Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cytoskeletal and contractile apparatus of smooth muscle: contraction bands and segmentation of the contractile elements

Confocal laser scanning microscopy of isolated and antibody-labeled avian gizzard smooth muscle cells has revealed the global organization of the contractile and cytoskeletal elements. The cytoskeleton, marked by antibodies to desmin and filamin is composed of a mainly longitudinal, meandering and branched system of fibrils that contrasts with the plait-like, interdigitating arrangement of linear fibrils of the contractile apparatus, labeled with antibodies to myosin and tropomyosin. Although desmin and filamin were colocalized in the body of the cell, filamin antibodies labeled additionally the vinculin- containing surface plaques. In confocal optical sections the contractile fibrils showed a continuous label for myosin for at least 5 microns along their length: there was no obvious or regular interruption of label as might be expected for registered myosin filaments. The cytoplasmic dense bodies, labeled with antibodies to alpha-actinin exhibited a regular, diagonal arrangement in both extended cells and in cells shortened in solution to one-fifth of their extended length: after the same shortening, the fibrils of the cytoskeleton that showed colocalization with the dense bodies in extended cells became crumpled and disordered. It is concluded that the dense bodies serve as coupling elements between the cytoskeletal and contractile systems. After extraction with Triton X-100, isolated cells bound so firmly to a glass substrate that they were unable to shorten as a whole when exposed to exogenous Mg ATP. Instead, they contracted internally, producing integral of 10 regularly spaced contraction nodes along their length. On the basis of differences of actin distribution two types of nodes could be distinguished: actin-positive nodes, in which actin straddled the node, and actin-negative nodes, characterized by an actin-free center flanked by actin fringes of 4.5 microns minimum length on either side. Myosin was concentrated in the center of the node in both cases. The differences in node morphology could be correlated with different degrees of coupling of the contractile with the cytoskeletal elements, effected by a preparation-dependent variability of proteolysis of the cells. The nodes were shown to be closely related to the supercontracted cell fragments shown in the accompanying paper (Small et al., 1990) and furnished further evidence for long actin filaments in smooth muscle. Further, the segmentation of the contractile elements pointed to a hierarchial organization of the myofilaments governed by as yet undetected elements.
Quantitative Risk Stratification of Oral Leukoplakia with Exfoliative Cytology

Exfoliative cytology has been widely used for early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Test outcome is reported as “negative”, “atypical” (defined as abnormal epithelial changes of uncertain diagnostic significance), and “positive” (defined as definitive cellular evidence of epithelial dysplasia or carcinoma). The major challenge is how to properly manage the “atypical” patients in order to diagnose OSCC early and prevent OSCC. In this study, we collected exfoliative cytology data, histopathology data, and clinical data of normal subjects (n=102), oral leukoplakia (OLK) patients (n=82), and OSCC patients (n=93), and developed a data analysis procedure for quantitative risk stratification of OLK patients. This procedure involving a step called expert-guided data transformation and reconstruction (EdTAR) which allows automatic data processing and reconstruction and reveals informative signals for subsequent risk stratification. Modern machine learning techniques were utilized to build statistical prediction models on the reconstructed data. Among the several models tested using resampling methods for parameter pruning and performance evaluation, Support Vector Machine (SVM) was found to be optimal with a high sensitivity (median>0.98) and specificity (median>0.99). With the SVM model, we constructed an oral cancer risk index (OCRI) which may potentially guide clinical follow-up of OLK patients. One OLK patient with an initial OCRI of 0.88 developed OSCC after 40 months of follow-up. In conclusion, we have developed a statistical method for qualitative risk stratification of OLK patients. This method may potentially improve cost-effectiveness of clinical follow-up of OLK patients, and help design clinical chemoprevention trial for high-risk populations.
On the (in)security of hash-based oblivious RAM and a new balancing scheme

With the gaining popularity of remote storage (e.g. in the Cloud), we consider the setting where a small, protected local machine wishes to access data on a large, untrusted remote machine. This setting was introduced in the RAM model in the context of software protection by Goldreich and Ostrovsky. A secure Oblivious RAM simulation allows for a client, with small (e.g., constant size) protected memory, to hide not only the data but also the sequence of locations it accesses (both reads and writes) in the unprotected memory of size n.Our main results are as follows:• We analyze several schemes from the literature, observing a repeated design flaw that leaks information on the memory access pattern. For some of these schemes, the leakage is actually non-negligible, while for others it is negligible. • On the positive side, we present a new secure oblivious RAM scheme, extending a recent scheme by Goodrich and Mitzenmacher. Our scheme uses only O(1) local memory, and its (amortized) overhead is O(log2n/log log n), outperforming the previously-best O(log2n) overhead (among schemes where the client only uses O(1) additional local memory). • We also present a transformation of our scheme above (whose amortized overhead is O(log2n/log log n)) into a scheme with worst-case overhead of O(log2n/log log n).
Identifying Patterns of Learner Behaviour: What Business Statistics Students Do with Learning Resources

The interactions of early stage business students with learning resources over the duration of an introductory statistics module were analysed using latent class analysis. Four distinct behavioural groups were identified. While differing levels of face-to-face attendance and online interaction existed, all four groups failed to engage with online material in a timely manner. The four groups were found to demonstrate significantly different levels of attainment of the module learning outcomes. The patterns of behaviour of the different groups of students give insights as to which analytics education learning resources students use and how their use patterns relate to their level of attainment of the module learning outcomes.
[Prognostic factors in adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands].

OBJECTIVE Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a relatively rare tumor which is characterized by its long clinical history, with multiple recurrences and late distant metastasis. The aim of the present study is to show our experience in the management of this tumor and the relationship of different clinico-pathological parameters with its prognosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective study was carried out between 1984 and 2004 in 28 patients with ACC of the salivary glands, analyzing the most outstanding clinico-pathological variables in this tumor related to the prognosis of the tumor and the survival. RESULTS The overall survival rates at 5, 10 and 15 years were 88%, 69% and 52% respectively. Ten (36%) patients presented local recurrence and 10 (36%) presented distant metastasis (four of which also have local recurrence). Although the differences were not statistically significant, the patients with solid histological subtype (p=0.17), with positive margins status (p=0.2), with perineural invasion (p=0.59), and those treated with surgery alone (p=0.19), presented a worse survival. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION Our study confirms that the ACC is a tumor with a high tendency to local recurrence and development of distant metastasis, even long term, which means a close follow-up for life. Nevertheless, it also demonstrates that acceptable survival rates can be obtained with aggressive treatment.
A Highly Parallel Reuse Distance Analysis Algorithm on GPUs

Reuse distance analysis is a runtime approach that has been widely used to accurately model the memory system behavior of applications. However, traditional reuse distance analysis algorithms use tree-based data structures and are hard to parallelize, missing the tremendous computing power of modern architectures such as the emerging GPUs. This paper presents a highly-parallel reuse distance analysis algorithm (HP-RDA) to speedup the process using the SPMD execution model of GPUs. In particular, we propose a hybrid data structure of hash table and local arrays to flatten the traditional tree representation of memory access traces. Further, we use a probabilistic model to correct any loss of precision from a straightforward parallelization of the original sequential algorithm. Our experimental results show that using an NVIDIA GPU, our algorithm achieves a factor of 20 speedup over the traditional sequential algorithm with less than 1% loss in precision.
Factors Affecting Internet Banking Pre-usage Expectation Formation

Self-service technologies appeal to service providers because they can standardize service delivery, reduce labor and service costs, and reach new consumers who are unreachable through the bricks-and-mortar channels. Our focus in this paper is on Internet banking. Scholars have proposed a variety of different models to explain the factors affecting Internet banking initial use intention formation that are supported by their own data, making it difficult to compare these models systematically. We use extant literature to propose a model of factors affecting Internet banking initial use intention formation. To test our model, we applied random-effect meta-analytic structural equation modeling method to data reported in 26 primary empirical studies of Internet banking pre-usage. The results of our analysis show that the combined total effects of three dimensions of trust are more prominent than perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use in enticing the consumers towards initial use of the Internet banking.
Oxygen and Nitrogen Species in Malignant Glioma Cells Inactivation of Wild-Type p 53 Protein Function by Reactive Updated

Malignant gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors in adults, and the most malignant form, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is usually rapidly fatal. Most GBMs do not have p53 mutations, although the p53 tumor suppressor pathway appears to be inactivated. GBMs grow in a hypoxic and inflammatory microenvironment, and increased levels of the free radicals nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide (O2 .) occur in these malignancies in vivo. Peroxynitrite (ONOO ) is a highly reactive molecule produced by excess NO and O2 . that can posttranslationally modify and inactivate proteins, especially zinc finger transcription factors such as p53. We demonstrated previously that GBMs have evidence of tyrosine nitration, the “footprint” of peroxynitrite-mediated protein modification in vivo, and that peroxynitrite could inhibit the specific DNA binding ability of wild-type p53 protein in glioma cells in vitro. Here we show that both authentic peroxynitrite and SIN-1 (3-morpholinosydnonimine hydrochloride), a molecule that decomposes into NO and O2 . to form peroxynitrite, can inhibit wild-type p53 function in malignant glioma cells. Concentrations of peroxynitrite associated with a tumor inflammatory environment caused dysregulation of wild-type p53 transcriptional activity and downstream p21 expression.
A Survey on Delay-Aware Resource Control for Wireless Systems—Large Deviation Theory, Stochastic Lyapunov Drift, and Distributed Stochastic Learning

In this paper, a comprehensive survey is given on several major systematic approaches in dealing with delay-aware control problems, namely the equivalentrate constraint approach, the Lyapunov stability drift approach, and the approximate Markov decision process approach using stochastic learning. These approaches essentially embrace most of the existing literature regarding delay-aware resource control in wireless systems. They have their relative pros and cons in terms of performance, complexity, and implementation issues. For each of the approaches, the problem setup, the general solution, and the design methodology are discussed. Applications of these approaches to delay-aware resource allocation are illustrated with examples in single-hop wireless networks. Furthermore, recent results regarding delay-aware multihop routing designs in general multihop networks are elaborated. Finally, the delay performances of various approaches are compared through simulations using an example of the uplink OFDMA systems.
Human Neuroscience

affective state, but without losing the understanding that it is the other person's affective state that is the cause of one's own. Two important remarks should be made, however, in light of the current experiment. First of all, the focus on the affective response should not ignore the importance of sensory processes, as we shall see. Secondly, although empathy is certainly not restricted to the sharing of negate affective states, most neuroscientific investigations, this one included, have used the observation of pain as a model to test the notion of shared representations in empathy. Indeed, it has been firmly established that the observation of pain in others involves a network of affective brain regions, such as the anterior cingulate, paracingulate gyrus, and anterior insular, that are also activated during the first-person experience of pain (Ingvar, 1999; Rainville, 2002). Furthermore, responses in these regions have been found using a wide variety of paradigms, from presenting abstract cues of other people in pain (Singer et al., 2004; Jackson et al., 2005; Saarela et al., 2007), to pictures of body parts being pinpricked (Lamm et al., 2007), and painful facial expressions (Jabbi and Keysers, 2008). Empathetic responses in these brain regions have, furthermore, been shown to be influenced by social contexts such as group membership and perceived fairness (Hein et al., 2010) as well as task demands and knowledge about the reality of the stimulus (Gu and Han, 2007). Often, but less consistently, primary soma-tosensory regions are found to be involved, which seems to depend
Identifying by means of coping typologies and primary appraisal the likelihood of positive β-hCG test results in women undergoing IVF treatment: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND At a psychological level, having to undergo IVF in order to be a mother may be appraised differently by women who start this treatment. These different forms of assessment can affect the pregnancy rates. The objective of this study was to determine whether psychological variables such as primary appraisal and coping typologies were associated with positive results in β-hCG pregnancy test after IVF. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional clinical study in a private infertility centre. We recruited women undergoing IVF treatment in the Assisted Reproduction Unit of the Hospital Clinic prior to treatment commencement. Women were asked to complete the Spanish adaptation of the Coping Responses Inventory-Adult Form, and coping typologies analysed in relation to pregnancy outcome of that round of treatment. RESULTS Women who face infertility and IVF with optimistic appraisal had a considerably increased likelihood of pregnancy compared with those with a pessimistic appraisal (odds ratio = 4.37; 95% confidence interval = 1.76-10.83). On the other hand, the pregnancy rate was significantly higher than the non-pregnancy rate among women who have a coping typology characterized by high use of approach strategies and with low use of avoidance strategies (Z-test = 4.34, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Psychological variables such as positive appraisal and coping typologies were associated with increased pregnancy rates after IVF. The main limitations of this study were the size of the sample and in particular its cross-sectional design which only allows predictive associations to be made.
Control of the mean number of false discoveries, Bonferroni and stability of multiple testing

The Bonferroni multiple testing procedure is commonly perceived as being overly conservative in large-scale simultaneous testing situations such as those that arise in microarray data analysis. The objective of the present study is to show that this popular belief is due to overly stringent requirements that are typically imposed on the procedure rather than to its conservative nature. To get over its notorious conservatism, we advocate using the Bonferroni selection rule as a procedure that controls the per family error rate (PFER). The present paper reports the first study of stability properties of the Bonferroni and Benjamini--Hochberg procedures. The Bonferroni procedure shows a superior stability in terms of the variance of both the number of true discoveries and the total number of discoveries, a property that is especially important in the presence of correlations between individual $p$-values. Its stability and the ability to provide strong control of the PFER make the Bonferroni procedure an attractive choice in microarray studies.
Materials for HTS-shielded dielectric resonators

The microwave properties of single crystalline LaAlO/sub 3/, LSAT ((LaAlO/sub 3/)/sub 0.3/-(Sr/sub 2/AlTaO/sub 6/)/sub 0.7/), rutile (TiO/sub 2/), and polycrystalline Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ were investigated employing dielectric resonator techniques. LaAlO/sub 3/ (/spl epsi//sub r/=23.7) exhibits a frequency dependent maximum of tan/spl delta/ at about 70 K, which can be explained by defect dipole relaxation. This leads to a variation of tan/spl delta/ at 9 GHz and 77 K from 5/spl middot/10/sup -6/ to 2/spl middot/10/sup -5/, the lowest values were achieved with Verneuil grown crystals. LSAT (/spl epsi//sub r/=22.8) exhibits an even more pronounced maximum with absolute values in the 10/sup -4/ range. For rutile (/spl epsi//sub r/=108) we measured a monotonous increase of tan/spl delta/ with temperature, which can be explained by intrinsic losses due to phonons. The loss tangent of Ti-doped polycrystalline, sintered Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ was found to be only 4/spl middot/10/sup -6/ at 10 GHz and 77 K. Except LSAT the materials investigated so far provide a large potential for applications as dielectric resonators shielded by high temperature superconducting (HTS) films.
Why Minimax Works: An Alternative Explanation

In game-playing programs relying on the minimax principle, deeper searches generally produce better evaluations. Theoretical analyses, however, suggest that in many cases minimaxing amplifies the noise introduced by the heuristic function used to evaluate the leaves of the game tree, leading to what is known as pathological behavior, where deeper searches produce worse evaluations. In most of the previous research, positions were evaluated as losses or wins. Dependence between the values of positions close to each other was identified as the property of realistic game trees that eliminates the pathology and explains why minimax is successful in practice. In this paper we present an alternative explanation that does not rely on value dependence. We show that if real numbers are used for position values, position values tend to be further apart at lower levels of the game tree, which leads to a larger proportion of more extreme positions, where error is less probable. Decreased probability of error in searches to greater depths is sufficient to eliminate the pathology and no additional properties of game trees are required.
Effects of age and gender on success and death of mountaineers on Mount Everest

Increasing numbers of climbers are attempting Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth. We compiled interview data and computed the probabilities of summiting and of dying as a function of climber age and gender (2211 climbers, spring season) for the period of 1990–2005. Men and women had similar odds of summiting and of dying. However, climbers older than 40 years have reduced odds of summiting, and those older than 60 years have increased odds of dying, especially when descending from the summit. On Mount Everest, phenotypic selection appears blind to gender but favours young mountaineers.
Analysis of lipopolysaccharide antigens of Treponema hyodysenteriae

SUMMARY Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) extracts obtained from Treponema hyodysenteriae of serogroups A, B, D and E, and from T. innocens were examined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), silver-staining, and immunoblotting with hyperimmune rabbit sera. All organisms possessed multiple LPS bands, but their position and number differed. Immunoblotting of LPS with grouping sera identified three or four major antigenic LPS components in the 10-42 kDa range in all organisms: these components were largely specific to each type-organism of a serogroup, and presumably represented group antigens. Although some minor cross-reactivity occurred between LPS from organisms in the different groups, this was insufficient to merit changes to the current LPS serogrouping system for T. hyodysenteriae. Besides this LPS ‘complex’, other higher-molecular-weight material which appeared to be a common component of the treponemes examined was present in low concentrations. Organisms with different serotypes within a serogroup apparently possessed common LPS bands, but also had unique LPS bands which may account for their serotype specificity. One ‘untypable’ organism lacked group-specific LPS and was thought to be a mutant of a group B organism. The loss of serogroup LPS by the isolate suggested that this material is an external component of the cell wall. The availability of an atypical organism lacking LPS components may facilitate further studies on the pathogenesis of swine dysentery.
MENTAL MODELS OF STUDENTS ON STOICHIOMETRY CONCEPT IN LEARNING BY METHOD BASED ON MULTIPLE REPRESENTATION

This study was conducted to obtain students' mental models after learning using multiple representations. The application of learning based on multiple representations is carried out through the interconnection between the three levels of chemical phenomenon (macro, sub-micro, and symbolic). The research samples are taken from the 2011 year of Physics Education (3 class) randomly selected from 8 available classes. The number of students from whom the samples were taken is 96 students. The students' mental model is confirmed through the procurement of essay test questions encourage them to think at the three levels of chemical phenomenon. The results of this research show that the students' mental models towards chemistry reaction stoichiometry was mirrored in various questions from the interpretation down to the verbal-to-symbolic transformation and verbal-to-visual transformation (sub-micro diagram) and vice versa. Findings indicated that macro-submicro- symbolic teaching by used multiple representation method could be enhancing student mental models and learning effectivity of chemical reactions. It indicates that there has been a statistically significant change on the students' mental models after multiple representations learning method was implemented.