Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minimizing latency for secure distributed computing

We consider the setting of a master server who possesses confidential data (genomic, medical data, etc.) and wants to run intensive computations on it, as part of a machine learning algorithm for example. The master wants to distribute these computations to untrusted workers who have volunteered or are incentivized to help with this task. However, the data must be kept private (in an information theoretic sense) and not revealed to the individual workers. The workers may be busy and will take a random time to finish the task assigned to them. We are interested in reducing the aggregate delay experienced by the master. We focus on linear computations as an essential operation in many iterative algorithms. A known solution is to use a linear secret sharing scheme to divide the data into secret shares on which the workers can compute. We propose to use instead new secure codes, called Staircase codes, introduced previously by two of the authors. We study the delay induced by Staircase codes which is always less than that of secret sharing. The reason is that secret sharing schemes need to wait for the responses of a fixed fraction of the workers, whereas Staircase codes offer more flexibility in this respect. For instance, for codes with rate R = 1/2 Staircase codes can lead to up to 40% reduction in delay compared to secret sharing.
Methane emissions from lakes: Dependence of lake characteristics, two regional assessments, and a global estimate

Lake sediments are “hot spots” of methane production in the landscape. However, regional and global lake methane emissions, contributing to the greenhouse effect, are poorly known. We developed predictions of methane emissions from easily measured lake characteristics based on measurements for 11 North American and 13 Swedish lakes, and literature values from 49 lakes. Results suggest that open water methane emission can be predicted from variables such as lake area, water depth, concentrations of total phosphorus, dissolved organic carbon, and methane, and the anoxic lake volume fraction. Using these relations, we provide regional estimates from lakes in Sweden and the upper midwest of the United States. Considering both open water and plant‐mediated fluxes, we estimate global emissions as 8–48 Tg CH4 yr−1 (6–16% of total natural methane emissions and greater than oceanic emission), indicating that lakes should be included as a significant source in global methane budgets.
Navigation Pattern Discovery from Internet Data

Electronic commerce sites need to learn as much as possible about their customers and those browsing their virtual premises, in order to maximize their marketing effort. The discovery of marketing related navigation patterns requires the development of data mining algorithms capable of discovering sequential access patterns from web logs. This paper introduces a new algorithm called MiDAS that extends traditional sequence discovery with a wide range of web-specific features. Domain knowledge is described as flexible navigation templates that can specify navigational behavior, as network structures for the capture of web site topologies, in addition to concept hierarchies and syntactic constraints. Unlike existing approaches, field dependency has been implemented, which allows the detection of sequences across monitored attributes, such as URLs and http referrers. Three different types of contained-in relationships are supported, which express different types of browsing behavior. The carried out experimental evaluation have shown promising results in terms of functionality as well as scalability.
Phenotype Characteristics of Patients With Colonic Serrated Polyposis Syndrome : A Study of 23 Cases §

Introduction: Serrated polyposis syndrome (SPS) is a rare entity characterized by the presence of multiple hyperplastic polyps in the colon and an increased risk of presentation and development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Objective: To evaluate the clinical and phenotypical characteristics of patients who present one of the 3 WHO criteria for the diagnosis of SPS diagnosed and treated at a tour hospital. Patients and methods: Patients with the diagnosis of SPS during 2005–2012 were revised; 24.208 colonoscopies were performed during this period. Other entities include age, sex, family history of CRC (APC/MYH), proximal/mixed/distal phenotype, indication for colonoscopy, number, size, location of the hyperplastic polyps, presence of mixed/adenomatous polyps, CRCI, follow-up and endoscopio/surgical treatment. Results: A total of 23 cases were included (19 male). The median age was 51. 34% of the cases had a prior family history of CRC or polpyps. Distal phenotype was more frequent (48%). Another 73% presented synchronous adenomatous polyps, and 26% a CRC. 57% of them were asymptomatic. Surgery was performed in 9 cases (6 for cancer and 3 for polyposis), and 14 were treated by polypectomy and observation. Eleven patients (47%) presented recurrent/ persistent lesions after initial surgical/endoscopic treatment. Conclusion: SPS is a heterogeneous syndrome that is variable in the type, size, distribution and number of polyps, and is more common in male smokers with a distal phenotype. The majority of patients also present synchronous adenomatous polyps. These patients require an organized multidisciplinary evaluation. # 2013 AEC. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. U. All rights reserved. § Please cite this article as: Elorza G, Enrı́quez-Navascués JM, Bujanda L, Larzábal M, Gil Lasa I, Martı́ L. Caracterı́sticas fenotı́picas de los pacientes con sı́ndrome de poliposis serrada de colon: estudio de 23 casos. Cir Esp. 2014;92:659–664. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: josemaria.enriqueznavascues@osakidetza.net (J.M. Enrı́quez-Navascués). CIRUGÍA ESPAÑOLA www.elsevier. es/cirugia 2173-5077/$ – see front matter # 2013 AEC. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. U. All rights reserved. Documento descargado de http://www.elsevier. es el 10/04/2017. Copia para uso personal, se prohíbe la transmisión de este documento por cualquier medio o formato.
Temporal Dynamics and Impact of Climate Factors on the Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Central Tunisia

Background Old world Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (ZCL) is a vector-borne human disease caused by Leishmania major, a unicellular eukaryotic parasite transmitted by pool blood-feeding sand flies mainly to wild rodents, such as Psammomys obesus. The human beings who share the rodent and sand fly habitats can be subverted as both sand fly blood resource. ZCL is endemic in the Middle East, Central Asia, Subsaharan and North Africa. Like other vector-borne diseases, the incidence of ZCL displayed by humans varies with environmental and climate factors. However, so far no study has addressed the temporal dynamics or the impact of climate factors on the ZCL risk. Principal Findings Seasonality during the same epidemiologic year and interval between ZCL epidemics ranging from 4 to 7 years were demonstrated. Models showed that ZCL incidence is raising i) by 1.8% (95% confidence intervals CI:0.0–3.6%) when there is 1 mm increase in the rainfall lagged by 12 to 14 months ii) by 5.0% (95% CI: 0.8–9.4%) when there is a 1% increase in humidity from July to September in the same epidemiologic year. Conclusion/Significance Higher rainfall is expected to result in increased density of chenopods, a halophytic plant that constitutes the exclusive food of Psammomys obesus. Consequently, following a high density of Psammomys obesus, the pool of Leishmania major transmissible from the rodents to blood-feeding female sand flies could lead to a higher probability of transmission to humans over the next season. These findings provide the evidence that ZCL is highly influenced by climate factors that could affect both Psammomys obesus and the sand fly population densities.
A tunable differential duplexer in 90nm CMOS

An integrated duplexer for frequency division duplex wireless standards around 2GHz is presented. The duplexer utilizes a differential version of a planar hybrid transformer to enable wideband differential to differential and differential to common-mode isolation between the transmitter and receiver. It covers WCDMA bands I, II, III, and IX, with worst-case isolation of 60dB and 40dB at the TX and RX frequencies respectively. The duplexer with a cascaded LNA achieves a noise figure of 5.6dB, and 14dB of gain. The insertion loss in the TX path is 3.7dB. The duplexer and LNA, implemented in a 90nm CMOS process, consume 20mA and occupy an active area of 0.6mm2.
Tic Frequency Decreases during Short-term Psychosocial Stress – An Experimental Study on Children with Tic Disorders

It has been suggested that psychosocial stress influences situational fluctuations of tic frequency. However, evidence from experimental studies is lacking. The current study investigated the effects of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-C) on tic frequency in 31 children and adolescents with tic disorders. A relaxation and a concentration situation served as control conditions. Patients were asked either to suppress their tics or to “tic freely. ” Physiological measures of stress were measured throughout the experiment. The TSST-C elicited a clear stress response with elevated levels of saliva cortisol, increased heart rate, and a larger number of skin conductance responses. During relaxation and concentration, the instruction to suppress tics reduced the number of tics, whereas during stress, the number of tics was low, regardless of the given instruction. Our study suggests that the stress might result in a situational decrease of tic frequency.
A Massive Congenital Intracranial-orbital Immature Teratoma Tracing Trigeminal Nerve Pathway in One Monozygotic Twin: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Background: Congenital intracranial teratomas are extremely rare tumors, which may extend through the extracranial structures, namely orbit, and pose difficulties in determining of original site and also in the surgical procedures. Methods and materials: In this paper, we presented two newborn male monozygotic twins in which only one twin had a proptosis of the right eye. The magnetic resonance imag¬ing (MRI) revealed a huge tumor along a trigeminal nerve that involved orbit, wall of cavernous sinus, infratemporal fossa, and brain stem. Because of the large involvement of this tumor, the patient underwent a subtotal resection of the middle cranial fossa and debulking of intra orbital portion. The histopathological findings demonstrated a congenital immature teratoma. Result: To date, the patient is treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, and the other twin remains healthy, with normal brain CT scan. Conclusion: To our knowledge, given the low incidence of congenital teratomas, there is no certain treatment for these tumors, and perhaps this report is the first case of congenital immature teratoma presented in intracranial or orbital structures in only one monozygotic twin.
Another angiogenesis-independent role for VEGF: SDF1-dependent cardiac repair via cardiac stem cells.

This editorial refers to ‘VEGF/SDF-1 promotes cardiac stem cell mobilization and myocardial repair in the infarcted heart’ by J.-M. Tang et al. , pp. 402–411, this issue. Mounting evidence indicates that the vascular endothelial growth factor gene (encoding the secreted growth factor VEGF) is one of those few truly essential genes in the mammalian genome. Indeed, genetic haploinsufficiency of one VEGF allele is incompatible with life and birth due to severe embryonic defects in the conversion of single endothelial cells into a network of blood vessels, thereby establishing VEGF as one of the most important angiogenic growth factors.1 Furthermore, over the past decade, pleiotropic roles of VEGF in multiple angiogenesis-(in)dependent processes were identified. VEGF was shown to affect an ever-growing list of non-endothelial cell types derived from all three embryonic lineages, including—to name a few—pneumocytes, retinal pigment epithelial cells, renal podocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, cardiomyocytes, various neuronal cell types, pancreatic duct cells, and haematopoietic/muscle/dental pulp stem cells.2 Tang et al. add further evidence that VEGF also affects resident adult cardiac stem cells (CSCs) and stimulates cardiac repair after myocardial infarction (MI), effects that are at least in part independent of its angiogenic properties.3 ‘VEGF and the diseased heart’ remains a very popular research topic for further development into clinically applicable therapeutic paradigms. For almost two decades now, attempts have been made to stimulate revascularization of the chronically ischaemic heart by various forms of VEGF therapy (therapeutic angiogenesis), with mixed results.4 Gradually, the applied …
Masses of Star Clusters in the Nuclei of Bulgeless Spiral Galaxies

In the last decade star clusters have been found in the centers of spiral galaxies across all Hubble types. We here present a spectroscopic study of the exceptionally bright (106-108 L☉) but compact (re ~ 5 pc) nuclear star clusters in very late type spirals with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph at the VLT. We find that the velocity dispersions of the nine clusters in our sample range from 13 to 34 km s-1. Using photometric data from the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 and spherically symmetric dynamical models, we determine masses between 8 × 105 and 6 × 107 M☉. The mass-to-light ratios range from 0.2 to 1.5 in the I band. This indicates a young mean age for most clusters, in agreement with previous studies. Given their high masses and small sizes, we find that nuclear clusters are among the objects with the highest mean surface density known (up to 105 M☉ pc-2). From their dynamical properties we infer that, rather than small bulges, the closest structural kin of nuclear clusters appear to be massive compact star clusters. This includes such different objects as globular clusters, "super star clusters," ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), and the nuclei of dwarf elliptical galaxies. It is a challenge to explain why, despite the widely different current environments, all different types of massive star clusters share very similar and structural properties. A possible explanation links UCDs and massive globular clusters to nuclear star clusters through stripping of nucleated dwarf galaxies in a merger event. The extreme properties of this type of cluster would then be a consequence of the clusters' location in the centers of their respective host galaxies.
Relative contribution of temporal and spectral cues to melodic contour identification

The aim of this study was to investigate the relative contribution of temporal and spectral cues to melodic contour identification (MCI). Ten normal-hearing subjects participated in this study. Acoustic stimuli from four instruments and synthetic complex tone were utilized. A noise-excited vocoder was used to extract the temporal and spectral information from the stimuli. Experimental results showed that the spectral cue was more important to MCI than the temporal cue. Eight frequency bands were sufficient to achieve relatively good MCI performance. Temporal resolution showed no significant effect on the MCI performance. Confusion matrix was used to analysis the data. It was indicated that detecting pitch difference was easier than identifying pitch direction with restricted spectral information.
A Syntactified Direct Translation Model with Linear-time Decoding

Recent syntactic extensions of statistical translation models work with a synchronous context-free or tree-substitution grammar extracted from an automatically parsed parallel corpus. The decoders accompanying these extensions typically exceed quadratic time complexity. This paper extends the Direct Translation Model 2 (DTM2) with syntax while maintaining linear-time decoding. We employ a linear-time parsing algorithm based on an eager, incremental interpretation of Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG). As every input word is processed, the local parsing decisions resolve ambiguity eagerly, by selecting a single supertag-operator pair for extending the dependency parse incrementally. Alongside translation features extracted from the derived parse tree, we explore syntactic features extracted from the incremental derivation process. Our empirical experiments show that our model significantly outperforms the state-of-the art DTM2 system.
Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes in the Metabolically Healthy Obese Phenotype

OBJECTIVE To determine the correlates of the “metabolically healthy obese” (MHO) phenotype and the longitudinal risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD)/stroke associated with this phenotype. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The North West Adelaide Health Study is a prospective cohort study of 4,056 randomly selected adults aged ≥18 years. Participants free of CVD/stroke and not underweight (n = 3,743) were stratified by BMI categories and metabolic risk, defined as having two or more International Diabetes Federation metabolic syndrome criteria, excluding waist circumference. RESULTS Correlates of the MHO (n = 454 [12.1%]) included smoking, socioeconomic disadvantage, and physical inactivity. Compared with metabolically healthy normal-weight subjects (n = 1,172 [31.3%]), the MHO were more likely to develop metabolic risk (15.5 vs. 33.1%, P < 0.001) and incident diabetes (odds ratio 2.09 [95% CI 0.87–5.03]) but not CVD/stroke (1.16 [0.58–2.29]) during 5.5–10.3 years of follow-up. These risks were not seen in MHO subjects maintaining metabolic health (n = 188 [67%]). Sustained metabolic health in obese participants was associated with age ≤40 years and lower waist circumference. Compared with the metabolically at-risk obese, MHO women demonstrated a significantly higher (mean [SE]) percentage of leg fat (49.9 [0.5] vs. 53.2 [0.7]) and lower waist circumference (104 [0.6] vs. 101 cm [0.8]), despite no significant differences in overall adiposity. CONCLUSIONS “Healthy” obesity was a transient state for one-third of subjects. Persistence of a MHO phenotype, which was associated with favorable outcomes, was related to younger age and a more peripheral fat distribution. The MHO phenotype may be sustained by promoting lower waist circumferences.
Exposure to nanoparticles is related to pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis and granuloma

Nano materials generate great benefits as well as new potential risks. Animal studies and in vitro experiments show that nanoparticles can result in lung damage and other toxicity, but no reports on the clinical toxicity in humans due to nanoparticles have yet been made. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between a group of workers' presenting with mysterious symptomatic findings and their nanoparticle exposure. Seven young female workers (aged 18–47 yrs), exposed to nanoparticles for 5–13 months, all with shortness of breath and pleural effusions were admitted to hospital. Immunological tests, examinations of bacteriology, virology and tumour markers, bronchoscopy, internal thoracoscopy and video-assisted thoracic surgery were performed. Surveys of the workplace, clinical observations and examinations of the patients were conducted. Polyacrylate, consisting of nanoparticles, was confirmed in the workplace. Pathological examinations of patients' lung tissue displayed nonspecific pulmonary inflammation, pulmonary fibrosis and foreign-body granulomas of pleura. Using transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticles were observed to lodge in the cytoplasm and caryoplasm of pulmonary epithelial and mesothelial cells, but are also located in the chest fluid. These cases arouse concern that long-term exposure to some nanoparticles without protective measures may be related to serious damage to human lungs.
Predictors of tobacco outlet density nationwide: a geographic analysis

Objective To elucidate how demographics of US Census tracts are related to tobacco outlet density (TOD). Method The authors conducted a nationwide assessment of the association between socio-demographic US Census indicators and the density of tobacco outlets across all 64 909 census tracts in the continental USA. Retail tobacco outlet addresses were determined through North American Industry Classification System codes, and density per 1000 population was estimated for each census tract. Independent variables included urban/rural; proportion of the population that was black, Hispanic and women with low levels of education; proportion of families living in poverty and median household size. Results In a multivariate analysis, there was a higher TOD per 1000 population in urban than in rural locations. Furthermore, higher TOD was associated with larger proportions of blacks, Hispanics, women with low levels of education and with smaller household size. Urban–rural differences in the relation between demographics and TOD were found in all socio-demographic categories, with the exception of poverty, but were particularly striking for Hispanics, for whom the relation with TOD was 10 times larger in urban compared with rural census tracts. Conclusions The findings suggest that tobacco outlets are more concentrated in areas where people with higher risk for negative health outcomes reside. Future studies should examine the relation between TOD and smoking, smoking cessation, as well as disease rates.
Inferior performance on selected neuropsychological tests in abstinent schizophrenia patients who have used cannabis

Summary Background A substantial proportion of patients with schizophrenia have co-morbid psychoactive substance use, which can influence their cognitive functions. The aim of this study was to assess cognitive functioning in abstinent schizophrenia patients with various previous patterns of psychoactive substance use. Material/Methods The study was performed on a group of 80 schizophrenia patients (74 men, 6 women), aged 18–40 (mean 25) years, of whom in 40 a co-morbid psychoactive substance abuse was diagnosed. The latter group was subdivided, based on their predominant type of substance (opioid, amphetamine, or cannabis). All patients were examined during clinical improvement, and patients with comorbid substance use were also examined after a 6-week period of detoxification in a therapeutic community. A battery of neuropsychiatric tests was used, which included subtests of Trail Making test, Stroop test and Verbal Fluency test. Results No significant differences in clinical factors and cognitive functioning between the 2 examined groups were found. However, when the patients were divided according to their pattern of substance use, it turned out that the group of patients who used cannabis, despite the shortest duration of disease and that of addiction, and highest percentage of using atypical antipsychotics, performed worse on all cognitive tests, significantly so on Stroop and Fluency tests, compared to the groups with predominant opioid or amphetamine use. Conclusions Abstinent schizophrenic patients who previously used cannabis have worse cognitive functioning compared to other schizophrenic patients with comorbid substance use. The possible role of previous cannabis use or cannabis withdrawal in this phenomenon is discussed.