Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantification of HDL particle concentration by calibrated ion mobility analysis.

BACKGROUND It is critical to develop new metrics to determine whether HDL is cardioprotective in humans. One promising approach is HDL particle concentration (HDL-P), the size and concentration of HDL in plasma. However, the 2 methods currently used to determine HDL-P yield concentrations that differ >5-fold. We therefore developed and validated an improved approach to quantify HDL-P, termed calibrated ion mobility analysis (calibrated IMA). METHODS HDL was isolated from plasma by ultracentrifugation, introduced into the gas phase with electrospray ionization, separated by size, and quantified by particle counting. We used a calibration curve constructed with purified proteins to correct for the ionization efficiency of HDL particles. RESULTS The concentrations of gold nanoparticles and reconstituted HDLs measured by calibrated IMA were indistinguishable from concentrations determined by orthogonal methods. In plasma of control (n = 40) and cerebrovascular disease (n = 40) participants, 3 subspecies of HDL were reproducibility measured, with an estimated total HDL-P of 13.4 (2.4) μmol/L. HDL-C accounted for 48% of the variance in HDL-P. HDL-P was significantly lower in participants with cerebrovascular disease (P = 0.002), and this difference remained significant after adjustment for HDL cholesterol concentrations (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Calibrated IMA accurately determined the concentration of gold nanoparticles and synthetic HDL, strongly suggesting that the method could accurately quantify HDL particle concentration. The estimated stoichiometry of apolipoprotein A-I determined by calibrated IMA was 3-4 per HDL particle, in agreement with current structural models. Furthermore, HDL-P was associated with cardiovascular disease status in a clinical population independently of HDL cholesterol.
Connectivity-Based Parcellation of the Human Orbitofrontal Cortex

The primate orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in reward processing, learning, and decision making. Research in monkeys has shown that this region is densely connected with higher sensory, limbic, and subcortical regions. Moreover, a parcellation of the monkey OFC into two subdivisions has been suggested based on its intrinsic anatomical connections. However, in humans, little is known about any functional subdivisions of the OFC except for a rather coarse medial/lateral distinction. Here, we used resting-state fMRI in combination with unsupervised clustering techniques to investigate whether OFC subdivisions can be revealed based on their functional connectivity profiles with other brain regions. Examination of different cluster solutions provided support for a parcellation into two parts as observed in monkeys, but it also highlighted a much finer hierarchical clustering of the orbital surface. Specifically, we identified (1) a medial, (2) a posterior-central, (3) a central, and (4–6) three lateral clusters spanning the anterior–posterior gradient. Consistent with animal tracing studies, these OFC clusters were connected to other cortical regions such as prefrontal, temporal, and parietal cortices but also subcortical areas in the striatum and the midbrain. These connectivity patterns provide important implications for identifying specific functional roles of OFC subdivisions for reward processing, learning, and decision making. Moreover, this parcellation schema can provide guidance to report results in future studies.
Recent Progress in Nonperturbative QCD Theory and Insight on Cosmological Phase Transition

The QCD phase transition at finite temperature is studied with the dual Ginzburg-Landau theory, which is the QCD effective theory based on the dual Higgs mechanism by QCD-monopole condensation. At high temperature, the confinement force is largely reduced by thermal effects, which leads to the swelling of hadrons. Simple formulae for the surface tension and the thickness of the phase boundary are derived from the shape of the effective potential at the critical temperature. We investigate also the process of the hadron-bubble formation in the early Universe.
An efficient approach to detecting pedestrians in video

In this paper, we propose an efficient approach to moving pedestrian detection in video. This approach incorporates both motion and shape information and learns a codebook of shape context descriptors from a very small number of training samples. During the testing process, moving edgelets are firstly identified between adjacent frames using a local search method. Shape context descriptors for numerous sample points on identified edgelets are then produced and are matched against the instances of the learned codebook to generate initial hypotheses. The final hypotheses for pedestrians are obtained by pruning initial hypotheses. The proposed approach has the following advantages by comparison with the existing techniques: (1) lower computational cost, (2) lower false positive rate, and (3) fewer training samples. Experiments with a publicly available dataset confirm the performance of the proposed approach.
ATTENTIONAL FOCUS AND MOTOR LEARNING: A REVIEW OF 10 YEARS OF RESEARCH

Studies examining the influence of an individual’s focus of attention on motor performance and learning are reviewed. Those studies, conducted over the past decade or so, provide converging evidence that an external focus of attention (i.e., focus on the movement effect) is more effective than an internal focus (i.e., focus on the movements themselves). Advantages of adopting an external focus, induced by instructions or feedback, have been shown for a variety of motor skills, skill levels, and populations (including persons with motor impairments). Evidence in support of the constrained action hypothesis, which has been put forward as an explanation for the attentional focus effects, is presented. These findings indicate that an external focus promotes automaticity in movement control, with the consequence that the effectiveness and efficiency of motor performance is enhanced. Importantly, there is evidence to suggest that an individual’s focus of attention not only influences performance temporarily, but that it affects the learning of motor skills. The review ends with suggestions for future research. Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Uberblick uber die empirische Befundlage zum Einfluss der Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierung auf motorische Ausfuhrungs- und Lernleistungen gegeben. Die zu dieser Frage im Laufe der letzten Dekade durchgefuhrten Studien zeigen konvergierende Evidenz fur die grosere Effizienz eines externalen Aufmerksamkeitsfokus (d.h. Fokussierung des Bewegungseffekts) gegenuber einem internalen Fokus (d.h. Fokussierung der Bewegungen selbst). Vorteile eines durch Instruktionen oder Ruckmeldungen induzierten externalen Fokus wurden fur eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Bewegungsfertigkeiten, Fertigkeitsniveaus und Populationen demonstriert (einschlieslich Personen mit motorischen Defiziten). Daruber hinaus werden empirische Befunde prasentiert, die die „constrained action“-Hypothese als Erklarungsansatz fur die genannten Fokuseffekte unterstutzen. Nach diesen Befunden fordert ein externaler Fokus die Automatisierung der Bewegungskontrolle und damit effektive Bewegungsdurchfuhrungen. Von Bedeutung sind schlieslich Befunde, nach denen Aufmerksamkeitsfokussierungen nicht nur temporar auf die Bewegungsqualitat einwirken, sondern auch die langfristig uberdauernden Lernergebnisse beeinflussen. Der Ubersichtsbeitrag schliest mit einigen Anregungen fur die zukunftige Forschung.
The Economics and Management of World Fisheries

Over the past several decades there has been increasing interest in, and concern about, the economics of the world's capture fishery resources. Massive amounts of resource rent are being lost because of inadequate management and major rebuilding of fishery resources is called for. This book draws together the latest economic theory of the management of these resources, at both the national and the international levels, and highlights areas where further research is urgently required. The emphasis is on world capture fisheries, rather than fisheries of specific regions, and examples are drawn upon from both developed and developing countries. It combines economic theory and empirical testing with an examination and analysis of resource policy options, with particular emphasis on fisheries management polices at the international level, where some of the most difficult resource management problems are found. The authors maintain that capture fishery resources are properly viewed as a part of society's portfolio of natural capital assets. Consequently, a central theme of the book is that managing such resources should be viewed as asset management through time. Written by two leading authorities, this accessible textbook has been specially developed to meet the needs of students taking courses on fisheries management as well as professionals working in this area for governments and international organisations.
Is it really racism ? The origins of white Americans' opposition to race-targeted policies : Examinations of core concepts and processes

Les AA. se demandent si l'opposition des blancs americains aux politiques antidiscriminatoires en faveur de certains groupes raciaux peut etre consideree comme une attitude raciste. Ils s'efforcent de mettre en lumiere les raisons de cette hostilite. Ils examinent les formes de racisme au sein de la politique americaine. Ils presentent un certain nombre de donnees collectees en 1986. Ils analysent l'influence du niveau d'instruction en cette affaire. Ils affirment que l'attitude des blancs americains vis-a-vis des politiques antidiscriminatoires releve du racisme symbolique
Study of failure pattern among high-risk breast cancer patients with or without postmastectomy radiotherapy in addition to adjuvant systemic therapy: long-term results from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group DBCG 82 b and c randomized studies.

PURPOSE Postmastectomy radiotherapy (RT) in high-risk breast cancer patients can reduce locoregional recurrences (LRRs) and improve disease-free and overall survival. The aim of this analysis was to examine the overall disease recurrence pattern among patients randomly assigned to receive treatment with or without RT. PATIENTS AND METHODS A long-term follow-up was performed among the 3,083 patients from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group 82 b and c trials, except in those already recorded with distant metastases (DM) or contralateral breast cancer (CBC). The end points were LRR, DM, and CBC, and the follow-up continued until DM, CBC, emigration, or death. Information was selected from medical records, general practitioners, and the National Causes of Death Registry. The median potential follow-up time was 18 years. RESULTS The 18-year probability of any first breast cancer event was 73% and 59% (P < .001) after no RT and RT, respectively (relative risk [RR], 0.68; 95% CI, 0.63 to 0.75). The 18-year probability of LRR (with or without DM) was 49% and 14% (P < .001) after no RT and RT, respectively (RR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.19 to 0.27). The 18-year probability of DM subsequent to LRR was 35% and 6% (P < .001) after no RT and RT, respectively (RR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.20), whereas the probability of any DM was 64% and 53% (P < .001) after no RT versus RT, respectively (RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.71 to 0.86). CONCLUSION Postmastectomy RT changes the disease recurrence pattern in high-risk breast cancer patients; fewer patients have LRR as first site of recurrence, and overall fewer patients have DM.
Inhibitory effect of antagonists of bombesin and growth hormone-releasing hormone on orthotopic and intraosseous growth and invasiveness of PC-3 human prostate cancer in nude mice.

PURPOSE To determine whether antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide (BN/GRP) can inhibit the orthotopic and metastatic growth of PC-3 human androgen-independent prostate cancers. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN The effects of administration of GHRH antagonist MZ-J-7-118, BN/GRP antagonist RC-3940-II, and their combination on the growth and metastatic spread of PC-3 tumors implanted orthotopically into nude mice were evaluated. The efficacy of this treatment on PC-3 tumors implanted intratibially and s.c. was also determined. RESULTS Treatment with MZ-J-7-118, RC-3940-II, or their combination significantly inhibited the growth of PC-3 tumors implanted orthotopically, intraosseously, and s.c. The combination of the two antagonists had the greatest effect, inhibiting orthotopic tumor growth by 77%, intratibially implanted tumors by 86%, and s.c. tumors by 86%. The therapy with BN/GRP and GHRH antagonists, especially in combination, also reduced the local tumor spread and distant metastases in animals bearing orthotopic tumors. Combination therapy was likewise the most effective in reducing the incidence and severity of tibial osteolytic lesions and pathologic fractures in intraosseously implanted tumors. High-affinity binding sites for BN/GRP and GHRH were found in s.c. and orthotopic PC-3 tumor samples. MZ-J-7-118, RC-3940-II, and the combination of both compounds inhibited in vitro growth of PC-3 cells. CONCLUSIONS Our findings show the efficacy of BN/GRP antagonists and GHRH antagonists for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer in preclinical metastatic models. As BN/GRP antagonists are already in clinical trials and GHRH antagonists are effective in androgen-independent prostate cancer models, these analogues could be considered for the management of advanced prostate carcinoma.
Immuno-Therapy with Anti-CTLA4 Antibodies in Tolerized and Non-Tolerized Mouse Tumor Models

Monoclonal antibodies specific for cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (anti-CTLA4) are a novel form of cancer immunotherapy. While preclinical studies in mouse tumor models have shown anti-tumor efficacy of anti-CTLA4 injection or expression, anti-CTLA4 treatment in patients with advanced cancers had disappointing therapeutic benefit. These discrepancies have to be addressed in more adequate pre-clinical models. We employed two tumor models. The first model is based on C57Bl/6 mice and syngeneic TC-1 tumors expressing HPV16 E6/E7. In this model, the HPV antigens are neo-antigens, against which no central tolerance exists. The second model involves mice transgenic for the proto-oncogen neu and syngeneic mouse mammary carcinoma (MMC) cells. In this model tolerance to Neu involves both central and peripheral mechanisms. Anti-CTLA4 delivery as a protein or expression from gene-modified tumor cells were therapeutically efficacious in the non-tolerized TC-1 tumor model, but had no effect in the MMC-model. We also used the two tumor models to test an immuno-gene therapy approach for anti-CTLA4. Recently, we used an approach based on hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) to deliver the relaxin gene to tumors and showed that this approach facilitates pre-existing anti-tumor T-cells to control tumor growth in the MMC tumor model. However, unexpectedly, when used for anti-CTLA4 gene delivery in this study, the HSC-based approach was therapeutically detrimental in both the TC-1 and MMC models. Anti-CTLA4 expression in these models resulted in an increase in the number of intratumoral CD1d+ NKT cells and in the expression of TGF-β1. At the same time, levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which potentially can support anti-tumor T-cell responses, were lower in tumors of mice that received anti-CTLA4-HSC therapy. The differences in outcomes between the tolerized and non-tolerized models also provide a potential explanation for the low efficacy of CTLA4 blockage approaches in cancer immunotherapy trials.
Effect of thickness to grain size ratio on drawability for micro deep drawing of AISI 304 stainless steel

Although deep drawing process in the macro scale are well developed, the known concepts cannot be applied to micro deep drawing through directly scale down the specimen and tooling size due to the so-called size effects. Therefore, tensile test and micro deep drawing experiments were conducted to generate the knowledge for the micro deep drawing process. Stainless steel 304 foils with 4 different thicknesses (150μm, 100μm, 50μm and 20μm) were used to investigate the influence of the blank holder forces and T/D ratio (thickness/average grain diameter) on the limit draw ratio (LDR). Four female dies with different die diameters and die shoulder radii and one punch were used for this study. The experimental results show: 1) the required blank holder force increases with increasing of T/D ratio, 2) the limit drawing ratio (LDR) increases with increasing of T/D ratio and increases at a decreasing slope as T/D ratio becomes larger, and 3) the limit drawing ratio (LDR) becomes steady when T/D ratio > 10 for the as-received stainless steel 304 foils. Finally, the authors recommend having at least 10 grains throughout the stainless steel 304 foils thickness for obtaining better formability and steady deep drawing behavior for micro sheet forming.
Relationship between CES2 genetic variations and rifampicin metabolism.

OBJECTIVES Rifampicin is known to be deacetylated in vivo, resulting in its metabolite 25-desacetyl rifampicin, but the enzyme metabolizing rifampicin and the association of this process with any genetic variation have not yet been elucidated. In this study, genetic variations of a surrogate enzyme, carboxylesterase 2 (CES2), and their association with the metabolism of this drug, were investigated. METHODS Plasma concentrations of rifampicin and 25-desacetyl rifampicin were measured in 35 patients with tuberculosis receiving a first-line antituberculosis treatment. Direct PCR-based sequencing of the CES2 gene, covering all 12 exons, the 5'-untranslated region (UTR), the 3'-UTR and intronic and promoter regions, was performed. A dual luciferase reporter assay was carried out to assess whether variations in the promoter region affected the transcription of this gene. RESULTS Ten variations were detected, of which two were in the candidate promoter region, five in introns and three in the 3'-UTR. One of the variations in the 3'-UTR was a novel variation. Genotypes at three closely linked variations (c.-2263A > G, c.269-965A > G and c.1612 + 136G > A) and c.1872*302_304delGAA were associated with significantly different plasma rifampicin concentrations. The mean plasma rifampicin concentration significantly increased with the number of risk alleles at the three closely linked variations, while the plasma concentration decreased along with an increase in the number of risk alleles at c.1872*302_304delGAA. When HepG2 cells were transfected with a luciferase reporter construct bearing the c. -2263G allele, luciferase activities were consistently decreased (by 5%-10%) compared with those harbouring the c. -2263A sequence. CONCLUSIONS Variations in CES2, especially c. -2263A > G in the promoter region, may alter rifampicin metabolism by affecting expression of the gene.
Feature based terrain generation using diffusion equation

This paper presents a diffusion method for generating terrains from a set of parameterized curves that characterize the landform features such as ridge lines, riverbeds or cliffs. Our approach provides the user with an intuitive vector‐based feature‐oriented control over the terrain. Different types of constraints (such as elevation, slope angle and roughness) can be attached to the curves so as to define the shape of the terrain. The terrain is generated from the curve representation by using an efficient multigrid diffusion algorithm. The algorithm can be efficiently implemented on the GPU, which allows the user to interactively create a vast variety of landscapes.
Preliminary study of a low-cost point-of-care testing system using screen-printed biosensors: For early biomarkers detection related to Alzheimer Disease

Among neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer Disease (AD) represents one of the most widespread pathologies, for which an early diagnosis is still missing. A peculiar expression of an altered conformational isoform of p53 protein was reported to be a potential biomarker able to distinguish AD subjects from healthy population, quantifiable using a blood-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to overcome ELISA limitations, related to reliability and to improve sensitivity, this study aimed to realize a low cost highly sensitive portable point-of-care (PoC) testing system based on screen printed electrochemical sensors (SPES). The development of the platform specifically included both the design of the sensing probe and of the electronic circuit devoted to the conditioning and acquisition of the transduced electric signal. In particular, silver, carbon and silver-silver chloride were selected respectively to realize conductive tracks, working and counter electrodes, reference electrode in a three-electrodes configuration focusing on Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV). The conditioning circuit was designed following the scheme for a common potentiostat, and produced as a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Initial testing of the circuit were performed recording changes in the conductivity of NaCl solution and quantifying electrodes coating with antibodies using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) principle. Preliminary results obtained with saline solution, showed the ability of the circuit to give the best response corresponding to low changes in NaCl concentration (sensitivity 0.2 mA/(mg/ml)), suggesting a good sensitivity of the platform. Results from EIS showed the ability of the circuit to discriminate between different concentrations of antibodies coatings (sensitivity 80 μA/μg). The study is on-going and after a proper calibration, the circuit is intended to be optimized to quantify unknown concentration of unfolded p53 in samples of peripheral blood of AD patients, compared results with the one from ELISA analysis, aiming to realize a low cost, easy to use and highly precise platform.
EVIDENCE OF WIDESPREAD HOT PLASMA IN A NONFLARING CORONAL ACTIVE REGION FROM HINODE/X-RAY TELESCOPE

Nanoflares, short and intense heat pulses within spatially unresolved magnetic strands, are now considered a leading candidate to solve the coronal heating problem. However, the frequent occurrence of nanoflares requires that flare-hot plasma be present in the corona at all times. Its detection has proved elusive until now, in part because the intensities are predicted to be very faint. Here, we report on the analysis of an active region observed with five filters by Hinode/X-Ray Telescope (XRT) in 2006 November. We have used the filter ratio method to derive maps of temperature and emission measure (EM) both in soft and hard ratios. These maps are approximate in that the plasma is assumed to be isothermal along each line of sight. Nonetheless, the hardest available ratio reveals the clear presence of plasma around 10 MK. To obtain more detailed information about the plasma properties, we have performed Monte Carlo simulations assuming a variety of nonisothermal EM distributions along the lines of sight. We find that the observed filter ratios imply bi-modal distributions consisting of a strong cool (log T ∼ 6.3 − 6.5) component and a weaker (few percent) and hotter (6.6 < log T < 7.2) component. The data are consistent with bi-modal distributions along all lines of sight, i.e., throughout the active region. We also find that the isothermal temperature inferred from a filter ratio depends sensitively on the precise temperature of the cool component. A slight shift of this component can cause the hot component to be obscured in a hard ratio measurement. Consequently, temperature maps made in hard and soft ratios tend to be anti-correlated. We conclude that this observation supports the presence of widespread nanoflaring activity in the active region.