Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Sr Additive Amount and Holding Time on Microstructure of A390 Aluminum Alloy

The microstructure of A390 alloy under different Sr additive amounts and holding times was studied by means of direct reading spectrum analysis, energy spectrum analysis, optical microscope and electron microscope. The results show that Sr has a good modification to eutectic Si, while it has a negative effect on primary silicon. The Sr addition will increase the size of primary silicon. When the addition amount of Al-10Sr alloy is 0.6%, the modification of eutectic silicon is the optimum. The Sr has a short incubation period and a fine modification at 10min, but it is more serious burning rate in small furnace smelting, and the modification effect disappears basically after 100min.
Experiential response and intention to purchase in the cocreative consumption of music: The Nine Inch Nails experiment

Customers allowed to co-create products are more willing to purchase them eventually, because of their utilitarian but also their hedonic and experiential value. Experiential responses seem especially relevant in the co-creative consumption of cultural and intangible goods, such as music. To examine how such intangible aspects of co-creation can influence a consumer’s intention to purchase, we let two groups of participants rate their experience consuming music in either a traditional or co-creative way, in an experimental situation inspired by the work of American rock band Nine Inch Nails. Participants in the traditional group had to passively watch a series of music video; participants in the co-creative group were tasked to produce a video montage using the same material. In the traditional group, purchase intention was predicted by music quality, mediated by willingness to re-experience; in the co-creative group however, purchase intention was only predicted by the consumers’ experiential response, with no mediation of either music quality or willingness to re-experience. Additionally, the overall experiential response to music was lower in the co-creative group than in the traditional group, leading to lower intention to purchase. These results suggest that co-created value for intangible goods is predicted at least as much by the consumers’ experiential response as by their evaluation of product quality. It also suggests that there is nothing systematically positive in having consumers participate in the co-production of intangible goods, and that research is needed to identify the factors predicting the perceived quality of a co-creative experience.
Harvest health: translation of the chronic disease self-management program for older African Americans in a senior setting.

PURPOSE We describe the translation of K. R. Lorig and colleagues' Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) for delivery in a senior center and evaluate pre-post benefits for African American participants. DESIGN AND METHODS Modifications to the CDSMP included a name change; an additional introductory session; and course augmentations involving culturally relevant foods, stress reduction techniques, and communicating with racially/ethnically diverse physicians. We recruited participants from senior center members, area churches, and word of mouth. We conducted baseline and 4-month post-interviews. RESULTS A total of 569 African American elders attended an introductory session, with 519 (91%) enrolling in the 6-session program. Of the 519, 444 (86%) completed >/=4 sessions and 414 (79%) completed pre-post interviews. We found small but statistically significant improvements for exercise (p =.001), use of cognitive management strategies (p =.001), energy/fatigue (p =.001), self-efficacy (p =.001), health distress (p =.001), and illness intrusiveness in different life domains (probabilities from.001-.021). We found no changes for health utilization. Outcomes did not differ by gender, number of sessions attended, number and type of chronic conditions, facilitator, leader, or recruitment site. IMPLICATIONS The CDSMP can be translated for delivery by trained senior center personnel to African American elders. Participant benefits compare favorably to original trial outcomes. The translated program is replicable and may help to address health disparities.
Functional recovery of odor representations in regenerated sensory inputs to the olfactory bulb

The olfactory system has a unique capacity for recovery from peripheral damage. After injury to the olfactory epithelium (OE), olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) regenerate and re-converge on target glomeruli of the olfactory bulb (OB). Thus far, this process has been described anatomically for only a few defined populations of OSNs. Here we characterize this regeneration at a functional level by assessing how odor representations carried by OSN inputs to the OB recover after massive loss and regeneration of the sensory neuron population. We used chronic imaging of mice expressing synaptopHluorin in OSNs to monitor odor representations in the dorsal OB before lesion by the olfactotoxin methyl bromide and after a 12 week recovery period. Methyl bromide eliminated functional inputs to the OB, and these inputs recovered to near-normal levels of response magnitude within 12 weeks. We also found that the functional topography of odor representations recovered after lesion, with odorants evoking OSN input to glomerular foci within the same functional domains as before lesion. At a finer spatial scale, however, we found evidence for mistargeting of regenerated OSN axons onto OB targets, with odorants evoking synaptopHluorin signals in small foci that did not conform to a typical glomerular structure but whose distribution was nonetheless odorant-specific. These results indicate that OSNs have a robust ability to reestablish functional inputs to the OB and that the mechanisms underlying the topography of bulbar reinnervation during development persist in the adult and allow primary sensory representations to be largely restored after massive sensory neuron loss.
Angiotensinogen (AGT) M235T, AGT T174M and Angiotensin-1-Converting Enzyme (ACE) I/D Gene Polymorphisms in Essential Hypertension: Effects on Ramipril Efficacy

Background: Hypertension, one of the most important risk factors for premature cardiovascular disease, is a major worldwide public health problem. Angiotensin-1-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensinogen (AGT) gene polymorphisms are thought to be associated with primary hypertension. In the present study, we examined the frequency of these gene polymorphisms in an adult population with and without essential hypertension. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of ACE and AGT gene polymorphisms on ramipril treatment efficacy in the hypertensive patients. Methods: A total of 166 adults (83 hypertensives and 83 normotensives) were involved in the study and genotyped for AGTM235T (rs699), AGTT174M (rs4762) and ACEI/D (rs1799752) gene polymorphisms. Results: The genotype and allele distribution of the AGTM235T variant significantly differed between hypertensives and normotensives [odds ratio (OR) = 1.57% (T vs M allele), 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 1.01 - 2.44; p=0.045 for hypertensives]. However, none of the 3 studied Simple Nucleotide Polymorphisms were associated with the blood pressure-lowering response to ramipril. Conclusion: These results suggest that AGTM235T gene polymorphism is associated with essential hypertension. However, none of the AGTM235T, AGTT174M and ACEI/D gene polymorphisms influenced ramipril effectiveness.
Optimal Synthesis of Circularly Symmetric Shaped Beams

The problem of the optimal power-pattern synthesis of circularly symmetric shaped beams is addressed and solved. In particular, an existence criterion is provided to test a priori (i.e., without solving the overall synthesis problem) if a non-superdirective source of given size can radiate or not a circularly-symmetric power pattern lying in a given arbitrary mask. In the affirmative case, the proposed approach guarantees the achievement of the optimal solution, i.e., that of maximum directivity or minimum size, by using convex optimization techniques. In general, a number of equivalent source distributions (i.e., radiating the same power pattern) do exist, which can be explicitly determined in a deterministic way. Numerical examples concerning applications of actual interest support the given theory and confirm the effectiveness of the developed synthesis procedure.
CpG ODN‐mediated regulation of IL‐12 p40 transcription

Oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) containing CpG motifs activate RAW 264.7 mouse macrophages and RPMI 8226 human myeloma cells to produce IL‐12 p40. Using deletion and site‐directed mutagenesis, the nuclear factor (NF)‐κB half‐site and the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) recognition site were identified as potent cis‐acting elements in CpG ODN‐mediated IL‐12 p40 promoter activation. Several NF‐κB/Rel proteins competed for binding to the NF‐κB half‐site. The p65/c‐Rel and p65/p50 heterodimer occupied this site shortly after CpG ODN administration (0.5–2 h), while the p50/c‐Rel heterodimer dominated binding in the late stage (8–12 h). The induction of p50/c‐Rel heterodimer was associated with a significant expression of IL‐12 p40 mRNA. C/EBPβ also contributed to CpG ODN‐mediated IL‐12 p40 promoter activation.
Detecting cancers through tumor-activatable minicircles that lead to a detectable blood biomarker

Significance Blood-based cancer diagnosis is highly attractive, but current strategies suffer because they rely on the detection of endogenous molecules that often are secreted into the circulation by both malignant and nonmalignant cells. One solution to this problem is to avoid nonmalignant tissue expression by artificially engineering tumor cells to express a unique reporter not normally expressed by any tissue. This study shows that systemic administration of nonviral safe vectors we call “tumor-activatable minicircles” allows one to distinguish tumor-bearing from tumor-free subjects reliably and to assess tumor burden simply by measuring blood levels of such a reporter. Our system represents an alternative paradigm for improved cancer detection and could enable more timely interventions to combat this devastating disease. Earlier detection of cancers can dramatically improve the efficacy of available treatment strategies. However, despite decades of effort on blood-based biomarker cancer detection, many promising endogenous biomarkers have failed clinically because of intractable problems such as highly variable background expression from nonmalignant tissues and tumor heterogeneity. In this work we present a tumor-detection strategy based on systemic administration of tumor-activatable minicircles that use the pan-tumor–specific Survivin promoter to drive expression of a secretable reporter that is detectable in the blood nearly exclusively in tumor-bearing subjects. After systemic administration we demonstrate a robust ability to differentiate mice bearing human melanoma metastases from tumor-free subjects for up to 2 wk simply by measuring blood reporter levels. Cumulative change in reporter levels also identified tumor-bearing subjects, and a receiver operator-characteristic curve analysis highlighted this test’s performance with an area of 0.918 ± 0.084. Lung tumor burden additionally correlated (r2 = 0.714; P < 0.05) with cumulative reporter levels, indicating that determination of disease extent was possible. Continued development of our system could improve tumor detectability dramatically because of the temporally controlled, high reporter expression in tumors and nearly zero background from healthy tissues. Our strategy’s highly modular nature also allows it to be iteratively optimized over time to improve the test’s sensitivity and specificity. We envision this system could be used first in patients at high risk for tumor recurrence, followed by screening high-risk populations before tumor diagnosis, and, if proven safe and effective, eventually may have potential as a powerful cancer-screening tool for the general population.
Prosthetic Metals Interfere With the Functions of Human Osteoblast Cells In Vitro

The release of metals from total joint prostheses may contribute to periprosthetic bone loss manifested as osteolysis. The effects of titanium, cobalt, and chromium on human osteogenic sarcoma cells (osteoblastlike cells) were investigated in vitro. Titanium, cobalt, and chromium at concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 ng/ml did not cause any changes in the cell growth, viability, and injury after 72-hour incubation with the cells. Titanium, cobalt, and chromium at concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 100 ng/ml significantly enhanced the release of interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α by lipopolysaccharide stimulated human osteogenic sarcoma cells, whereas they did not alter the release of transforming growth factor-β1. Cobalt at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 100 ng/ml significantly enhanced the release of interleukin-6, but titanium and chromium did not. Cobalt and chromium at concentrations of 10 and 100 ng/ml significantly inhibited the release of osteocalcin by human osteogenic sarcoma cells, whereas titanium had no effect. Titanium, cobalt, and chromium at concentrations of 10 and 100 ng/ml significantly inhibited the synthesis of Type I collagen by human osteogenic sarcoma cells. Cobalt and chromium inhibited the cell proliferation in response to lipopolysaccharide stimulation, whereas titanium did not. The data presented in this article suggest that the metal induced disregulation of cytokine release and osteoblast dysfunction may play an important role in the induction of osteolysis in patients with total joint arthroplasties.
Handling class imbalance problem using oversampling techniques: A review

The objective of classifier is to classify objects of a data set into one or more classes based on its characteristics. In real life applications, classifiers are applied on data sets which are unbalanced i.e. some classes having very less number of instances known as minority classes as compared to other classes known as majority classes. Classification algorithms are highly accurate for the majority classes but significantly less accurate for the minority classes. Unbalanced data sets have a negative effect on classification performance of traditional classification algorithms. Analyzing such problem is called class imbalance problem. To solve Class Imbalance Problem different techniques have been proposed at the Data level, Algorithm level and at the Hybrid level. Most commonly used data balancing techniques are over and under sampling for handling the class imbalance problem. In our paper we compare various oversampling techniques which are SMOTE (Synthetic minority oversampling approach), ADASYN, Borderline-SMOTE, Safe-Level SMOTE by applying different classifiers to the problem and observing various performance metrics.
Laser and Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing Methods of Fabricating Titanium Bone Implants

Additive Manufacturing (AM) methods are generally used to produce an early sample or near net-shape elements based on three-dimensional geometrical modules. To date, publications on AM of metal implants have mainly focused on knee and hip replacements or bone scaffolds for tissue engineering. The direct fabrication of metallic implants can be achieved by methods, such as Selective Laser Melting (SLM) or Electron Beam Melting (EBM). This work compares the SLM and EBM methods used in the fabrication of titanium bone implants by analyzing the microstructure, mechanical properties and cytotoxicity. The SLM process was conducted in an environmental chamber using 0.4–0.6 vol % of oxygen to enhance the mechanical properties of a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. SLM processed material had high anisotropy of mechanical properties and superior UTS (1246–1421 MPa) when compared to the EBM (972–976 MPa) and the wrought material (933–942 MPa). The microstructure and phase composition depended on the used fabrication method. The AM methods caused the formation of long epitaxial grains of the prior β phase. The equilibrium phases (α + β) and non-equilibrium α’ martensite was obtained after EBM and SLM, respectively. Although it was found that the heat transfer that occurs during the layer by layer generation of the component caused aluminum content deviations, neither methods generated any cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, in contrast to SLM, the EBM fabricated material met the ASTMF136 standard for surgical implant applications.
An improved training algorithm for support vector machines

We investigate the problem of training a support vector machine (SVM) on a very large database in the case in which the number of support vectors is also very large. Training a SVM is equivalent to solving a linearly constrained quadratic programming (QP) problem in a number of variables equal to the number of data points. This optimization problem is known to be challenging when the number of data points exceeds few thousands. In previous work done by us as well as by other researchers, the strategy used to solve the large scale QP problem takes advantage of the fact that the expected number of support vectors is small (<3,000). Therefore, the existing algorithms cannot deal with more than a few thousand support vectors. In this paper we present a decomposition algorithm that is guaranteed to solve the QP problem and that does not make assumptions on the expected number of support vectors. In order to present the feasibility of our approach we consider a foreign exchange rate time series database with 110,000 data points that generates 100,000 support vectors.
Driving Semantic Parsing from the World’s Response

Current approaches to semantic parsing, the task of converting text to a formal meaning representation, rely on annotated training data mapping sentences to logical forms. Providing this supervision is a major bottleneck in scaling semantic parsers. This paper presents a new learning paradigm aimed at alleviating the supervision burden. We develop two novel learning algorithms capable of predicting complex structures which only rely on a binary feedback signal based on the context of an external world. In addition we reformulate the semantic parsing problem to reduce the dependency of the model on syntactic patterns, thus allowing our parser to scale better using less supervision. Our results surprisingly show that without using any annotated meaning representations learning with a weak feedback signal is capable of producing a parser that is competitive with fully supervised parsers.
Cutting Edge: Essential Role of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1α in Development of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Sepsis1

Sepsis, the leading cause of death in intensive care units, reflects a detrimental host response to infection in which bacteria or LPS act as potent activators of immune cells, including monocytes and macrophages. In this report, we show that LPS raises the level of the transcriptional regulator hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in macrophages, increasing HIF-1α and decreasing prolyl hydroxylase mRNA production in a TLR4-dependent fashion. Using murine conditional gene targeting of HIF-1α in the myeloid lineage, we demonstrate that HIF-1α is a critical determinant of the sepsis phenotype. HIF-1α promotes the production of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-12, that reach harmful levels in the host during early sepsis. HIF-1α deletion in macrophages is protective against LPS-induced mortality and blocks the development of clinical markers including hypotension and hypothermia. Inhibition of HIF-1α activity may thus represent a novel therapeutic target for LPS-induced sepsis.
Toll-Like Receptor-2 Mediates Inflammation and Matrix Degradation in Human Atherosclerosis

Background— Inflammation and matrix degradation are the hallmarks of high-risk atherosclerosis that leads to myocardial infarction and stroke. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), key players in innate immunity, are upregulated in atherosclerotic lesions, but their functional role in human atherosclerosis is unknown. We explored the effects of blocking TLR-2, TLR-4, and myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88), a signaling adaptor shared by most TLRs and interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R), in an in vitro model of human atherosclerosis. Methods and Results— Carotid endarterectomies were obtained from patients with symptomatic carotid disease. Cells were isolated via enzymatic tissue dissociation and cultured in the presence or absence of TLR signaling blockers. A dominant-negative form of MyD88 (MyD88DN) decreased the production of monocyte chemotactic protein-1/CCL2 (P=0.000), IL-8/CXCL8 (P=0.006), IL-6 (P=0.002), matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1; P=0.002), and MMP-3 (P=0.000), as well as nuclear factor-&kgr;B activation (P<0.05) in atheroma cell cultures. IL-1R antagonist, TLR-4 blocking antibodies, or overexpression of a dominant-negative form of the TLR-4 signaling adaptor TRIF-related adaptor molecule reduced nuclear factor-&kgr;B activity but did not have a broad impact on the production of the mediators studied. In contrast, TLR-2 neutralizing antibodies inhibited nuclear factor-&kgr;B activation (P<0.05) and significantly reduced monocyte chemotactic protein-1/CCL2 (P=0.000), IL-8/CXCL8 (P=0.009), IL-6 (P=0.000), and MMP-1 (P=0.000), MMP-2 (P=0.004), MMP-3 (P=0.000), and MMP-9 (P=0.006) production. Conclusions— Our data indicate that TLR-2 signaling through MyD88 plays a predominant role in inflammation and matrix degradation in human atherosclerosis. TLR-2 blockade may represent a therapeutic strategy for atherosclerosis and its complications.
Novel cardiovascular risk markers in women with ischaemic heart disease

Summary Abstract The incidence of coronary heart disease in premenopausal women is lower than in men because of their hormonal protection. Angina pectoris occurs in women about 10 years later than in men. However, mortality from ischaemic heart disease remains higher in women than in men. Current studies are focusing on novel cardiovascular risk biomarkers because it seems that traditional cardiovascular risk factors and their assessment scores underestimate the risk in females. Increased plasma levels of these newly established biomarkers of risk have been found to worsen endothelial dysfunction and inflammation, both of which play a key role in the pathogenesis of microvascular angina, which is very common in women. These novel cardiovascular risk markers can be classified into three categories: inflammatory markers, markers of haemostasis, and other biomarkers.
Ambient Ozone Exposure in Czech Forests: A GIS-Based Approach to Spatial Distribution Assessment

Ambient ozone (O3) is an important phytotoxic pollutant, and detailed knowledge of its spatial distribution is becoming increasingly important. The aim of the paper is to compare different spatial interpolation techniques and to recommend the best approach for producing a reliable map for O3 with respect to its phytotoxic potential. For evaluation we used real-time ambient O3 concentrations measured by UV absorbance from 24 Czech rural sites in the 2007 and 2008 vegetation seasons. We considered eleven approaches for spatial interpolation used for the development of maps for mean vegetation season O3 concentrations and the AOT40F exposure index for forests. The uncertainty of maps was assessed by cross-validation analysis. The root mean square error (RMSE) of the map was used as a criterion. Our results indicate that the optimal interpolation approach is linear regression of O3 data and altitude with subsequent interpolation of its residuals by ordinary kriging. The relative uncertainty of the map of O3 mean for the vegetation season is less than 10%, using the optimal method as for both explored years, and this is a very acceptable value. In the case of AOT40F, however, the relative uncertainty of the map is notably worse, reaching nearly 20% in both examined years.