Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generation method of normal vector from disordered point cloud

The normal vector generation from point cloud plays a vital role in 3D laser scanning data processing. An effective generation method of normal vector from disordered point cloud is proposed in the paper. In the proposed method, disordered point cloud is firstly projected on the 2D plane via cylindrical surface. After establishing the triangle grids, the unit normal vector of each vertex is then calculated by searching the conjoint triangles that include this vertex. The normal calculation and direction determination of each conjoint triangle are relied on the connection relation among triangular grids and the corresponding mapping relation between the 2D and 3D coordinates of the same point. Software called Seagull2.0 is compiled to realize the generation of normal vector from disordered point cloud according to the proposed method. Two experiments are carried out on Confucius statue point cloud and industry model point cloud respectively. The results indicate that the determination of normal direction is correct and the generation method is reliable and easy to realize.
Carisoprodol: update on abuse potential and legal status.

Carisoprodol is a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant of which meprobamate, a controlled substance, is the primary active metabolite. The abuse of carisoprodol has increased dramatically in the last several years. A withdrawal syndrome occurs in some patients who abruptly cease carisoprodol intake. The symptoms of this syndrome are similar to those seen with meprobamate withdrawal, suggesting that they may result from withdrawal from meprobamate accumulated with intake of excessive carisoprodol; however, carisoprodol is capable of modulating GABAA function, which may contribute to its abuse potential.There has been considerable debate about whether carisoprodol should be considered a controlled substance. Carisoprodol was removed from the market in Norway on May 1, 2008, but may still be used by specially approved patients. Carisoprodol was classified as a controlled substance in several US states, and effective January 11, 2012, became a schedule IV controlled substance at the US federal level. This article updates the literature on abuse potential and examines recent developments regarding the legal status of carisoprodol.
Physiological Significance of Reactive Cysteine Residues of Keap1 in Determining Nrf2 Activity

ABSTRACT Keap1 and Cul3 constitute a unique ubiquitin E3 ligase that degrades Nrf2, a key activator of cytoprotective genes. Upon exposure to oxidants/electrophiles, the enzymatic activity of this ligase complex is inhibited and the complex fails to degrade Nrf2, resulting in the transcriptional activation of Nrf2 target genes. Keap1 possesses several reactive cysteine residues that covalently bond with electrophiles in vitro. To clarify the functional significance of each Keap1 cysteine residue under physiological conditions, we established a transgenic complementation rescue model. The transgenic expression of mutant Keap1(C273A) and/or Keap1(C288A) protein in Keap1 null mice failed to reverse constitutive Nrf2 activation, indicating that cysteine residues at positions 273 and 288 are essential for Keap1 to repress Nrf2 activity in vivo. In contrast, Keap1(C151S) retained repressor activity and mice expressing this molecule were viable. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts from Keap1(C151S) transgenic mice displayed decreased expression of Nrf2 target genes both before and after an electrophilic challenge, suggesting that Cys151 is important in facilitating Nrf2 activation. These results demonstrate critical roles of the cysteine residues in vivo in maintaining Keap1 function, such that Nrf2 is repressed under quiescent conditions and active in response to oxidants/electrophiles.
Subsite variation in survival of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas 2004 to 2011

To evaluate subsite‐specific differences in survival between squamous cell carcinomas of the base of tongue and tonsillar fossa in a modern cohort likely to have been treated with intensity‐modulated radiation therapy, chemotherapy for stage III and IV, and have had a high incidence of human papillomavirus–associated tumors.
KnowPain-50: a tool for assessing physician pain management education.

BACKGROUND Despite a need for better physician pain management education, there are no widely accepted assessment or outcome measures to support this work. OBJECTIVE Create a self-assessment tool to measure physician educational needs and the effectiveness of chronic pain educational programs. DESIGN We used expert consensus to draft a 142-item survey that covered essential areas of chronic pain management. We tested the survey in 106 physicians, including 22 pain management experts and used predefined psychometric criteria to eliminate 70 items. We then eliminated 22 remaining items that did not correlate with the management of a standardized chronic pain patient by 27 academic physicians. We evaluated internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS The final 50-item survey assessed physician knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs in: 1) initial pain assessment; 2) defining goals and expectations; 3) development of a treatment plan; 4) implementation of a treatment plan; 5) reassessment and management of longitudinal care; and 6) management of environmental issues. The survey demonstrated good internal consistency in all physician populations studied (alpha = 0.77-0.85). Average scores in 84 "pilot" physician users of a CME Website (135.8-138.5) were significantly lower (P < 0.01) than scores in 27 academic physicians (150.0), or 22 pain experts (177.5). CONCLUSIONS This survey, the KnowPain-50, has good psychometric properties, correlates with clinical behaviors, and appears to distinguish between physicians with different levels of pain management expertise. It may be a useful measure of the effectiveness of physician pain management education programs.
Cost-Effectiveness of Pharmacological Interventions for Smoking Cessation: A Literature Review and a Decision Analytic Analysis

To evaluate the relative cost-effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and bupropion SR for smoking cessation, the authors reviewed published studies and developed a decision analytic model from the UK National Health Services perspective. Irrespective of the methods or assumptions involved, the results of published studies consistently indicated that NRT for smoking cessation is cost-effective. No published studies have evaluated the relative cost-effectiveness of bupropion SR for smoking cessation. The results of the decision analyses indicated that, as compared with advice or counseling alone, the incremental cost per life-years saved is about $1,441~$3,455 for NRT, $920~$2,150 for bupropion SR, and $1,282~$2,836 for NRT plus bupropion SR. The cost-effectiveness of adding NRT and bupropion SR to advice or counseling for smoking cessation is better than many other accepted health care interventions.
The stability of mRNA for eucaryotic elongation factor Tu in Friend erythroleukemia cells varies with growth rate

The decay rates of eucaryotic elongation factor Tu (eEF-Tu) mRNA and eucaryotic initiation factor 4A (eIF-4A) mRNA in Friend erythroleukemia (FEL) cells were determined under several different growth conditions. In FEL cells which were no longer actively dividing (stationary phase), eEF-Tu mRNA was found to be rather stable, with a t1/2 of about 24 h. In rapidly growing FEL cells eEF-Tu mRNA was considerably less stable, with a t1/2 of about 9 h. In both cases a single rate of mRNA decay was observed. However, when stationary-phase cells resumed growth after treatment with fresh medium, we observed that eEF-Tu mRNA decay followed a biphasic process. The faster of the two decay rates involved approximately 50% of the eEF-Tu mRNA and had a t1/2 of about 1 h. The decay rates for eIF-4A (t1/2 = 2 h) and total poly(A)+ RNA (t1/2 = 3 h) were unaffected by changes in growth conditions. The t1/2 for polysomal eEF-Tu mRNA was found to be about 8 h when stationary FEL cells were treated with fresh medium. Previous work in this laboratory has shown (T. R. Rao and L. I. Slobin, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:687-697, 1987) that when FEL cells are allowed to grow to stationary phase, approximately 60% of the mRNA for eEF-Tu is found in a nontranslating postpolysomal messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP) particle. eEF-Tu mRNP was rapidly cleared from stationary cells after treatment with fresh medium. The data presented in this report indicate that the stability of eEF-Tu mRNP is rapidly altered and the particle is targeted for degradation when stationary FEL cells resume growth.
Dual tree complex wavelet transform domain based motor imagery movements classification scheme from EEG signals

In this paper, a feature extraction method based on Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DTCWT) domain has been proposed to classify left and right hand motor imagery movements from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. After first performing auto-correlation of the EEG signals to reduce noise and enhance the weak brain signals, the EEG signals are decomposed into several bands of real and imaginary coefficients using DTCWT. Then mean absolute deviation has been extracted as features from relevant coefficient bands and from the one way ANOVA analysis, scatter plots, box plots and histograms, this feature has shown to be promising to distinguish various kinds of EEG signals. The total experiment is carried out with the publicly available benchmark BCI-competition 2003 Graz motor imagery data set. Among different types of classifiers used K-nearest neighbor (KNN)-based classifiers have been shown to provide a good mean accuracy of 90.36% which is better than several existing techniques.
Deoxyribonucleotide Metabolism in Cycling and Resting Human Fibroblasts with a Missense Mutation in p53R2, a Subunit of Ribonucleotide Reductase*

Ribonucleotide reduction provides deoxynucleotides for nuclear and mitochondrial (mt) DNA replication and DNA repair. In cycling mammalian cells the reaction is catalyzed by two proteins, R1 and R2. A third protein, p53R2, with the same function as R2, occurs in minute amounts. In quiescent cells, p53R2 replaces the absent R2. In humans, genetic inactivation of p53R2 causes early death with mtDNA depletion, especially in muscle. We found that cycling fibroblasts from a patient with a lethal mutation in p53R2 contained a normal amount of mtDNA and showed normal growth, ribonucleotide reduction, and deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pools. However, when made quiescent by prolonged serum starvation the mutant cells strongly down-regulated ribonucleotide reduction, decreased their dCTP and dGTP pools, and virtually abolished the catabolism of dCTP in substrate cycles. mtDNA was not affected. Also, nuclear DNA synthesis and the cell cycle-regulated enzymes R2 and thymidine kinase 1 decreased strongly, but the mutant cell populations retained unexpectedly larger amounts of the two enzymes than the controls. This difference was probably due to their slightly larger fraction of S phase cells and therefore not induced by the absence of p53R2 activity. We conclude that loss of p53R2 affects ribonucleotide reduction only in resting cells and leads to a decrease of dNTP catabolism by substrate cycles that counterweigh the loss of anabolic activity. We speculate that this compensatory mechanism suffices to maintain mtDNA in fibroblasts but not in muscle cells with a larger content of mtDNA necessary for their high energy requirements.
Occurrence of aflatoxins B 1, B 2, G 1 and G 2 in some Brazilian pet foods

The presence of cereals and grains in the formulation of pet foods suggests the need to control aflatoxin contamination in these foods. The objective of the study was to analyse domestic pet food to determine the occurrence of aflatoxins as well as their risk to animal health. One hundred food samples (45 for dogs, 25 for cats, 30 for birds) were collected at random from pet shops in Alfenas city, south-east Brazil. Thin-layer chromatography was used for separation, identification and quantification of the compounds after validation of the method. Aflatoxins were detected in 12.0% of the samples. Levels of aflatoxins (B1 + B2 + G1 + G2) above the maximum limit established in Brazil (50 μg kg-1) for animal food were detected in five of the 12 positive samples (41.7%). The concentration of total aflatoxins was 15-374 μg kg-1 (mean 131 μg kg-1). All samples containing peanuts were positive for aflatoxin B-1. Aflatoxins are carcinogenic and their consumption might be a risk for domestic animal health. The high prevalence of aflatoxin B 1 in foods prepared for birds, species highly susceptible to aflatoxins, shows the need for the re-evaluation of the use of peanuts (present in seven of the eight samples positives for aflatoxin) and/or the addition of fungicides to the food.
Activated Abl kinase inhibits oncogenic transforming growth factor‐β signaling and tumorigenesis in mammary tumors

Transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) is a ubiquitous cytokine with dual roles in tumor suppression and promotion, and these dichotomous functions have frustrated the development of therapies targeting oncogenic signaling by TGF‐β. In comparison, Abl is well established as an initiator of hematopoietic cancers; however, a clear role for Abl in regulating solid tumor development remains elusive. Here, we investigated the role of Abl in TGF‐β‐mediated epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) in normal and meta‐static mammary epithelial cells (MECs). In doing so, we identified Abl as an essential regulator of MEC morphology and showed that Abl inactivation was sufficient to induce phenotypic and transcriptional EMT in normal MECs. Increasing Abl activity in metastatic MECs resulted in their complete morphological reversion, restored their cytostatic response to TGF‐β, and blocked their secretion of matrix metalloproteinases induced by TGF‐β. Constitutively active Abl expression blocked TGF‐ß‐responsive mammary tumor growth in mice, while Imatinib therapy afforded no clinical benefit in mice bearing mammary tumors. Collectively, this investigation establishes Abl as a potent mediator of MEC identity, and as a suppressor of oncogenic TGF‐β signaling during mammary tumorigenesis. Notably, our findings strongly caution against the use of pharmacological Abl antagonists in the treatment of developing and progressing mammary tumors. — Allington, T. M. , Galliher‐Beckley, A. J., Schiemann, W. P. Activated Abl kinase inhibits oncogenic transforming growth factor‐β signaling and tumorigenesis in mammary tumors. FASEBJ. 23, 4231‐4243 (2009). www.fasebj. org
Detection and geographical distribution of the organophosphate resistance-associated Δ3Q ace mutation in the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi).

BACKGROUND The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is the most important pest of olives. Its control is based mostly on organophosphate (OP) insecticides, a practice that has led to resistance development. OP resistance in B. oleae has been associated with three mutations in the acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the product of ace gene. The current study presents new diagnostic tests for the detection of the ace mutations and aims at monitoring the frequency of the Δ3Q mutation, which appears associated with resistance at higher OP doses in natural olive fly populations. RESULTS An allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) and a Taq-Man test were developed for the Δ3Q mutation detection and a new duplex quantitative PCR assay was designed for the G488S and I214V mutations. Moreover, the frequency of Δ3Q mutation was examined in ten populations of eight countries around the Mediterranean basin. The highest frequencies (10%) were found in Greece and Italy, whereas a gradual decrease of Δ3Q frequency towards the western Mediterranean was noted. CONCLUSION Robust tests for insecticide resistance mutations at their incipient levels are essential tools to monitor the increase and geographical spread of such mutations. Three different tests were developed for AChE-Δ3Q that indicated its association with OP applications across the Mediterranean.
Bepridil exhibits anti‐leukemic activity associated with NOTCH1 pathway inhibition in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Dysregulated NOTCH1 signaling, by either gene mutations or microenvironment interactions, has been increasingly linked to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Thus, inhibiting NOTCH1 activity represents a potential therapeutic opportunity for this disease. Using gene expression‐based screening, we identified the calcium channel modulator bepridil as a new NOTCH1 pathway inhibitor. In primary CLL cells, bepridil induced selective apoptosis even in the presence of the protective stroma. Cytotoxic effects of bepridil were independent of NOTCH1 mutation and other prognostic markers. The antitumor efficacy of bepridil was associated with inhibition of NOTCH1 activity through a decrement in trans‐membrane and activated NOTCH1 protein levels with unchanged NOTCH2 protein levels. In a CLL xenotransplant model, bepridil significantly reduced the percentage of leukemic cells infiltrating the spleen via enhanced apoptosis and decreased NOTCH1 activation. In conclusion, we report in vitro and in vivo anti‐leukemic activity of bepridil associated with inhibition of the NOTCH1 pathway in CLL. These data provide a rationale for the clinical development of bepridil as anti‐NOTCH1 targeted therapy for CLL patients.
Abundance, distribution and diversity of gelatinous predators along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A comparison of different sampling methodologies

The diversity and distribution of gelatinous zooplankton were investigated along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) from June to August 2004.Here, we present results from macrozooplankton trawl sampling, as well as comparisons made between five different methodologies that were employed during the MAR-ECO survey. In total, 16 species of hydromedusae, 31 species of siphonophores and four species of scyphozoans were identified to species level from macrozooplankton trawl samples. Additional taxa were identified to higher taxonomic levels and a single ctenophore genus was observed. Samples were collected at 17 stations along the MAR between the Azores and Iceland. A divergence in the species assemblages was observed at the southern limit of the Subpolar Frontal Zone. The catch composition of gelatinous zooplankton is compared between different sampling methodologies including: a macrozooplankton trawl; a Multinet; a ringnet attached to bottom trawl; and optical platforms (Underwater Video Profiler (UVP) & Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)). Different sampling methodologies are shown to exhibit selectivity towards different groups of gelatinous zooplankton. Only ~21% of taxa caught during the survey were caught by both the macrozooplankton trawl and the Multinet when deployed at the same station. The estimates of gelatinous zooplankton abundance calculated using these two gear types also varied widely (1.4 ± 0.9 individuals 1000 m-3 estimated by the macrozooplankton trawl vs. 468.3 ± 315.4 individuals 1000 m-3 estimated by the Multinet (mean ± s.d.) when used at the same stations (n = 6). While it appears that traditional net sampling can generate useful data on pelagic cnidarians, comparisons with results from the optical platforms suggest that ctenophore diversity and abundance are consistently underestimated, particularly when net sampling is conducted in combination with formalin fixation. The results emphasise the importance of considering sampling methodology both when planning surveys, as well as when interpreting existing data.
Photosynthetic electron-transfer reactions in the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium vibrioforme: evidence for the functional involvement of iron-sulfur redox centers on the acceptor side of the reaction center.

The green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium vibrioforme was cultured in the presence of ethylene to selectively inhibit the synthesis of the chlorosome antenna BChl d. Use of these cells as starting material simplified the isolation of a photoactive antenna-depleted membrane fraction without the use of high concentrations of detergents. The preparation had a BChl alpha/P840 of 50, and the spectral properties were similar to those of preparations isolated from cells grown with a normal complement of chlorosomes. The membrane preparation was active in NADP+ photoreduction. This indicated that the fraction contained reaction centers with complete electron-transfer sequences which were then characterized further by flash kinetic spectrophotometry and EPR. We confirmed that cytochrome c553 is the endogenous donor to P840+, and at room temperature we observed a recombination reaction between the reduced terminal acceptor and P840+ with a t1/2 = 7 ms. Oxidative degradation of iron-sulfur centers using low concentrations of chaotropic salts introduced a faster recombination reaction of t1/2 = 50 microseconds which was lost at higher concentrations of chaotrope, indicating the participation of another iron-sulfur redox center earlier than the terminal acceptor. Cluster insertion using ferric chloride and sodium sulfide in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol restored both the 50-microseconds and 7-ms recombination reactions, allowing definitive assignments of these centers as iron-sulfur centers. Following the suggestion of Nitschke et al. [(1990) Biochemistry 29, 3834-3842], we associate these two kinetic phases to back-reactions between P840+ and iron-sulfur centers FX and FAFB, respectively. The iron-sulfur cluster degradation and reconstitution protocols also led to inhibition and restoration of NADP+ photoreduction by the membrane preparation, providing unequivocal evidence for the function of the centers FX and FAFB in the physiological electron-transfer sequence on the acceptor side of the Chlorobium reaction center. At 77 K we observed a recombination reaction of t1/2 = 20 ms that we suggest occurs between Fx- and P840+. Degradation of the iron-sulfur clusters resulted in replacement of the 20-ms phase with a faster reaction of t1/2 = 80 microseconds that was most likely a recombination between the early acceptor A1- and P840+ or decay of 3P840. Analysis of the iron-sulfur centers in the preparation by EPR at cryogenic temperature supports the optical measurements. EPR signals originating from the terminal acceptor(s) were not observed following treatment of the membrane preparation by chaotropes, and a modified signal was restored following cluster reinsertion. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Cast2Face: Assigning Character Names Onto Faces in Movie With Actor-Character Correspondence

Automatically identifying characters in movies has attracted researchers' interest and led to several significant and interesting applications. However, due to the vast variation in character appearance as well as the weakness and ambiguity of available annotation, it is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we investigate this problem with the supervision of actor-character name correspondence provided by the movie cast. Our proposed framework, namely, Cast2Face, is featured by: 1) we restrict the assigned names within the set of character names in the cast; 2) for each character, by using the corresponding actor and movie name as keywords, we retrieve from the Google image search and get a group of face images to form the gallery set; 3) the probe face tracks in the movie are then identified as one of the actors by a robust kernel multitask joint sparse representation and classification method; and 4) the conditional random field model with consideration of the constraints between face tracks is introduced to enhance the final labeling. Finally, the assigned actor name of a face track is then mapped to the character name based on the cast again. Besides face naming, we further apply the proposed method to spotlight the summarization of a particular actor in his/her movies. We conduct extensive experiments and empirical evaluations on several feature-length movies to demonstrate the satisfying performance of our method.