Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Possible impairment of transcardiac utilization of adiponectin in patients with type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE Adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived protein, has been suggested to enhance insulin sensitivity and prevent atherosclerosis. Circulating adiponecin levels are reduced in states of insulin resistance such as type 2 diabetes. We examined transcardiac utilization of adiponectin in patients with and without type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 17 male type 2 diabetic patients and 17 male nondiabetic patients were investigated. Venous blood samples were taken to measure glucose and lipid variables. Blood samples for the measurement of adiponectin were collected simultaneously from the aortic root and coronary sinus. Angiographic semiquantitative stenosis score of coronary artery was also evaluated. RESULTS The adiponectin levels in both the aortic root and coronary sinus in the diabetic patients were significantly lower than those in the nondiabetic patients. The adiponectin level was significantly lower in the coronary sinus than in the aortic root in the nondiabetic patients, but there was no significant difference between adiponectin levels in the aortic root and coronary sinus in the diabetic patients. The total stenosis score, as an index of severity of coronary artery stenosis, was significantly higher in the diabetic patients than in the nondiabetic patients. The stenosis score was correlated with the degree of transcardiac utilization of adiponectin from the aortic root to coronary sinus in the nondiabetic patients but not in the diabetic patients. CONCLUSIONS Diabetic patients not only have a decreased adiponectin level in the basal state compared with nondiabetic patients but also have impaired utilization of adiponectin in the coronary artery and/or the heart, which may promote the development of atherosclerosis.
Computing the Local Field Potential (LFP) from Integrate-and-Fire Network Models

Leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) network models are commonly used to study how the spiking dynamics of neural networks changes with stimuli, tasks or dynamic network states. However, neurophysiological studies in vivo often rather measure the mass activity of neuronal microcircuits with the local field potential (LFP). Given that LFPs are generated by spatially separated currents across the neuronal membrane, they cannot be computed directly from quantities defined in models of point-like LIF neurons. Here, we explore the best approximation for predicting the LFP based on standard output from point-neuron LIF networks. To search for this best “LFP proxy”, we compared LFP predictions from candidate proxies based on LIF network output (e.g, firing rates, membrane potentials, synaptic currents) with “ground-truth” LFP obtained when the LIF network synaptic input currents were injected into an analogous three-dimensional (3D) network model of multi-compartmental neurons with realistic morphology, spatial distributions of somata and synapses. We found that a specific fixed linear combination of the LIF synaptic currents provided an accurate LFP proxy, accounting for most of the variance of the LFP time course observed in the 3D network for all recording locations. This proxy performed well over a broad set of conditions, including substantial variations of the neuronal morphologies. Our results provide a simple formula for estimating the time course of the LFP from LIF network simulations in cases where a single pyramidal population dominates the LFP generation, and thereby facilitate quantitative comparison between computational models and experimental LFP recordings in vivo.
Survey of Region-Based Text Extraction Techniques for Efficient Indexing of Image/Video Retrieval

With the dramatic increase in multimedia data, escalating trend of internet, and amplifying use of image/video capturing devices; content based indexing and text extraction is gaining more and more importance in research community. In the last decade, many techniques for text extraction are reported in the literature. Methodologies of text extraction from images/videos is generally comprises of text detection and localization, text tracking, text segmentation and optical character recognition (OCR). This paper intends to highlight the contributions and limitations of text detection, localization and tracking phases. The problem is exigent due to variations in the font styles, size and color, text orientations, animations and backgrounds. The paper can serve as the beacon-house for the novice researchers of the text extraction community. Index Terms—Text extraction, Document analysis, Survey, Text localization, Text tracking.
Trans‐Regulation and differential cell specificity of human papillomavirus types 16, 18, and 11 cis‐acting elements

The noncoding region (ncr) of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16, 18, and 11 contains promoter and/or enhancer function. We have localized the sequence containing the constitutive enhancers of HPV types 16, 18, and 11 to 315, 230, and 213 bp fragments, respectively, for comparative studies. The region of homology shared between the enhancers of the three viruses is limited to the sequence ATTTTTGGCTT, which is also present in the ncr of HPV 6b and 33. We have also examined the enhancer activity of the HPV ncrs in three human cervical carcinoma cell lines, one noncervical human carcinoma cell line, and one monkey kidney established cell line. We observed cell‐specific differences in the constitutive expression of the enhancers in the various cell lines. The conditional enhancer activity of the ncr of the viruses is increased in trans by the E2 gene product of HPV 16. Transactivation by E2 is mediated through the E2 binding motif on HPV enhancer plasmids with a heterologous but not with a homologous promoter. Our preliminary studies also indicate a repressor function for the E7 gene of HPV 16.
Adhesion properties of mutants of Staphylococcus aureus defective in fibronectin‐binding proteins and studies on the expression of fnb genes

Staphylococcus aureus 8325‐4 has the potential to express two distinct cell wall‐associated fibronectin‐binding proteins called FnBPA and FnBPB. In order to test if both proteins are expressed in S. aureus and if both are required for promoting bacterial adhesion to fibronectin‐coated surfaces, insertion mutations were isolated in each gene. A DNA fragment encoding tetracycline resistance was inserted into fnbA and a fragment encoding erythromycin resistance was inserted into fnbB. A double fnbA fnbB mutant was also constructed. The fnbA and fnbB single mutants showed no significant reduction in their adhesion to polymethylmethacrylate coverslips that had been coated in vitro with fibronectin. However, the double mutant was completely defective in adhesion. Monospecific antibodies directed against the non‐conserved N‐terminal regions of both proteins confirmed the lack of expression of FnBPs in the mutant strains. Wild‐type fnbA and fnbB genes cloned seperately on a multicopy plasmid were each able to restore fully the adhesion‐defective phenotype of the 8325‐4 fnbA fnbB mutant. This demonstrates that both fnb genes are expressed in S. aureus and that both contribute to the ability of strain 8325‐4 to adhere to fibronectin‐coated surfaces. The double mutant was also defective in adhesion to coverslips that had been removed from tissue cages implanted subcutaneously in guinea‐pigs, which suggests that fibronectin is important in promoting attachment of S. aureus to biomaterial in vivo.
The CXC Chemokine-degrading Protease SpyCep of Streptococcus pyogenes Promotes Its Uptake into Endothelial Cells*

Streptococcus pyogenes expresses the LPXTG motif-containing cell envelope serine protease SpyCep (also called ScpC, PrtS) that degrades and inactivates the major chemoattractant interleukin 8 (IL-8), thereby impairing host neutrophil recruitment. In this study, we identified a novel function of SpyCep: the ability to mediate uptake into primary human endothelial cells. SpyCep triggered its uptake into endothelial cells but not into human epithelial cells originating from pharynx or lung, indicating an endothelial cell-specific uptake mechanism. SpyCep mediated cellular invasion by an endosomal/lysosomal pathway distinct from the caveolae-mediated invasion pathway of S. pyogenes. Recombinant expression and purification of proteolytically active SpyCep and a series of subfragments allowed functional dissection of the domains responsible for endothelial cell invasion and IL-8 degradation. The N-terminal PR domain was sufficient to mediate endothelial cell invasion, whereas for IL-8-degrading activity, the protease domain and the flanking A domain were required. A polyclonal rabbit serum raised against the recombinant protease efficiently blocked the invasion-mediating activity of SpyCep but not its proteolytic function, further indicating that SpyCep-mediated internalization is independent from its enzymatic activity. SpyCep may thus specifically mediate its own uptake as secreted protein into human endothelial cells.
Density Functions for Mesh Refinement in Numerical Optimal Control

needed to understand how the density/monitor functions can be used in numerical optimal control and how they can influence the accuracy and robustness of numerical optimal control algorithms. Furthermore, the choice of “good” density/monitor functions for mesh discretization of optimal control problems seems to be open. Inthispaperweattempttoprovideapartialanswertotheprevious questions. We introduce a method to distribute the mesh points efficiently using density/monitor functions. Although different monitor functions can be used for mesh generation, an appropriate choice of a monitor function can generate a better quality mesh, and can improve the accuracy of the solution along with the speed of convergence. Hence, the problem of mesh generation can be treated asaproblemof findinganappropriatedensity/monitorfunction.Two possible choices of density functions are used in the numerical examples, based on the discrete control/state histories from the previousiterationduringthemeshrefinementprocess.Theproposed method avoids the numerical integration step and the use of ODE solversforthesystemdynamicsaswasdonein[8]. Yet,itgeneratesa mesh with a suitable level of adaptive discretization that provides sharp resolution around the places where the control switches or the trajectory meets/leaves state constraints, thus resulting in better accuracy of the overall final solution. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method, and comparisons are provided against the industry-standard sparse optimal control software (SOCS).
Comparative analysis of generic and complex models of the type-3 wind turbine

With the increasing penetration of the wind power generation, the impact of the wind power integration on power systems becomes more significant. For power system operators, maintaining power system security is the first priority. If a complete wind turbine model is used to analyze the steady-state operation and dynamic stability for a large-scale power system with wind power integration, it would take much computation burden and time. Thus, the generic models of various wind turbines have been developed to reduce the simulation time for wind power systems. The characteristics of a generic model should be similar to that of a complete model, but its structure is simpler than a complete model. This study developed both generic model and complete models for a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbine, which is also called type-3 wind turbine. Additionally, this study compared the characteristics of the developed complex and generic models. According to the simulation results, this study demonstrates that the developed generic model of a DFIG-based wind turbine has the good approximation of a complete wind turbine model.
OLSR Control Overhead and Power Consumption Reduction using Game Theory

Recently, MANET has been gaining the popularity due to its ease of implementation. One of the major elements in MANET is routing protocol, which consists of two main protocols: proactive and reactive routing protocols. In this work, we focus on proactive protocol called OLSR (Optimize Link State Routing Protocol), where the routes are always maintained by interchanging control overhead, namely HELLO and TC (Topology Control) messages. However, this is very wasteful of resource and causing the performance degradation. We propose the method to reduce the overhead while maintain the throughput of OLSR and also reduce the power consumption by using the well-known mathematic tool, widely used in interactive decision systems, called game theory. Our proposed method is called Game Theoretical OLSR (gOLSR). We also investigate the effect of gOLSR based on another type of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol called Sensor Medium Access Control (SMAC) protocol used in mobile sensor network. OLSR is modified in such a way that every node in the system has to play the game when HELLO and TC interval are expired. Each node will choose its strategy to “Update” or “Not Updat e” the HELLO and TC messages in each round of game. The performance in terms of control overhead and throughput of the proposed algorithm is evaluated by using parameters namely Normalized Routing Overhead (NRO), Average Throughput and Normalized Overhead Reduction Index (NORI). However, the performance in terms of power consumption is evaluated by metrics called Average Power Consumption of nodes in two states (transmission and reception). According to the simulation results, it is apparent that the proposed algorithm provides large NRO reduction while the Average Throughput is reduced a little bit. The power consumption of the network in all states is also reduced. That is, the proposed algorithm can reduce the certain amount of Control Overhead as well as the Power Consumption while the Average Throughput is reduced a little bit. Therefore, Game Theoretical OLSR (gOLSR) is able to support energy efficiency MANET in various node mobility and node density environments.
Memory buddies: exploiting page sharing for smart colocation in virtualized data centers

Many data center virtualization solutions, such as VMware ESX, employ content-based page sharing to consolidate the resources of multiple servers. Page sharing identifies virtual machine memory pages with identical content and consolidates them into a single shared page. This technique, implemented at the host level, applies only between VMs placed on a given physical host. In a multi-server data center, opportunities for sharing may be lost because the VMs holding identical pages are resident on different hosts. In order to obtain the full benefit of content-based page sharing it is necessary to place virtual machines such that VMs with similar memory content are located on the same hosts. In this paper we present Memory Buddies, a memory sharing-aware placement system for virtual machines. This system includes a memory fingerprinting system to efficiently determine the sharing potential among a set of VMs, and compute more efficient placements. In addition it makes use of live migration to optimize VM placement as workloads change. We have implemented a prototype Memory Buddies system with VMware ESX Server and present experimental results on our testbed, as well as an analysis of an extensive memory trace study. Evaluation of our prototype using a mix of enterprise and e-commerce applications demonstrates an increase of data center capacity (i.e. number of VMs supported) of 17%, while imposing low overhead and scaling to as many as a thousand servers.
Recursive utility and preferences for information w

This paper presents an axiomatic foundation for recursive utility that captures the role of the timing of resolution of uncertainty without relying on exogenously speci®ed objective beliefs. Two main representation results are proved. In the ®rst one, future utility enters the recursion through the type of general aggregators considered in Skiadas (1997a), and as a result the formulation is purely ordinal and free of any probabilities. In the second representation these aggregators are conditional expectations relative to subjective beliefs. A new recursive representation incorporating disappointment aversion is also suggested. The main methodological innovation of the paper derives from the fact that the basic objects of choice are taken to be pairs of state-contingent consumption plans and information ®ltrations, rather than the temporal (objective) lotteries of the existing literature. It is shown that this approach has the additional bene®t of being directly applicable to the continuous-time version of recursive utility developed by Due and Epstein (1992).
Crustal Architecture and Nature of Continental Breakup Along a Transform Margin: New Insights From Tanzania‐Mozambique Margin

The Tanzania‐North Mozambique continental margin is a transform segment associated with Davie Fracture Zone (DFZ). The DFZ is described as an elongated linear oceanic fracture zone, commonly linked with the breakup between Eastern and Western Gondwana. We conducted a synthesized study using gravity, magnetic, and seismic data presenting the crustal architecture, geometry, and the kinematic nature of continental breakup along a transform margin. The crustal nature of DFZ, its role in forming kinematic linkage between two extensional margins during continental breakup processes, is focus of our study. The two extensional margins, Somalia‐Majunga and North Mozambique‐Antarctica, were linked via a 2,600‐km‐long dextral transform segment, partially overlapping with DFZ. Absence of classical rift indicators, weak signs of hyperextension, and abrupt ocean‐continent boundary suggest transform margin architecture. We redefined this feature as the Davie Transform System. The nature of deformation varies from transtensional pull‐apart in Tanzania to almost pure strike slip in North Mozambique. The southern transform segment exhibits abrupt change in ocean continent transition with a narrow zone of continental extension. This variation is recognized through the newly interpreted ocean‐continent boundary along this entire transform segment. Notably, within large pull‐apart systems in the north, the presence of fossilized incipient spreading center suggests that the extension had reached at quite advanced stages, characterized by significant thermal weakening as a consequence of strong magmatic activity. Through a series of reconstruction snapshots, we show the geodynamic evolution along the Tanzania‐North Mozambique margin explaining the role of Davie Transform System in the southward movement of Madagascar.
Rotavirus Hospital Surveillance in the Era of Immunization

Background: In 2006 a rotavirus (RV) vaccine (Rota Teq ® ) was licensed for routine childhood immunization in the US. The aim of the present study was to track changes in RV hospital visits and to monitor circulating RV genotypes as vaccination was introduced into New Orleans, Louisiana. Methods: From July 2005 to June 2009, RV-positive stool specimens were systematically collected, viral RNA was extracted and subjected to semi-nested multiplex Reverse-Transcription PCR with primers specific for the gene 9 (G) types G1, G2, G3, G4, G9, and the gene 4 (P) types P(4), P(6), P(8), P(9) and P(10). Clinical records of RV-positive children were reviewed. Results: As RV-vaccination was introduced, there was a decrease in the rate of RV-positive cases (per 1,000 hospital visits) from 3.82 to 0.73. A change was noted in the prevailing genotypes, from a predominance of G1P(8) strains to a predominance of G3P(8). Most affected children were unimmunized. Sequence analysis of gene 9 and gene 4 showed that the circulating strains remained relatively stable over the years studied in this project. Conclusion: In New Orleans, G3P(8) is becoming a predominant strain of RV. The cause of this change observed has not been determined. It is unclear whether this phenomenon represents natural variation or it is caused by introduction of vaccines.
EasiPCC: Popularity-aware Collaborative Caching for Web Requests in Low-Duty-Cycle Sensor Networks

The lightweight RESTful protocols, such as CoAP, have been proposed to provide web service on resource constrained devices. However, these devices normally operate in battery and work in sleeping mode most time to prolong lifetime. Consequently it is difficult to maintain persistent end-to-end connection and leads to the high access delay for web requests. In this paper, we propose a collaborative caching scheme to solve this problem. Initially we define sleep probability based on the feature of low-duty-cycle networks to decide what data to cache. Then we introduce the definition of node popularity, which focuses nodes that are on the request forwarding public paths and forward most web requests. A centralized algorithm is presented based on the theory of gravity center to find which nodes to cache. Finally, we propose a cache discovery method. Experiments show that our caching scheme significantly improves the performance of web data access in low-duty-cycle sensor networks.
Semantic Outlier Detection for Affective Common-Sense Reasoning and Concept-Level Sentiment Analysis

Between the dawn of the Internet through year 2003, there were just a few dozens exabytes of information on the Web. Today, that much information is created weekly. The opportunity to capture the opinions of the general public about social events, political movements, company strategies, marketing campaigns, and product preferences has raised increasing interest both in the scientific community, for the exciting open challenges, and in the business world, for the remarkable fallouts in social media marketing and financial forecast. Keeping up with the ever-growing amount of unstructured information on the Web, however, is a formidable task. Unlike standard statistical approaches, sentic computing relies on a vector space model of affective common-sense knowledge to work with natural language at concept-level. The well-known noisiness of common-sense data sources, however, is a major factor in jeopardizing the efficiency of analogical reasoning in the vector space. In this work, it is explored how least absolute deviations can aid semantic outlier detection and, hence, enhance concept-level opinion mining.
Impact of NBTI on SRAM read stability and design for reliability

Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) has the potential to become one of the main show-stoppers of circuit reliability in nanometer scale devices due to its deleterious effects on transistor threshold voltage. The degradation of PMOS devices due to NBTI leads to reduced temporal performance in digital circuits. We have analyzed the impact of NBTI on the read stability of SRAM cells. The amount of degradation in static noise margin (SNM) which is a measure of the read stability of the 6-T SRAM cell has been estimated using reaction-diffusion (R-D) model. We propose a simple solution to recover the SNM of the SRAM cell using a data flipping technique and present the results simulated on BPTM 70nm and 100nm technology. We also compare and evaluate different implementation methodologies for the proposed technique