Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FLIP: an internetwork protocol for supporting distributed systems

Most modern network protocols give adequate support for traditional applications such as file transfer and remote login. Distributed applications, however, have different requirements (e.g., efficient at-most-once remote procedure call even in the face of processor failures). Instead of using ad hoc protocols to meet each of the new requirements, we have designed a new protocol, called the Fast Local Internet Protocol (FLIP), that provides a clean and simple integrated approach to these new requirements. FLIP is an unreliable message protocol that provides both point-to-point communication and multicast communication, and requires almost no network management. Furthermore, by using FLIP we have simplified higher-level protocols such as remote procedure call and group communication, and enhanced support for process migration and security. A prototype implementation of FLIP has been built as part of the new kernel for the Amoeba distributed operating system, and is in daily use. Measurements of its performance are presented.
Associations of Psychological Well-Being With Carotid Intima Media Thickness in African American and White Middle-Aged Women

Objectives The present cross-sectional study aimed to a) examine associations between measures of psychological well-being, specifically life satisfaction and life engagement, and intima media thickness, a subclinical marker of atherosclerosis; b) investigate if the interaction of psychological well-being and life events correlated with intima media thickness; and c) explore these relationships across race. Methods A sample of 485 women (38% African American and 62% white; mean [standard deviation] age = 50.2 [2.9] years) underwent ultrasonography to assess carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT). The women completed self-report measures of life satisfaction, life engagement, and life events. Results Average (standard deviation) IMT was 0.666 (0.10) mm. Life satisfaction showed a significant, independent, inverse relationship with IMT, after controlling for demographic, behavioral, psychological, and cardiovascular covariates (&bgr; = −0.105, p = .039), such that each 1-point higher life satisfaction score was correlated with a significant 0.008-mm lower level of mean IMT. No significant association was seen between life events and IMT (r = 0.05, p = .32), and life satisfaction did not interact with life events on IMT (&bgr; = −0.036, p = .46). No significant interaction between life satisfaction and race on IMT was observed (&bgr; = 0.068, p = .37). In contrast to life satisfaction, life engagement was not a significant correlate of IMT (r = −0.07, p = .12). Conclusions Life satisfaction, a measure of psychological well-being, is an important independent correlate of subclinical atherosclerosis in middle-aged women.
Increased Multinucleoside Drug Resistance and Decreased Replicative Capacity of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Variant with an 8-Amino-Acid Insert in the Reverse Transcriptase

ABSTRACT Resistance to antiretroviral drugs is generally conferred by specific amino acid substitutions, rather than insertions or deletions, in reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The exception to these findings is the amino acid insertions found in the β3-β4 loop of the RT enzyme in response to treatment with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. This insert consists most commonly of two amino acids, but we describe in detail the evolution of a variant with an 8-amino-acid (aa) insert in a patient treated with zidovudine (ZDV) and 2′-3′-dideoxycytidine (ddC). The 24-nucleotide insert is a partial duplication of local sequences but also contains a sequence segment of unknown origin. Extensive sequence analysis of longitudinal patient samples indicated that the HIV-1 population prior to the start of therapy contained not the wild-type amino acid 215T in RT but a mixture with 215D and 215C. Treatment with ZDV and subsequent ZDV-ddC combination therapy resulted in the evolution of an HIV-1 variant with a typical ZDV resistance genotype (41L, 44D, 67N, 69D, 210W, 215Y), which was slowly replaced by the insert-containing variant (41L, 44D, insert at position 69, 70R, 210W, 215Y). The latter variant demonstrated increased resistance to a wide range of drugs, indicating that the 8-aa insert augments nucleoside analogue resistance. The gain in drug resistance of the insert variant came at the expense of a reduction in replication capacity when assayed in the absence of drugs. We compared these data with the resistance and replication properties of 133 insert-containing sequences of different individuals present in the ViroLogic database and found that the size and actual sequence of the insert at position 69 influence the level of resistance to nucleoside analogues.
Using heat as a therapeutic tool for the aging vascular tree.

Healthy aging in humans is associated with progressive deterioration of various organ systems, the cardiovascular system being one of the most notable. Young arteries have a pronounced ability to dilate and constrict to mediate changes in blood flow in response to various stimuli (e.g. exposure to a cold or hot environment). With increasing age, complex structural and functional changes to the blood vessels occur which are further exacerbated by common comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia. These changes in both the endothelial and smooth muscular layers of the vasculature are mediated through impaired dilator signalling pathways (e.g. nitric oxide signaling and endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor) along with augmented contractile pathways (e.g. renin-angiotensin system and endothelin-1). These age-related changes along with the intimal accumulation of lipids (i.e., atherosclerosis, which can strongly impede dilator function) are thought to span the entire arterial tree. In older adults, the impairments in cardiovascular function are most evident during passive heat stress and/or exercise. Recent reports have indicated that passive exposure to heat that elicits a marked increase in body core temperature, and therefore dilation of the arterial tree, may improve macro- and microvascular dilator function in young adults. Given that older adults exhibit a greater capacity for improvement in dilator function, it is possible that chronic heat exposure, or heat therapy, could improve dilator function of the arterial tree which may have multiple health benefits.
A simple fiber-optic microprobe for high resolution light measurements: application in marine sediment.

A fiber-optic microphobe is described which is inexpensive and simple to build and use. It consists of an 80-micrometers optical fiber which at the end is tapered down to a rounded sensing tip of 20-30-micrometers diameter. The detector is a hybrid photodiode/amplifier. The probe has a sensitivity of 0.01 microEinst m-2 s-1 and a spectral range of 300-1,100 nm. Spectral light gradients were measured in fine-grained San Francisco Bay sediment that had an undisturbed diatom coating on the surface. The photic zone of the mud was only 0.4 mm deep. Measured in situ spectra showed extinction maxima at 430-520, 620-630, 670, and 825-850 nm due to absorption by chlorophyll a, carotenoids, phycocyanin, and bacterio-chlorophyll a. Maximum light penetration in the visible range was found in both the violet and the red < or = 400 and > or = 700 nm.
First-Pass Contrast-Enhanced Myocardial Perfusion MRI in Mice on a 3-T Clinical MR Scanner

First‐pass contrast‐enhanced myocardial perfusion MRI in rodents has so far not been possible due to the temporal and spatial resolution requirements. We developed a new first‐pass perfusion MR method for rodent imaging on a clinical 3.0‐T scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, The Netherlands) that employed 10‐fold k‐space and time domain undersampling with constrained image reconstruction, using temporal basis sets (k‐t principle component analysis) to achieve a spatial resolution of 0.2 × 0.2 × 1.5mm3 and an acquisition window of 43 msec. The method was successfully tested in five healthy and four infarcted mice (C57BL/6J) at heart rates of 495.1 ± 45.8 beats/min. Signal‐intensity‐time profiles showed a percentage myocardial signal increase of 141.3 ± 38.9% in normal mice, compared with 44.7 ± 32.4% in infarcted segments. Mean myocardial blood flow by Fermi function for constrained deconvolution in control mice was 7.3 ± 1.5 mL/g/min, comparable to published literature, with no significant differences between three myocardial segments. In infarcted segments, myocardial blood flow was significantly reduced to 1.2 ± 0.8 mL/g/min (P < 0.01). This is the first report of first‐pass myocardial perfusion MR in a mouse model on a clinical 3‐T MR scanner and using a k‐t undersampling method. Data were acquired on a 3‐T scanner, using an approach similar to clinical acquisition protocols, thus facilitating translation of imaging findings between rodent and human studies. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ninth Annual Warren K. Sinclair Keynote Address: effects of childhood radiation exposure: an issue from computed tomography scans to Fukushima.

The acute and chronic effects of radiation on children have been and will continue to be of great social, public health, scientific, and clinical importance. The focus of interest on ionizing radiation and children has been clear for over half a century and ranges from the effects of fallout from nuclear weapons testing to exposures from accidents, natural radiation, and medical procedures. There is a loosely stated notion that "children are three to five times more sensitive to radiation than adults. " Is this really true? In fact, children are at greater risk for some health effects, but not all. For a few sequelae, children may be more resistant than adults. Which are those effects? How and why do they occur? While there are clear instances of increased risk of some radiation-induced tumors in children compared to adults, there are other tumor types in which there appears to be little or no difference in risk by age at exposure and some in which published models that assume the same relative increase in risks for child compared to adult exposures apply to nearly all tumor types are not supported by the scientific data. The United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) has a task group producing a comprehensive report on the subject. The factors to be considered include relevant radiation sources; developmental anatomy and physiology; dosimetry; and stochastic, deterministic, and hereditary effects.
The octagon abstract domain

This article presents the octagon abstract domain, a relational numerical abstract domain for static analysis by abstract interpretation. It allows representing conjunctions of constraints of the form ± X ± Y ≤ c where X and Y range among program variables and c is a constant in ℤ, ℚ, or ℝ automatically inferred. Abstract elements are represented using modified Difference Bound Matrices and we use a normalization algorithm loosely based on the shortest-path closure to compute canonical representations and construct best-precision abstract transfer functions. We achieve a quadratic memory cost per abstract element and a cubic worst-case time cost per abstract operation, with respect to the number of program variables.In terms of cost and precision, our domain is in between the well-known fast but imprecise interval domain and the costly polyhedron domain. We show that it is precise enough to treat interesting examples requiring relational invariants, and hence, out of the reach of the interval domain. We also present a packing strategy that allows scaling our domain up to large programs by tuning the amount of relationality. The octagon domain was incorporated into the ASTRÉE industrial-strength static analyzer and was key in proving the absence of run-time errors in large critical embedded flight control software for Airbus planes.
Intensity modulation of hybrid soliton pulse source utilizing fiber Bragg gratings

The intensity modulation (IM) of a hybrid soliton pulse source (HSPS) utilizing linearly chirped Gaussian apodized fiber Bragg grating is described using electric field approach. The HSPS is modeled by a time-domain solution of the coupled-mode equations. It is shown that resonance peak spectral splitting (RPSS) in the IM spectra does not strongly depends on antireflection coated reflectivity, and gain compression factor. It is also found that RPSS disappears by choosing suitable liner chirp rate in Gaussian apodized FBG.
Reverse the Resistance to PARP Inhibitors

One of the DNA repair machineries is activated by Poly (ADP-ribose) Polymerase (PARP) enzyme. Particularly, this enzyme is involved in repair of damages to single-strand DNA, thus decreasing the chances of generating double-strand breaks in the genome. Therefore, the concept to block PARP enzymes by PARP inhibitor (PARPi) was appreciated in cancer treatment. PARPi has been designed and tested for many years and became a potential supplement for the conventional chemotherapy. However, increasing evidence indicates the appearance of the resistance to this treatment. Specifically, cancer cells may acquire new mutations or events that overcome the positive effect of these drugs. This paper describes several molecular mechanisms of PARPi resistance which were reported most recently, and summarizes some strategies to reverse this type of drug resistance.
Screening for mutations and polymorphisms in the genes KCNH2 and KCNE2 encoding the cardiac HERG/MiRP1 ion channel: implications for acquired and congenital long Q-T syndrome.

BACKGROUND The voltage-gated, rapid-delayed rectifier current (I(Kr)) is important for repolarization of the heart, and mutations in the genes coding for the K+-ion channel conducting this current, i.e., KCNH2 for the alpha-subunit HERG and KCNE2 for the beta-subunit MiRP1, cause acquired and congenital long Q-T syndrome (LQTS) and other cardiac arrhythmias. METHODS We developed a robust single-strand conformation polymorphism-heteroduplex screening analysis, with identical thermocycling conditions for all PCR reactions, covering all of the coding exons in KCNH2 and KCNE2. The method was used to screen 40 unrelated LQTS patients. RESULTS Eleven mutations, of which six were novel, were found in KCNH2. Interestingly, six mutations were found in the region of the gene coding for the Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) and PAS-S1 regions of the HERG protein, stressing the need to examine the entire gene when screening for mutations. No mutations were found in KCNE2, suggesting that direct involvement of MiRP1 in LQTS is rare. Furthermore, four novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and one amino acid polymorphism (R1047L) were identified in KCNH2, and one novel SNP and one previously known amino acid polymorphism (T8A) were found in KCNE2. CONCLUSIONS The potential role of rare polymorphisms in the HERG/MiRP1 K+-channel should be clarified with respect to drug interactions and susceptibility to arrhythmia and sudden death.
Peripheral and autonomic nerve function in long-term insulin-dependent diabetes.

In a cross sectional study, motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) and sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV), beat-to-beat variation (BBV) at rest and speed of pupillary dilatation (SPD) have been investigated in 127 nonketonuric long-term insulin-dependent diabetics aged 19-72 yr and in age-matched control subjects. 84% of the patients had electrophysiologic abnormalities, 58% had symptomatic peripheral neuropathy, 35% had abnormal cardiac parasympathetic tests and 26% had abnormal pupillary tests. The most frequent pathologic feature was a decreased sural SNCV (66%). Among the patients without symptomatic peripheral neuropathy, 71% showed electrophysiologic abnormalities. MNCV and SNCV in median, peroneal and sural nerves correlated with BBV (p less than 0.005), but only peroneal MNCV was related to SPD (p less than 0.005). There was also a relationship between BBV and SPD (p less than 0.05). Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1) levels correlated inversely with median MNCV (p less than 0.001), and SNCV (p less than 0.03), peroneal MNCV (p less than 0.05) and sural SNCV (p less than 0.05). Patients with abnormal peripheral or autonomic nerve function tests or symptomatic peripheral neuropathy had significantly higher HbA1 levels than those with normal tests (p less than 0.04) or asymptomatic patients (p less than 0.01). Median MNCV and SNCV, sural SNCV and BBV deteriorated with age (p less than 0.05) and median SNCV and peroneal MNCV deteriorated with the duration of diabetes (p less than 0.001). Our findings show an association between peripheral and autonomic nerve dysfunction in long-term insulin-dependent diabetics. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Antioxidant activity of apples--an impact of maturity stage and fruit part.

BACKGROUND Recently, many studies have been oriented towards improving methods and efficiency of antioxidants recovery from different fruit and their wastes.The aim of the study was to evaluate antioxidant potential of apple seeds and peel, which constitute the fruit industry wastes, and compare it to apple flesh. Antioxidant activity of apples at different maturity and storage stage were analysed too. MATERIAL AND METHODS The Idared and the Šampion cultivars of apples were used in the study. Antioxidant activity was estimated using ABTS and DPPH assays, and polyphenols profile was determined by HPLC method. RESULTS Seeds of analysed apple cultivars were characterised by a significantly higher antioxidant capacity and by higher concentrations of polyphenols analysed when compared to their peel and flesh. There were present two predominant compounds: phloridzin in seeds (84% and 72%) and quercetin glycosides in peels (54% and 38%, Idared and Šampion cultivars, respectively). No quercetin glycosides in seeds were found. The capacity to scavenge an ABTS radical, but not DPPH, decreased during ripening of apples, while cold storage resulted in enhanced antioxidant potential. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that unripe apples together with apple seeds and peel (fruit industry wastes) constitute a valuable source of polyphenols.
Power and energy reduction via pipeline balancing

Minimizing power dissipation is an important design requirement for both portable and non-portable systems. In this work, we propose an architectural solution to the power problem that retains performance while reducing power. The technique, known as Pipeline Balancing (PLB), dynamically tunes the resources of a general purpose processor to the needs of the program by monitoring performance within each program. We analyze metrics for triggering PLB, and detail instruction queue design and energy savings based on an extension of the Alpha 21264 processor. Using a detailed simulator we present component and full chip power and energy savings for single and multi-threaded execution. Results show an issue queue and execution unit power reduction of up to 23% and 13%, respectively, with an average performance loss of 1% to 2%.
Final Service Provider DevOps concept and evaluation

This report presents the results of the UNIFY Service Provider (SP)-DevOps activities. First, we present the final definition and assessment of the concept. SP-DevOps is realized by a combination of various functional components facilitating integrated service verification, efficient and programmable observability, and automated troubleshooting processes. Our assessment shows that SP-DevOps can help providers to reach a medium level of DevOps maturity and significant reduction in OPEX. Second, we focus on the evaluation of the proposed SP-DevOps components. The set of tools proposed supports ops and devs across all stages, with a focus on the deployment, operation and debugging phases, and allows to activate automated processes for operating NFV environments. Finally, we present use-cases and our demonstrators for selected process implementions, which allowed the functional validation of SP-DevOps.
Developmental exposure to organophosphate flame retardants elicits overt toxicity and alters behavior in early life stage zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) are common replacements for the phased-out polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and have been detected at high concentrations in environmental samples. OPFRs are structurally similar to organophosphate pesticides and may adversely affect the developing nervous system. This study evaluated the overt toxicity, uptake, and neurobehavioral effects of tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP), tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP), and tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (TDBPP) in early life stage zebrafish. Chlorpyrifos was used as a positive control. For overt toxicity and neurobehavioral assessments, zebrafish were exposed from 0 to 5 days postfertilization (dpf). Hatching, death, or malformations were evaluated daily. Teratogenic effects were scored by visual examination on 6 dpf. To evaluate uptake and metabolism, zebrafish were exposed to 1 µM of each organophosphate (OP) flame retardant and collected on 1 and 5 dpf to monitor accumulation. Larval swimming activity was measured in 6 dpf larvae to evaluate neurobehavioral effects of exposures below the acute toxicity threshold. TDBPP elicited the greatest toxicity at >1 µM. TDCPP and chlorpyrifos were overtly toxic at concentrations ≥10 µM, TCEP, and TCPP were not overtly toxic at the doses tested. Tissue concentrations increased with increasing hydrophobicity of the parent chemical after 24 h exposures. TDCPP and TDBPP and their respective metabolites were detected in embryos on 5 dpf. For all chemicals tested, developmental exposures that were not overtly toxic significantly altered larval swimming activity. These data indicate that OPFRs adversely affect development of early life stage zebrafish.
The radial distribution of magnetic helicity in the solar convective zone: observations and dynamo theory

We continue our attempt to connect observational data on current helicity in solar active regions with solar dynamo models. In addition to our previous results about temporal and latitudinal distributions of current helicity, we argue that some information concerning the radial profile of the current helicity averaged over time, and latitude can be extracted from the available observations. The main feature of this distribution can be presented as follows. Both shallow and deep active regions demonstrate a clear dominance of one sign of current helicity in a given hemisphere during the whole cycle. Broadly speaking, current helicity has opposite polarities in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, although there are some active regions that violate this polarity rule. The relative number of active regions violating the polarity rule is significantly higher for deeper active regions. A separation of active regions into ‘shallow’, ‘middle’ and ‘deep’ is made by comparing their rotation rate and the helioseismic rotation law. We use a version of Parker’s dynamo model in two spatial dimensions, which employs a nonlinearity based on magnetic helicity conservation arguments. The predictions of this model about the radial distribution of solar current helicity appear to be in remarkable agreement with the available observational data; in particular the relative volume occupied by the current helicity of ‘wrong’ sign grows significantly with the depth.