Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Try Before you Buy: SDN Emulation with (Real) Interdomain Routing

Adoption of Software Defined Networking (SDN) remains largely confined to data center networks, where network architects frequently have the luxury of designing and deploying within a tightly controlled greenfield environment. In comparison, adoption of SDN technologies within existing ISP and enterprise networks depends on the network operator’s ability to evaluate SDN’s impact and define a transition plan with confidence. Unfortunately, existing tools for emulating SDN networks do not support the evaluation of interactions with components found in today’s networks, such as intradomain routing policies and interdomain interactions with other autonomous systems. Within this work, we explain how our testbed provides network operators with comprehensive, 1:1 emulation of an existing network, which can then be used to experiment with SDN and evaluate its impact. We believe that our testbed will provide operators with a better understanding of how SDN fits into their existing networks, thus making SDN technologies more accessible to the broader community.
Tracking and Understanding Unknown Surface With High Speed by Force Sensing and Control for Robot

Robot's blind tracking of an unknown surface with high speed is a critical problem of force control, to avoid damage to breakable objects, such as a bulb. It must deal with a typical action-based intelligence directly from force sensing to action in robot tracking and understanding of unknown external environments. Bio-inspired by human finger tracking, the realization of high-speed tracking relies on the real-time understanding and prediction of surface tendency, including the geometric feature and roughness. This paper presents an action-based intelligent frame for robot to track and understand an unknown surface with high speed using force sensing and control. The moving frame of force and position parallel control is built to obtain the differential geometric properties of an unknown surface. The motion trajectory is dynamically predicted by force sensing while tracking an unknown surface. A hybrid interpolator is developed to realize the parallel control of force and position. Moreover, a discriminant method for basic surface type recognition is investigated based on the normal curvature and geodesic torsion directly derived from the moving frame. The surface of revolution is further identified in the global understanding of unknown surface. The results of tracking a bulb with a desired contact force at a speed of 25 mm/s show the effectiveness of the proposed intelligent frame.
Phase 1 Trial of Allogeneic Gene-Modified Tumor Cell Vaccine RCC-26 / CD 80 / IL-2 in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Preclinical studies showed that the allogeneic tumor cell line RCC-26 displayed natural immunogenic potential that was enhanced through expression of CD80 costimulatory molecules and secretion of interleukin-2. Here we report the study of RCC-26=CD80=IL-2 cells in a phase 1 vaccine trial of renal cell carcinoma patients with metastatic disease (mRCC). Fifteen patients of the HLA-A*0201 allotype, with at least one metastatic lesion, were included. Irradiated vaccine cells were applied in increasing doses of 2.5, 10, and 40 10 cells over 22 weeks. Primary study parameters included safety and toxicity. Sequential blood samples were analyzed by interferon-g enzyme-linked immunospot assays to detect tumor antigen-associated (TAA) effector cells. The vaccine was well tolerated and the designated vaccination course was completed in 9 of 15 patients. Neither vaccine-induced autoimmunity nor systemic side effects were observed. Delayed-type hypersensitivity skin reactions were detected in 11 of 12 evaluated patients and were particularly strong in patients with prolonged survival. In parallel, vaccine-induced immune responses against vaccine or overexpressed TAA were detected in 9 of 12 evaluated patients. No tumor regressions occurred according to RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) criteria; however, median time to progression was 5.3 months and median survival was 15.6 months, indicating substantial disease stabilization. We conclude that vaccine use was safe and feasible in mRCC. Clinical benefits were limited in these patients with advanced disease; however, immune monitoring revealed vaccine-induced responses against multiple TAAs in the majority of study participants. These results suggest that this vaccine could be useful in combination therapies and=or minimal residual disease.
A method for creating chromosome-specific plasmid libraries enriched in clones containing [CA]n microsatellite repeat sequences directly from flow-sorted chromosomes.

Microsatellite repeat sequences, such as (dC-dA)0, or (dG-dT)n, are abundant DNA elements interspersed throughout the genome which exhibit length polymorphism and can be utilised as a source of informative genetic markers (1, 2). Recent efforts on the large scale global generation of these markers for mapping procedures (3) have used non-specific source material, for example genomic DNA, to randomly generate markers throughout the genome. Because of the non-specific nature of this approach there are areas of chromosomes, such as 9p and 9qter where the distribution of markers is less dense thus genetic mapping information is scarce. Generating chromosome- or YAC-specific libraries allows discrete areas of the genome to be examined. We have developed a new method for enriching and isolating microsatellite polymorphisms from flow-sorted material. The method uses random PCR amplification of flow-sorted chromosomes and selects DNA containing [CA]L sequences before cloning to produce a library of CA-enriched clones. Three hundred flow-sorted 9qh- chromosomes (9M01) were amplified with the degenerate oligonucleotide primer (DOP) 6-MW (5'CCG ACT CGA GNN NNN NAT GTG G 3'); a primer of partially degenerate sequence which facilitates priming from multiple loci (4). Each reaction was performed in a 50 1A volume containing 25 mM N-Tris (hydroxymethyl)methyl-3-amino-propanesulfonic acid (TAPS), pH 9.3, 50 mM KCl, 1 mM DTT, 2 mM MgCl2, 0.05%
Insig-1 “brakes” lipogenesis in adipocytes and inhibits differentiation of preadipocytes

We have examined gene expression in the fat tissue of normal mice at the onset of diet-induced obesity. Insulin-induced gene 1 (insig-1) mRNA rose progressively with a high-fat diet and declined on a restricted diet. Because insig-1 binds sterol regulatory element-binding protein cleavage-activating protein in the endoplasmic reticulum, thereby blocking proteolytic processing required for sterol regulatory element-binding protein activation, we tested its influence on lipogenesis. In differentiating 3T3-L1 cells, insig-1 and -2 rose in parallel with aP2 mRNA during differentiation. The mRNA of the lipogenic transcription factor, carbohydrate response element-binding protein, was undetectable in undifferentiated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes but rose dramatically during differentiation in 25 mM, but not in 5 mM, glucose. Transfection of mouse or human insig-1 into 3T3-L1 preadipocytes completely prevented oil red O staining and blocked upregulation of aP2, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ2, and carbohydrate response element-binding protein, while reducing down-regulation of preadipocyte factor 1. The results suggest that insig-1 expression restricts lipogenesis in mature adipocytes and blocks differentiation in preadipocytes.
Vibrio cholerae Intestinal Population Dynamics in the Suckling Mouse Model of Infection

ABSTRACT The suckling mouse has been used as a model to identifyVibrio cholerae intestinal colonization factors for over two decades, yet little is known about the location of recoverable organisms along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract following intragastric inoculation. In the present study, we determined the population dynamics of wild-type and avirulent mutant derivatives of both classical and El Tor biotype strains throughout the entire suckling mouse GI tract at various times after intragastric inoculation. Wild-type strains preferentially colonized the middle small bowel with a sharp demarcation between more proximal segments which had manyfold-fewer recoverable cells. Surprisingly, large and stable populations of viable cells were also recovered from the cecum and large bowel. Strains lacking toxin-coregulated pili (TCP−) were cleared from the small bowel; however, an El Tor TCP−strain colonized the cecum and large bowel almost as well as the wild-type strain. Strains lacking lipopolysaccharide O antigen (OA−) were efficiently cleared from the small bowel at early times but then showed net growth for the remainder of the infections. Moreover, large populations of the OA− strains were maintained in the large bowel. These results show that for the El Tor biotype neither TCP nor OA is required for colonization of the suckling mouse large bowel. Finally, similar percent recoveries of wild-type, TCP−, and OA− strains from the small bowel at an early time after infection suggest that TCP and OA are not required for strains of either biotype to resist bactericidal mechanisms in the suckling mouse GI tract.
Morphology and Metabolism of Intact Muscle Cells Isolated from Adult Rat Heart

Morphologically intact muscle cells were prepared by perfusing adult rat hearts with a balanced salt medium containing 0.1% collagenase and 0.2% hyaluronidase. Yields of intact cells representing up to 25% of the weight of the heart were obtained. The cells separated along the line of the intercalated discs, with cleavage of desmosomes but with tearing of the plasma membrane in the region of the gap junction, so that when two contiguous cells were parted, the gap junction was retained intact attached to one of the cells. The fine structure of undamaged cells was indistinguishable from that of normal myocardial cells in situ, whereas damaged cells characteristically revealed numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles, clumping of myofilaments, and blebbing of the cell membrane, but morphologically normal mitochondria. The earliest lesion detected was a dilatation of the T (transverse tubular) system. Respiration in the intact cells was linear for 30 to 60 minutes and approximately two to three times the rate observed with heart muscle slices or the arrested isolated perfused heart. Oxygen uptake was stimulated by pyruvate but not by lactate. These observations demonstrate the feasibility of preparing intact isolated cells from adult rat heart and their potential value in histologic, pharmacologic, and metabolic studies.
Apoptotic effect of PP2 a Src tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in murine B cell leukemia

Src is a non‐receptor protein tyrosine kinase that transduces signals regulating cell growth and differentiation. We report here that activation of signaling pathway after blockade of tyrosine phosphorylation by PP2 (4‐amino‐5‐(4‐chloro‐phenyl)‐7‐(t‐butyl)pyrazolo[3,4‐d]pyrimidine), a potent and selective inhibitor of the Src‐family tyrosine kinase, can lead to cell death in murine B cell leukemia, 70Z/3. Death from PP2 occurred by apoptosis as indicated by the induction of caspase activation and annexin V/propidium iodide staining. Interestingly, PP2 was found to be able to enhance the DNA binding activity of nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) before induction of apoptosis without accompanying by increased phosphorylation of inhibitor of NF‐κB‐α (IκB‐α). Additionally, immunoblotting analysis with PP2‐treated cell extract demonstrated that, compared to other protein kinase C (PKC) isotypes, the translocation of novel PKC isotypes from the cytosol to membrane fraction was sustained for a longer time. These data suggest that the inhibition of Src‐mediated tyrosine phosphorylation by PP2 may tilt the balance between each PKC isotypes, which in turn, activate NF‐κB transcription factor, leading to apoptosis. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Using Hybrid Similarity Methods for Plagiarism Detection Notebook for PAN at CLEF 2013

At PAN2013 we decided to focus entirely on Text Alignment subtask. Following our previous experience at PAN2012 and CLINSS2012, we decided to put together the approaches we used in previous year to face the new challenges of PAN2013. This year competition added new way of plagiarism obfuscation via text summarization. This particular feature required represents a wide variety of typical cases of plagiarism in the wild and thus attracted our scientific interest. At this year PAN we put forward two main goals: 1) to develop a unified approach that will allow us to merge results obtained by different analysis methods and then run a unified clusterization algorithm to tackle the problem of granularity and produce clean clusters of suspected plagiarism 2) develop a new method of detecting summarization within the suspected documents. As a starting point at PAN 2013 we utilized the prototype application we developed for PAN 2012 and another application developed for FIRE 2012 (CLINSS task). Two basic approaches are fingerprinting via 5gramm hashes with variable step as our main method and sliding window TFIDF weighting score for similarity detection of pre-processed summarization via custom text summarizer. Euclidian distance based clusterization with additional custom filters method was used as our cluster merging technique. During the training stage we used the PAN 2012\PAN2013 provided data and performance measures scripts incorporated with genetic algorithm for best parameter tuning and overall performance. Hardware used (training\ development): 6-core Intel i7990Ex with 6GB RAM PC, Vertex3 SSD. Software used: Windows 7 x64, Visual Studio 2010, . net framework, C#, vb.net. We obtained the 6th overall score at PAN2013 with final p-det 0,6152.
Diagnosis of Headache in Childhood and Adolescence: A Study in 437 Patients

We investigated whether the criteria for idiopathic headache published by the International Headache Society (IHS) are useful in childhood and adolescence and compared the diagnoses according to this classification with those of Vahlquist. We used a semi-structured questionnaire to examine a total of 437 children and adolescents referred consecutively to a headache outpatient clinic. Twenty-eight of 437 patients were excluded because of symptomatic or unclassifiable headache. Of 409 patients with idiopathic headache, 70.4% had definite migraine or tension-type headache (IHS 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2), 20.5% had a migrainous disorder (IHS 1.7) and 9.1% had headache of the tension-type not fulfilling the criteria (IHS 2.3). In the differential diagnosis of migraine and tension-type headache the intensity of pain, aggravation of headache by physical activity, nausea and vomiting were the most important features. The quality of pain, photo- and phonophobia were less helpful and location least important. The duration of migraine attacks was less than 2 h in 19.0% of the migraine patients. In general, the diagnostic criteria of migraine were highly specific but less sensitive, and those of tension-type headache highly sensitive but less specific. The agreement between IHS criteria and those of Vahlquist was marked (kappa = 0.57). We conclude that the IHS criteria are useful for classifying headache in children and adolescents referred to a headache outpatient clinic. A forthcoming modification of the IHS criteria should consider a reduction of the minimum duration of migraine attacks from 2 h to I h and should try to increase the sensitivity of the criteria for migraine and the specificity of the criteria for tension-type headache.
Juvenile Nutritional Stress Affects Growth Rate, Adult Organ Mass, and Innate Immune Function in Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

Developmental conditions may influence many aspects of adult phenotype, including growth and immune function. Whether poor developmental environments impair both growth and immune function or induce a trade-off between the two processes is inconclusive, and the impact of the timing of stress in determining this relationship has so far been overlooked. We tested the hypothesis that the long-term effects of nutritional stress on growth, body composition, and immune function in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are different depending on whether stress is experienced during an early or a juvenile phase (i.e., before or after nutritional independence, respectively). We raised birds on high (H) or low (L) food conditions until posthatch day (PHD) 35 and switched treatments for half of the birds in each of the H and L groups from PHD 36 to 61. We found that unfavorable juvenile conditions (PHD 36–61) increased somatic growth rates and liver mass, body fat, and some aspects of immune function. We also observed a positive relationship between growth and immune function, as individuals that grew faster as juveniles also had better innate immune responses as adults. There was no effect of treatment on basal metabolic rate. These findings demonstrate the importance of juvenile developmental conditions in shaping multiple aspects of the adult phenotype.
Ultrasonographic Determination of Chorion Type in Twin Gestation

Reported are sonographic criteria for distinguishing the chorionic type of twin pregnancies prenatally. Thirty-four twin pregnancies were prospectively evaluated with correct assignment of chorionic type in 33 cases. The ability to determine the chorionic type of twin gestation facilitated the prenatal diagnosis and management in eight of the studied cases. Knowledge of the type of twinning antenatally is important in the management of twin pregnancies.
Connective Tissue Growth Factor and Insulin-Like Growth Factor 2 Show Upregulation in Early Growth Plate Radiorecovery Response following Irradiation

Introduction: The growth plate response following radiotherapy is poorly understood. In particular, little is known about the changes in growth plate growth factors and cytokines following irradiation. The hypothesis was that a limited number of growth factors and cytokines play a role in growth plate proliferative and hypertrophic chondrocyte radio-recovery. Methods: The right limbs of 6 rats were irradiated (17.5 Gy), leaving the left limbs as controls. Limbs were harvested 1 (n = 3) and 2 (n = 3) weeks later. Microarrays were constructed from chondrocytes obtained by laser microdissection from the proliferative zone (PZ) and the hypertrophic zone (HZ) of normal and irradiated tibia growth plates. Real-time PCR was used to confirm the expression of parathyroid hormone receptor 1 (Pthr1), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF1R), insulin-like growth factor II (IGF2), interleukin 17β (IL17b) and chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12). Results and Conclusions: IGF2 is upregulated in the PZ and CTGF is upregulated in both the PZ and HZ 1 week after irradiation, prior to the histomorphometric appearance of growth plate recovery in this immature animal radiation model, supporting their role in stimulating early return of the growth plate. By 2 weeks after irradiation, a number of growth factors and cytokines, including CTGF and Pthr1 in both zones, CXCL12 and its receptor in the PZ, and IL17b and bone morphogenetic protein 2 in the HZ, show upregulation, suggesting a possible later role in radiorecovery. The effects of irradiation on Pthr1, CTGF, IGF2 and CXCL12 in PZ and Pthr1, CTGF, IL17b and IGF1R in the HZ determined by microarray and real-time RT-PCR was highly correlated (r = 0.797, p < 0.05 in the PZ and r = 0.875, p < 0.01 in the HZ, respectively).
Handling forecasting problems based on two-factors high-order fuzzy time series

In our daily life, people often use forecasting techniques to predict weather, economy, population growth, stock, etc. However, in the real world, an event can be affected by many factors. Therefore, if we consider more factors for prediction, then we can get better forecasting results. In recent years, many researchers used fuzzy time series to handle prediction problems. In this paper, we present a new method to predict temperature and the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX), based on the two-factors high-order fuzzy time series. The proposed method constructs two-factors high-order fuzzy logical relationships based on the historical data to increase the forecasting accuracy rate. The proposed method gets a higher forecasting accuracy rate than the existing methods.
Experimental Screening of Dihydrofolate Reductase Yields a “Test Set” of 50,000 Small Molecules for a Computational Data-Mining and Docking Competition

High-throughput screening (HTS) generates an abundance of data that are a valuable resource to be mined. Dockers and data miners can use “real-world” HTS data to test and further develop their tools. A screen of 50,000 diverse small molecules was carried out against Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and compared with a previous screen of 50,000 compounds against the same target. Identical assays and conditions were maintained for both studies. Prior to the completion of the second screen, the original screening data were publicly released for use as a “training set,” and computational chemists and data analysts were challenged to predict the activity of compounds in this second “test set. ” Upon completion, the primary screen of the test set generated no potent inhibitors of DHFR activity.
Cost of multiple sclerosis by level of disability: a review of literature

We performed a review of the economic literature to identify what is known about the relationship between Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) categories and cost of multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought cohort studies of patients with multiple sclerosis that described the costs attributed to each EDSS score and utilized specific inclusion criteria for the selection of 10 studies. We found that both direct and indirect costs rise continuously with increasing EDSS category, and this rise is qualitatively exponential. The rise in indirect costs appears at lower EDSS scores. The cost of a relapse occurring in any given EDSS category exceeds that associated with that particular EDSS category. Few studies comprehensively assessed the entire spectrum of the costs, and much of the literature is based on EDSS categories in coarse groupings. In spite of several variations between studies, one important conclusion that we can draw is that rise in cost is positively correlated to scores on the EDSS categories, and therefore agents with a capacity to prevent or arrest the rate of MS progression may affect the overall cost of MS.
Endemic nosocomial infections and misuse of antibiotics in a maternity hospital in Saudi Arabia

Patients admitted during a 6‐month period to a maternity hospital in Saudi Arabia were studied for nosocomial infections and misuse of antibiotics. Patient history and diagnosis on admission and subsequent clinical and laboratory data were analysed. Infection developing from 72 h after admission was considered nosocomial. Therapeutic and prophylactic data as recorded on the patients' charts were assessed for possible misuse of antibiotics. Of 3439 patients, 136 (4.0%) developed nosocomial infection: 2.0%, 8.9% and 37.7% in obstetric, gynaecologic and nursery patients, respectively. Infections among adults were mostly found in the urinary (44.4%) and lower genital (33.3%) tracts. Among newborns, over 70% of cases were eye and ear (29.8%), skin (26.2%) and blood (19.0%) infections. Gram‐negative bacteria caused 65.7% of the infections. Over 90% of the bacterial isolates were multidrug‐resistant. About 24% of patients received single or multiple antibiotics; 57.2% were misused. The minimal hospital cost estimate for both nosocomial infections and misused antibiotics was US $318,705. The findings of this study, the first of its type in this region, should prompt improved infection control measures as well as educational and antibiotic restriction interventions.