Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ADAM 33 gene V4 C/G rs2787094 polymorphism in psoriasis.

AIMS Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory disease. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 33 (ADAM33) gene is the first novel susceptibility gene for asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of ADAM 33 gene V4 C/G rs2787094 polymorphism with the risk of psoriasis in the Turkish population. METHODS ADAM33 gene polymorphism (V4 C/G rs2787094) was analyzed in 97 psoriasis patients and 50 healthy control subjects. This study was performed by polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. RESULTS There was no significant difference in ADAM33 genotype and allele distributions between psoriasis and control groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS ADAM33 V4 C/G rs2787094 polymorphism was not associated with psoriasis risk in the Turkish population. Larger studies with different ethnicities are needed to determine the impact of ADAM33 polymorphism on the risk of developing psoriasis (Tab. 3, Fig. 1, Ref. 16).
Simple App Review Classification with Only Lexical Features

User reviews submitted to app marketplaces contain information that falls into different categories, e.g., feature evaluation, feature request, and bug report. The information is valuable for developers to improve the quality of mobile applications. However, due to the large volume of reviews received every day, manual classification of user reviews into these categories is not feasible. Therefore, developing automatic classification methods using machine learning approaches is desirable. In this study, we compare the simplest textual machine learning classifier using only lexical features—the so-called Bag-of-Words (BoW) approach—with the more complex models used in previous works adopting rich linguistic features. We find that the performance of the simple BoW model is very competitive and has the advantage of not requiring any external linguistic tools to extract the features. Moreover, we experiment with deep learning based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models that have recently achieved state-of-the-art results in many classification tasks. We find that, on average the CNN models do not perform better than the simple BoW model—it is possible that for the CNN model to gain an advantage, a larger training set would have been necessary.
Evaluating Fuzz Testing

Fuzz testing has enjoyed great success at discovering security critical bugs in real software. Recently, researchers have devoted significant effort to devising new fuzzing techniques, strategies, and algorithms. Such new ideas are primarily evaluated experimentally so an important question is: What experimental setup is needed to produce trustworthy results? We surveyed the recent research literature and assessed the experimental evaluations carried out by 32 fuzzing papers. We found problems in every evaluation we considered. We then performed our own extensive experimental evaluation using an existing fuzzer. Our results showed that the general problems we found in existing experimental evaluations can indeed translate to actual wrong or misleading assessments. We conclude with some guidelines that we hope will help improve experimental evaluations of fuzz testing algorithms, making reported results more robust.
Performance Enhancement of Al2O3/H-Diamond MOSFETs Utilizing Vacuum Annealing and V2O5 as a Surface Electron Acceptor

We report on the performance enhancement of 250-nm gate-length H-diamond FETs through thermal treatment of devices at 400 °C and the incorporation of V2O5 as a surface electron acceptor layer. Encapsulation of the H-diamond surface with V2O5 is found to increase the transfer doping efficiency and reduce the device access resistance. A reduction in ohmic contact resistance and channel resistance beneath the gate after thermal treatment at 400 °C was found to further reduce the device ON-resistance and increase the maximum drain current and peak transconductance. These devices demonstrate the highest drain current (375 mA/mm) and transconductance (98 mS/mm), yet reported for H-diamond FETs of this gate length that incorporate an electron acceptor oxide layer.
Ocular albinism with infertility and late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss

Ocular albinism type 1 (OA1) is caused by mutations in the GPR143 gene located at Xp22.2. The manifestations, which are due to hypopigmentation, are confined to the eyes and optic pathway. OA1 associated with late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss was previously reported in a single family and hypothesized to be caused by a contiguous gene deletion syndrome involving GPR143 and the adjacent gene, TBL1X. Here, we report on a family with OA1, infertility, late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss, and a small interstitial Xp microdeletion including the GPR143, TBL1X, and SHROOM2 genes. In addition, we re‐examined a patient previously described with OA1, infertility and a similar Xp deletion with audiologic follow‐up showing a late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss. Our results raise an intriguing question about the possibility for TBL1X (absence) involvement in this type of hearing loss. However, our study cannot claim a causative relationship and more convincing evidence is needed before the hypothesis can be accepted that TBL1X could be involved in late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss and that ocular albinism with late‐onset sensorineural hearing loss can present itself as a contiguous gene deletion/microdeletion syndrome. The finding of infertility in all affected male patients demonstrates that this deletion, including the SHROOM2 gene, may be a potentially causative X‐linked genetic factor of male infertility.
Comparison of the demographic and social profile of blood donors and nondonors in Brazil

Population-based studies on blood donation prevalence and its association with sociodemographic and behavioural factors are scarce, but remain the best approach to assess correlates of donation, including those which could be the target for donor recruitment campaigns. This study describes the population of primary healthcare users from the public system in a medium-sized Brazilian municipality to investigate the association of blood donation practice with other sociodemographic factors. A stratified, representative sample of primary healthcare users at 12 healthcare facilities in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, were invited to participate. Analysis focused on demographic and psychosocial factors including, sex, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, educational level, health insurance, self-perception of health, religious beliefs, and blood donation history. Blood donors, self-defined ineligible donors, and never donors were compared. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to assess positively and negatively associated variables in the dataset. MCA was conducted on respondents' age and monthly household income to assess dimensionality of other questionnaire responses. Of a total of 1,055 study participants, 79.7% were females and the mean age was 40.6 years. Blood donation practice was reported by 246 participants (23.3%), 669 (63.4%) had never donated, and 140 (13.3%) reported being unable to donate blood. Graphical presentation of the MCA showed that male, older age groups, those who have health insurance, and with higher socioeconomic and educational level are more likely to donate blood. Poor or average self-perception of health, lower socioeconomic status, and divorced or widowed marital status were associated with self-defined inability to donate blood. Thus, our results are useful to understand the multifactorial nature of blood donation behaviour. Our findings provide guidance for targeted recruitment campaigns focused on relevant contextual factors. The focus on reducing barriers to blood donation according to sociodemographic groups can be a relevant strategy to expand the donor base.
Evaluation of Biofilm Formation and Presence of Ica Genes in Staphylococcus epidermidis Clinical Isolates

Objectives Biofilm formation is one of the important features of Staphylococcus epidermidis, particularly in nosocomial infections. We aimed to investigate the biofilm production by phenotypic methods and the presence of ica genes in S epidermidis. Methods A total of 41 S epidermidis isolates were recovered from different clinical specimens. Biofilm formation was evaluated by microtiter plate, tube method and Congo red agar method. The presence of icaA and icaD genes was investigated by PCR. Validity of methods (sensitivity and specificity), and metrics for test performance (positive/negative predictive value, and positive/negative likelihood ratio) were determined. Results By both microtiter plate and tube method, 53.6% of S epidermidis isolates were able to produce biofilm, whilst only 24.4% of isolates provided a biofilm phenotype on Congo red agar plates. icaA and icaD genes were found in 100% and 95.1% of isolates, respectively. Biofilm phenotypes accounted for 4.8% by microtiter plate assay, despite the absence of the ica gene. Congo red agar and PCR exhibited a lower sensitivity (18% and 45.5%, respectively) for identifying the biofilm phenotype in comparison to microtiter plate. Conclusion The microtiter plate method remains generally a better tool to screen biofilm production in S epidermidis. In addition, the ability of S epidermidis to form biofilm is not always dependent on the presence of ica genes, highlighting the importance of ica-independent mechanisms of biofilm formation. The use of reliable methods to specifically detect biofilms can be helpful to treat the patients affected by such problematic bacteria.
Challenges and Benefits of Repurposing Products for Use during a Radiation Public Health Emergency: Lessons Learned from Biological Threats and other Disease Treatments

The risk of a radiological or nuclear public health emergency is a major growing concern of the U.S. government. To address a potential incident and ensure that the government is prepared to respond to any subsequent civilian or military casualties, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense have been charged with the development of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to treat the acute and delayed injuries that can result from radiation exposure. Because of the limited budgets in research and development and the high costs associated with bring promising approaches from the bench through advanced product development activities, and ultimately, to regulatory approval, the U.S. government places a priority on repurposing products for which there already exists relevant safety and other important information concerning their use in humans. Generating human data can be a costly and time-consuming process; therefore, the U.S. government has interest in drugs for which such relevant information has been established (e.g., products for another indication), and in determining if they could be repurposed for use as MCMs to treat radiation injuries as well as chemical and biological insults. To explore these possibilities, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) convened a workshop including U.S. government, industry and academic subject matter experts, to discuss the challenges and benefits of repurposing products for a radiation indication. Topics covered included a discussion of U.S. government efforts (e.g. funding, stockpiling and making products available for study), as well unique regulatory and other challenges faced when repurposing patent protected or generic drugs. Other discussions involved lessons learned from industry on repurposing pre-license, pipeline products within drug development portfolios. This report reviews the information presented, as well as an overview of discussions from the meeting.
Dynamic perspectives into the mechanisms of mutation‐induced p53‐DNA binding loss and inactivation using active perturbation theory: Structural and molecular insights toward the design of potent reactivators in cancer therapy

The DNA‐binding ability of p53 represents the crux of its tumor suppressive activities, which involves transcriptional activation of target genes responsible for apoptosis and cell‐cycle arrest. Mutational occurrences within or in close proximity to the DNA‐binding surface of p53 have accounted for the loss of direct DNA‐binding ability and inactivation implicated in many cases of cancer. Moreover, the design of therapeutic compounds that can restore DNA‐binding ability in p53 mutants has been identified as a way forward in curtailing their oncogenic activities. However, there is still the need for more insights into evaluate the perturbations that occur at the DNA‐binding interface of mp53 relative to DNA‐binding loss, inactivation, and design of potent reactivators, hence the purpose of this study. Therefore, we evaluated p53‐structural (R175H) and contact (R273C) mutational effects using tunnel perturbation analysis and other computational tools. We identified significant perturbations in the active tunnels of p53, which resulted in altered geometry and loss, unlike in the wild‐type p53. This corroborated with structural, DNA‐binding, and interaction network analysis, which showed that loss of flexibility, repulsion of DNA‐interactive residues, and instability occurred at the binding interface of both mutants. Also, these mutations altered bonding interactions and network topology at the DNA‐binding interface, resulting in the reduction of p53‐DNA binding proximity and affinity. Therefore, these findings would aid the structure‐based design of novel chemical entities capable of restoring p53‐DNA binding and activation.
Affective interoceptive inference: Evidence from heart‐beat evoked brain potentials

The perception of internal bodily signals (interoception) is central to many theories of emotion and embodied cognition. According to recent theoretical views, the sensory processing of visceral signals such as one's own heartbeat is determined by top‐down predictions about the expected interoceptive state of the body (interoceptive inference). In this EEG study we examined neural responses to heartbeats following expected and unexpected emotional stimuli. We used a modified stimulus repetition task in which pairs of facial expressions were presented with repeating or alternating emotional content, and we manipulated the emotional valence and the likelihood of stimulus repetition. We found that affective predictions of external socially relevant information modulated the heartbeat‐evoked potential, a marker of cardiac interoception. Crucially, the HEP changes highly relied on the expected emotional content of the facial expression. Thus, expected negative faces led to a decreased HEP amplitude, whereas such an effect was not observed after an expected neutral face. These results suggest that valence‐specific affective predictions, and their uniquely associated predicted bodily sensory state, can reduce or amplify cardiac interoceptive responses. In addition, the affective repetition effects were dependent on repetition probability, highlighting the influence of top‐down exteroceptive predictions on interoception. Our results are in line with recent models of interoception supporting the idea that predicted bodily states influence sensory processing of salient external information.
Sparse Depth Map Interpolation using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

The problem of dense depth map inference from sparse depth values is considered in this paper. We address this issue in situation when one has low-cost sensor data and limited computational resources. We propose a method that performs interpolation and then super-resolution while comparing our approach with the state-of-the-art direct RGB-to-Dense reconstruction solutions. In particular, we use an encoder-decoder model of CNN with loss consisting of standard mean squared error and perceptual loss function. Futhermore, it has been shown that the described approach could be adopted to estimate rough depth map in real-time.
“Stop Waking the Dead”: Internet Child Sexual Abuse and Perspectives on Its Disclosure

The phenomenon of Internet child sexual abuse (ICSA) has been receiving growing attention over the last decade, and studies have promoted knowledge with respect to the phenomenon’s epidemiology, as well as to characteristics of the victims, perpetrators, and dynamics in these cases. The current retrospective study sought to delve into the disclosure component in cases of ICSA. The sample comprised 52 cases of adolescents who arrived at a child advocacy center (CAC) following ICSA. Analysis of these cases was targeted to capture the multifaceted nature of disclosure using those perspectives that could be documented by the CAC staff—of the practitioners, the adolescents, and their parents. Beyond the descriptive results regarding the victims and the nature of the abuse, the case analyses illustrate the disclosure process as experienced by the various parties involved, highlighting the challenging nature of this aspect of the phenomenon. For the parents, the disclosure experience can perhaps be best epitomized by the expression that was heard repeatedly—“Stop waking the dead”—an expression that indicated their wish to bring the subject to a close. The difficulty in disclosing such incidents was also illustrated by the fact that 20 children in the current sample were reluctant to collaborate during the CAC process. In fact, according to these data, most of the incidents were revealed following a police investigation rather than by a disclosure initiated by the children themselves. Focusing on this specific aspect of ICSA—that is, disclosure—enables a new perspective on it and stresses the need to further study it in such cases. A better understanding of the disclosure experience as it pertains to the individuals involved in cases of ICSA may improve and help modify future prevention and intervention efforts in the field.
Software Engineering Approach to Bug Prediction Models using Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS)

The presence of bugs in a software release has become inevitable. The loss incurred by a company due to the presence of bugs in a software release is phenomenal. Modern methods of testing and debugging have shifted focus from “detecting” to “predicting” bugs in the code. The existing models of bug prediction have not been optimized for commercial use. Moreover, the scalability of these models has not been discussed in depth yet. Taking into account the varying costs of fixing bugs, depending on which stage of the software development cycle the bug is detected in, this paper uses two approaches - one model which can be employed when the 'cost of changing code' curve is exponential and the other model can be used otherwise. The cases where each model is best suited are discussed. This paper proposes a model that can be deployed on a cloud platform for software development companies to use. The model in this paper aims to predict the presence or absence of a bug in the code, using machine learning classification models. Using Microsoft Azure's machine learning platform this model can be distributed as a web service worldwide, thus providing Bug Prediction as a Service (BPaaS).
Evaluation of the behavior of inflammatory parameters (ESR, CRP) in patients treated surgically due to spinal deformities

Introduction. One of the most serious complications of elective surgery is the surgical site infection (SSI), especially in unburdened patients. It is believed that the parameters that may indicate such a process are, among others, C-reactive protein level (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Aim. The aim of the study is the daily assessment of changes in ESR and CRP values in patients after surgical correction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with posterior fusion, and their correlation with the occurrence of surgical site infection. Material and methods. The material is 45 consecutive patients, diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis, treated surgically, in which in subsequent days after the operation the measurement of CRP and SR was performed. In this group, 4 patients needed surgical revision due to SSI. Results. The level of CRP protein increased in all patients, its highest value was on the second day after surgery and was on average 80 mg/l (2-144 mg/l) in the group without SSI and 58 mg/l (34-98 mg/l) in the group with SSI. In the following days CRP levels gradually declined, in the uncomplicated group it lowered to less than a half of the peak level at day 5 (mean 39 mg/l). In SSI group after a reduction of CRP values until day 4 we noted another peak to a mean value 65 mg/l (46-82) at day 7. ESR levels gradually increased and reached maximum values on day 5 in patients without SSI (43mm/h), and on day 6 in patients with SSI (52m/h). In patients with SSI, the changes of levels of ESR was not different from the other patients in whom the course of treatment was not complicated. Conclusions. The lack of reduction of CRP levels or a second rise of its levels may indicate increased risk of SSI. In this situation further steps to confirm this diagnosis should be carried out. The assessment of ESR after extensive spinal fusion surgery are not sufficient indicators to predict the risk of SSI. words:
A Wearable Three-Axis Tactile Sensor for Human Fingertips

Human training data can scaffold robot imitation learning. However, most datagloves only record joint angles, but for many tasks, force control is more important. They also cover the human skin, thereby making a natural interaction of the human with the object impossible. This letter suggests a wearable sensor that can measure the three-axis force vector exerted at the fingertip, without covering the skin that contacts the object. Using two small-sized Hall effect based three-axis sensors mounted on the sides of the fingertips, the finger pad deformation resulting from the force vector acting on the fingertip is measured. Experiments with ten subjects show that the force vectors can be measured with reasonable precision. Furthermore, the influence of the Earth's magnetic field and the finger's orientation on the finger tactile sensor's measurement has been reduced from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm 4N$</tex-math></inline-formula> to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\pm 1N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
Nitrogen isotope pattern in Mongolian larch stands at the southern Eurasian boreal forest boundary

ABSTRACT In the last decades a drastic increase in air temperature but a stable precipitation regime in Mongolia has led to gradual drying conditions. Thus, we evaluated the effect of spatial and climatic characteristics on the soil–plant nitrogen dynamics in three representative larch stands (Larix sibirica) with different geographical and climatic conditions using stable nitrogen isotopes. The results showed significant differences in the soil inorganic N content among sites and consequently a different isotopic composition in the plant–soil system. Litter, bark and wood had the lowest δ15N values for all sites, slightly higher δ15N values for needles, while the highest δ15N values were observed for roots and soil. These differences could be the result of the larch stands age themselves, but were in agreement with the spatial and climatic characteristics of the sites. Based on the δ15N value a higher reliance on ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF) was observed in the warmest and driest site, while lower dependency was shown in the cooler northern site with higher soil inorganic N content. In both sites, the rate of air temperature increase has been similar in the last decades; however, their soil–plant N dynamics showed different characteristics.