Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sentence Similarity Computation based on WordNet and VerbNet

Sentence similarity computing is increasingly growing in several applications, such as question answering, machine-translation, information retrieval and automatic abstracting systems. This paper ﬁrstly sums up several methods to calculate similarity between sentences which consider semantic and syntactic knowledge. Second, it presents a new method for the sentence similarity measure that aggregates, in a linear function, three components: the Lexical similarity Lexsim including the common words, the semantic similarity SemSim using the synonymy words and the syntactico-semantic similarity SynSemSim based on common semantic arguments, notably, thematic role and semantic class. Concerning the word-based semantic similarity, a measure is computed to estimate the semantic degree between words by exploiting the WordNet ”is a” taxonomy. Moreover, the semantic argument determination is based on the VerbNet database. The proposed method yielded competitive results compared to previously proposed measures and with regard to the Li’s benchmark, which shown a high correlation with human ratings. Furthermore, experiments performed on the Microsoft Paraphrase Corpus showed the best F-measure values compared to other measures for high similarity thresholds.
The Ego-Moving Metaphor of Time Relies on Visual Experience: No Representation of Time Along the Sagittal Space in the Blind

In many cultures, humans conceptualize the past as behind the body and the future as in front. Whether this spatial mapping of time depends on visual experience is still not known. Here, we addressed this issue by testing early-blind participants in a space–time motor congruity task requiring them to classify a series of words as referring to the past or the future by moving their hand backward or forward. Sighted participants showed a preferential mapping between forward movements and future-words and backward movements and past-words. Critically, blind participants did not show any such preferential time–space mapping. Furthermore, in a questionnaire requiring participants to think about past and future events, blind participants did not appear to perceive the future as psychologically closer than the past, as it is the case of sighted individuals. These findings suggest that normal visual development is crucial for representing time along the sagittal space.
Effect of Cryogenic Treatment on the Microstructure and Wear Resistance of X45Cr9Si3 and X53Cr22Mn9Ni4N Valve Steels

The effect of cryogenic treatment on the microstructure and wear resistance of X45Cr9Si3 and X53Cr22Mn9Ni4N valve steels is investigated by conducting an optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study and reciprocating wear test (ASTM standard G-133). The materials are subjected to shallow (193 K) and deep cryogenic treatment (85 K), and the microstructure and wear resistance are compared with those of conventional heat treatment. The wear test data show that for a maximum load of 30 N and 5 Hz frequency, the wear resistance of the X45Cr9Si3 and X53Cr22Mn9Ni4N improved by 15.2 and 10.3%, respectively, due to shallow cryogenic treatment (SCT) and 42.39 and 22.08%, respectively, due to deep cryogenic treatment (DCT) compared to that of the conventional heat treatment. The enhancement in the wear resistance of the X45Cr9Si3 and X53Cr22Mn9Ni4N valve steels observed through the optimized DCT was 46.51 and 27.8%, respectively, compared to the samples without cryogenic treatment. The microstructural study clearly proves that the full elimination of the retained austenite was not achieved in the SCT and DCT specimens. However, there was a reduction in the amount of retained austenite when compared to conventional heat treatment (CHT) specimens. After studying the metallurgy of the cryogenically processed valve steels, it was concluded that the formation of fine carbides dispersed in the tempered martensite structure was the main reason for the enhancement of wear resistance along with the retained austenite transformation.
Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli in Children: Diagnosis and Clinical Manifestations of O157:H7 and Non-O157:H7 Infection

ABSTRACT Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), a cause of food-borne colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in children, can be serotype O157:H7 (O157) or other serotypes (non-O157). E. coli O157 can be detected by culture with sorbitol-MacConkey agar (SMAC), but non-O157 STEC cannot be detected with this medium. Both O157 and non-O157 STEC can be detected by immunoassay for Shiga toxins 1 and 2. The objectives of this study were first to compare the diagnostic utility of SMAC to that of the Premier EHEC enzyme immunoassay (Meridian Diagnostics) for detection of STEC in children and second to compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of children with serotype O157:H7 STEC and non-O157:H7 STEC infections. Stool samples submitted for testing for STEC between April 2004 and September 2009 were tested by both SMAC culture and the Premier EHEC assay at Children's Hospital Boston. Samples positive by either test were sent for confirmatory testing and serotyping at the Hinton State Laboratory Institute (HSLI). Chart review was performed on children with confirmed STEC infection. Of 5,110 children tested for STEC, 50 (0.9%) had STEC infection confirmed by culture; 33 were O157:H7 and 17 were non-O157:H7. The Premier EHEC assay and SMAC culture detected 96.0% and 58.0% of culture-confirmed STEC isolates (any serotype), respectively, and 93.9% and 87.9% of STEC O157:H7 isolates, respectively. There were no significant differences in disease severity or laboratory manifestations of STEC infection between children with O157:H7 and those with non-O157 STEC. The Premier EHEC assay was significantly more sensitive than SMAC culture for diagnosis of STEC, and O157:H7 and non-O157:H7 STEC caused infections of similar severity in children.
Behavioural, ecological, and evolutionary aspects of diversity in frog colour patterns

The role of colours and colour patterns in behavioural ecology has been extensively studied in a variety of contexts and taxa, while almost overlooked in many others. For decades anurans have been the focus of research on acoustic signalling due to the prominence of vocalisations in their communication. Much less attention has been paid to the enormous diversity of colours, colour patterns, and other types of putative visual signals exhibited by frogs. With the exception of some anecdotal observations and studies, the link between colour patterns and the behavioural and evolutionary ecology of anurans had not been addressed until approximately two decades ago. Since then, there has been ever‐increasing interest in studying how colouration is tied to different aspects of frog behaviour, ecology and evolution. Here I review the literature on three different contexts in which frog colouration has been recently studied: predator–prey interactions, intraspecific communication, and habitat use; and I highlight those aspects that make frogs an excellent, yet understudied, group to examine the role of colour in the evolution of anti‐predation strategies and animal communication systems. Further, I argue that in addition to natural‐history observations, more experiments are needed in order to elucidate the functions of anuran colouration and the selective pressures involved in its diversity. To conclude, I encourage researchers to strengthen current experimental approaches, and suggest future directions that may broaden our current understanding of the adaptive value of anuran colour pattern diversity.
Linking stage-resolved population models with field observations: an integrated approach on population dynamics of Pseudocalanus elongatus in the German Bight

The population dynamics of Pseudocalanus elongatus have been investigated within the framework of the GLOBEC-Ger many project to gain a better understanding of its life cycle and population dynamics and to estimate secondary production in the North Sea. During an intensive field study in the Ger man Bight between February and October 2004, experiments on reproduction were perfor med and data on length of copepodids and abundance were collected to characterize the population in the southern North Sea. This data set was used to update the litera- ture-based parameterization of a population model for P. elongatus to investigate the population dynamics, life history and production in the Ger man Bight. The ability of data to improve population models is also discussed. Pseudocalanus elongatus was found to be a major contributor to carbon uptake contributing about one- third of copepod production. Though the spatial variability in field observations was not reflected by the model, the simulation matched data within one order of magnitude at most stations. The high-resolution field observations and exper- iments mainly improved the parameterization of the reproductive parameters. Mortality is found to be a critical parameter due to its influence on population size. Using constant rates, though based on observation-derived estimates, seems not to capture realistic variability. Our study confirms the need for experimental and field data to build a robust parameterization for concentration-based population models.
Quantitative Determination of Δ9-THC, CBG, CBD, Their Acid Precursors and Five Other Neutral Cannabinoids by UHPLC-UV-MS

Abstract Cannabinoids are a group of terpenophenolic compounds in the medicinal plant Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae family). Cannabigerolic acid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A, cannabidiolic acid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabigerol, cannabidiol, cannabichromene, and tetrahydrocannabivarin are major metabolites in the classification of different strains of C. sativa. Degradation or artifact cannabinoids cannabinol, cannabicyclol, and Δ8-tetrahydrocannabinol are formed under the influence of heat and light during processing and storage of the plant sample. An ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatographic method coupled with photodiode array and single quadruple mass spectrometry detectors was developed and validated for quantitative determination of 11 cannabinoids in different C. sativa samples. Compounds 1 – 11 were baseline separated with an acetonitrile (with 0.05% formic acid) and water (with 0.05% formic acid) gradient at a flow rate of 0.25 mL/min on a Waters Cortec UPLC C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm I. D., 1.6 µm). The limits of detection and limits of quantitation of the 11 cannabinoids were below 0.2 and 0.5 µg/mL, respectively. The relative standard deviation for the precision test was below 2.4%. A mixture of acetonitrile and methanol (80 : 20, v/v) was proven to be the best solvent system for the sample preparation. The recovery of all analytes was in the range of 97 – 105%. A total of 32 Cannabis samples including hashish, leaves, and flower buds were analyzed.
On the influence of denoising in PRNU based forgery detection

To detect some image forgeries one can rely on the Photo-Response Non-Uniformity (PRNU), a deterministic pattern associated with each individual camera, which can be loosely modeled as low-intensity multiplicative noise. A very promising algorithm for PRNU-based forgery detection has been recently proposed by Chen et al. Image denoising is a key step of the algorithm, since it allows to single out and remove most of the signal components and reveal the PRNU pattern. In this work we analyze the influence of denoising on the overall performance of the method and show that the use of a suitable state-of-the art denoising technique improves performance appreciably w.r. t. the original algorithm.
Association Between PD-L1 and HPV Status and the Prognostic Value of PD-L1 in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Purpose Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has been recognized as an immunosuppressive disease. Various mechanisms have been proposed for immune escape, including dysregulation of immune checkpoints such as the PD-1:PD-L1 pathway. We investigated the expression of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in HPV-negative and HPV-positive OSCC to determine its prevalence and prognostic relevance. Materials and Methods Using immunohistochemistry, 133 cases of OSCC were evaluated for expression of PD-L1. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples were stained with monoclonal antibody (clone 5H1) to PD-L1. PD-L1 positivity was defined as membrane staining in ≥20% of tumor cells. Correlations between PD-L1 expression and HPV status and survival parameters were analyzed. Results Of the 133 patients, 68% showed PD-L1 expression, and 67% of patients were positive for p16 expression by immunohistochemistry. No significant difference in PD-L1 expression was observed between HPV(-) and HPV(+) tumors (61% vs. 71%, p=0.274). No significant difference in age, gender, smoking history, location of tumor origin, or stage was observed according to PD-L1 status. With a median follow-up period of 44 months, older age (≥65) (p=0.017) and T3-4 stage (p<0.001) were associated with poor overall survival (OS), whereas PD-L1 expression did not affect OS in univariate and multivariate analysis. Conclusion PD-L1 expression was observed in the majority of OSCC patients regardless of HPV status. Further large prospective studies are required to determine the role of PD-L1 expression as a prognostic or predictive biomarker, and clinical studies of immune checkpoint inhibitors in OCSS are warranted regardless of HPV status.
Model reduction methodology for computational simulations of endovascular repair

Abstract Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a current alternative treatment for thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms, but is still sometimes compromised by possible complications such as device migration or endoleaks. In order to assist clinicians in preventing these complications, finite element analysis (FEA) is a promising tool. However, the strong material and geometrical nonlinearities added to the complex multiple contacts result in costly finite-element models. To reduce this computational cost, we establish here an alternative and systematic methodology to simplify the computational simulations of stent-grafts (SG) based on FEA. The model reduction methodology relies on equivalent shell models with appropriate geometrical and mechanical parameters. It simplifies significantly the contact interactions but still shows very good agreement with a complete reference finite-element model. Finally, the computational time for EVAR simulations is reduced of a factor 6–10. An application is shown for the deployment of a SG during thoracic endovascular repair, showing that the developed methodology is both effective and accurate to determine the final position of the deployed SG inside the aneurysm.
Novel Insights into the Inhibitory Effect and Mechanism of Proanthocyanidins from Pyracantha fortuneana Fruit on α-Glucosidase.

Proanthocyanidins were extracted from Pyracantha fortuneana fruit (PFF), and their structures were investigated through 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (13 C NMR), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The results showed that these compounds were predominantly constituted of procyanidin with A-type and B-type linkage and coexistence of procyanidins glucoside. Spectroscopy methods were used to analyze the inhibitory activity of proanthocyanidins on α-glucosidase. The results demonstrated that these compounds exhibited excellent inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase with the IC50 value of 0.15 ± 0.01 μg/mL, and they reversibly inhibited α-glucosidase in a non-competitive type. The fluorescence quenching analysis revealed that proanthocyanidins statically quenched the fluorescence spectra by forming an inhibitor-α-glucosidase complex. Molecular docking results further indicated that the driving powers of the interaction between proanthocyanidins and α-glucosidase were hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic force. The main inhibitory mechanism of proanthocyanidins on α-glucosidase may be due to the insertion of proanthocyanidins into the pocket of the enzyme altering the catalytic configuration of the active site in a manner, thus reducing substrate binding affinity. The findings of this work provided a new perspective that proanthocyanidins from PFF with a possibility to be used as novel natural anti-diabetic agents in functional food industries. PRACTICAL APPLICATION In this study, Pyracantha fortuneana fruit proanthocyanidins with a yield of 3.05% were identified for the first time as predominantly constituted of procyanidin with A-type and B-type linkage and coexistence of procyanidins glucoside. Proanthocyanidins from P. fortuneana fruit had higher anti-α-glucosidase activity value compared with positive control acarbose, which indicated that P. fortuneana fruit proanthocyanidins with a possibility to be used as novel natural antidiabetic agents in functional food industries.
Synchronization between arterial blood pressure and cerebral oxyhaemoglobin concentration investigated by wavelet cross-correlation

Wavelet cross-correlation (WCC) is used to analyse the relationship between low-frequency oscillations in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measured cerebral oxyhaemoglobin (O2Hb) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in patients suffering from autonomic failure and age-matched controls. Statistically significant differences are found in the wavelet scale of maximum cross-correlation upon posture change in patients, but not in controls. We propose that WCC analysis of the relationship between O2Hb and MAP provides a useful method of investigating the dynamics of cerebral autoregulation using the spontaneous low-frequency oscillations that are typically observed in both variables without having to make the assumption of stationarity of the time series. It is suggested that for a short-duration clinical test previous transfer-function-based approaches to analyse this relationship may suffer due to the inherent nonstationarity of low-frequency oscillations that are observed in the resting brain.
Emotion Fingerprints or Emotion Populations? A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Autonomic Features of Emotion Categories

The classical view of emotion hypothesizes that certain emotion categories have a specific autonomic nervous system (ANS) “fingerprint” that is distinct from other categories. Substantial ANS variation within a category is presumed to be epiphenomenal. The theory of constructed emotion hypothesizes that an emotion category is a population of context-specific, highly variable instances that need not share an ANS fingerprint. Instead, ANS variation within a category is a meaningful part of the nature of emotion. We present a meta-analysis of 202 studies measuring ANS reactivity during lab-based inductions of emotion in nonclinical samples of adults, using a random effects, multilevel meta-analysis and multivariate pattern classification analysis to test our hypotheses. We found increases in mean effect size for 59.4% of ANS variables across emotion categories, but the pattern of effect sizes did not clearly distinguish 1 emotion category from another. We also observed significant variation within emotion categories; heterogeneity accounted for a moderate to substantial percentage (i.e., I2 ≥ 30%) of variability in 54% of these effect sizes. Experimental moderators epiphenomenal to emotion, such as induction type (e.g., films vs. imagery), did not explain a large portion of the variability. Correction for publication bias reduced estimated effect sizes even further, increasing heterogeneity of effect sizes for certain emotion categories. These findings, when considered in the broader empirical literature, are more consistent with population thinking and other principles from evolutionary biology found within the theory of constructed emotion, and offer insights for developing new hypotheses to understand the nature of emotion.
Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profile of reslizumab in asthma

ABSTRACT Introduction: Allergic asthma is a Th2-driven inflammatory process characterized by the infiltration of eosinophils into the airways. IL-5 is a key trigger for eosinophil expansion and release from the bone marrow and plays a crucial role in the entire life span of eosinophils from differentiation to maturation and survival. IL-5 can be considered among the most obvious targets to selectively inhibit eosinophilic airway inflammation. Areas covered: The preclinical and clinical development of reslizumab, a humanized mAb against IL-5 that has been developed to block IL-5 bioactivity and reduce biologically available IL-5, are described with a particular focus on its pharmacodynamics (PK)/pharmacokinetic (PD) profile. Expert opinion: Although pivotal trials have documented that reslizumab can be recommended as add-on therapy for the treatment of patients with severe eosinophilic asthma, there is still important information that is lacking and some PK and PD properties of reslizumab are still not fully understood.
Inhibition of NF-κB prevents the acidic bile-induced oncogenic mRNA phenotype, in human hypopharyngeal cells

Bile-containing gastro-duodenal reflux has been clinically considered an independent risk factor in hypopharyngeal carcinogenesis. We recently showed that the chronic effect of acidic bile, at pH 4.0, selectively induces NF-κB activation and accelerates the transcriptional levels of genes, linked to head and neck cancer, in normal hypopharyngeal epithelial cells. Here, we hypothesize that NF-κB inhibition is capable of preventing the acidic bile-induced and cancer-related mRNA phenotype, in treated normal human hypopharyngeal cells. In this setting we used BAY 11-7082, a specific and well documented pharmacologic inhibitor of NF-κB, and we observed that BAY 11-7082 effectively inhibits the acidic bile-induced gene expression profiling of the NF-κB signaling pathway (down-regulation of 72 out of 84 analyzed genes). NF-κB inhibition significantly prevents the acidic bile-induced transcriptional activation of NF-κB transcriptional factors, RELA (p65) and c-REL, as well as genes related to and commonly found in established HNSCC cell lines. These include anti-apoptotic bcl-2, oncogenic STAT3, EGFR, ∆Np63, TNF-α and WNT5A, as well as cytokines IL-1β and IL-6. Our findings are consistent with our hypothesis demonstrating that NF-κB inhibition effectively prevents the acidic bile-induced cancer-related mRNA phenotype in normal human hypopharyngeal epithelial cells supporting an understanding that NF-κB may be a critical link between acidic bile and early preneoplastic events in this setting.
Federated Meta-Learning for Recommendation

Recommender systems have been widely studied from the machine learning perspective, where it is crucial to share information among users while preserving user privacy. In this work, we present a federated meta-learning framework for recommendation in which user information is shared at the level of algorithm, instead of model or data adopted in previous approaches. In this framework, user-specific recommendation models are locally trained by a shared parameterized algorithm, which preserves user privacy and at the same time utilizes information from other users to help model training. Interestingly, the model thus trained exhibits a high capacity at a small scale, which is energy- and communication-efficient. Experimental results show that recommendation models trained by meta-learning algorithms in the proposed framework outperform the state-of-the-art in accuracy and scale. For example, on a production dataset, a shared model under Google Federated Learning (McMahan et al., 2017) with 900,000 parameters has prediction accuracy 76.72%, while a shared algorithm under federated meta-learning with less than 30,000 parameters achieves accuracy of 86.23%.