Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of Garbage Collection in MIT/GNU Scheme

Scheme uses garbage collection for heap memory management. Ideally, garbage collectors should be able to reclaim all dead objects, i.e. objects that will not be used in future. However, garbage collectors collect only those dead objects that are not reachable from any program variable. Dead objects that are reachable from program variables are not reclaimed. In this paper we describe our experiments to measure the effectiveness of garbage collection in MIT/GNU Scheme. We compute the drag time of objects, i.e. the time for which an object remains in heap memory after its last use. The number of dead objects and the drag time together indicate opportunities for improving garbage collection. Our experiments reveal that up to 26% of dead objects remain in memory. The average drag time is up to 37% of execution time. Overall, we observe memory saving potential ranging from 9% to 65%.
Stimulation of all epithelial elements during skin regeneration by keratinocyte growth factor

Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), a recently discovered 18.9 kD member of the fibroblast growth factor family has been shown to selectively induce keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation in tissue culture. To explore its potential stimulating keratinocyte growth and differentiation in vivo, we analyzed for the influence of KGF on epithelial derived elements within a wound created through the cartilage on the rabbit ear. KGF accelerated reepithelialization (p = 0.004) and increased the thickness of the epithelium (p = 0.0005) when 4-40 micrograms/cm2 recombinant KGF was added at the time of wounding. The regenerating epidermis showed normal differentiation as detected by cytokeratin immunostaining. Remarkably, however, KGF stimulated proliferation and differentiation of early progenitor cells within hair follicles and sebaceous glands in the wound bed and adjacent dermis. There was a transient but highly significant increase in specific labeling of cycling cells in both basal and suprabasal layers that extended into the spinous layer of the regenerating epidermis. As an indication of specificity, the inflammatory cells and fibroblasts within the wound were not influenced by KGF. The results indicate that KGF is unique in its ability to accelerate reepithelialization and dermal regeneration by targeting multiple epithelial elements within the skin. These results suggest that KGF may induce specific epithelial progenitor cell lineages within the skin to proliferate and differentiate, and thus may be a critical determinant of regeneration of skin. Furthermore, these findings illustrate the potential capacity of this system to analyze epithelial differentiation programs and disorders of epidermis, dermal glandular elements, and hair follicles.
Metastable beta-phase of benzophenone: independent structure determinations via X-ray powder diffraction and single crystal studies

Benzophenone was the first organic molecular material to be identified as polymorphic. It is well known that benzophenone crystallizes in a stable orthorhombic alpha-form (m.p. 321 K) with space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) and a = 10.28, b = 12.12, c = 7.99 A, [Girdwood (1998). Ph.D. thesis. Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland]. Here we report two separate structure determinations of the metastable beta-form (m.p. 297-299 K). Crystalline material of the metastable polymorph was obtained from a melt supercooled to approximately 243 K. The structure was determined from X-ray powder diffraction data by employing a novel, computational systematic search procedure to identify trial packing arrangements for subsequent refinement. Unit-cell and space-group information, determined from indexing the powder diffraction data, was used to define the search space. The structure was also determined from single-crystal diffraction data at room temperature and at 223 K. The metastable phase is monoclinic with space group C2/c and a = 16.22, b = 8.15, c = 16.33 A, beta = 112.91 degrees (at 223 K). The structures derived from the individual techniques are qualitatively the same. They are compared both with each other and with the stable polymorph and other benzophenone derivatives.
Differences in depressive symptoms between Korean and American outpatients with major depressive disorder

Previous epidemiologic studies have revealed that East-Asian populations experience fewer depressive symptoms than American populations do. However, it is unclear whether this difference applies to clinical patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This present study included 1592 Korean and 3744 American outpatients who were 18 years of age or older and met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. criteria for single or recurrent episodes of nonpsychotic MDD, and evaluated their symptoms of depression using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form. Korean patients scored significantly lower for guilt and depressed mood items, and higher for hypochondriasis and suicidality items than American patients did, after adjusting for total Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores. Conversely, no significant differences were found in quality and function of daily life between groups. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that Korean patients experienced less frequent depressed mood and guilt, including verbal and nonverbal expression of depressed mood [adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=0.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.08–0.23] and feelings of punishment (AOR=0.036, 95% CI 0.025–0.054) when compared with Americans after adjusting for age and sex. Conversely, Korean patients experienced more frequent suicidality and hypochondriasis, including suicidal ideas or gestures (AOR=2.10, 95% CI 1.60–2.76) and self-absorption of hypochondriasis (AOR=1.94, 95% CI 1.70–2.20). In conclusion, decreased expression of depressed mood and guilt may cause underdiagnosis of MDD in Korean patients. Early diagnosis of and intervention for depression and suicide may be delayed because of this specific cross-cultural difference in depression symptoms.
How Can We Improve Problem Solving in Undergraduate Biology? Applying Lessons from 30 Years of Physics Education Research

If students are to successfully grapple with authentic, complex biological problems as scientists and citizens, they need practice solving such problems during their undergraduate years. Physics education researchers have investigated student problem solving for the past three decades. Although physics and biology problems differ in structure and content, the instructional purposes align closely: explaining patterns and processes in the natural world and making predictions about physical and biological systems. In this paper, we discuss how research-supported approaches developed by physics education researchers can be adopted by biologists to enhance student problem-solving skills. First, we compare the problems that biology students are typically asked to solve with authentic, complex problems. We then describe the development of research-validated physics curricula emphasizing process skills in problem solving. We show that solving authentic, complex biology problems requires many of the same skills that practicing physicists and biologists use in representing problems, seeking relationships, making predictions, and verifying or checking solutions. We assert that acquiring these skills can help biology students become competent problem solvers. Finally, we propose how biology scholars can apply lessons from physics education in their classrooms and inspire new studies in biology education research.
Expression of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors in Smooth Muscle Metaplasia of Rectovaginal Endometriosis

To investigate expression of estrogen receptors (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) in smooth muscle metaplasia (SMM) outside the endometriotic foci of rectovaginal endometriosis (RVE). One hundred and ninety-five specimens were obtained from the rectovaginal areas of the 63 patients who were underwent laparoscopic surgery for RVE. The patients were divided into 3 groups: a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist group, a non-GnRH group, including a proliferative phase group, and a secretory phase group. Expression of ER and PR in the rectovaginal tissues of RVE were determined using immunohistochemical methods. Smooth muscle metaplasia occurred in 172 specimens (88.2%), and ER and PR expression were found in the smooth muscle cells in the SMM areas outside the endometriotic foci of RVE. The expression of ER and PR in the GnRH agonist group were significantly lower than those in the non-GnRH agonist group. This is the first report demonstrating ER and PR in the smooth muscle cells in SMM outside the endometriotic foci of RVE. The ER and PR were expressed in the SMM areas, but these receptors were not recognized in fibrotic areas. We could identify the expression ratio of these receptors during each menstrual phase, with or without administered GnRH agonist.
Neural basis of individualistic and collectivistic views of self

Individualism and collectivism refer to cultural values that influence how people construe themselves and their relation to the world. Individualists perceive themselves as stable entities, autonomous from other people and their environment, while collectivists view themselves as dynamic entities, continually defined by their social context and relationships. Despite rich understanding of how individualism and collectivism influence social cognition at a behavioral level, little is known about how these cultural values modulate neural representations underlying social cognition. Using cross‐cultural functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined whether the cultural values of individualism and collectivism modulate neural activity within medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) during processing of general and contextual self judgments. Here, we show that neural activity within the anterior rostral portion of the MPFC during processing of general and contextual self judgments positively predicts how individualistic or collectivistic a person is across cultures. These results reveal two kinds of neural representations of self (eg, a general self and a contextual self) within MPFC and demonstrate how cultural values of individualism and collectivism shape these neural representations. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Standardization of an Experimental Murine Model of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis

ABSTRACT Evaluating new therapeutic agents for invasive aspergillosis requires animal models that are reproducible among different laboratories. We therefore evaluated a murine model of aerosol infection in two independent laboratories and found a high level of both intra- and interlaboratory reproducibility of survival, fungal burden over time, and the efficacy of liposomal amphotericin B.
Techniques for Image Retrieval: Deformation Insensitivity and Automatic Thumbnail Cropping

We study several problems in image retrieval systems. These problems and proposed techniques are divided into three parts. Part I: This part focuses on robust object representation, which is of fundamental importance in computer vision. We target this problem without using specific object models. This allows us to develop methods that can be applied to many different problems. Three approaches are proposed that are insensitive to different kind of object or image changes. First, we propose using the inner-distance, defined as the length of shortest paths within shape boundary, to build articulation insensitive shape descriptors. Second, a deformation insensitive framework for image matching is presented, along with an insensitive descriptor based on geodesic distances on image surfaces. Third, we use a gradient orientation pyramid as a robust face image representation and apply it to the task of face verification across ages. Part II1: This part concentrates on comparing histogram-based descriptors that are widely used in image retrieval. We first present an improved algorithm of the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD), which is a popular dissimilarity measure between histograms. The new algorithm is one order faster than original EMD algorithms. Then, motivated by the new algorithm, a diffusion-based distance is designed that is more straightforward and efficient. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approaches are validated in experiments on both shape recognition and interest point matching tasks, using both synthetic and real data. Part III2: This part studies the thumbnail generation problem that has wide application in visualization tasks. Traditionally, thumbnails are generated by shrinking the original images. These thumbnails are often illegible due to size limitation. We study the ability of computer vision systems to detect key components of images so that intelligent cropping, prior to shrinking, can render objects more recognizable. With this idea, we propose an automatic thumbnail cropping technique based on the distribution of pixel saliency in an image. The proposed approach is tested in a carefully designed user study, which shows that the cropped thumbnails are substantially more recognizable and easier to find in the context of visual search. 1This work is supervised by Dr. Kazunori Okada at Siemens Corporate Research during my internship. 2Part of this work is jointly done with Bongwon Suh under supervision of Professor Ben B. Bederson.
Dermoscopic features of pigmentation in Laugier-Hunziker-Baran syndrome.

Laugier-Hunziker-Baran syndrome (LHBS) is a rare, acquired, benign disorder of hyperpigmentation often involving the acral regions and the oral and genital mucosa and is frequently associated with longitudinal melanonychia. Because the lesions of LHBS often resemble various other mucocutaneous hyperpigmentary diseases such as Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, Addison’s disease, and malignant melanoma, detailed examination for systemic involvement is required for differentiation from these disorders. Dermoscopy is a useful noninvasive technique for more accurate diagnosis of various cutaneous pigmented lesions, and therefore it should also be applied to the lesions of LHBS, but the dermoscopic features of this disease are not well described. We report here a case of LHBS with results of detailed dermoscopic findings of the pigmented lesions.
Comparison of Two Commercially Available Media for Detection of Bacteremia

An analysis of 3,795 positive blood cultures obtained from 1,718 patients in a 2.5-year evaluation of Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB) and Thiol Broth is reported. Isolation rates of Actinobacillus and Pseudomonas were significantly greater in TSB, whereas isolation rates of Streptococcus and Corynebacterium (aerobic and anaerobic) were significantly greater in Thiol. Otherwise, the two media were similar. Disregarding contaminants, anaerobic bacteria represented 11% of positive cultures and 20% of patients with bacteremia. Eleven per cent of the patients had polymicrobial bacteremia.
SCAR/WAVE is activated at mitosis and drives myosin-independent cytokinesis

Cell division requires the tight coordination of multiple cytoskeletal pathways. The best understood of these involves myosin-II-dependent constriction around the cell equator, but both Dictyostelium and mammalian cells also use a parallel, adhesion-dependent mechanism to generate furrows. We show that the actin nucleation factor SCAR/WAVE is strongly activated during Dictyostelium cytokinesis. This activation localises to large polar protrusions, driving separation of the daughter cells. This continues for 10 minutes after division before the daughter cells revert to normal random motility, indicating that this is a tightly regulated process. We demonstrate that SCAR activity is essential to drive myosin-II-independent cytokinesis, and stabilises the furrow, ensuring symmetrical division. SCAR is also responsible for the generation of MiDASes, mitosis-specific actin-rich adhesions. Loss of SCAR in both Dictyostelium and Drosophila leads to a similar mitotic phenotype, with severe mitotic blebbing, indicating conserved functionality. We also find that the microtubule end-binding protein EB1 is required to restrict SCAR localisation and direct migration. EB1-null cells also exhibit decreased adhesion during mitosis. Our data reveal a spindle-directed signalling pathway that regulates SCAR activity, migration and adhesion at mitosis.
A Survey Assessing The Contributing Factors To Substance Abuse Treatment In U.s. Corrections Settings

Title: A Survey Assessing the Contributing Factors to Substance Abuse Treatment in U.S. Corrections Settings Authors: Michael Soule, Frederick Altice (Section if Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT) Abstract: In light of the dramatic rise in incarceration due to the “War on Drugs,” we explored the contributing factors to substance abuse treatment (SAT) programming – in particular, evidence-based treatments like medication assisted therapy (MAT) – implementation in United States correctional settings (including jails, prisons, and community corrections facilities). We hypothesized that current funding availability would be the primary factor preventing and contributing to program implementation, but further hypothesized that an array of secondary factors such as overcrowding, geographic location, facility type, and attitudes and knowledge about MAT would also play a role. We mailed a survey to an enriched sample of 225 correctional units’ administrators (57 jails, 129 prisons, and 40 community corrections units) across the country, selecting for units previously identified by a national survey as being located in areas particularly likely to be affected by high rates of drug-related crime. 54.9% responded. As was previously recognized, a majority (81.5%) of units reported some form of SAT programming, but low levels of MAT implementation were identified (16.1%, a majority of which was methadone). Funding cuts were identified as the most pressing barrier to future treatment implementation as well as the greatest contributor to recent SAT program closure. However, Other factors, such as offender need and recidivism reduction were identified as factors contributing to program opening. Some geographic trends were noted, with respondents from the Southeastern US reporting less MAT availability as well as less willingness to implement it. Some differences were also noted across facility types, with jails much more likely than either prisons or community corrections to implement MAT. In a multivariate regression model, respondent score on a scale measuring attitudes towards methadone programming was the only factor significantly associated with current implementation of MAT. Both attitudes score and recent increases in SAT-specific budget were significantly associated with a willingness to consider implementing MAT in the future. We concluded that the bias towards counseling-based programming seen in our study was not unique and, taken along with the result that attitudes were more important than funding for current MAT implementation, this indicated that facility administrators’ comfort with a program was the most important factor and that funding would be allocated accordingly. In the interest of expanding evidence-based SAT programming in this high-need population, we suggest that a targeted education campaign may be useful in improving attitudes, and that pilot programs to show proof of concept in regions that lack MAT (Southeast and Southwest) would likewise be beneficial.
Coactivation of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in Malignant Mesothelioma as a Rationale for Combination Targeted Therapy

Introduction:To identify new therapeutic approaches in malignant mesothelioma (MM), we examined the expression and activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and the effects of specific RTK inhibitors and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin; the latter being of special interest in MM given the recent linkage between NF2 loss and mTOR activation. Methods:We performed a screen for mutated or activated RTKs in 14 MM cell lines and 70 primary tumors. Expression of phosphorylated RTKs was analyzed by Western blotting and a membrane-based antibody array in normal growth conditions and after treatment by specific inhibitors. MET and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations were screened by sequencing. MET, hepatocyte growth factor, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor, and EGFR expression were studied by Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and by Affymetrix expression microarrays. Results:Profiling of the phosphorylation status of 42 RTKs showed prominent coactivation of MET and EGFR in 8 of 14 (57%) MM cell lines. MET, EGFR, and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor were the main RTKs activated after mTOR inhibition and contributed to AKT feedback activation. Knockdown of MET by RNA interference inhibited not only the phosphorylation of MET but also that of EGFR. Conversely, stimulation with hepatocyte growth factor increased both phospho-MET and phospho-EGFR. The combination of PHA-665752 and the EGFR inhibitor, erlotinib, suppressed cell growth more than either agent alone in three of six cell lines tested. Finally, combinations of rapamycin and different RTK inhibitors were more active than either drug alone in 12 of 13 cell lines. Conclusion:Combination targeting of kinase signaling pathways is more effective than single agents in most MM.
Whether Adoption Drivers Differ between Click-and-mortar and Pure-play E-payment Services?

How could traditional financial institutions attract online users? Should they mimic their online counter-parts, or compete based on an existing offline business? This research compares different effects of the adoption drivers between pure-play and click-and-mortar e-payment services based on a trust-based Valence Framework. Use intention is proposed to be affected by perceived benefit, perceived risk, and trust, which is in turn affected by familiarity, reputation and security protection. 276 subjects’ responses about Quick Pay (a pure online third-party payment) and Union Pay (an e-payment service offered by a traditional financial institution) were collected. The data analysis reveals: (1) the pure-play e-payment performs much better than the click-and-mortar e-payment except for information risk and property risk; (2) all the path coefficients are significant except the link between perceived risk and use intention for Union Pay; (3) most of the path coefficients for pure-play e-payment service are stronger than those of click-and-mortar e-payment service, except for the links between perceived benefit and intention, trust and perceived risk, and familiarity and trust. These differences can be attributed to different resource endowments owned by service providers. The results suggest that pure-play and click-andmortar e-payment should have different focuses when promoting their services.