Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Caveolin‐1 Expression Is a Distinct Feature of Chronic Rejection‐Induced Transplant Capillaropathy

Peritubular capillary basement membrane multilayering (PTCBMML) is a pathological landmark of chronic rejection‐induced transplant capillaropathy (TC), but its cellular mechanisms are not fully understood. We observed de novo caveolae formation in endothelial cells in TC under electron microscopy. To examine the role of caveolae and their structural components in TC, biopsy samples from cases of chronic rejection were double‐immunostained for Caveolin‐1 (Cav‐1) and Pathologische Anatomie Leiden‐endothelium (PAL‐E; a marker of peritubular capillary [PC]). Thirty‐two cases of chronic rejection (group I) were compared with 18 cases of interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy with no evidence of any specific etiology (IF/TA; group II) and eight cases of peritubular capillaritis (group III). The Cav‐1/PAL‐E immunoreactivities in groups I–III (%Cav‐1/PAL‐E) were 41.8±23.1%, 8.1±7.3% (p < 0.01 vs. group I) and 12.7±7.4% (p < 0.01 vs. group I), respectively. Furthermore, multiple linear regression models demonstrated that %Cav‐1/PAL‐E was independently associated with the PTCBMML grade and reduced PC number. No correlation was observed between %Cav‐1/PAL‐E and PC C4d deposition in group I. We conclude that de novo caveolae formation in PC endothelia is involved in TC in chronic rejection.
Performance Modeling of Distributed and Replicated Databases

The paper surveys performance models for distributed and replicated database systems. Over the last 20 years (1980-2000), a variety of such performance models have been developed and they differ in: (1) which aspects of a real system are or are not captured in the model (e.g., replication, communication, nonuniform data access, etc.); and (2) how these aspects are modeled. We classify the different alternatives and modeling assumptions and discuss their interdependencies and expressiveness for the representation of distributed databases. This leads to a set of building blocks for analytical performance models. To illustrate the work that is surveyed, we select a combination of these proven modeling concepts and give an example of how to compose a balanced analytical model of a replicated database. We use this example to show how to derive meaningful performance values and to discuss the applicability and expressiveness of performance models for distributed and replicated databases. Finally, we compare the analytical results to measurements in a distributed database system.
A speaker adaptation technique for Gaussian process regression based speech synthesis using feature space transform

In this paper, we propose a speaker adaptation technique for statistical parametric speech synthesis based on Gaussian process regression (GPR). Although it is reported that the GPR-based speech synthesis improves the naturalness of synthetic speech compared with the HMM-based speech synthesis, any speaker adaptation techniques for the GPR-based one have not been established. This is because GPR is a nonparametric model and hence it is impossible to directly apply linear transforms to model parameters. In the proposed technique, we introduce feature-space transform to achieve model adaptation in the framework of GPR-based speech synthesis. Experimental results of objective and subjective tests show that the proposed technique outperforms the conventional HMM-based speaker adaptation framework.
k-NN Regression Adapts to Local Intrinsic Dimension

Many nonparametric regressors were recently shown to converge at rates that depend only on the intrinsic dimension of data. These regressors thus escape the curse of dimension when high-dimensional data has low intrinsic dimension (e.g. a manifold). We show that k-NN regression is also adaptive to intrinsic dimension. In particular our rates are local to a query x and depend only on the way masses of balls centered at x vary with radius. Furthermore, we show a simple way to choose k = k(x) locally at any x so as to nearly achieve the minimax rate at x in terms of the unknown intrinsic dimension in the vicinity of x. We also establish that the minimax rate does not depend on a particular choice of metric space or distribution, but rather that this minimax rate holds for any metric space and doubling measure.
Oxygen Saturation Status and Prevalence of Respiratory Symptoms among Female Bakery Workers Using Fossil Fuel in Benin-City, Nigeria

Background : Flour dust is a respiratory sensitizer and chronic exposure to it and to Carbon Monoxide as a result of burning fossil fuel could affect the pulmonary functions and stimulate allergic responses. This study is designed to determine occupational related respiratory symptoms and oxygen saturation level of bakery worker exposed to flour dust. Objective: Our objective is to compare the respiratory symptoms and oxygen saturation status of bakery workers with those of office workers not exposed to flour dust; compare dust concentration and carbon monoxide levels in the bakery and office environments. Materials and Methods: Ninety healthy non-smoking adult female workers (test group) from 23 bread bakery industries participated in this study and age and sex matched with 90 healthy adult non-smoking female civil servants not exposed to such an occupational hazard were taken as controls. Pulse Oximetry was performed in all the participants who also completed questionnaire to assess demographic characteristics and prevalence of respiratory symptoms, The results were analyzed using Microsoft Excels, (2013) in percentages, mean ± standard error, student’s t-test for Original Research Article Oko-Ose; JAMPS, 15(3): 1-8, 2017; Article no.JAMPS. 37903 2 cross group comparison and Chi-square test to assess the association between categorical variables. Results: The study revealed that the mean oxygen saturation status (SpO2) of bakery workers was significantly (P < .05) lower than that of the control group. Also, respiratory symptoms were found to be significantly more prevalent among bakery workers compared to the control group. Dust concentration and Carbon Monoxide (CO) levels were significantly higher in the baking environments compared with the control environments. Conclusion: In conclusion, workers exposed to flour dust have sensitivity to allergens of flour protein and the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning which can lead to the increase in respiratory symptoms.
Transparent Electronics for See-Through AMOLED Displays

Transparent thin-film-transistors (TFTs) with a channel semiconductor based on the zinc-tin-oxide (ZTO) system are presented. Specifically, the technological and material aspects of the plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition of these materials are discussed. The supply of additional radical oxygen species will be evidenced to significantly reduce defects in the material and as a consequence allows for well-behaved n-channel TFTs with mobilities higher than 10 cm2 V-1 s-1 and a threshold voltage in the range of 0 V. In addition the devices are extremely stable versus bias/current stress, which is especially important for active matrix OLED applications. Based on a detailed understanding of the interaction of the TFT channels with oxygen a strategy for the thin-film encapsulation of the TFTs will be presented, which leaves their device characteristics unaffected.
MyoD, myogenin independent differentiation of primordial myoblasts in mouse somites

The accumulation of two myogenic regulatory proteins, MyoD and myogenin, was investigated by double-immunocytochemistry and correlated with myosin heavy chain expression in different classes of myoblasts in culture and during early myogenesis in vivo. During in vitro differentiation of fetal myoblasts, MyoD-positive cells were detected first, followed by the appearance of cells positive for both MyoD and myogenin and finally by the appearance of differentiated myocytes and myotubes expressing myosin heavy chain (MHC). A similar pattern of expression was observed in cultures of embryonic and satellite cells. In contrast, most myogenic cells isolated from newly formed somites, expressed MHC in the absence of detectable levels of myogenin or MyoD. In vivo, the appearance of both myogenin and MyoD proteins was only detected at 10.5 d postcoitum (d.p.c.), when terminally differentiated muscle cells could already be identified in the myotome. Parasagittal sections of the caudal myotomes of 10.5-d-old embryos showed that expression of contractile proteins preceded the expression of myogenin or MyoD and, when coexpressed, MHC and myogenin did not co-localize within all the cells of the myotome. In the limb bud, however, many myogenin (or MyoD) positive/MHC negative cells could be observed in the proximal region at day 11. During further embryonic development the expression of these proteins remained constant in all the muscle anlagens examined, decreasing to a low level during the late fetal period. Western and Northern analysis confirmed that the myogenin protein could only be detected after 10.5 d.p.c. while the corresponding message was clearly present at 9.5 d.p.c. , strongly suggesting a posttranscriptional regulation of myogenin during this stage of embryonic development. These data show that the first myogenic cells which appear in the mouse myotome, and can be cultured from it, accumulate muscle structural proteins in their cytoplasm without expressing detectable levels of myogenin protein (although the message is clearly accumulated). Neither MyoD message or protein are detectable in these cells, which may represent a distinct myogenic population whose role in development remains to be established.
Myo4p is a monomeric myosin with motility uniquely adapted to transport mRNA

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae uses two class V myosins to transport cellular material into the bud: Myo2p moves secretory vesicles and organelles, whereas Myo4p transports mRNA. To understand how Myo2p and Myo4p are adapted to transport physically distinct cargos, we characterize Myo2p and Myo4p in yeast extracts, purify active Myo2p and Myo4p from yeast lysates, and analyze their motility. We find several striking differences between Myo2p and Myo4p. First, Myo2p forms a dimer, whereas Myo4p is a monomer. Second, Myo4p generates higher actin filament velocity at lower motor density. Third, single molecules of Myo2p are weakly processive, whereas individual Myo4p motors are nonprocessive. Finally, Myo4p self-assembles into multi-motor complexes capable of processive motility. We show that the unique motility of Myo4p is not due to its motor domain and that the motor domain of Myo2p can transport ASH1 mRNA in vivo. Our results suggest that the oligomeric state of Myo4p is important for its motility and ability to transport mRNA.
Evolutionary history of a widespread tree species Acer mono in East Asia

East Asia has the most diverse temperate flora in the world primarily due to the lack of Pleistocene glaciation and the geographic heterogeneity. Although increasing phylogeography studies in this region provided more proofs in this issue, discrepancies and uncertainty still exist, especially in northern temperate deciduous broad-leaved and coniferous mixed forest region (II). And a widespread plant species could reduce the complexity to infer the relationship between diversity and physiographical pattern. Hence, we studied the evolution history of a widespread temperate tree, Acer mono, populations in region II and the influence of physiographic patterns on intraspecific genetic diversity. Analyses of chloroplast sequences and nuclear microsatellites indicated high levels of genetic diversity. The diversity distribution was spatially heterogeneous and a latitudinal cline existed in both markers. The spatial distribution pattern between genetic diversity within A. mono and the diversity at species level was generally consistent. Western subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest subregion (IVb) had a unique ancient chloroplast clade (CP3) and a nuclear gene pool (GP5) with dominance indicating the critical role of this area in species diversification. Genetic data and ecological niche model results both suggested that populations in region II disappeared during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and recovered from south of Changbai Mt. and the Korean Peninsula. Two distribution centers were likely during the LGM, one in the north edge of warm temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest region (III) and another in the south edge of region III. This was reflected by the genetic pattern with two spatially independent genetic groups. This study highlights the key role of region III in sustaining genetic diversity in the northern range and connecting diversity between southern and northern range. We elucidated the diversity relationship between vegetation regions which could facilitate the understanding of biodiversity origin and maintenance in East Asia.
Age-Dependent Positivity-Bias in Children’s Processing of Emotion Terms

Emotions play an important role in human communication, and the daily-life interactions of young children often include situations that require the verbalization of emotional states with verbal means, e.g., with emotion terms. Through them, one can express own emotional states and those of others. Thus, the acquisition of emotion terms allows children to participate more intensively in social contexts – a basic requirement for learning new words and for elaborating socio-emotional skills. However, little is known about how children acquire and process this specific word category, which is positioned between concrete and abstract words. In particular, the influence of valence on emotion word processing during childhood has not been sufficiently investigated. Previous research points to an advantage of positive words over negative and neutral words in word processing. While previous studies found valence effects to be influenced by factors such as arousal, frequency, concreteness, and task, it is still unclear if and how valence effects are also modified by age. The present study compares the performance of children aged from 5 to 12 years and adults in two experimental tasks: lexical decision (word or pseudoword) and emotional categorization (positive or negative). Stimuli consisted of 48 German emotion terms (24 positive and 24 negative) matched for arousal, concreteness, age of acquisition, word class, word length, morphological complexity, frequency, and neighborhood density. Results from both tasks reveal two developmental trends: First, with increasing age children responded faster and more correctly, suggesting that emotion vocabulary gradually becomes more stable and differentiated during middle childhood. Second, the influence of valence varied with age: younger children (5- and 6-year-olds) showed significantly higher performance levels for positive emotion terms compared to negative emotion terms, whereas older children and adults did not. This age-related valence effect in emotion word processing will be discussed with respect to linguistic and methodological aspects.
Bacterial indicators of pollution of the Douala lagoon, Cameroon: public health implications.

BACKGROUND Indiscriminate disposal of untreated wastes which are often heavily laden with sewage microorganisms some of which are pathogenic to humans into aquatic environments near cities could serve as potential dangers to human health. OBJECTIVE A prospective study was undertaken to investigate the scope of potential bacterial pathogens and to assess the extent of pollution of the Douala lagoon. METHODS A total of eighty water samples were collected fortnightly from the lagoon at five stations from March to October 2005 and analysed for heterotrophic bacterial densities, coliform counts, faecal coliform and faecal streptococcal counts. Bacteria were isolated and identified using standard microbiology and biochemical techniques. RESULTS High heterotrophic bacterial counts (33 x 10(5) - 161 x 10(5) CFU/ mL), total coliform counts (1.8 x 10(2) - 2.4 x 10(2) CFU/100 mL), faecal coliform counts (2.2 x 10(2) - 2.4 x 10(2) CFU/ 100 mL) and faecal streptococcal counts (2.1 x 102 - 2.3 x 10(2) CFU/100mL were observed in all sampling stations. Eleven species of bacteria: Bacteroides fragilis, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogenes, Citrobacter freundii, Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus mycoides and Serratia marcesens, were frequently isolated. CONCLUSION The presence of potential bacterial agents such as Bacteroides fragilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aeromonas hydrophila, Klebsiella pneumoniae and E. coli in the lagoon may pose a serious threat to the health and well being of users of the Lagoon and calls for urgent intervention.
Spontaneous Motion on Two-Dimensional Continuous Attractors

Abstract Attractor models are simplified models used to describe the dynamics of firing rate profiles of a pool of neurons. The firing rate profile, or the neuronal activity, is thought to carry information. Continuous attractor neural networks (CANNs) describe the neural processing of continuous information such as object position, object orientation, and direction of object motion. Recently it was found that in one-dimensional CANNs, short-term synaptic depression can destabilize bump-shaped neuronal attractor activity profiles. In this article, we study two-dimensional CANNs with short-term synaptic depression and spike frequency adaptation. We found that the dynamics of CANNs with short-term synaptic depression and CANNs with spike frequency adaptation are qualitatively similar. We also found that in both kinds of CANNs, the perturbative approach can be used to predict phase diagrams, dynamical variables, and speed of spontaneous motion.
Software Defined Radio: Challenges and Opportunities

Software Defined Radio (SDR) may provide flexible, upgradeable and longer lifetime radio equipment for the military and for civilian wireless communications infrastructure. SDR may also provide more flexible and possibly cheaper multi-standard-terminals for end users. It is also important as a convenient base technology for the future context-sensitive, adaptive and learning radio units referred to as cognitive radios. SDR also poses many challenges, however, some of them causing SDR to evolve slower than otherwise anticipated. Transceiver development challenges include size, weight and power issues such as the required computing capacity, but also SW architectural challenges such as waveform application portability. SDR has demanding implications for regulators, security organizations and business developers.
Revenue Maximization in Incentivized Social Advertising

Incentivized social advertising, an emerging marketing model, provides monetization opportunities not only to the owners of the social networking platforms but also to their influential users by offering a "cut" on the advertising revenue. We consider a social network (the host) that sells ad-engagements to advertisers by inserting their ads, in the form of promoted posts, into the feeds of carefully selected "initial endorsers" or seed users: these users receive monetary incentives in exchange for their endorsements. The endorsements help propagate the ads to the feeds of their followers. Whenever any user engages with an ad, the host is paid some fixed amount by the advertiser, and the ad further propagates to the feed of her followers, potentially recursively. In this context, the problem for the host is is to allocate ads to influential users, taking into account the propensity of ads for viral propagation, and carefully apportioning the monetary budget of each of the advertisers between incentives to influential users and ad-engagement costs, with the rational goal of maximizing its own revenue.We show that, taking all important factors into account, the problem of revenue maximization in incentivized social advertising corresponds to the problem of monotone submodular function maximization, subject to a partition matroid constraint on the ads-to-seeds allocation, and submodular knapsack constraints on the advertisers' budgets. We show that this problem is NP-hard and devise two greedy algorithms with provable approximation guarantees, which differ in their sensitivity to seed user incentive costs.Our approximation algorithms require repeatedly estimating the expected marginal gain in revenue as well as in advertiser payment. By exploiting a connection to the recent advances made in scalable estimation of expected influence spread, we devise efficient and scalable versions of our two greedy algorithms. An extensive experimental assessment confirms the high quality of our proposal.
Semantic tagging of heterogeneous data: Labeling Fire&Rescue incidents with threats

In the article we present a comparison of the classification algorithms focused on labeling Fire&Rescue incidents with threats appearing at the emergency scene. Each of the incidents is reported in a database and characterized by a set of quantitative attributes and by natural language descriptions of the cause, the scene and the course of actions undergone by firefighters. The training set for our experiments was manually labeled by the Fire Service commanders after deeper analysis of the emergency description. We also introduce a modified version of Explicit Semantic Analysis method and demonstrate how it can be employed for automatic labeling of the incident reports. The task we are trying to accomplish belongs to the multi-label classification problems. Its practical purpose is to support the commanders at a emergency scene and improve the analytics on the data collected by Polish State Fire Service.
Cimetidine: An inhibitor or promoter of tumor growth?

Cimetidine, a histamine type 2 (H 2) receptor antagonist, is a commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) as well as for gastric and duodenal ulcer disease. In addition, cimetidine has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects. This has led investigators to study the effects of cimetidine in the treatment of various neoplasms. Chemotherapy for colon cancer is based on fluorouracil, which has only minimal activity on high-stage disease. Pharmacologic agents that can improve survival in patients with colon cancer will have profound impact in the treatment of this condition. Cimetidine was first reported to have antitumor effects in 1979 (Armitage and Sidnez, 1979). This anecdotal case presentation was followed by a report of immunomodulation by cimetidine (Osbandet al., 1981). Studies involving cimetidine on xenograft mouse models have been reported (Gifford et al., 1981; Tutton and Steel, 1979; Watson et al., 1993; Adamset al.,1994; Suonioet al.,1994). The majority of these studies (Giffordet al., 1981; Tutton and Steel, 1979; Watsonet al.,1993; Adamset al.,1994) describe an antitumor effect of cimetidine. In addition, there have been several clinical trials with equivocal results (Svendsen t al.,1995; Linkset al., 1995; Matsumoto, 1995). The xenograft models that were previously used to test cimetidine involved human tumor cell line implantation in the subcutaneous (s.c.) space (Gifford et al., 1981; Tutton and Steel, 1979; Watson et al.,1993; Adamset al.,1994) and the subrenal capsule (Suonio et al., 1994). We have previously developed a ‘‘patient-like’’ tumor model using surgical orthotopic implantation (SOI) of histologically intact tumor tissue for human colon cancer (Fuet al., 1991) as well as many other tumor types (Hoffman, 1994). Tumor growth and progression after s.c. implantation, where metastasis rarely occurs, differ greatly when compared with orthotopic implantation, which can allow for a high metastatic potential correlating with the clinical course of the disease (Hoffman, 1994). In addition, different drug responses on tumor growth have been reported for the s.c. vs. orthotopic site (Kuo et al.,1993). These significant differences suggest that orthotopic implantation is a more clinically relevant tumor model. This study was designed to examine the effıcacy of cimetidine on human colon carcinomas that were implanted by SOI compared with s.c.