Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Static sliding-motion phenomena in dynamical systems

We present a new type of sliding motion which results from a novel choice of the sliding surfaces. We define these sliding surfaces such that they become explicitly dependent on the outputs of the discontinuous block. We prove under this design, a special sliding mode characterises the system dynamics, which we name static sliding mode, because it occurs along a static contour of the closed-loop system. We give constructive conditions when this dynamical behavior begins and continues its motion in a static sliding mode. We show and simulate a control application in robust stabilization of nonlinear systems.
Phosphorylation and nuclear localization of the hepatitis B virus core protein: significance of serine in the three repeated SPRRR motifs

Hepatitis B virus core protein (antigen) is an important serologic marker of hepatitis B virus infection. This protein is found in the cytoplasm or the nuclei, or both, of infected hepatocytes. A nuclear localization signal has previously been identified in the core protein sequence. This signal overlaps three repeated SPRRR motifs. In this report, we demonstrate that substitution of all of the serine residues in these three SPRRR motifs with alanine can prevent almost entirely the phosphorylation of the core protein in Huh-7 hepatoma cells, enhance nuclear localization of the core protein in both Huh-7 and nonhepatic cells, and abolish cell cycle regulation of nuclear localization of the core protein. Since the three core protein mutants which retained only one serine residue of each of the three SPRRR motifs could be phosphorylated to similar degrees, these three serine residues likely could serve as the acceptor sites for phosphorylation with equal efficiency. These results, together with the observation that the three SPRRR motifs overlap the nuclear localization signal of the core protein, raise the possibility that nuclear localization of the core protein is negatively regulated by phosphorylation of the serine residues in the SPRRR motifs.
Pulmonary Arterial Lesions in New World Camelids in Association With Dicrocoelium dendriticum and Fasciola hepatica Infection

In Switzerland, dicrocoeliasis is regarded as the most significant parasitic infection of llamas and alpacas. Fasciola hepatica infestation is also a problem but less common. The aim of the present retrospective study was to evaluate the lungs of New World camelids (NWCs) for evidence of arterial hypertension in association with liver changes due to liver fluke infestation. The lungs of 20 llamas and 20 alpacas with liver fluke infestation were histologically evaluated. The hematoxylin and eosin and van Gieson (VG)–elastica stains as well as immunohistology for the expression of α–smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were used to visualize the structures of arterial walls. Parasitology of fecal matter (11 llamas and 17 alpacas) confirmed that most of these animals were infested with both Dicrocoelium dendriticum and other gastrointestinal parasites. In most cases (10/12 llamas, 4/6 alpacas), liver enzyme activity in serum was elevated. Histologically, arteries in the lungs of 9 of 20 llamas (45%) and 3 of 20 alpacas (15%) showed severe intimal and adventitial and slight to moderate medial thickening, which was confirmed with α-SMA and VG-elastica staining. All animals exhibited typical liver changes, such as fibrosis and biliary hyperplasia, in association with the presence of liver flukes. This study shows that liver flukes can induce proliferative changes in lung arteries in NWCs that resemble those seen with pulmonary arterial hypertension due to liver parasites in humans. However, the degree of liver fluke infestation was not correlated with the extent of liver damage, or with the amount of thoracic or abdominal effusion or pulmonary arterial changes.
RESONANT REMOVAL OF EXOMOONS DURING PLANETARY MIGRATION

Jupiter and Saturn play host to an impressive array of satellites, making it reasonable to suspect that similar systems of moons might exist around giant extrasolar planets. Furthermore, a significant population of such planets is known to reside at distances of several Astronomical Units (AU), leading to speculation that some moons thereof might support liquid water on their surfaces. However, giant planets are thought to undergo inward migration within their natal protoplanetary disks, suggesting that gas giants currently occupying their host star’s habitable zone formed farther out. Here we show that when a moon-hosting planet undergoes inward migration, dynamical interactions may naturally destroy the moon through capture into a so-called evection resonance. Within this resonance, the lunar orbit’s eccentricity grows until the moon eventually collides with the planet. Our work suggests that moons orbiting within about ∼10 planetary radii are susceptible to this mechanism, with the exact number dependent on the planetary mass, oblateness, and physical size. Whether moons survive or not is critically related to where the planet began its inward migration, as well as the character of interlunar perturbations. For example, a Jupiter-like planet currently residing at 1 AU could lose moons if it formed beyond ∼5 AU. Cumulatively, we suggest that an observational census of exomoons could potentially inform us on the extent of inward planetary migration, for which no reliable observational proxy currently exists.
Comparison of expression of heat-shock protein 60, Toll-like receptors 2 and 4, and T-cell receptor gammadelta in plaque and guttate psoriasis.

BACKGROUND Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that appears to be autoimmune in nature. Recently, it is thought that microbial pathogens of skin can affect the pathogenesis of psoriasis by inducing autoimmunity. Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are known to play an important role in immune and inflammatory responses of the skin including psoriasis. Recent studies have suggested that Toll-like receptors (TLR) 2, 4 and gammadelta T-cell receptors (TCR-gammadelta) may recognize HSP60 as a ligand and consequently activate the immune system. METHODS The biopsy specimens of 12 of guttate psoriasis, 12 of plaque psoriasis and five of normal skin were studied using immunohistochemical staining. The expressions of HSP60, TLR2 and TLR4 were evaluated using an immunostaining-intensity-distribution (IID) index and TCR-gammadelta positive cells were counted. RESULTS The expression of HSP60 was significantly higher in guttate and plaque psoriasis than in normal skin. The expression of TLR4 was higher in guttate psoriasis than in plaque psoriasis and normal skin. The expression of TCR-gammadelta was higher in guttate and plaque psoriasis than in normal skin, but there was no correlation found between the expression of HSP60 and TLRs 2 and 4, or between that of HSP60 and TCR-gammadelta. CONCLUSIONS HSP60 may be related to the pathogenesis of both guttate and plaque psoriasis and TLR4 may be related to the pathogenesis of guttate psoriasis.
KRAS Mutation in Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Results of a Multicenter Phase II Study Evaluating Efficacy of Cetuximab plus Gemcitabine/Oxaliplatin (GEMOXCET) in First-Line Therapy

Background: Genetic alterations within the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway, including KRAS mutations, have been demonstrated to be associated with response to EGFR inhibitors like cetuximab in colorectal cancers. Mutations in the KRAS gene have been found in 70–90% of pancreatic cancers. Unfortunately, the addition of cetuximab to chemotherapy did not increase response or survival in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer in phase II and phase III studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between KRAS mutations and response or survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer treated with cetuximab plus chemotherapy. Methods: Within a multicenter phase II trial, 64 patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer were treated with cetuximab in combination with gemcitabine and oxaliplatin until disease progression. Analyses of the EGFR pathway, including KRAS mutations, could be performed in 25 patients. Analyses were carried out following microdissection of the tumor. Results: Fourteen (56%) of the 25 patients examined harbored a point mutation in codon 12 of the KRAS gene. No differences between the groups were noted in median progression-free survival (104 days in KRAS wild-type patients vs. 118 days in patients with KRAS mutations). Overall survival was longer in wild-type patients compared to patients with KRAS mutations (263 vs. 162 days), but the difference did not reach statistical significance. A further analysis of our clinical phase II trial showed that the presence of a rash was significantly correlated with overall survival. Conclusions: KRAS mutation in codon 12 may be associated with reduced survival compared to KRAS wild type. The role of KRAS mutations for cetuximab therapy in pancreatic cancer warrants further investigation in larger trials to exclude an epiphenomenon. Furthermore, the development of a rash is indicative of clinical benefit.
Asymmetric Cyclical Hashing for Large Scale Image Retrieval

This paper addresses a problem in the hashing technique for large scale image retrieval: learn a compact hash code to reduce the storage cost with performance comparable to that of the long hash code. A longer hash code yields a better precision rate of retrieved images. However, it also requires a larger storage, which limits the number of stored images. Current hashing methods employ the same code length for both queries and stored images. We propose a new hashing scheme using two hash codes with different lengths for queries and stored images, i.e., the asymmetric cyclical hashing. A compact hash code is used to reduce the storage requirement, while a long hash code is used for the query image. The image retrieval is performed by computing the Hamming distance of the long hash code of the query and the cyclically concatenated compact hash code of the stored image to yield a high precision and recall rate. Experiments on benchmarking databases consisting up to one million images show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Sensitivity, Specificity, and Confounding Factors of Novel Serological Tests Used for the Rapid Diagnosis of Bovine Tuberculosis in Farmed Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)

ABSTRACT In this study, novel serological tests were used to detect tuberculosis (TB) in groups of farmed red deer (Cervus elaphus) varying in disease status or possible confounding factors. Groups of deer naturally or experimentally infected with Mycobacterium bovis and animals vaccinated against paratuberculosis were studied, as were uninfected animals and animals naturally or experimentally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Sera were assayed using two rapid lateral-flow tests, Chembio's CervidTB STAT-PAK and DPP VetTB tests, and results were compared to those from tuberculin skin tests. Both serological tests had a high sensitivity, but specificity was adversely affected after animals had received a vaccine against paratuberculosis and were subsequently skin tested. The specificity of the DPP VetTB test was higher than that of the CervidTB STAT-PAK test, with natural infection with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis adversely affecting the specificity of only the CervidTB STAT-PAK test. The sera from M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-infected deer that produced false-positive reactions in the CervidTB STAT-PAK test were retested with a multiantigen print immunoassay (MAPIA), and some of these sera were shown to react with the MPB83 antigen. Combining the results from the serological tests and the skin tests showed only a slight increase in the sensitivity of detection of M. bovis-infected animals. It is concluded that both the CervidTB STAT-PAK and DPP VetTB tests offer rapid, convenient, and easy detection of bovine tuberculosis in deer, albeit with significant interference from paratuberculosis vaccination status and subsequent skin testing. The latter finding illustrates one of the limitations of currently available vaccines against paratuberculosis.
Dosing and monitoring of low–molecular‐weight heparin in cirrhotic patients

To the Editor: We thank Drs. Lisman and Porte for sharing their interesting data regarding the validity of the antiXa-assay in the plasma of cirrhotic patients and for initiating a valuable discussion on the mechanism of lowmolecular-weight heparin (LMWH) action in vivo and in vitro. In our study we have shown, that only a minority of cirrhotic patients, who received LMWH in prophylactic or therapeutic doses, reached a sufficient anti-Xa-activity (1). As the most likely explanation for this phenomenon we found a correlation to decreased levels of antithrombin-III (AT) in patients with advanced cirrhosis. As discussed in our manuscript, Lisman et al. point out that there may be other pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic abnormalities in the cirrhotic patient leading to a failing reaction of the anti-Xa-assay (i.e. clearance; ascites, proteases), and that the test therefore may not mirror the biologic activity of LMWH in these patients (2). They support their doubts on the validity of the anti-Xa-assay in cirrhotics by sharing their in vitro observations on anti-Xa-activity and coagulation potential (evaluated by a dilute prothrombin time assay) in the plasma from patients with cirrhosis vs. controls. Corroborating our own results, anti-Xa-activity was significantly lower in the pooled plasma of cirrhotic patients after adding identical amounts of LMWH. In contrast, the prolongation of coagulation (prothrombin) time was similarly increased in the plasma of cirrhotics as compared with the plasma of controls. However, the conclusion Lisman and Porte drew from these very limited in vitro data is based on the assumption that measurement of coagulation time with a dilute prothrombin assay mirrors the biological activity of LMWH more adequately than the well-established antiXa-activity. This assumption first needs to be clearly justified. Furthermore, the AT levels in their pooled plasma probes have not been reported. AT levels not only modify anti-Xa-activity but also determine the biological action of LMWH. Therefore, if AT concentrations in their pooled plasma probes were different, the equal coagulation time demands a sufficient explanation. In conclusion, to ultimately validate and establish dosing recommendations and guidelines for LMWH monitoring in patients with cirrhosis, we agree with the editors (3) as well as Drs. Lisman and Porte, that adequately powered, prospective randomized control trails are urgently needed. Potential novel tests, that work independent of AT concentrations might be promising alternatives to anti-Xa-assays (4, 5).
Gene expression pro fi ling reveals the heterogeneous transcriptional activity of Oct 3 / 4 and its possible interaction with Gli 2 in mouse embryonic stem cells

a Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA b Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA c The W.M. Keck Center for Comparative and Functional Genomics, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA d Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA e DNA Chip Research Inc., Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0045, Japan f Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA g Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
HIF-1α regulated tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell growth via regulating VEGF expression in a xenograft model.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to study the mechanism of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) regulating the cell proliferation of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) via vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). METHODS We used RNA interference (RNAi) technique, transfected chemically synthesized siRNA against HIF-1α into CAL-27 cells, and detected the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF by real time-PCR and Western blotting in order to find out if HIF-1α regulated the expression of VEGF. A xenograft experiment was carried out to observe the role of HIF-1α on the tumor growth of tongue squamous cell carcinoma. RESULTS HIF-1α and VEGF mRNA expression was significantly downregulated 36 and 48 h after transfection (P<0.05); the protein expression of HIF-1α and VEGF was also significantly suppressed by siRNA against HIF-1α. Furthermore, intratumoraly injection of HIF-1α targeting siRNA suppressed tumor growth in nude mice. CONCLUSIONS HIF-1α regulated VEGF expression, and they may contribute to TSCC cell tumor growth.
C25. Digital signal classification by compressed cyclostationary features

Different classifiers have been adapted for classification of digital signals in low SNR environments in many researches. For efficient performance of signals classifiers and features detectors in real time, limited number of features are required. In this paper we introduce a method to compress the cyclostationary features of digital signals using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The target is to reach low percentage of classification error with reducing the number of features required. Using the proposed technique, different types of digital signals as BPSK and QPSK signals in three different cognitive radio scenarios have been considered. Simulation results show that the proposed technique can achieve classification accuracy up to 97% with a reduction percentage of 87.5% in the utilized features.
Spatio-sequential patterns mining: Beyond the boundaries

Data mining methods extract knowledge from huge amounts of data. Recently with the explosion of mobile technologies, a new type of data appeared. The resulting databases can be described as spatiotemporal data in which spatial information (e.g., the location of an event) and temporal information (e.g., the date of the event) are included. In this article, we focus on spatiotemporal patterns extraction from this kind of databases. These patterns can be considered as sequences representing changes of events localized in areas and its near surrounding over time. Two algorithms are proposed to tackle this problem: the first one uses \emph{a priori} strategy and the second one is based on pattern-growth approach. We have applied our generic method on two different real datasets related to: 1) pollution of rivers in France; and 2) monitoring of dengue epidemics in New Caledonia. Additionally, experiments on synthetic data have been conducted to measure the performance of the proposed algorithms.
Porcine skin ED50 damage thresholds for 2,000 nm laser irradiation

To gain refinement in safe‐exposure limits, indicated by the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) limits, the minimum visible lesion thresholds for three spot sizes (5–15 mm) and four exposure durations (0.25–2.5 seconds) were determined for the skin at 2,000 nm continuous wave laser irradiation.
Highly sensitive thromboplastins do not improve INR precision.

For determination of the international normalized ratio (INR), it has been suggested that "highly sensitive" thromboplastin reagents (International Sensitivity Index [ISI] < or = 1.2) provide the most consistent performance and minimize interlaboratory variability. We compared the INR values obtained from 69 specimens drawn from patients receiving long-term oral anticoagulant therapy, using four thromboplastin preparations (manufacturer-assigned ISI range of 0.96-1.10) and two automated photo-optical analyzers. Multivariate analysis of the INR response matrix (552 INR values) indicated that the eight reagent-coagulometer combinations did not produce equivalent INR values. Similar analysis indicated that INR values were not normalized when uncorrected prothrombin ratios or INR values, calculated after assignment of "local ISI values" to each thromboplastin reagent, were compared. The INR differences also seemed to be clinically significant because 17% to 29% of paired thromboplastin values were discordant when all INR values were assigned to one of four therapeutic categories used in oral anticoagulant therapy (< 2.0; 2.0-3.0; 3.0-4.5; or > 4.5). These differences in INR values obtained with two photo-optical coagulometers and four highly sensitive thromboplastin reagents suggest that the existing INR system has not achieved the goal of standardized prothrombin time values and does not support the recommendation to use only highly sensitive reagents for the regulation of oral anticoagulant therapy.
Inferior Vena Cava Obstruction and Diffuse Hepatic Uptake on Lower Extremity Radionuclide Venogram

Two patients with dissimilar but advanced malignancies and lower extremity swelling underwent bilateral lower extremity radionuclide venograms, several months apart. Both patients' scintigrams showed multiple collaterals in the abdomen and pelvis, consistent with inferior vena cava obstruction, and hepatic uptake in a diffuse pattern. One patient also had multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli on a lung scan. Although diffuse hepatic uptake has been mentioned before with inferior vena cava obstruction, it has usually been incidental to focal hepatic uptake near the porta hepatis. The case results in this study demonstrated that inferior vena cava obstruction can manifest itself solely as diffuse hepatic uptake on nuclear venograms. The authors believe that either pattern can be corroborative of inferior vena cava obstruction on a nuclear venogram.
Blood oxygen level dependent response and spatial working memory in adolescents with alcohol use disorders.

BACKGROUND Previous studies have suggested neural disruption and reorganization in young and older adults with alcohol use disorders (AUD). However, it remains unclear at what age and when in the progression of AUD changes in brain functioning might occur. METHODS Alcohol use disordered (n = 15) and nonabusing (n = 19) boys and girls aged 15 to 17 were recruited from local high schools. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected after a minimum of 5 days' abstinence as participants performed spatial working memory and simple motor tasks. RESULTS Adolescents with AUD showed greater brain response to the spatial working memory task in bilateral parietal cortices and diminished response in other regions, including the left precentral gyrus and bilateral cerebellar areas (clusters > or =943 microl; p < 0.05), although groups did not differ on behavioral measures of task performance. No brain response differences were observed during a simple finger-tapping task. The degree of abnormality was greater for teens who reported experiencing more withdrawal or hangover symptoms and who consumed more alcohol. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents with AUD show abnormalities in brain response to a spatial working memory task, despite adequate performance, suggesting that subtle neuronal reorganization may occur early in the course of AUD.