Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Behavior and cytogenesis following irradiation or isoflurane exposure to the developing brain

In this thesis, the effects of an anesthetic agent, isoflurane, on the young brain and resulting behavioral effects were investigated. Anesthesia is commonly used in young children during surgery or other procedures associated with pain or discomfort. Animal studies have demonstrated serious effects on the brain from exposure to anesthesia and recent human studies have found indications of learning impairments following exposure to anesthesia. It is known from animal studies that anesthetic agents can affect proliferation as well as differentiation and can lead to learning impairments. In addition, the effects of irradiation on the young brain were investigated. Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in children and radiotherapy is commonly used to treat cancer (together with surgery and/or chemotherapy). During the last decades, improvements in treatment protocols have lead to more and more children surviving their cancers. This has however also resulted in more children experiencing long-term side effects, particularly resulting from radiotherapy. These side effects include impaired intelligence and memory as well as attention deficits. From animal models, it is known that irradiation cause cell death and a long term reduction in cell proliferation in the young brain that can result in impairment on some memory tasks. In these experiments, we have used one model of repeated isoflurane exposure and one model for radiotherapy. The animals’ behavior was investigated using the IntelliCage system, as well as other behavioral tests, followed by immunohistochemical analysis of the hippocampus. Isoflurane was found to cause a reduction in cell proliferation, accompanied by a reduction in neural stem cells. No evidence of cell death was seen, and the reason behind the reduction is therefore unknown. In addition, less neuronal differentiation was seen following isoflurane exposure, accompanied by an increase in astrocyte differentiation. These effects were especially clear when the young brain was exposed. Animals that were exposed to isoflurane at a young age later developed severe and progressive memory impairments. Following irradiation, a decrease in cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus was seen. The irradiated animals displayed learning and relearning deficits judged by the IntelliCage analysis, but neither open field nor trace fear conditioning tests could detect impairments. In summary, we found irradiation-induced changes in the hippocampus and saw changes in behavior, using the IntelliCage system, that were not detectable using other methods like open field and fear conditioning. We also found isoflurane-induced changes that suggest that the young brain is particularly sensitive to anesthetic agents like isoflurane and that isoflurane-anesthesia should be used with caution, especially in pediatric patients.
Enhancing Chemotherapy Response with Sustained EphA2 Silencing Using Multistage Vector Delivery

Purpose: RNA interference has the potential to specifically knockdown the expression of target genes and thereby transform cancer therapy. However, lack of effective delivery of siRNA has dramatically limited its in vivo applications. We have developed a multistage vector (MSV) system, composed of discoidal porous silicon particles loaded with nanotherapeutics, that directs effective delivery and sustained release of siRNA in tumor tissues. In this study, we evaluated therapeutic efficacy of MSV-loaded EphA2 siRNA (MSV/EphA2) with murine orthotopic models of metastatic ovarian cancers as a first step toward development of a new class of nanotherapeutics for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Experimental Design: Tumor accumulation of MSV/EphA2 and sustained release of siRNA from MSV were analyzed after intravenous administration of MSV/siRNA. Nude mice with metastatic SKOV3ip2 tumors were treated with MSV/EphA2 and paclitaxel, and therapeutic efficacy was assessed. Mice with chemotherapy-resistant HeyA8 ovarian tumors were treated with a combination of MSV/EphA2 and docetaxel, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy was evaluated. Results: Treatment of SKOV3ip2 tumor mice with MSV/EphA2 biweekly for 6 weeks resulted in dose-dependent (5, 10, and 15 μg/mice) reduction of tumor weight (36%, 64%, and 83%) and number of tumor nodules compared with the control groups. In addition, tumor growth was completely inhibited when mice were treated with MSV/EphA2 in combination with paclitaxel. Furthermore, combination treatment with MSV/EphA2 and docetaxel inhibited growth of HeyA8-MDR tumors, which were otherwise resistant to docetaxel treatment. Conclusion: These findings indicate that MSV/EphA2 merits further development as a novel therapeutic agent for ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 19(7); 1806–15. ©2013 AACR.
Wrapper and TAM Co-Optimization for Reuse of SoC Functional Interconnects

This paper presents a wrapper and TAM cooptimization method for reuse of SoC functional interconnects to minimize test time under area constraint. The proposed method consists of (1) an ILP formulation for wrapper and transparent TAM co- optimization, and (2) a simulated annealing based heuristic approach to reduce the computational cost of the proposed ILP model. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed methods compared to the previous transparency-based TAM approaches and the conventional dedicated test bus approaches.
LAMP : 3 D Layered , Adaptive-resolution and Multi-perspective Panorama-a New Scene Representation

1 Abstract A compact visual representation, called the 3D Layered, Adaptive-resolution and Multi-perspective Panorama (LAMP), is proposed for representing large-scale 3D scenes with large variations of depths and obvious occlusions. Two kinds of 3D LAMP representations are proposed: the relief-like LAMP and the image-based LAMP. Both types of LAMPs concisely represent almost all the information from a long image sequence. Methods to construct LAMP representations from video sequences with dominant translation are provided. The relief-like LAMP is basically a single extended multi-perspective panoramic view image. Each pixel has a pair of texture and depth values, but each pixel may also have multiple pairs of texture-depth values to represent occlusion in layers, in addition to adaptive resolution changing with depth. The image-based LAMP, on the other hand, consists of a set of multi-perspective layers, each of which has a pair of 2D texture and depth maps, but with adaptive time-sampling scales depending on depths of scene points. Several examples of 3D LAMP construction for real image sequences are given. The 3D LAMP is a concise and powerful representation for image-based rendering.
Dynamic graph-based software fingerprinting

Fingerprinting embeds a secret message into a cover message. In media fingerprinting, the secret is usually a copyright notice and the cover a digital image. Fingerprinting an object discourages intellectual property theft, or when such theft has occurred, allows us to prove ownership. The Software Fingerprinting problem can be described as follows. Embed a structure W into a program P such that: W can be reliably located and extracted from P even after P has been subjected to code transformations such as translation, optimization and obfuscation; W is stealthy; W has a high data rate; embedding W into P does not adversely affect the performance of P; and W has a mathematical property that allows us to argue that its presence in P is the result of deliberate actions. In this article, we describe a software fingerprinting technique in which a dynamic graph fingerprint is stored in the execution state of a program. Because of the hardness of pointer alias analysis such fingerprints are difficult to attack automatically.
Perception about Community Medicine as a subject and career preference among undergraduate students

Background: In the pursuit of cultivating primary physicians, the Department of Community Medicine (CM) emphasizes value-based education for undergraduates, aiming to shape the foundation of a first-contact doctor. Despite this, only a minority ultimately selects CM as their specialty. Aim & Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate how undergraduates perceive CM as both a subject and a career choice. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the factors influencing students' decisions to either choose or not choose CM as a career path. Methods and Material: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among medical college undergraduates, utilizing a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire with a Likert scale through Google Forms, ensuring informed consent. Results: Among 411 students, 259 participated, with a mean age of 21.23 ± 1.39 years. While participants generally held a positive perception of CM, only 1.1% considered it as a career choice. Top reasons against opting CM were "unpopularity compared to clinical subjects," "lack of clinical exposure," and "insufficient information on future prospects. " Conclusion: Students recognize the significance of CM and possess a positive opinion, yet there exists reluctance in choosing it as a career.
Paget Disease of the Vulva

An uncommon intraepithelial malignant neoplasm of eccrine or apocrine origin, arising from the vulva. It usually affects post-menopausal women. In approximately 10-20% of the cases there is an associated anorectal, or urothelial carcinoma or a skin appendage adenocarcinoma identified. It presents as a red, eczematous lesion. Microscopically, it is characterized by the presence of the typical Paget cells which are large, round cells with abundant cytoplasm and prominent nuclei. Qeios · Definition, February 7, 2020
Solving Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs by QP-Diving

We present a new tree-search algorithm for solving mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs). Rather than relying on computationally expensive nonlinear solves at every node of the branchand-bound tree, our algorithm solves a quadratic approximation at every node. We show that the resulting algorithm retains global convergence properties for convex MINLPs, and we present numerical results on a range of test problems. Our numerical experience shows that the new algorithm allows us to exploit warm-starting techniques from quadratic programming, resulting in a reduction in solve times for convex MINLPs by orders of magnitude on some classes of problems.
Access Control Based on Execution History

Security is a major, frequent concern in extensible software systems such as Java Virtual Machines and the Common Language Runtime. These systems aim to enable simple, classic applets and also, for example, distributed applications, Web services, and programmable networks, with appropriate security expectations. Accordingly, they feature elaborate constructs and mechanisms for associating rights with code, including a technique for determining the run-time rights of a piece of code as a function of the state of the execution stack. These mechanisms prevent many security holes, but they are inherently partial and they have proved difficult to use reliably. We motivate and describe a new model for assigning rights to code: in short, the run-time rights of a piece of code are determined by examining the attributes of any pieces of code that have run (including their origins) and any explicit requests to augment rights. This historybased model addresses security concerns while avoiding pitfalls. We analyze the model in detail; in particular, we discuss its relation to the stack-based model and to the policies and mechanisms of underlying operating systems, and we consider implementation techniques. In support of the model, we also introduce and implement high-level constructs for security, which should be incorporated in libraries or (even better) in programming languages.
An integrated bioinformatical analysis of miR-19a target genes in multiple myeloma

MicroRNA (miR)-19a, as an oncomiR, has been studied in several types of cancer; however, its role in the development and progression of multiple myeloma (MM) remains unclear. The present study used a bioinformatics approach to investigate the involvement of miR-19a in MM. miR-19a targets were predicted using target prediction programs, followed by screening for differentially expressed genes in MM. The function of these genes was then annotated using gene ontology term enrichment, signaling pathway enrichment and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis. In addition, natural language processing (NLP) was performed to identify genes associated with MM. A total of 715 putative targets of miR-19a were identified in the present study, of which 40 were experimentally validated. A total of 121 genes were identified to be differentially expressed in MM, including 80 upregulated genes and 41 downregulated genes. Among the differentially expressed genes, ras homolog family member B, clathrin heavy chain, prosaposin and protein phosphatase 6 regulatory subunit 2 were predicted target genes of miR-19a. The results of NLP revealed that 2 of the differentially expressed genes, Y-box binding protein 1 and TP53 regulated inhibitor of apoptosis 1, were reported to be associated with MM. In addition, 41 target genes of miR-19a were identified to be associated with the development and progression of MM. These results may aid in understanding the molecular mechanisms of miR-19a in the development and progression of MM. In addition, the results of the present study indicate that targets genes of miR-19a are potential candidate biomarkers for MM.
Adapting a WSJ-Trained Parser to Grammatically Noisy Text

We present a robust parser which is trained on a treebank of ungrammatical sentences. The treebank is created automatically by modifying Penn treebank sentences so that they contain one or more syntactic errors. We evaluate an existing Penn-treebank-trained parser on the ungrammatical treebank to see how it reacts to noise in the form of grammatical errors. We re-train this parser on the training section of the ungrammatical treebank, leading to an significantly improved performance on the ungrammatical test sets. We show how a classifier can be used to prevent performance degradation on the original grammatical data.
Toxoplasma gondii Infection Induces Suppression in a Mouse Model of Allergic Airway Inflammation

Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disorder characterized by infiltration of the airway wall with inflammatory cells driven mostly by activation of Th2-lymphocytes, eosinophils and mast cells. There is a link between increased allergy and a reduction of some infections in Western countries. Epidemiological data also show that respiratory allergy is less frequent in people exposed to orofecal and foodborne microbes such as Toxoplasma gondii. We previously showed that both acute and chronic parasite T. gondii infection substantially blocked development of airway inflammation in adult BALB/c mice. Based on the high levels of IFN-γ along with the reduction of Th2 phenotype, we hypothesized that the protective effect might be related to the strong Th1 immune response elicited against the parasite. However, other mechanisms could also be implicated. The possibility that regulatory T cells inhibit allergic diseases has received growing support from both animal and human studies. Here we investigated the cellular mechanisms involved in T. gondii induced protection against allergy. Our results show for the first time that thoracic lymph node cells from mice sensitized during chronic T. gondii infection have suppressor activity. Suppression was detected both in vitro, on allergen specific T cell proliferation and in vivo, on allergic lung inflammation after adoptive transference from infected/sensitized mice to previously sensitized animals. This ability was found to be contact- independent and correlated with high levels of TGF-β and CD4+FoxP3+ cells.
Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Inhibitors Improve Heart Function and Prevent Fibrosis in Cardiomyopathy Caused by Mutation in Lamin A/C Gene

Background— Mutations in the lamin A/C gene, LMNA, can cause dilated cardiomyopathy. We have shown abnormal activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and the c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) branches of the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling cascade in hearts from LmnaH222P/H222P mice that develop dilated cardiomyopathy. We recently showed that partial inhibition of ERK and JNK signaling before the onset of cardiomyopathy in LmnaH222P/H222P mice prevented the development of left ventricle dilatation and decreased cardiac ejection fraction at a time when they occurred in untreated mice. Methods and Results— To determine whether pharmacological inhibitors of ERK and JNK signaling could be clinically useful to treat cardiomyopathy caused by LMNA mutation, we administered them to LmnaH222P/H222P mice after they developed left ventricular dilatation and decreased ejection fraction. LmnaH222P/H222P mice were treated with ERK and JNK signaling inhibitors from 16 to 20 or, in pilot experiments, 19 to 24 weeks of age. The inhibitors blocked increased expression of RNAs encoding natriuretic peptide precursors and proteins involved in sarcomere architecture that occurred in placebo-treated mice. Echocardiography and histological analysis demonstrated that treatment prevented left ventricular end-systolic dilatation, increased ejection fraction, and decreased myocardial fibrosis. Conclusion— Inhibitors of ERK and JNK signaling could potentially be used to treat humans with cardiomyopathy caused by LMNA mutations.
A Double Dissociation between Anterior and Posterior Superior Temporal Gyrus for Processing Audiovisual Speech Demonstrated by Electrocorticography

Human speech can be comprehended using only auditory information from the talker's voice. However, comprehension is improved if the talker's face is visible, especially if the auditory information is degraded as occurs in noisy environments or with hearing loss. We explored the neural substrates of audiovisual speech perception using electrocorticography, direct recording of neural activity using electrodes implanted on the cortical surface. We observed a double dissociation in the responses to audiovisual speech with clear and noisy auditory component within the superior temporal gyrus (STG), a region long known to be important for speech perception. Anterior STG showed greater neural activity to audiovisual speech with clear auditory component, whereas posterior STG showed similar or greater neural activity to audiovisual speech in which the speech was replaced with speech-like noise. A distinct border between the two response patterns was observed, demarcated by a landmark corresponding to the posterior margin of Heschl's gyrus. To further investigate the computational roles of both regions, we considered Bayesian models of multisensory integration, which predict that combining the independent sources of information available from different modalities should reduce variability in the neural responses. We tested this prediction by measuring the variability of the neural responses to single audiovisual words. Posterior STG showed smaller variability than anterior STG during presentation of audiovisual speech with noisy auditory component. Taken together, these results suggest that posterior STG but not anterior STG is important for multisensory integration of noisy auditory and visual speech.
Identifying hypoxic tissue after acute ischemic stroke using PET and 18F-fluoromisonidazole

Objective: To show that PET with 18F-fluoromisonidazole (18F-FMISO) can detect peri-infarct hypoxic tissue in patients after ischemic stroke. Background: PET with 15O-labeled oxygen and water is the only established method for identifying the ischemic penumbra in humans. We used PET with 18F-FMISO in patients after ischemic stroke to identify hypoxic but viable peri-infarct tissue likely to represent the ischemic penumbra, and to determine how long hypoxic tissues persist after stroke. Methods: Patients with acute hemispheric ischemic stroke were studied using PET with 18F-FMISO either within 48 hours or 6 to 11 days after stroke onset. The final infarct was defined by CT performed 6 to 11 days after stroke. Tracer uptake was assessed objectively by calculating the mean activity in the contralateral (normal) hemisphere, then identifying pixels with activity greater than 3 SDs above the mean in both hemispheres. Positive studies were those with high-activity pixels ipsilateral to the infarct. Results: Fifteen patients were studied; 13 within 48 hours of stroke, 8 at 6 to 11 days, and 6 during both time periods. Hypoxic tissue was detected in 9 of the 13 patients studied within 48 hours of stroke, generally distributed in the peripheries of the infarct and adjacent peri-infarct tissues. None of the 8 patients studied 6 to 11 days after stroke exhibited increased 18F-FMISO activity. All 6 patients studied both early and late exhibited areas of increased activity during the early but not the late study. Conclusions: PET with 18F-FMISO can detect peri-infarct hypoxic tissue after acute ischemic stroke. The distribution of hypoxic tissue suggests that it may represent the ischemic penumbra. Hypoxic tissues do not persist to the subacute phase of stroke (6 to 11 days).
The Locations of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients: A Magnetic Resonance Study.

BACKGROUND Recently, a resurgence of interest has been noted in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) preservation in pediatric and adolescent patients. Different tear types, defined by their tear location, require different preservation techniques: proximal and distal avulsion tears can be treated with arthroscopic primary repair, whereas primary repair with biological scaffold has been proposed for midsubstance tears. The goal of this study was to assess the distribution of different tear types in pediatric and adolescent patients, as these are currently unknown. METHODS A retrospective search in an institutional radiographic database was performed for patients under 18.0 years undergoing knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for ACL tears between June 2005 and June 2016. Patients with reports of chronic tears, partial tears, and multiligamentous injuries were excluded.Tear locations were graded using MRI as: proximal avulsion (distal remnant length >90% of total length; type I), proximal (75% to 90%; type II), midsubstance (25% to 75%; type III), distal (10% to 25%; type IV), and distal avulsion (<10%; type V). RESULTS A total of 274 patients (59% girls; mean±SD age, 15.1±2.1 y; range, 6.9 to 18.0 y) were included. Frequency of type I tears was 15%, type II 23%, type III 52%, type IV 1%, and type V 8% (of which 7% had bony avulsion). Prevalence of tear types varied with age. At age 6 to 10 years, 93% were type V (bony) avulsion tears. At age 11 to 13 years, 32% were type I, 16% type II, 32% type III, and 16% type V. At age 14 to 17 years, type III tears were more common (57%) than type I (14%), type II (25%) and type V (2%) tears. CONCLUSIONS It was noted that the ACL was torn at different locations depending on the patients' age. These data provide more information on the potential application for ACL preservation in pediatric and adolescent patients. Future studies correlating these findings with arthroscopy are needed before using MRI for preoperative planning of ACL preservation surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Diagnostic level III.