Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of genetic variation in microRNA binding site in WNT1-inducible signaling pathway protein 1 gene on oral squamous cell carcinoma susceptibility

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which is the most common head and neck cancer, accounts for 1%–2% of all human malignancies and is characterized by poor prognosis and reduced survival rates. WNT1-inducible signaling pathway protein 1 (WISP1), a cysteine-rich protein belonging to the Cyr61, CTGF, Nov (CCN) family of matricellular proteins, has many developmental functions and may be involved in carcinogenesis. This study investigated WISP1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to elucidate OSCC susceptibility and clinicopathologic characteristics. Methodology/Principal findings Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze 6 SNPs of WISP1 in 900 OSCC patients and 1200 cancer-free controls. The results showed that WISP1 rs2929970 polymorphism carriers with at least one G allele were susceptible to OSCC. Moreover, compared with smokers, non-smoker patients with higher frequencies of WISP1 rs2929970 (AG + GG) variants had a late stage (stages III and IV) and a large tumor size. In addition, OSCC patients who were betel quid chewers and carried WISP1 rs16893344 (CT + TT) variants had a low risk of lymph node metastasis. Conclusion Our results demonstrate that a joint effect of WISP1 rs2929970 with smoking as well as WISP1 rs16893344 with betel nut chewing causally contributes to the occurrence of OSCC. WISP1 polymorphism may serve as a marker or a therapeutic target in OSCC.
Production and characterization of active recombinant human factor II with consistent sialylation

Coagulation factor II (prothrombin; FII) is the pre‐proteolyzed precursor to thrombin in the coagulation cascade. It has 10 sites of gamma‐carboxylation, which are required for its bioactivity, and is N‐glycosylated at three of four putative sites. Production of recombinant human FII (rhFII) using a platform fed‐batch process designed for monoclonal antibody production resulted in low levels of gamma‐carboxylation and sialylation. There have not been any prior reports of successful process development and clinical manufacture of rhFII with optimal, consistent gamma‐carboxylation and sialylation. In order to develop such a fed‐batch process, various process parameters were evaluated to determine their impact on product quality. Process temperature and temperature shift timing were important for both sialic acid level and gamma‐carboxyglutamate (Gla) level. In addition, vitamin K concentration and the type of surfactant used for preparation of vitamin K stock solution were also important for gamma carboxylation. A fed‐batch study performed with various medium additives known to be involved in the N‐glycosylation pathway, such as N‐acetyl‐d‐mannosamine (ManNAc), galactose (Gal), dexamethasone, and manganese sulfate, increased the level of sialylation and enabled the elucidation of some potential bottlenecks in the sialylation pathway. The optimized process based on these studies yielded a reduction in the level of missing Gla by 0.4 moles per mole of rhFII in cell culture and a nearly threefold increase in sialic acid level. The process was successfully implemented at the 2000 L scale where a high Gla level and sialylation levels were achieved in all GMP lots. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1991–2000. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ZnO film thickness effect on surface acoustic wave modes and acoustic streaming

Surface acoustic wave(SAW) devices were fabricated on ZnO thin films deposited on Si substrates. Effects of ZnOfilm thickness on the wave mode and resonant frequency of the SAWs have been investigated. Rayleigh and Sezawa waves were detected, and their resonant frequencies decrease with increase in film thickness. The Sezawa wave has much higher acoustic velocity and larger signal amplitude than those of Rayleigh mode wave.Acoustic streaming for mixing has been realized in piezoelectric thin filmSAWs. The Sezawa wave has a much better efficiency in streaming, and thus is very promising for application in microfluidics.
Effect of Duration of Disease on Ventilatory Function in an Ethnic Saudi Group of Diabetic Patients

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a leading cause of illness and death across the world and is responsible for a growing proportion of global health care expenditures. The present study was designed to observe the effect of diabetes mellitus on lung function in patients with diabetes belonging to a specific ethnic group, namely Saudis. Method: In this study, a group of 47 apparently healthy volunteer male Saudi patients with diabetes was randomly selected. Their ages ranged from 20 to 70 years. The patients were matched with another group of 50 healthy male control subjects in terms of age, height, weight, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Both groups met exclusion criteria as per standard. Spirometry was performed with an electronic spirometer (Schiller AT-2 Plus, Switzerland), and results were compared by a Student's t test. Results: Subjects with diabetes showed a significant reduction in forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) relative to their matched controls. However, there were no significant differences in the forced expiratory ratio (FE1/FVC%) and the middle half of the FVC (FEF25–75%) between the groups. We observed a significantly negative correlation between duration of disease and pulmonary function, as measured by FEV1 (r = 0.258, p = 0.04), FVC (r = 0.282, p = 0.28), and the middle half of the FVC (FEF25–75%) (r = 0.321, p = 0.014). Conclusions: Pulmonary function in a specific ethnic group of patients with diabetes was impaired as evidenced by a decrease in FVC and FEV1 compared to pulmonary function in matched controls. Stratification of results by years of disease revealed a significant correlation between duration of disease and a decline in pulmonary function.
Upper airways obstruction in 153 consecutive patients presenting with thyroid enlargement

Thyroid enlargement affects up to 10% of the British population. Surgery is indicated for severe tracheal compression, and assessment of a respiratory flow volume loop is regarded as the best method for evaluating upper airways obstruction. Upper airways obstruction is considered rare in patients with goitre and indicated by symptoms such as breathlessness and choking. To investigate the prevalence of this problem we performed a prospective study of euthyroid patients presenting with nodular or diffuse thyroid enlargement, including those with and without symptoms suggesting tracheal compression. We studied 153 consecutive patients (134 female, 19 male) referred to our thyroid clinic because of thyroid enlargement. Clinical evaluation included completion of standardised questionnaires concerning breathlessness1 and goitre symptoms. Plain radiography of the thoracic inlet was performed and flow volume loops were recorded.2 Flow volume loops showed upper airways obstruction in 51 of 153 patients (33%). Forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were expressed …
Emotion Regulation in Adolescents: Influences of Social Cognition and Object Relations – An ERP study

Abstract Aims: The use of emotion regulation strategies can reduce the intensity of negative experiences; event related potentials (ERP) specifically the late positive potential (LPP) is known to be sensitive to this reduction in adults. It is argued that individual differences play an important role in one‘s ability to regulate emotions. The current study aimed to explore neural correlates of emotion regulation in adolescents. The study aimed to replicate previous findings from studies on adult populations, to show that emotion regulation is associated with changes in the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP) in adolescents. It also aimed to examine neural changes associated with emotion regulation as a function of age and explore age-related differences in the scalp localisation of emotion regulation in adolescents. The study also aimed to explore whether individual differences, specifically the quality of internal representations of relationships, can predict neural activity associated with emotion regulation. Method: Event related potentials (ERP) of 53 adolescents (12 to 17 years old) performing an emotion regulation task were recorded. The social cognition and object relations scale (SCORS; Westen, 1995) was utilised in a narrative interview to obtain data about the quality of mental representations of relationships. Results: The study confirmed that the use of emotion regulation modulated the LPP in adolescence early in the emotion generation process. A relationship between the changes in the LPP and the age of the participants has been established, indicating that emotion regulation became more effortless with age. The study found that the quality of mental representations of relationships was able to significantly predict LPP amplitude related to emotion regulation. Conclusions: The findings suggest that emotion regulation becomes more effortless with age, and that internal representations of relationships are closely implicated in the ability to regulate emotions.
The effect of caffeine ingestion on skill maintenance and fatigue in epee fencers

Abstract The ergogenic effect of caffeine on sports performance focuses predominantly on endurance sports (Doherty & Smith, 2004) with little research on intermittent high intensity sports. This study aimed to explore the effect of caffeine ingestion on skill maintenance following fencing simulated exercise. Eleven competitive fencers participated (four female; seven male; age 33 ± 6.5 years). Following a maximal test to exhaustion, fencers completed two trials assessing accuracy and reaction times (Stroop test) before and after a fatiguing protocol designed to simulate the demands of a fencing competition. Skill testing involved 30 lunges to hit a target. 500 ml placebo or 3 mg · kg−1 caffeine supplemented drink was administered after the initial reaction and skill tests in a single-blind crossover design. The fatiguing protocol involved simulating six fights with 6-minute rests between each. Fencers rated their perceived exertion (arm, legs, overall) using the Borg scale. There was no overall effect of caffeine on total skill score (P = 0.40), however there was a tendency for fewer misses with caffeine (P = 0.10). Caffeine had no effect on the Stroop Test. Caffeine produced significantly lower perceived fatigue for overall (P < 0.01). These results provide some support for caffeine producing maintenance of skill and reducing perceived fatigue during fencing.
OSNR optimization in optical networks: modeling and distributed algorithms via a central cost approach

This paper addresses the problem of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) optimization in optical networks. An analytical OSNR network model is developed for a general multilink configuration, that includes the contribution of amplified spontaneous emission and crosstalk accumulation. The network OSNR optimization problem is formulated such that all channels maintain a desired individual OSNR level, while input optical power is minimized. Conditions for existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution are given. An iterative, distributed algorithm for channel power control is proposed, which is shown to converge geometrically to the optimal solution. The algorithm is valid for general network configurations, and uses only local measurements or decentralized feedback. Convergence is proved for both synchronous and asynchronous operation, which is particularly important for adaptation in a dynamic environment
The Evolution of Live-Bearing in Lizards and Snakes

Most reptiles lay eggs, but many lizards and snakes give birth to live young by retaining the eggs within the oviducts until birth. The origin of live-bearing in reptiles is investigated here by posing a theoretical model and testing the model with published data. Predictions are (1) that live-bearing should evolve in cold environments and (2) that maternal care of the eggs facilitates the evolution of live-bearing. Analyses of data from over 1,000 species of lizards and snakes reveal that live-bearing has evolved recently at least 38 times, and an additional 60 species show the intermediate evolutionary stages (egg retention). Tests of these data support the predictions: Species which have recently evolved live-bearing or show the intermediate stages are much more likely to be found in cold climates or have maternal care of eggs than are squamates in general. The presentation in this paper differs from those of most earlier workers in distinguishing the cases in which live-bearing arises from the cases in which a live-bearing species radiates and invades new habitats.
Pointwise stabilisation of a string with time delay in the observation

ABSTRACT Pointwise stabilisation is proposed in this paper for a string equation where the observation signal is subject to a time delay. Different from the boundary control, the feedback stabiliser is acting at the middle joint of the string. Well-posedness of the open-loop system and solvability of the observer are shown first. An observer system is then designed to estimate the state at the time interval when the observation is available, and a predictor system is designed to predict the state at the time interval when the observation is not available. Pointwise output feedback controller is introduced to make the closed-loop system asymptotically stable for the non-smooth initial values and exponentially stable for the smooth initial values, respectively. Simulation results demonstrate that the output feedback based on the observer and predictor effectively stabilises the pointwise control system with time delay.
Minimax Regret Bounds for Reinforcement Learning

We consider the problem of provably optimal exploration in reinforcement learning for finite horizon MDPs. We show that an optimistic modification to value iteration achieves a regret bound of $\tilde{O}( \sqrt{HSAT} + H^2S^2A+H\sqrt{T})$ where $H$ is the time horizon, $S$ the number of states, $A$ the number of actions and $T$ the number of time-steps. This result improves over the best previous known bound $\tilde{O}(HS \sqrt{AT})$ achieved by the UCRL2 algorithm of Jaksch et al., 2010. The key significance of our new results is that when $T\geq H^3S^3A$ and $SA\geq H$, it leads to a regret of $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{HSAT})$ that matches the established lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{HSAT})$ up to a logarithmic factor. Our analysis contains two key insights. We use careful application of concentration inequalities to the optimal value function as a whole, rather than to the transitions probabilities (to improve scaling in $S$), and we define Bernstein-based "exploration bonuses" that use the empirical variance of the estimated values at the next states (to improve scaling in $H$).
The impact of age on toxicity, response rate, quality of life, and survival in patients with advanced, Stage IIIB or IV nonsmall cell lung carcinoma treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel

The optimal treatment strategy for elderly patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung carcinoma has not been defined to date. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of a Phase III trial that treated patients who had Stage IIIB or IV nonsmall cell lung carcinoma with carboplatin and paclitaxel and analyzed the impact of age on response rate, survival, toxicity, and quality of life.
VNE-AC: Virtual Network Embedding Algorithm Based on Ant Colony Metaheuristic

In this paper, we address a virtual network embedding problem. Indeed, our objective is to map virtual networks in the substrate network with minimum physical resources while satisfying its required QoS in terms of bandwidth, power processing and memory. In doing so, we minimize the reject rate of requests and maximize returns for the substrate network provider. Since the problem is NP-hard and to deal with its computational hardness, we propound a new scalable embedding strategy named \texttt{VNE-AC} based on the Ant Colony metaheuristic. The intensive simulations and evaluation results show that our proposal enhances the substrate provider's revenue and outperforms the related strategies found in current literature.
Handoff Performance Comparison of Mobile IP, Fast Handoff and mSCTP in Mobile Wireless Networks

We compare the performance of three handoff protocols, namely Mobile IP, Fast Handoff and mSCTP. Among the three schemes, Mobile IP suffers from the lowest data throughput and longest handoff latency. Fast Handoff can perform better, provided that the mobile node can handoff to the new base station at an appropriate time instant when data forwarding between network routers begins. mSCTP supports multihoming; the mobile node does not need to determine the exact handoff time. Nevertheless, packet reordering and the subsequent fast retransmission degrades its handoff performance. To avoid these problems, adding some flow control operations in the transport layer is necessary. Flow control should be carried out in-sync with the handoff operations. This implies the transport layer should additionally recognise when do the handoff procedures start or finish. We therefore come up with a natural choice in designing a handoff scheme, which is to centralise the handoff and flow control operations in the transport layer.
Increase of meningeal blood flow after electrical stimulation of rat dura mater encephali: mediation by calcitonin gene‐related peptide

1 The dura mater encephali of the rat was exposed and the blood flow around branches of the medial meningeal artery was monitored with a laser Doppler flowmeter. Changes in the meningeal blood flow (MBF) following electrical stimulation of the dura mater at a parasagittal site were registered. The effects of human calcitonin gene‐related peptide (h‐αCGRP) and the CGRP antagonist (h‐αCGRP8–37) on the MBF were tested.
Application of essential oils as natural cosmetic preservatives

Abstract Nowadays, safety of chemical preservatives has been questioned by a big number of consumers. Traditionally used preservatives often cause skin irritation and lead to allergenic reactions. Growing demands for more natural and preservative-free cosmetics promoted an idea of the replacement of synthetic preservatives with essential oils (EOs) of antimicrobial properties. The antimicrobial effect of essential oil depends on content, concentration and interactions between the main active compounds. Effective preservatives should be characterized by a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity at a minimum concentration. Formulations containing both types of preservatives: essential oil and a synthetic one have been tested and proposed as a compromise that allows for reducing concentration of both components due to their synergistic activity. Although most essential oils are regarded as safe, some of them may cause risk of contact allergy or phototoxic reaction. A well balanced risk-benefit assessment of essential oils is one of the great challenges for scientists or health policy authorities. This paper presents current state of knowledge on essential oils focused on their antimicrobial properties, the assessment of their efficacy and safety as cosmetic preservatives. Streszczenie Bezpieczeństwo stosowanych obecnie syntetycznych środków konserwujących jest kwestionowane przez coraz większą rzeszę konsumentów. Przypadki reakcji uczuleniowych oraz potencjalne ryzyko wystąpienia innych problemów zdrowotnych spowodowało rosnące zapotrzebowanie na naturalne i pozbawione środków konserwujących kosmetyki. Zainicjowało również ideę zastąpienia syntetyków przez olejki eteryczne o właściwościach przeciwdrobnoustrojowych. Wyniki badań pokazują, że formulacja zawierająca zarówno olejek eteryczny, jak i syntetyczny środek konserwujący pozwala zmniejszyć stężenie obu czynników i dzięki temu osiągnąć lepszy efekt. Chociaż większość olejków eterycznych uważana jest za substancje bezpieczne, to niektóre z nich mogą powodować ryzyko uczuleń lub reakcji fototoksycznej. Dobrze skalkulowana ocena korzyści i ryzyka jest jednym z wyzwań stojących przed naukowcami oraz instytucjami zajmującymi się polityką zdrowotną. Artykuł prezentuje aktualny stan wiedzy na temat olejków eterycznych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem ich mechanizmu działania, skuteczności konserwującej w produktach kosmetycznych, a także kwestię bezpieczeństwa ich stosowania.
Environmental Conditioning of Skeletal Anomalies Typology and Frequency in Gilthead Seabream (Sparus aurata L., 1758) Juveniles

In this paper, 981 reared juveniles of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) were analysed, 721 of which were from a commercial hatchery located in Northern Italy (Venice, Italy) and 260 from the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (Crete, Greece). These individuals were from 4 different egg batches, for a total of 10 different lots. Each egg batch was split into two lots after hatching, and reared with two different methodologies: intensive and semi-intensive. All fish were subjected to processing for skeletal anomaly and meristic count analysis. The aims involved: (1) quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing whether differences in skeletal elements arise between siblings and, if so, what they are; (2) investigating if any skeletal bone tissue/ossification is specifically affected by changing environmental rearing conditions; and (3) contributing to the identification of the best practices for gilthead seabream larval rearing in order to lower the deformity rates, without selections. The results obtained in this study highlighted that: i) in all the semi-intensive lots, the bones having intramembranous ossification showed a consistently lower incidence of anomalies; ii) the same clear pattern was not observed in the skeletal elements whose ossification process requires a cartilaginous precursor. It is thus possible to ameliorate the morphological quality (by reducing the incidence of severe skeletal anomalies and the variability in meristic counts of dermal bones) of reared seabream juveniles by lowering the stocking densities (maximum 16 larvae/L) and increasing the volume of the hatchery rearing tanks (minimum 40 m3). Feeding larvae with a wide variety of live (wild) preys seems further to improve juvenile skeletal quality. Additionally, analysis of the morphological quality of juveniles reared under two different semi-intensive conditions, Mesocosm and Large Volumes, highlighted a somewhat greater capacity of Large Volumes to significantly augment the gap with siblings reared in intensive (conventional) modality.
ECG Feature Extraction and Classification Using Wavelet Transform and Support Vector Machines

This paper presents a new approach to the feature extraction for reliable heart rhythm recognition. This system of classification is comprised of three components including data preprocessing, feature extraction and classification of ECG signals. Two different feature extraction methods are applied together to obtain the feature vector of ECG data. The wavelet transform is used to extract the coefficients of the transform as the features of each ECG segment. Simultaneously, autoregressive modelling (AR) is also applied to obtain the temporal structures of ECG waveforms. Then the support vector machine (SVM) with Gaussian kernel is used to classify different ECG heart rhythm. Computer simulations are provided to verify the performance of the proposed method. From computer simulations, the overall accuracy of classification for recognition of 6 heart rhythm types reaches 99.68%