Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The protective variant rs7173049 at LOXL1 locus impacts on retinoic acid signaling pathway in pseudoexfoliation syndrome

Abstract LOXL1 (lysyl oxidase-like 1) has been identified as the major effect locus in pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome, a fibrotic disorder of the extracellular matrix and frequent cause of chronic open-angle glaucoma. However, all known PEX-associated common variants show allele effect reversal in populations of different ancestry, casting doubt on their biological significance. Based on extensive LOXL1 deep sequencing, we report here the identification of a common non-coding sequence variant, rs7173049A>G, located downstream of LOXL1, consistently associated with a decrease in PEX risk (odds ratio, OR = 0.63; P = 6.33 × 10−31) in nine different ethnic populations. We provide experimental evidence for a functional enhancer-like regulatory activity of the genomic region surrounding rs7173049 influencing expression levels of ISLR2 (immunoglobulin superfamily containing leucine-rich repeat protein 2) and STRA6 [stimulated by retinoic acid (RA) receptor 6], apparently mediated by allele-specific binding of the transcription factor thyroid hormone receptor beta. We further show that the protective rs7173049-G allele correlates with increased tissue expression levels of ISLR2 and STRA6 and that both genes are significantly downregulated in tissues of PEX patients together with other key components of the STRA6 receptor-driven RA signaling pathway. siRNA-mediated downregulation of RA signaling induces upregulation of LOXL1 and PEX-associated matrix genes in PEX-relevant cell types. These data indicate that dysregulation of STRA6 and impaired retinoid metabolism are involved in the pathophysiology of PEX syndrome and that the variant rs7173049-G, which represents the first common variant at the broad LOXL1 locus without allele effect reversal, mediates a protective effect through upregulation of STRA6 in ocular tissues.
Hydrolysis of Soybean Milk Protein by Papain: Antioxidant, Anti-Angiotensin, Antigenic and Digestibility Perspectives

The objective of the investigation was to understand the biochemical activities of hydrolysate of soybean milk protein (SMP). Hydrolysis was carried out by different concentrations of papain (0.008 g·L−1, 0.016 g·L−1, 0.032 g·L−1 and 0.064 g·L−1). The antioxidant capacity was measured by the ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) and 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays. The anti-angiotensin activity of hydrolysate was measured by the recombinant angiotensin converting enzyme and substrate Abz-FRK(Dnp)-P. The contributions of the Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) and Bowman–Birk inhibitor (BBI) on antigenicity, and the in vitro digestion of papain-hydrolyzed SMP were studied. Rabbit polyclonal anti-KTI and anti-BBI antibodies together with peroxidase-labelled goat anti-Rb IgG secondary antibody were used to identify the antigenicity of KTI and BBI in unhydrolyzed and papain-hydrolyzed SMP. The antioxidant capacity and anti-angiotensin activity of SMP were increased after the papain hydrolysis of SMP. The KTI- and BBI-specific antigenicity were reduced in SMP by increasing the concentration of papain. However, there was interaction between papain-hydrolyzed SMP and trypsin in native gel, while interaction with chymotrypsin was absent. The interaction between trypsin and SMP was reduced due to the hydrolysis of papain in a concentration-dependent manner. According to the in vitro gastrointestinal digestion simulation protocol (Infogest), the digestibility of SMP was not statistically increased.
MFB-CBRNN: A Hybrid Network for MI Detection Using 12-Lead ECGs

This paper proposes a novel hybrid network named multiple-feature-branch convolutional bidirectional recurrent neural network (MFB-CBRNN) for myocardial infarction (MI) detection using 12-lead ECGs. The model efficiently combines convolutional neural network-based and recurrent neural network-based structures. Each feature branch consists of several one-dimensional convolutional and pooling layers, corresponding to a certain lead. All the feature branches are independent from each other, which are utilized to learn the diverse features from different leads. Moreover, a bidirectional long short term memory network is employed to summarize all the feature branches. Its good ability of feature aggregation has been proved by the experiments. Furthermore, the paper develops a novel optimization method, lead random mask (LRM), to alleviate overfitting and implement an implicit ensemble like dropout. The model with LRM can achieve a more accurate MI detection. Class-based and subject-based fivefold cross validations are both carried out using Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt diagnostic database. Totally, there are 148 MI and 52 healthy control subjects involved in the experiments. The MFB-CBRNN achieves an overall accuracy of 99.90% in class-based experiments, and an overall accuracy of 93.08% in subject-based experiments. Compared with other related studies, our algorithm achieves a comparable or even better result on MI detection. Therefore, the MFB-CBRNN has a good generalization capacity and is suitable for MI detection using 12-lead ECGs. It has a potential to assist the real-world MI diagnostics and reduce the burden of cardiologists.
Анализ уязвимостей вычислительных систем на основе алгебраических структур и потоков данных National Vulnerability Database

This work is a sequel of the studies in the analysis of vulnerabilities in computer systems. It applied boolean algebras to develop a mathematical model describing the exploits of the NVD data source when using the classification based on the concept of measurement. Quasimeasure has been offered for the boolean algebra, proved that she is a measure from the point of view of measure theory. Shows that the algebraic structure is also algebra of events.
A Hybrid ARQ Scheme Based on Equivalent Puncturing Patterns of Polar Codes

Hybrid automatic repeat request transmission scheme with Chase combining (HARQ-CC) has been widely used to improve the throughput in wireless communication systems. However, for punctured polar codes, HARQ-CC cannot make up for the vacancies of the Log Likelihood Ratios (LLRs) of the punctured bits which are never transmitted at all, thus degrading the system efficiency. To address this issue, this paper proposes a new HARQ scheme based on the equivalent puncturing patterns (EPPs) of punctured polar codes. It successfully complements the LLRs of punctured bits, and therefore improves the system throughput. Moreover, we show that the proposed scheme can be implemented efficiently with the same complexity as HARQ-CC. Numerical results indicate that, for punctured polar codes with 21.875% puncturing proportion, the proposed HARQ achieves 7.5% improvement on the normalized system throughput compared with HARQ-CC.
Robust Verification and Identification of Piecewise Affine Systems

iecewise affine systems constitute an important subclass of hybrid systems, and consist of several affine dynamic subsystems, between which switchings occur at different occasions. As for hybrid systems in general, there has been a growing interest for piecewise affine systems in recent years, and they occur in many application areas.In many cases, safety is an important issue, and there is a need for tools that prove that certain states are never reached, or that some states are reached in finite time. The process of proving these kinds of statements is called verification. Many verification tools for hybrid systems have emerged in the last ten years. They all depend on a model of the system, which will in practice be an approximation of the real system. Therefore it would be desirable to learn how large the model errors can be, before the verification is not valid anymore. In this thesis, a verification method for piecewise affine systems is presented, where bounds on the allowed model errors are given along with the verification.Apart from being necessary for verification, system models are needed for various control, stability analysis, and fault detection tools. Hence, identification of piecewise affine systems is an important area. Here, an overview of different approaches appearing in the literature is presented, and a new identification method based on mixed-integer programming is proposed. One notable property of the latter method is that the global optimum is guaranteed to be found within a finite number of steps. The complexity of the mixed-integer programming approach is discussed, and its relations to existing approaches are pointed out. The special case of identification of Wiener models is considered in detail, since that model structure makes it possible to reduce the computational complexity. A combination of the mixed-integer programming approach and a local minimisation approach is also investigated.
An analytic-numerical method of computation of the Liapunov and period constants derived from their algebraic structure

We consider the problem of computing the Liapunov and the period constants for a smooth differential equation with a non degenerate critical point. First, we investigate the structure of both constants when they are regarded as polynomials on the coefficients of the differential equation. Secondly, we take advantadge of this structure to derive a method to obtain the explicit expression of the above-mentioned constants. Although this method is based on the use of the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg methods of orders 7 and 8 and the use of Richardson's extrapolation, it provides the real expression for these constants.
Electrochemical immunosensor for detection of Plasmodium vivax lactate dehydrogenase

BACKGROUND Malaria is a disease that affects many tropical and subtropical countries, including Brazil. The use of tests for malaria detection is one of the fundamental strategies recommended by the World Health Organization for the control and eradication of the disease. The lack of diagnostic tests leads to an increase in transmission and non-reporting cases. OBJECTIVES This work described an electrochemical immunosensor for detecting Plasmodium vivax lactate dehydrogenase antigen (Ag-PvLDH). METHODS The device has developed by immobilising egg yolk IgY antibodies (Ab-PvLDH) on a gold electrode surface using cysteamine as linker. The immunosensor fabrication was followed by differential pulse voltammetry, and contact angle measurements were performed to characterise the modified gold electrode surface. FINDINGS The results for Ag-PvLDH determination exhibit a linear response at 10-50 µg mL-1 concentration range, with a limit of detection of 455 ng mL-1. The excellent selectivity of the device was confirmed. MAIN CONCLUSIONS The developed immunosensor showed a good performance, therefore, it can be considered an alternative test to detect malaria caused by P. vivax.
Data Mining Techniques for Heart Disease Prediction: A Computational Model

Data has risen as new capital in this digital age, in which everything is being transposed into the electronic domain. The manner in which such data is stored and used for an effective purpose will make data the most valuable resource for any organization. Data analytics is used in medical and healthcare industries to predict disease. Identification of the links between the tremendous databases. The objective of this work is to check for the presence of heart disease with specific features in the data sets. We use classification algorithms such as Support Vector Classifier (SVC), Naive Bayes (NB), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest to predict heart disease perception with specific characteristics. The effective technique with highest accuracy will help the heart specialists around the globe, especially in developing countries and resource constrained regions.
Trust in political parties and ideological proximity voting in Europe: the role of trust in political parties as a heuristic mechanism

ABSTRACT Previous studies have investigated to what extent voters can achieve proximity between their preferences and the positions of the party they vote for. Combining data from the European Social Survey and the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, we investigate whether trust in political parties increases ideological proximity voting. We argue that voters use their level of trust in parties as a heuristic mechanism. First, trust can increase proximity voting because citizens need to trust that political parties will take voters’ policy preferences into account when in government. Second, we examine whether low-trusting voters tend to cast a protest vote, and do not engage in ideological proximity voting. We test this assumption regarding three determinants of the vote choice: general left-right ideology views, preferences for income redistribution, and anti-immigrant sentiments. We find that ideological proximity voting is indeed moderated by trust: those who trust political parties are more likely to cast a vote based on their policy preferences, while those who distrust tend to vote for protest parties. Nevertheless, also among protest voters, trust is conducive for higher levels of proximity voting.
Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration of Deep Thyroid Nodule: Is There a Correlation between the Nodule's Depth and Nondiagnostic Results?

Objective To evaluate whether thyroid nodule depth correlates with nondiagnostic results in ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytopathology. Background Many factors correlate with nondiagnostic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) results, including older age, macrocalcification, small-sized nodules, aspirin medication, and cystic portion in more than 50% of the thyroid nodules. However, there are few studies which have examined whether there is a relationship between the depth of nodules and the percentage of nondiagnostic results in cytology (Bethesda category I). We conducted this study in order to investigate if such a correlation exists. Materials and Methods FNAC was performed on 283 thyroid nodules between January 2019 and December 2020. Cytological analyses of the nodules were reviewed and sorted as nondiagnostic and diagnostic according to the Bethesda score. Patient files and ultra sound (US) scans were reviewed for clinical information (such as age, sex, and ethnic group) and sonographic features of nodules (such as depth, size, cystic portion, type of calcification, and echogenicity) and were compared between the nondiagnostic and diagnostic nodule results. The depth of a nodule was calculated as the shortest distance from the skin to the most superficial border of the nodule in the axial plane, using our medical center's computer program, which allows reviewing all saved shots of the US scan. Results Age, sex, and ethnicity were not significantly different between the nondiagnostic group and the diagnostic group (p > 0.05). Nodule diameter, cystic portion, calcification, and echogenicity were also not associated with the frequency of nondiagnostic results. The depth of nodules ≥9 mm was correlated with nondiagnostic US-guided FNA cytological results (OR = 2.55, p=0.018). Conclusions Deep thyroid nodules correlated with nondiagnostic US-guided FNA cytological results. Further studies are needed for optimizing the approach to deep thyroid nodules in order to improve the efficacy of FNA in deep thyroid nodules.
Efficacy Comparison of LPA2 Antagonist H2L5186303 and Agonist GRI977143 on Ovalbumin-Induced Allergic Asthma in BALB/c Mice

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), an intercellular lipid mediator, is increased in the bronchoalveolar fluids of patients with asthma after allergen exposure. LPA administration exaggerates allergic responses, and the type 2 LPA receptor (LPA2) has been reported as a therapeutic target for asthma. However, results with LPA2 agonist and antagonist along with LPA2 gene deficient mice have been controversial and contradictory. We compared the effects of LPA2 antagonist (H2L5186303) and agonist (GRI977143) in a single experimental protocol of ovalbumin (OVA)-induced allergic asthma by treating drugs before antigen sensitization or challenge. H2L5186303 showed strong suppressive efficacy when administered before OVA sensitization and challenge, such as suppression of airway hyper responsiveness, inflammatory cytokine levels, mucin production, and eosinophil numbers. However, GRI977143 showed significant suppression when administered before an OVA challenge. Increases in eosinophil and lymphocyte counts in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, Th2 cytokine levels, inflammatory scores, and mucin production were differentially ameliorated by the two drugs. The results demonstrate the multiple roles of LPA2 in asthmatic responses. We suggest that the development of LPA2 antagonists would achieve better therapeutic efficacy against asthma than agonists.
From Dissimilar to Similar: Reverse Fading Assistance Improves Learning

This thesis investigated how worked examples could be used to fade assistance in the domain of algebra. The method of fading assistance was novel. It used similarity as the mode of assistance, with similar problem-example pairs providing high assistance and dissimilar pairs providing low assistance. Learning, performance, and gaze behaviours captured by an eye tracker were analyzed across three conditions – a faded assistance condition, a constant assistance condition, and a reverse faded assistance condition. Participant's personality traits and attitudes and behaviours regarding math were also collected and correlated with eye gaze sequences. We found that, contrary to our hypothesis, the reverse faded assistance condition resulted in the greatest learning gains. We analyzed the gaze behaviours to shed light on this finding and found that participants in this condition focused significantly more on the problem solution, suggesting more cognitive processing during problem solving than in the other conditions.
A Combination of a Genome-Wide Association Study and a Transcriptome Analysis Reveals circRNAs as New Regulators Involved in the Response to Salt Stress in Maize

Salinization seriously threatens the normal growth of maize, especially at the seedling stage. Recent studies have demonstrated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play vital roles in the regulation of plant stress resistance. Here, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on the survival rate of 300 maize accessions under a salt stress treatment. A total of 5 trait-associated SNPs and 86 candidate genes were obtained by the GWAS. We performed RNA sequencing for 28 transcriptome libraries derived from 2 maize lines with contrasting salt tolerance under normal and salt treatment conditions. A total of 1217 highly expressed circRNAs were identified, of which 371 were responsive to a salt treatment. Using PCR and Sanger sequencing, we verified the reliability of these differentially expressed circRNAs. An integration of the GWAS and RNA-Seq analyses uncovered two differentially expressed hub genes (Zm00001eb013650 and Zm00001eb198930), which were regulated by four circRNAs. Based on these results, we constructed a regulation model of circRNA/miRNA/mRNA that mediated salt stress tolerance in maize. By conducting hub gene-based association analyses, we detected a favorable haplotype in Zm00001eb198930, which was responsible for high salt tolerance. These results help to clarify the regulatory relationship between circRNAs and their target genes as well as to develop salt-tolerant lines for maize breeding.
On the effect of stochastic variations of restoring moment in long-crested irregular longitudinal sea

In this paper, the problem of dangerous conditions induced by variations of restoring in waves is addressed, with particular attention to parametric roll. An analytical model for the study of roll motion in irregular longitudinal long crested waves is presented. Stochastic stability boundaries in the first parametric resonance region are provided analytically. Nonlinear/non-Gaussian roll response above threshold is determined numerically and compared with experiments. A semi-empirical methodology is proposed to extend the classical deterministic static stability assessment to a rational probabilistic framework taking into account hydrostatic restoring variations in waves and different environmental conditions. Examples of application are provided.
Representative Bias and Pairs Trade: Evidence From S&P 500 and Russell 2000 Indexes

This study tests whether pairs trade conditional on representative bias in the options and stock markets leads to abnormal returns. While previous literature on representativeness focuses on a single index, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 indexes are used to examine the extent to which representative bias arises due to a pattern of similar information shock in the three analyzed periods. The empirical results of the options market lend little support to the representativeness anomalies because Russell 2000 index, relative to S&P 500 index, does not adjust to a sequence of information shocks in the 2020 economic downturn inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic, despite the asymmetrical responsiveness to information shock over the sample period of 2004 to 2020, and during the 2008 global financial crisis. However, the empirical findings of the stock market verify, to some degree, the existence of representative bias during the sample period of 2004 to 2020. To examine whether asymmetrical representativeness in the options market or representativeness in the stock market yields abnormal returns, pairs trade is designed to exploit riskless profits via buying S&P 500 index and selling Russell 2000 index. Based on the Fama and French three-factor model, the empirical evidence is in support of market efficiency because the pairs trading strategy cannot generate positive abnormal returns in both options and stock markets.
Vermicomposting Technology as a Process Able to Reduce the Content of Potentially Toxic Elements in Sewage Sludge

Sewage sludge (SS) contains potential toxic elements (PTEs) that are harmful to the environment, and their bioaccumulation in the food chain is a major environmental health concern. Vermicomposting has been shown to reduce PTEs during composting of sewage sludge. However, the extent of PTE’s assimilation into the earthworm tissues during composting is largely unknown. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential of vermicomposting to decrease PTEs (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) during composting of SS and whether the bioaccumulation of PTEs in earthworm tissue depends on feed quality. The initial SS was mixed in triplicate with varying proportions of pelletized wheat straw (PWS) (0%, 25%, 50%, and 75% (w/w)) along with a control (100% SS, no earthworms), and the variants were named VC1, VC2, VC3, VC4, and C0 (control), respectively. The experiment was conducted for 120 days using Eisenia andrei. In comparison to the control, mixing SS with PWS reduced Arsenic content by 14–67%, Cadmium content by 4–39%, Chromium contents by 24–77%, Copper content by 20–68%, Lead content by 39–75%, and Zinc content by 16–65%. The bioaccumulation factor’s (BCF) ranges were 20–80% for Arsenic, 20–60% for Cadmium, 6–16% for Chromium, 32–80% for Copper, and 37–115% for Zinc, demonstrating that the accumulation of PTEs in the earthworm tissues explains the low content of PTEs in the vermicompost. In terms of removal rate, the sludge mixtures with bulking agent can be arranged in the following order: VC4 > VC3 > VC2 > VC1. The total carbon loss showed a significant relationship with BCFAs (r = 0.989, p < 0.011), BCFCd (r = 0.996, p < 0.004), BCFCr (r = 0.977, p < 0.023), BCFCu (r = 0.999, p < 0.000), and BCFZn (r = 0.994, p < 0.006). The variant containing 75% PWS (VC4) appeared to be a suitable SS mixture to reduce PTEs. Hence, it is suggested that vermicomposting reduces the content of PTEs in SS.