Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nontuberculous mycobacteria in respiratory samples from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the state of Rondônia, Brazil

The main cause of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). We aimed to evaluate the contribution of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) to pulmonary disease in patients from the state of Rondônia using respiratory samples and epidemiological data from TB cases. Mycobacterium isolates were identified using a combination of conventional tests, polymerase chain reaction-based restriction enzyme analysis of hsp65 gene and hsp65 gene sequencing. Among the 1,812 cases suspected of having pulmonary TB, 444 yielded bacterial cultures, including 369 cases positive for MTB and 75 cases positive for NTM. Within the latter group, 14 species were identified as Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium intracellulare, Mycobacterium gilvum, Mycobacterium gordonae, Mycobacterium asiaticum, Mycobacterium tusciae, Mycobacterium porcinum, Mycobacterium novocastrense, Mycobacterium simiae, Mycobacterium szulgai, Mycobacterium phlei and Mycobacterium holsaticum and 13 isolates could not be identified at the species level. The majority of NTM cases were observed in Porto Velho and the relative frequency of NTM compared with MTB was highest in Ji-Paraná. In approximately half of the TB subjects with NTM, a second sample containing NTM was obtained, confirming this as the disease-causing agent. The most frequently observed NTM species were M. abscessus and M. avium and because the former species is resistant to many antibiotics and displays unsatisfactory cure rates, the implementation of rapid identification of mycobacterium species is of considerable importance.
Optimal Pricing and Replenishment in a Single-Product Inventory System with Brownian Demand

We study an inventory system that supplies price-sensitive demand modeled by Brownian motion. The optimal pricing and inventory replenishment decisions under both long-run average and discounted objectives are derived, and related to or contrasted with previously known results. In addition, we emphasize the interplay between pricing and replenishment decisions, and the ways in which they react to the demand uncertainty. We show that the joint optimization of both decisions may result in significant profit improvement compared to the traditional method of making decisions separately or sequentially. We also show that multiple price changes result in only a limited profit improvement over the optimal single price.
Optimum Fairness for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access

This paper focuses on the fairness issue in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and investigates the optimization problem that maximizes the worst users achievable rate. Unlike previous studies, we derive a closed-form expression for the optimal value and solution, which are related to Perron-Frobenius eigenvalue and eigenvector of a defined positive matrix. On this basis, we propose an iterative algorithm to compute the optimal solution, which has linear convergence and requires only about half iteration numbers of the classical bisection method. Simulation results show that the minimum user rate is largely improved compared with other power allocation schemes.
microRNA-214 functions as a tumor suppressor in human colon cancer via the suppression of ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 2

microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) are a conserved class of endogenous, short non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of genes involved in diverse cellular processes. miR-214 has been reported to be associated with several cancers, including human colon cancer. However, the function of miR-214 in colon cancer development is poorly understood. In the current study, miR-214 was demonstrated to be downregulated in colon cancer tissues compared with healthy colon tissues. Functional studies showed that miR-214 overexpression results in the inhibition of cell viability, colony formation and proliferation, and the induction of cell apoptosis. ADP-ribosylation factor-like protein 2 (ARL2) is predicted to be a target candidate of miR-214. A luciferase reporter assay, western blot analysis and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed, which revealed that miR-214 negatively regulates ARL2 expression by targeting its 3′ untranslated region directly. In conclusion, the results of the present study revealed that miR-214 suppresses colon cancer cell growth via the suppression of ARL2, and indicated that miR-214 may present a significant potential therapeutic target for colon cancer.
Collaborative hierarchical caching in cloud radio access networks

To deal with the severe challenge from explosively increasing mobile users' multimedia service requests in mobile networks, introducing cloud-based computing platform and content caching into radio access networks (RANs) has become an effective emerging technique. In this paper, we propose a collaborative hierarchical caching framework in cloud RANs (C-RANs), which minimizes the access delay of content delivery under certain specific network constraints to improve users' Quality of Service (QoS) as well as offload network traffic. Specifically, based on the formed hierarchical caching topology consisting of two tiers of content caching at the base stations and the cloud central unit (CCU), we decompose the formulated large-scale optimization problem into a series of simpler subproblems, and then propose the corresponding low-complexity distributed heuristic solutions as well as a content request routing scheme. Trace-based evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
Sensorless control of nonsalient permanent magnet synchronous motor drives using rotor position tracking PI controller

This paper presents a new velocity estimation strategy of a nonsalient permanent magnet synchronous motor drive without high frequency signal injection or special PWM pattern. This approach is based on the d-axis current regulator output voltage of the drive system which has the information of rotor position error. The rotor velocity can be estimated through a rotor position tracking PI controller that controls the position error to zero. For zero and low speed operation, the PI gain of rotor position tracking controller has a variable structure according to the estimated rotor velocity. Then, in zero speed, the rotor position and velocity has a sluggish dynamics because the varying gains are very low in this region. In order to boost the bandwidth of PI controller in zero speed, loop recovery technique is applied to the control system. Analyzing this control system by the frequency domain specification such as phase margin and bandwidth assignment, the PI tuning formulas are also derived.
Formally Certifying the Security of Digital Signature Schemes

We present two machine-checked proofs of the existentialunforgeability under adaptive chosen-message attacks of the FullDomain Hash signature scheme. These proofs formalize the originalargument of Bellare and Rogaway, and an optimal reduction by Coronthat provides a tighter bound on the probability of a forgery. Bothproofs are developed using CertiCrypt, a general framework toformalize exact security proofs of cryptographic systems in thecomputational model. Since CertiCrypt is implemented on top of theCoq proof assistant, the proofs are highly trustworthy and can beverified independently and fully automatically.
The Management of Intraoperative Spinal Cord Injury – A Scoping Review

Study Design Scoping Review. Objective To review the literature and summarize information on checklists and algorithms for responding to intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) alerts and management of intraoperative spinal cord injuries (ISCIs). Methods MEDLINE® was searched from inception through January 26, 2022 as were sources of grey literature. We attempted to obtain guidelines and/or consensus statements from the following sources: American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, NASS (North American Spine Society), and other spine surgery organizations. Results Of 16 studies reporting on management strategies for ISCIs, two were publications of consensus meetings which were conducted according to the Delphi method and eight were retrospective cohort studies. The remaining six studies were narrative reviews that proposed intraoperative checklists and management strategies for IONM alerts. Of note, 56% of included studies focused only on patients undergoing spinal deformity surgery. Intraoperative considerations and measures taken in the event of an ISCI are divided and reported in three categories of i) Anesthesiologic, ii) Neurophysiological/Technical, and iii) Surgical management strategies. Conclusion There is a paucity of literature on comparative effectiveness and harms of management strategies in response to an IONM alert and possible ISCI. There is a pressing need to develop a standardized checklist and care pathway to avoid and minimize the risk of postoperative neurologic sequelae.
Space geodetic imaging of rapid ground subsidence in Mexico City

Since the late 1950s, several areas of Mexico City have undergone accelerated ground subsidence and have developed associated fracturing and faulting. New interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and global positioning system (GPS) data indicate that rates of current land subsidence in Mexico City exceed 350 mm/yr. These rates are close to historical maximum levels of the mid-twentieth century, when mitigation efforts were fi rst undertaken to reduce damage to urban infrastructure. The locus of maximum subsidence has shifted from its historical location in the old city center to the east. Correlation of our InSAR results with seismically mapped stratigraphic units suggests that subsidence is primarily controlled by compaction of Quaternary lacustrine clays and silts. We also evaluate spatial gradients in subsidence and suggest that this, rather than subsidence magnitude, is the key factor in risk assessment. Subsidence represents a major geologic risk for Mexico City and imposes serious constraints to any further urban development.
Biologically Informed Polygenic Scores for Brain Insulin Receptor Network Are Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Markers and Diabetes in Women.

Background To investigate associations between variations in the co-expression-based brain insulin receptor polygenic score and cardiometabolic risk factors and diabetes mellitus. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1,573 participants from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Biologically informed expression-based polygenic risk scores for the insulin receptor gene network were calculated for the hippocampal (hePRS-IR) and the mesocorticolimbic (mePRS-IR) regions. Cardiometabolic markers included body composition, waist circumference, circulating lipids, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 and 3 (IGFBP-1 and -3). Glucose and insulin levels were measured during a standardized 2-hour 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and impaired glucose regulation status was defined by the World Health Organization 2019 criteria. Analyzes were adjusted for population stratification, age, smoking, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, chronic diseases, birth weight, and leisure-time physical activity. Results Multinomial logistic regression indicated that one standard deviation increase in hePRS-IR was associated with increased risk of diabetes mellitus in all participants (adjusted relative risk ratio, 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.35). In women, higher hePRS-IR was associated with greater waist circumference and higher body fat percentage, levels of glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B, insulin, and IGFBP-1 (all P≤0.02). The mePRS-IR was associated with decreased IGF-1 level in women (P=0.02). No associations were detected in men and studied outcomes. Conclusion hePRS-IR is associated with sex-specific differences in cardiometabolic risk factor profiles including impaired glucose regulation, abnormal metabolic markers, and unfavorable body composition in women.
Time-Varying Correlations and Optimal Allocation in Emerging Market Equities for Australian Investors: A Study Using East European Depositary Receipts

Australian stock market has lower market capitalization compared to that of many other OECD countries and Australian investors can reduce their overall portfolio risk by diversifying into equities from other markets. Choosing stock markets with low correlations with the domestic market can increase the portfolio diversification benefits. For Australian investors, East European stock markets are one such asset class and this paper studies the diversification benefits to Australian investors from diversifying into the East European equities. Since the correlations between asset returns are time-varying, using unconditional estimates of correlations in a portfolio optimization model can result in misallocation of assets. To alleviate this problem, this study uses multivariate GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) models to estimate time varying correlations. The assets used in the portfolio optimization model for this study comprise of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), 11 Russian, 5 Polish, 2 Hungarian and 1 Czech Republic equities and All Ordinaries Australian index. Ex-post return calculations show that unrestricted portfolios of Australian index with the ADRs outperform the returnsfrom holding only Australian stocks. With investments restricted to 10% in ADRs there is no statistically significant diversification benefits but with 20% investment in ADRs there is evidence of statistically significant diversification benefits.
Learning Visual Concepts from Social Images

—Visual concept learning often requires a set of expert-labeled training images. In practice, nevertheless, acquiring a sufficient number of reliable annotations is laborious. A simple idea of learning a variety of semantic concepts from social tagged images thus appears as a nature way of replacing the expensive manual tagging. However, it is well known that user-contributed tags are ambiguous and subjective. This paper attempts to address the problem of learning visual concepts from weakly labeled social images. Intuitively, for a given concept, relevant images have to be emphasized more in the training process than irrelevant images. Starting from this, we first learn the visual relevance of social tags with respect to each training image by visual neighbor voting, and then incorporate the tag relevance into SVM and boosting classifiers in the form of importance weights. Our importance weighted classification is based on cost-sensitive learning, since high importance bears a high misclassification cost. Experimental results demonstrate the obvious improvements of the proposed methods, in particular for SVMs, in comparison to learning without using importance weights. Additionally, an empirical study on the impact of user tagging towards concept learning shows that, in general, better tagging accuracy leads to better performance, although some semantic concepts remain hard to learn in our experiments.
Subcellular distribution and expression of cofilin and ezrin in human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines with different metastatic potential

The dynamic reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is regulated by a number of actin binding proteins (ABPs). Four human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines – parental and three selected sublines, which differ in motility and metastatic potential, were used to investigate the expression level and subcellular localization of selected ABPs. Our interest was focused on cofilin and ezrin. These proteins are essential for cell migration and adhesion. The data received for the three more motile adenocarcinoma sublines (EB3, 3LNLN, 5W) were compared with those obtained for the parental LS180 adenocarcinoma cells and fibroblastic NRK cells. Quantitative densitometric analysis and confocal fluorescence microscopy were used to examine the expression levels and subcellular distribution of the selected ABPs. Our data show distinct increase in the level of cofilin in adenocarcinoma cells accompanied by the reduction of inactive phosphorylated form of cofilin. In more motile cells, cofilin was accumulated at cellular periphery in co-localization with actin filaments. Furthemore, we indicated translocation of ezrin towards the cell periphery within more motile cells in comparison with NRK and parental adenocarcinoma cells. In summary, our data indicate the correlation between migration ability of selected human colon adenocarcinoma sublines and subcellular distribution as well as the level of cofilin and ezrin. Therefore these proteins might be essential for the higher migratory activity of invasive tumor cells.
Selective growth of rat Schwann cells in neuron- and serum-free primary culture

A serum-free medium, designated S4 [consisting of Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium supplemented with the following components (mg/liter): endothelial mitogen, 100; vitamin C, 1; insulin, 5; cholera toxin, 0.01; putrescine, 8; sodium selenite, 0.0043; MgCl2 X 6H2O, 40; and albumin, fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, and trace elements], has been established to select for the growth of Schwann cells from primary cultures of dissociated neonatal rat sciatic nerve in the absence of neurons and without exposure of the cells to serum or antimitotic agents. By immunological criteria, confluent primary cultures, grown on a substrate of extracellular matrix derived from cultured bovine aorta endothelial cells, consist of approximately 90% Schwann cells after maintenance in this serum-free medium. Secondary cultures of at least 99% purity may be established after treatment of primary cultures maintained in S4 with antiserum against a fibroblast surface antigen, Thy 1.1, in conjunction with complement. Such secondary Schwann cells continue to proliferate in S4, with no decrease in purity, through at least 4 passages.
Data compression with low distortion and finite blocklength

This paper considers lossy source coding of n-dimensional continuous memoryless sources with low mean-square error distortion and shows a simple, explicit approximation to the minimum source coding rate. More precisely, a nonasymptotic version of Shannon's lower bound is presented. Lattice quantizers are shown to approach that lower bound, provided that the source density is smooth enough and the distortion is low, which implies that fine multidimensional lattice coverings are nearly optimal in the rate-distortion sense even at finite n. The achievability proof technique avoids both the usual random coding argument and the simplifying assumption of the presence of a dither signal.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Cues of intraguild predators affect the distribution of intraguild prey

Theory on intraguild (IG) predation predicts that coexistence of IG-predators and IG-prey is only possible for a limited set of parameter values, suggesting that IG-predation would not be common in nature. This is in conXict with the observation that IG-predation occurs in many natural systems. One possible explanation for this diVerence might be antipredator behaviour of the IG-prey, resulting in decreased strength of IG-predation. We studied the distribution of an IG-prey, the predatory mite Neoseiulus cucumeris (Acari: Phytoseiidae), in response to cues of its IG-predator, the predatory mite Iphiseius degenerans. Shortly after release, the majority of IG-prey was found on the patch without cues of IG-predators, suggesting that they can rapidly assess predation risk. IG-prey also avoided patches where conspeciWc juveniles had been killed by IG-predators. Because it is well known that antipredator behaviour in prey is aVected by the diet of the predator, we also tested whether IG-prey change their distribution in response to the food of the IG-predators (pollen or conspeciWc juveniles), but found no evidence for this. The IG-prey laid fewer eggs on patches with cues of IG-predators than on patches without cues. Hence, IG-prey changed their distribution and oviposition in response to cues of IG-predators. This might weaken the strength of IG-predation, possibly providing more opportunities for IG-prey and IG-predators to co-exist.
Halofuginone inhibits colorectal cancer growth through suppression of Akt/mTORC1 signaling and glucose metabolism

The Akt/mTORC1 pathway plays a central role in the activation of Warburg effect in cancer. Here, we present for the first time that halofuginone (HF) treatment inhibits colorectal cancer (CRC) growth both in vitro and in vivo through regulation of Akt/mTORC1 signaling pathway. Halofuginone treatment of human CRC cells inhibited cell proliferation, induced the generation of reactive oxygen species and apoptosis. As expected, reduced level of NADPH was also observed, at least in part due to inactivation of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in pentose phosphate pathway upon HF treatment. Given these findings, we further investigated metabolic regulation of HF through Akt/mTORC1-mediated aerobic glycolysis and found that HF downregulated Akt/mTORC1 signaling pathway. Moreover, metabolomics delineated the slower rates in both glycolytic flux and glucose-derived tricarboxylic acid cycle flux. Meanwhile, both glucose transporter GLUT1 and hexokinase-2 in glycolysis were suppressed in CRC cells upon HF treatment, to support our notion that HF regulates Akt/mTORC1 signaling pathway to dampen glucose uptake and glycolysis in CRC cells. Furthermore, HF retarded tumor growth in nude mice inoculated with HCT116 cells, showing the anticancer activity of HF through metabolic regulation of Akt/mTORC1 in CRC.
A new perspective on randomized gossip algorithms

In this short note we propose a new approach for the design and analysis of randomized gossip algorithms which can be used to solve the average consensus problem. We show how that Randomized Block Kaczmarz (RBK) method — a method for solving linear systems — works as gossip algorithm when applied to a special system encoding the underlying network. The famous pairwise gossip algorithm arises as a special case. Subsequently, we reveal a hidden duality of randomized gossip algorithms, with the dual iterative process maintaining a set of numbers attached to the edges as opposed to nodes of the network. We prove that RBK obtains a superlinear speedup in the size of the block, and demonstrate this effect through experiments.
Spatially Adaptive Column Fixed-Pattern Noise Correction in Infrared Imaging System Using 1D Horizontal Differential Statistics

In this paper we present a novel non-uniformity correction (NUC) method to remove column fixed-pattern noise (FPN), which is introduced by non-uniformity of on-chip column-parallel readout circuit in uncooled infrared focal plane array. We first define a new image statistic measurement, which is named as 1D horizontal differential statistics, to differentiate column FPN from structural edges, and further propose a filtering scheme to adaptively compute noise terms in structure and non-structure regions by applying different correction models. The proposed NUC technique combines the advantages of global- and local-based correction methods, thus can effectively eliminate column FPN without losing original thermal details. The performance of the proposed method is systematically evaluated, and is compared with the state-of-the-art column FPN correction solutions using realistic infrared images.