Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunocytochemical monitoring of micrometastatic disease: Reduction of prostate cancer cells in bone marrow by androgen deprivation

Occult dissemination of tumor cells mainly determines the prognosis of patients with primary prostate cancer. The effect of androgen deprivation on micrometastatic tumor cells in these patients is currently unknown. We therefore used an immunocytochemical assay with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) directed against epithelial cytoskeleton proteins (i.e., cytokeratins) to monitor the concentration of isolated tumor cells in the bone marrow of 36 prostate cancer patients (stage C), who underwent hormonal androgen deprivation with Flutamide and Leuproreline acetate. Tumor cells in cytologic bone marrow preparations were detected using an assay that employed the MAb CK2 directed against cytokeratin (CK) 18 and the alkaline anti‐alkaline phosphatase staining method. Prior to therapy, we detected between 1 and 38 CK‐positive cells per sample of 2 × 104 nucleated cells in 21 patients, while the remaining 15 patients displayed tumor‐free marrow samples. There was no significant correlation between the concentration of CK‐positive cells and the volume of hypo‐echogenic lesions as an indicator of the primary tumor volume or the serum level of prostate‐specific antigen (PSA). After androgen deprivation, 20 of the 21 initially positive patients either became negative (n = 16) or showed at least a reduction in the concentration of CK‐positive cells (n = 4). Moreover, only 2 of the 15 patients with negative pre‐treatment findings became positive. All of the 7 patients with remaining tumor cells in the bone marrow after therapy showed no detectable amounts of PSA in their serum. Our findings suggest that serum PSA concentration is no indicator of micrometastatic disease in bone marrow. Neoadjuvant androgen deprivation appears to eliminate disseminated CK‐positive tumor cells present in bone marrow, a preferred site of overt metastasis in prostate cancer patients. Int. J. Cancer 71:521‐525, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Epidermal differentiation: the bare essentials

N the past ten years, there have been a number of major scientific discoveries in the field of epidermal differentiation. We owe many of these findings to the development of model tissue culture systems, and to technological advances in molecular biology. In this article, I will review some important aspects of the biology of terminal differentiation in vivo and in vitro, and highlight the recent advances in elucidating the molecular mechanism underlying these processes.
Rating Fraud Detection - Towards Designing a Trustworthy Reputation Systems

Reputation systems could help consumers avoid transaction risk by providing historical consumers’ feedback. But, traditional reputation systems are vulnerable to the rating manipulation. It will undermine the trustworthiness of the reputation systems and users’ satisfaction will be lost. To address the issue, this study uses the real-world rating data from two travel website: Tripadvisor.com and Expedia.com and one e-commerce website Amazon.com to empirically exploit the features of fraudulent raters. Based on those features, it proposes the new method for fraudulent rater detection. First, it examines the received rating series of each entity and filter out the entity which is under attack (termed as target entity). Second, the clustering based method is applied to discriminate fraudulent raters. Experimental studies have shown that the proposed method is effective in detecting the fraudulent raters accurately while keeping the majority of the normal users in the systems in various attack environment settings.
Morphological heterogeneity in the cervical dorsal root ganglion neurons of mice

The dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are said to be heterogeneous with respect to their morphology, function and neurochemistry. Light microscopic features for their categorization into different subsets remain inconclusive. The present study was attempted to outline certain important features of heterogeneity in cervical DRG neurons of mice. Five adult mice of either sex were perfusion fixed with 10% buffered formalin. Cervical DRGs from both sides were procured and processed for paraffin embedding. Observations were recorded from 10 μm-thick sections stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin. DRG neurons in general were arranged in clusters interspersed among the nerve fascicles. Most of them were round or oval in shape, ranging in sizes from 8 to 25 μm in cross section, had large centrally placed euchromatic nu-cleus and prominent central nucleolus. Each neuron was surrounded by 2 to 5 satellite glial cells. Some interesting observations included a) frequent (~ 30%) occurrence of binucleolate neurons; b) coarse Nissl granules forming a prominent peripheral ring and c) eccentric nu-cleus with central or eccentric nucleoli. It was concluded that mice cervical DRG neurons pos-sessing the afore-said interesting features required appropriate categorization in concurrence with their ultrastructural, neurochemical and functional characteristics.
Posture and Texting: Effect on Balance in Young Adults

Using a mobile phone while doing another activity is a common dual-task activity in our daily lives. This study examined the effect of texting on the postural stability of young adults. Twenty college students were asked to perform static and dynamic postural stability tasks. Traditional COP and multivariate multiscale entropy (MMSE) were used to assess the static postural stability and the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) was used to assess the dynamic postural stability. Results showed that (1) texting impaired postural stability, (2) the complexity index did not change much although the task conditions changed, and (3) performing texting is perceived to be more difficult.
Hitting and commute times in large graphs are often misleading

Next to the shortest path distance, the second most popular distance function between vertices in a graph is the commute distance (resistance distance). For two vertices u and v, the hitting time H_{uv} is the expected time it takes a random walk to travel from u to v. The commute time is its symmetrized version C_{uv} = H_{uv} + H_{vu}. In our paper we study the behavior of hitting times and commute distances when the number n of vertices in the graph is very large. We prove that as n converges to infinty, hitting times and commute distances converge to expressions that do not take into account the global structure of the graph at all. Namely, the hitting time H_{uv} converges to 1/d_v and the commute time to 1/d_u + 1/d_v where d_u and d_v denote the degrees of vertices u and v. In these cases, the hitting and commute times are misleading in the sense that they do not provide information about the structure of the graph. We focus on two major classes of random graphs: random geometric graphs (k-nearest neighbor graphs, epsilon-graphs, Gaussian similarity graphs) and random graphs with given expected degrees (in particular, Erdos-Renyi graphs with and without planted partitions)
Natural Fibers and Biopolymers Characterization: A Future Potential Composite Material

Abstract Now days, green composite materials are now gaining popularity for the various industrial applications. It is a combination of naturally occurring reinforcement like jute, sisal, flax, hemp, and kenaf; and matrix materials like biopolymers or bio resins which have been derived from starch, and vegetable oils. It is becoming more desirable due to its properties like biodegradability, renewability and environment friendly. The present paper presents the various natural fibers and their combinations with biopolymers. The paper also reflects the key issue related to hydrophilic nature of natural fibers and their remedies for a good fiber and bio polymer adhesion. Furthermore the strategy used and major attributes of the green composite are also discussed.
ERP in clouds or still below

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the market readiness to adopt the Cloud as the future ERP platform, by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) decision support methodology. Design/methodology/approach – Interviewing is conducted on the convenient sample, of enterprises from various industries. The interview is conducted through expert telephone interview and self-administered questionnaire. Results are then used as a basis for forming the weight factors necessary for the AHP decision model. Data are analyzed and synthesized using AHP and Expert Choice. Findings – Results demonstrate a huge interest for TCO reduction, but also a concern for data privacy and availability. Large enterprises want their data on local servers, while smaller companies tend to act as “first adopters”, mainly because of the cost benefits that Cloud offers. Finally, vendors see the hybrid solutions as the most suitable approach for the overall market, at least while current Cloud obstacles exist. Research l.
Chronic Changes in Skeletal Muscle Histology and Function in Peripheral Arterial Disease

BackgroundPeripheral arterial disease (PAD) is associated with an impairment in exercise performance and muscle function that is not fully explained by the reduced leg blood flow during exercise. This study characterized the effects of PAD on muscle function, histology, and metabolism. Methods and ResultsTwenty-six patients with PAD and six age-matched control subjects were studied. Ten of the PAD patients had unilateral disease, which permitted paired comparisons between their diseased and nonsymptomatic legs. All PAD patients had a lower peak treadmill walking time and peak oxygen consumption than controls. Vascular disease (diseased leg in unilateral patients and the most severely diseased leg in bilateral patients) was associated with decreased calf muscle strength compared with control values. In patients with unilateral disease, the diseased legs had a greater percentage of angular fibers (indicating chronic denervation) and a decreased type H fiber cross-sectional area (expressed as percent of total fiber area) compared with the nonsymptomatic, or control, legs. In diseased legs, gastrocnemius muscle strength was correlated with the total calf cross-sectional area (r=0.78, p<0.05) and type II fiber cross-sectional area (r=0.63, p<0.05). Activities of citrate synthase, phosphofructokinase, and lactate dehydrogenase in all 26 PAD patients (most diseased leg) did not differ from control values. Despite a wide range in citrate synthase activity in PAD patients, activity of this enzyme was not correlated with muscle strength or treadmill exercise performance. ConclusionIn patients with PAD, gastrocnemius muscle weakness is associated with muscle fiber denervation and a decreased type II fiber cross-sectional area. In contrast, the PAD patients displayed substantial heterogeneity in muscle enzyme activities that was not associated with exercise performance. Denervation and type H fiber atrophy may contribute to the muscle dysfunction in patients with PAD and further confirm that the pathophysiology of chronic PAD extends beyond arterial obstruction.
Semi-dwarf tef lines for high seed yield and lodging tolerance in Central Ethiopia

Tef [ Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the major cereal crop in the Horn of Africa, especially in Ethiopia where it is a staple food for over 60% of its 90 million population. The crop performs better than other cereal crops under extreme environmental conditions. The grain of tef is not only nutritious but also gluten-free, the cause for celiac disease, which affects humans world wide. The objective of this study was to evaluate the morpho-agronomic performance of newly developed semi-dwarf tef genotypes for grain yield and yield related agronomic traits under diverse environmental conditions. Twenty-four tef lines were evaluated, along with one local and three standard checks, at three locations in the Central Ethiopia. The mean squares due to genotypes, locations and genotype by location interactions were highly significant (P<0.01) for all the studied traits. Three genotypes, namely RIL- 91, RIL-244 and RIL-11, gave the highest seed yield, ranging between 4.4 to 4.7 t ha-1, compared to the popular and widely cultivated tef variety called Quncho which gave 4.2 t ha-1. Genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variations ranged from 0.002 to 173.9% and from 0.004 to 255.9%, respectively. The highest genetic advance (20.2 cm) and heritability estimates (86.7%) were obtained for plant height indicating that selection for this trait can be made easily. Grain yield showed significant and positive genotypic association with plant height, whole culm and second culm internode length, second culm internode diameter, number of spikelet per panicle and shoot biomass yield. Cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into six distinct classes. The first five principal components with eigenvalues greater than one accounted for 85% of the total variation. Generally, this study identified tef genotypes with better grain yield and reasonable lodging tolerance for further evaluation and eventual release to the farming communities. Key Words : Eragrostis tef, genetic advance, genotypic coefficients of variations, heritability, phenotypic coefficients of variation, tef
Plasma‐induced changes in the physiology of mammalian retinal glial cells: Role of glutamate

Plasma can leak into the nervous system when the vascular endothelial barrier is compromised. Although this occurs commonly, little is known about the effects of plasma on the function of cells in the central nervous system. In this study, we focused on the responses of glial cells, which, because they ensheathe the blood vessels, are the first cells exposed to leaking plasma. We used the perforated‐patch configuration of the patch‐clamp technique to assess the effects of plasma on freshly dissociated bovine and human Müller cells, the principal glia of the retina. To monitor the function of Müller cells in situ, we recorded electroretinograms from isolated retinas. We found that plasma activates an electrogenic glutamate transporter and inhibits inward‐rectifying K+ channels, as well as a transient outward current. Glutamate, a normal constituent of the blood, mimicked these effects. Unlike our recent findings with serum, which contains molecules generated by the clotting process, plasma neither activated a nonspecific cation conductance nor inhibited the slow PIII component of the electroretinogram, which is generated by Müller cells responding to light‐evoked changes in the extracellular potassium concentration ([K+]O). Taken together, our observations indicate that a leakage of serum into the retina compromises the regulation of [K+]O by Müller cells; however, when plasma enters the retina at sites of a breakdown in the blood‐retinal barrier, these glia can maintain K+ homeostasis while reducing the potentially neurotoxic levels of glutamate. GLIA 25:205–215, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Learning and predicting multimodal daily life patterns from cell phones

In this paper, we investigate the multimodal nature of cell phone data in terms of discovering recurrent and rich patterns in people's lives. We present a method that can discover routines from multiple modalities (location and proximity) jointly modeled, and that uses these informative routines to predict unlabeled or missing data. Using a joint representation of location and proximity data over approximately 10 months of 97 individuals' lives, Latent Dirichlet Allocation is applied for the unsupervised learning of topics describing people's most common locations jointly with the most common types of interactions at these locations. We further successfully predict where and with how many other individuals users will be, for people with both highly and lowly varying lifestyles.
A Natural Tetrahydropyrimidine, Ectoine, Ameliorates Ischemia Reperfusion Injury after Intestinal Transplantation in Rats

Background/Aims: Ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury after small bowel transplantation leads to inflammatory reactions and loss of structural integrity with subsequent graft contractile dysfunction in the early postoperative phase. The natural tetrahydropyrimidine ectoine (1-,4-,5-,6-tetrahydro-2-methyl-4-pyrimidine carboxylic acid; THP) protects the ileal mucosa and muscularis against effects of I/R injury in an experimental model of isolated graft reperfusion. The effects of THP treatment were evaluated in an established experimental intestinal transplant model. Methods: Isogenic, orthotopic small bowel transplantation was performed in Lewis rats (6 h cold ischemia time). Perioperative THP treatment (intraluminal/intravascular) groups were compared to vehicle-treated animals (after 3 and 24 h) and non-transplanted controls (n = 5/group). Park’s score defined the effects of I/R injury. The infiltration of neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages, mRNA expression of IL-6 and TNF-α, serum levels of IL-6 and NO and smooth muscle contractility were evaluated. Results: Improved graft outcome after intraluminal and intravascular THP treatment was defined by considerably ameliorated neutrophil infiltration and less histological signs of I/R injury (p ≤ 0.05). In the presence of THP, mRNA expression of IL-6 and TNF-α and IL-6 and NO serum levels were reduced and smooth muscle function was improved. Conclusion: THP treatment offers protection against the effects of I/R injury in intestinal transplantation in vivo, however, only as supplementary treatment option.
NBTI-Aware Synthesis of Digital Circuits

Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) in PMOS transistors has become a major reliability concern in nanometer scale design, causing the temporal degradation of the threshold voltage of the PMOS transistors, and the delay of digital circuits. A novel method to characterize the delay of every gate in the standard cell library, as a function of the signal probability of each of its inputs, is developed. Accordingly, a technology mapping technique that incorporates the NBTI stress and recovery effects, in order to ensure optimal performance of the circuit, during its entire lifetime, is presented. Our technique, demonstrated over 65 nm benchmarks shows an average of 10 % area recovery, and 12 % power savings, as against a pessimistic method that assumes constant stress on all PMOS transistors in the design.
Evaluation of a Clostridium perfringens Predictive Model, Developed under Isothermal Conditions in Broth, To Predict Growth in Ground Beef during Cooling

ABSTRACT Proper temperature control is essential in minimizing Clostridium perfringens germination, growth, and toxin production. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) offers two options for the cooling of meat products: follow a standard time-temperature schedule or validate that alternative cooling regimens result in no more than a 1-log10 CFU/g increase of C. perfringens and no growth of Clostridium botulinum. A mathematical model developed by Juneja et al. (Food Microbiol. 16:335-349, 1999) may be helpful in determining if the C. perfringens performance standard has been achieved, but this model has not been extensively validated. The objective of this study was to validate the Juneja 1999 model in ground beef under a variety of changing temperature and temperature abuse situations. The Juneja 1999 model consistently underpredicted growth of C. perfringens during exponential cooling of ground beef. The model also underpredicted growth of C. perfringens in ground beef cooled at two different rates. The results presented here show generally good agreement with published data on the growth of C. perfringens in similar products. The model error may be due to faster-than-expected exponential growth rates in ground beef during cooling or an error in the mathematical formulation of the model.
An N-path filter enhanced low phase noise ring VCO

A novel self-filtering scheme breaks the typical tradeoff between noise and power, enabling a ring oscillator to approach the phase noise performance of an LC oscillator. The prototype N-path filter enhanced voltage-controlled ring oscillator (NPFRVCO) achieves a measured phase noise of -110dBc/Hz at a 1MHz offset frequency for an oscillation frequency of 1.0GHz. The self-clocked N-path filter reduces the phase noise by 10dB and 28dB for 1.0GHz and 300MHz oscillation frequencies, respectively. Implemented in 65nm CMOS, the NPFRVCO occupies a die area of 0.015 mm2 and consumes 4.7mW from 1.2V power supply when operating at 1.0GHz. The NPFRVCO has a measured frequency tuning range from 300MHz to 1.6GHz and achieves a FoM of 163dB at 1MHz offset.
The ALICE Collaboration

All material supplied via JYX is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, and duplication or sale of all or part of any of the repository collections is not permitted, except that material may be duplicated by you for your research use or educational purposes in electronic or print form. You must obtain permission for any other use. Electronic or print copies may not be offered, whether for sale or otherwise to anyone who is not an authorised user. Technical Design Report for the Upgrade of the ALICE Inner Tracking System Collaboration, ALICE; Chang, BeomSu; Kim, Dong Jo; Kral, Jiri; Morreale, Astrid; Rak, Jan; Räsänen, Sami; Trzaska, Wladyslaw; Viinikainen, Jussi
Impact of HIV-1 Genetic Diversity on Plasma HIV-1 RNA Quantification: Usefulness of the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA Second-Generation Long Terminal Repeat-Based Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Test

The high genetic diversity of HIV-1 has a major impact on the quantification of plasma HIV-1 RNA, representing an increasingly difficult challenge. A total of 898 plasma specimens positive for HIV-1 RNA by commercial assays (Amplicor v1.5; Roche Diagnostic Systems, Alameda, CA or Versant v3.0; Bayer Diagnostics, Emeryville, CA) were tested using the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA second-generation (G2) real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test: 518 samples containing HIV-1 of known subtype, including 88 from 2 subtype panels and 430 harboring B (n = 266) and non-B (n = 164) group M HIV-1 subtypes from patients followed up in 2002 through 2005 at Necker Hospital (Paris, France), and 380 samples from 10 different countries (Argentina, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, France, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Morocco, Thailand, and Zimbabwe). HIV-1 RNA values obtained by G2 real-time PCR were highly correlated with those obtained by the Amplicor v1.5 for B and non-B subtypes (R2 = 0.892 and 0.892, respectively) and for samples from diverse countries (R2 = 0.867 and 0.893 for real-time PCR vs. Amplicor v1.5 and real-time PCR vs. Versant v3.0, respectively). Approximately 30% of specimens harboring non-B subtypes were underquantified by at least −0.51 log10 in Amplicor v1.5 versus 5% underquantified in G2 real-time PCR. Discrepant results were also obtained with subtype B samples (14% underquantified by Amplicor v1.5 vs. 7% by G2 real-time PCR). Similar percentages were observed when comparing results obtained with the G2 real-time PCR assay with those obtained using the Versant assay. Addressing HIV-1 diversity, continual monitoring of HIV-1 RNA assays, together with molecular epidemiology studies, is required to improve the accuracy of all HIV RNA assays.