Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How does electronic cigarette smoking affect sinonasal symptoms and nasal mucociliary clearance?

OBJECTIVE is to evaluate the sinonasal symptom scores and mucociliary clearance (MCC) after starting to use electronic cigarette METHODOLGY: This prospective randomized single-blind clinical trial was conducted between March 2013 and November 2013. Patients (n=98) admitted to smoking cessation clinic were divided into two groups; Electronic cigarette smokers (group 1) and non-electronic cigarette smokers (group 2). SNOT-22 and saccharin transit time for MCC were evaluated before starting electronic cigarettes and after the third months. RESULTS SNOT-22 scores and MCC time were evaluated between groups and within groups after 3 months. SNOT 22 scores and MCC measurements showed no difference between groups before the cessation of cigarette smoking (p >0.05). SNOT 22 results of both groups revealed statistically significantly lower scores after the three months (p < 0.05). However, SNOT-22 scores of group 2 was significantly better than group 1 (p > 0.05). Comparison of MCC results of group 2 revealed statistically significantly lower scores after the three months (p < 0.05). However, group 1 did not show any significant difference after three months (p > 0.05). There was a significant difference between the groups at the third month measurements (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Although EC is widely used as a method of quitting smoking, it has negative effects on the sinonasal symptoms and MCC.
Hysteresis modeling based on symmetric minor loops

This paper presents a method for modeling symmetric minor loops in hysteretic magnetic media. The method employs symmetric minor loops combined with certain segments of the initial magnetization curve to identify the classical Preisach model. The proposed method is simple and effective. It exploits the symmetric positions of the reversal points lying on the initial magnetization curve and, therefore, guarantees monotonic symmetric change of the Preisach model input used in the calculation of the Everett function. A further advantage of the method is that it permits the use of the numerical Preisach model and omits the need of higher-order reversal curves. The method is applied to the prediction of symmetric minor loops of semi-hard magnetic material by using the classical scalar Preisach model. The simulation and measurement results show the high accuracy of the method and validate the proposed approach.
Inclined plane tracking and erosion evaluation of filled and unfilled silicone rubber

Filler materials like alumina trihydrate (ATH) and silica are added to silicone rubber to improve their thermal resistance to heat that is dissipated during dry band arcing. In addition, the incorporation of these fillers into a rubber formulation lowers the cost of these compositions making it an attractive choice for manufacturers of outdoor insulation. Although various laboratory tests have shown that fillers are beneficial in preventing tracking or erosion, studies have not demonstrated which of the two materials perform better in actual field applications. Furthermore, some recent studies have shown that the presence of ATH is really not required to enhance the resistance to tracking and erosion. The aim of the present study is to compare the performance of filled and unfilled silicone rubber using the inclined plane tracking and erosion test. Material samples, prepared with either silica or alumina trihydrate are tested while a data acquisition system monitors the voltage and leakage current. The loss of material due to erosion is determined and correlated with the energy of dry-band arcing discharges.
The Structure and Dynamics of Gene Regulation Networks

The structure and dynamics of a typical biological system are complex due to strong and inhomogeneous interactions between its constituents. The investigation of such systems with classical mathematical tools, such as differential equations for their dynamics, is not always suitable. The graph theoretical models may serve as a rough but powerful tool in such cases. In this thesis, I first consider the network modeling for the representation of the biological systems. Both the topological and dynamical investigation tools are developed and applied to the various model networks. In particular, the attractor features’ scaling with system size and distributions are explored for model networks. Moreover, the theoretical robustness expressions are discussed and computational studies are done for confirmation. The main biological research in this thesis is to investigate the transcriptional regulation of gene expression with synchronously and deterministically updated Boolean network models. I explore the attractor structure and the robustness of the known interaction network of the yeast, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and compare with the model networks. Furthermore, I discuss a recent model claiming a possible root to the topology of the yeast’s gene regulation network and investigate this model dynamically. The thesis also included another study which investigates a relation between folding kinetics with a new network representation, namely, the incompatibility network of a protein’s native structure. I showed that the conventional topological aspects of these networks are not statistically correlated with the phi-values, for the limited data that is available.
Impacted Bone Allografts and a Cemented Stem after Failure of an Uncemented Stem: Preliminary Results

We reviewed the results of impaction bone grafting technique and a cemented stem in 27 consecutive patients with a failed uncemented femoral component. At an average follow-up of 55 months (25 to 94) none of the femoral components were removed or revised because of aseptic loosening or deep infection. In one hip a non progressive radiolucent line was observed in Gruen zone 5 with no clinical evidence of failure. The average postoperative Merle d'Aubigné and Postel Hip Score was 5.8 points for pain, 5.5 points for mobility and 5.4 points for gait. Revision of a failed uncemented stem with impaction grafting technique provided pain relief and improved function. The rate of success and restoration of bone stock were encouraging at mid-term follow-up.
Bimolecular Rate Constants for FAD-Dependent Glucose Dehydrogenase from Aspergillus terreus and Organic Electron Acceptors

The flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH) from Aspergillus species require suitable redox mediators to transfer electrons from the enzyme to the electrode surface for the application of bioelectrical devices. Although several mediators for FAD-GDH are already in use, they are still far from optimum in view of potential, kinetics, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. Herein, we investigated the efficiency of various phenothiazines and quinones in the electrochemical oxidation of FAD-GDH from Aspergillus terreus. At pH 7.0, the logarithm of the bimolecular oxidation rate constants appeared to depend on the redox potentials of all the mediators tested. Notably, the rate constant of each molecule for FAD-GDH was approximately 2.5 orders of magnitude higher than that for glucose oxidase from Aspergillus sp. The results suggest that the electron transfer kinetics is mainly determined by the formal potential of the mediator, the driving force of electron transfer, and the electron transfer distance between the redox active site of the mediator and the FAD, affected by the steric or chemical interactions. Higher k2 values were found for ortho-quinones than for para-quinones in the reactions with FAD-GDH and glucose oxidase, which was likely due to less steric hindrance in the active site in the case of the ortho-quinones.
Visuospatial coding in primate prefrontal neurons revealed by oculomotor paradigms.

1. Visual responses and their relationship to delay-period activity were studied by recording single neuron activity from the prefrontal cortex of rhesus monkeys while they performed an oculomotor delayed-response (ODR) and a visual probe (VP) task. In the ODR task, the monkey was required to maintain fixation of a central spot of light throughout the cue (0.5 s) and delay (3 s) periods and then make a saccadic eye movement to one of four or eight locations where the visual cue had been presented. In the VP task, the same visual stimuli that were used in the ODR task were presented for 0.5 s, but no response was required. The VP task was thus employed to test the passive visual response and, by comparison with cue-elicited activity in the ODR task, to examine the degree of behavioral enhancement present in prefrontal visual activity. 2. Among 434 neurons recorded from the prefrontal cortex within and surrounding the principal sulcus (PS), 261 had task-related activity during at least one phase of the ODR task, and 74 of these had phasic visual responses to the onset of the visual cues with a median latency of 116 ms. The visual responses of 69 neurons were excitatory, and 5 neurons were inhibited. Five of the neurons with excitatory visual responses also responded transiently after the offset of the cue. 3. Visual responses were classified as directional for 71 PS neurons (96%) in that excitatory or inhibitory responses occurred only for location of cues in a restricted portion of the visual field. Only 3 PS neurons were omnidirectional, i.e., responded equivalently to cues in all locations tested. 4. The best direction and tuning specificity of all PS neurons with directional visual responses were estimated from parameters yielding the best fit to a Gaussian-shaped tuning function. The best direction for the majority (71%) of neurons was toward the visual field contralateral to the hemisphere where the neuron was located. The remaining neurons had their best directions in the ipsilateral field (18%) or along the vertical meridian (11%). 5. The specificity of directional tuning for PS visual responses was quite variable, ranging from neurons that responded only to one of the eight cue locations to neurons that responded to all eight, but in a clearly graded fashion. The standard deviation parameter of the Gaussian curve indexed the breadth of directional tuning of each neuron; its median value was 37 degrees. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Influence of the laser parameters on the patterning quality of thin-film silicon modules

An analysis of the monolithical series connection of silicon thin-film modules with metal back contact fabricated by high speed laser ablation will be presented. Optically pumped solid state lasers with wavelengths of 1064 nm and 532 nm were used for the patterning steps. The near infrared laser is applied to pattern the TCO (P1) while the green laser is used for the ablation of the silicon layer stack (P2) and the back contact layer stack (P3). The influence of various laser parameters on the performance of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon modules was studied. In particular the back contact patterning and the Si removal can significantly affect the module efficiency. Non-optimized patterning conditions for P2 can lead to a high contact resistance, while the ablation of the ZnO/Ag back contact system can introduce shunts at the laser scribed line. Therefore, a criterion for flakeless patterning will be briefly introduced and the influence of flakeless back contact patterning on the electrical behavior of silicon single junction cells will be discussed.
Prediction of noncovalent Drug/DNA interaction using computational docking models: Studies with over 1350 launched drugs

Noncovalent chemical/DNA interactions, for example, intercalation and groove‐binding, may be more important to genomic integrity than previously appreciated, and there may very well be genotoxic consequences of that binding. It is of importance, then, to develop methods allowing a determination or prediction of such interactions. This would have particular utility in the pharmaceutical industry where genotoxicity is, for the most part, disallowed in new drug entities. We have previously used DNA docking simulations to assess if molecules had structure and charge characteristics which could accommodate noncovalent binding via, for example, electrostatic/hydrogen bonding. We here extend those earlier studies by examining a series of over 1,350 “launched” drugs for ability to noncovalently bind 10 different DNA sequences using two computational programs: Autodock and Surflex. These drugs were also evaluated for binding to the crystallographic ATP‐binding site of human topoisomerase II. The results obtained clearly demonstrate multiple series of noncovalent DNA binding structure activity relationships which would not have been predicted based on cursory structural examination. Many drugs within these series are genotoxic although not via any commonly recognized structural covalent alerts. The present studies confirm previously implicated features such as N‐dialkyl groups and specific N‐aryl ketones as potential genotoxic chemical moieties acting through noncovalent mechanisms. These initial studies provide considerable evidence that DNA intercalation may be an important, largely overlooked, source of drug‐induced genotoxicity and further suggest involvement of topoisomerase in that genotoxicity. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 54:668–681, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Can We Improve the Statistical Analysis of Stroke Trials?: Statistical Reanalysis of Functional Outcomes in Stroke Trials

Background and Purpose— Most large acute stroke trials have been neutral. Functional outcome is usually analyzed using a yes or no answer, eg, death or dependency versus independence. We assessed which statistical approaches are most efficient in analyzing outcomes from stroke trials. Methods— Individual patient data from acute, rehabilitation and stroke unit trials studying the effects of interventions which alter functional outcome were assessed. Outcomes included modified Rankin Scale, Barthel Index, and “3 questions”. Data were analyzed using a variety of approaches which compare 2 treatment groups. The results for each statistical test for each trial were then compared. Results— Data from 55 datasets were obtained (47 trials, 54 173 patients). The test results differed substantially so that approaches which use the ordered nature of functional outcome data (ordinal logistic regression, t test, robust ranks test, bootstrapping the difference in mean rank) were more efficient statistically than those which collapse the data into 2 groups (&khgr;2; ANOVA, P<0.001). The findings were consistent across different types and sizes of trial and for the different measures of functional outcome. Conclusions— When analyzing functional outcome from stroke trials, statistical tests which use the original ordered data are more efficient and more likely to yield reliable results. Suitable approaches included ordinal logistic regression, t test, and robust ranks test.
On the Complexity of Sparse Elimination

Sparse elimination exploits the structure of a multivariate polynomial by considering its Newton polytope instead of its total degree. We concentrate on polynomial systems that generate zero-dimensional ideals. A monomial basis for the coordinate ring is defined from a mixed subdivision of the Minkowski sum of the Newton polytopes. We offer a new simple proof relying on the construction of a sparse resultant matrix, which leads to the computation of a multiplication map and all common zeros. The size of the monomial basis equals the mixed volume and its computation is equivalent to computing the mixed volume, so the latter is a measure of intrinsic complexity. On the other hand, our algorithms have worst-case complexity proportional to the volume of the Minkowski sum. In order to derive bounds in terms of the sparsity parameters, we establish new bounds on the Minkowski sum volume as a function of mixed volume. To this end, we prove a lower bound on mixed volume in terms of Euclidean volume which is of independent interest.
The activity of Golgi transport vesicles depends on the presence of the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) and a soluble NSF attachment protein (alpha SNAP) during vesicle formation

An assay designed to measure the formation of functional transport vesicles was constructed by modifying a cell-free assay for protein transport between compartments of the Golgi (Balch, W. E., W. G. Dunphy, W. A. Braell, and J. E. Rothman. 1984. Cell. 39:405-416). A 35- kD cytosolic protein that is immunologically and functionally indistinguishable from alpha SNAP (soluble NSF attachment protein) was found to be required during vesicle formation. SNAP, together with the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) have previously been implicated in the attachment and/or fusion of vesicles with their target membrane. We show that NSF is also required during the formation of functional vesicles. Strikingly, we found that after vesicle formation, the NEM- sensitive function of NSF was no longer required for transport to proceed through the ensuing steps of vesicle attachment and fusion. In contrast to these functional tests of vesicle formation, SNAP was not required for the morphological appearance of vesicular structures on the Golgi membranes. If SNAP and NSF have a direct role in transport vesicle attachment and/or fusion, as previously suggested, these results indicate that these proteins become incorporated into the vesicle membranes during vesicle formation and are brought to the fusion site on the transport vesicles.
A quantization of twistor Yang-Mills theory through the background field method

Four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory formulated through an action on twistor space has a larger gauge symmetry than the usual formulation, which in previous work was shown to allow a simple gauge transformation between textbook perturbation theory and the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten rules. In this paper we study nonsupersymmetric twistor Yang-Mills theory at loop level using the background field method. For an appropriate partial quantum field gauge choice it is shown that the calculation of the effective action is equivalent to (the twistor lift of) the calculation in ordinary Yang-Mills theory in the Chalmers and Siegel formulation to all orders in perturbation theory. A direct consequence is that the twistor version of Yang-Mills theory is just as renormalizable in this particular gauge. As applications an explicit calculation of the Yang-Mills beta function and some preliminary investigations into using the formalism to calculate S-matrix elements at loop level are presented. In principle the technique described in this paper generates consistent quantum completions of the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten rules. However, by inherent limitations of the partial gauge choice employed here, this offers in its current form mainly simplifications for tree-level forestry. The method is expected to be applicable to a wide class of four-dimensional gauge theories.
Genotyping by sequencing resolves shallow population structure to inform conservation of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

Recent advances in population genomics have made it possible to detect previously unidentified structure, obtain more accurate estimates of demographic parameters, and explore adaptive divergence, potentially revolutionizing the way genetic data are used to manage wild populations. Here, we identified 10 944 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms using restriction‐site‐associated DNA (RAD) sequencing to explore population structure, demography, and adaptive divergence in five populations of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from western Alaska. Patterns of population structure were similar to those of past studies, but our ability to assign individuals back to their region of origin was greatly improved (>90% accuracy for all populations). We also calculated effective size with and without removing physically linked loci identified from a linkage map, a novel method for nonmodel organisms. Estimates of effective size were generally above 1000 and were biased downward when physically linked loci were not removed. Outlier tests based on genetic differentiation identified 733 loci and three genomic regions under putative selection. These markers and genomic regions are excellent candidates for future research and can be used to create high‐resolution panels for genetic monitoring and population assignment. This work demonstrates the utility of genomic data to inform conservation in highly exploited species with shallow population structure.
“Introducing Capisco: a semantically-enhanced search and discovery system for large-scale text corpora”

This article discusses a new approach to scholarly search and discovery in large-scale text corpora. While lexicographic search is at present the predominant means to access large document corpora, it cannot directly address the inherent ambiguity of natural language. As a pragmatic solution, many scholars manually build their own list of suitable search terms to be used in repeated searches in digital libraries and other online resources; however, scholars then have to resolve on a case-by-case basis issues caused by synonyms, homonyms and OCR errors. Our approach differs from this by supporting scholars in developing and refining a set of relevant concepts, searches a large document collection using semantic concepts, and categorizes the potentially relevant documents from search results into worksets. The developed technique revisits the notion of semantic search and redesigns both the underlying data representation and interface support. This is achieved through an end-to-end design that relies centrally on a Concept-in-Context network sourced through the link structure of Wikipedia. We discuss here the principles of our approach, its implementation in the Capisco prototype, and the relationship between established search techniques and our approach.
Efficacy of vaccination with recombinant vaccinia and fowlpox vectors expressing NY-ESO-1 antigen in ovarian cancer and melanoma patients

Recombinant poxviruses (vaccinia and fowlpox) expressing tumor-associated antigens are currently being evaluated in clinical trials as cancer vaccines to induce tumor-specific immune responses that will improve clinical outcome. To test whether a diversified prime and boost regimen targeting NY-ESO-1 will result in clinical benefit, we conducted two parallel phase II clinical trials of recombinant vaccinia-NY-ESO-1 (rV-NY-ESO-1), followed by booster vaccinations with recombinant fowlpox-NY-ESO-1 (rF-NY-ESO-1) in 25 melanoma and 22 epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients with advanced disease who were at high risk for recurrence/progression. Integrated NY-ESO-1-specific antibody and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were induced in a high proportion of melanoma and EOC patients. In melanoma patients, objective response rate [complete and partial response (CR+PR)] was 14%, mixed response was 5%, and disease stabilization was 52%, amounting to a clinical benefit rate (CBR) of 72% in melanoma patients. The median PFS in the melanoma patients was 9 mo (range, 0–84 mo) and the median OS was 48 mo (range, 3–106 mo). In EOC patients, the median PFS was 21 mo (95% CI, 16–29 mo), and median OS was 48 mo (CI, not estimable). CD8+ T cells derived from vaccinated patients were shown to lyse NY-ESO-1-expressing tumor targets. These data provide preliminary evidence of clinically meaningful benefit for diversified prime and boost recombinant pox-viral-based vaccines in melanoma and ovarian cancer and support further evaluation of this approach in these patient populations.