Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Retinoblastoma Protein and Its Homolog p130 Regulate the G1/S Transition in Pancreatic β-Cells

OBJECTIVE The retinoblastoma protein family (pRb, p130, p107) plays a central role in the regulation of cell cycle progression. Surprisingly, loss of pRb in the β-cell has no discernible effect on cell cycle control. Therefore, we explored the effects of individual loss of either p130 or p107 in addition to the simultaneous loss of both pRb/p130 on the β-cell. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Adult mice deficient in either p130 or p107 or both pRb/p130 were examined for effects on β-cell replication, function, and survival. The Cre-Lox system was also used to inactivate pRb in wild-type and p130-deficient β-cells in vitro. RESULTS In vivo loss of either p107 or p130 did not affect β-cell replication or function. Combined pRb/p130 loss, however, resulted in dramatically accelerated proliferation as well as apoptotic cell death. Pancreas and β-cell mass were significantly reduced in double mutants. Despite this, overall glucose tolerance was normal, except for mild postprandial hyperglycemia. Ex vivo, acute deletion of pRb in p130-deficient β-cells also caused a striking increase in proliferation. The combined deletion of pRb/p130 upregulated islet expression of E2F2 but not E2F1. CONCLUSIONS These studies define an essential role for the pocket proteins in controlling the G1/S transition in β-cells. When deficient in both pRb and p130, β-cells undergo unrestrained cell cycle reentry and activation of apoptosis. These studies underscore the central role of the pRb pathway in controlling β-cell turnover and provide new cellular targets for β-cell regeneration.
Intermittent high glucose enhances ICAM‐1, VCAM‐1, E‐selectin and interleukin‐6 expression in human umbilical endothelial cells in culture: the role of poly(ADP‐ribose) polymerase

Summary. It has been previously reported that endothelial cells exposed to constant high concentrations of glucose upregulate the expression of adhesion molecules. Moreover, it has been suggested that this phenomenon is related to generation of oxidative stress. It has also been suggested that oxidative injuries, related to high glucose, induce the activation of the enzyme poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), which can promote the expression of adhesion molecules and the generation of inflammation. Recent in‐vivo and in‐vitro evidence suggests that oscillation of glucose may play an autonomous and direct role in favoring the development of cardiovascular complications in diabetes. In this study we have investigated the effects of constantly high and intermittently high glucose on nitrotyrosine formation (a marker of nitrosative stress) and adhesion molecule (ICAM‐1, VCAM‐1 and E‐selectin), as well as on interleukin (IL)‐6 expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells, either in the presence or in the absence of PJ34, a potent inhibitor of PARP. We found that oscillating glucose was more effective in triggering the generation of nitrotyrosine and inducing the expression of adhesion molecules and IL‐6 than stable high glucose. Pharmacological inhibition of PARP suppressed both nitrotyrosine formation, adhesion molecule expression and IL‐6 to the levels seen in the normal glucose conditions. Thus, PARP activation appears to be involved in both promoting nitrosative stress and upregulating adhesion molecules and inflammation in endothelial cells exposed to oscillating high glucose conditions.
XPRESS: a queriable compression for XML data

Like HTML, many XML documents are resident on native file systems. Since XML data is irregular and verbose, the disk space and the network bandwidth are wasted. To overcome the verbosity problem, the research on compressors for XML data has been conducted. However, some XML compressors do not support querying compressed data, while other XML compressors which support querying compressed data blindly encode tags and data values using predefined encoding methods. Thus, the query performance on compressed XML data is degraded.In this paper, we propose XPRESS, an XML compressor which supports direct and efficient evaluations of queries on compressed XML data. XPRESS adopts a novel encoding method, called reverse arithmetic encoding, which is intended for encoding label paths of XML data, and applies diverse encoding methods depending on the types of data values. Experimental results with real life data sets show that XPRESS achieves significant improvements on query performance for compressed XML data and reasonable compression ratios. On the average, the query performance of XPRESS is 2.83 times better than that of an existing XML compressor and the compression ratio of XPRESS is 73%.
Optimality, approximation, and complexity in set membership H∞ identification

Investigates the set membership identification of time-invariant, discrete-time, exponentially stable, possibly infinite-dimensional, linear systems from time or frequency-domain data, corrupted by deterministic noise. The aim is to deliver not a single model, but a set of models whose size in H/sub /spl infin// norm measures the uncertainty in the identification. The main focus of the note is on the optimality properties for finite data and on the tradeoff between optimality and complexity of approximated low order model sets. A method is given for evaluating convergent and computationally efficient inner and outer approximations of the value set for a given frequency. Such approximations allow one to compute, within any desired accuracy, the identification error of any identified model, and to evaluate an optimal model at any given number of frequencies. By suitably approximating these values, model sets with nominal models in RH/sub /spl infin// are then derived, whose order is selected by trading off between model set complexity and identification accuracy degradation. This degradation is evaluated by computing the optimality level, defined as the ratio between the reduced model identification error and the optimal one. A numerical example demonstrates the effectiveness of the presented results.
Differences in proton pumping and Na/H exchange at the leaf cell tonoplast between a halophyte and a glycophyte

The tonoplast Na+/H+-antiporter and the tonoplast H+-pumps are essential components of salt tolerance in plants. We investigated the transport activity of the Na+/H+-antiporter and the H+-pumps in a highly tolerant salt accumulating halophyte, Salicornia dolichostachya, and compared them with activities in the related glycophyte Spinacia oleracea. Our results suggest that S. dolichostachya generates a high tonoplast H+-gradient already at low external salinities. At high external salinities, S. dolichostachya showed improved growth compared to S. oleracea, but H+-pump and Na+/H+-exchange activities were comparable between the species, which might imply that S. dolichostachya more efficiently retains Na+ in the vacuole.
Aortocaval Fistula Resulting From Rupture of Abdominal Aortic Dissecting Aneurysm Treated by Delayed Endovascular Repair

AbstractAortocaval fistula (ACF) after rupture of an abdominal aortic dissecting aneurysm is a rare emergency situation, which has a high mortality. However, the diagnosis is usually delayed, which increases the difficulties of treatment. We describe a case that successfully delayed use of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for ACF resulting from rupture of abdominal aortic dissecting aneurysm.We describe a special case of a 70-year-old male with an abdominal aortic dissecting aneurysm rupturing into inferior vena cava (IVC). On account of his atypical presentation, the diagnosis had been delayed for half a year. Due to severe metabolic sequelaes of the ACF and preexisting conditions, the traditional open repair was too risky. Minimally invasive EVAR was performed with a successful result. There were no endoleak or fistula at the follow-up of 9th month.EVAR is the most suitable method in patients with ACF from rupture of abdominal aortic dissecting aneurysm. Further educational programs should be developed, which may give rise to earlier diagnosis and treatment with better outcomes.
A New Approach for Mutual Information Analysis of Large Dimensional Multi-Antenna Channels

This paper adresses the behavior of the mutual information of correlated multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Rayleigh channels when the numbers of transmit and receive antennas converge to +infin at the same rate. Using a new and simple approach based on Poincare-Nash inequality and on an integration by parts formula, it is rigorously established that the mutual information when properly centered and rescaled converges to a standard Gaussian random variable. Simple expressions for the centering and scaling parameters are provided. These results confirm previous evaluations based on the powerful but nonrigorous replica method. It is believed that the tools that are used in this paper are simple, robust, and of interest for the communications engineering community.
PWM-based multilevel class-D amplifier with integrated over-current protection system

In this work, we present a multilevel class-D amplifier with integrated over-current protection system based on pulse-width-modulation (PWM). The multilevel technique is composed of a multilevel converter and a time division adder followed by modulator. The modulated signal is fixed into several time divisions and then be integrated and encoded to a set of parallel control signal for multilevel converter. Furthermore, the pulse density adjustment circuit dynamically adjusts the power delivery according to over-current detection. Under the protection scheme, the amplifier is able to completely eliminate audio holes and continue working well without sacrificing total-harmonic-distortion (THD) and power efficiency. The experiment results show that the losses of THD and power efficiency are within 10dB and 2% which significantly improves audio holes effect.
Agent Teams in Cyberspace: Security Guards in the Global Internet

The paper presents an approach to design a cyberworld intended for the research of security systems functioning in the Internet. These systems are represented as the complex of various interacting teams of intelligent agents. The agents can be in the state of antagonistic counteraction or cooperation. The general conceptual model of agent teams' antagonistic counteraction and cooperation is suggested. The task of developing the agent cyberworld, where agents realize the distributed attacks and defense, is investigated on the example of "distributed denial of service" attack subject domain. The architecture and implementation of research environment for agent-oriented simulation is presented. The environment is implemented on the basis of discrete-event simulation system that allowed to combine the agent-oriented and network protocol based simulation
Towards Using Social Media to Identify Individuals at Risk for Preventable Chronic Illness

We describe a strategy for the acquisition of training data necessary to build a social-media-driven early detection system for individuals at risk for (preventable) type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The strategy uses a game-like quiz with data and questions acquired semi-automatically from Twitter. The questions are designed to inspire participant engagement and collect relevant data to train a public-health model applied to individuals. Prior systems designed to use social media such as Twitter to predict obesity (a risk factor for T2DM) operate on entire communities such as states, counties, or cities, based on statistics gathered by government agencies. Because there is considerable variation among individuals within these groups, training data on the individual level would be more effective, but this data is difficult to acquire. The approach proposed here aims to address this issue. Our strategy has two steps. First, we trained a random forest classifier on data gathered from (public) Twitter statuses and state-level statistics with state-of-the-art accuracy. We then converted this classifier into a 20-questions-style quiz and made it available online. In doing so, we achieved high engagement with individuals that took the quiz, while also building a training set of voluntarily supplied individual-level data for future classification.
South African Mega-sport Events and Their Impact on Tourism

The 2010 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, one of the largest mega-sport events in the world, has stirred renewed interest in the benefits that a host country can derive from such events. While most predict a large increase in the number of tourist arrivals in South Africa during the event, recent international literature suggests that ex ante studies are often too optimistic. South Africa has played host to numerous mega-events since 1994. Using a time-series lagged regression model, we identify the increases in tourism numbers experienced for most such events, controlling for a number of variables, which are standard to the prediction of tourism flows. Smaller events, especially those held during the summer months, show little increase in tourist arrivals. We disaggregate tourism arrivals to show that, as expected, the number of tourists from participating countries tends to increase the most. Contrary to the findings revealed in the international literature, we find little evidence of between-country displacement. This lack of evidence may be as a result of off-season scheduling or because the relative size of such events reflects neither that of the FIFA World Cup nor that of the Olympic Games.
International variation in hip replacement rates

Objectives: To summarise epidemiological data on the frequency of hip replacements in the countries of the developed world, especially in countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and to investigate whether missing consensus criteria for the indication for total hip replacement (THR) result in different replacement rates. Methods: Country-specific hip replacement rates were collected using the available literature, different data sources of national authorities, and estimates of leading hip replacement manufacturers. Results: According to administrative and literature data sources the reported crude primary THR rate varied between 50 and 130 procedures/100 000 inhabitants in OECD countries in the 1990s. The crude overall hip implantation rate, summarising THR, partial hip replacement, and hip revision procedures, was reported to range from 60 to 200 procedures/100 000 inhabitants in the late 1990s. Moreover, large national differences were seen in the relationship between total and partial hip replacement procedures. Conclusion: The reported differences in hip replacement rates in OECD countries are substantial. They may be due to various causes, including different coding systems, country-specific differences in the healthcare system, in total expenditure on health per capita, in the population age structure, and in different indication criteria for THR.
Technology mapping for sequential circuits based on retiming techniques

A new technology mapping technique for implementing sequential circuits by table lookup FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) with predefined memory elements is presented. Most mapping algorithms in this field are restricted to combinational logic. The presented methods for optimizing delay and area consumption are based on a redesign of the circuit with retiming and specific sequential transformations. Experimental results of several benchmark circuits show an improvement of up to 20% less area consumption and delay in comparison to existing tools. <<ETX>>
Hierarchy of nonhomologous end-joining, single-strand annealing and gene conversion at site-directed DNA double-strand breaks

In mammalian cells, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are repaired by three pathways, nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ), gene conversion (GC) and single-strand annealing (SSA). These pathways are distinct with regard to repair efficiency and mutagenic potential and must be tightly controlled to preserve viability and genomic stability. Here, we employed chromosomal reporter constructs to characterize the hierarchy of NHEJ, GC and SSA at a single I-SceI-induced DSB in Chinese hamster ovary cells. We discovered that the use of GC and SSA was increased by 6- to 8-fold upon loss of Ku80 function, suggesting that NHEJ is dominant over the other two pathways. However, NHEJ efficiency was not altered if GC was impaired by Rad51 knockdown. Interestingly, when SSA was made available as an alternative mode for DSB repair, loss of Rad51 function led to an increase in SSA activity at the expense of NHEJ, implying that Rad51 may indirectly promote NHEJ by limiting SSA. We conclude that a repair hierarchy exists to limit the access of the most mutagenic mechanism, SSA, to the break site. Furthermore, the cellular choice of repair pathways is reversible and can be influenced at the level of effector proteins such as Ku80 or Rad51.
Volume Mesh Generation for Numerical Flow Simulations using Catmull-Clark and Surface Approximation Methods

Summary. We present a new technique for the semi-automatic generation of volume meshes which can be used for numerical ﬂow simulations. Our aim is to end up with a ﬁne block-structured volume mesh connected to a smooth surface mesh. For this purpose we start with a polyhedron giving a rough approximation of the target surface geometry which can be of arbitrary genus. To this initial polyhedron we apply an alternating iterative process of Catmull-Clark subdivisions and approximations of the target surface. Usually, such a surface is given by a collection of trimmed B-spline surfaces so that the best approximation results can be achieved by projecting the points of the Catmull-Clark limit surface, which converges to uniform bi-cubic B-spline patches, onto it and subsequently recomputing the control mesh. If we construct another polyhedron surrounding the initial polyhedron, both being automatically connected to each other, we can perform three-dimensional Catmull-Clark subdivision to the ﬂow ﬁeld between the inner and the outer surface.
Magnetic circular dichroism of biological molecules.

Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) has now been developed to the point where it should be one of the several tools at the disposal of all scientists who use visible, ultraviolet, and near infrared spectroscopies to probe the structure and function of biological molecules. As in other spectral techniques, the diversity of the method is large, with applica­ tions extending from analytical analysis (it provides perhaps the most direct method for tryptophan in proteins) to the theoretical description of Zeeman splitting in the porphyrins. This review describes MCD and several closely related experiments, summarizes the theory of MCD from the viewpoint of practical applications to biochemical problems, surveys available instrumentation, and reviews the literature on the MCD of major classes of biological molecules. More specialized reviews describe the use of MCD in particular areas in the biological realm (24, 48, 67, n, 78, 135, 153, 164, 189).
Significance of the Modified Group Delay Feature in Speech Recognition

Spectral representation of speech is complete when both the Fourier transform magnitude and phase spectra are specified. In conventional speech recognition systems, features are generally derived from the short-time magnitude spectrum. Although the importance of Fourier transform phase in speech perception has been realized, few attempts have been made to extract features from it. This is primarily because the resonances of the speech signal which manifest as transitions in the phase spectrum are completely masked by the wrapping of the phase spectrum. Hence, an alternative to processing the Fourier transform phase, for extracting speech features, is to process the group delay function which can be directly computed from the speech signal. The group delay function has been used in earlier efforts, to extract pitch and formant information from the speech signal. In all these efforts, no attempt was made to extract features from the speech signal and use them for speech recognition applications. This is primarily because the group delay function fails to capture the short-time spectral structure of speech owing to zeros that are close to the unit circle in the z-plane and also due to pitch periodicity effects. In this paper, the group delay function is modified to overcome these effects. Cepstral features are extracted from the modified group delay function and are called the modified group delay feature (MODGDF). The MODGDF is used for three speech recognition tasks namely, speaker, language, and continuous-speech recognition. Based on the results of feature and performance evaluation, the significance of the MODGDF as a new feature for speech recognition is discussed
Extracting an Optical FingerPrint – a New Approach to Single Particle Analysis Paper

A fully automated system has been developed for microscope-based single particle analysis by extracting optical finger-prints from individual particles in ambient air samples. For this purpose, light microscopy was developed towards an objective measuring technique by employing a novel pattern recognition technique. Automated particle classification is based on so-called grey scale invariants, extracted from microscopic images of translucent, fluorescent and dark field microscopy. This information was bundled to a feature vector providing a kind of finger print for every particle. In a first step this approach was used for an automated recognition of allergen carriers such as pollen and fungal spores. A leave-one-out test gave a recognition rate of about 95% for 26 for the most frequent pollen species in central Europe. Because no pollen-specific code was used, the recognition software was also employed for an automated recognition of fungal spores without any change. Six of the most frequent airborne fungal spore genera in Central Europe were classified with a mean recognition rate of 93%. These results gave reason to a research project aiming at the development of a fully automated system. The instrument should combine (1) high-volume sampling of coarse particles >2.5 μm, (2) electrostatic precipitation of this fraction onto a surface suitable for optical analysis, (3) automatic preparation for microscopic single particle analysis, (4) imaging by various microscopic techniques, e.g. transmitted, fluorescence and dark field microscopy, (5) feature extraction by grey scale invariants, (6) classification by self-learning Support Vector Machines and (7) hourly output of number concentration of airborne pollen, fungal spores and other particles of interest. A first demonstrator is presented in early 2005. First field tests are planned for the first half of 2005. A commercialised device should be available as from 2007. The project is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research.
A Computational Approach for Identifying Quranic Themes B ASSAM

In this paper, we present a simple mining technique named the Quran Mining Technique (QMT) in an attempt to automatically classify the Suras (i.e. chapters) of the Quran based on predefined set of 10 themes. QMT is composed mainly of two phases: a preprocessing phase and a classification phase. In the first phase, we manually label a set of representative words for ten predefined themes. In the second phase we use the QMT on a set of 14 Suras (the total number of Suras is 30) using a scoring function (SF) to identify their themes. The results of QMT are compared with the results obtained from expert scholars in the field of Quranic studies, which we used as a benchmark. The average accuracy of the QMT classifier shows a result close to 79%.