Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Total antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation with and without in vitro zinc supplementation in infertile men

The aim of this study was to assess the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level in infertile men with asthenozoospermia and asthenoteratozoospermia compared to fertile donors, and to examine the effect of zinc on sperm lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in infertile and fertile men. Semen samples provided by infertile men (n = 38) and fertile donors (controls; n = 12) were exposed to 6 mmol/L of zinc for 2 hr at 37°C. After semen analysis, lipid peroxidation was detected by MDA assay and seminal TAC was assessed by colorimetric method using TAS (total antioxidant status) Kit. TAC was significantly lower in infertile group compared to controls (p = .037). However, lipid peroxidation did not alter in infertile patients compared to controls (p > .05). After in vitro incubation of samples with zinc, a significant increase in TAC level was found only in infertile men (p < .001). Meanwhile, zinc had no effect on sperm lipid peroxidation in both fertile and infertile men (p > .05). Our data indicate that antioxidant treatment based on zinc in vitro supplementation may be helpful to enhance the rate of seminal antioxidant status in infertile men; however, it does not prevent sperm lipid peroxidation.
General Discussion on Shock

With regard to one point mentioned by General Wallace-namely, the effect of cold on the wounded man-in order to find out something about this, I got out a certain number of figures. They were all from one clearing station, which was in the same area for thirty-six months on end,, and was drawing patients from the same part of the line. We took three periods of winter months, December, January. and February, and three periods of summer months, June, July and August, and took out the percentages of deaths from wounds in those periods. The numbers we dealt with were large, so the conclusions probably have some accuracy; we dealt with about 10,000 wounded in these periods. We found that for the summer months the average death-rate from wounds was 3'3 per cent. , wvhereas in the winter months the average death-rate from wounds was 8'1 per cent. In other words; in winter the death-rate was rather more than double the summer rate. There was a slight diminution in the death-rate during the last period, both in winter and summer, owing to improved methods of transport.
Route to Chaos in Generalized Logistic Map

Motivated by a possibility to optimize modelling of the population evolution we postulate a generalization of the well-know logistic map. Generalized difference equation reads: \begin{equation} x_{n+1}=rx^p_n(1-x^q_n), \end{equation} $x\in[0,1],\;(p,q)>0,\;n=0,1,2,. $, where the two new parameters $p$ and $q$ may assume any positive values. The standard logistic map thus corresponds to the case $p=q=1$. For such a generalized equation we illustrate the character of the transition from regularity to chaos as a function of $r$ for the whole spectrum of $p$ and $q$ parameters. As an example we consider the case for $p=1$ and $q=2$ both in the periodic and chaotic regime. We focus on the character of the corresponding bifurcation sequence and on the quantitative nature of the resulting attractor as well as its universal attribute (Feigenbaum constant).
A Parallel Algorithm for Large-Scale Multiple Sequence Alignment

Multiple sequence alignment is a central topic of extensive research in computational biology. Basically, two or more protein sequences are compared to evaluate their similarity and to identify conserved regions. This work reports a methodology for parallel processing of a multiple sequence alignment algorithm (ClustalW) in an environment of networked computers. A detailed description of the modules that compose the distributed system is provided, giving special attention to the way a dynamic programming algorithm is run in multilevel parallelism. Extensive experiments were done to evaluate performance and scalability of the reported method. Results suggest that the proposed method is very promising for large-scale multiple protein sequence alignment.
Adherence to HIV postexposure prophylaxis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction:We evaluated variations in completion rates for HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) according to the exposure type (occupational, nonoccupational, and sexual assault), patient, and programme characteristics. Methods:Four major databases were searched together with conference abstract databases from inception to 1 December 2013, updated in PubMed on 1 June 2014. Randomized and nonrandomized studies reporting completion rates for PEP were included regardless of exposure type, age, or geographical location and data pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Results:Ninety-seven studies, reporting outcomes on 21 462 PEP initiations, were reviewed. Nonoccupational exposure to HIV was the main reason for PEP in 34 studies (n = 11 840), occupational exposure in 22 studies (n = 3058), sexual assault in 26 studies (n = 3093), and the remainder of studies (15 studies, n = 3471) reported outcomes for mixed exposures. Overall, 56.6% [95% confidence (CI) 50.9–62.2%; &tgr;2 0.25] of people considered eligible for PEP completed the full standard 28-day course. Compared with the overall estimate of PEP completion, rates were highest for studies reporting PEP for nonoccupational exposures (65.6%, 95% CI 55.6–75.6%) and lowest for sexual assault (40.2%, 95% CI 31.2–49.2%); higher rates of PEP completion were also reported for MSM (67.2%, 95% CI 59.5–74.9%). Completion rates appeared to be lower for adolescents (36.6%, 95% CI 4.0–69.2%) compared with adults (59.1%, 95% CI 53.9–64.2%) or children (64.0%, 95% CI 41.2–86.8%). Conclusion:Adherence to a full 28-day course of antiretroviral drugs prescribed for PEP is poor. Efforts should be made to simplify guidelines for prescribers and support adherence for people taking PEP, with particular attention needed for adolescents and victims of sexual assault.
Factors associated with adherence to nucleos(t)ide analogs in chronic hepatitis B patients: results from a 1-year follow-up study

Little is known about the factors associated with patient compliance with nucleos(t)ide analog (NUC) treatment for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The purpose of this study was to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and adherence to NUCs among patients with CHB. A total of 211 CHB patients receiving NUC monotherapy were asked to report the number of prescribed doses of medication they had taken during the last 90 days. A total of four 3-month adherence scores were averaged to obtain a combined rate of NUC adherence during a 1-year follow up period. The mean age of the patients was 29.6 years, 79% were men, and 68% had no prior NUC treatment for CHB. Females, patients without a previous NUC treatment, and those who had NUC drug resistance showed better adherence to NUC treatment, and compliance was better with telbivudine than with lamivudine and entecavir.
Self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) – challenges and road ahead

Abstract Self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) has emerged as a vital strategy to formulate poor water soluble compounds for bioavailability enhancement. However, certain limitations are associated with SMEDDS formulations which include in vivo drug precipitation, formulation handling issues, limited lymphatic uptake, lack of predictive in vitro tests and oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. These limitations restrict their potential usage. Inclusion of polymers or precipitation inhibitors within lipid based formulations helps to maintain drug supersaturation after dispersion. This, thereby, improves the bioavailability and reduces the variability on exposure. Also, formulating solid SMEDDS helps to overcome liquid handling and stability problems. Usage of medium chain triglycerides (MCT) and suitable antioxidants to minimize oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids are few of the steps to overcome the limitations associated with SMEDDS. The review discussed here, in detail, the limitations of SMEDDS and suitable measures that can be taken to overcome them.
The role of dietary microparticles and calcium in apoptosis and interleukin-1beta release of intestinal macrophages.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The intestinal mucosa is exposed to micron-sized, man-made exogenous particles (e.g., titanium dioxide) and freshly formed endogenous particles (calcium phosphate). A role for such microparticles in inflammation has been proposed, and here we examined their effects on lamina propria mononuclear cells. METHODS Lamina propria mononuclear cells were isolated from patients with and without inflammatory bowel disease and incubated with lipopolysaccharide, titanium dioxide, and calcium +/- citrate, as well as a conjugate of lipopolysaccharide, calcium, and titanium dioxide. Interleukin-1beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in culture supernatants and macrophage apoptosis by flow cytometry. Mechanistic studies were undertaken in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS Baseline levels of interleukin-1beta and macrophage apoptosis were greater in inflammatory bowel disease than in normal lamina propria mononuclear cells. Lipopolysaccharide and titanium dioxide had no additional effect, but calcium, and more so the conjugate, induced interleukin-1beta release in proportion to the degree of inflammation. Citrate, used to prevent in situ calcium phosphate formation, negated lamina propria mononuclear cell stimulation. Macrophage apoptosis was also increased by calcium and the conjugate. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells, inhibition of caspase 1 reduced interleukin-1beta secretion, whereas blockade of phagocytosis inhibited calcium-induced apoptosis and interleukin-1beta release. CONCLUSIONS The endogenous luminal microparticle calcium phosphate Promotes apoptosis of intestinal macrophages. Concomitantly, interleukin-1beta is released, which is enhanced in the presence of inflamed cells and/or exogenous dietary microparticles. Endogenous or exogenous microparticles could aggravate the ongoing inflammation of inflammatory bowel disease.
Inside the Social Network’s (Datacenter) Network – Public Review

This paper presents a first look into the traffic characteristics of the workloads in datacenters operated by Facebook. In doing so, the paper extends the publicly available knowledge-base on production workloads. As well, it offers some novel and interesting measurements. First, the Hadoop clusters operated at Facebook exhibit substantially smaller amounts of rack locality than previously reported. That is, more than 80% of the traffic crosses racks. Second, in spite of the above lack of locality, the overall network link utilization is quite small– an average of less than 10% on all potential bottlenecks. Links that support Hadoop traffic are much more likely to have a higher load relative to other links in the datacenter. And, diurnal changes in request load from users accounts for only a modest variation in network traffic (about 2×). Third, the other dominant application at Facebook is memcached-style request-response workload which comprises primarily of small packets and has some specific traffic patterns. Finally, the paper posits lack-of-stability-in-the-trafficmatrix, poor-predictability-of-heavy-hitters and goodapplication-level-load-balance as reasons that make fine grained traffic engineering not needed or not easily doable.
Traffic Sign Recognition for Intelligent Vehicle/Driver Assistance System Using Neural Network on OpenCV

Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) is used to regulate traffic signs, warn a driver, and command or prohibit certain actions. A fast real-time and robust automatic traffic sign detection and recognition can support and disburden the driver and significantly increase driving safety and comfort. Automatic recognition of traffic signs is also important for automated intelligent driving vehicle or driver assistance systems. This paper presents a study to recognize traffic sign patterns using Neural Networks technique. The images are pre-processed with several image processing techniques, such as, threshold techniques, Gaussian filter, Canny edge detection, Contour and Fit Ellipse. Then, the Neural Networks stages are performed to recognize the traffic sign patterns. The system is trained and validated to find the best network architecture. The experimental results show the highly accurate classifications of traffic sign patterns with complex background images and the computational cost of the proposed method.
Tracking extraction of blastomere for embryo biopsy

There is an emerging demand for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which is a procedure that diagnoses the embryo to prevent genetic diseases. This is especially true in developed countries where birth rates are dramatically low and assisted reproductive technology is gaining importance to obtain the birth of a healthy child. One procedure of PGD is embryo biopsy, which involves making an incision to the zona pellucida before extracting a blastomere from an in vitro fertilization embryo to test for genetic conditions (eg: thalassemia, cystic fibrosis) or genetic markers of cancer before transferring the embryo to the uterus. The current procedure is performed manually on day 3 when the embryo is at its 8-cells stage (meaning 8 blastomeres). However, embryos are fragile and dependent on optimal growth condition. Current manual methods are challenging and require necessitate outstanding technical skills only displayed by very experienced embryologists. One portion of the challenging task is the extraction of the blastomere. A steady extraction is required to avoid damaging the precious embryo. The extraction must not be performed too rapidly because the neighboring blastomeres will be affected and the embryo's viability will be compromised. Hence, this paper proposes a tracking algorithm to track the movement of the blastomere during extraction under a microscope as the first step to solving the extraction issue.
Mouse embryos with paternal duplication of an imprinted chromosome 7 region die at midgestation and lack placental spongiotrophoblast.

Imprinted genomic regions have been defined by the production of mice with uniparental inheritance or duplication of homologous chromosome regions. With most of the genome investigated, paternal duplication of only distal chromosomes 7 and 12 results in the lack of offspring, and prenatal lethality is presumed. Aberrant expression of imprinted genes in these two autosomal regions is therefore strongly implicated in the periimplantation lethality of androgenetic embryos. We report that mouse embryos with paternal duplication of distal chromosome 7 (PatDup.d7) die at midgestation and lack placental spongiotrophoblast. Thus, the much earlier death of androgenones must involve paternal duplication of other autosomal regions, acting independently of or synergistically with PatDup.d7. The phenotype observed is similar, if not identical to, that resulting from mutation of the imprinted distal chromosome 7 gene, Mash2, which in normal midgestation embryos exhibits spongiotrophoblast-specific maternally active/paternally inactive (m+/p-) allelic expression. Thus, the simplest explanation for the PatDup.d7 phenotype is p-/p- expression of this gene. We also confirm that PatDup.d7 embryos lack H19 RNA and posses excess Igf2 RNA as might be expected from the parental-specific activities of these genes in normal embryos.
Single fiber surface enhanced Raman scattering probe

Raman spectroscopy is a time honored technique for identifying molecular structures. In surface enhanced Raman scattering close proximity of the sample to so-called “hot spots” in a rough metallic surface enhances the Raman signal strength enormously. For in vivo applications an optical fiber in a narrow probe is desirable to minimize invasiveness. Unfortunately, in a long fiber to the spectrometer Raman scattering within the fiber masks the signal from the specimen. Systems are available which avoid this problem by using one fiber to transmit the exciting light, additional fibers to collect the scattered Raman light, and metallic nanoparticles disbursed within the specimen. Unfortunately, the Raman signal is up to thousands of times smaller than for a single fiber. In addition, variation in the dispersion of the nanoparticles makes comparisons between sites problematical. The authors have retained the advantages of a single fiber by coupling a short length to the spectrometer via a 1 m long air path in a.
Effects of Spatial Correlation on the Sum Rate Distribution of ZF Receivers in MU-MIMO Systems

The performance of multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) systems is not only affected by multi-path fading, but also by shadowing and path-loss. In this paper, we concentrate on the sum rate distribution of MU-MIMO systems employing linear zero-forcing receivers, accounting for both multi-path fading and shadowing effects, as well as spatial correlation at the transmit and receiver sides. In particular, we consider the classical spatially correlated lognormal model, and propose closed-form bounds on the distribution of achievable sum rates in MU-MIMO systems. With the help of these bounds, we derive a relationship between the inter-user distance and channel 10% outage sum rate under different environmental features. A practical conclusion from our results is that the effect of spatially correlated shadowing can be considered as independent when the inter-user distance is approximately five times the shadowing correlation distance. A detailed analysis of the effects of composite channel attenuation consisting of multi-path fading and shadowing is also provided.
Geographic Variation in Statin Use for Complex Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients: Evidence of Effective Care?

Background:Despite strong evidence to designate statin use for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as “effective care,” observational studies show that many patients with CVD do not receive statins. This suggests that statin prescribing decisions for complex CVD patients are preference sensitive. Objectives:The aim of this study was to evaluate local area variation in statin prescribing for subsets of complex patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to assess whether current statin prescribing patterns fit profiles of either “effective care” or “preference-sensitive care. ” Research Design and Subjects:This was a retrospective cohort study of 124,618 Medicare patients with fee-for-service parts A, B, and D benefits who were hospitalized with AMI in 2008 or 2009 with no evidence of AMI in the past 12 months. Measures:Patient complexity was defined by the presence of diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease in the year before AMI admission. Local area practice styles for “no statin,” “lower-intensity statins,” and “high-intensity statins” were measured using the driving area for clinical care method. Statin prescribing rates for complex patient subsets were contrasted across patients grouped by local areas practice styles. Results:Lower statin treatment rates were observed for patients with complex conditions, especially among those with heart failure. However, substantial local area variation in statin prescribing is observed across all complex patient groups. Conclusions:Despite guidelines promoting the use of statins for secondary prevention for CVD patients, substantial local area variation suggests that patient and provider beliefs and preferences weigh heavily in statin prescribing decisions.
A Conventional Authenticated-Encryption Mode

We propose a block-cipher mode of operation, EAX, for authenticated-encryption with associateddata (AEAD). Given a nonce N , a message M , and a header H, the mode protects the privacy of M and the authenticity of both M and H. Strings N, M, H E {0, 1} are arbitrary, and the mode uses 2→M/n∈ + →H/n∈ + →N/n∈ block-cipher calls when these strings are nonempty and n is the block length of the underlying block cipher. Among EAX’s characteristics are that it is on-line (the length of a message isn’t needed to begin processing it) and a fixed header can be pre-processed, effectively removing the per-message cost of binding it to the ciphertext. EAX is obtained by instantiating a simple genericcomposition method, EAX2, and then collapsing its two keys into one. EAX is provably secure under a standard complexity-theoretic assumption. EAX is an alternative to CCM [19], and is likewise patent-free.
Efficient stereo with multiple windowing

We present a new, efficient stereo algorithm addressing robust disparity estimation in the presence of occlusions. The algorithm is an adaptive, multi-window scheme using left-right consistency to compute disparity and its associated uncertainty. We demonstrate and discuss performances with both synthetic and real stereo pairs, and show how our results improve on those of closely related techniques for both robustness and efficiency.
Cognitive Instance-Based Learning Agents in a Multi-Agent Congestion Game

Simultaneous learning by multiple agents can lead to undesirable and unwanted dynamics because the learning creates a non-stationary environment for the other agents to learn against. Although humans often face this challenge, humans can often converge to good cooperative solutions in reasonable amounts of time. In this paper, we empirically compare a multi-agent learning approach inspired by human ways of learning against a more numerically intensive agent way of learning. Specically, agents must repeatedly traverse a graph and agents on the same edge will interfere with one another so learning is required to nd uncongested routes. We nd that human inspired instance-based learning performs at least as well as more quantitative and communication intensive approaches. Even when the overall system performance is closely matched, a look at the details of how the result was achieved shows considerable dierences between approaches. Some of the advantage can be attributed to the instance-based learning’s preference for sticking with known good solutions, because this creates stability that allows the other agents to learn. However, external disturbances, changes to the underlying system, can be more problematic for instance-based learning precisely because so much history is used.
An Efficient Real-Time Broadcast Authentication Scheme for Command and Control Messages

Broadcast (multicast) authentication is crucial for large and distributed systems, such as cyber-physical infrastructures (e.g., power-grid/smart-grid) and wireless networks (e.g., intervehicle networks, military ad hoc networks). These time-critical systems require real-time authentication of command and control messages in a highly efficient, secure, and scalable manner. However, existing solutions are either computationally costly (e.g., asymmetric cryptography) or unscalable/impractical (e.g., symmetric cryptography, one-time signatures, delayed key disclosure methods). In this paper, we develop a new broadcast authentication scheme that we call rapid authentication (RA), which is suitable for time-critical authentication of command and control messages in large and distributed systems. We exploit the semistructured nature of command and control messages to construct special digital signatures, which are computationally efficient both at the signer and verifier sides. We show that RA achieves several desirable properties that are not available in existing alternatives simultaneously: 1) fast signature generation and verification; 2) immediate verification; 3) constant size public key; 4) compact authenticating tag; 5) packet loss tolerance; 6) being free from time synchronization requirement; and 7) provable security.