Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Low-Power Unified Arithmetic Unit for Programmable Handheld 3-D Graphics Systems

A low-power, area-efficient four-way 32-bit multifunction arithmetic unit has been developed for programmable shaders for handheld 3D graphics systems. It adopts the logarithmic number system (LNS) at the arithmetic core for the single-cycle throughput and the small-size low-power unification of various complicated arithmetic operations such as power, logarithm, trigonometric functions, vector-SIMD multiplication, division, square root and vector dot product. 24-region and 16-region piecewise linear logarithmic and antilogarithmic converters are proposed with 0.8% and 0.02% maximum conversion error, respectively. All the supported operations are implemented with less than 6.3% operation error and unified into a single arithmetic platform with maximum four-cycle latency and single-cycle throughput. A 93 K gate test chip is fabricated using one-poly five-metal 0.18-mum CMOS technology. It operates at 210 MHz with maximum power consumption of 15.3 mW at 1.8 V.
Retinal nerve fiber layer measurements in myopia: An optical coherence tomography study.

PURPOSE To evaluate the relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and the axial length/refractive error of the eye. METHODS A total of 115 eyes of 115 healthy subjects, comprising 75 eyes with high myopia (spherical equivalent [SE] < -6.0 D) and 40 eyes with low to moderate myopia (SE between -6.0 D and -0.5D), were analyzed in this cross-sectional study. Total average and mean clock hour RNFL thicknesses were measured by OCT and compared between the two myopia groups. Associations between RNFL measurements and axial length and spherical equivalent were evaluated by linear regression analysis. RESULTS The RNFL measurements were significantly lower in the high myopia group compared with those of the low-to-moderate myopia group at 12, 1, and 7 o'clock (right eye orientation). Apart from the temporal clock hours, significant correlations were evident between RNFL measurements and the axial length and spherical equivalent. The average RNFL thickness decreased with increasing axial length (r = -0.314, P = 0.001) and negative refractive power (r = 0.291, P = 0.002). A significant proportion of myopic eyes were classified as outside normal limits, with reference to the normative database. The most frequently abnormal sector was at 2 o'clock, where 16.5% of myopic eyes were outside normal limits. CONCLUSIONS RNFL measurements vary with the axial length/refractive error of the eye. Analysis of RNFL thickness in the evaluation of glaucoma should always be interpreted with reference to the refractive status. Although the normative database provided by OCT has been helpful in identifying ocular diseases involving the RNFL, it may not be reliable in the analysis of myopic eyes.
When vortices stick: an aerodynamic transition in tiny insect flight

SUMMARY We have used computational fluid dynamics to study changes in lift generation and vortex dynamics for Reynolds numbers (Re) between 8 and 128. The immersed boundary method was used to model a two-dimensional wing through one stroke cycle. We calculated lift and drag coefficients as a function of time and related changes in lift to the shedding or attachment of the leading and trailing edge vortices. We find that the fluid dynamics around the wing fall into two distinct patterns. For Re≥64, leading and trailing edge vortices are alternately shed behind the wing, forming the von Karman vortex street. For Re≤32, the leading and trailing edge vortices remain attached to the wing during each `half stroke'. In three-dimensional studies, large lift forces are produced by `vortical asymmetry' when the leading edge vortex remains attached to the wing for the duration of each half stroke and the trailing edge vortex is shed. Our two-dimensional study suggests that this asymmetry is lost for Re below some critical value (between 32 and 64), resulting in lower lift forces. We suggest that this transition in fluid dynamics is significant for lift generation in tiny insects.
Fine Tuning of a Type 1 Interferon Antagonist

Type I interferons are multi-potent cytokines that serve as first line of defense against viruses and other pathogens, posses immunomudolatory functions and elicit a growth inhibitory response. In recent years it has been shown that interferons are also detrimental, for example in lupus, AIDS, tuberculosis and cognitive decline, highlighted the need to develop interferon antagonists. We have previously developed the antagonist IFN-1ant, with much reduced binding to the IFNAR1 receptor and enhanced binding to IFNAR2. Here, we further tune the IFN-1ant by producing three additional antagonists based on IFN-1ant but with altered activity profiles. We show that in all three cases the antiproliferative activity of interferons is blocked and the induction of gene transcription of immunomudolatory and antiproliferative associated genes are substantially decreased. Conversely, each of the new antagonists elicits a different degree of antiviral response, STAT phosphorylation and related gene induction. Two of the new antagonists promote decreased activity in relation to the original IFN-1ant, while one of them promotes increased activity. As we do not know the exact causes of the detrimental effects of IFNs, the four antagonists that were produced and analyzed provide the opportunity to investigate the extent of antagonistic and agonistic activity optimal for a given condition.
Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide enhances immune response in weaned piglets

The acquired immunity is underdeveloped at 3–4 weeks of age when piglets are usually weaned on commercial farms, and weaning is associated with compromised immunity. Dietary supplementation with immunomodulatory phytochemicals may enhance immune responses in the weaned piglets. This study is conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplemental achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide (ABP) on proliferation activity of lymphocytes, and production of antibodies, complements and cytokines in weaned piglets. Results showed that lymphocyte proliferation activity in piglets fed diets supplementing with 1000 and 1500 mg/kg ABP increased (P < 0.05) on days 14 and 28 compared with the non-additive piglets, as well as serum contents of IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, C4, IL (interleukin)-2 and IFN (interferon)-γ. The ABP had dose-dependent immunomodulatory activity and the dose of 1500 mg/kg presented the strongest stimulating activity in vivo. In addition, the ABP increased (P < 0.05) the proliferation activity and production of IL-2 and IFN-γ of cultured lymphocytes in dose- or time-dependent manner. The proliferation activity of peripheral T cells and splenic lymphocytes in 400 μg/ml of ABP group arrived at their peak values, as well as the production of IL-2 and IFN-γ at 72 and 12 h after the treatment, respectively. Collectively, these findings suggested that dietary supplementation with ABP to weaned piglets enhances cellular and humoral immune responses, and ABP addition to culture medium also increases the proliferation activity and cytokine production of lymphocytes cultured in vitro, which indicate that dietary supplementation with the herbal polysaccharide may offer an effective alternative to antibiotics for weaned piglets.
At Least 50% of Human-Specific HERV-K (HML-2) Long Terminal Repeats Serve In Vivo as Active Promoters for Host Nonrepetitive DNA Transcription

ABSTRACT We report the first genome-wide comparison of in vivo promoter activities of a group of human-specific endogenous retroviruses in healthy and cancerous germ line tissues. To this end, we employed a recently developed technique termed genomic repeat expression monitoring. We found that at least 50% of human-specific long terminal repeats (LTRs) possessed promoter activity, and many of them were up- or downregulated in a seminoma. Individual LTRs were expressed at markedly different levels, ranging from ∼0.001 to ∼3% of the housekeeping beta-actin gene transcript level. We demonstrated that the main factors affecting the LTR promoter activity were the LTR type (5′-proviral, 3′ proviral, or solitary) and position with regard to genes. The averaged promoter strengths of solitary and 3′-proviral LTRs were almost identical in both tissues, whereas 5′-proviral LTRs displayed two- to fivefold higher promoter activities. The relative content of promoter-active LTRs in gene-rich regions was significantly higher than that in gene-poor loci. This content was maximal in those regions where LTRs “overlapped” readthrough transcripts. Although many promoter-active LTRs were mapped near known genes, no clear-cut correlation was observed between transcriptional activities of genes and neighboring LTRs. Our data also suggest a selective suppression of transcription for LTRs located in gene introns.
List-Coloring Squares of Sparse Subcubic Graphs

The problem of coloring the square of a graph naturally arises in connection with the distance labelings, which have been studied intensively. We consider this problem for sparse subcubic graphs. We show that the choosability $\chi_\ell(G^2)$ of the square of a subcubic graph $G$ of maximum average degree $d$ is at most four if $d<24/11$ and $G$ does not contain a 5-cycle, at most five if $d<7/3$, and at most six if $d<5/2$. Wegner's conjecture claims that the chromatic number of the square of a subcubic planar graph is at most seven. Let $G$ be a planar subcubic graph of girth $g$. Our result implies that $\chi_\ell(G^2)$ is at most four if $g\ge 24$, at most $5$ if $g\ge 14$, and at most 6 if $g\ge 10$. For lower bounds, we find a planar subcubic graph $G_1$ of girth $9$ such that $\chi(G_1^2)=5$ and a planar subcubic graph $G_2$ of girth 5 such that $\chi(G_2^2)=6$. As a consequence, we show that the problem of 4-coloring of the square of a subcubic planar graph of girth $g=9$ is NP-complete. We conclude the paper by posing a few conjectures.
Collecting Evidence to Inform Salt Reduction Policies in Argentina: Identifying Sources of Sodium Intake in Adults from a Population-Based Sample

The maximum content of sodium in selected processed foods (PF) in Argentina was limited by a law enacted in 2013. Data about intake of these and other foods are necessary for policy planning, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring. We examined data from the CESCAS I population-based cohort study to assess the main dietary sources among PF and frequency of discretionary salt use by sex, age, and education attainment, before full implementation of the regulations in 2015. We used a validated 34-item FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) to assess PF intake and discretional salt use. Among 2127 adults in two Argentinean cities, aged 35–76 years, mean salt intake from selected PFs was 4.7 g/day, higher among male and low education subgroups. Categories of foods with regulated maximum limits provided near half of the sodium intake from PFs. Use of salt (always/often) at the table and during cooking was reported by 9% and 73% of the population, respectively, with higher proportions among young people. Reducing salt consumption to the target of 5 g/day may require adjustments to the current regulation (reducing targets, including other food categories), as well as reinforcing strategies such as education campaigns, labeling, and voluntary agreement with bakeries.
Gaseous Air Pollution and the Risk for Stroke Admissions: A Case-Crossover Study in Beijing, China

Background: Though increasing evidence supports association between gaseous air pollution and stroke, it remains unclear whether the effects differ in season, sex and age. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of gaseous air pollution with stroke admissions in Beijing, 2013–2014 in different subgroups. Methods: Case-crossover design and conditional logistic regression were used to perform the analyses. We examined the exposure-response relationship between air pollution and stroke. Stratified analyses were performed in different seasons, sex, and age groups. Results: There were 147,624 stroke admissions during the study period. In the whole study period, percent changes of stroke admissions were 0.82% (95% CI: 0.52% to 1.13%) and 0.73% (95% CI: 0.44% to 1.03%) per 10 μg/m3 increase in the same day conentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). The positive associations were higher in warm seasons and with patients >65 years (p < 0.05). Contrary effects of carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone on stroke admissions were observed in different seasons. Conclusions: NO2 and SO2 were positively associated with stroke admissions, with stronger effects in warm seasons and with patients >65 years. The associations of CO and ozone with stroke admissions differed across seasons.
p73 Expression Is Associated with the Cellular Radiosensitivity in Cervical Cancer after Radiotherapy

Apoptosis is one of the causes of cell death in cervical cancer following radiotherapy (S. S. Liu et al., Eur. J. Cancer, 37: 1104–1110, 2001). By studying the gene expression profile with cDNA apoptotic array, the p73 gene was found overexpressed in radiosensitive cervical cancers when compared with radioresistant ones. To investigate the role of the p73 gene in relation to clinical assessment of radiosensitivity in cervical cancer based on the findings of residual tumor cells in cervical biopsies after completion of radiotherapy, we studied the protein expression of p73 in 59 cervical cancers after radiotherapy and 68 normal cervices using immunohistochemistry. The expression of p73 was found to be significantly increased in cancer samples and, more importantly, in those samples sensitive to radiotherapy (P < 0.001). The overexpression of p73 actually predicted a better prognosis in cervical cancer patients (P < 0.001). To investigate the possible involvement of p73 downstream genes, the protein expressions of p21 and Bax were studied. The expression of p21, but not Bax, was found to be positively correlated with the expression of p73 (P = 0.001). Furthermore, the epigenetic regulation of p73 expression via DNA methylation was also investigated in 103 cervical cancers and 124 normals. Hypermethylation of p73 gene was observed in 38.8% of cervical cancers, and it was significantly associated with reduced or absent p73 expression (P < 0.001). Reactivation of p73 expression in two cervical cancer cell lines by demethylation treatment supported the role of methylation in the regulation of p73 expression. Our findings suggested that p73 expression was related to the radiosensitivity of cervical cancer cells and may play an important role in the regulation of cellular radiosensitivity.
Rheumatoid synovial endothelial cells produce macrophage colony-stimulating factor leading to osteoclastogenesis in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVES Periarticular osteoporosis and joint destruction are major complications in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), caused by osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. However, the mechanisms of monocyte/osteoclast maturation and role of RA endothelial cells (RAECs) in the control of osteoclastogenesis remain unclear. The present study was designed to determine the most important factors that influence monocyte accumulation and osteoclast formation among the many factors produced by RAEC. METHODS We analysed the expression profiles of various genes in human endothelial cells from various organs (RA synovium, umbilical vein, skin, liver sinusoid, renal glomerulus and brain) using oligonucleotide microarrays. Specifically, up-regulated gene in RAECs was assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunostaining of RA synovia. Migration of monocytes was assessed by the chemotactic chamber EZ-TAXIScan. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)-positive multinucleated cell (MNC) formation was observed by microscopy. RESULTS Among many epithelial-expressed factors, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) gene was abundantly expressed specifically in RAECs. Genes of fibroblast growth factor-2, interleukin-6 and osteoprotegerin were also overexpressed in RAECs. Migration of monocytes and osteoclast formation in co-cultures promoted by culture supernatants of RAECs were inhibited by M-CSF neutralizing antibody. CONCLUSIONS M-CSF produced by RAECs is involved in osteoclastogenesis from monocytes, migration and TRAP-positive MNC formation.
Nonlinear adaptive prediction of speech with a pipelined recurrent neural network

New learning algorithms for an adaptive nonlinear forward predictor that is based on a pipelined recurrent neural network (PRNN) are presented. A computationally efficient gradient descent (GD) learning algorithm, together with a novel extended recursive least squares (ERLS) learning algorithm, are proposed. Simulation studies based on three speech signals that have been made public and are available on the World Wide Web (WWW) are used to test the nonlinear predictor. The gradient descent algorithm is shown to yield poor performance in terms of prediction error gain, whereas consistently improved results are achieved with the ERLS algorithm. The merit of the nonlinear predictor structure is confirmed by yielding approximately 2 dB higher prediction gain than a linear structure predictor that employs the conventional recursive least squares (RLS) algorithm.
An X-ray scattering and electron microscopy study of methylammonium bismuth perovskites for solar cell applications

Photovoltaics made from organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite semiconductors are attracting significant interest due to their ability to harvest sunlight with remarkable efficiency. The presence of lead in the best performing devices raises concerns regarding their toxicity, a problem that may create barriers to commercialization. Hybrid perovskites with reduced lead content are being investigated to overcome this issue and here we evaluate bismuth as a possible lead substitute. For a series of hybrid perovskite films with the general composition CH_3NH_3(Pb_yBi_1− y )I_3− x Cl_x, we characterize their optical and structural properties using UV–Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering. We show that they form crystalline structures with an optical band gap, around 2 eV for CH_3NH_3BiI_3. However, preliminary solar cell tests show low power conversion efficiencies (<0.01%) due to both incomplete precursor conversion and material de-wetting from the substrate. The overall outcome is severely limited photocurrent. With current processing methods the general applicability of hybrid bismuth perovskites in photovoltaics may be limited.
The Tale of Two Serologic Tests to Screen for Syphilis—Treponemal and Nontreponemal: Does the Order Matter?

Background: Standard syphilis screening involves an initial screening with a nontreponemal test and confirmation of positives with a treponemal test. However, some laboratories have reversed the order. There is no detailed quantitative and qualitative evaluation for the order of testing. In this study, we analyzed the health and economic outcomes of the order of testing for the 2 serologic tests used in syphilis screening under pure screening settings. Methods: We used a cohort decision analysis to examine the health and economic outcomes of the screening algorithms for low and high prevalence settings. The 2-step algorithms were nontreponemal followed by treponemal (Nontrep-First) and treponemal followed by nontreponemal (Trep-First). We included the 1-step algorithms (treponemal only [Trep-Only] and an on-site nontreponemal only [Nontrep-Only]) for comparison. We estimated overtreatment rates and the number of confirmatory tests required for each algorithm. Results: For a cohort of 10,000 individuals, our results indicated that the overtreatment rates were substantially higher (more than 3 times) for the 1-step algorithms, although they treated a higher number of cases (over 15%). The 2-step algorithms detected and treated the same number of individuals. Among the 2-step algorithms, the Nontrep-First was more cost-effective in the low prevalence setting ($1400 vs. $1500 per adverse outcome prevented) and more cost-saving ($102,000 vs. $84,000) in the high prevalence setting. Conclusions: The difference in cost was largely due to the substantially higher number of confirmatory tests required for the Trep-First algorithm, although the number of cases detected and treated was the same.
Summoning Demons: The Pursuit of Exploitable Bugs in Machine Learning

Governments and businesses increasingly rely on data analytics and machine learning (ML) for improving their competitive edge in areas such as consumer satisfaction, threat intelligence, decision making, and product efficiency. However, by cleverly corrupting a subset of data used as input to a target's ML algorithms, an adversary can perturb outcomes and compromise the effectiveness of ML technology. While prior work in the field of adversarial machine learning has studied the impact of input manipulation on correct ML algorithms, we consider the exploitation of bugs in ML implementations. In this paper, we characterize the attack surface of ML programs, and we show that malicious inputs exploiting implementation bugs enable strictly more powerful attacks than the classic adversarial machine learning techniques. We propose a semi-automated technique, called steered fuzzing, for exploring this attack surface and for discovering exploitable bugs in machine learning programs, in order to demonstrate the magnitude of this threat. As a result of our work, we responsibly disclosed five vulnerabilities, established three new CVE-IDs, and illuminated a common insecure practice across many machine learning systems. Finally, we outline several research directions for further understanding and mitigating this threat.
Differential Connectivity of Perirhinal and Parahippocampal Cortices within Human Hippocampal Subregions Revealed by High-Resolution Functional Imaging

Numerous studies support the importance of the perirhinal cortex (PRC) and parahippocampal cortex (PHC) in episodic memory. Theories of PRC and PHC function in humans have been informed by neuroanatomical studies of these regions obtained in animal tract-tracing studies, but knowledge of the connectivity of PHC and PRC in humans is limited. To address this issue, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the intrinsic functional connectivity profiles associated with the PRC and PHC both across the neocortex and within the subfields of the hippocampus. In Experiment 1, we acquired standard-resolution whole-brain resting-state fMRI data in 15 participants, and in Experiment 2, we acquired high-resolution resting-state fMRI data targeting the hippocampus in an independent sample of 15 participants. Experiment 1 revealed that PRC showed preferential connectivity with the anterior hippocampus, whereas PHC showed preferential connectivity with posterior hippocampus. Experiment 2 indicated that this anterior–posterior functional connectivity dissociation was more evident for subfields CA1 and subiculum than for a combined CA2/CA3/dentate gyrus region. Finally, whole-brain analyses from Experiment 1 revealed preferential PRC connectivity with an anterior temporal and frontal cortical network, and preferential PHC connectivity with a posterior medial temporal, parietal, and occipital network. These results suggest a framework for refining models of the functional organization of the human medial temporal lobes in which the PRC and PHC are associated with distinct neocortical pathways that, in turn, may differentially interact with regions along the anterior–posterior axis of the hippocampus.