Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of L-Dex® Measurements in Assessing Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema as Part of Routine Clinical Practice

Purpose With improved survivorship, the prevalence of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) continues to increase, leading to impairment of a patients’ quality of life. While traditional diagnostic methods are limited by an inability to detect BCRL until clinically apparent, bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) has been shown to detect subclinical BCRL. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of BIS in the early detection of BCRL, as well as assessment of response to BCRL treatment. Methods A retrospective review of 1,133 patients treated between November 2008 and July 2013 at two surgical practices was performed. Eligible patients (n = 326) underwent preoperative and postoperative L-Dex measurements. Patients were identified as having subclinical lymphedema if they were asymptomatic and the L-Dex score increased >10 U above baseline and were monitored following treatment. Patients were stratified by lymph node dissection technique [sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) vs. axillary lymph node dissection (ALND)] and receipt of BCRL treatment. Results The average age of the cohort was 56.2 years old, and mean follow-up was 21.7 months. Of the 326 patients, 210 underwent SLNB and 116 underwent ALND. BCRL was identified by L-Dex in 40 patients (12.3%). The cumulative incidence rate of subclinical lymphedema was 4.3% for SLNB (n = 9) and 26.7% for ALND (n = 31). Of those diagnosed with BCRL, 50% resolved following treatment, 27.5% underwent treatment without resolution, and 22.5% had resolution without treatment. The prevalence of persistent, clinical BCRL was 0.5% for SLNB and 8.6% for ALND. Conclusion This study demonstrates both the feasibility and clinical utility of implementing L-Dex measurements in routine breast cancer care. L-Dex identified patients with possible subclinical BCRL and allowed for assessment of response to therapy.
Stabilization of Myc through Heterotypic Poly-Ubiquitination by mLANA Is Critical for γ-Herpesvirus Lymphoproliferation

Host colonization by lymphotropic γ-herpesviruses depends critically on expansion of viral genomes in germinal center (GC) B-cells. Myc is essential for the formation and maintenance of GCs. Yet, the role of Myc in the pathogenesis of γ-herpesviruses is still largely unknown. In this study, Myc was shown to be essential for the lymphotropic γ-herpesvirus MuHV-4 biology as infected cells exhibited increased expression of Myc signature genes and the virus was unable to expand in Myc defficient GC B-cells. We describe a novel strategy of a viral protein activating Myc through increased protein stability resulting in increased progression through the cell cycle. This is acomplished by modulating a physiological post-translational regulatory pathway of Myc. The molecular mechanism involves Myc heterotypic poly-ubiquitination mediated via the viral E3 ubiquitin-ligase mLANA protein. EC5SmLANA modulates cellular control of Myc turnover by antagonizing SCFFbw7 mediated proteasomal degradation of Myc, mimicking SCFβ-TrCP. The findings here reported reveal that modulation of Myc is essential for γ-herpesvirus persistent infection, establishing a link between virus induced lymphoproliferation and disease.
Optimizing and Learning for Super-resolution

In multiple-image super-resolution, a high resolution image is estimated from a number of lower-resolution images. This involves computing the parameters of a generative imaging model (such as geometric and photometric registration, and blur) and obtaining a MAP estimate by minimizing a cost function including an appropriate prior. We consider the quite general geometric registration situation modelled by a plane projective transformation, and make two novel contributions: (i) in previous approaches the MAP estimate has been obtained by fir st computing and fixing the registration, and then computing the super-re solution image with this registration. We demonstrate that superior estim ates are obtained by optimizing over both the registration and image; (ii) the parameters of the edge preserving prior are learnt automatically from the data, rather than being set by trial and error. We show examples on a number of real sequences including multiple stills, digital video, and DVDs of movies.
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 5-2-2012 INSIGHTS FROM THE UNDERGROUND : USING ANT TO UNDERSTAND PRACTICES AND MOTIVATIONS FOR FILE SHARING IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Underground music file sharing communities are online social spaces that facilitate the sharing of mostly unauthorised digital content. This paper proposes underground file sharing communities as subcultures, and explores the Roswell community from theoretical perspectives of group formation and translation from Actor-network theory (ANT) to gain a better understanding of the motivations for file sharing. Through observations and supporting interviews, a detailed discussion of underground file sharing communities is presented. The discussion reveals interesting insights about the ‘black box’ of file sharing, and the ideologies of those involved. Scarcity and quality are strong motivators for engaging in underground file sharing communities, with access to high quality music files and scarce music files being a reward for actively participating. The quality of content is maintained through strict rules for converting and uploading new music. Because underground communities are quite sophisticated, it is argued that it is possible to learn from them and use this knowledge in the development of future online music systems and communities.
No complete linear term rewriting system for propositional logic

Recently it has been observed that the set of all sound linear inference rules in propositional logic is already coNP-complete, i.e. that every Boolean tautology can be written as a (left- and right-) linear rewrite rule. This raises the question of whether there is a rewriting system on linear terms of propositional logic that is sound and complete for the set of all such rewrite rules. We show in this paper that, as long as reduction steps are polynomial-time decidable, such a rewriting system does not exist unless coNP=NP. We draw tools and concepts from term rewriting, Boolean function theory and graph theory in order to access the required intermediate results. At the same time we make several connections between these areas that, to our knowledge, have not yet been presented and constitute a rich theoretical framework for reasoning about linear TRSs for propositional logic.
Content cloaking: preserving privacy with Google Docs and other web applications

Web office suites such as Google Docs offer unparalleled collaboration experiences in terms of low software requirements, ease of use, data ubiquity, and availability. When the data holder (Google, Microsoft, etc.) is not perceived as trusted though, those benefits are considered at stake with important privacy requirements. Content cloaking is a lightweight, cryptographic, client-side solution to protect content from data holders while using web office suites and other "Web 2.0", AJAX-based, collaborative applications.
Mechanical Signals Trigger Myosin II Redistribution and Mesoderm Invagination in Drosophila Embryos

Mesoderm invagination during gastrulation is controlled by mechanical cues that promote Fog signaling and redistribution of a motor protein. Poking Cells into Invaginating Mesoderm invagination is the first step toward building the second of the three layers during embryogenesis. In Drosophila, mesoderm invagination is a two-step process, each step under the control of a specific transcription factor. Pouille et al. provide evidence that the first wave of cell constriction, which is controlled by Snail, triggers a mechanical signal that generates the second wave of cell constriction, which is controlled by Twist, and together these two cell constriction events lead to mesoderm invagination. The mechanical signal from the first constriction wave inhibits endocytosis, which promotes signaling of the secreted protein Fog, and stimulates the redistribution of the motor protein Myosin II. In Drosophila embryos lacking Snail and, thus, lacking this first wave of cell constriction, mesoderm invagination can be restored by mechanical indentation of the embryo at the appropriate time during development or by inhibiting endocytosis with the use of a temperature-sensitive form of dynamin, a protein required for clathrin-mediated endocytosis. During Drosophila gastrulation, two waves of constriction occur in the apical ventral cells, leading to mesoderm invagination. The first constriction wave is a stochastic process mediated by the constriction of 40% of randomly positioned mesodermal cells and is controlled by the transcription factor Snail. The second constriction wave immediately follows and involves the other 60% of the mesodermal cells. The second wave is controlled by the transcription factor Twist and requires the secreted protein Fog. Complete mesoderm invagination requires redistribution of the motor protein Myosin II to the apical side of the constricting cells. We show that apical redistribution of Myosin II and mesoderm invagination, both of which are impaired in snail homozygous mutants that are defective in both constriction waves, are rescued by local mechanical deformation of the mesoderm with a micromanipulated needle. Mechanical deformation appears to promote Fog-dependent signaling by inhibiting Fog endocytosis. We propose that the mechanical tissue deformation that occurs during the Snail-dependent stochastic phase is necessary for the Fog-dependent signaling that mediates the second collective constriction wave.
FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITY OF WORK LIFE: Empirical Evidence From Indian Organizations

The study undertaken explored the factors of quality of working-life experiences in organizations. The study focused on 100 employees holding middle managerial positions in various organizations. The Cronbach’s alpha of the questionnaire was found to be 0.862& Pearson correlation was 0.924 (p<0.001). The factor analysis of the component ‘quality of working-life experiences’ led to the extraction of 3 factors from various organizations. The three emerging factors were “relationship-sustenance orientation”, “futuristic and professional orientation” and “self-deterministic and systemic orientation”. The results indicate that these factors have substantial roles to play in satiating the needs of the employees and how at middle managerial level different aspects are valued and employed for developing a unique and inimitable quality of working life within their socio-technical systems for eliciting favorable job-related responses.
Toward Intelligent Searching the Rough Set Database System (RSDS): an Ontological Approach

The main goal of this paper is to give the outline of some approach to intelligent searching the Rough Set Database System (RSDS). RSDS is a bibliographical system containing bibliographical descriptions of publications connected with methodology of rough sets and its applications. The presented approach bases on created ontologies which are models for the considered domain (rough set theory, its applications and related fields) and for information about publications coming from, for example, abstracts.
No relationship between vertebral column shifts and limb fluctuating asymmetry in human foetuses

Disturbance from the normal developmental trajectory of a trait during growth—the so-called developmental instability—can be observed morphologically through phenodeviants and subtle deviations from perfect symmetry (fluctuating asymmetry). This study investigates the relationship between phenodeviance in the human vertebral column (as a result of axial patterning defects) and limb fluctuating asymmetry. Since both types of markers of developmental instability have been found associated with congenital abnormalities in humans, we anticipate a relationship between them if the concept of developmental instability, measured through either phenodeviants or asymmetry, would reflect an organism-wide process. Yet we did not find any support for this hypothesis. We argue that the vast differences in the developmental processes involved in both systems renders these two markers of developmental instability unrelated, in spite of their associations with other congenital abnormalities. Our results thus contribute to the growing awareness that developmental instability is not an organism-wide property.
Patterns in SNMP-Based Network Management

The current Internet management architecture (SNMP) focuses on network device management and low-level instrumentation data. A lot of activity is under way to replace or complement it with a solution covering enterprise management at large, which also includes the management of systems, applications, and services. In this exercise, the management community runs the risk of throwing the baby out wthe bath water, as too much emphasis is put on a few well-known problems in SNMP (e.g., its poor scalability), and too little on its other characteristics, including those that contributed to its success. One way to avoid this is to explicitly capture the experience gained in SNMP-based network management. In this paper, we make one step in this direction by studying the SNMP management architecture from a software engineering standpoint, and iden tifying in it some of the architectural and design patterns defined in the literature. By characterizing Internet network management in the lingua franca of patterns, we strive to help retain the strengths of SNMP in future management architectures and make it easier for new software engineers to move to Internet management.
Carbohydrate Yield and Biomethane Potential from Enzymatically Hydrolysed Saccharina latissima and Its Industrial Potential

The demand for fuel for utilisation of machinery and transport has culminated in large amounts of fossil fuel usage in the last century. The environmental dangers attached with the usage of fossil fuels have created a large demand for alternative sources of fuels. There is an array of polysaccharides contained within macroalgae, such as mannitol, cellulose and laminarin. These polysaccharides have potential for production of alternative biofuels; however, they are not easily accessible for biological digestion. By pretreatment of macroalgae with enzymes, these polysaccharides may be easier to access by microbes, allowing effective utilization in anaerobic digestion. Saccharina latissima, available in abundance on the Norwegian coast line, is a brown macroalgae with a high level of carbohydrates. This study assesses the ability for utilisation of enzymatically pre-treated Saccharina latissima for production of biogas through anaerobic digestion. The harvested Saccharina latissima was analysed to contain 30.11 ± 2.30 g of reducing sugars per 100 g of dry sample upon enzymatic hydrolysis. This was able to yield 459 ± 30 mL per gVS of biogas through anaerobic digestion, with a methane content of 56%. This suggests a biomethane potential of 1760 m3 per ha of productive sea floor growing Saccharina latissima. An evaluation of this process has been performed to demonstrate the industrial potential of Saccharina latissima in biogas production.
Oxalate-induced activation of PKC- and-regulates NADPH oxidase-mediated oxidative injury in renal tubular epithelial cells

Thamilselvan V, Menon M, Thamilselvan S. Oxalate-induced activation of PKCand regulates NADPH oxidase-mediated oxidative injury in renal tubular epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 297: F1399–F1410, 2009. First published August 19, 2009; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00051. 2009. —Oxalate-induced oxidative stress contributes to cell injury and promotes renal deposition of calcium oxalate crystals. However, we do not know how oxalate stimulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) in renal tubular epithelial cells. We investigated the signaling mechanism of oxalate-induced ROS formation in these cells and found that oxalate significantly increased membrane-associated protein kinase C (PKC) activity while at the same time lowering cytosolic PKC activity. Oxalate markedly translocated PKCand from the cytosol to the cell membrane. Pretreatment of LLC-PK1 cells with specific inhibitors of PKCor significantly blocked oxalate-induced generation of superoxide and hydrogen peroxide along with NADPH oxidase activity, LDH release, lipid hydroperoxide formation, and apoptosis. The PKC activator PMA mimicked oxalate’s effect on oxidative stress in LLC-PK1 cells as well as cytosol-to-membrane translocation of PKCand . Silencing of PKCexpression by PKC-specific small interfering RNA significantly attenuated oxalate-induced cell injury by decreasing hydrogen peroxide generation and LDH release. We believe this is the first demonstration that PKCand -dependent activation of NADPH oxidase is one of the mechanisms responsible for oxalateinduced oxidative injury in renal tubular epithelial cells. The study suggests that the therapeutic approach might be considered toward attenuating oxalate-induced PKC signaling-mediated oxidative injury in recurrent stone formers.
The ice-nucleating ability of quartz immersed in water and its atmospheric importance compared to K-feldspar

Abstract. Mineral dust particles are thought to be an important type of ice-nucleating particle (INP) in the mixed-phase cloud regime around the globe. While K-rich feldspar (K-feldspar) has been identified as being a particularly important component of mineral dust for ice nucleation, it has been shown that quartz is also relatively ice-nucleation active. Given quartz typically makes up a substantial proportion of atmospheric desert dust, it could potentially be important for cloud glaciation. Here, we survey the ice-nucleating ability of 10 α-quartz samples (the most common quartz polymorph) when immersed in microlitre supercooled water droplets. Despite all samples being α-quartz, the temperature at which they induce freezing varies by around 12 ∘C for a constant active site density. We find that some quartz samples are very sensitive to ageing in both aqueous suspension and air, resulting in a loss of ice-nucleating activity, while other samples are insensitive to exposure to air and water over many months. For example, the ice-nucleation temperatures for one quartz sample shift down by ∼2 ∘C in 1 h and 12 ∘C after 16 months in water. The sensitivity to water and air is perhaps surprising, as quartz is thought of as a chemically resistant mineral, but this observation suggests that the active sites responsible for nucleation are less stable than the bulk of the mineral. We find that the quartz group of minerals is generally less active than K-feldspars by roughly 7 ∘C, although the most active quartz samples are of a similar activity to some K-feldspars with an active site density, ns(T), of 1 cm−2 at −9 ∘C. We also find that the freshly milled quartz samples are generally more active by roughly 5 ∘C than the plagioclase feldspar group of minerals and the albite end member has an intermediate activity. Using both the new and literature data, active site density parameterizations have been proposed for freshly milled quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and albite. Combining these parameterizations with the typical atmospheric abundance of each mineral supports previous work that suggests that K-feldspar is the most important ice-nucleating mineral in airborne mineral dust.
Influence of epitopes CD44v3 and CD44v6 in the invasive behavior of fibroblast-like synoviocytes derived from rheumatoid arthritic joints.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the functional implications of CD44 splice variant expression in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) obtained from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS FLS were isolated from synovial tissue obtained from both diseased and nondiseased joints. The expression of splice variants containing exons v3 and v6 was analyzed using immunocytochemistry with exon-specific antibodies and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction followed by Southern blotting. The invasive capacity of the cells was studied in a transwell invasion assay. RESULTS FLS obtained from RA joints expressed various CD44 splicing combinations containing the variant exons v3 and/or v6. These cells were highly invasive, whereas cells from normal tissues, which lacked expression of CD44 splice variants, were not. Variant exons CD44v3 and CD44v6 were instrumental in matrix invasion in vitro, with cells enriched for CD44v3 and v6 exhibiting greater invasion and antibodies that specifically recognize CD44v3 and v6 abrogating this capacity to invade. Invasive cells showed a reduced expression of CD44v7/8, and antibodies against this epitope had no significant effect on cellular infiltration of the matrix. The antibodies had no effect on cell migration into the porous section of the transwell. CONCLUSION FLS obtained from patients with RA express CD44 splice variants and are highly invasive, whereas cells obtained from healthy tissue do not express these variants and are not invasive. Expression of the epitopes CD44v3 and CD44v6 is instrumental in the invasive capacity but not in cell migration. This finding highlights a functional implication for the expression of CD44 splice variants at the level of matrix degradation.
Mercury: Enabling remote procedure call for high-performance computing

Remote procedure call (RPC) is a technique that has been largely adopted by distributed services. This technique, now more and more used in the context of high-performance computing (HPC), allows the execution of routines to be delegated to remote nodes, which can be set aside and dedicated to specific tasks. However, existing RPC frameworks assume a socket-based network interface (usually on top of TCP/IP), which is not appropriate for HPC systems, because this API does not typically map well to the native network transport used on those systems, resulting in lower network performance. In addition, existing RPC frameworks often do not support handling large data arguments, such as those found in read or write calls. We present in this paper an asynchronous RPC interface, called Mercury, specifically designed for use in HPC systems. The interface allows asynchronous transfer of parameters and execution requests and provides direct support of large data arguments. Mercury is generic in order to allow any function call to be shipped. Additionally, the network implementation is abstracted, allowing easy porting to future systems and efficient use of existing native transport mechanisms.
Emotion Actuator: Embodied Emotional Feedback through Electroencephalography and Electrical Muscle Stimulation

The human body reveals emotional and bodily states through measurable signals, such as body language and electroencephalography. However, such manifestations are difficult to communicate to others remotely. We propose EmotionActuator, a proof-of-concept system to investigate the transmission of emotional states in which the recipient performs emotional gestures to understand and interpret the state of the sender.We call this kind of communication embodied emotional feedback, and present a prototype implementation. To realize our concept we chose four emotional states: amused, sad, angry, and neutral. We designed EmotionActuator through a series of studies to assess emotional classification via EEG, and create an EMS gesture set by comparing composed gestures from the literature to sign-language gestures. Through a final study with the end-to-end prototype interviews revealed that participants like implicit sharing of emotions and find the embodied output to be immersive, but want to have control over shared emotions and with whom. This work contributes a proof of concept system and set of design recommendations for designing embodied emotional feedback systems.