Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Selenoprotein and Selenium Pathway Genotypes with Risk of Colorectal Cancer and Interaction with Selenium Status

Selenoprotein genetic variations and suboptimal selenium (Se) levels may contribute to the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. We examined the association between CRC risk and genotype for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in selenoprotein and Se metabolic pathway genes. Illumina Goldengate assays were designed and resulted in the genotyping of 1040 variants in 154 genes from 1420 cases and 1421 controls within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Multivariable logistic regression revealed an association of 144 individual SNPs from 63 Se pathway genes with CRC risk. However, regarding the selenoprotein genes, only TXNRD1 rs11111979 retained borderline statistical significance after adjustment for correlated tests (PACT = 0.10; PACT significance threshold was P < 0.1). SNPs in Wingless/Integrated (Wnt) and Transforming growth factor (TGF) beta-signaling genes (FRZB, SMAD3, SMAD7) from pathways affected by Se intake were also associated with CRC risk after multiple testing adjustments. Interactions with Se status (using existing serum Se and Selenoprotein P data) were tested at the SNP, gene, and pathway levels. Pathway analyses using the modified Adaptive Rank Truncated Product method suggested that genes and gene x Se status interactions in antioxidant, apoptosis, and TGF-beta signaling pathways may be associated with CRC risk. This study suggests that SNPs in the Se pathway alone or in combination with suboptimal Se status may contribute to CRC development.
Toward large-scale programmable networks: Lessons learned through the operation and management of a wide-area OpenFlow-based network

OpenFlow is a promising candidate for future Internet technology. In the US, OpenFlow-based networks have been installed on several university campuses recently. However, we perceive that there is no structured approach to the operation and management of large-scale OpenFlow-based networks and there are few actual achievements of carrying business traffic on them. The focus of this study is on developing a management scheme of global OpenFlow-based networks integrated into the existing Ethernet-based networks using the tunneling technology. We deployed a nation-wide OpenFlow-based network on the NICT JGN2plus testbed, and demonstrated a high-quality real-time video streaming application to verify the performance and reliability of large-scale OpenFlow-based networks. We also describe the details of technical issues we confronted in the trial operation.
Vocal tract resonances tracking based on voiced and unvoiced speech classification using dynamic programming and fixed interval kalman smoother

This paper presents a systematic framework for accurate estimation of vocal tract resonances (formants) using neither training data nor a phonetic transcription. In the proposed method, the speech signal is segmented in voiced and unvoiced parts and the resonance frequencies of the vocal tract are estimated by dynamic programming and further processed by using Kalman filtering/smoothing for each part. The performance of the proposed method is compared with three different methods which are baseline, WaveSurfer and MSR. The proposed method reduces the overall vocal tract resonances (for F1, F2 and F3) estimation error rate by 35%, 39.6% and 2.74% over the baseline, WaveSurfer and MSR methods respectively.
Cycle Life Evaluation Based on Accelerated Aging Testing for Lithium-Ion Capacitors as Alternative to Rechargeable Batteries

Lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) are a hybrid energy storage device combining the energy storage mechanisms of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), and are considered attractive not only in high-power applications but also as an alternative to rechargeable batteries due to their inherent long cycle life and relatively high energy density. The cycle life testing was performed for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) LIC cells procured from three different manufactures, and the cycle life prediction model developed for EDLCs in the previous work was applied to LICs. Based on the resultant capacitance retention trends, the activation energies of degradation ratios were calculated using an Arrhenius equation, whereupon aging acceleration factors were determined. The calculated acceleration factors varied depending on manufacturers, suggesting that a proper aging acceleration factor should be determined for each manufacture cell based on cycle life testing rather than simply applying a rule of thumb which had been accepted for LIBs and EDLCs. The resulting and predicted capacitance retention trends correlated well, verifying that the cycle life prediction model established for EDLCs in the previous work would also be usable for LICs as an alternative to rechargeable batteries.
A Re-examination of Some Popular Security Return Anomalies

A Re-examination of Some Popular Security Return Anomalies We re-examine the relation between stock returns, measures of risk, and a set of non-risk security characteristics, including the book-to-market ratio, firm size, the bid-ask spread, the stock price, the dividend yield, and lagged returns. Our primary objective is to determine whether these non-risk characteristics have marginal explanatory power relative to the loadings on the Connor and Korajczyk (1988) risk factors. Fama-MacBeth type regressions using risk adjusted returns on individual securities shed light on earlier anomalous findings, and reveal new relations. The widely cited book-to-market and momentum effects are somewhat attenuated once account is taken of the Connor and Korajczyk factors. Firm size is shown to have no incremental explanatory power for returns in the presence of trading volume, suggesting that firm size is a proxy for liquidity. Finally, dividend yield effects consistent with a changing tax code are detected.
[Alpha chain disease].

: The pathological and clinical features of alpha-chain disease, its immunological diagnosis, the structural abnormalities of the abnormal immunoglobulin A compared with those of proteins of gamma and mu heavy chains diseases, the course of the disease and its present treatment, the epidemiological factors involved and their influence on pathogenesis and finally, the relationship with the "Mediterranean abdominal lymphoma" or IPSID are successively described. The stress has been placed on the latest data which refine but no not modify the first description of the disease. In the same way as studies on the synthesis and structure of proteins in heavy chain diseases will provide new data on the biosynthesis of normal immunoglobulins, so the elucidation of sequential events leading from a plasmocytic stage reversible by antibiotic therapy alone to a highly malignant immunoblastic stage should improve our knowledge of the genesis of human lymphomas.
Symmetric Boolean functions

We present an extensive study of symmetric Boolean functions, especially of their cryptographic properties. Our main result establishes the link between the periodicity of the simplified value vector of a symmetric Boolean function and its degree. Besides the reduction of the amount of memory required for representing a symmetric function, this property has some consequences from a cryptographic point of view. For instance, it leads to a new general bound on the order of resiliency of symmetric functions, which improves Siegenthaler's bound. The propagation characteristics of these functions are also addressed and the algebraic normal forms of all their derivatives are given. We finally detail the characteristics of the symmetric functions of degree at most 7, for any number of variables. Most notably, we determine all balanced symmetric functions of degree less than or equal to 7.
Temporal Population Genetics of Time Travelling Insects: A Long Term Study in a Seed-Specialized Wasp

Many animal species experiencing spatial or interannual fluctuations of their environment are capable of prolonged diapause, a kind of dormancy that extends over more than one year. Such a prolonged diapause is commonly perceived as a temporal demographic refuge in stochastic environments, but empirical evidence is still lacking of its consequences on temporal population genetic structures. In this long-term study, we investigated how a particular pattern of prolonged diapause may influence the temporal population genetics of the invasive seed-specialized wasp Megastigmus schimitscheki (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) in southeastern France. We characterized the diapause strategy of M. schimitscheki using records of emergence from diapause in 97 larval cohorts, and we conducted a temporal population genetic study on a natural invasive wasp population sampled during ten consecutive years (1999–2008) using polymorphic microsatellite markers. We found that M. schimitscheki can undergo a prolonged diapause of up to five years and displays two main adult emergence peaks after two and four years of diapause. Such a bimodal and atypical pattern did not disrupt temporal gene flow between cohorts produced in even and in odd years during the period of the study. Unexpectedly, we found that this wasp population consisted of two distinct genetic sub-populations that strongly diverged in their diapause strategies, with very few admixed individuals. One of the sub-populations displayed both short and prolonged diapause (2 and 4 years respectively) in equal proportions, whereas the other sub-population displayed mainly short diapause. This study provided empirical evidence that prolonged diapause phenotypes can substantially contribute to reproduction and impact temporal genetic structures. Prolonged diapause is likely to act as both demographic and genetic refuges for insect populations living in fluctuating environments.
Lymph‐circulating tumor cells show distinct properties to blood‐circulating tumor cells and are efficient metastatic precursors

The leading cause of breast cancer‐associated death is metastasis. In 80% of solid tumors, metastasis via the lymphatic system precedes metastasis via the vascular system. However, the molecular properties of tumor cells as they exit the primary tumor into the afferent lymphatics en route to the sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) are not yet known. Here, we developed an innovative technique that enables the collection of lymph and lymph‐circulating tumor cells (LCTCs) en route to the SLN in an immunocompetent animal model of breast cancer metastasis. We found that the gene and protein expression profiles of LCTCs and blood‐circulating tumor cells (BCTCs) as they exit the primary tumor are similar, but distinct from those of primary tumors and lymph node metastases (LNMs). LCTCs, but not BCTCs, exist in clusters, display a hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal phenotype and cancer stem cell‐like properties, and are efficient metastatic precursors. These results demonstrate that tumor cells that metastasize through the lymphatic system are different from those spread by blood circulation. Understanding the relative contribution of these cells to overall peripheral blood‐circulating tumor cells is important for cancer therapy. Whether these two types of cell occur in cancer patients remains to be determined.
Effect of IBA on rooting cuttings of carnation flowers ( Caryophillium aromaticus ) in three environmentsVarious acidic

Carnation is the scientific name Caryophillium aromaticus the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to the islands of Indonesia and the Pacific and because there's a certain beauty in most parts of the world are grown as ornamental trees. In this study, the effect of the hormone concentrations of indole butyric acid (IBA) on the rooting of cuttings of carnation flowers In chemical environment with pH=6, were evaluated. Therefore, concentrations of zero (control), 200, 400, 600 and 800 ppm of IBA in the three media types with pH=6 of organic acid called citric acid, sulfuric acid and acetic acid were used. Cuttings for 8 h in medium containing various concentrations of auxin were then cultured mixture of sand and peat moss that had been transferred. Seventy-five days after planting cuttings include root traits and shoot dry weight, root number and root number of rooted cuttings were measured. Statistical design applied in this study was a completely randomized design with 15 treatments and three replications. Based on the results of the sulfuric acid concentration of 400 ppm IBA rooting cuttings in the best of grenadine.
Hepatitis C Virus Infection: Host–Virus Interaction and Mechanisms of Viral Persistence

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease, in which a third of individuals with chronic HCV infections may develop liver cirrhosis. In a chronic HCV infection, host immune factors along with the actions of HCV proteins that promote viral persistence and dysregulation of the immune system have an impact on immunopathogenesis of HCV-induced hepatitis. The genome of HCV encodes a single polyprotein, which is translated and processed into structural and nonstructural proteins. These HCV proteins are the target of the innate and adaptive immune system of the host. Retinoic acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I)-like receptors and Toll-like receptors are the main pattern recognition receptors that recognize HCV pathogen-associated molecular patterns. This interaction results in a downstream cascade that generates antiviral cytokines including interferons. The cytolysis of HCV-infected hepatocytes is mediated by perforin and granzyme B secreted by cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) and natural killer (NK) cells, whereas noncytolytic HCV clearance is mediated by interferon gamma (IFN-γ) secreted by CTL and NK cells. A host–HCV interaction determines whether the acute phase of an HCV infection will undergo complete resolution or progress to the development of viral persistence with a consequential progression to chronic HCV infection. Furthermore, these host–HCV interactions could pose a challenge to developing an HCV vaccine. This review will focus on the role of the innate and adaptive immunity in HCV infection, the failure of the immune response to clear an HCV infection, and the factors that promote viral persistence.
A Practical Model of Metapopulation Dynamics

This paper describes a novel approach to modelling of metapopulation dynamics. The model is constructed as a generalized incidence function, which describes how the fraction of occupied habitat patches depends on patch areas and isolations. The model may be fitted to presence/absence data from a metapopulation at a dynamic equilibrium between extinctions and colonizations. Using the estimated parameter values, transient dynamics and the equilibrium fraction of occupied patches in any system of habitat patches can be predicted. The significance of particular habitat patches for the long-term persistence of the metapopulation, for example, can also be evaluated
Determination of twin zygosity using a commercially available STR analysis of 15 unlinked loci and the gender-determining marker amelogenin--a preliminary report.

BACKGROUND The aim of this preliminary study was to estimate the accuracy of the zygosity determination in twin pregnancies. METHODS Seventy-three sets of twin pregnancies were enrolled in this study, including 48 sets of twins resulting from assisted reproductive techniques (ART) and 25 sets of spontaneously conceived twins. Determination of zygosity was made by PCR-amplified short tandem repeat (STR) analysis with a commercially available panel, comprising 15 autosomal, codominant, unlinked loci and the gender-determining marker, amelogenin. Monozygotic (MZ) twins were determined when all these unlinked loci and the gender-determining marker were identical. Chorionicity and placenta were examined after delivery of the newborns to check their relationships to the twin zygosities. RESULTS Three of 48 (6.25%) sets of twins produced by ART and 18 of 25 (72%) sets of spontaneously conceived twins were MZ. Monozygosity could be evaluated based on 'like sex' in spontaneously conceived twins, because they had a greater incidence of MZs than those produced by artificial reproductive techniques. The MZ prediction rate was 78.6%, and the overestimated rate was 21.4% if the monochorionic like-sexed twins (LST) had a grossly single placenta. The underestimated rate of MZs was 26.7% when the dichorionic LST had apparently separate placentas. CONCLUSION With the DNA-based 15 STR analysis amplified in a multiplex PCR, the determination of the zygosity in multifetal pregnancies is not only cost and time saving but also yields greater sensitivity and precision than conventional methods.
Differential effect of cigarette smoking on hydrogen peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances exhaled in patients with community acquired pneumonia.

BACKGROUND This study was designed to investigate the effect of cigarette smoking on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARs) concentrations in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP). METHODS H2O2 and TBARs concentrations in EBC were determined with spectrofluorimetrical assays. RESULTS Non-smoking CAP patients (n = 24) exhaled 1.4, 1.8 and 1.7 times more H2O2 than the smoking patients with CAP (n = 19) as assessed one (0.73 +/- 0.32 microM v. 0.51 +/- 0.36 microM), three (0.84 +/- 0.31 microM v. 0.47 +/- 0.24 microM) and five (0.66 +/- 0.28 microM v. 0.40 +/- 0.35 microM) days after admission (p < 0.05 in each case). Over 10 days of hospital treatment, mean level of exhaled H2O2 0.45 +/- 0.22 microM in CAP patients with smoking history was decreased if compared with 0.71 +/- 0.19 microM exhaled H2O2 in CAP group (p = 0.005). On the contrary, TBARs concentration evaluated over entire study period was increased in smoking CAP patients (median 0.02 microM, range 0-0.32 microM) compared with non-smoking group (median 0.01 microM, range 0-0.21 microM, p < 0.05). Concurrent, active smoking status was related with the decreased levels of H2O2 exhaled in breath condensate within the course of CAP but it appeared to increase levels of TBARs. CONCLUSIONS The differential alternations of oxidative parameters in EBC with respect to the smoking status might provide evidence of increased H2O2 decomposition and enhanced generation of reactive species in airways of CAP patients.
Proactive Intrusion Defense Against DDoS Flooding Attacks: Adaptive Filtering with Security Datamining - The NetShield Approach at USC*

The NetShield security system was developed at USC to defend against network worms and flood attacks. The system prevents malicious hackers from orchestrating DDoS flooding attacks on any IP-based public network. This article presents new packet filtering and anomaly detection techniques developed with the NetShield system. All packets from each IP source are counted and timed during their life cycles. Special IP counters and timers are used to support the filtering process. Attack profile datamining is used to support protocol anomaly detection of flood attacks. We use an alarm-matrix model to assess the effectiveness of the attack/alarm verification and packet filtering processes.
Accelerating Multiagent Reinforcement Learning by Equilibrium Transfer

An important approach in multiagent reinforcement learning (MARL) is equilibrium-based MARL, which adopts equilibrium solution concepts in game theory and requires agents to play equilibrium strategies at each state. However, most existing equilibrium-based MARL algorithms cannot scale due to a large number of computationally expensive equilibrium computations (e.g., computing Nash equilibria is PPAD-hard) during learning. For the first time, this paper finds that during the learning process of equilibrium-based MARL, the one-shot games corresponding to each state's successive visits often have the same or similar equilibria (for some states more than 90% of games corresponding to successive visits have similar equilibria). Inspired by this observation, this paper proposes to use equilibrium transfer to accelerate equilibrium-based MARL. The key idea of equilibrium transfer is to reuse previously computed equilibria when each agent has a small incentive to deviate. By introducing transfer loss and transfer condition, a novel framework called equilibrium transfer-based MARL is proposed. We prove that although equilibrium transfer brings transfer loss, equilibrium-based MARL algorithms can still converge to an equilibrium policy under certain assumptions. Experimental results in widely used benchmarks (e.g., grid world game, soccer game, and wall game) show that the proposed framework: 1) not only significantly accelerates equilibrium-based MARL (up to 96.7% reduction in learning time), but also achieves higher average rewards than algorithms without equilibrium transfer and 2) scales significantly better than algorithms without equilibrium transfer when the state/action space grows and the number of agents increases.
Modeling Evolutionary Behaviors for Community-based Dynamic Recommendation

We exploit dynamic patterns from both documents’ and users’ aspects to build models for recommendation. We propose a Community-Based Dynamic Recommendation (CBDR) scheme to make recommendations by taking content semantics, evolutionary patterns, and user communities into consideration. A Time-Sensitive Adaboost algorithm is proposed to build adaptive user models for ranking document candidates based on leveraging dynamic factors such as freshness, popularity, and other attributes. Our experimental results on a large online application system demonstrate the recommendation usefulness of the CBDR scheme is 259% better than the collaborative filtering, 126% better than the community-based static recommendation algorithm, and 106% better than the optimal global recommendation bound.
bla ROB-1 Presence on pB1000 in Haemophilus influenzae Is Widespread, and Variable Cefaclor Resistance Is Associated with Altered Penicillin-Binding Proteins

ABSTRACT Plasmid pB1000 is a small replicon recently identified as bearing blaROB-1 in animal and human Pasteurellaceae in Spain. We identified pB1000 in 11 blaROB-1-positive Australian and North American Haemophilus influenzae isolates, suggesting a wider role for pB1000 in disseminating blaROB-1. Native H. influenzae conjugative elements can mobilize plasmids similar to pB1000 at a low frequency of 10−8, and this might account for the infrequency of blaROB-1 compared to the rate of occurrence of blaTEM-1. Altered penicillin-binding protein 3 was associated with an increased cefaclor MIC in 3 isolates.
Congruence-preserving extensions of finite lattices to sectionally complemented lattices

In 1962, the authors proved that every finite distributive lattice can be represented as the congruence lattice of a finite sectionally complemented lattice. In 1992, M. Tischendorf verified that every finite lattice has a congruence-preserving extension to an atomistic lattice. In this paper, we bring these two results together. We prove that every finite lattice has a congruence-preserving extension to a finite sectionally complemented lattice.