Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Binary MDS Array Codes With Optimal Repair

Consider a binary maximum distance separable (MDS) array code composed of an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m\times (k+r)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> array of bits with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> information columns and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$ </tex-math></inline-formula> parity columns, such that any <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> out of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k+r$ </tex-math></inline-formula> columns suffice to reconstruct the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> information columns. Our goal is to provide <italic>optimal repair access</italic> for binary MDS array codes, meaning that the bandwidth triggered to repair any single failed information or parity column is minimized. In this paper, we propose a generic transformation framework for binary MDS array codes, using EVENODD codes as a motivating example, to support optimal repair access for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k+1\le d \le k+r-1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> denotes the number of non-failed columns that are connected for repair; note that when <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d< k+r-1$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, some of the chosen <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> columns in repairing a failed column are specific. In addition, we show how our transformation framework applies to an example of binary MDS array codes with asymptotically optimal repair access of any single information column and enables asymptotically or exactly optimal repair access for any column. Furthermore, we present a new transformation for EVENODD codes with two parity columns such that the existing efficient repair property of any information column is preserved and the repair access of parity column is optimal.
Gland Attenuation, a Novel Morphological Feature of Colorectal Cancer: Evidence for an Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Purpose Along the invasive margin, colorectal cancer may show distinctive morphologic changes characterized by an asymmetrically attenuating tumor gland with loss of polarity. The author coined the term ‘gland attenuation (GA)’ for these peculiar changes. The aims of this study were to compare the immunoreactivity of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers E-cadherin and β-catenin and thus determine whether EMTs occurs at tumor budding (TB) or GA sites and to assess the association of TB and/or GA levels with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis. Methods Expression patterns of E-cadherin and β-catenin in the tumor centers at GA and TB sites were examined in 101 patients with well or moderately differentiated CRCs, and the prognostic significance of TB and/or GA was statistically evaluated. Results GA foci, as well as TB foci, revealed loss of membranous and cytoplasmic E-cadherin expressions and aberrant β-catenin expression with reduced membranous expression and increased localization to the nucleus, suggesting that EMTs occur in GA as well as in TB. The high-TB and the TB-dominant groups were significantly correlated with advanced invasion depth, presence of lymph node metastasis, advanced pathologic staging and presence of lymphovascular invasion. The high-TB and the TB-dominant groups showed poor overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), and high TB was an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analyses for OS and RFS. Conclusion This study showed evidence that EMTs occurs at GA sites as well as TB foci. TB is a strong and independent prognostic factor, and TB-dominance may be an indicator of adverse clinical outcome.
Phenotype‐genotype relations in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1

To determine how much of the clinical variability in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy type 1 (FSHD1) can be explained by the D4Z4 repeat array size, D4Z4 methylation and familial factors, we included 152 carriers of an FSHD1 allele (23 single cases, 129 familial cases from 37 families) and performed state‐of‐the‐art genetic testing, extensive clinical evaluation and quantitative muscle MRI. Familial factors accounted for 50% of the variance in disease severity (FSHD clinical score). The explained variance by the D4Z4 repeat array size for disease severity was limited (approximately 10%), and varied per body region (facial muscles, upper and lower extremities approximately 30%, 15% and 3%, respectively). Unaffected gene carriers had longer repeat array sizes compared to symptomatic individuals (7.3 vs 6.0 units, P = 0.000) and slightly higher Delta1 methylation levels (D4Z4 methylation corrected for repeat size, 0.96 vs −2.46, P = 0.048).
Multiple Quorum Quenching Enzymes Are Active in the Nosocomial Pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC17978

Acinetobacter baumannii presents a typical luxI/luxR quorum sensing (QS) system (abaI/abaR) but the acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signal profile and factors controlling the production of QS signals in this species have not been determined yet. A very complex AHL profile was identified for A. baumannii ATCC17978 as well as for A. nosocomialis M2, but only when cultivated under static conditions, suggesting that surface or cell-to-cell contact is involved in the activation of the QS genes. The analysis of A. baumanni clinical isolates revealed a strain-specific AHL profile that was also affected by nutrient availability. The concentration of OHC12-HSL, the major AHL found in A. baumannii ATCC17978, peaked upon stationary-phase establishment and decreases steeply afterwards. Quorum quenching (QQ) activity was found in the cell extracts of A. baumannii ATCC17978, correlating with the disappearance of the AHLs from the culture media, indicating that AHL concentration may be self-regulated in this pathogen. Since QQ activity was observed in strains in which AidA, a novel α/β-hydrolase recently identified in A. baumannii, is not present, we have searched for additional QQ enzymes in A. baumannii ATCC17978. Seven putative AHL-lactonase sequences could be identified in the genome and the QQ activity of 3 of them could be confirmed. At least six of these lactonase sequences are also present in all clinical isolates as well as in A. nosocomialis M2. Surface-associated motility and biofilm formation could be blocked by the exogenous addition of the wide spectrum QQ enzyme Aii20J. The differential regulation of the QQ enzymes in A. baumannii ATCC17978 and the full dependence of important virulence factors on the QS system provides a strong evidence of the importance of the AHL-mediated QS/QQ network in this species.
DNN Dataflow Choice Is Overrated

Many DNN accelerators have been proposed and built using different microarchitectures and program mappings. To fairly compare these different approaches, we modified the Halide compiler to produce hardware as well as CPU and GPU code, and show that Halide's existing scheduling language has enough power to represent all existing dense DNN accelerators. Using this system we can show that the specific dataflow chosen for the accelerator is not critical to achieve good efficiency: many different dataflows yield similar energy efficiency with good performance. However, finding the best blocking and resource allocation is critical, and we achieve a 2.6X energy savings over Eyeriss system by reducing the size of the local register file. Adding an additional level in the memory hierarchy saves an additional 25%. Based on these observations, we develop an optimizer that automatically finds the optimal blocking and storage hierarchy. Compared with Eyeriss system, it achieves up to 4.2X energy improvement for Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), 1.6X and 1.8X improvement for Long Short-Term Memories (LSTMs) and multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) respectively.
Prevalence of diabetic comorbidities and knowledge and practices of foot care among diabetic patients: a cross-sectional study

Background Diabetes mellitus with comorbid complications constitute a major public health problem worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of comorbid complications with glycosylated hemoglobin levels and diabetes duration. Also assessed were patients’ diabetic foot-care knowledge and practices. Patients and methods This was a quasiexperimental study. A total of 360 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were interviewed at a government health care center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Diabetic complications and HbA1c-level data were collected from hospital records. A standard questionnaire was used to assess their diabetic foot-care knowledge and practice. Results Of the type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, 32.5% had highly uncontrolled glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (≥8.6%) and 62.8% had had diabetes >10 years. The patients had comorbid complications, such as hypertension (61.4%), dyslipidemia (58.6%), retinopathy (23.3%), heart disease (14.4%), and severe foot complications (3.9%). The majority of highly uncontrolled HbA1c-level patients had retinopathy (OR 8.90, P=0.0001), foot complications (OR 8.09, P=0.0001), dyslipidemia (OR 2.81, P=0.010), and hypertension (OR 2.0, P=0.028) compared to the controlled HbA1c-level (<7%) group. Patients with diabetes >10 years also had higher prevalence of foot complications (OR 2.92, P=0.0001), retinopathy (OR 2.17, P=0.011), and hypertension (OR 1.67, P=0.033). From patient responses, physicians examined only 34.2% of patient feet and 36.7% of patients received physicians advice for foot care. About 70% of patients had knowledge of diabetic foot care; however, only 41.7% of patients always examined their feet, 41.4% washed feet with warm water, 31.4% carefully dried between the toes, and 33.1% were using foot-moisturizing substances. Conclusion The prevalence of comorbid complications was higher in the Saudi population compared to other international studies. Also, foot-care practice was not satisfactory. Therefore, there is need of improvement and increased awareness among physicians and patients to check regularly for proper care of the diabetic foot to avoid diabetic foot-related complications.
A New Method for Measuring Bell-Shaped Chest Induced by Impaired Ribcage Muscles in Spinal Muscular Atrophy Children

The involvement of the respiratory muscular pump makes SMA children prone to frequent hospitalization and morbidity, particularly in type 1. Progressive weakness affects ribcage muscles resulting in bell-shaped chest that was never quantified. The aims of the present work were: (1) to quantify the presence of bell-shaped chest in SMA infants and children and to correlate it with the action of ribcage muscles, assessed by the contribution of pulmonary ribcage to tidal volume (ΔVRC, p); (2) to verify if and how the structure of the ribcage and ΔVRC, p change after 1-year in SMA type 2. 91 SMA children were studied in supine position during awake spontaneous breathing: 32 with type 1 (SMA1, median age: 0.8 years), 51 with type 2 (SMA2, 3.7 years), 8 with type 3 (SMA3, 5.4 years) and 20 healthy children (HC, 5.2 years). 14 SMA2 showed negative ΔVRC, p (SMA2px), index of paradoxical inspiratory inward motion. The bell-shaped chest index was defined as the ratio between the distance of the two anterior axillary lines at sternal angle and the distance between the right and left 10th costal cartilage. If this index was < < 1, it indicated bell shape, if ~1 it indicated rectangular shape, while if >> 1 an inverted triangle shape was identified. While the bell-shaped index was similar between HC (0.92) and SMA3 (0.91), it was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in SMA2 (0.81), SMA2px (0.74) and SMA1 (0.73), being similar between the last two. There was a good correlation (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, ρ = 0.635, p < 0.001) between ribcage geometry and ΔVRC, p. After 1 year, ΔVRC, p reduced while bell-shaped chest index did not change being significantly lower than HC. The shape of the ribcage was quantified and correlated with the action of ribcage muscles in SMA children. The impaired ribcage muscles function alters the ribcage structure. HC and SMA3 show an almost rectangular ribcage shape, whereas SMA2, SMA2px and SMA1 are characterized by bell-shaped chest. In SMA, therefore, a vicious cycle starts since infancy: the disease progressively affects ribcage muscles resulting in reduced expansion of lung and ribcage that ultimately alters ribcage shape. This puts the respiratory muscles at mechanical disadvantage.
The cost of hospital treatment of advanced stage lung cancer patients in a developing South East European country

Assessing the lung cancer treatment costs is necessary in order to estimate the budget impact of new interventions and therapeutic innovations. However, there are few studies regarding the use of resources and costs associated with treatment of lung cancer patients, not only in Serbia, but internationally. The aim of this paper was to assess the hospital costs of diagnosing and treating patients with stage IIIB and IV non-small cell lung cancer. Analysis of costs of care, services, medications and medical supplies, as well as of total hospital costs, was performed. Patients diagnosed with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC in the Institute during the year 2013 were enrolled in the study. A total of 187 patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC were analyzed. Total hospital costs were 506.970€, of which nearly two thirds was accounted to costs of services and medications. The mean cost per patient with adenocarcinoma was 3.075€, and for squamous cell lung carcinoma patient 1.943€. Statistically significant difference was shown when comparing mean hospital costs between patients in stage IIIB and stage IV adenocarcinoma, where this cost is higher in patients with stage IIIB. Mean hospital cost per female patient was nearly double as high that of the male patients, although without statistically significant difference. The mean cost for all adenocarcinoma patients was 1.317€, and for only four patients treated with TKI therapy 21.233€. This cost analysis could provide useful information in terms of budget impact of different lung cancer treatments and innovations in Serbia and corresponding developing countries.
Throughput With Delay Constraints in a Shared Access Network With Priorities

In this paper, we analyze a shared access network with a fixed primary node and randomly distributed secondary nodes whose spatial distribution follows a poisson point process. The secondary nodes use a random access protocol allowing them to access the channel with probabilities that depend on the queue size of the primary node. Assuming a system with multipacket reception receivers, having bursty packet arrivals at the primary and saturated traffic at the secondary nodes, our protocol can be tuned to alleviate congestion at the primary. We analyze the throughput of the secondary network and the primary average delay, as well as the impact of the secondary node access probability and transmit power. We formulate an optimization problem to maximize the throughput of the secondary network under delay constraints for the primary node; in the case of no congestion control, the optimal access probability can be provided in closed form. Our numerical results illustrate the effect of network operating parameters on the performance of the proposed priority-based shared access protocol.
The Interplay of Host Autophagy and Eukaryotic Pathogens

For intracellular pathogens, host cells provide a replicative niche, but are also armed with innate defense mechanisms to combat the intruder. Co-evolution of host and pathogens has produced a complex interplay of host-pathogen interactions during infection, with autophagy emerging as a key player in the recent years. Host autophagy as a degradative process is a significant hindrance to intracellular growth of the pathogens, but also can be subverted by the pathogens to provide support such as nutrients. While the role of host cell autophagy in the pathogenesis mechanisms of several bacterial and viral pathogens have been extensively studied, less is known for eukaryotic pathogens. In this review, we focus on the interplay of host autophagy with the eukaryotic pathogens Plasmodium spp, Toxoplasma, Leishmania spp and the fungal pathogens Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans. The differences between these eukaryotic pathogens in terms of the host cell types they infect, infective strategies and the host responses required to defend against them provide an interesting insight into how they respond to and interact with host cell autophagy. Due to the ability to infect multiple host species and cell types during the course of their usually complex lifestyles, autophagy plays divergent roles even for the same pathogen. The scenario is further compounded since many of the eukaryotic pathogens have their own sets of either complete or partial autophagy machinery. Eukaryotic pathogen-autophagy interplay is thus a complex relationship with many novel insights for the basic understanding of autophagy, and potential for clinical relevance.
Cytosolic Recognition of Microbes and Pathogens: Inflammasomes in Action

Infection is a dynamic biological process underpinned by a complex interplay between the pathogen and the host. Microbes from all domains of life, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoan parasites, have the capacity to cause infection. SUMMARY Infection is a dynamic biological process underpinned by a complex interplay between the pathogen and the host. Microbes from all domains of life, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoan parasites, have the capacity to cause infection. Infection is sensed by the host, which often leads to activation of the inflammasome, a cytosolic macromolecular signaling platform that mediates the release of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 and cleavage of the pore-forming protein gasdermin D, leading to pyroptosis. Host-mediated sensing of the infection occurs when pathogens inject or carry pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) into the cytoplasm or induce damage that causes cytosolic liberation of danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in the host cell. Recognition of PAMPs and DAMPs by inflammasome sensors, including NLRP1, NLRP3, NLRC4, NAIP, AIM2, and Pyrin, initiates a cascade of events that culminate in inflammation and cell death. However, pathogens can deploy virulence factors capable of minimizing or evading host detection. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the mechanisms of microbe-induced activation of the inflammasome and the functional consequences of inflammasome activation in infectious diseases. We also explore the microbial strategies used in the evasion of inflammasome sensing at the host-microbe interaction interface.
Economic Considerations for Integrating Massively Parallel Heterogeneous Devices into the Cloud

Cloud computing providers are expected to supply high-performance and scalable computing resources to their users on demand. Powering these computing resources to provide this service comes with a high operating cost. As the use of cloud computing has become considerably widespread, the workloads provided and computational demands placed upon cloud computing infrastructures have become extremely diverse. Accompanying this, the computational resources available for cloud computing infrastructures are also growing in diversity, yielding heterogeneous computing systems. Through the adoption of heterogeneous computing devices, such as the Graphics Processing Unit, cloud computing providers have a potential avenue for supplying enhanced computational performance with reduced power consumption and in turn, reduced operating cost. In this paper, we show that enhancing heterogeneity through the incorporation of multiple computational accelerators increases performance while also decreasing energy consumption. The benefits provided by heterogeneous computational accelerators leads to improved service rates and operating costs for cloud computing centers.
Modeling Development of Multimodal Emotion Perception Guided by Tactile Dominance and Perceptual Improvement

Humans recognize others’ emotional states such as delight, anger, sorrow, and pleasure through their multimodal expressions. However, it is unclear how this capability of emotion perception is acquired during infancy. This paper presents a neural network model that reproduces the developmental process of emotion perception through an infant–caregiver interaction. This network comprises hierarchically structured restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs) that receive multimodal expressions from a caregiver (visual, audio, and tactile signals in our current experiment) and learn to estimate her/his emotional states. We hypothesize that emotional categories of multimodal stimuli are acquired in a higher layer in the network owing to two important functions: 1) tactile dominance and 2) perceptual improvement. The former refers to that tactile sensors can detect emotional valence of stimuli such as positive, negative, and zero valence more directly than can other sensors due to characteristics of the nerve systems of the skin. This function was implemented as semisupervised learning in the model. The latter refers to developmental changes in the perceptual acuity, which was replicated by refining the variance parameters of the low-layered RBMs. Experimental results demonstrated that tactile dominance and perceptual improvement have the role of facilitating the differentiation of emotional states of multimodal expressions; however, the influences only appear when both functions are included in the model together. Considering our results from the psychological perspective may help to elucidate the neural and social mechanisms of the development of emotion perception.
Robust Adaptive Sliding Mode Observer Design for T-S Fuzzy Descriptor Systems With Time-Varying Delay

This paper addresses the problems of robust adaptive sliding mode observer (SMO) design and SMO-based sliding mode control (SMC) for T-S fuzzy descriptor systems with time-varying delay. Until now, there are a few results about the adaptive SMO design problem and adaptive SMO-based SMC for T-S fuzzy descriptor systems with time-varying delay. Therefore, we are motivated to study this issue. First, two integral-type sliding surfaces, which involve the SMO gain matrix, are constructed for the error system and the SMO system, respectively. Then, some delay-dependent sufficient conditions are established, such that the sliding motions are robustly admissible with $H\infty $ performance. New adaptive sliding mode controllers, which need not to use the assumption that the fast subsystem of descriptor system is observable, are synthesized for the error system and the SMO system, such that the reachability conditions can be guaranteed. In addition, the adaptive control strategy is applied to estimate the unknown parameters. Finally, simulation examples are discussed to show the effectiveness of our approach.