Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Personalizing to product category knowledge: exploring the mediating effect of shopping tools on decision confidence

Prior efforts in personalization have focused primarily on modeling individual consumer's preferences so that products for which they have a higher likelihood of purchasing are presented. In this study, we explore the potential of an approach to personalization focusing on customizing shopping tools based on a consumer's product category knowledge. The low product category knowledge user may not be able to use the shopping tools as well as the high product category knowledge user, because lower product category knowledge users allocate cognitive power to learning the product attribute space at the expense of using the tool effectively. Alternatively, shopping tools may effectively guide the decision making of low product category knowledge users, but be perceived as too restrictive by high product category knowledge users, thus diminishing their decision confidence. To determine which of these scenarios holds true we had sixty-six subjects interact with different decision tools of varying effort-accuracy tradeoffs in our purpose-built Web store for purchasing a computer. We examine the impact of product category knowledge on perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of the decision tools, and ultimately decision confidence, a key predictor of purchase likelihood. The results evidence the potential value of adapting tools to the degree of user product category knowledge. High product category knowledge users may require less restrictive decision tools to promote decision confidence, whereas low product category knowledge users may require simpler tools and more decisional guidance (Silver, 1991).
Exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing for the detection of copy number variation

Many laboratories now use genomic microarrays as their first-tier diagnostic test for copy number variation (CNV) detection. In addition, whole exome sequencing is increasingly being offered as a diagnostic test for heterogeneous disorders. Although mostly used for the detection of point mutations and small insertion–deletions, exome sequencing can also be used to call CNVs, allowing combined small and large variant analysis. Whole genome sequencing in addition to these advantages also offers the potential to characterize CNVs to unprecedented levels of accuracy, providing position and orientation information. In this review, we discuss the clinical potential of CNV identification in whole exome sequencing and whole genome sequencing data and the implications this has on diagnostic laboratories.
Exploiting the Path Propagation Time Differences in Multipath Transmission with FEC

We consider a transmission of a delay-sensitive data stream from a single source to a single destination. The reliability of this transmission may suffer from bursty packet losses - the predominant type of failures in today's Internet. An effective and well studied solution to this problem is to protect the data by a Forward Error Correction (FEC) code and send the FEC packets over multiple paths. In this paper we show that the performance of such a multipath FEC scheme can often be further improved. Our key observation is that the propagation times on the available paths often significantly differ, usually by 10-100ms. We propose to exploit these differences by appropriate packet scheduling that we call `Spread'. We evaluate our solution with a precise, analytical formulation and trace-driven simulations. Our studies show that Spread substantially outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions. It typically achieves two- to five-fold improvement (reduction) in the effective loss rate. Or conversely, keeping the same level of effective loss rate, Spread significantly decreases the observed delays and helps fighting the delay jitter.
Clinical Trials with Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin in the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer

Among the pharmaceutical options available for treatment of ovarian cancer, increasing attention has been progressively focused on pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD), whose unique formulation prolongs the persistence of the drug in the circulation and potentiates intratumor accumulation. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) has become a major component in the routine management of epithelial ovarian cancer. In 1999 it was first approved for platinum-refractory ovarian cancer and then received full approval for platinum-sensitive recurrent disease in 2005. PLD remains an important therapeutic tool in the management of recurrent ovarian cancer in 2012. Recent interest in PLD/carboplatin combination therapy has been the object of phase III trials in platinum-sensitive and chemonaïve ovarian cancer patients reporting response rates, progressive-free survival, and overall survival similar to other platinum-based combinations, but with a more favorable toxicity profile and convenient dosing schedule. This paper summarizes data clarifying the role of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in ovarian cancer, as well as researches focusing on adding novel targeted drugs to this cytotoxic agent.
Dengue Virus Capsid Protein Usurps Lipid Droplets for Viral Particle Formation

Dengue virus is responsible for the highest rates of disease and mortality among the members of the Flavivirus genus. Dengue epidemics are still occurring around the world, indicating an urgent need of prophylactic vaccines and antivirals. In recent years, a great deal has been learned about the mechanisms of dengue virus genome amplification. However, little is known about the process by which the capsid protein recruits the viral genome during encapsidation. Here, we found that the mature capsid protein in the cytoplasm of dengue virus infected cells accumulates on the surface of ER-derived organelles named lipid droplets. Mutagenesis analysis using infectious dengue virus clones has identified specific hydrophobic amino acids, located in the center of the capsid protein, as key elements for lipid droplet association. Substitutions of amino acid L50 or L54 in the capsid protein disrupted lipid droplet targeting and impaired viral particle formation. We also report that dengue virus infection increases the number of lipid droplets per cell, suggesting a link between lipid droplet metabolism and viral replication. In this regard, we found that pharmacological manipulation of the amount of lipid droplets in the cell can be a means to control dengue virus replication. In addition, we developed a novel genetic system to dissociate cis-acting RNA replication elements from the capsid coding sequence. Using this system, we found that mislocalization of a mutated capsid protein decreased viral RNA amplification. We propose that lipid droplets play multiple roles during the viral life cycle; they could sequester the viral capsid protein early during infection and provide a scaffold for genome encapsidation.
Interaction Between NF&kgr;B and NFAT Coordinates Cardiac Hypertrophy and Pathological Remodeling

Rationale: Both nuclear factors of activated T cells (NFAT) and nuclear factor-&kgr;B (NF&kgr;B) are Rel homology domain (RHD)-containing transcription factors whose independent activities are critically involved in regulating cardiac hypertrophy and failure. Objective: To determine the potential functional interaction between NFAT and NF&kgr;B signaling pathways in cardiomyocytes and its role in cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling. Methods and Results: We identified a novel transcriptional regulatory mechanism whereby NF&kgr;B and NFAT directly interact and synergistically promote transcriptional activation in cardiomyocytes. We show that the p65 subunit of NF&kgr;B coimmunoprecipitates with NFAT in cardiomyocytes, and this interaction maps to the RHD within p65. Overexpression of the p65-RHD disrupts the association between endogenous p65 and NFATc1, leading to reduced transcriptional activity. Overexpression of I&kgr;B kinase &bgr; (IKK&bgr;) or p65-RHD causes nuclear translocation of NFATc1, and expression of a constitutively nuclear NFATc1-SA mutant similarly facilitated p65 nuclear translocation. Combined overexpression of p65 and NFATc1 promotes synergistic activation of NFAT transcriptional activity in cardiomyocytes, whereas inhibition of NF&kgr;B with I&kgr;B&agr;M or dominant negative IKK&bgr; reduces NFAT activity. Importantly, agonist-induced NFAT activation is reduced in p65 null mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) compared with wild-type MEFs. In vivo, cardiac-specific deletion of p65 using a Cre-loxP system causes a ≈50% reduction in NFAT activity in luciferase reporter mice. Moreover, ablation of p65 in the mouse heart decreases the hypertrophic response after pressure overload stimulation, reduces the degree of pathological remodeling, and preserves contractile function. Conclusions: Our results suggest a direct interaction between NFAT and NF&kgr;B that effectively integrates 2 disparate signaling pathways in promoting cardiac hypertrophy and ventricular remodeling.
PSYCHOLOGIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ELITE DISTANCE RUNNER

The stress imposed during marathon competition is arduous, to say the least, and marathoners have previously been observed to possess unique anatomical and physiological characteristics. The unique biological nature of the mara-thoner is further outlined throughout this present volume. However, it has been noted by Costill 1 that “. many athletes appear to meet the anatomical and physiological prerequisites for the marathon, while only a select group of men achieve success in this demanding sport. ” A preliminary study of the personality characteristics of marathoners reported earlier by Morgan and Costill * suggested that athletes from this particular subgroup display unique psychological profiles. For example, these marathoners were characterized by introversion, stability, and low anxiety levels. However, none of these variables were found to correlate significantly with marathon performance, and this lack of statistical significance was undoubtedly due in part to the homogeneity of the sample (nine males). As a matter of fact, aerobic power was not found to be correlated with performance either, and this also was related to the “problem” of homogeneity, since Costill et al.3 subsequently demonstrated that aerobic power and endurance performance are significantly correlated in heterogeneous groups. The study by Morgan and Costill should be replicated
Arsenite-Induced Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Nuclear Translocation Results in Additive Induction of Phase I Genes and Synergistic Induction of Phase II Genes

Complex mixtures of carcinogenic metalloids, such as arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons are common environmental contaminants. The biological consequences of exposure to these mixtures are unpredictable and, although the health effects of individual chemicals may be known, the toxicity of environmental mixtures is largely unexplored. Arsenic, not a potent mutagen by itself, is co-mutagenic with many DNA-damaging agents. Mixtures of arsenite plus benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) augment B[a]P mutagenicity, suggesting that arsenite might uncouple expression of phase I and II genes responsible for detoxification. We have studied the effects of arsenite exposure on the activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and its subsequent role in gene transactivation. Treatment of mouse Hepa-1 cells with arsenite induces AHR nuclear translocation and binding to the Cyp1a1 gene promoter with the same efficiency as tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most potent ligand of the AHR; however, TCDD and B[a]P are an order of magnitude more potent than arsenite in up-regulating Cyp1a1 transcription. Global profiling analyses of cells treated with arsenite plus B[a]P indicate that several phase I and II detoxification genes are in some cases additively and in others synergistically deregulated by the mixtures. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analyses of mouse embryonic fibroblasts showed that the mixtures had an additive effect on the mRNA levels of Cyp1b1, a prototypical phase I detoxification gene, and an AHR-dependent synergistic effect on the corresponding levels of Nqo1, a prototypical phase II gene. We conclude that exposure to arsenite/B[a]P mixtures causes regulatory changes in the expression of detoxification genes that ultimately affect the metabolic activation and disposition of toxicants.
Redundant logic insertion and fault tolerance improvement in combinational circuits

This paper presents a novel method to identify and insert redundant logic into a combinational circuit to improve its fault tolerance without having to replicate the entire circuit as is the case with conventional redundancy techniques. In this context, it is discussed how to estimate the fault masking capability of a combinational circuit using the truth-cum-fault enumeration table, and then it is shown how to identify the logic that can introduced to add redundancy into the original circuit without affecting its native functionality and with the aim of improving its fault tolerance though this would involve some trade-off in the design metrics. However, care should be taken while introducing redundant logic since redundant logic insertion may give rise to new internal nodes and faults on those may impact the fault tolerance of the resulting circuit. The combinational circuit that is considered and its redundant counterparts are all implemented in semi-custom design style using a 32/28nm CMOS digital cell library and their respective design metrics and fault tolerances are compared.
Effect of Transmission Control Protocol on Limited Buffer Cognitive Radio Relay Node

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the most important transport layer protocol being used nowadays. It suffers from many problems over mobile networks especially over Cognitive Radio (CR). CR is one of the latest mobile technologies that brings its own share of problems for TCP. The buffer overflow for CR secondary network relay node can affect the performance of TCP. The contribution of this paper is the novel cross-layer model being used to evaluate the effect of the TCP congestion control on the secondary relay node buffer size in Cognitive Radio Network (CRN). The performance has been assessed by buffer overflow probability.
A simple clinical predictive index for objective estimates of mortality in acute lung injury*

Objective:We sought to develop a simple point score that would accurately capture the risk of hospital death for patients with acute lung injury (ALI). Design:This is a secondary analysis of data from two randomized trials. Baseline clinical variables collected within 24 hours of enrollment were modeled as predictors of hospital mortality using logistic regression and bootstrap resampling to arrive at a parsimonious model. We constructed a point score based on regression coefficients. Setting:Medical centers participating in the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Clinical Trials Network (ARDSnet). Patients:Model development: 414 patients with nontraumatic ALI participating in the low tidal volume arm of the ARDSnet Acute Respiratory Management in ARDS study. Model validation: 459 patients participating in the ARDSnet Assessment of Low tidal Volume and elevated End-expiratory volume to Obviate Lung Injury study. Model Validation: 459 patients participating in the ARDSnet Assessment of Low tidal Volume and elevated End-expiratory volume to Obviate Lung Injury trial. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:Variables comprising the prognostic model were hematocrit <26% (1 point), bilirubin ≥2 mg/dL (1 point), fluid balance >2.5 L positive (1 point), and age (1 point for age 40-64 years, 2 points for age ≥65 years). Predicted mortality (95% confidence interval) for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4+ point totals was 8% (5% to 14%), 17% (12% to 23%), 31% (26% to 37%), 51% (43% to 58%), and 70% (58% to 80%), respectively. There was an excellent agreement between predicted and observed mortality in the validation cohort. Observed mortality for 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4+ point totals in the validation cohort was 12%, 16%, 28%, 47%, and 67%, respectively. Compared with the Acute Physiology Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation III score, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the point score were greater in the development cohort (0.72 vs. 0.67, p = 0.09) and lower in the validation cohort (0.68 vs. 0.75, p = 0.03). Conclusions:Mortality in patients with ALI can be predicted using an index of four readily available clinical variables with good calibration. This index may help inform prognostic discussions, but validation in nonclinical trial populations is necessary before widespread use.
Towards Robustness in Neural Network Based Fault Diagnosis

Towards Robustness in Neural Network Based Fault Diagnosis Challenging design problems arise regularly in modern fault diagnosis systems. Unfortunately, classical analytical techniques often cannot provide acceptable solutions to such difficult tasks. This explains why soft computing techniques such as neural networks become more and more popular in industrial applications of fault diagnosis. Taking into account the two crucial aspects, i.e., the nonlinear behaviour of the system being diagnosed as well as the robustness of a fault diagnosis scheme with respect to modelling uncertainty, two different neural network based schemes are described and carefully discussed. The final part of the paper presents an illustrative example regarding the modelling and fault diagnosis of a DC motor, which shows the performance of the proposed strategy.
A self-organizing HCMAC neural-network classifier

This paper presents a self-organizing hierarchical cerebellar model arithmetic computer (HCMAC) neural-network classifier, which contains a self-organizing input space module and an HCMAC neural network. The conventional CMAC can be viewed as a basis function network (BFN) with supervised learning, and performs well in terms of its fast learning speed and local generalization capability for approximating nonlinear functions. However, the conventional CMAC has an enormous memory requirement for resolving high-dimensional classification problems, and its performance heavily depends on the approach of input space quantization. To solve these problems, this paper presents a novel supervised HCMAC neural network capable of resolving high-dimensional classification problems well. Also, in order to reduce what is often trial-and-error parameter searching for constructing memory allocation automatically, proposed herein is a self-organizing input space module that uses Shannon's entropy measure and the golden-section search method to appropriately determine the input space quantization according to the various distributions of training data sets. Experimental results indicate that the self-organizing HCMAC indeed has a fast learning ability and low memory requirement. It is a better performing network than the conventional CMAC for resolving high-dimensional classification problems. Furthermore, the self-organizing HCMAC classifier has a better classification ability than other compared classifiers.
Prevalence of Thyroid Dysfunction Among Greek Type 2 Diabetic Patients Attending an Outpatient Clinic

Background The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) attending an outpatient clinic. Methods We examined thyroid dysfunction in a total of 1,092 patients with T2D. Results Prevalence rate of thyroid dysfunction was 12.3%. In the group with thyroid dysfunction there was an excess of females in comparison with the group without thyroid dysfunction (P < 0.001). In addition, patients with thyroid dysfunction had higher values of body mass index (P = 0.03) and HDL-cholesterol levels (P = 0.01), and lower values of LDL-cholesterol levels (P = 0.001) in comparison with patients without thyroid dysfunction. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that presence of thyroid dysfunction was related with gender (OR: 0.220, 95% CI: 0.141 - 0.352) and LDL-cholesterol levels (OR: 0.990, 95% CI: 0.985 - 0.995). Conclusions The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among Greek diabetic patients is 12.3%. Diabetic women were more frequently affected than men. Presence of thyroid dysfunction was associated with lower levels of LDL-cholesterol concentrations. Keywords Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Thyroid dysfunction; Hypothyroidism; Gender; LDL-cholesterol; Greece
A Wideband Omnidirectional Horizontally Polarized Traveling-Wave Antenna Based on Half-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide

A traveling-wave antenna based on a tapered half-mode substrate integrated waveguide is introduced in this letter. It uses a direct transition from a coaxial connector and radiates from the open side of the waveguide. The antenna exhibits a wide bandwidth, an omnidirectional radiation pattern, and horizontal polarization and can be integrated into metallic structures. The physical principle and design guidelines are summarized. A prototype of the proposed antenna has been realized and demonstrated a wide measured bandwidth extending from 6.7 to 16 GHz, with radiation characteristics corresponding very well with simulations.
Follistatin-like-1, a diffusible mesenchymal factor determines the fate of epithelium

Mesenchyme is generally believed to play critical roles in “secondary induction” during organogenesis. Because of the complexity of tissue interactions in secondary inductions, however, little is known about the precise mechanisms at the cellular and molecular levels. We have demonstrated that, in mouse oviductal development, the mesenchyme determines the fate of undetermined epithelial cells to become secretory or cilial cells. We have established a model for studying secondary induction by establishing clonal epithelial and mesenchymal cell lines from perinatal p53−/− mouse oviducts. The signal sequence trap method collected candidate molecules secreted from mesenchymal cell lines. Naive epithelial cells exposed to Follistatin-like-1 (Fstl1), one of the candidates, became irreversibly committed to expressing a cilial epithelial marker and differentiated into ciliated cells. We concluded that Fstl1 is one of the mesenchymal factors determining oviductal epithelial cell fate. This is a unique demonstration that the determination of epithelial cell fate is induced by a single diffusible factor.
Web search solved?: all result rankings the same?

The objective of this work is to derive quantitative statements about what fraction of web search queries issued to the state-of-the-art commercial search engines lead to excellent results or, on the contrary, poor results. To be able to make such statements in an automated way, we propose a new measure that is based on lower and upper bound analysis over the standard relevance measures. Moreover, we extend this measure to carry out comparisons between competing search engines by introducing the concept of disruptive sets, which we use to estimate the degree to which a search engine solves queries that are not solved by its competitors. We report empirical results on a large editorial evaluation of the three largest search engines in the US market.