Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of potential serum biomarkers for gastric cancer by a novel computational method , serum-level differential analysis ( SeLDA )

BACKGROUND: Although many biomarker candidates have been identified by highthroughput genomics and proteomics technologies, few biomarkers have been successfully transferred to clinical application. Most candidate genes identified as differentially expressed between tumor and normal tissues are often expressed in many other normal tissues, making them unsuitable as biomarkers. Genes specifically expressed in one or a few tissues and upregulated in tumors are potentially good serum biomarkers. METHODS: We developed a novel computational method, called serum-level differential analysis (SeLDA), to identify genes that are likely to be upregulated in the blood of gastric cancer patients, as compared to normal controls. We selected four candidate markers from the analysis and validated one of them by ELISA in two independent populations of gastric cancer patients and normal controls. RESULTS: We identified four genes (MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-12, and CXCL5) as potential serum biomarkers for gastric cancer from the SeLDA. Of these four genes, only MMP-1 was significantly upregulated in the sera of 40 gastric cancer patients, as compared to 40 control sera (P=0.0003). The same pattern was observed in the second cohort of 80 gastric cancer patients and 80 controls (P=0.0002). In a combined analysis, the level of serum MMP-1 in gastric cancer patients was significantly higher than the level in control samples (P<0.0001). The use of MMP-1 was 62.5% sensitive and 62.5% specific in detecting gastric cancer patients. Patients with high serum levels of MMP-1 had a significantly poorer outcome than patients with low serum MMP-1 levels (P=0.0109). Finally, we determined that preoperative serum MMP-1 levels were prognostic, independent of tumor stage. CONCLUSIONS: The specificity/sensitivity of MMP-1 is insufficient for it to be used as a sole screening biomarker for gastric cancer. Instead, we suggest that MMP-1 might be developed as a prognostic or monitoring marker for gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy.
R&D Partnerships and Innovation Performance: Can There Be Too Much of a Good Thing?

R&D collaboration facilitates pooling of complementary skills, learning from the partner as well as sharing risks and costs. Research therefore repeatedly stressed the positive relationship between collaborative R&D and innovation performance. Fewer studies addressed potential drawbacks of collaborative R&D. Collaborative R&D comes at the costs of coordination and monitoring, requires knowledge disclosure and involves the risk of opportunistic behaviour by the partners. Thus, while the net gains from collaboration can be high initially, cost may start to outweigh those benefits if firms engage in multiple collaborative projects simultaneously. This study explicitly considers a firm's collaboration intensity, that is, the share of collaborative R&D projects in the firms' total R&D project portfolio. For a sample of 2,891 firms located in Germany, active in abroad range of manufacturing and service sectors and of which 86% are SMEs, we indeed find that increasing the share of collaborative R&D projects in total R&D projects is associated with a higher probability of product innovation and with a higher market success of new products. While we can confirm previous findings in terms of gains for innovation performance, we also find that collaboration has decreasing and even negative returns on product innovation if its intensity increases above a certain threshold. Consequently, the relationship between collaboration intensity and innovation has an inverted-U shape. In particular, costs start outweighing benefits if a firm pursues more than about two thirds of its R&D projects in collaboration. This result is robust to conditioning market success to the introduction of new products and to accounting for the selection into collaborating.
Neuropsychological Impairment in Acute HIV and the Effect of Immediate Antiretroviral Therapy

Objective:To investigate neuropsychological performance (NP) during acute HIV infection (AHI) before and after combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Design:Prospective study of Thai AHI participants examined at 3 and 6 months after initiation of cART. Methods:Thirty-six AHI participants were evaluated pre-cART at median 19 days since HIV exposure and 3 and 6 months after cART with the Grooved Pegboard test, Color Trails 1 & 2 (CT1, CT2), and Trail Making Test A. Raw scores were standardized to 251 age- and education-matched HIV-uninfected Thais. To account for learning effects, change in NP performance was compared with that of controls at 6 months. Analyses included multivariable regression, nonparametric repeated measures analysis of variance, and Mann–Whitney U test. Results:Baseline NP scores for the AHI group were within normal range (z-scores range: −0.26 to −0.13). NP performance improved on CT1, CT2, and Trail Making Test A in the initial 3 months (P < 0.01) with no significant change during the last 3 months. Only improvement in CT1 was greater than that seen in controls at 6 months (P = 0.018). Participants who performed >1 SD below normative means on ≥2 tests (n = 8) exhibited higher baseline cerebrospinal fluid HIV RNA (P = 0.047) and had no improvement after cART. Conclusions:Most AHI individuals had normal NP performance, and early cART slightly improved their psychomotor function. However, approximately 25% had impaired NP performance, which correlated with higher cerebrospinal fluid HIV RNA, and these abnormalities were not reversed by early cART possibly indicating limited reversibility of cognitive impairment in a subset of AHI individuals.
Effects of board attributes on Chinese pharmaceutical firms

Using longitudinal data of 49 Chinese pharmaceutical firms over a 4-year period between 2003 and 2006, this study investigates the effects of outside directors and board directors’ age on firm performance. We find that board directors’ age is positively related to firm performance but outside director is negatively related to firm performance. Further, we find that the interaction of board age and outside directors is significantly related to performance.
Comments on 'A new vector quantization clustering algorithm'

W.H. Equitz (IEEE Trans. Acoust., Speech, and Signal Process. vol.37, no.10, p.1568-75, Oct. 1989) presented a procedure called pairwise nearest neighbor (PNN) as a new alternative to the familiar Linde-Buzo-Gray algorithm for vector quantization. The commenter maintains that inspection of the statistical literature shows the PNN algorithm to be identical to J. Ward's hierarchical clustering method published in 1963. >
Literature Survey for Improved Content Delivery for Mobile Network

—In this mobile dominated age there has been observed a need to augment the existing content delivery systems for mobile users to achieve a level of sophistication consistent with the rising popularity of mobile usage. Given limited bandwidth and unreliable wireless channel, users perceive a delay in content delivery. To overcome these drawbacks various solutions have been proposed. In this paper a comprehensive study of recent activities in the field of mobile delivery network has been done, that highlights the various Pre-fetching and Clustering Replication algorithms that can enhance the existing content delivery network.
β-casein nanovehicles for oral delivery of chemotherapeutic drug combinations overcoming P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance in human gastric cancer cells

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a primary obstacle to curative cancer therapy. We have previously demonstrated that β-casein (β-CN) micelles (β-CM) can serve as nanovehicles for oral delivery and target-activated release of hydrophobic drugs in the stomach. Herein we introduce a novel nanosystem based on β-CM, to orally deliver a synergistic combination of a chemotherapeutic drug (Paclitaxel) and a P-glycoprotein-specific transport inhibitor (Tariquidar) individually encapsulated within β-CM, for overcoming MDR in gastric cancer. Light microscopy, dynamic light scattering and zeta potential analyses revealed solubilization of these drugs by β-CN, suppressing drug crystallization. Spectrophotometry demonstrated high loading capacity and good encapsulation efficiency, whereas spectrofluorometry revealed high affinity of these drugs to β-CN. In vitro cytotoxicity assays exhibited remarkable synergistic efficacy against human MDR gastric carcinoma cells with P-glycoprotein overexpression. Oral delivery of β-CN - based nanovehicles carrying synergistic drug combinations to the stomach constitutes a novel efficacious therapeutic system that may overcome MDR in gastric cancer.
Tuberculous anergic sera or purified protein derivative treatment induces modification in lymphocyte transformation of cells from patients with tuberculosis

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 20 purified protein derivative (PPD)-reactive (PPD+) tuberculous patients were cultured in autologous, tuberculous anergic, or normal serum. After 12 h of incubation, the serum was eliminated and lymphocyte transformation with PPD was performed. Transformation was inhibited only in cells incubated with anergic serum. In contrast, cells from 11 anergic tuberculous (PPD-) individuals recovered the ability to respond to an optimal PPD dose after treatment with high PPD concentrations followed by several washings. The cells which recovered returned to their initial anergic state when incubated with sera from anergic patients. Under both conditions, incubation with sera did not abolish the response to the mitogen phytohemagglutinin. Cells from healthy PPD+ or PPD- individuals were used as controls. The most important finding derived from serum analysis was the increased levels of specific immunoglobulins G and A in anergic patients.
Factors Affecting the Organizational Commitment of Employees and Customer Satisfaction

Currently, the country's policies in Iran towards the implementation of principle 44 goes towards privatization that the structure of government downsizing and privatization of public sector to the private sector. There is one important factor generate competitive advantages, customer satisfaction. In this study, in the months of December and February in 2008 in Qom Province of Agriculture Organization has been made. Research community of staff and clients are included in Qom Agriculture Organization and for the total sample of 330 employees and a crew of three Buildings were the work70 people are in and according to the number of clients was limited in the first two buildings, 40 people sample were selected. In order to collect data needed for preparing and testing the theoretical assumptions of library resources, study documents, observation, questionnaires and interviews have been preliminary. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire for customer satisfaction from the standard questionnaire was used with high reliability and validity. Organizational commitment questionnaire also integrates three questionnaires and Myer and Allen (1990), OCQ Developed by porter and Modey and Esters (1979) this study was descriptive study and survey data is used to do it. Tests Mean for each index, to investigate the correlation between indicators and the Friedman test was used to determine the priority of each indicator. Research has shown that organizational commitment of employees who are interacting with clients, there is a significant correlation with customer satisfaction.
Food Safety Issues in Saudi Arabia

Food borne outbreaks have become a major challenge in food safety, in general, and for safer food supply chains, in particular. In Saudi Arabia, food poisoning is becoming a very important health problem, Salmonella species is the most important pathogen, but due to the extensive effort carried by the health authorities to prevent or eradicate communicable diseases, new pathogens are now emerging such as Escherichia coli and Norwalk like viruses. The implementation of food safety programs in the food industry and improvements in hygiene education for people working with foods have effectively decreased or eliminated some food borne diseases from Saudi Arabia. Common concerns are the diversity of microorganisms and the ability of food borne pathogens adapt to a new environment as these are likely to increase the degree of difficulty for surveillance and prevention of food borne diseases. This review paper highlights the present situation of food safety in Saudi Arabia and what is the key of magic to avoid all the challenges facing food safety to reach a healthy food finally.
Generation of memory B cells and plasma cells in vitro

After germinal center B cells undergo somatic mutation and antigen selection, they become either memory B cells or plasma cells, but the signal requirements that control entry into either pathway have been unclear. When purified human germinal center cells were cultured with interleukin-2, interleukin-10, and cells expressing CD40 ligand, cells with characteristics of memory B cells were generated. Removal of CD40 ligand from the system resulted in terminal differentiation of germinal center B cells into cells with the characteristics of plasma cells. These results indicate that CD40 ligand directs the differentiation of germinal center B cells toward memory B cells rather than toward plasma cells.
Cloning and physical mapping of RNA polymerase genes from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum and comparison of homologies and gene orders with those of RNA polymerase genes from other methanogenic archaebacteria

The structural genes encoding the four largest subunits of RNA polymerase, A, B', B", and C, were physically mapped in Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum Winter. The genes formed a cluster in the order B", B', A, C and had a common orientation. DNA hybridization experiments yielded different degrees of homology between RNA polymerase gene sequences of different species of Methanobacterium and Methanococcus voltae. No homology was detectable between Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum and Methanosarcina barkeri. From Southern hybridization experiments in which probes of the four genes from Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum Winter and restriction digests of the genomic DNAs of the different methanogens were used, a common gene order of the RNA polymerase genes could be deduced.
Detection of feline immunodeficiency virus in semen from seropositive domestic cats (Felis catus)

Electroejaculates from experimentally infected domestic cats were evaluated for the presence of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Virus was isolated from cell-free seminal plasma and seminal cells by cocultivation with a feline interleukin-2-dependent CD4+ T-cell line, in which productive infection was demonstrated by syncytium formation and FIV gag p26 antigen secretion. In addition, an 868-bp segment of the FIV gag provirus gene was identified in cocultured cells by PCR and Southern analysis. A 582-bp fragment of the FIV gag provirus genome was detected by nested PCR and Southern analysis in nonfractionated seminal cells and in sperm purified by a swim-up procedure. This is the first report describing the detection of replication-competent FIV in cell-free and cell-associated forms in domestic cat semen.
Role of nuclear genes in expression of a mitochondrial tRNA gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In yeast mitochondria, most of the isoaccepting species of tyrosyl tRNA are coded by a mitochondrial gene, tyrA. A particular isoaccepting species is coded by a second mitochondrial gene, tyrB. This gene is not expressed in certain strains of yeast which show no deficient phenotype. Genetic crosses between strains expressing or not expressing the tyrB gene demonstrate that expression is controlled by specific nuclear genes and that a mutation of the tyrA gene can be bypassed when the tyrB gene is operative.
Exploiting EM simulation modelling for wireless indoor localization

The diffusion of indoor wireless localization has grown rapidly in last years. Many indoor location-based services have been proposed thanks to the knowledge of real-time position of active targets (i.e., using mobile wireless devices like smartphones and tablets). Most of the localization approaches rely on the processing of radio-frequency signals transmitted among the wireless access points of local area networks and the mobile terminals. This research field is very active since improved performance in terms of accuracy of the position estimation are still required. In this paper, an active wireless localization approach based on the accurate modelling of the electromagnetic propagation of Wi-Fi signals is proposed. A ray-tracing propagation model has been integrated in the customized localization tool to provide real-time estimation of the target position. The proposed approach has been experimentally validated in a real indoor test site.
Organic and amplified eWOM in consumer fashion blogs

Purpose – In the past few years fashion blogs have become a popular form of user‐generated content, and consequently, the fashion industry has shown great interest in fashion blog marketing. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze consumer‐to‐consumer (C2C) electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) in fashion blogs, and especially to compare naturally‐occurring, i.e. organic eWOM with marketer‐influenced, i.e. amplified eWOM.Design/methodology/approach – The study takes a netnographic approach to the phenomenon of fashion blogs. The empirical material consists of observational data including blog texts and audience comments of six popular fashion blogs in Finland.Findings – Findings indicate that although not as varied as organic, amplified eWOM content in consumer fashion blogs resembles organic content. The main topics discussed in organic eWOM include personal style, brands, designers and retailers, tips and advice as well as purchases. Amplified topics concerned products received by the blogger, br.
Differential Evolution algorithm applied to non-stationary bandit problem

In this paper we compare Differential Evolution (DE), an evolutionary algorithm, to classical bandit algorithms over the non-stationary bandit problem. First we define a testcase where the variation of the distributions depends on the number of times an option is evaluated rather than over time. This definition allows the possibility to apply these algorithms over a wide range of problems such as black-box portfolio selection. Second we present our own variant of discounted Upper Confidence Bound (UCB) algorithm that outperforms the current state-of-the-art algorithms for the non-stationary bandit problem. Third, we introduce a variant of DE and show that, on a selection over a portfolio of solvers for the Cart-Pole problem, our version of DE outperforms the current best UCB algorithms.
Design of a DAC-less PAM-4 integrated optical modulator based on silicon photonics with graphene

We show the design of a DAC-less PAM-4 optical modulator operating at 1550 nm wavelength based on integrated silicon waveguides embedded with graphene in capacitor-like structures on the top and below the waveguide's core. By balancing the optical modal distribution interacting with the graphene through the waveguide design, it is possible to perform direct modulation of PAM-4 signals aiming the next generation of integrated photonic devices for datacenters and interconnections. We evaluate the device's performance through numerical simulations taking into account the modulation depth, bandwidth, footprint, drive voltages and power consumption. These parameters are functions of graphene's length along the device and for a compact device with a 40 μm-long waveguide, 6 dB modulation depth and >50 Gb/s bitrates with sub-pJ per bit power consumption was calculated. The results achieved are promising for the next generation of integrated photonic devices, showing higher bit rates, smaller footprints and lower power consumption compared to the so far proposed DAC-less modulators based on silicon photonics.
Does (and What) Illiquidity Matter for Real Estate Prices? Measure and Evidence

Using a national sample of transactions in 24 major office markets in the U.S. from 1995 to 2010, this paper shows that illiquidity, especially the search cost component of illiquidity, is an important determinant of expected returns in real estate. We propose two novel measures to capture the price impact and search cost aspects of illiquidity in the real estate market, both of which are easily obtainable from price and volume data. At the regional market level, the price impact measure, which reflects the degree of supply and demand imbalance, is positively correlated with the proportion of high vacancy transactions and negatively related to transaction volume and the proportion of tax-deferred transactions. The search cost measure is strongly positively correlated with time-on-the-market, high vacancy, tax-deferred and out-of-state buyer proportion and is negatively correlated with the proportion of auction sales. Based on both quarterly hedonic price index (estimated from the transaction data) and the average quarterly transaction price, we find that there is a higher expected return in the market with a high price impact and search cost. The illiquidity premium is driven by the bust period, with a 10% increase in either the price impact or search cost measure leading to more than 4 percentage point increase in the annualized expected return in the cross section. Search cost is particularly relevant for understanding real estate prices for non-Class A buildings and during the 2008 financial crisis. We also document flight-to-quality (-liquidity) from non-Class A to Class A (i.e., investment grade) market during the crisis.
Reconfigurable Complex Filtering Methods for PAPR Reduction of OFDM Signals with Low Computational Complexity

In this paper, we analyze the reconfigurable complex filtering techniques based on the Tone Reservation (TR) set and data bearing sub-carriers in the time-domain and in the frequency-domain to reduce the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of OFDM signals. The simulation results of the proposed methods for 16-QAM and 64-QAM modulation are presented. These results show that PAPR of OFDM signals is significantly reduced (about 6.6 dB), and OFDM signals can reach the desired amplitude level after 2–4 iterations.
Bringing real processors to labs

The architecture of current processors has experienced great changes in the last years, leading to sophisticated multithreaded multicore processors. The inherent complexity of such processors makes difficult to update processor teaching to include current commercial products, especially at lab sessions where simplistic simulators are usually used. However, instructors are forced to reduce this gap if they want to properly prepare students in this topic. Dealing with these complex concepts at labs does not only help reinforce theoretical concepts but also has a positive effect in the students' motivation. This article presents a methodology designed for the study of current microprocessor mechanisms in a gradual way without overwhelming students. The methodology is based on the use of a detailed simulation framework, used both in the academia and in the industry, which accurately models features from current processors. Due to the huge simulator complexity, it is introduced through several learning phases. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that students are able to develop skills in a detailed simulator in a reasonable time period and, at the same time they learn the details of complex architectural mechanisms of commercial microprocessors. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ. Comput Appl Eng Educ 23:724–732, 2015; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21645