Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weathering, fibre strength and colour properties of processed white cashmere

Weathering refers to the degradation of wool fibres that occur during growth from exposure of the fleece to sunlight, water and air. Weathering damage to Merino wool reduces quantities of fibre that are harvested, reduces length in both raw and processed wools, reduces spinning performance and dyeing outcomes. This work aimed to aimed to quantify if and to what extent weathering occurred in 38 lots of commercial dehaired white cashmere and cashmere top sourced from traditional and new origins of production and the extent of any association between weathering and tensile strength properties of the dehaired cashmere and cashmere top. The cashmere was tested for physical properties, bundle tenacity and extension, tristimulus values brightness (Y) and yellowness (Y-Z) and reflectance. Dye uptake was used as an index of weathering. Linear models, relating to weathering, bundle tenacity and Y-Z were fitted to origin and other objective measurements. Mean attributes (range) were: mean fibre diameter, 17.0 μm (13.5–21.3 μm); bundle tenacity of tops, 10.3 cN/tex (8.3–12.9 cN/tex), for dehaired fibre, 10.1 cN/tex (9.1–11.4 cN/tex). Stain uptake varied from 0.92 to 6.34 mg/g fibre indicating a six-fold variation in the extent of weathering. Both the extent of weathering and the bundle tenacity of commercial lots of cashmere were affected by the origin of the cashmere. Increased weathering reduced bundle tenacity, bundle extension, increased the yellowness and reduced reflectance of white cashmere. Bundle tenacity of cashmere declined as fibre diameter variability increased from 20 to 22.5%. For the samples tested, the cashmere from China, Mongolia, Afghanistan and Iran showed more weathering than cashmere from Australia, New Zealand and the USA. The differences in the extent of weathering and of bundle tenacity between cashmere from different origins were of commercial significance.
Radiation Dose Reduction of Chest CT with Iterative Reconstruction in Image Space - Part II: Assessment of Radiologists' Preferences Using Dual Source CT

Objective To evaluate the impact of radiation dose and reconstruction algorithms on radiologists' preferences, and whether an iterative reconstruction in image space (IRIS) can be used for dose reduction in chest CT. Materials and Methods Standard dose chest CT (SDCT) in 50 patients and low dose chest CT (LDCT) in another 50 patients were performed, using a dual-source CT, with 120 kVp and same reference mAs (50 mAs for SDCT and 25 mAs for LDCT) employed to both tubes by modifying the dual-energy scan mode. Full-dose data were obtained by combining the data from both tubes and half-dose data were separated from one tube. These were reconstructed by using a filtered back projection (FBP) and IRIS: full-dose FBP (F-FBP); full-dose IRIS (F-IRIS); half-dose FBP (H-FBP) and half-dose IRIS (H-IRIS). Ten H-IRIS/F-IRIS, 10 H-FBP/H-IRIS, 40 F-FBP/F-IRIS and 40 F-FBP/H-IRIS pairs of each SDCT and LDCT were randomized. The preference for clinical usage was determined by two radiologists with a 5-point-scale system for the followings: noise, contrast, and sharpness of mediastinum and lung. Results Radiologists preferred IRIS over FBP images in the same radiation dose for the evaluation of the lungs in both SDCT (p = 0.035) and LDCT (p < 0.001). When comparing between H-IRIS and F-IRIS, decreased radiation resulted in decreased preference. Observers preferred H-IRIS over F-FBP for the lungs in both SDCT and LDCT, even with reduced radiation dose by half in IRIS image (p < 0.05). Conclusion Radiologists' preference may be influenced by both radiation dose and reconstruction algorithm. According to our preliminary results, dose reduction at 50% with IRIS may be feasible for lung parenchymal evaluation.
Chemical activation of the mechanotransduction channel Piezo1

Piezo ion channels are activated by various types of mechanical stimuli and function as biological pressure sensors in both vertebrates and invertebrates. To date, mechanical stimuli are the only means to activate Piezo ion channels and whether other modes of activation exist is not known. In this study, we screened ∼3.25 million compounds using a cell-based fluorescence assay and identified a synthetic small molecule we termed Yoda1 that acts as an agonist for both human and mouse Piezo1. Functional studies in cells revealed that Yoda1 affects the sensitivity and the inactivation kinetics of mechanically induced responses. Characterization of Yoda1 in artificial droplet lipid bilayers showed that Yoda1 activates purified Piezo1 channels in the absence of other cellular components. Our studies demonstrate that Piezo1 is amenable to chemical activation and raise the possibility that endogenous Piezo1 agonists might exist. Yoda1 will serve as a key tool compound to study Piezo1 regulation and function. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.07369. 001
Contextual Effects in Judgments of Taste Intensity: No Assimilation, Sometimes Contrast

Judgments of taste intensity often show contextual contrast but not assimilation, even though both effects of stimulus context appear in other sense modalities, such as hearing. Four experiments used a paradigm that shifts the stimulus context within a test session in order to seek evidence of assimilation in judgments of the taste intensity of sucrose and, for comparison, the loudness of 500-Hz tones. Experiment 1 found no assimilation in taste using three response scales, magnitude estimation, labeled magnitude, and visual analog, but did find evidence of contrast. Experiments 2 and 3 found no clear evidence of either assimilation or contrast in taste, but found consistent evidence of assimilation in loudness. Experiment 4 found no assimilation in loudness, however, when the intervals between successive stimuli increased from about 6 to 30 s in order to match the interval used with sucrose in Experiments 1 to 3. Taken together, these findings suggest that the assimilation found in intensity judgments in other sensory modalities may not appear in taste perception because of the slower rates presenting of taste stimuli.
Stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous teeth: a narrative synthesis of literature.

BACKGROUND Stem Cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth (SHEDs) represent an immature stem cell population, easily accessible without ethical concerns, able to induce pluripotent stem cells and to differentiate in osteoblasts, hepatocytes, adipocytes, neural cells, chondrocytes, myocytes, skin cells and odontoblasts. AIM The purpose of this review is to present a comprehensive synthesis of current knowledge of SHEDs, through the description of their tissue sources, properties, differentiation potential, and comparative assessment of their advantages for tissue engineering. MATERIALS AND METHODS Studies were identified by searching electronic databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, Medscape and Web of Science) from 2003 to 30 September 2013 and scanning references lists of the included publications and of the reviews. No publication date or publication status restrictions were imposed. Only evidence available in English language was reviewed. RESULTS A total of 72 studies were identified for inclusion in the review. Clinical heterogeneity didn't allow for meta-analysis but only for a narrative synthesis. The outcomes of the present narrative synthesis are presented separately for methods of isolation and culture, characterization of SHEDs, differentiation in vitro and in vivo, use in animal model, and stem cell banking. CONCLUSIONS SHEDs display multifactorial potential such as strong and high proliferative capacity, easy accessibility, high viability and multilineage differentiation capacity. Their retrieval is relatively simple and non-invasive, no risks for developing immune reactions or rejection following transplantation exist and no immunosuppressive therapy is needed.
Generics as a Library

A generic function is a function that is defined on the structure of data types: with a single definition, we obtain a function that works for many data types. In contrast, an ad-hoc polymorphic function requires a separate implementation for each data type. Previous work by Hinze on lightweight generic programming has introduced techniques that allow the definition of generic functions directly in Haskell. A severe drawback of these approaches is that generic functions, once defined, cannot be extended with ad-hoc behaviour for new data types, precluding the design of a customizable generic programming library based on these techniques. In this paper, we present a revised version of Hinze’s Generics for the masses approach that overcomes this limitation. Using our new technique, writing a customizable generic programming library in Haskell 98 is possible.
The Application of Genetic Neural Network in Network Intrusion Detection

Traditional network security models have not meet the development of network technologies, so PPDR model emerged, as the times require. Instruction detection technology is an important composed part in PPDR model and it make up for the shortages of firewall and data security protection. This technology has not only distinguished from computer and network resources, but also has given important information in instruction; it has not only detected instructing action from out word, but also has controlled user's actions. Instruction detection technology is the core in instruction detection system, it include abnormity instruction and abused instruction detection. However, how to detect whether there are intrusions is a problem to need solving first. According to the high missing report rate and high false report rate of existing intrusion detection systems, the paper proposed an anomaly intrusion detection model based on genetic neural network, which combined the good global searching ability of genetic algorithm with the accurate local searching feature of BP networks to optimize the initial weights of neural networks. The practice overcame the shortcomings in BP algorithm such as slow convergence, easily dropping into local minimum and weakness in global searching. Simulation results showed that the practice worked well, fast learning speed and high-accuracy categories.
Construct Validity of a Modification of the Flexed Arm Hang Test

Abstract Clemons, JM. Construct validity of a modification of the flexed arm hang test. J Strength Cond Res 28(12): 3523–3530, 2014—Despite the ubiquitous use of the flexed arm hang (FAH) as a field test of muscular fitness, evidence for the construct validity of it is lacking. The strongest validity coefficients (r) to date are 0.71 and 0.72 found by correlating modified versions of the FAH (i.e., 90 and 180° of elbow extension, respectively) with relative dynamic strength (i.e., 1 repetition maximum [1RM] lat pull downs × body mass−1). Considering a significant portion of all FAH and modified flexed arm hang (MFAH) performances are isometric, the test may be more correlated with the construct of relative isometric strength (RIS) rather than relative dynamic strength. The purpose of this study was to determine if the construct validity of the 90° MFAH might be strengthened by correlating it with either absolute isometric strength (AIS) (i.e., maximum volitional isometric contraction [MVIC]) or RIS (i.e., MVIC × body mass−1). Thirty-one college-aged women participated in the study. Inter-rater reliability coefficients for two 90° MFAH tests were determined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC): F1,30 = 1.356, ICC = 0.99; F1,30 = 0.675, ICC = 0.99. In addition, test-retest reliability was also found to be excellent: F1,30 = 3.809; ICC = 0.98. Pearson product moment correlation (r) was used at an adjusted alpha level of 0.025 to examine construct validity of the 90° MFAH with both AIS (MVIC) and RIS (MVIC × body mass−1). Results indicated no significant relationship with AIS (r = 0.096, p = 0.606); however, a strong significant relationship emerged with RIS (r = 0.878, p = 0.000). It was concluded that 90° MFAH scores alone were not related to absolute strength; however, they were found to be a valid and reliable estimate of the construct of RIS.
Low depth carry lookahead addition using charge recycling threshold logic

The main result of this paper is the development of a low depth carry lookahead addition technique based on threshold logic. Two such adders are designed using the recently proposed charge recycling threshold logic gate. The adders are shown to have a very low logic depth, and significantly reduced area and power dissipation compared to other dynamic CMOS implementations.
Determining Optimal Rates for Communication for Omniscience

This paper considers the communication for omniscience problem: a set of users observe a discrete memoryless multiple source and want to recover the entire multiple source via noise-free broadcast communications. We study the problem of how to determine an optimal rate vector that attains omniscience with the minimum sum rate, the total number of communications. The results cover both asymptotic and non-asymptotic models where the transmission rates are real and integral, respectively. We propose a modified decomposition algorithm (MDA) and a sum-rate increment algorithm (SIA) for the asymptotic and non-asymptotic models, respectively, both of which determine the value of the minimum sum rate and a corresponding optimal rate vector in polynomial time. For the coordinate saturation capacity algorithm, a nesting algorithm in MDA and SIA, we propose to implement it by a fusion method and show by experimental results that this fusion method contributes to a reduction in computation complexity. Finally, we show that the separable convex minimization problem over the optimal rate vector set in the asymptotic model can be decomposed by the fundamental partition, the optimal partition of the user set that determines the minimum sum rate, so that the problem can be solved more efficiently.
Holothurian Fucosylated Chondroitin Sulfate

Fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FucCS) is a structurally distinct glycosaminoglycan found in sea cucumber species. It has the same backbone composition of alternating 4-linked glucuronic acid and 3-linked N-acetyl galactosamine residues within disaccharide repeating units as regularly found in mammalian chondroitin sulfates. However, FucCS has also sulfated fucosyl branching units 3-O-linked to the acid residues. The sulfation patterns of these branches vary accordingly with holothurian species and account for different biological actions and responses. FucCSs may exhibit anticoagulant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, and pro-angiogenic activities, besides its beneficial effects in hemodialysis, cellular growth modulation, fibrosis and hyperglycemia. Through an historical overview, this document covers most of the science regarding the holothurian FucCS. Both structural and medical properties of this unique GAG, investigated during the last 25 years, are systematically discussed herein.
Genome Wide Analysis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Reveal Leukemia Specific Methylome and Subtype Specific Hypomethylation of Repeats

Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (MeDIP-seq) has the potential to identify changes in DNA methylation important in cancer development. In order to understand the role of epigenetic modulation in the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) we have applied MeDIP-seq to the DNA of 12 AML patients and 4 normal bone marrows. This analysis revealed leukemia-associated differentially methylated regions that included gene promoters, gene bodies, CpG islands and CpG island shores. Two genes (SPHKAP and DPP6) with significantly methylated promoters were of interest and further analysis of their expression showed them to be repressed in AML. We also demonstrated considerable cytogenetic subtype specificity in the methylomes affecting different genomic features. Significantly distinct patterns of hypomethylation of certain interspersed repeat elements were associated with cytogenetic subtypes. The methylation patterns of members of the SINE family tightly clustered all leukemic patients with an enrichment of Alu repeats with a high CpG density (P<0.0001). We were able to demonstrate significant inverse correlation between intragenic interspersed repeat sequence methylation and gene expression with SINEs showing the strongest inverse correlation (R2 = 0.7). We conclude that the alterations in DNA methylation that accompany the development of AML affect not only the promoters, but also the non-promoter genomic features, with significant demethylation of certain interspersed repeat DNA elements being associated with AML cytogenetic subtypes. MeDIP-seq data were validated using bisulfite pyrosequencing and the Infinium array.
Prevalence of thyroid antibodies in Nigerian patients.

BACKGROUND Thyroid antibody testing is not routinely available in developing countries, and few studies have measured thyroid antibodies in Africans. The significance of thyroid autoimmunity in an African setting is thus unclear. AIM To determine the prevalence of thyroid antibodies in patients attending a Nigerian teaching hospital. DESIGN Prospective survey. METHODS We measured antibodies to thyroglobulin (TgAb) and thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) using an ELISA technique in 104 patients with various thyroid pathologies attending an endocrine referral centre in Lagos, Nigeria. Patients were clinically grouped into Graves' disease (GD) (n = 69), simple non-toxic goitre (SNTG) (n = 21), toxic nodular goitre (TNG) (n = 8) and suspected Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) (n = 6). Blood donors without thyroid disease (n = 100) acted as controls. RESULTS TgAb and TPOAb were found in 4% and 7%, respectively, of healthy adult controls, 11.6 and 76.8% of patients with GD, 25% and 12.5% of patients with TNG and 9.52% and 14.29% of patients with SNTG. TPOAb testing confirmed HT in six patients, and identified two further cases that would have been misdiagnosed without antibody testing. DISCUSSION Thyroid autoimmunity appears more common in these Nigerian patients than in previous reports from Africa, and TPOAb was significantly associated with auto-immune thyroid disease. The clinical utility of these antibody measurements requires further evaluation in a wider African population.
Cerebral benzodiazepine receptor binding in vivo in patients with recurrent hepatic encephalopathy

Increased activation of the central benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) appears to play an important role in hepatic encephalopathy (HE). However, there is controversy regarding whether the density or affinity of BZRs is altered. A previous positron emission tomography (PET) study using the BZR antagonist [11C]flumazenil (FMZ) found two‐ to threefold greater cerebral cortical tracer uptake in recurrent HE, but did not account for impaired FMZ metabolism due to liver disease or assess the relative contributions of tracer delivery versus BZR binding. We hypothesized that correcting for these factors would affect estimations of BZR binding in HE. Nine patients with recurrent HE and 13 age‐comparable controls were studied with [11C]FMZ PET. After intravenous administration of [11C]FMZ, arterial blood samples were collected, and PET images were acquired over 60 minutes. FMZ transport and binding maps were calculated for each subject by using a physiological tracer kinetic model. In agreement with the previous report, we found that FMZ reached a much higher level and was retained longer in the HE cerebral cortex despite similar total blood radioactivity levels in the two groups. However, the patients showed impaired hepatic metabolism of FMZ. After physiological modeling incorporating these data, significant increases in BZR binding were found in the thalamus (13%), cerebellum (20%), and pons (23%). There were minor, statistically insignificant increases in cerebral cortical (10%), putamen (12%), and whole brain (12%) BZR binding in patients with recurrent HE. These findings are in general agreement with results of autopsy studies, confirming a lack of major increases in cortical or basal ganglial BZR binding in HE. They emphasize that physiological tracer modeling should be used and altered peripheral radioligand metabolism considered in future PET studies of HE.
Poster abstract: Exploiting the LQI variance for rapid channel quality assessment

Communicating over a reliable radio channel is vital for an efficient resource usage in sensor networks: a bad radio channel can lead to poor application performance and higher energy consumption. Previous research has shown that the LQI mean value is a good estimator of the link quality. Nevertheless, due to its high variance, many packets are needed to obtain a reliable estimation. Based on experimental results, we show instead that the LQI variance is not a limitation. We show that the variance of the LQI can be used as a metric for a rapid channel quality assessment. Our initial results indicate that identifying good channels using the LQI variance requires an order of magnitude fewer packets than when using the mean LQI.
UPAR7: A knowledge-based system for headline sentiment tagging

For the Affective Text task at SemEval-2007, University Paris 7's system first evaluates emotion and valence on all words of a news headline (using enriched versions of SentiWordNet and a subset of WordNet-Affect). We use a parser to find the head word, considering that it has a major importance. We also detect contrasts (between positive and negative words) that shift valence. Our knowledge-based system achieves high accuracy on emotion and valence annotation. These results show that working with linguistic techniques and a broad-coverage lexicon is a viable approach to sentiment analysis of headlines.
TLR2/MyD88/NF-κB Pathway, Reactive Oxygen Species, Potassium Efflux Activates NLRP3/ASC Inflammasome during Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) constitute highly pathogenic virus that cause severe respiratory diseases in newborn, children, elderly and immuno-compromised individuals. Airway inflammation is a critical regulator of disease outcome in RSV infected hosts. Although “controlled” inflammation is required for virus clearance, aberrant and exaggerated inflammation during RSV infection results in development of inflammatory diseases like pneumonia and bronchiolitis. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) plays an important role in inflammation by orchestrating the pro-inflammatory response. IL-1β is synthesized as an immature pro-IL-1β form. It is cleaved by activated caspase-1 to yield mature IL-1β that is secreted extracellularly. Activation of caspase-1 is mediated by a multi-protein complex known as the inflammasome. Although RSV infection results in IL-1β release, the mechanism is unknown. Here in, we have characterized the mechanism of IL-1β secretion following RSV infection. Our study revealed that NLRP3/ASC inflammasome activation is crucial for IL-1β production during RSV infection. Further studies illustrated that prior to inflammasome formation; the “first signal” constitutes activation of toll-like receptor-2 (TLR2)/MyD88/NF-κB pathway. TLR2/MyD88/NF-κB signaling is required for pro-IL-1β and NLRP3 gene expression during RSV infection. Following expression of these genes, two “second signals” are essential for triggering inflammasome activation. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and potassium (K+) efflux due to stimulation of ATP-sensitive ion channel promote inflammasome activation following RSV infection. Thus, our studies have underscored the requirement of TLR2/MyD88/NF-κB pathway (first signal) and ROS/potassium efflux (second signal) for NLRP3/ASC inflammasome formation, leading to caspase-1 activation and subsequent IL-1β release during RSV infection.