Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recombinant erythropoietin in clinical practice

The introduction of recombinant human erythropoietin (RHuEPO) has revolutionised the treatment of patients with anaemia of chronic renal disease. Clinical studies have demonstrated that RHuEPO is also useful in various non-uraemic conditions including haematological and oncological disorders, prematurity, HIV infection, and perioperative therapies. Besides highlighting both the historical and functional aspects of RHuEPO, this review discusses the applications of RHuEPO in clinical practice and the potential problems of RHuEPO treatment.
CsAGP1, a Gibberellin-Responsive Gene from Cucumber Hypocotyls, Encodes a Classical Arabinogalactan Protein and Is Involved in Stem Elongation

Fluorescence differential display was used to isolate the gibberellin (GA)-responsive gene, CsAGP1, from cucumber (Cucumis sativus) hypocotyls. A sequence analysis ofCsAGP1 indicated that the gene putatively encodes a “classical” arabinogalactan protein (AGP) in cucumber. Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants overexpressingCsAGP1 under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter produced a Y(βGlc)3-reactive proteoglycan in addition to AGPs present in wild-type tobacco plants. Immuno-dot blotting of the product, using anti-AGP antibodies, showed that the CsAGP1 protein had the AGP epitopes common to AGP families. The transcription level of CsAGP1 in cucumber hypocotyls increased in response not only to GA but also to indole-3-acetic acid. Although CsAGP1 is expressed in most vegetative tissues of cucumber, including the shoot apices and roots, the GA treatment resulted in an increase in the mRNA level of CsAGP1 only in the upper part of the hypocotyls. Y(βGlc)3, which selectively binds AGPs, inhibited the hormone-promoted elongation of cucumber seedling hypocotyls. Transgenic plants ectopically expressingCsAGP1 showed a taller stature and earlier flowering than the wild-type plants. These observations suggest thatCsAGP1 is involved in stem elongation.
Word Sense Ambiguation: Clustering Related Senses

This paper describes a heuristic approach to automatically identifying which senses of a machinereadable dictionary (MRD) headword are semantically related versus those which correspond to fundamentally different senses of the word. The inclusion of this information in a lexical database profoundly alters the nature of sense disambiguation: the appropriate "sense" of a polysemous word may now correspond to some set of related senses. Our technique offers benefits both for on-line semantic processing and for the challenging task of mapping word senses across multiple MRDs in creating a merged lexical database.
Data Delivery Properties of Human Contact Networks

Pocket Switched Networks take advantage of social contacts to opportunistically create data paths over time. This work employs empirical traces to examine the effect of the human contact process on data delivery in such networks. The contact occurrence distribution is found to be highly uneven: contacts between a few node pairs occur too frequently, leading to inadequate mixing in the network, while the majority of contacts occur rarely, but are essential for global connectivity. This distribution of contacts leads to a significant variation in the fraction of node pairs that can be connected over time windows of similar duration. Good time windows tend to have a large clique of nodes that can all reach each other. It is shown that the clustering coefficient of the contact graph over a time window is a good predictor of achievable connectivity. We then examine all successful paths found by flooding and show that though delivery times vary widely, randomly sampling a small number of paths between each source and destination is sufficient to yield a delivery time distribution close to that of flooding over all paths. This result suggests that the rate at which the network can deliver data is remarkably robust to path failures.
A Theoretical Analysis of First Heuristics of Crowdsourced Entity Resolution

Entity resolution (ER) is the task of identifying all records in a database that refer to the same underlying entity, and are therefore duplicates of each other. Due to inherent ambiguity of data representation and poor data quality, ER is a challenging task for any automated process. As a remedy, human-powered ER via crowdsourcing has become popular in recent years. Using crowd to answer queries is costly and time consuming. Furthermore, crowd-answers can often be faulty. Therefore, crowd-based ER methods aim to minimize human participation without sacrificing the quality and use a computer generated similarity matrix actively. While, some of these methods perform well in practice, no theoretical analysis exists for them, and further their worst case performances do not reflect the experimental findings. This creates a disparity in the understanding of the popular heuristics for this problem. In this paper, we make the first attempt to close this gap. We provide a thorough analysis of the prominent heuristic algorithms for crowd-based ER. We justify experimental observations with our analysis and information theoretic lower bounds.
Unraveling the Specific Ischemic Core and Penumbra Transcriptome in the Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Mouse Model Brain Treated with the Neuropeptide PACAP38

Our group has been systematically investigating the effects of the neuropeptide pituitary adenylate-cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) on the ischemic brain. To do so, we have established and utilized the permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (PMCAO) mouse model, in which PACAP38 (1 pmol) injection is given intracerebroventrically and compared to a control saline (0.9% sodium chloride, NaCl) injection, to unravel genome-wide gene expression changes using a high-throughput DNA microarray analysis approach. In our previous studies, we have accumulated a large volume of data (gene inventory) from the whole brain (ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres) after both PMCAO and post-PACAP38 injection. In our latest research, we have targeted specifically infarct or ischemic core (hereafter abbreviated IC) and penumbra (hereafter abbreviated P) post-PACAP38 injections in order to re-examine the transcriptome at 6 and 24 h post injection. The current study aims to delineate the specificity of expression and localization of differentially expressed molecular factors influenced by PACAP38 in the IC and P regions. Utilizing the mouse 4 × 44 K whole genome DNA chip we show numerous changes (≧/≦ 1.5/0.75-fold) at both 6 h (654 and 456, and 522 and 449 up- and down-regulated genes for IC and P, respectively) and 24 h (2568 and 2684, and 1947 and 1592 up- and down-regulated genes for IC and P, respectively) after PACAP38 treatment. Among the gene inventories obtained here, two genes, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) and transthyretin (Ttr) were found to be induced by PACAP38 treatment, which we had not been able to identify previously using the whole hemisphere transcriptome analysis. Using bioinformatics analysis by pathway- or specific-disease-state focused gene classifications and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) the differentially expressed genes are functionally classified and discussed. Among these, we specifically discuss some novel and previously identified genes, such as alpha hemoglobin stabilizing protein (Ahsp), cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (Camp), chemokines, interferon beta 1 (Ifnb1), and interleukin 6 (Il6) in context of PACAP38-mediated neuroprotection in the ischemic brain. Taken together, the DNA microarray analysis provides not only a great resource for further study, but also reinforces the importance of region-specific analyses in genome-wide identification of target molecular factors that might play a role in the neuroprotective function of PACAP38.
Listeners and Readers Generalize Their Experience With Word Meanings Across Modalities

Research has shown that adults’ lexical-semantic representations are surprisingly malleable. For instance, the interpretation of ambiguous words (e.g., bark) is influenced by experience such that recently encountered meanings become more readily available (Rodd et al., 2016, 2013). However, the mechanism underlying this word-meaning priming effect remains unclear, and competing accounts make different predictions about the extent to which information about word meanings that is gained within one modality (e.g., speech) is transferred to the other modality (e.g., reading) to aid comprehension. In two Web-based experiments, ambiguous target words were primed with either written or spoken sentences that biased their interpretation toward a subordinate meaning, or were unprimed. About 20 min after the prime exposure, interpretation of these target words was tested by presenting them in either written or spoken form, using word association (Experiment 1, N = 78) and speeded semantic relatedness decisions (Experiment 2, N = 181). Both experiments replicated the auditory unimodal priming effect shown previously (Rodd et al., 2016, 2013) and revealed significant cross-modal priming: primed meanings were retrieved more frequently and swiftly across all primed conditions compared with the unprimed baseline. Furthermore, there were no reliable differences in priming levels between unimodal and cross-modal prime-test conditions. These results indicate that recent experience with ambiguous word meanings can bias the reader’s or listener’s later interpretation of these words in a modality-general way. We identify possible loci of this effect within the context of models of long-term priming and ambiguity resolution.
Formal reduction of linear difference systems

Since Turrittin [8], the formal reduction of difference systems or of difference equations has been studied in many ways [4], [5], [7]. The different methods lead to the result of Turrittin either in forms of classification or in forms of formal solutions. To construct a canonical form for a given invertible linear difference system with nilpotent leading matrix we proceed by using the theory of orbits under the adjoint action of GL(n,C) on gl(n,C) [1]. Though the reduction procedure of both the differential and difference systems is similar, we encounter some phenomena which do not appear in the differential case.
In Situ Observations of Ice Particle Losses in a Young Persistent Contrail

We describe results of in situ observations of a 1‐ to 2‐min‐old contrail in the vortex phase generated from soot‐rich exhaust (>1015 emitted soot particles per kilogram of fuel burned). Simultaneous measurements of soot (EIsoot) and apparent ice (AEIice) particle number emission indices show a pronounced anticorrelation in the vertical contrail profile. AEIice decrease by about 75% with increasing distance below the contrail‐producing aircraft, while EIsoot increase by an equivalent relative fraction, therefore strongly suggesting ice particle formation to be soot‐controlled and losses to be caused by sublimation. Quantifying these losses in measurements helps to validate and improve contrail parameterizations used to estimate the climate impact of contrails and contrail cirrus. Our study further demonstrates the challenges in the performance and interpretation of particle measurements in young contrails and lends itself to suggestions for improving contrail data evaluation.
Fundamental Limits of MIMO Capacity for Spatially Constrained Arrays

In this paper we investigate the capacity behavior of spatial constrained multiple-antenna array communications. By increasing the number of antennas within a fixed region of space the antenna array becomes dense and spatial correlation inhibits capacity growth. Using a novel spatial channel model we show that the underlying physics of wave propagation limits the capacity of constrained arrays. A theoretically derived antenna saturation point is shown to exist for dense array MIMO systems, at which there is no capacity growth with increasing antenna numbers. We show this saturation point increases linearly with the radius of the region, and that it naturally lends itself to a definition for the the- oretical maximum capacity for a fixed region of space.
Optimal Investment and Premium Policies Under Risk Shifting and Solvency Regulation

Limited liability creates an incentive for insurers to increase the risk of the assets and liabilities at the expense of policyholders. We show that solvency capital requirements restrict the set of feasible investment and premium policies and can thereby improve efficiency under the risk shifting problem. This finding becomes particularly important in light of Solvency II, the forthcoming European risk-based solvency regime for insurers. We provide evidence for Solvency II related efficiency effects in a calibration study for a non-life insurer average portfolio.
Avulsion of the proximal hamstring origin. Surgical technique.

BACKGROUND The torn hamstring is a common athletic injury. The purpose of the present study was to review the clinical presentation of this injury, the diagnostic imaging findings, the surgical technique of reattachment, and the likely clinical outcome of surgery for the treatment of avulsion of the proximal hamstring origin. METHODS Seventy-two consecutive reconstructions in seventy-one patients with avulsion of the proximal hamstring origin were performed at a single center. The mean age at the time of the operation was 40.2 years. The mean duration of follow-up was twenty-four months, and all patients with a minimum duration of follow-up of six months were included. There were no exclusions. Patients were independently reviewed, and the mean postoperative isotonic hamstring strength was compared with that on the uninjured side. RESULTS Waterskiing was the most frequent cause of injury (twenty-one cases). The mean time between the injury and the operation was twelve months. The most common pathological finding was a complete avulsion of the proximal hamstring origin (sixty-three cases; 87.5%), with a mean retraction of 7 cm (range, 0 to 20 cm). The mean postoperative isotonic hamstring strength measured 84% (range, 43% to 122%) and the mean postoperative hamstring endurance measured 89% (range, 26% to 161%) when compared with the values on the contralateral side. CONCLUSIONS It is important to distinguish proximal hamstring origin avulsions (for which we recommend early surgical repair) from the majority of hamstring muscle injuries (which respond well to nonoperative treatment). The present study suggests that, in cases of complete avulsion with hamstring retraction, a delay in surgical repair renders the repair more technically challenging, may increase the likelihood of sciatic nerve involvement, increases the need for postoperative bracing, and reduces postoperative outcome in terms of hamstring strength and endurance. Once the nature of the injury has been established, the surgical treatment of hamstring origin avulsions has predictable and satisfactory results.
Futuristic Greedy Approach to Sparse Unmixing of Hyperspectral Data

Spectra measured at a single pixel of a remotely sensed hyperspectral image is usually a mixture of multiple spectral signatures (endmembers) corresponding to different materials on the ground. Sparse unmixing assumes that a mixed pixel is a sparse linear combination of different spectra already available in a spectral library. It uses sparse approximation (SA) techniques to solve the hyperspectral unmixing problem. Among these techniques, greedy algorithms suite well to sparse unmixing. However, their accuracy is immensely compromised by the high correlation of the spectra of different materials. This paper proposes a novel greedy algorithm, called OMP-Star, that shows robustness against the high correlation of spectral signatures. We preprocess the signals with spectral derivatives before they are used by the algorithm. To approximate the mixed pixel spectra, the algorithm employs a futuristic greedy approach that, if necessary, considers its future iterations before identifying an endmember. We also extend OMP-Star to exploit the nonnegativity of spectral mixing. Experiments on simulated and real hyperspectral data show that the proposed algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art greedy algorithms. Moreover, the proposed approach achieves results comparable to convex relaxation-based SA techniques, while maintaining the advantages of greedy approaches.
Automatic Refinement of a POS Tagger Using a Reliable Parser and Plain Text Corpora

This paper proposes a new unsupervised learning method for obtaining English part-of-speech (POS) disambiguation rules which would improve the accuracy of a POS tagger. This method has been implemented in the experimental system APRAS (Automatic POS Rule Acquisition System), which extracts POS disambiguation rules from plain text corpora by utilizing different types of coded linguistic knowledge, i.e., POS tagging rules and syntactic parsing rules, which are already stored in a fully implemented MT system.In our experiment, the obtained rules were applied to 1.7% of the sentences in a non-training corpus. For this group of sentences, 78.4% of the changes made in tagging results were an improvement. We also saw a 15.5% improvement in tagging and parsing speed and an 8.0% increase of parsable sentences.
lncRNA PVT1 and its splicing variant function as competing endogenous RNA to regulate clear cell renal cell carcinoma progression

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) exert critical regulatory roles in the development and progression of several cancers. Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1), an lncRNA, was shown to be upregulated in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) in our study, while Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analysis showed that high expression of PVT1 was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) in ccRCC patients. In vitro experiments revealed that PVT1 promoted renal cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while in vivo studies confirmed its oncogenic roles in ccRCC. Further bioinformatic analysis and RNA immunoprecipitation revealed that PVT1 could function as an oncogenic transcript partly through sponging miR-200s to regulate BMI1, ZEB1 and ZEB2 expression. Besides, a novel splicing variant of PVT1 lacking exon 4 (PVT1ΔE4) was found to have a higher expression in ccRCC and could also promote cell proliferation and invasion as the full-length transcript did. Besides, SRSF1 decreased the inclusion of exon 4 of full-length transcript and increased the relative expression of PVT1ΔE4 in ccRCC. Mechanistic investigations indicated that PVT1ΔE4 could also upregulate the expression of BMI1, ZEB1 and ZEB2 through interacting with miR-200s. Our study helps reveal new molecular events in ccRCC and provides promising diagnostic and therapeutic targets for this disease.
Biostratigraphy of the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the East Texas Embayment Based on Planktonic Foraminifera.

The biostratigraphic study of the topmost Cretaceous strata in the East Texas Embayment based on planktonic foraminifera, has yielded the following results. The presence of a saddle shaped arch, referred to as the Grimes-Angelina topographic high, which was undergoing erosion during Maastrichtian and Danian times. The topmost preserved Cretaceous along the trend of the topographic high ranges in age from Campanian to mid­ dle Maastrichtian. The existence of active faults at the end of the Cretaceous for portions of the Mexia-Talco fault system, is suggested by the pres­ ence of thick intervals of Midway strata containing reworked Cretaceous fossils located in two separate areas in the vicinity of Freestone and Limestone counties. In addition, at least some minor fault movement in the Mount Enterprise fault system is indicated by the presence of late early Maastrichtian age strata at the top of the Cretaceous in a well in Leon County located just south of a fault. The remainder of the East Texas Embayment appears to have had no major tectonic movements at the end of the Cretaceous. For most of the East Texas Embayment, the age of the topmost Cretaceous strata appears to be late middle Maastrichtian. CHAPTER
Variabilité verticale de la composition granulométrique des limons de Petite Beauce (France).

En Petite Beauce, les materiaux limono-argileux a argilo-limoneux (limons Beauce) presentent frequemment une augmentation de la teneur en argile avec la profondeur. L'actuelle couverture pedologique s'etant developpee dans ces materiaux, une telle differenciation granulometrique peut resulter soit de processus pedologiques, soit de processus sedimentaires. L'origine de cette differenciation n'ayant pas ete clairement etablie, l'objectif de cette etude est de la discuter sur la base d'un ensemble granulometriques.
Induction of transient macroapertures in endothelial cells through RhoA inhibition by Staphylococcus aureus factors

The GTPase RhoA is a major regulator of the assembly of actin stress fibers and the contractility of the actomyosin cytoskeleton. The epidermal cell differentiation inhibitor (EDIN) and EDIN-like ADP-ribosyltransferases of Staphylococcus aureus catalyze the inactivation of RhoA, producing actin cable disruption. We report that purified recombinant EDIN and EDIN-producing S. aureus provoke large transcellular tunnels in endothelial cells that we have named macroapertures (MAs). These structures open transiently, followed by the appearance of actin-containing membrane waves extending over the aperture. Disruption of actin cables, either directly or indirectly, through rhoA RNAi knockdown also triggers the formation of MAs. Intoxication of endothelial monolayers by EDIN produces a loss of barrier function and provides direct access of the endothelium basement membrane to S. aureus.
Directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to blood-brain barrier endothelial cells

We report a defined method for differentiating human pluripotent stem cells to brain endothelial cells. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed of specialized endothelial cells that are critical to neurological health. A key tool for understanding human BBB development and its role in neurological disease is a reliable and scalable source of functional brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can theoretically generate unlimited quantities of any cell lineage in vitro, including BMECs, for disease modeling, drug screening, and cell-based therapies. We demonstrate a facile, chemically defined method to differentiate hPSCs to BMECs in a developmentally relevant progression via small-molecule activation of key signaling pathways. hPSCs are first induced to mesoderm commitment by activating canonical Wnt signaling. Next, these mesoderm precursors progress to endothelial progenitors, and treatment with retinoic acid leads to acquisition of BBB-specific markers and phenotypes. hPSC-derived BMECs generated via this protocol exhibit endothelial properties, including tube formation and low-density lipoprotein uptake, as well as efflux transporter activities characteristic of BMECs. Notably, these cells exhibit high transendothelial electrical resistance above 3000 ohm·cm2. These hPSC-derived BMECs serve as a robust human in vitro BBB model that can be used to study brain disease and inform therapeutic development.