Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Stellar Mass Spectrum from Non-Isothermal Gravoturbulent Fragmentation

The thermodynamic state of star-forming gas determines its fragmentation behavior and thus plays a crucial role in determining the stellar initial mass function (IMF). We address the issue by studying the effects of a piecewise polytropic equation of state (EOS) on the formation of stellar clusters in turbulent, self-gravitating molecular clouds using three-dimensional, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. In these simulations stars form via a process we call gravoturbulent fragmentation, i.e., gravitational fragmentation of turbulent gas. To approximate the results of published predictions of the thermal behavior of collapsing clouds, we increase the polytropic exponent γ from 0.7 to 1.1 at a critical density n c , which we estimated to be $2.5\times10^5\,\mathrm{cm^{-3}}$. The change of thermodynamic state at n c selects a characteristic mass scale for fragmentation M ch , which we relate to the peak of the observed IMF. A simple scaling argument based on the Jeans mass $M_\mathrm{J}$ at the critical density $n_\mathrm{c}$ leads to $M_{\mathrm{ch}}\propto n_{\mathrm{c}}^{-0.95}$. We perform simulations with $4.3\times10^4\,\mathrm{cm^{-3}} < n_{\mathrm{c}} < 4.3\times10^7\,\mathrm{cm^{-3}}$ to test this scaling argument. Our simulations qualitatively support this hypothesis, but we find a weaker density dependence of $M_{\mathrm{ch}} \propto n_{\mathrm{c}}^{-0.5\pm0.1}$. We also investigate the influence of additional environmental parameters on the IMF. We consider variations in the turbulent driving scheme, and consistently find $M_{\mathrm{J}}$ is decreasing with increasing $n_{\mathrm{c}}$. Our investigation generally supports the idea that the distribution of stellar masses depends mainly on the thermodynamic state of the star-forming gas. The thermodynamic state of interstellar gas is a result of the balance between heating and cooling processes, which in turn are determined by fundamental atomic and molecular physics and by chemical abundances. Given the abundances, the derivation of a characteristic stellar mass can thus be based on universal quantities and constants.
Algorithms for Mapping Parallel Processes onto Grid and Torus Architectures

Static mapping is the assignment of parallel processes to the processing elements (PEs) of a parallel system, where the assignment does not change during the application's lifetime. In our scenario we model an application's computations and their dependencies by an application graph. This graph is first partitioned into (nearly) equally sized blocks. These blocks need to communicate at block boundaries. To assign the processes to PEs, our goal is to compute a communication-efficient bijective mapping between the blocks and the PEs. This approach of partitioning followed by bijective mapping has many degrees of freedom. Thus, users and developers of parallel applications need to know more about which choices work for which application graphs and which parallel architectures. To this end, we not only develop new mapping algorithms (derived from known greedy methods). We also perform extensive experiments involving different classes of application graphs (meshes and complex networks), architectures of parallel computers (grids and tori), as well as different partitioners and mapping algorithms. Surprisingly, the quality of the partitions, unless very poor, has little influence on the quality of the mapping. More importantly, one of our new mapping algorithms always yields the best results in terms of the quality measure maximum congestion when the application graphs are complex networks. In case of meshes as application graphs, this mapping algorithm always leads in terms of maximum congestion AND maximum dilation, another common quality measure.
Localization of Buried Objects in Sediment Using High Resolution Array Processing Methods

Non-invasive range and bearing estimation of buried objects, in the underwater acoustic environment, has received considerable attention (Granara et al., 1998). Many studies have been recently developed. Some of them use acoustic scattering to localize objects by analyzing acoustic resonance in the time-frequency domain, but these processes are usually limited to simple shaped objects (Nicq & Brussieux, 1998). In (Guillermin et al., 2000) the inversion of measured scattered acoustical waves is used to image buried object, but the frequencies used are high and the application in a real environment should be difficult. The acoustic imagery technique uses high frequencies that are too strongly attenuated inside the sediment therefore it is not suitable. Another method which uses a low frequency synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) has been applied on partially and shallowly buried cylinders in a sandy seabed (Hetet et al., 2004). Other techniques based on signal processing such as time reversal technic (Roux & Fink, 2000), have been also developed for object detection and localization but their applicability in real life has been proven only on cylinders oriented in certain ways and point scatterers. Furthermore, having techniques that operate well for simultaneous range and bearing estimation using wideband and fully correlated signals scattered from nearfield and farfield objects, in a noisy environment, remains a challenging problem. In this chapter, the proposed method is based on array processing methods combined with an acoustic scattering model. Array processing techniques, as the MUSIC method, have been widely used for acoustic point sources localization. Typically these techniques assume that the point sources are on the seabed and are in the farfield of the array so that the measured wavefronts are all planar. The goal then is to determine the direction of arrival (bearing) of these wavefronts. These techniques have not been used for bearing and range estimation of buried objects and in this chapter we are interested to extend them to this problem. This extension is a challenging problem because here the objects are not point sources, are buried in the seabed and can be everywhere (in the farfield or in the nearfield array). Thus the knowledge of the bearing is not sufficient to localize the buried object. Furthermore, the signals are correlated and the Gaussian noise should be taken into account. In addition we consider that the objects have known shapes. The principal parameters that disturb the object localization problem, are the noise, the lack of knowledge of the scattering model and the presence of correlated signals. In the literature there is any method able to solve all those parameters. However we can found a satisfying method to cope with each parameter (noise, 3
Pyrazinamide susceptibility and amidase activity of tubercle bacilli.

Pyrazinamide, an analogue of nicotinamide, has the unique property of sterilizing large populations of M. tuberculosis with regularity when they have undergone previous or concurrent exposure to isoniazid in vivo (1). In long-term studies of this sterilization phenomenon (2), the few failures appear to be chiefly or wholly attributable to the emergence of tubercle bacilli resistant to pyrazinamide. It seemed appropriate, therefore, to focus on the resistance or susceptibility of tubercle bacilli to pyrazinamide as one approach to the study of the sterilization phenomenon. Tubercle bacilli of human or bovine origin are not inhibited by pyrazinamide or nicotinamide when tested in vitro in a neutral environment (3). Bacilli of human origin, however, have the capacity to become susceptible to either drug in vitro, when growing in either an acidic environment (pH 5.6) (3) or within monocytes in culture (4). The human bacilli (M. tuberculosis) are likewise inhibited in vivo by either drug (5, 6). By contrast, tubercle bacilli of bovine origin (M. bovis) are not inhibited in vivo by either drug and they lack the capacity to become drugsusceptible in vitro in either the cell-free acidic medium (3) or the monocytes (4). The bovine bacilli also show only a very low level of the amidase activity that in human bacilli converts pyrazinamide to pyrazinoic acid and nicotinamide to nicotinic acid. Indeed, this difference in
Continuous dose-intense temozolomide and cisplatin in recurrent glioblastoma patients

Abstract In glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), both temozolomide (TMZ) and cisplatin are very active at various toxic levels. Previous studies demonstrated that cisplatin with the standard regimen of TMZ is active in patients suffering from recurrent GBM, generating a moderate level of toxicity. Also, continuous dose-intense TMZ is a helpful therapy for patients with recurrent GBM. We have conducted a research to evaluate the security and effectiveness of cisplatin with constant dose-intense TMZ for reduplicative GBM. The time to progression (TTP) and progression-free survival (PFS) at 6 months (PFS-6) was the major end point. Toxicity, overall survival, and response are the secondary end points. GBM patients who suffered from progression or relapse after surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy were qualified. Cisplatin 40, 30, and 30 mg were given on days 1, 2, and 3 before the corresponding TMZ doses, respectively. Without interruption, TMZ was given at a dose of 50 mg/m2 on everyday basis (dose-intense) until development or progression of unacceptable side effects. A cycle was defined as 28 days. Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology criteria were utilized to evaluate the response. Twenty-seven patients in total (median Karnofsky performance status—80, ranging from 60 to 100; average age—56 years, ranging from 24 to 78 years) were accrued in the research. PFS-12 was 11.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], −0.7% to 22.9%), and PFS-6 was 37% (95% CI, 18.8%–55.2%). Twenty-three weeks was the median TTP (95% CI, 17–29 weeks). In the 27 evaluative patients, 6 partial responses were observed with an overall response rate of 22.2% (95% CI, 6.5%–37.9%), while no complete response was obtained. Toxicity was mostly of grades 1 to 2 amongst 116 therapy cycles. Hematological and gastroenterological toxicities were the major limiting side effect found in the research. One patient has received leukopenia World Health Organization grade 4 at cycle 5 during her treatment. Eight percent of patients had grades 3 to 4 vomiting/nausea. As a valuable therapeutic option, the innovative cisplatin with continuous dose-intense regimen of TMZ incurs an acceptable level of toxicity and shows active performance in patients with recurrent GBM.
Evidence for Multiple Rhythmic Skills

Rhythms, or patterns in time, play a vital role in both speech and music. Proficiency in a number of rhythm skills has been linked to language ability, suggesting that certain rhythmic processes in music and language rely on overlapping resources. However, a lack of understanding about how rhythm skills relate to each other has impeded progress in understanding how language relies on rhythm processing. In particular, it is unknown whether all rhythm skills are linked together, forming a single broad rhythmic competence, or whether there are multiple dissociable rhythm skills. We hypothesized that beat tapping and rhythm memory/sequencing form two separate clusters of rhythm skills. This hypothesis was tested with a battery of two beat tapping and two rhythm memory tests. Here we show that tapping to a metronome and the ability to adjust to a changing tempo while tapping to a metronome are related skills. The ability to remember rhythms and to drum along to repeating rhythmic sequences are also related. However, we found no relationship between beat tapping skills and rhythm memory skills. Thus, beat tapping and rhythm memory are dissociable rhythmic aptitudes. This discovery may inform future research disambiguating how distinct rhythm competencies track with specific language functions.
A comparative evaluation of C-reactive protein as a short-term prognostic marker in severe unstable angina--a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE The present study was done to evaluate the short-term prognostic significance of C-reactive protein (CRP) in unstable angina (UA) and to compare it with other known prognostic markers of UA, as there is a paucity of data from our country. METHODOLOGY This prospective study comprised of 44 UA patients (Braunwald Class II A, B) with age < 65 years, along with 40 age and sex matched healthy controls. Patients with h/o myocardial infarction (MI) in the preceding 1-month and evidence of infection, inflammation or neoplasm were excluded from the study. Complete clinical evaluation was done and presence of any prognostic variables of UA was noted (including Brauriwald high-risk variables). Apart from biochemical investigations and ECG, CRP was measured at the time of admission in the study group and controls using Microwell ELISA assay. Standard treatment protocol was followed for all patients and they were closely monitored during hospital stay and subsequently for 4 weeks for occurrence of any adverse cardiac events. RESULTS There was a statistically significant difference in the mean level of CRP between study group (6.12 +/- 6.134 mg/L) and controls (1.52 +/- 0.751 mg/L); p = 0.000. Among the 44 patients, 19 (43%) experienced any one or more outcome measures. Of the three variables (i.e. ongoing chest pain, ST depression > or = 1 mm and CRP > or = 4 mg/L) which showed statistical significance on univariate analysis with respect to adverse outcome measures (p = 0.001, 0.027 and 0.000 respectively), only CRP > or = 4 mg/L and ST depression > or = 1 mm showed independent prognostic significance on multiple logistic regression analysis (p = 0.000 and 0.002 respectively). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and relative risk (RR) for CRP > or = 4 mg/L were 78.9%, 96%, 93.75%, 85.74% and 6.56 (95% CI; 2.62 - 16.4) and that for ST depression > or = 1 mm were 89.47%, 64%, 65.38%, 88.89% and 5.88% (95% CI: 1.54 - 22.38), respectively. Trop T could be done in eight patients only. CONCLUSION CRP > or = 4 mg/L by ELISA is an independent predictor of adverse cardiac outcome in severe UA in the short-term follow up and, hence, is useful for risk stratification of these patients. CRP has a higher specificity, PPV and overall RR for prediction of an outcome than ST segment depression, although it is less sensitive.
Investigating the Influence of Offline Friendship on Twitter Networking Behaviors

We investigate the influence of offline friendship in three specific areas of Twitter networking behaviors: (a) network structure, (b) Twitter content and (c) interaction on Twitter. We observe some interesting findings through the empirical analysis of 2193 pairs of users who are online friends. When these pairs of users know each other offline, they are more likely to (1) respond to the online gesture of friendship from their friend, (2) share mutual online friends, (3) distribute and gather information in their friend's Twitter network, (4) pay attention to their friend's tweets, (5) post tweets that might be of interest to their friend, (6) post tweets similar to their friend's, (7) respond to their friend's tweet, (8) mention their friend in tweets, and (9) distribute their friend's tweets. Overall, offline friendship drives social networking activities on Twitter.
Examination of the transverse tubular system in living cardiac rat myocytes by 2-photon microscopy and digital image-processing techniques.

The transverse tubular system (t-system) of cardiac muscle is a structure that allows rapid propagation of excitation into the cell interior. Using 2-photon molecular excitation microscopy and digital image-processing methods, we have obtained a comprehensive overview of the t-system of rat ventricular myocytes in living cells. We show that it is possible to quantify the morphology of the t-system in terms of average local tubule diameter, branching pattern, and local abundance of the t-system by immersing living myocytes in a dextran-linked fluorescein solution. Our data suggest that previous electron microscopic examinations of t-system structure have underestimated both the geometric complexity of the t-system morphology and the fraction of cell volume occupied by the t-system (3.6% in this species). About 40% of tubules occur between Z-lines, and the t-tubule diameter is 255+/-0.85 nm (mean+/-SEM). The t-tubules leave the outer surface of the cell in an approximately rectangular array; however, at some points junctions between the t-tubules and the surface membrane are missing. In view of the complexity of the t-system apparent from our images, we propose that the t-system be renamed the "sarcolemmal Z rete. " The methods presented here are generally applicable to the quantification of the sarcolemmal Z rete and other structures within cells by fluorescence microscopy in a variety of cell types.
Combined measurement of the c‐erbb‐2 protein in breast carcinoma tissues and sera is useful as a sensitive tumor marker for monitoring tumor relapse

c‐erbB‐2 protein levels in tissue extracts and sera were determined in a retrospective analysis of 158 patients who underwent surgical resection of breast carcinoma by means of a sandwich enzyme immunometric assay (EIA) using monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed to the extracellular domain of the c‐erbB‐2 oncogene protein (ErbB‐2). In the analysis of tissue extracts, 48 samples (30.3%) showed ErbB‐2 levels exceeding 18.0 ng/mg protein (group A), while in 110 samples these levels were below 18.0 ng/mg protein (group B). Immunohistochemical examination of resected tissues using anti‐c‐erbB‐2 antibody revealed positive staining in 93.8% (45/48) in group A and 13.6% (15/110) in group B (p < 0.00001). The proportion of patients who preoperatively showed a serum ErbB‐2 value above 5.4 ng/ml was 52.1% (25/48) in group A and 10.0% (11/110) in group B (p < 0.00001). Thus, the level of ErbB‐2 in tissue extracts was significantly associated with immunohistochemistry and ErbB‐2 levels in preoperative sera. During follow‐up, 48 patients (30.3%) developed recurrent disease: 17 in group A (35.4%) and 31 in group B (28.2%). From an ROC analysis based on the postoperative serum ErbB‐2 levels in patients either with or without relapse, the cutoff value of serum ErbB‐2 for tumor relapse was determined to be 6.5 ng/ml. The sensitivity of serum ErbB‐2 in patients with relapsed breast cancer was 58.3% (21/36) overall, 84.6% (11/13) in group A and 43.5% (10/23) in group B. In the analysis of serum samples taken before relapse, 90.9% (10/11) of the subjects in group A and 26.7% (4/15) of those in group B were shown to be positive for serum ErbB‐2. Serum ErbB‐2 in group A was a more sensitive marker than other tumor markers such as CEA, CA15‐3, and NCC‐ST‐439. Thus, the determination of ErbB‐2 in tissue extracts of breast carcinoma may be useful for assessing c‐erbB‐2 protein expression in the primary tissue and indicates that serum ErbB‐2 may be a sensitive marker for monitoring tumor relapse. Int. J. Cancer 89:329–336, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Involvement of CD226+ NK Cells in Immunopathogenesis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Dysfunction of immune systems, including innate and adaptive immunity, is responsible for the immunopathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). NK cells are a major part of the innate immune system, and diminished populations of NK cells have been reported in SLE patients. However, the mechanisms behind this decrease and the role of NK cells in SLE pathogenesis remain poorly understood. In this study, we found that a deficiency of NK cells, especially CD226+ NK cells, is prominent in patients with active SLE. Meanwhile, expression of the CD226 ligands CD112 and CD155 on plasmacytoid dendritic cells is observed in SLE patients; thus, activation of CD226+ NK cells may be induced by CD226–ligand interactions. Furthermore, IFN-α, which is mainly produced by plasmacytoid dendritic cells, can mediate the activation-induced cell death of NK cells. Therefore, these processes likely contribute to the loss of NK cells in patients with active SLE. Despite the impaired cytotoxicity of peripheral NK cells in human SLE patients and mouse SLE models, we provide evidence that CD226+ NK cells infiltrate the kidneys of predisease MRL-lpr/lpr mice. Kidney-infiltrating NK cells displayed an activated phenotype and a marked ability to produce cytotoxic granules. These results suggest that, before apoptosis, activated NK cells can infiltrate tissues and, to some extent, mediate tissue injury by producing cytotoxic granules and immunoregulatory cytokines.
Impact of increasing adherence to disease-modifying therapies on healthcare resource utilization and direct medical and indirect work loss costs for patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract Objectives: To estimate the effect of adherence to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) on healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and costs, and model the impact of a 10 percentage point increase in adherence on these outcomes. Methods: Employed patients, 18–64 years old, with ≥2 MS diagnoses and ≥1 DMT claim during January 1, 2002 to September 30, 2012 were identified from a large commercially-insured US claims database. Adherence was measured as proportion of days covered (PDC) during follow-up. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to estimate the effect of adherence on HRU related to urgent care (i.e., inpatient or emergency room visit), days of work loss, direct medical cost, and indirect work loss costs. Model coefficients were used to evaluate the impact of a 10 percentage point increase in adherence on the outcomes. Results: A total of 1510 patients were included (mean age = 43.4 years, 64% female). Patients with higher adherence had lower HRU, fewer days of work loss, and lower direct and indirect costs. A 10 percentage point increase in adherence significantly decreased the likelihood of an inpatient or emergency room visit by 9–19%, days of work loss by 3–8%, and direct and indirect costs by 3–5%, depending on the follow-up period (all p < 0.01). Conclusions: Increasing DMT adherence was found to significantly decrease urgent-care HRU, days of work loss, and direct and indirect costs among patients with MS.
ParEGO: a hybrid algorithm with on-line landscape approximation for expensive multiobjective optimization problems

This paper concerns multiobjective optimization in scenarios where each solution evaluation is financially and/or temporally expensive. We make use of nine relatively low-dimensional, nonpathological, real-valued functions, such as arise in many applications, and assess the performance of two algorithms after just 100 and 250 (or 260) function evaluations. The results show that NSGA-II, a popular multiobjective evolutionary algorithm, performs well compared with random search, even within the restricted number of evaluations used. A significantly better performance (particularly, in the worst case) is, however, achieved on our test set by an algorithm proposed herein-ParEGO-which is an extension of the single-objective efficient global optimization (EGO) algorithm of Jones et al. ParEGO uses a design-of-experiments inspired initialization procedure and learns a Gaussian processes model of the search landscape, which is updated after every function evaluation. Overall, ParEGO exhibits a promising performance for multiobjective optimization problems where evaluations are expensive or otherwise restricted in number.