Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slit Protein-mediated Inhibition of CXCR4-induced Chemotactic and Chemoinvasive Signaling Pathways in Breast Cancer Cells*

Slit, which mediates its function by binding to the Roundabout (Robo) receptor, has been shown to regulate neuronal and CXCR4-mediated leukocyte migration. Slit-2 was shown to be frequently inactivated in lung and breast cancers because of hypermethylation of its promoter region. Furthermore, the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis has been reported recently to be actively involved in breast cancer metastasis to target organs such as lymph nodes, lung, and bone. In this study, we sought to characterize the effect of Slit (=Slit-2) on the CXCL12/CXCR4-mediated metastatic properties of breast cancer cells. We demonstrate here that breast cancer cells and tissues derived from breast cancer patients express Robo 1 and 2 receptors. We also show that Slit treatment inhibits CXCL12/CXCR4-induced breast cancer cell chemotaxis, chemoinvasion, and adhesion, the fundamental components that promote metastasis. Slit had no significant effect on the CXCL12-induced internalization process of CXCR4. In addition, characterization of signaling events revealed that Slit inhibits CXCL12-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion components such as RAFTK/Pyk2 at residues 580 and 881, focal adhesion kinase at residue 576, and paxillin. We found that Slit also inhibits CXCL12-induced phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, p44/42 MAP kinase, and metalloproteinase 2 and 9 activities. However, it showed no effect on JNK and p38 MAP kinase activities. To our knowledge, this is the first report to analyze in detail the effect of Slit on breast cancer cell motility as well as its effect on the critical components of the cancer cell chemotactic machinery. Studies of the Slit-Robo complex may foster new anti-chemotactic approaches to block cancer cell metastasis.
Rate-Constrained Region of Interest Coding Using Adaptive Quantization in Transform Domain Wyner–Ziv Video Coding

In this paper, we propose a rate-constrained distributed video coding-based region of interest (ROI) coding scheme. The proposed scheme appropriately determines ROI according to an available bit budget that depends on transmission channel and decoding environment. Its subjective quality is faithfully maintained via adaptive ROI definition of the available resources. Prior knowledge about the ROI is represented in terms of Gaussian mixture weighting function, which in turn determines the ROI according to the number of available bits. An adaptive quantization method is used in the ROI bit allocation. Compared to the existing non-ROI-based schemes, the proposed scheme not only improves the ROI coding performance but also the subjective quality of the entire picture.
A new approach to model reference adaptive control

Here we propose a new approach to model reference adaptive control which yields a linear periodic controller and which tolerates rapidly varying parameters. Rather than estimating the plant or compensator parameters, instead we estimate what the control signal would be if the plant parameters were known and the 'correct LTI compensator' were applied; we are able to do so in a linear fashion. Our assumptions are reasonably natural extensions of the classical ones to the time-varying setting, although we add a compactness requirement. We prove that we can obtain arbitrarily good tracking with a nice transient response.
Right testicular volume is a dominant predictor of testicular function determined by sperm parameters and total testosterone

This study aims to evaluate the predictive value of left testicular volume (LTV) and right testicular volume (RTV) for testicular function respectively. Men who requested fertility testing for any reason were enrolled from December 2012 to November 2015. Subjects with primary scrotal diseases or a condition interfering reproductive system were excluded. Testicular volume (TV) was evaluated by scrotal ultrasound. Sex hormone and semen analysis including sperm concentration (SC) and sperm motility rate (SMR) were performed. Statistical analysis including comparison, stepwise linear regression and logistic regression was used. Two hundred and seventy‐four patients with oligoasthenozoospermia/low testosterone and 27 control subjects were enrolled. Both LTV and RTV positively correlated with testicular function, and no differences were found between bilateral TV. RTV is the best independent factor associated with testicular function determined by SC (β=.292, p < .001), SMR (β=.227, p < .001) and total testosterone (TT) (β=.245, p < .001). Using a RTV value of 15.47 ml, the highest discriminating sensitivity and specificity were 66.7% and 62.4% respectively. RTV (<15 ml) was the only positive predictor for low testicular function (odds ratio=2.79, 95% confidence interval: 1.18–6.66; p =.020). RTV rather than LTV is the independent factor of overall testicular function determined by semen quality and TT levels. Further studies are needed to support and elucidate the difference in volume‐function between bilateral testes.
Evaluating the efficacy of selenium-enriched yeast and sodium selenite on tissue selenium retention and serum glutathione peroxidase activity in grower and finisher swine.

Three experiments conducted with grower-finisher pigs evaluated sodium selenite and a Se-enriched yeast source at various dietary Se levels on Se retention, tissue and serum Se concentrations, and serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity. Experiment 1 was a balance trial conducted in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block (RCB) design in six replicates. Both Se sources were added at . 1, . 3, or . 5 ppm Se. Crossbred barrows (n = 36) averaging 35.9 kg BW were placed in individual metabolism crates and fed their treatment diets, with feces and urine collected for a 7-d test period. Selenium retention increased as dietary Se levels increased, particularly when the Se-enriched yeast was provided, resulting in a Se source x Se level interaction (P < .01). As dietary Se levels increased, urinary Se increased more when pigs were fed sodium selenite, whereas fecal Se increased more when the Se-enriched yeast was fed; both excretion routes resulting in Se level x Se source interaction responses (P < .01). Experiments 2 and 3 were conducted as RCB involving grower (n = 210) and finisher (n = 266) pigs, respectively, and evaluated the two Se sources each at . 1, . 3, or . 5 ppm Se with a non-Se-fortified basal diet serving as a negative control. In Exp. 2, pigs were fed their treatment diets from 22.2 to 60 kg BW in five replicates, whereas in Exp. 3 diets were fed from 65.8 to 105 kg BW in six replicates. Grower pigs fed sodium selenite had serum GSH-Px activity that reached a plateau at . 1 ppm Se and . 3 ppm when the Se-enriched yeast source was fed, but the interaction response was not significant (P < .15). During the finisher period, serum GSH-Px activity reached a plateau at . 1 ppm Se for both Se sources. Serum Se concentrations were lower at . 1 ppm Se when the Se-enriched yeast source was fed, resulting in a source x level interaction response for both grower (P < .05) and finisher (P < .01) periods. Loin Se contents were higher in grower and finisher pigs as dietary Se levels increased when the Se-enriched yeast was fed, resulting in a Se source x Se level interaction (P < .01). The results suggest that more Se was retained in muscle tissue when the Se-enriched yeast source was fed, that serum GSH-Px activity reached a plateau at approximately . 1 ppm Se, and that sodium selenite may be more biologically available for GSH-Px activity than the Se-enriched yeast source.
A Question Answering System for German. Experiments with Morphological Linguistic Resources

Question Answering systems are systems that enable the user to ask questions in natural language and to also receive an answer in natural language. Most existing systems, however, are constructed for the English language, and it is not clear in how far these approaches are also applicable to other languages. A richer morphology, greater syntactic variability, and smaller fraction of webpages available in the language are just some issues that complicate the construction of systems for German. In this paper, we present a modular Question Answering System for German which uses several morphological resources to increase recall. Nouns are converted into verbs, verbs into nouns, and the tenses of verbs are modified. We use a web search engine as a back end to allow for open-domain Question Answering. A POS-tagger is employed to identify answer candidates which are then filtered and tiled. The system is shown to achieve a higher recall than other systems for German.
Association Between Opioid Use and Health Care Utilization as Measured by Emergency Room Visits and Hospitalizations Among Persons Living With HIV

Background:Epidemiologic studies in the non–human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive population have shown greater health care utilization among persons with chronic non-cancer pain on opioid therapy. However, we are not aware of any similar data in the HIV positive population. Methods:We evaluated health care utilization, as measured by emergency room (ER) visits and hospitalizations, among persons with HIV and chronic pain seen at an academic medical center, during the calendar year 2005. We compared these outcomes between patients on chronic opioid therapy with those not on opioids. Results:In univariate models chronic opioid therapy was associated with both ER visits and hospitalization: ER visits odds ratio (OR)=2.18 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-3.66), hospitalization OR=1.90 (95% CI, 1.03-3.51). After multivariate analyses only nonsignificant trends remain: ER visits OR=1.71 (95% CI, 0.95-3.08); hospitalization OR=1.28 (95% CI, 0.66-2.49). Conclusions:In our study HIV positive individuals with chronic pain were more likely to be seen in the ER and be hospitalized if they were on opioids. However, after controlling for other variables, the association with opioids no longer remained significant.
Analyzing the Level of Mindfulness and Entrepreneurship of The University Students

Bu calismanin amaci, universite ogrencilerinin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egilimlerinin incelenmesidir. Calismanin orneklem grubunu, 2015-2016 egitim-ogretim yilinda, Bartin Universitesi Beden Egitimi ve Spor Yuksekokulunda ogrenim goren 364 erkek, 170 kadin olmak uzere toplam 534 kisi olusturmaktadir. Arastirmada, Brown ve Ryan (2003) tarafindan gelistirilen, Turkce’ye uyarlama calismasi, Ozyesil ve ark. (2011) tarafindan yapilan “Bilincli Farkindalik” olcegi ve Yilmaz ve Sumbul (2009) tarafindan gelistirilen “Universite Ogrencilerine Yonelik Girisimcilik Olcegi” kullanilmistir. Verilerin normal dagilim gosterip gostermedigi Shapiro Wilks normallik testi uygulanmis ve bunun neticesinde verilerin non-parametrik test kosullarina uygun oldugundan Mann–Whitney U ve Kruskall Wallis testleri uygulanmistir. Ogrencilerin cinsiyetlerine gore bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egilimleri arasinda anlamli farklilik elde edilmemistir. Ancak kadin ogrencilerin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik puanlari erkek ogrencilerin puanindan daha yuksektir. Yas araligina gore, ogrencilerin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egilimleri arasinda anlamli farklilik elde edilmemistir. Bolum degiskenine gore ise, rekreasyon bolumu ogrencileri ile diger bolumlerde okuyan ogrencilerin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egilimleri arasinda anlamli farklilik tespit edilmistir (p<0.05). Sonuc olarak, kadin ogrencilerin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik duzeylerinin erkeklerden daha yuksek oldugu, yas faktorunun bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egiliminde etkili olmadigi, rekreasyon bolumu ogrencilerinin bilincli farkindalik ve girisimcilik egilimlerinin diger bolumlerde okuyan ogrencilerden yuksek oldugu sonucuna varilabilir.
Effect of hospital use of oral nutritional supplementation on length of stay, hospital cost, and 30-day readmissions among Medicare patients with COPD.

BACKGROUND COPD is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Patients with COPD are at a high risk of nutritional deficiency, which is associated with declines in respiratory function, lean body mass and strength, and immune function. Although oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) has been associated with improvements in some of these domains, the impact of hospital ONS on readmission risk, length of stay (LOS), and cost among hospitalized patients is unknown. METHODS Using the Premier Research Database, we first identified Medicare patients aged ≥ 65 years hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COPD. We then identified hospitalizations in which ONS was provided, and used propensity-score matching to compare LOS, hospitalization cost, and 30-day readmission rates in a one-to-one matched sample of ONS and non-ONS hospitalizations. To further address selection bias among patients prescribed ONS, we also used instrumental variables analysis to study the association of ONS with study outcomes. Model covariates included patient and provider characteristics and a time trend. RESULTS Out of 10,322 ONS hospitalizations and 368,097 non-ONS hospitalizations, a one-to-one matched sample was created (N = 14,326). In unadjusted comparisons in the matched sample, ONS use was associated with longer LOS (8.7 days vs 6.9 days, P < .0001), higher hospitalization cost ($14,223 vs $9,340, P < .0001), and lower readmission rates (24.8% vs 26.6%, P = .0116). However, in instrumental variables analysis, ONS use was associated with a 1.9-day (21.5%) decrease in LOS, from 8.8 to 6.9 days (P < .01); a hospitalization cost reduction of $1,570 (12.5%), from $12,523 to $10,953 (P < .01); and a 13.1% decrease in probability of 30-day readmission, from 0.34 to 0.29 (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS ONS may be associated with reduced LOS, hospitalization cost, and readmission risk in hospitalized Medicare patients with COPD.
1993 Benchmark Tests for the ARPA Spoken Language Program

This paper reports results obtained in benchmark tests conducted within the ARPA Spoken Language program in November and December of 1993. In addition to ARPA contractors, participants included a number of "volunteers", including foreign participants from Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The body of the paper is limited to an outline of the structure of the tests and presents highlights and discussion of selected results. Detailed tabulations of reported "official" results, and additional explanatory text appears in the Appendix.
Large-scale Generative Query Autocompletion

Query Autocompletion (QAC) systems are interactive tools that assist a searcher in entering a query given a partial query prefix. Existing QAC research -- with a number of notable exceptions --relies upon large existing query logs from which to extract historical queries. These queries are then ordered by some ranking algorithm as candidate completions, given the query prefix. Given the numerous search environments (e.g. enterprises, personal or secured data repositories) in which large query logs are unavailable, the need for synthetic -- or generative -- QAC systems will become increasingly important. Generative QAC systems may be used to augment traditional query-based approaches, and/or entirely replace them in certain privacy sensitive applications. Even in commercial Web search engines, a significant proportion (up to 15%) of queries issued daily have never been seen previously, meaning there will always be opportunity to assist users in formulating queries which have not occurred historically. In this paper, we describe a system that can construct generative QAC suggestions within a user-acceptable timeframe (~58ms), and report on a series of experiments over three publicly available, large-scale question sets that investigate different aspects of the system's performance.
A-to-I RNA Editing is Induced Upon Hypoxia

Regulating gene expression is part of a cell's response to hypoxia. A-to-I RNA editing is an epigenetic phenomenon that can contribute to RNA and protein levels and to isoform diversity. In this study, we identified alterations in the levels of RNA editing following hypoxic stress in three genes: MED13, STAT3, and F11R. Changes in editing levels were associated with changes in RNA levels. These results suggest that A-to-I RNA editing may be one of the mechanisms used by cells to regulate changes in gene expression after hypoxia. These findings could lead to a novel therapeutic approach and better health care for children with hypoxemia.ABBREVIATIONS-ADAR-adenosine deaminases that act on RNA; UTR-untranslated region; LB-lymphoblastoid; RQ-relative quantitative; DFO-deferoxamine
Therapeutic Effect of Alprostadil in Diabetic Nephropathy: Possible Roles of Angiopoietin-2 and IL-18

Background/Aims: To investigate the role of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and IL-18 in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and the molecular mechanisms through which alprostadil protects renal function. Methods: DN was induced by streptozotocin and intraperitoneal injection of alprostadil was given to diabetic mice. After 2, 4 and 8 weeks of alprostadil treatment, the mRNA and protein expression of kidney Ang-2 and IL-18 were detected by reverse transcription PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry analyses. Mouse glomerular endothelial cells (GEnCs) were cultured in high glucose and treated with alprostadil. After transfection with an Ang-2-pcDNA and Ang-2-siRNA, both Ang-2 and IL-18 expression were measured by Western blot analyses. Results: Alprostadil treatment caused a significant decrease in the renal damage parameters. Both Ang-2 and IL-18 were significantly increased in DN mice and in GEnCs cultured in high glucose; however, their expression was greatly reduced by alprostadil treatment. Ang-2 could also increase IL-18 expression in cultured endothelial cells under high glucose, and this response was partially blocked by Ang-2 siRNA. Conclusions: Ang-2 and IL-18 may be associated with the development and progression of DN in mice. Alprostadil treatment can protect renal function by reducing proteinuria. These effects are mediated, at least in part, through down-regulation of Ang-2 and IL-18 expression.
The allergenicity of glycerol esters and other esters of rosin (colophony)

To investigate whether esterification of rosin with polyalcohols changes its allergenic potential. abietic acid, the main component of rosin, was esterified with glycerol at high temperature. The major product formed was isolated and identified, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). infra‐red IR) and mass spectrometry (MS) analyses, as glyceryl triabietate (GTA), an ester between one glycerol molecule and 3 abietic acid molecules. According to animal experiments GTA was not allergenic and no cross‐reactivity was seen to allergens in unmodified rosin, when testing patients allergic to unmodified rosin, no reactions were found to GTA. Some of the patients reacted to glycerol‐ and pentaerythritol‐esterified rosins. According to HPLC analyses, these esterified rosins still contained unmodified material to which the patients may have reacted. It seems that the esterification of rosin with poly alcohols such as glycerol reduces its allergenic activity, possibly because of the formation of much larger molecules with reduced bioavailability. However, making methyl esters of rosin causes little alteration in the molecular weights of the components and. when unmodified and methylated rosin were tested in patients, we saw no difference between the 2 forms.
Characteristics of Styrene Removal With an AC/DC Streamer Corona Plasma System

This paper reports plasma-induced styrene removal characteristics in air with a homemade ac/dc plasma system. The removal efficiency and reaction kinetics are investigated in terms of source specifications, relative humidity (RH), initial concentrations, by-products, and specific plasma energy density. The result shows that, the larger the difference between peak and dc voltages, the better the removal efficiency. For an initial concentration of 100-110 ppm, the maximum efficiency is around 95% at the energy density of 37-39 J/L, and about 94 ppm is removed under a lower RH. It drops, however, to about 50 and 25 ppm for the RH of 64% and 89%, respectively. Meantime, with increasing humidity, the global plasma kinetics is changed from nonsignificant to significant linear radical termination processes. With regard to by-products, they are mainly benzaldehyde and phenylacetaldehyde.
Norovirus illness is a global problem: emergence and spread of norovirus GII.4 variants, 2001-2007.

BACKGROUND Noroviruses (NoVs) are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis. Their high incidence and importance in health care facilities result in a great impact on public health. Studies from around the world describing increasing prevalence have been difficult to compare because of differing nomenclatures for variants of the dominant genotype, GII.4. We studied the global patterns of GII.4 epidemiology in relation to its genetic diversity. METHODS Data from NoV outbreaks with dates of onset from January 2001 through March 2007 were collected from 15 institutions on 5 continents. Partial genome sequences (n=775) were collected, allowing phylogenetic comparison of data from different countries. RESULTS The 15 institutions reported 3098 GII.4 outbreaks, 62% of all reported NoV outbreaks. Eight GII.4 variants were identified. Four had a global distribution--the 1996, 2002, 2004, and 2006b variants. The 2003Asia and 2006a variants caused epidemics, but they were geographically limited. Finally, the 2001 Japan and 2001 Henry variants were found across the world but at low frequencies. CONCLUSIONS NoV epidemics resulted from the global spread of GII.4 strains that evolved under the influence of population immunity. Lineages show notable (and currently unexplained) differences in geographic prevalence. Establishing a global NoV network by which data on strains with the potential to cause pandemics can be rapidly exchanged may lead to improved prevention and intervention strategies.
Query clustering using click-through graph

In this paper we describe a problem of discovering query clusters from a click-through graph of web search logs. The graph consists of a set of web search queries, a set of pages selected for the queries, and a set of directed edges that connects a query node and a page node clicked by a user for the query. The proposed method extracts all maximal bipartite cliques (bicliques) from a click-through graph and compute an equivalence set of queries (i.e., a query cluster) from the maximal bicliques. A cluster of queries is formed from the queries in a biclique. We present a scalable algorithm that enumerates all maximal bicliques from the click-through graph. We have conducted experiments on Yahoo web search queries and the result is promising.
An optical sensor for propagation analysis of Lymphocyte cell for cancer cell detection

Photonic crystal biosensors are highly sensitive devices for detection and analysis of bio-analytes that combines biological components with a physicochemical detector using phonon vibrations. Early stage cancer cell detection is currently the need of the hour. In this paper we have demonstrated a 2-dimensional grating based photonic crystal based biosensor for complete analysis of normal healthy Lymphocyte cell and its components for early stage detection of cancer. Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method has been used for the analysis of the cell. MEEP and MATAB simulation tools have been used for modeling and designing of photonic crystal based sensor and the intensity levels of transmission and reflection spectrums have been observed. It has been observed from the band structure that for little change in refractive index (RI) there will be a significant shift in the frequency and hence it acts as a sensor. This indicates that it is highly sensitive for the change in refractive index and thus it can differentiate between different components of the Lymphocyte cell as well as normal and cancerous cell.