Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The multiple functional roles of mesenchymal stem cells in participating in treating liver diseases

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a group of stem cells derived from the mesodermal mesenchyme. MSCs can be obtained from a variety of tissues, including bone marrow, umbilical cord tissue, umbilical cord blood, peripheral blood and adipose tissue. Under certain conditions, MSCs can differentiate into many cell types both in vitro and in vivo, including hepatocytes. To date, four main strategies have been developed to induce the transdifferentiation of MSCs into hepatocytes: addition of chemical compounds and cytokines, genetic modification, adjustment of the micro‐environment and alteration of the physical parameters used for culturing MSCs. Although the phenomenon of transdifferentiation of MSCs into hepatocytes has been described, the detailed mechanism is far from clear. Generally, the mechanism is a cascade reaction whereby stimulating factors activate cellular signalling pathways, which in turn promote the production of transcription factors, leading to hepatic gene expression. Because MSCs can give rise to hepatocytes, they are promising to be used as a new treatment for liver dysfunction or as a bridge to liver transplantation. Numerous studies have confirmed the therapeutic effects of MSCs on hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis and other liver diseases, which may be related to the differentiation of MSCs into functional hepatocytes. In addition to transdifferentiation into hepatocytes, when MSCs are used to treat liver disease, they may also inhibit hepatocellular apoptosis and secrete various bioactive molecules to promote liver regeneration. In this review, the capacity and molecular mechanism of MSC transdifferentiation, and the therapeutic effects of MSCs on liver diseases are thoroughly discussed.
A robust visual servo control scheme with prescribed performance for an autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper describes the design and implementation of a visual servo control scheme for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The purpose of the control scheme is to navigate and stabilize the vehicle towards a visual target. The controller does not utilize the vehicle's dynamic model parameters and guarantees prescribed transient and steady state performance despite the presence of external disturbances representing ocean currents and waves. The proposed control scheme is of low complexity and can be easily integrated to an embedded control platform of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with limited power and computational resources. Moreover, through the appropriate selection of certain performance functions, the proposed scheme guarantees that the target lies inside the onboard camera's field of view for all time. The resulting control scheme has analytically guaranteed stability and convergence properties, while its applicability and performance are experimentally verified using the Girona 500 AUV.
Utilising Pattern Repositories for Capturing and Sharing PLE Practices in Networked Communities

Personal learning environments (PLEs) comprise a new kind of learning technology which aims at putting learners into centre stage, i.e. by empowering them to design and use environments for their learning needs and purposes. Setting a PLE approach into practice, however, is not trivial at all, as the proposed end-users have varying attitudes and experiences in using ICT in general and PLE software in particular. Here, practice sharing could be an enabler for increasing the usefulness and usability of PLE solutions. In this paper we examine the relevant issues of capturing and sharing 'good practices' of PLE-based, collaborative activities. By good practices we refer to learning experiences provided by learners for a networked community. Moreover, we introduce the concept of a pattern repository as a back- end service for PLEs which should, in the sense of community approaches like Last.fm, support PLE users in applying learning tools for their activities. Finally, we present a preliminary prototype and argue for the advantages of such a practice sharing infrastructure with respect to community literature, experiences, and an internal evaluation study.
Application Identification using Supervised Clustering Method

The classification of traffic provides essential data for network management and research. Several classification approaches are developed and proposed to protect the network resources or enforce organizational policies. Whereas the port number based classification works only for some well-known applications and payload based classification is not suitable for encrypted packet payloads that make the sense to classify the traffic based on behaviors observed in networks. In this paper, a supervised clustering algorithm called Flow Level based Classification (FLC) is proposed to classify network flows, which comprises of flows in the same conversation. In this paper we discussed recent laurels and various research trends in supervised and unsupervised clustering algorithms. We outline the obstinately mysterious challenges in the field over the last decade and suggest strategies for tackling these challenges to promote headway in the art of Internet traffic classification.
Stochasticity and controllability of nutrient sources in foraging: host‐feeding and egg resorption in parasitoids

The trade-off between current and future reproduction has led many organisms experiencing stochastic reproductive opportunities to be flexible in their resource acquisition and allocation rules. Many parasitoid wasps display flexibility in choosing to host-feed or oviposit on a host and possess an ovarian system enabling nutrient reallocation through egg resorption. The aim of this work is to assess the complementary adaptive values of host-feeding and egg resorption as functions of host density in a synovigenic (maturing eggs throughout its adult life) parasitoid, Eupelmus vuilleti (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae), for which there is a uniquely large base of relevant knowledge. We developed a series of models of increasing complexity, starting from a simple analytical model without egg resorption and moving on to data-rich stochastic dynamic programming models (SDP), without and with resorption. The analytical model enabled the characterization of two, long- and short-term, foraging strategies which determine host usage. Oviposition is favored at low host densities (leading to the short-term strategy), while host-feeding is favored at high host densities (leading to the long-term strategy). The change of strategy occurs abruptly at intermediate host densities. The SPD models not only confirmed these predictions, but also identified smaller regions of decisions driven by day/night cycles and approaching death and predicted major shifts in daily activity patterns according to the chosen strategy. The fitness gain due to resorption is highest at intermediate host densities, where females adopt the riskier but more profitable long-term strategy. Such a result contrasts with the generally held view, which assumes highest gains at the lowest host densities. A counterintuitive result is the higher prevalence of host-feeding associated with the ability to resorb eggs. Considering egg resorption as a last-resort strategy is underestimating its adaptive value, which is best understood with reference to other sources of nutrients. Its deterministic and controllable nature acts as insurance to forage and oviposit at low host densities, despite irregular food availability and potential death through starvation. Thus timing, not so much overall energy gain, matters in egg resorption. The approach can be extended to other situations, and we highlight an unexpected analogy of our results with the hoarding behavior of vertebrates.
Lgt Processing Is an Essential Step in Streptococcus suis Lipoprotein Mediated Innate Immune Activation

Background Streptococcus suis causes invasive infections in pigs and occasionally in humans. The host innate immune system plays a major role in counteracting S. suis infections. The main components of S. suis able to activate the innate immune system likely include cell wall constituents that may be released during growth or after cell wall integrity loss, however characterization of these components is still limited. Methology/Principal Findings A concentrated very potent innate immunity activating supernatant of penicillin-treated S. suis was SDS-PAGE fractionated and tested for porcine peripheral blood mononucleated cell (PBMC) stimulating activity using cytokine gene transcript analysis. More than half of the 24 tested fractions increased IL-1β and IL-8 cytokine gene transcript levels in porcine PBMCs. Mass spectrometry of the active fractions indicated 24 proteins including 9 lipoproteins. Genetic inactivation of a putative prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt) gene resulted in deficient lipoprotein synthesis as evidenced by palmitate labeling. The Lgt mutant showed strongly reduced activation of porcine PBMCs, indicating that lipoproteins are dominant porcine PBMC activating molecules of S. suis. Conclusion/Significance This study for the first time identifies and characterizes lipoproteins of S. suis as major activators of the innate immune system of the pig. In addition, we provide evidence that Lgt processing of lipoproteins is required for lipoprotein mediated innate immune activation.
Planning and relaxed state EEG signal classification using complex valued neural classifier for brain computer interface

Most of the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) techniques use EEG signals as a main source. Any BCI system consists of three modules and they are signal recorder, signal preprocessor and classifier. Development /Selection of efficient classifiers are a challenging task in this domain. The key work addressed in this paper is the classification of EEG signals measured under planning and relaxed state using advanced machine learning classifiers. Planning relax dataset is a benchmark data and it is obtained from UCI (University of California Irvine) machine learning repository. FC-FLC is a recently developed fast learning complex valued classifier and it is used for the EEG signal classification task. Complex valued classifier (FC-FLC) performs better than all the real valued classifiers as well as few fuzzy classifiers taken for comparison from the literature. The improvement is due to the use of Gd (gudermannian) activation function in the hidden layer of the network and the tuning free algorithm.
Lactoferrin from Milk: Nutraceutical and Pharmacological Properties

Lactoferrin is an iron-binding protein present in large quantities in colostrum and in breast milk, in external secretions and in polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Lactoferrin’s main function is non-immune protection. Among several protective activities shown by lactoferrin, those displayed by orally administered lactoferrin are: (i) antimicrobial activity, which has been presumed due to iron deprivation, but more recently attributed also to a specific interaction with the bacterial cell wall and extended to viruses and parasites; (ii) immunomodulatory activity, with a direct effect on the development of the immune system in the newborn, together with a specific antinflammatory effects; (iii) a more recently discovered anticancer activity. It is worth noting that most of the protective activities of lactoferrin have been found, sometimes to a greater extent, also in peptides derived from limited proteolysis of lactoferrin that could be generated after lactoferrin ingestion. Lactoferrin could therefore be considered an ideal nutraceutic product because of its relatively cheap production from bovine milk and of its widely recognized tolerance after ingestion, along with its well demonstrated protective activities. The most important protective activities shown by orally administered bovine lactoferrin are reviewed in this article.
A cross-sectional study comparing predictors of non-suicidal self-injury among college students in the United States and Greece

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of non-suicidal-self-injury (NSSI) including depression, stress, anxiety and suicidal behaviors (SIB) among students at two colleges in the USA and Greece. A convenience sample (N = 1062) was used along with the NSSI-Check List, SITBI, and DASS instruments. Significantly Greek (27%) reported higher rates of NSSI (p < .01) versus the United States students (17%). Greek students engaged in self-biting, carving, and insertion of glass objects (p < .01) at a higher rate than the USA students. A model to predict NSSI revealed Greek students who reported an absence of suicidal thoughts, being heterosexual, Christian, and under stress, were 76% more likely to engage in NSSI (p < .01). The USA students who reported an absence of suicidal thoughts and the presence of anxiety were 85% more likely to engage in NSSI (p < .01). Findings support the view that NSSI is a distinct phenomenon not necessarily related to suicidal behaviors and consistent with the NSSI diagnosis under further study (DSM-2013). As well, the high rates of NSSI along with depression, anxiety, and stress found in this study supports the literature urging NSSI be treated as a significant mental health issue.
Anatomization and Protection of Mobile Apps' Location Privacy Threats

Mobile users are becoming increasingly aware of the privacy threats resulting from apps' access of their location. Few of the solutions proposed thus far to mitigate these threats have been deployed as they require either app or platform modifications. Mobile operating systems (OSes) also provide users with location access controls. In this paper, we analyze the efficacy of these controls in combating the location-privacy threats. For this analysis, we conducted the first location measurement campaign of its kind, analyzing more than 1000 free apps from Google Play and collecting detailed usage of location by more than 400 location-aware apps and 70 Advertisement and Analytics (A&A) libraries from more than 100 participants over a period ranging from 1 week to 1 year. Surprisingly, 70% of the apps and the A&A libraries pose considerable profiling threats even when they sporadically access the user's location. Existing OS controls are found ineffective and inefficient in mitigating these threats, thus calling for a finer-grained location access control. To meet this need, we propose LP-Doctor, a light-weight user-level tool that allows Android users to effectively utilize the OS's location access controls while maintaining the required app's functionality as our userstudy (with 227 participants) shows.
An Investigation into Reliability of Knee Extension Muscle Strength Measurements, and into the Relationship between Muscle Strength and Means of Independent Mobility in the Ward: Examinations of Patients Who Underwent Femoral Neck Fracture Surgery

[Purpose] The purpose of the present study was to investigate the reliability of isometric knee extension muscle strength measurement of patients who underwent femoral neck fracture surgery, as well as the relationship between independent mobility in the ward and knee muscle strength. [Subjects] The subjects were 75 patients who underwent femoral neck fracture surgery. [Methods] We used a hand-held dynamometer and a belt to measure isometric knee extension muscle strength three times, and used intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) to investigate the reliability of the measurements. We used a receiver operating characteristic curve to investigate the cutoff values for independent walking with walking sticks and non-independent mobility. [Results] ICCs (1, 1) were 0.9 or higher. The cutoff value for independent walking with walking sticks was 0.289 kgf/kg on the non-fractured side, 0.193 kgf/kg on the fractured side, and the average of both limbs was 0.238 kgf/kg. [Conclusion] We consider that the test-retest reliability of isometric knee extension muscle strength measurement of patients who have undergone femoral neck fracture surgery is high. We also consider that isometric knee extension muscle strength is useful for investigating means of independent mobility in the ward.
Comparing Preference Models in Recommender Systems

How to represent the users' preference is one of the principle problems in widely used recommender systems. To address this problem, in this paper, the expressibility, space complexity and learning complexity of different kinds of preference models are investigated. The recommendation performances of these models are also compared on a real-life dataset. Considering both the expressibility and computational complexity, the quadric model is the most suited to recommender systems.
A retrospective observational study

Corticosteroid injections for hand tendinitis can lead to a rare significant complication of tendon spontaneous rupture. However, only sporadic cases were reported in the literature before. This study was designed to gauge the clinical effect of tendon repair in patients of tendon spontaneous rupture after corticosteroid injection and analyze our experience. This was a retrospective observational study of 13 patients (8 women and 5 men) operated between July 2011 and December 2015 for tendon spontaneous rupture after corticosteroid injection. Demographic data, clinical features, imaging data, and surgical treatments were carefully reviewed. The average age was 52.308±15.381 years (range 29–71). The average injection times were 2.538±1.664 times (range 1–6). The average rupture time (after last injection) was 10.923±9.500 weeks (range 3–32). Nine patients were treated by tendon suture (69% of cases), and 4 patients were treated by tendon grafting (31% of cases). All patients received follow-up in our outpatient clinic. The sites of the tendon rupture (15 tendons of 13 patients had involved) include extensor pollicis longus (6 tendons, 40% of cases), extensor digiti quinti and extensor digiti minimi (4 tendons, 27% of cases), ring finger of extensor digitorum communis (3 tendons, 20% of cases), and middle finger of extensor digitorum communis (2 tendons, 13% of cases). Two patients who had tendon adhesion (15% of cases) were treated by tendon release. One patient who had tendon rerupture (8% of cases) was treated by tendon grafting. No patient had complications of infections, vascular, or nerve injury. Tendon spontaneous rupture is a serious complication after corticosteroid injection for tendinitis. Rigid standard of corticosteroid injection is very important. Magnetic resonance imaging was contributory to preoperative assess tendon defect and can be used to monitor healing quality of tendons during the follow-up. Abbreviations: MRI = magnetic resonance imaging, PL = palmaris longus.
Are cortisol profiles a stable trait during child development?

Exposure to stressful experiences can increase vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. A potential neuroendocrine mechanism mediating the link between stress and health is the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) system, with a key role attributed to the glucocorticoid hormone cortisol. Retrospective and cross sectional clinical studies of humans and experimental studies with nonhuman primates and rodents suggest that traumatic experiences during critical periods in development may have permanent effects on HPA regulation, which in turn can have deleterious effects on health. Here I report results from a continuous 20‐year study (1988–2009) of children in a rural community on Dominica. Sequential data on cortisol levels, social stressors, and health in naturalistic, everyday conditions are examined to assess developmental trajectories of HPA functioning. Saliva aliquots were assayed for cortisol in concert with monitoring of growth, morbidity, and social environment. Analyses here include data from 1989 to 1999 for 147 children aged 3–16 years with >100 saliva samples each. Cortisol values were standardized by elapsed time since wake‐up. Results do not support the hypothesis that traumatic stress during childhood causes permanent general elevation of cortisol levels. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Elastic adaptive ontology matching on evolving folksonomy driven environment

Semantic networks can simulate the human complex frames in reasoning process providing efficient association and inference mechanisms. Ontology can be used to fill the gap between human and computational intelligence for a task domain. For an evolving environment it is important to understand what knowledge is required for a task domain with an adaptive ontology matching. To reflect the evolving knowledge this paper considers ontologies based on folksonomies according to a new concept structure called “Folksodriven” to represent folksonomies. Folksonomies are a set of terms that a group of users tagged content without a controlled vocabulary. A Folksodriven Structure Network (FSN), built from the relations among the Folksodriven tags, is presented as a folksonomy tags suggestions for the user to solve the problems inherent in an uncontrolled vocabulary of the folksonomy. It was observed that the properties of the FSN depend mainly on the nature, distribution, size and the quality of the reinforcing Folksodriven tags (FD tags). So, the studies on the transformational regulation of the FD tags are regarded to be important for an adaptive folksonomies classifications in an evolving environment used by Intelligent Systems. This paper discuss the deformation exhibiting linear behavior on FSN based on folksonomy tags chosen by different user on web site resources, this is a topic which has not been well studied so far. The discussion shows that the linear elastic constitutive equation possesses some leaning for the investigation. A constitutive law on FSN is investigated towards a systematic mathematical analysis on stress analysis and equations of motion for an evolving ontology matching on an environment defined by the users' folksonomy choice. The adaptive ontology matching and the elastodynamics are merged to obtain what we can call the elasto-adaptative-dynamics methodology of the FSN.
Technical Appendix 1 : Gibbs Sampler for structural demand model

In this Appendix we describe the procedure to sample each of the parameters of the model from their full-conditional posterior distribution according to the assumptions in Section 4. We note that in the case of the full-conditional posterior simulation of θ i , ξ t and ν t we use a MH step with candidate vectors generated from a normal distribution with mean equal to the current value (random walk) and a variance matrix proportional to the current value of D, Σ d and Σ c , respectively (see C.3, C.4 and C.5 for details). a) Sampling Choices (y it): 1. In each iteration (k) randomly select N/2 pairs of consumers without replacement and enumerate these pairs. Let (i 1p , i 2p) be the indexes of consumers in pair p and (z (k) i 1p t , z (k) i 2p t) their choices in period t in the current iteration k. 2. For each period t and starting from the first pair, successively and jointly draw the choices of each pair of consumers (z (k+1) i 1p t , z (k+1) i 2p t) from their full-conditional posterior distribution. The pair (p) subscript is dropped for notational convenience. In addition, define ω i = 1 if ψ i > 0 and, otherwise ω i = 0. We proceed by assigning (z (k+1) i 1 t
Effects of age and naturally occurring experience on spatial visualization performance.

A questionnaire designed to assess experience with activities presumed to require spatial visualization abilities, and psychometric tests of these abilities, were administered to 383 adults ranging from 20 to 83 years ofage. Although research participants varied considerably in the amount of self-reported experience, statistical control ofexperience resulted in relatively modest attenuations ofthe relations between age and spatial visualization performance. These findings seem inconsistent with a strong disuse interpretation ofcognitive aging phenomena and suggest that at least some age-related differences in cognitive functioning are independent ofthe amount ofexperience with relevant activities.