.
Evaluation of Nucleic Acid Stabilization Products for Ambient Temperature Shipping and Storage of Viral RNA and Antibody in a Dried Whole Blood Format

Loss of sample integrity during specimen transport can lead to false-negative diagnostic results. In an effort to improve upon the status quo, we used dengue as a model RNA virus to evaluate the stabilization of RNA and antibodies in three commercially available sample stabilization products: Whatman FTA Micro Cards (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA), DNAstāble Blood tubes (Biomātrica, San Diego, CA), and ViveST tubes (ViveBio, Alpharetta, GA). Both contrived and clinical dengue-positive specimens were stored on these products at ambient temperature or 37°C for up to 1 month. Antibody and viral RNA levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays, respectively, and compared with frozen unloaded controls. We observed reduced RNA and antibody levels between stabilized contrived samples and frozen controls at our earliest time point, and this was particularly pronounced for the FTA cards. However, despite some time and temperature dependent loss, a 94.6–97.3% agreement was observed between stabilized clinical specimens and their frozen controls for all products. Additional considerations such as cost, sample volume, matrix, and ease of use should inform any decision to incorporate sample stabilization products into a diagnostic testing workflow. We conclude that DNAstāble Blood and ViveST tubes are useful alternatives to traditional filter paper for ambient temperature shipment of clinical specimens for downstream molecular and serological testing.
Rearrangement of immune complexes in glomeruli leads to persistence and development of electron-dense deposits

Covalently, cross-linked immune complexes were prepared with multivalent 2-nitro-4-azidophenyl X human serum albumin (NAP X HSA) and antibodies to NAP at five times antigen excess. After purification with gel filtration, affinity chromatography with antigen-agarose column, and addition of the hapten, 9.5% of the antibodies dissociated from the complexes by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis. After injection of these cross-linked immune complexes into mice, glomeruli stained for the complexes by immunofluorescence microscopy for only a few hours and electron-dense deposits were not detected. In contrast, when the same immune complexes with comparable lattice but without covalent cross-linking were administered to a second group of mice, the initial deposition by immunofluorescence was comparable and then increased to extensive deposits that persisted to 96 h. In this second group of mice extensive electron-dense deposits evolved. These observations supported the conclusion that the immune complexes initially deposited from circulation must undergo rearrangement to persist and to form electron-dense deposits in glomeruli. The covalently cross-linked immune complexes existed in glomeruli only for a short period of time since these complexes could not rearrange.
The Influence of Prereversal Experience on Reversal Learning in White Rats

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of reward and non-reward in reversal learning. In Experiment I, 36 white rats were trained on a black-white discrimination problem in a Y-maze. The training consisted of three stages; original learning, prereversal experience and reversal learning. The original learning continued until each S reached the criterion of 18 correct out of 20 responses on successive two days, with all responses correct on the final day. Ss were then divided into three groups, and were given prereversal experience which differed by groups. Ss of group N-P received 20 rewarded prereversal trials to the stimulus card that had initially been negative but which was to be positive during the subsequent reversal trials : and, conversely, Ss of group P-N received 20 non-rewarded trials to the stimulus card that had initially been positive but which was to be negative during the reversal. Ss of the control group received no prereversal experience. All Ss were then trained on the reversal problem. The results of the reversal learning were summarized in Table 1. Group P-N was superior to the control group, whereas group N-P did not differ from the control group.In Experiment II, 33 white rats were trained on a position discrimination problem in a T-maze. The training consisted of three stages ; original learning, prereversal experience and reversal learning. The original learning continued for 3 days, with 10 trials on each day. Ss were then divided into three groups, and were given prereversal experience for 2 days (20 trials), and were finally trained on the reversal problem for 5 days. The results of the reversal learning are shown in Table 3, which represents superior performance of group P-N and inferior performance of group N-P to the control group. The results of the above two experiments support the uniprocess theory which emphasizes the role of inhibition in discrimination learning.