Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A queuing method for adaptive censoring in big data processing

As more than 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are generated every day, the era of big data is undoubtedly upon us. Running analysis on extensive datasets is a challenge. Fortunately, a significant percentage of the data accrued can be omitted while maintaining a certain quality of statistical inference in many cases. Censoring provides us a natural option for data reduction. However, the data chosen by censoring occur non-uniformly, which may not relieve the computational resource requirement. In this paper, we propose a dynamic, queuing method to smooth out the data processing without sacrificing the convergence performance of censoring. The proposed method entails simple, closed-form updates, and has no loss in terms of accuracy comparing to the original adaptive censoring method. Simulation results validate its effectiveness.
Specification and Validation of Enhanced Mobile Agent-Enabled Anomaly Detection and Verification in Resource Constrained Networks

Existing mobile agent-enabled anomaly detection schemes have not considered temporal behavior for their correct functioning and detection of temporal anomalies. This study employs a holistic system approach to design an Enhanced mobile Agent-enabled Anomaly Detection System (EAADS) by designing two new algorithms. The proposed algorithms are not only important for the completeness of the EAADS, but also for the detection of the anomalies caused by the delayed arrival of the in situ verification results. The formal specifications of the individual algorithmic functionalities are addressed by employing the Petri net theory. A bottom-up synthesis of the individual Petri net modules is carried out to formulate a unified model, which has helped in the identification and removal of inconsistencies in the system design. This process formally characterizes the behavioral properties and the overall workflow of the EAADS. The standard unified Petri net model is then extended into a corresponding high class Generalized Stochastic Petri Net (GSPN) model to formalize and analyze the temporal behavior of the EAADS in a highly nondeterministic communication environment. Finally, the GSPNbased temporal behavior is validated through implementation of the functional specifications on a real testbed composed of the resource constrained MICAz motes. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrate the ability of the EAADS to detect certain types of anomalies and the aptness of the temporal behavior of the EAADS for the low resource sensor networks even in a highly nondeterministic communication environment
Recurrent Cardioembolic Stroke Treated Successfully with Repeated Mechanical Thrombectomy within the Acute Index Stroke Period

Background The safety of repeated mechanical thrombectomy within the acute stroke period has not yet been clearly demonstrated. We describe herein a patient who was successfully treated with repeated mechanical thrombectomy within the acute index stroke period. Case Report A 50-year-old woman with atrial fibrillation presented with left-sided weakness caused by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA). Emergent mechanical thrombectomy with the Solitaire device achieved complete recanalization. The left MCA occlusion redeveloped at 6 days after the first treatment, at which time her international normalized ratio (INR) was 2.3. Endovascular thrombectomy was reattempted rapidly and complete recanalization was achieved again. Her neurologic symptoms resolved after the thrombectomy. Conclusions This case demonstrates that repeated mechanical thrombectomy can be safely and successfully performed even in a patient with a high INR and a recurrent stroke during the acute period after the index stroke.
Epigallocatechin Gallate Inactivates Clinical Isolates of Herpes Simplex Virus

ABSTRACT In the absence of a fully effective herpes simplex virus (HSV) vaccine, topical microbicides represent an important strategy for preventing HSV transmission. (−)-Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) (molecular weight, 458.4) is the primary catechin in green tea. The present study shows that EGCG has greater anti-HSV activity than other green tea catechins and inactivates multiple clinical isolates of HSV type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2. EGCG reduced HSV-2 titers by ≥1,000-fold in 10 to 20 min and reduced HSV-1 titers by the same amount in 30 to 40 min. The anti-HSV activity of EGCG is due to a direct effect on the virion, and incubating Vero and CV1 cells with EGCG for 48 h prior to infection with HSV-1 and HSV-2, respectively, does not reduce HSV production. Electron microscopic (EM) studies showed that purified virions exposed to EGCG were damaged, and EM immunogold labeling of the envelope glycoproteins gB and gD was significantly reduced following EGCG treatment while capsid protein labeling was unchanged. When purified HSV-1 envelope glycoproteins gB and gD were incubated with EGCG and then examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, lower-molecular-weight gB and gD bands decreased and new higher-molecular-weight bands appeared, indicating the EGCG-dependent production of macromolecular complexes. gB and gD are essential for HSV infectivity, and these results suggest that EGCG could inactivate HSV virions by binding to gB, gD, or another envelope glycoprotein. EGCG is stable in the pH range found in the vagina and appears to be a promising candidate for use in a microbicide to reduce HSV transmission.
Chronic exposure to outdoor air pollution and lung function in adults

Background: The extent to which chronic exposure to outdoor air pollutants influences lung function in adults is unclear. The aim of this study was to measure the association between chronic exposure to outdoor air pollutants and adult lung function. Methods: The relationship between measures of lung function (forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and FEV1 as a percentage of forced vital capacity (FVC)) and average exposure to particulate matter <10 μm in diameter, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ozone was examined in four representative cross-sectional surveys of the English population aged ⩾16 in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2001. Year-specific estimates were pooled using fixed effects meta-analysis. Results: Greater exposure to particulate matter <10 μm in diameter, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide was associated with lower adult FEV1. The size of the effect on population mean FEV1 was about 3% for particulate matter <10 μm, and 0.7% for nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, for a 10 μg/m3 increase in pollutant concentration. The effects were most marked in men, older adults and ex-smokers. FEV1 was not associated with ozone concentration. No associations were found between the pollutants and FEV1 as a percentage of FVC. Conclusions: Chronic exposure to outdoor air pollution is associated with modestly reduced FEV1 in adults.
Interaction of Borrelia burgdorferi Hbb with the p66 promoter

Borrelia burgdorferi, an agent of Lyme disease, encodes the β3-chain integrin ligand P66. P66 is expressed by B. burgdorferi in the mammal, in laboratory media, and as the bacteria are acquired or transmitted by the tick, but is not expressed by the bacterium in unfed ticks. Attempts to reveal factors influencing expression revealed that P66 was expressed in all in vitro conditions investigated. Candidate regulators identified in a search of the B. burgdorferi genome for homologs to other bacterial transcription factors were cloned and introduced into E. coli carrying a p66 promoter-signal sequence-phoA (alkaline phosphatase, or AP) fusion. Three candidate transcription factors—two that decreased AP activity (Hbb and BB0527), and one that increased AP activity (BBA23)—were identified. BBA23 and BB0527 did not bind to the p66 promoter at physiologically relevant concentrations. In contrast, several promoter fragments, including p66, were bound by Hbb (BB0232), with slightly different affinities. Consistent with results from other laboratories, Hbb appears to recognize multiple DNA sequences. Changes in the expression of p66 and bb0232 in the tick at various points with respect to feeding on mice, along with the results of the reporter experiment in the surrogate host E. coli, are consistent with Hbb/BB0232 being involved in regulating p66 expression.
Increasing cycling and walking: an analysis of readiness to change

In 2003, Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) and the Cancer Society of New Zealand commissioned a major nationwide survey to segment adult New Zealanders in terms of physical activity and healthy eating habits. The questionnaire included several transport-related questions. The resulting Obstacles to Action database (with responses from over 8000 people aged 16 or over) thus provides opportunities to analyse transport responses with a larger sample size than is usual with New Zealand surveys. This report analyses the Obstacles to Action database with respect to cycling and walking. A focus is the stage of change questions which can be useful for developing and monitoring active transport promotional strategies, given that behaviour change may often involve a number of process steps being undertaken before individuals are ready to change behaviour. Current cycling and walking, together with stage of change for cycling and walking, were first analysed for demographic differences (age, gender, ethnicity, level of urbanisation, region, effect of children, work status, household income). Differences between stages of change with respect to motivations, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers (physical activity in general) were also briefly considered, as well as readiness to replace car trips with walking and cycling, relevant environmental perceptions, and perceived environmental barriers. (a)
What the Human Brain Likes About Facial Motion

Facial motion carries essential information about other people's emotions and intentions. Most previous studies have suggested that facial motion is mainly processed in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), but several recent studies have also shown involvement of ventral temporal face-sensitive regions. Up to now, it is not known whether the increased response to facial motion is due to an increased amount of static information in the stimulus, to the deformation of the face over time, or to increased attentional demands. We presented nonrigidly moving faces and control stimuli to participants performing a demanding task unrelated to the face stimuli. We manipulated the amount of static information by using movies with different frame rates. The fluidity of the motion was manipulated by presenting movies with frames either in the order in which they were recorded or in scrambled order. Results confirm higher activation for moving compared with static faces in STS and under certain conditions in ventral temporal face-sensitive regions. Activation was maximal at a frame rate of 12.5 Hz and smaller for scrambled movies. These results indicate that both the amount of static information and the fluid facial motion per se are important factors for the processing of dynamic faces.
Enhancement of Hippocampal Pyramidal Cell Excitability by the Novel Selective Slow-Afterhyperpolarization Channel Blocker 3-(Triphenylmethylaminomethyl)pyridine (UCL2077)

The slow afterhyperpolarization (sAHP) in hippocampal neurons has been implicated in learning and memory. However, its precise role in cell excitability and central nervous system function has not been explicitly tested for 2 reasons: 1) there are, at present, no selective inhibitors that effectively reduce the underlying current in vivo or in intact in vitro tissue preparations, and 2) although it is known that a small conductance K+ channel that activates after a rise in [Ca2+]i underlies the sAHP, the exact molecular identity remains unknown. We show that 3-(triphenylmethylaminomethyl)pyridine (UCL2077), a novel compound, suppressed the sAHP present in hippocampal neurons in culture (IC50 = 0.5 μM) and in the slice preparation (IC50 ≈ 10 μM). UCL2077 was selective, having minimal effects on Ca2+ channels, action potentials, input resistance and the medium afterhyperpolarization. UCL2077 also had little effect on heterologously expressed small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) channels. Moreover, UCL2077 and apamin, a selective SK channel blocker, affected spike firing in hippocampal neurons in different ways. These results provide further evidence that SK channels are unlikely to underlie the sAHP. This study also demonstrates that UCL2077, the most potent, selective sAHP blocker described so far, is a useful pharmacological tool for exploring the role of sAHP channels in the regulation of cell excitability in intact tissue preparations and, potentially, in vivo.
Integration of structural and statistical information for unconstrained handwritten numeral recognition

We propose an approach that integrates the statistical and structural information for unconstrained handwritten numeral recognition. This approach uses state-duration adapted transition probability distribution to overcome the weakness of state-duration modeling of conventional HMMs and uses macro-states to tackle the difficulty for HMMs to model pattern structures. Consequently the proposed method is superior to conventional approaches in many aspects. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can achieve high performance in terms of speed and accuracy.
c-MYC amplification in mucinous gastric carcinoma: a possible genetic alteration leading to deeply invasive tumors.

BACKGROUND Patients with mucinous gastric carcinoma (MGC) usually have a poor prognosis, largely due to the advanced stage of disease. In this study, we evaluated the effects of c-MYC amplification on tumor stage and disease-specific survival of 128 patients with MGC and compared the results with those of 302 patients with non-mucinous gastric carcinoma (non-MGC). PATIENTS AND METHODS Two-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for c-MYC was performed on 430 GC samples. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) analysis for c-MYC was also performed after tumor microdissection. RESULTS c-MYC amplification was found in 10.2% of MGCs and 6.0% of non-MGCs. c-MYC amplification was more frequently found in MGCs of higher tumor stage than in MGCs of lower stage (p=0.038). c-MYC amplification in MGC was correlated with greater invasion depth (p=0.007). The mean survival time of patients with c-MYC amplification was shorter than that of patients without c-MYC amplification in MGC. Real-time q-PCR results showed that the calculated c-MYC/GAPDH ratios were higher in c-MYC-amplified MGC than in c-MYC-non-amplified MGC. CONCLUSION This study showed that c-MYC amplification in MGC is highly correlated with advanced stage and deeply invasive MGC. This suggests that c-MYC amplification in MGC could be a possible genetic alteration contributing to the frequent presentation of advanced-stage MGC.
Modeling the Propagation of Trojan Malware in Online Social Networks

The popularity and widespread usage of online social networks (OSN) have attracted cyber criminals who have used OSNs as a platform to spread malware. Among different types of malware in OSNs, Trojan is the most popular type with hundreds of attacks on OSN users in the past few years. Trojans infecting a user's computer have the ability to steal confidential information, install ransomware and infect other computers in the network. Therefore, it is important to understand propagation dynamics of Trojans in OSNs in order to detect, contain and remove them as early as possible. In this article, we present an analytical model to study propagation characteristics of Trojans and factors that impact their propagation in an online social network. The proposed model assumes all the topological characteristics of real online social networks. Moreover, the model takes into account attacking trends of modern Trojans, the role of anti-virus (AV) products, and security practices of OSN users and AV software providers. By taking into account these factors, the proposed model can accurately and realistically estimate the infection rate caused by a Trojan malware in an OSN as well as the recovery rate of the user population.
The role of developmental relationships in the transition to entrepreneurship: A qualitative study and agenda for future research

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the under‐researched subject of the role of mentoring relationships within and outside of organizational boundaries as individuals make the career transition from being a corporate employee to becoming an entrepreneur.Design/methodology/approach – Using structured interviews, the authors collected data from 24 men and women in the financial services industry in the UK about their experiences in making the transition from a corporate organization to a new venture work context. All interviews were transcribed and systematic Nvivo coding was used.Findings – Developmental relationships with structural, relational, and cognitive embeddedness were most likely to transfer from the individual's corporate workplace to their new venture. Support for both the recent literature on multiple mentors and for gender differences in the patterns of these mentoring relationships was also found.Originality/value – This is the first published study to examine whether mentor re.
Gentamicin treatment induces simultaneous mesangial proliferation and apoptosis in rats.

BACKGROUND Gentamicin (G)-induced acute renal failure is characterized by an impairment of glomerular function without apparent changes in glomerular structure. However, G stimulates reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated mesangial cell proliferation in vitro. We studied whether G promotes mesangial cell apoptosis in vitro, and if apoptosis and proliferation in parallel may occur in glomerular cells in vivo after a renal damage induced by G treatment. METHODS For in vivo studies, rats were treated with G (100 mg/kg body weight/day) for 6 days, and functional and histologic studies were performed. For in vitro studies, mesangial cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated after 24, 48, and 72 hours of 10(-5) mol/L G incubation. RESULTS After G injections, the number of nuclei per glomerulus did not change, whereas proliferating and apoptotic cell numbers increased. G increases DNA synthesis and cell number in cultured mesangial cells, and increases markedly the apoptotic cell number. ROS scavengers superoxide dismutase and catalase reduce G-induced mesangial cell apoptosis, whereas the incubation with the ROS donor system xanthine plus xanthine oxidase increases apoptosis to levels similar to G. G-induced cellular proliferation and apoptosis either in vitro or in vivo is associated to an early increase in the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and a delayed increase in the survival protein Bcl-2. CONCLUSION G simultaneously induces proliferation and apoptosis of mesangial cells in vitro and glomerular mesangial cells in vivo. ROS may mediate G-induced mesangial apoptosis in vitro. The equilibrium proliferation/apoptosis may maintain mesangial cell number within normal limits after a G-induced glomerular insult.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors prevent the degradation and restore the activity of glucocerebrosidase in Gaucher disease

Gaucher disease (GD) is caused by a spectrum of genetic mutations within the gene encoding the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase). These mutations often lead to misfolded proteins that are recognized by the unfolded protein response system and are degraded through the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. Modulating this pathway with histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) has been shown to improve protein stability in other disease settings. To identify the mechanisms involved in the regulation of GCase and determine the effects of HDACis on protein stability, we investigated the most prevalent mutations for nonneuronopathic (N370S) and neuronopathic (L444P) GD in cultured fibroblasts derived from GD patients and HeLa cells transfected with these mutations. The half-lives of mutant GCase proteins correspond to decreases in protein levels and enzymatic activity. GCase was found to bind to Hsp70, which directed the protein to TCP1 for proper folding, and to Hsp90, which directed the protein to the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. Using a known HDACi (SAHA) and a unique small-molecule HDACi (LB-205), GCase levels increased rescuing enzymatic activity in mutant cells. The increase in the quantity of protein can be attributed to increases in protein half-life that correspond primarily with a decrease in degradation rather than an increase in chaperoned folding. HDACis reduce binding to Hsp90 and prevent subsequent ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation without affecting binding to Hsp70 or TCP1. These findings provide insight into the pathogenesis of GD and indicate a potent therapeutic potential of HDAC inhibitors for the treatment of GD and other human protein misfolding disorders.
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in the elderly: current state of play

Aortic stenosis is the most common acquired valvular abnormality in the Western world, with everincreasing disease prevalence due to an aging population. Surgical aortic valve replacement remains the first-line standard of care, however, over one-third of potential patients are not candidates because of the prohibitive nature of their comorbidities and consequent peri-operative risk. In the last few years, transcatheter aortic valve implantation has emerged as a less invasive treatment strategy in high-risk patients. Recent randomized trials have shown that this is non-inferior to surgery in high-risk patients; and vastly superior to medical therapy in patients deemed unsuitable for surgical intervention. Since the “first in man” procedure was performed in 2002, there have been major advances in implantation techniques and device technology, together with a growing evidence base. It is highly likely that transcatheter aortic valve implantation will be used in an increasing number of patients in the aortic stenosis population, but its exact role alongside surgery will need to be defined in a judicious and evidencebased manner.
Numerical Modeling of Sheet and Tip Vortex Cavitation with Fluent 5

This paper presents numerical work made with the commercial CFD code Fluent 5 by Fluent Inc. The main investigation constitutes a 2D NACA 0015 hydrofoil grid. The grid is designed to resemble a physical setup found at Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) in Minneapolis, MN, USA. The study is done for cavitation numbers ranging from inception to supercavitating at two different angles of attack. All numerical results are compared to corresponding experimental results from the SAFL tunnel in a quantitative manner. The general characteristics of the cavitating flow was very well predicted. Especially, the cavity length is calculated with high accuracy. Lift variations as a function of cavitation number are also reasonably well predicted. The current model, however, seems to have problems with the dynamics of the system. The next section presents a 3D calculation on a NACA 66_2-415 elliptical planform hydrofoil. This was done primarily to investigate the 3D ability of the solver. The results are validated with experimental data. Special focus is given to tip vortex strength and lift variation as a function of cavitation number. Both are well predicted.