Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Objectives The goal of this study was to determine the correlation of clinicopathological factors and the up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods Immunohistochemical staining of VEGF and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of VEGF mRNA were performed in 20 specimens from 20 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and another 20 specimens from 20 patients with carcinoma in situ as a controlled group. Results The results were as follows: 1) In immunohistochemical study of poorly differentiated and invasive oral squamous cell carcinoma, high-level staining of VEGF was observed. Significant correlation was observed between immunohistochemical VEGF expression and histologic differentiation, tumor size of specimens (Pearson correlation analysis, significance r>0.6, P<0.05). 2) In VEGF quantitative RT-PCR analysis, progressive cancer showed more VEGF expression than carcinoma in situ. Paired-samples analysis determined the difference of VEGF mRNA expression level between cancer tissue and carcinoma in situ tissue, between T1 and T2-4 (Student's t-test, P<0.05). Conclusion These findings suggest that up-regulation of VEGF may play a role in the angiogenesis and progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
miRNA-Mediated Relationships between Cis-SNP Genotypes and Transcript Intensities in Lymphocyte Cell Lines

In metazoans, miRNAs regulate gene expression primarily through binding to target sites in the 3′ UTRs (untranslated regions) of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Cis-acting variants within, or close to, a gene are crucial in explaining the variability of gene expression measures. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 3′ UTRs of genes can affect the base-pairing between miRNAs and mRNAs, and hence disrupt existing target sites (in the reference sequence) or create novel target sites, suggesting a possible mechanism for cis regulation of gene expression. Moreover, because the alleles of different SNPs within a DNA sequence of limited length tend to be in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD), we hypothesize the variants of miRNA target sites caused by SNPs potentially function as bridges linking the documented cis-SNP markers to the expression of the associated genes. A large-scale analysis was herein performed to test this hypothesis. By systematically integrating multiple latest information sources, we found 21 significant gene-level SNP-involved miRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation modules (SNP-MPRMs) in the form of SNP-miRNA-mRNA triplets in lymphocyte cell lines for the CEU and YRI populations. Among the cognate genes, six including ALG8, DGKE, GNA12, KLF11, LRPAP1, and MMAB are related to multiple genetic diseases such as depressive disorder and Type-II diabetes. Furthermore, we found that ∼35% of the documented transcript intensity-related cis-SNPs (∼950) in a recent publication are identical to, or in significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) (p<0.01) with, one or multiple SNPs located in miRNA target sites. Based on these associations (or identities), 69 significant exon-level SNP-MPRMs and 12 disease genes were further determined for two populations. These results provide concrete in silico evidence for the proposed hypothesis. The discovered modules warrant additional follow-up in independent laboratory studies.
A Hybrid Algorithm For Test Point Selection For Scan-based Bist

We propose a new algorithm for test point selection forscan-based BIST.The new algorithm combines the advantagesof both explicit-testability-calculation and gradienttechniques.The test point selection is guided by acost function which is partially based on explicit testabilityrecalculation and partially on gradients.With anevent-driven mechanism, it can quickly identify a set ofnodes whose testability need to be recalculated due toa test point, and then use gradients to estimate the impactof the rest of the circuit.In addition, by incorporatingtiming information into the cost function, timingpenalty caused by test points can be easily avoided.Wepresent the results to illustrate that high fault coveragesfor both area- and timing-driven test point insertionscan be obtained with a small number of test points.Theresults also indicate a significant reduction of computationalcomplexity while the qualities are similar to theexplicitly-testability-calculation method.
Low-power wireless bus

We present the Low-Power Wireless Bus (LWB), a communication protocol that supports several traffic patterns and mobile nodes immersed in static infrastructures. LWB turns a multi-hop low-power wireless network into an infrastructure similar to a shared bus, where all nodes are potential receivers of all data. It achieves this by mapping all traffic demands on fast network floods, and by globally scheduling every flood. As a result, LWB inherently supports one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many traffic. LWB also keeps no topology-dependent state, making it more resilient to link changes due to interference, node failures, and mobility than prior approaches. We compare the same LWB prototype on four testbeds with seven state-of-the-art protocols and show that: (i) LWB performs comparably or significantly better in many-to-one scenarios, and adapts efficiently to varying traffic loads; (ii) LWB outperforms our baselines in many-to-many scenarios, at times by orders of magnitude; (iii) external interference and node failures affect LWB's performance only marginally; (iv) LWB supports mobile nodes acting as sources, sinks, or both without performance loss.
Predicting Residents’ Responses to the May 1–4, 2010, Boston Water Contamination Incident

This study examined 110 local residents’ warning sources, warning channels, warning receipt times, message content, risk perception, and behavioral responses (warning confirmation, and consumption of untreated tap water, boiled water, bottled water, and personally chlorinated water) during the May 1–4 2010 Boston water contamination incident. Most residents received warnings from peers and news media and these warnings mentioned 2.35 of five recommended elements of a warning message—most commonly the threat and the recommended protective action. TV was the most frequent channel for additional information, partly because it was the most frequent channel of routine information, but the Internet was also a common channel for additional information. Consumption of untreated tap water declined, consumption of personally chlorinated water remained negligible, and consumption of boiled water and bottled water increased during the incident. Warning receipt from an authority increased consumption of boiled water, whereas receipt of a less specific warning tended to increase consumption of bottled water. The distribution of warning times followed a logistic (S-shaped) distribution, with the largest increase taking place during prime TV news time (4–6pm). These results call attention to the need to increase the number of comprehensive warning response studies on rapid onset disasters to provide the basis for developing a comprehensive theory that can explain similarities and differences in responses to the full range of environmental hazards.
Neural Markovian Predictive Compression: An Algorithm for Online Lossless Data Compression

This work proposes a novel practical and general-purpose lossless compression algorithm named Neural Markovian Predictive Compression (NMPC), based on a novel combination of Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM). The result is an interesting combination of properties: Linear processing time, constant memory storage performance and great adaptability to parallelism. Though not limited for such uses, when used for online compression (compressing streaming inputs without the latency of collecting blocks) it often produces superior results compared to other algorithms for this purpose. It is also a natural algorithm to be implemented on parallel platforms such as FPGA chips.
A Feature-Based Technique for Joint Linear Estimation of High-Order Image-to-Mosaic Transformations: Mosaicing the Curved Human Retina

An algorithm for constructing image mosaics from multiple, uncalibrated, weak-perspective views of the human retina is presented and analyzed. It builds on an algorithm for registering pairs of retinal images using a noninvertible, 12-parameter, quadratic image transformation model and hierarchical, robust estimation. The major innovation presented is a linear, feature-based, noniterative method for jointly estimating consistent transformations of all images onto the mosaic "anchor image. " Constraints for this estimation are derived from pairwise registration both directly with the anchor image and indirectly between pairs of nonanchor images. An incremental, graph-based technique constructs the set of registered image pairs used in the solution. The estimation technique allows images that do not overlap the anchor frame to be successfully mosaiced, a valuable capability for mosaicing images of the retinal periphery. Experimental analysis on data sets from 16 eyes shows the average overall median transformation error in final mosaic to be 0.76 pixels. The technique is simpler, more accurate, and offers broader coverage than previously published methods.
Facial emotion recognition in Parkinson's disease: A review and new hypotheses

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder classically characterized by motor symptoms. Among them, hypomimia affects facial expressiveness and social communication and has a highly negative impact on patients' and relatives' quality of life. Patients also frequently experience nonmotor symptoms, including emotional‐processing impairments, leading to difficulty in recognizing emotions from faces. Aside from its theoretical importance, understanding the disruption of facial emotion recognition in PD is crucial for improving quality of life for both patients and caregivers, as this impairment is associated with heightened interpersonal difficulties. However, studies assessing abilities in recognizing facial emotions in PD still report contradictory outcomes. The origins of this inconsistency are unclear, and several questions (regarding the role of dopamine replacement therapy or the possible consequences of hypomimia) remain unanswered. We therefore undertook a fresh review of relevant articles focusing on facial emotion recognition in PD to deepen current understanding of this nonmotor feature, exploring multiple significant potential confounding factors, both clinical and methodological, and discussing probable pathophysiological mechanisms. This led us to examine recent proposals about the role of basal ganglia‐based circuits in emotion and to consider the involvement of facial mimicry in this deficit from the perspective of embodied simulation theory. We believe our findings will inform clinical practice and increase fundamental knowledge, particularly in relation to potential embodied emotion impairment in PD. © 2018 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Proton magnetic resonance imaging in ischemic cerebrovascular disease

Proton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a 0.6‐ or 1.5‐Tesla superconductive magnet was compared with high‐resolution computed tomography (CT) in 60 patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) or brain infarction. MRI showed focal parenchymal changes in 84% of patients with TIAs, whereas CT showed similar changes in 42%. The sensitivity of MRI was also greater in patients with infarcts, but the difference between CT and MRI was not as great. Infarcts were usually better delineated by MRI regardless of location. However, MRI failed to reveal cortical infarcts that were clearly seen on contrast‐enhanced CT scans and was unable to clearly distinguish subacute from chronic hemorrhagic infarcts. MRI changes were best detected with T2‐weighted images and usually appeared as multiple areas of increased signal intensity in the subcortical and periventricular white matter. MRI changes often could not be correlated with the clinical history and neurological findings; identical changes have been seen in patients with no history of cerebrovascular disease.
Efficient people tracking in laser range data using a multi-hypothesis leg-tracker with adaptive occlusion probabilities

We present an approach to laser-based people tracking using a multi-hypothesis tracker that detects and tracks legs separately with Kalman filters, constant velocity motion models, and a multi-hypothesis data association strategy. People are defined as high-level tracks consisting of two legs that are found with little model knowledge. We extend the data association so that it explicitly handles track occlusions in addition to detections and deletions. Additionally, we adapt the corresponding probabilities in a situation-dependent fashion so as to reflect the fact that legs frequently occlude each other. Experimental results carried out with a mobile robot illustrate that our approach can robustly and efficiently track multiple people even in situations of high levels of occlusion.
p53, p63 and p73 in the wonderland of S. cerevisiae

Since its discovery in 1979, p53 has been on the forefront of cancer research. It is considered a master gene of cancer suppression and is found mutated in around 50% of all human tumors. In addition, the progressive identification of p53-related transcription factors p63 and p73 as well as their multiple isoforms have added further layers of complexity to an already dense network. Among the numerous models used to unravel the p53 family mysteries, S. cerevisiae has been particularly useful. This seemingly naive model allows the expression of a functional human p53 and thus the assessment of p53 intrinsic transcriptional activity. The aim of this article is to review the various contributions that the budding yeast has made to the understanding of p53, p63 and p73 biology and to envision new possible directions for yeast-based assays in the field of cancer as well as other p53-family-related diseases.
Necropsy study of the association between sudden cardiac death, cardiac isoenzymes and contraction band necrosis.

AIMS: To assess whether a quantitative analysis of myocardial contraction bands could aid the postmortem identification of early myocardial infarction, especially if used in conjunction with cardiac isoenzyme activities. METHODS: Sixty four coroner's necropsies were grouped by gross and histological findings into 26 cases of definite non-cardiac death, 12 cases of definite myocardial infarction and 26 cases in which there was occlusive coronary artery atheroma, but no demonstrable evidence of infarction. Using multiple sections of left ventricular myocardium stained with Heidenhain's iron haematoxylin, the number of myocardial cells containing contraction bands per unit area was quantified. The results were analysed statistically using logistic regression, and were then compared and combined with results from the statistical analysis of postmortem cardiac isoenzymes that had recently been undertaken on the same cases. RESULTS: The number of cells containing contraction bands per unit area was higher in cases of definite myocardial infarction compared with those of non-cardiac deaths. In addition, cases of occlusive coronary artery atheroma only could be identified, indicating the presence of early myocardial infarction. The accuracy of this identification could be improved by combining these results with the results from the statistical analysis of postmortem cardiac isoenzymes. CONCLUSION: The quantitative assessment of myocardial contraction band necrosis can provide useful additional information in cases of sudden death, where myocardial infarction is suspected but not identified on routine histological staining. The value of the information obtained is increased when used in conjunction with the postmortem measurement of cardiac isoenzyme activities.
Intravitreal chemotherapy for the treatment of recurrent intraocular lymphoma

AIM To develop and assess a protocol for the treatment of intraocular lymphoma by intravitreal injection of methotrexate and thiotepa. METHODS A patient with intraocular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma which recurred after radiotherapy and repeated systemic chemotherapeutic regimens underwent repeated intravitreal injections of methotrexate and thiotepa. The patient was closely monitored by cytology, anterior chamber flare measurements, IL-10 and IL-6 levels. Methotrexate drug clearance studies were performed on vitreous samples taken before each injection. RESULTS Complete tumour clearance was achieved by the third week of therapy. IL-10 and IL-6 levels quickly dropped to barely detectable levels as the tumour was cleared from the eye. Flare measurements decreased from 500 to 15 photons/s over the same time. A plot of the methotrexate levels over time revealed a first order kinetic rate of elimination with an effective tumoricidal intravitreal dose persisting for 5 days after injection. CONCLUSION Intravitreal chemotherapy for the treatment of recurrent intraocular lymphoma appears effective in prolonging local remission of ocular disease even in the presence of an aggressively growing tumour. A single intravitreal injection of methotrexate can lead to a prolonged tumoricidal concentration lasting for a longer period than that achieved by systemic administration.
A novel platinum chromium everolimus-eluting stent for the treatment of coronary artery disease

The development of coronary stents represents a major step forward in the treatment of obstructive coronary artery disease since the introduction of percutaneous coronary intervention. The initial enthusiasm for bare metal stents was, however, tempered by a significant incidence of in-stent restenosis, the manifestation of excessive neointima hyperplasia within the stented vessel segment, ultimately leading to target vessel revascularization. Later, drug-eluting stents, with controlled local release of antiproliferative agents, consistently reduced this need for repeat revascularization. In turn, the long-term safety of first-generation drug-eluting stents was brought into question with the observation of an increased incidence of late stent thrombosis, often presenting as myocardial infarction or sudden death. Since then, new drugs, polymers, and platforms for drug elution have been developed to improve stent safety and preserve efficacy. Development of a novel platinum chromium alloy with high radial strength and high radiopacity has enabled the design of a new, thin-strut, flexible, and highly trackable stent platform, while simultaneously improving stent visibility. Significant advances in polymer coating, serving as a drug carrier on the stent surface, and in antiproliferative agent technology have further improved the safety and clinical performance of newer-generation drug-eluting stents. This review will provide an overview of the novel platinum chromium everolimus-eluting stents that are currently available. The clinical data from major clinical trials with these devices will be summarized and put into perspective.
Characterizing the Dynamics of CD4+ T Cell Priming within a Lymph Node

Generating adaptive immunity postinfection or immunization requires physical interaction within a lymph node T zone between Ag-bearing dendritic cells (DCs) and rare cognate T cells. Many fundamental questions remain regarding the dynamics of DC–CD4+ T cell interactions leading to priming. For example, it is not known how the production of primed CD4+ T cells relates to the numbers of cognate T cells, Ag-bearing DCs, or peptide-MHCII level on the DC. To address these questions, we developed an agent-based model of a lymph node to examine the relationships among cognate T cell frequency, DC density, parameters characterizing DC–T cell interactions, and the output of primed T cells. We found that the output of primed CD4+ T cells is linearly related to cognate frequency, but nonlinearly related to the number of Ag-bearing DCs present during infection. This addresses the applicability of two photon microscopy studies to understanding actual infection dynamics, because these types of experiments increase the cognate frequency by orders of magnitude compared with physiologic levels. We found a trade-off between the quantity of peptide-major histocompatibility class II on the surface of individual DCs and number of Ag-bearing DCs present in the lymph node in contributing to the production of primed CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, peptide-major histocompatibility class II t1/2 plays a minor, although still significant, role in determining CD4+ T cell priming, unlike the primary role that has been suggested for CD8+ T cell priming. Finally, we identify several pathogen-targeted mechanisms that, if altered in their efficiency, can significantly effect the generation of primed CD4+ T cells.
Clinical value of an integrated ELISA system for the detection of 6 autoantibodies (ssDNA, dsDNA, Sm, RNP/Sm, SSA, and SSB).

An ELISA panel assay (ANA/6) which simultaneously detects IgG autoantibodies against 6 antigens (ssDNA, dsDNA, Sm, RNP/Sm, SSA, and SSB) was evaluated with sera from 98 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related conditions, 68 disease controls, who were positive or negative by fluorescent ANA (FANA), and 100 healthy controls. The antigen panel specifically identified the particular autoantibodies present and had a high level of sensitivity which was reflected by the frequency of detection of autoantibodies in different patient groups. All active patients with SLE were positive for at least one autoantibody and 80% of these patients had 3 or more autoantibodies compared to only 20% of inactive patients. A large heterogeneity in antibody profiles was also noted. About 90% of patients with positive FANA, but no detectable autoimmune rheumatic disorder, i.e., false positive, were negative by the panel. A new method of standardization was designed to use the ANA/6 quantitatively. Very large differences in the level of all 6 autoantibodies were observed between sera from patients with active and inactive SLE, suggesting a potential usefulness of ANA/6 for patient management.
Factors regulating the reversibility of long-term potentiation

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) produces an extremely stable form of long-term potentiation (LTP). In contrast, a brief episode of single-pulse stimulation at theta frequency [theta pulse stimulation (TPS)] has been demonstrated to reverse LTP in area CA1 of slices and freely moving animals without causing depression when administered to nonpotentiated pathways. The present in vitro studies confirm these results and establish that the susceptibility of LTP to reversal and the degree of depotentiation are time-dependent. Specifically, a 1 min train of TPS delivered 30 sec after LTP induction produced an almost complete and lasting depotentiation but had increasingly less impact at longer delays and virtually no effect at 30 min. Increasing the duration of TPS did not cause more depotentiation. However, pharmacological facilitation of AMPA receptor-mediated currents significantly enhanced the strength of the reversal process and allowed TPS to produce robust depotentiation up to 30 min after LTP induction. The reversal effect was selective to potentiated synapses receiving TPS, was reversible, and was not blocked by NMDA receptor antagonism. Additional experiments indicated that AMPA receptor facilitation promotes depotentiation by enhancing an active process triggered by TPS that reverses expression without extending the time course of consolidation. These results suggest that the mechanisms responsible for LTP reversal are linked to the amplitude and/or duration of fast excitatory currents mediated by synaptic AMPA receptors and are effective up to the completion of LTP stabilization.