Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of functional properties of skeletal muscle using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Muscle functional magnetic resonance imaging (mfMRI) is a powerful tool for the visualization of anatomical and functional properties (e.g. levels and patterns of activation) of human skeletal muscles. Fleckenstein et al. 1) first reported that working muscles exert acute effects on MRI signals in 1988, and since this time a lot of attempts have been made to assess function and metabolism of activated muscles in healthy and diseased individuals. This review focuses on five aspects of mfMRI; 1) The relation between mfMRI and other functional parameters of working muscles; 2) Muscle activation patterns during single- and multi-joint exercises; 3) The effect of resistance training on mfMRI; 4) The effect of disuse on mfMRI; and 5) The assessment of inhomogenous activation within a single muscle by mfMRI. Finally future application and potential contribution of mfMRI are discussed.
A Progress Report On Grazing Incidence Optics Fabrication And Evaluation

We report on the progress being made on the mirror array telescope for high energies (MARTHE) project. As a first step, we are producing small mirror flats and full-size Wolter I mirrors that are lacquer coated (mandrels) and then coated with gold or palladium. We present the up-to-date results of fabricating and testing these mirrors. Currently, we can provide results on the micro-roughness, macro-figure, X-ray scattering and reflectivity up to 8 keV from flats and Wolter I mirrors as well as optical measurements of the flats. We are also trying to extend the technology to work at energies up to 40 keV.
Skin and soft tissue infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria: comparison of clinical features, treatment, and susceptibility.

OBJECTIVE To compare the demographics, clinical features, susceptibility patterns, and treatment for skin and soft tissue infections due to Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium chelonae or Mycobacterium abscessus. DESIGN Retrospective medical record review. SETTING Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. PATIENTS All patients seen at our institution with a positive culture for M chelonae, M abscessus, or M fortuitum from skin or soft tissue sources between January 1, 1987, and October 31, 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, therapeutic data, microbiological data, and outcomes. RESULTS The medical records of 63 patients with skin or soft tissue infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria were reviewed. Patients with M chelonae or M abscessus were older (61.5 vs 45.9 years, P<.001) and more likely to be taking immunosuppressive medications (60% vs 17%, P = .002) than patients with M fortuitum. Mycobacterium fortuitum tended to manifest as a single lesion (89% vs 38%, P<.001), while most M chelonae or M abscessus manifested as multiple lesions (62% vs 11%, P<.001). More patients with M fortuitum had a prior invasive surgical procedure at the infected site (56% vs 27%, P = .04). Patients with multiple lesions were more likely to be taking immunosuppressive medications than those with single lesions (67% vs 30%, P = .006). Seven patients failed treatment, several of whom were immunocompromised and had multiple comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS Skin and soft tissue infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria are associated with systemic comorbidities, including the use of immunosuppressive medications. There are significant differences in the demographic and clinical features of patients who acquire specific organisms, including association with immunosuppression and surgical procedures.
Rapid detection of botnets through collaborative networks of peers

Botnets allow adversaries to wage attacks on unprecedented scales at unprecedented rates, motivation for which is no longer just malice but profits instead. The longer botnets go undetected, the higher those profits. I present in this thesis an architecture that leverages collaborative networks of peers in order to detect bots across the same. Not only is this architecture both automated and rapid, it is also high in true positives and low in false positives. More over, it accepts as realities insecurities in today's systems, tolerating bugs, complexity, monocultures, and interconnectivity alike. This architecture embodies my own definition of anomalous behavior: I say a system's behavior is anomalous if it correlates all too well with other networked, but otherwise independent, systems' behavior. I provide empirical validation that collaborative detection of bots can indeed work. I validate my ideas in both simulation and the wild. Through simulations with traces of 9 variants of worms and 25 non-worms, I find that two peers, upon exchanging summaries of system calls recently executed, can decide that they are, more likely than not, both executing the same worm as often as 97% of the time. I deploy an actual prototype of my architecture to a network of 29 systems with which I monitor and analyze 10,776 processes, inclusive of 511 unique non-worms (873 if unique versions constitute unique non-worms). Using that data, I expose the utility of temporal consistency (similarity over time in worms' and non-worms' invocations of system calls) in collaborative detection. I identify properties with which to distinguish non-worms from worms 99% of the time. I find that a collaborative network, using patterns of system calls and simple heuristics, can detect worms running on multiple hosts. And I find that collaboration among peers significantly reduces the risk of false positives because of the unlikely, simultaneous appearance across peers of non-worm processes with, worm-like properties.
Fast location of similar code fragments using semantic 'juice'

Abstraction of semantics of blocks of a binary is termed as 'juice. ' Whereas the denotational semantics summarizes the computation performed by a block, its juice presents a template of the relationships established by the block. BinJuice is a tool for extracting the 'juice' of a binary. It symbolically interprets individual blocks of a binary to extract their semantics: the effect of the block on the program state. The semantics is generalized to juice by replacing register names and literal constants by typed, logical variables. The juice also maintains algebraic constraints between the numeric variables. Thus, this juice forms a semantic template that is expected to be identical regardless of code variations due to register renaming, memory address allocation, and constant replacement. The terms in juice can be canonically ordered using a linear order presented. Thus semantically equivalent (rather, similar) code fragments can be identified by simple structural comparison of their juice, or by comparing their hashes. While BinJuice cannot find all equivalent constructs, for that would solve the Halting Problem, it does significantly improve the state-of-the-art in both the computational complexity as well as the set of equivalences it can establish. Preliminary results show that juice is effective in pairing code variants created by post-compile obfuscating transformations.
A critical role of CaBP4 in the cone synapse.

PURPOSE CaBP4, a photoreceptor-specific protein of the rods and cones, is essential for the development and maintenance of the mouse photoreceptor synapse. In this study, double CaBP4/rod alpha-transducin knockout (Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-)) mice lacking the rod-mediated component of electrophysiologic responses were generated and analyzed to investigate the role of CaBP4 in cones. METHODS The retinal morphology and physiologic function of 2-month-old Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-) mice were analyzed using immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy, and single-flash and flicker electroretinography (ERG). RESULTS The thickness of the outer plexiform layer and the number of photoreceptor terminals in Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-) mice were reduced to levels similar to those of Cabp4(-/-) mice. Single-flash and flicker ERG showed that the amplitude and sensitivity of the b-wave in the Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-) mice were severely attenuated compared with those in wild-type and Gnat1(-/-) mice. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that the cone synaptic function in Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-) mice was severely disrupted, whereas the morphologic defects observed in Cabp4(-/-)Gnat1(-/-) mice were similar to those of single Cabp4(-/-) knockout mice. This and a previous study reveal that CaBP4 is critical for signal transmission from rods and cones to second-order neurons.
Approximate diagonalization in differential systems and an effective algorithm for the computation of the spectral matrix

1. Introduction In a recent paper [3], an extended Liouville–Green formula formula here was developed for solutions of the second-order differential equation formula here Here γM(x) ∼Q−¼(x), QM(x) ∼Q−½(x) and εM(x)→0 as x→∞, while M([ges ]2) is an integer and γM and QM can be defined in terms of Q and its derivatives up to order M−1. The general form of (1·1) had been obtained previously by Cassell [5], [6], [7] and Eastham [10], [11, section 2·4]. In particular, the proof of (1·1) in [10] and [11] depended on the formulation of (1·2) as a first-order system and then on a process of M repeated diagonalization of the coefficient matrices in a sequence of related differential systems.
Insulin Regulation of Insulin-like Growth Factor-binding Protein-1 Gene Expression Is Dependent on the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin, but Independent of Ribosomal S6 Kinase Activity*

Insulin inhibits the expression of the hepatic insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) genes. The signaling pathway that mediates these events requires the activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, whereas transfection studies have suggested an involvement of Akt (protein kinase B) and FKHR, a transcription factor regulated by Akt. We now demonstrate that insulin repression of endogenous IGFBP-1 gene transcription was blocked by rapamycin or by amino acid starvation. Rapamycin inhibited the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the subsequent activation of p70/p85 S6 protein kinase-1 (S6K1) by insulin, whereas amino acid depletion prevented insulin induction of these signaling molecules. Importantly, we demonstrate that insulin regulation of the thymine-rich insulin response element of the IGFBP-1 promoter was also inhibited by rapamycin. However, sustained activation of S6K1 did not repress this promoter. In addition, rapamycin did not affect insulin regulation of G6Pase expression or Akt activation. We propose that these observations indicate that an mTOR-dependent, but S6K-independent mechanism regulates the suppression of IGFBP-1 (but not G6Pase) gene expression by insulin. Therefore, although the insulin-responsive sequence of the G6Pase gene promoter is related to that of the IGFBP-1 promoter, the signaling pathways that mediate suppression of these genes are distinct.
PERIODONTITIS TREATMENT WITH BRAZILIAN GREEN PROPOLIS GEL

Summary Propolis has been shown to exibit in vitro antimicrobial activity against periodontal pathogens. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Brazilian Green Propolis Gel (BGPG) for the treatment of patients diagnosed with gingivitis and Chronic Periodontitis (CP). Four patients, 1 male (36 years) and 3 females (42, 46, 51 years) with dental calculus, gingivitis, oedema, bleeding, gingival recession, pocket depths, attachment loss, suppuration, tooth mobility and alveolar bone loss were submitted at BGPG 10% treatment . Dental archs were divided in the following quadrants. Superior Right (SR) - BGPG irrigation; Superior Left (SL) – scraping/ smoothing dental root (RAR) and BGP irrigation inside the periodontal pocket ; Inferior Right (IR) - RAR; Inferior Left (IL)- control. Dental brushing with BGPG and washing mouth with propolis solution daily was carried through during the treatment. BGPG was applied in each periodontal pocket once a week, during 5 weeks, having used barren dismissable syringe. The results shown a regression of 95% gingivitis and suppuration in all the teeth irrigated with BGPG, as well as a pocket depths reduction in all unsubmitted and submitted teeth previously to the RAR. It was not observed alveolar bone reorganization. Increase of gingival contractionand dental mobility reduction was noted. In this clinical study, the patient treated with the BGPG showed periodontitis/gingivitis regression. The results suggest that 10% BGPG used could be used as an adjuvant therapeutic method assigned for the treatment of CP. Other studies need to be conducted with more significant number of patients in order to stablish this treatment as an alternative approach for peridontal infectious conditions.
Dyslexia in adults is associated with clinical signs of fatty acid deficiency.

Developmental dyslexia is a complex syndrome whose exact cause remains unknown. It has been suggested that a problem with fatty acid metabolism may play a role, particularly in relation to the visual symptoms exhibited by many dyslexics. We explored this possibility using two self-report questionnaires, designed on the basis of clinical experience, to assess (1) clinical signs of fatty acid deficiency; and (2) symptoms associated with dyslexia in known dyslexic and non-dyslexic subjects. Dyslexic signs and symptoms included the auditory-linguistic and spoken language difficulties traditionally associated with the disorder, as well as visual problems (both with reading and more generally) and motor problems. Fatty acid deficiency signs were significantly elevated in dyslexic subjects relative to controls, particularly within males (P<0.001). In addition, the severity of these clinical signs of fatty acid deficiency was strongly correlated with the severity of dyslexic signs and symptoms not only in the visual domain, but also with respect to auditory, linguistic and motor problems. The pattern of relationships differed somewhat between dyslexic and control groups, and sex differences were also observed. Our findings support the hypothesis that fatty acid metabolism may be abnormal in developmental dyslexia, and indicate the need for further studies using more objective measures.
Chinese Segmentation with a Word-Based Perceptron Algorithm

Standard approaches to Chinese word segmentation treat the problem as a tagging task, assigning labels to the characters in the sequence indicating whether the character marks a word boundary. Discriminatively trained models based on local character features are used to make the tagging decisions, with Viterbi decoding finding the highest scoring segmentation. In this paper we propose an alternative, word-based segmentor, which uses features based on complete words and word sequences. The generalized perceptron algorithm is used for discriminative training, and we use a beamsearch decoder. Closed tests on the first and second SIGHAN bakeoffs show that our system is competitive with the best in the literature, achieving the highest reported F-scores for a number of corpora.
Do Prices and Attributes Explain International Differences in Food Purchases?

Food purchases differ substantially across countries. We use detailed household level data from the US, France and the UK to (i) document these differences; (ii) estimate a demand system for food and nutrients, and (iii) simulate counterfactual choices if households faced prices and nutritional characteristics from other countries. We find that differences in prices and characteristics are important and can explain some difference (e.g., US-France difference in caloric intake), but generally cannot explain many of the compositional patterns by themselves. Instead, it seems an interaction between the economic environment and differences in preferences is needed to explain cross country differences.
Expression of CD34 in endothelial cells, hematopoietic progenitors and nervous cells in fetal and adult mouse tissues

The human cell surface molecule CD34 is selectively expressed on uncommitted and committed hematopoietic progenitor cells and on vascular endothelial cells. It has been suggested that CD34 regulates early events in blood cell migration and differentiation, possibly as a cell adhesion molecule. To characterize the patterns of expression of CD34 in the mouse embryo and in the adult, as well as to dissect the function of different portions of the extracellular domain of this molecule, we have generated the first monoclonal antibodies (mAb) specific for mouse CD34. The epitope(s) recognized by these mAb are not carbohydrate moieties, and are comprised either within the immunoglobulin‐like domain or within a portion of the mucin domain, containing approximately half of the predicted O‐ and N‐linked carbohydrate attachment sites. The specificity of the antibodies was established by ELISA and Western blotting. Western analysis revealed that these mAb recognize a protein of approximately 110 kDa in PA6 stromal cell lysates, which can be specifically blocked by the recombinant CD34 protein. To establish the reactivity of these mAb on different cell lineages, a panel of cell lines was stained. This analysis showed strong reactivities with 3T3 fibroblasts, stromal cell lines from fetal liver and with the endothelial cell line D10. Bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors were also stained by these mAb. Immunostaining of frozen sections from embryonic and adult tissues revealed a strong reactivity against vascular endothelial cells at different stages of development, including sinusoidal cells in the fetal liver, yolk sac, and in the fetal bone marrow, endothelial cells from adult lung and kidney, and neural cells, including those of the neural tube of midgestation embryos and neuronal bodies in adult brain.
Molecular Pharmacology and Antitumor Activity of PHT-427, a Novel Akt/Phosphatidylinositide-Dependent Protein Kinase 1 Pleckstrin Homology Domain Inhibitor

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/phosphatidylinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDPK1)/Akt signaling plays a critical role in activating proliferation and survival pathways within cancer cells. We report the molecular pharmacology and antitumor activity of PHT-427, a compound designed to bind to the pleckstrin homology (PH) binding domain of signaling molecules important in cancer. Although originally designed to bind the PH domain of Akt, we now report that PHT-427 also binds to the PH domain of PDPK1. A series of PHT-427 analogues with variable C-4 to C-16 alkyl chain length were synthesized and tested. PHT-427 itself (C-12 chain) bound with the highest affinity to the PH domains of both PDPK1 and Akt. PHT-427 inhibited Akt and PDPK1 signaling and their downstream targets in sensitive but not resistant cells and tumor xenografts. When given orally, PHT-427 inhibited the growth of human tumor xenografts in immunodeficient mice, with up to 80% inhibition in the most sensitive tumors, and showed greater activity than analogues with C4, C6, or C8 alkyl chains. Inhibition of PDPK1 was more closely correlated to antitumor activity than Akt inhibition. Tumors with PIK3CA mutation were the most sensitive, and K-Ras mutant tumors were the least sensitive. Combination studies showed that PHT-427 has greater than additive antitumor activity with paclitaxel in breast cancer and with erlotinib in non–small cell lung cancer. When given >5 days, PHT-427 caused no weight loss or change in blood chemistry. Thus, we report a novel PH domain binding inhibitor of PDPK1/Akt signaling with significant in vivo antitumor activity and minimal toxicity. Mol Cancer Ther; 9(3); 706–17
A balanced energy consumption sleep scheduling algorithm in wireless sensor networks

Network lifetime is one of the most critical issues for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) since most sensors are equipped with non-rechargeable batteries with limited energy. To prolong the lifetime of a WSN, one common approach is to dynamically schedule sensors' active/sleep cycles (i.e., duty cycles) with sleep scheduling algorithm. In this paper, we propose a new sleep scheduling algorithm, named EC-CKN (Energy Consumed uniformly-Connected K-Neighborhood) algorithm, to prolong the network lifetime. The algorithm EC-CKN, which takes the nodes' residual energy information as the parameter to decide whether a node to be active or sleep, not only can achieve the k-connected neighborhoods problem, but also can assure the k awake neighbor nodes have more residual energy than other neighbor nodes at the current epoch. Based on the algorithm EC-CKN, we can obtain the state transition probability at the n'th epoch, and upper bound and lower bound of the network lifetime by Markov chain and Markov decision chain.
Health from the patient's point of view. How does it relate to the physician's judgement?

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of self-rated health to a measure of physical status, based on a professional rating of the individual's health from a strictly physical point of view. METHODS A random selection of 407 people over the age of 20 from the north-western catchment area of greater Stockholm were invited in 1995 to a physical examination, including a self-report questionnaire with questions about self-rated health, lifestyle, psychosocial factors and quality of life. A measure of physical health on a 5-point graded scale was constructed using the information from the records of the physical examination as a base. RESULTS Self-rated health and the professional ratings of health coincided in approximately 60% of the cases. There were a relatively large number of cases where the ratings were contradictory. The correlation between the scales was 0.45. Comparison between the two ratings with respect to association with potential determinants showed that physical factors naturally explained most of the variances in physical health, whereas social and mental well-being and somatic conditions (women) were the most important explanatory variables for self-rated health. Irrespective of whether they had "favourable" or "unfavourable" health, those with "poor" self-rated health also had perceived lower social and mental well-being, less appreciation, more somatic conditions (women) and worse coping abilities (men). CONCLUSIONS With mental, psychosocial and social problems becoming more pronounced in sickness patterns for primary care patients, self-rated health could be a helpful device, especially when time resources for consultations are short. This measure could also give a more global view of the patient's situation when effectivity and rationality can be a threat to a holistic view of the patient.