Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of sputum biomarkers for asthma–COPD overlap syndrome

Asthma–COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) is a commonly encountered chronic airway disease. However, ACOS is still a consensus-based clinical phenotype and the underlying inflammatory mechanisms are inadequately characterized. To clarify the inflammatory mediatypical for ACOS, five biomarkers, namely interleukin (IL)-13, myeloperoxidase (MPO), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), chitinase-like protein (YKL-40), and IL-6, were selected. This study hypothesized that sputum biomarkers relevant for airway inflammation in asthma (IL-13), COPD (MPO, NGAL), or in both asthma and COPD (YKL-40, IL-6) could be used to differentiate ACOS from COPD and asthma. The aim of this study was to characterize the inflammatory profile and improve the recognition of ACOS. Induced sputum levels of IL-13, MPO, NGAL, YKL-40, and IL-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay/Luminex assay in a Finnish discovery cohort (n=90) of nonsmokers, smokers, and patients with asthma, COPD, and ACOS and validated in a Japanese cohort (n=135). The classification accuracy of potential biomarkers was compared with area under the receiver operating characteristic curves. Only sputum NGAL levels could differentiate ACOS from asthma (P<0.001 and P<0.001) and COPD (P<0.05 and P=0.002) in the discovery and replication cohorts, respectively. Sputum NGAL levels were independently correlated with the percentage of pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second predicted in multivariate analysis in the discovery and replication cohorts (P=0.001 and P=0.002, respectively). In conclusion, sputum biomarkers reflecting both airway inflammation and remodeling of the tissue show potential in differentiation between asthma, COPD, and ACOS.
A sensitive chemiluminescence imaging immunoassay for simultaneous detection of serum oxidized lipoprotein(a) and low density lipoprotein

Abstract Background: Oxidized lipoprotein(a) [ox-Lp(a)] and oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) levels have been reported to be useful predictors of cardiovascular events. The study developed a chemiluminescence (CL) imaging immunoassay method for simultaneously detecting serum concentrations of ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL. Methods: Ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL levels were measured by CL imaging immunoassay using a disposable immunosensor array as the carrier and a charge-coupled device as the detector, and were studied in 46 acute coronary syndromes (ACS) patients, 58 stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and 61 control subjects. Results: This method showed good linear relations (R2>0.99) in the concentration range of 2.00×10–5–2.00×10–1 and 2.40×10–4–2.40 U/mL for ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL, respectively. The detection limits for ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL were 2.40×10–6 and 3.00×10–5 U/mL, respectively. The intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CV) were 4.90%–6.76% and 7.11%–10.06% for ox-Lp(a), and 5.01%–6.04% and 5.47%–9.77% for ox-LDL, respectively. The mean recovery was 99.31% for ox-Lp(a) and 99.57% for ox-LDL, respectively. Significant correlations were observed between ox-Lp(a) levels detected by CL imaging immunoassay and ELISA, and between ox-LDL levels detected by the two methods, respectively. Furthermore, ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL levels increased in stable CAD, and especially in ACS. Conclusions: The CL imaging immunoassay provided a simple, sensitive and reliable method for the simultaneous determination of serum ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL. The clinical monitoring ox-Lp(a) and ox-LDL levels may possess distinctly clinical value for assessment of CAD risk.
The Glasses Are Half Empty: Turn Your Sight to Autostereoscopic 3-D

For cineastes and film buffs, viewing their favorite movie in stereoscopic three-dimensional (S3-D) is a must. In theaters, three-dimensional (3-D) films have become a de facto standard. In 2010, 50% of all films in the top 20 were in 3-D, and there were about twice as many tickets sold in 3-D when compared with two-dimensional (2-D) for the same titles [1]. For home viewing, 3-D is gaining traction as well. Yet, it was found that what is accepted in theatrical viewing is not accepted at home. The need to wear glasses is one of the major obstacles for consumers buying 3-D TV sets [2], the key argument being that glasses would hinder multitasking in the living room. The NPD Group study identifies consumer hesitation to 3-D TV and concludes that the second largest objection by consumers (the first being it is too expensive, 45%) was that they had to wear glasses (42%).
Recovering uncertain mappings through structural validation and aggregation with the MoTo system

We present an automated ontology matching methodology, supported by various machine learning techniques, as implemented in the system MoTo. The methodology is two-tiered. On the first stage it uses a meta-learner to elicit certain mappings from those predicted by single matchers induced by a specific base-learner. Then, uncertain mappings are recovered passing through a validation process, followed by the aggregation of the individual predictions through linguistic quantifiers. Experiments on benchmark ontologies demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology.
Involvement of G-triplex and G-hairpin in the multi-pathway folding of human telomeric G-quadruplex

Abstract G-quadruplex (G4) can be formed by G-rich DNA sequences that are widely distributed throughout the human genome. Although G-triplex and G-hairpin have been proposed as G4 folding intermediates, their formation still requires further investigation by experiments. Here, we employed single-molecule FRET to characterize the folding dynamics of G4 from human telomeric sequence. First, we observed four states during G4 folding initially assigned to be anti-parallel G4, G-triplex, G-hairpin and unfolded ssDNA. Then we constructed putative intra-strand G-triplex, G-hairpin structures and confirmed their existences in both NaCl and KCl. Further studies revealed those structures are going through dynamic transitions between different states and show relatively weak dependence on cations, unlike G4. Based on those results and molecular dynamics simulations, we proposed a multi-pathway folding mechanism for human telomeric G4. The present work may shed new light on our current understanding about the existence and stability of G4 intermediate states.
Sildenafil Promotes Ischemia-Induced Angiogenesis Through a PKG-Dependent Pathway

Background—Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a prevalent cardiovascular disorder that results in tissue ischemia which can progress to critical limb ischemia. Restoration of tissue perfusion in the setting of chronic ischemia through stimulation of arteriogenesis and angiogenesis remains a key therapeutic target for PAD. However, experimental therapeutics, including growth factor and gene therapy, have had little clinical success indicating the need for a better understanding of molecular pathways required for therapeutic angiogenesis. Methods and Results—Here we report that phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition by sildenafil significantly increases vascular perfusion, tissue blood flow, and vascular density during chronic ischemia of the mouse hind limb. Importantly, sildenafil therapy did not alter any of these parameters in nonischemic limbs. Sildenafil increased tissue cGMP levels independently of increases in nitric oxide production, and sildenafil therapy stimulated angiogenesis in ischemic limbs of eNOS−/− and iNOS−/− mice. Lastly, sildenafil-mediated angiogenic activity was blocked by inhibition of protein kinase G using the PKG antagonist DT-3. Conclusions—These data demonstrate that sildenafil therapy results in increased angiogenic activity through a PKG-dependent pathway that is independent of nitric oxide production or NOS activity and identify the angiogenic therapeutic potential of sildenafil for critical limb ischemia.
On iterative source-channel decoding for variable-length encoded Markov sources using a bit-level trellis

We present a novel bit-level soft-input/soft-output decoding algorithm for variable-length encoded packetized Markov sources transmitted over wireless channels. An interesting feature of the proposed approach is that symbol-based source statistics in the form of transition probabilities of the Markov source are exploited as a-priori information on a bit-level trellis. When, additionally, the variable-length encoded source data is protected by channel codes, an iterative source-channel decoding scheme can be obtained in the same way as for serially concatenated codes. Based on an extrinsic information transfer chart analysis of the iterative decoder, computer simulations show that, for an AWGN channel, by using reversible variable-length codes with free distance greater than one in combination with rate-1 channel codes, reliable transmission is possible even for highly corrupted channels.
Report on TREC-9

• Cross-language (English to Chinese) • Filtering • Interactive • Query • Question Answering • Spoken Document Retrieval • Web • Task: ad hoc search for documents written in one language using topics in another language – 25 topics in English created by bilingual assessors; Chinese version also available – 126,937 documents; 188 MB in BIG5 – Hong Kong newspapers donated by Wiser Ltd. • Hong Kong Commercial Data (Aug 98-Jul 99) • Hong Kong Daily News (Feb 99-July 99) • Takongnao (Oct 98-Mar 99) Cross Language Track
Output feedback stabilization of switched linear systems with limited information

We propose an encoding and control strategy for the stabilization of switched systems with limited information, supposing the controller is given for each mode. Only the quantized output and the active mode of the plant at each sampling time are transmitted to the controller. Due to switching, the active mode of the plant may be different from that of the controller in the closed-loop system. Hence if switching occurs, the quantizer must recalculate a bounded set containing the estimation error for quantization at the next sampling time. We establish the global asymptotic stability under a slow-switching assumption on dwell time and average dwell time. To this end, we construct multiple discrete-time Lyapunov functions with respect to the estimated state and the size of the bounded set.
Neural synthesis of teleo-reactive programs

The Teleo-Reactive (TR) formalism has been presented as a new programming paradigm to write agent programs with reactive control and goal oriented behavior. The formalism is based in a circuit semantics that intuitively can be ported directly to a layered neural network architecture. But to capture the essence of the TR paradigm, a mechanism of synthesis must be developed, allowing to express in a neural architecture 1) the reactive nature of the programs. 2) the incremental learning of TR sequences and trees and 3) the continuous feedback from the world. We present an analysis of TR programs and a method to synthesize those programs into an ontogenic neural network model that captures all the features of the program and can evolve with the agent as he explores the world.
Neural Enquirer: Learning to Query Tables

We proposed Neural Enquirer as a neural network architecture to execute a natural language (NL) query on a knowledge-base (KB) for answers. Basically, Neural Enquirer finds the distributed representation of a query and then executes it on knowledge-base tables to obtain the answer as one of the values in the tables. Unlike similar efforts in end-to-end training of semantic parsers, Neural Enquirer is fully "neuralized": it not only gives distributional representation of the query and the knowledge-base, but also realizes the execution of compositional queries as a series of differentiable operations, with intermediate results (consisting of annotations of the tables at different levels) saved on multiple layers of memory. Neural Enquirer can be trained with gradient descent, with which not only the parameters of the controlling components and semantic parsing component, but also the embeddings of the tables and query words can be learned from scratch. The training can be done in an end-to-end fashion, but it can take stronger guidance, e.g., the step-by-step supervision for complicated queries, and benefit from it. Neural Enquirer is one step towards building neural network systems which seek to understand language by executing it on real-world. Our experiments show that Neural Enquirer can learn to execute fairly complicated NL queries on tables with rich structures.
Origin and Population Dynamics of a Novel HIV-1 Subtype G Clade Circulating in Cape Verde and Portugal

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) subtype G is the most prevalent and second most prevalent HIV-1 clade in Cape Verde and Portugal, respectively; but there is no information about the origin and spatiotemporal dispersal pattern of this HIV-1 clade circulating in those countries. To this end, we used Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian coalescent-based methods to analyze a collection of 578 HIV-1 subtype G pol sequences sampled throughout Portugal, Cape Verde and 11 other countries from West and Central Africa over a period of 22 years (1992 to 2013). Our analyses indicate that most subtype G sequences from Cape Verde (80%) and Portugal (95%) branched together in a distinct monophyletic cluster (here called GCV-PT). The GCV-PT clade probably emerged after a single migration of the virus out of Central Africa into Cape Verde between the late 1970s and the middle 1980s, followed by a rapid dissemination to Portugal a couple of years later. Reconstruction of the demographic history of the GCV-PT clade circulating in Cape Verde and Portugal indicates that this viral clade displayed an initial phase of exponential growth during the 1980s and 1990s, followed by a decline in growth rate since the early 2000s. Our data also indicate that during the exponential growth phase the GCV-PT clade recombined with a preexisting subtype B viral strain circulating in Portugal, originating the CRF14_BG clade that was later disseminated to Spain and Cape Verde. Historical and recent human population movements between Angola, Cape Verde and Portugal probably played a key role in the origin and dispersal of the GCV-PT and CRF14_BG clades.
The Research on Concept Semantic Similarity Computing Based on Semantic Tree

The concept semantic similarity computation has vast application in the question answering system field, semantic similarity is becoming the basis of semantic expansion in the question answering system, and influences the recall rate and precision rate of the question answering system immensely. After we analyze the traditional method of semantic similarity computation, we consider comprehensively the important influential factors: depth, density, strength of the edge and concept semantic overlap degree, concept level difference. The paper presents a semantic tree-based concept semantic similarity computation method, and verifies the algorithm’s validity.
Vascularized Composite Allograft Tolerance Across MHC Barriers in a Large Animal Model

Vascularized composite allograft (VCA) transplantation can restore form and function following severe craniofacial injuries, extremity amputations or massive tissue loss. The induction of transplant tolerance would eliminate the need for long‐term immunosuppression, realigning the risk–benefit ratio for these life‐enhancing procedures. Skin, a critical component of VCA, has consistently presented the most stringent challenge to transplant tolerance. Here, we demonstrate, in a clinically relevant miniature swine model, induction of immunologic tolerance of VCAs across MHC barriers by induction of stable hematopoietic mixed chimerism. Recipient conditioning consisted of T cell depletion with CD3‐immunotoxin, and 100 cGy total body irradiation prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and a 45‐day course of cyclosporine A. VCA transplantation was performed either simultaneously to induction of mixed chimerism or into established mixed chimeras 85–150 days later. Following withdrawal of immunosuppression both VCAs transplanted into stable chimeras (n = 4), and those transplanted at the time of HCT (n = 2) accepted all components, including skin, without evidence of rejection to the experimental end point 115–504 days posttransplant. These data demonstrate that tolerance across MHC mismatches can be induced in a clinically relevant VCA model, providing proof of concept for long‐term immunosuppression‐free survival.
Gal's accurate tables method revisited

Gal's accurate tables algorithm aims at providing an efficient implementation of mathematical functions with correct rounding as often as possible. This method requires an expensive pre-computation of the values taken by the function - or by several related functions - at some distinguished points. Our improvements of Gal's method are two-fold: on the one hand we describe what is the arguably best set of distinguished values and how it improves the efficiency and accuracy of the function implementation, and on the other hand we give an algorithm which drastically decreases the cost of the pre-computation. These improvements are related to the worst cases for the correct rounding of mathematical functions and to the algorithms for finding them. We demonstrate how the whole method can be turned into practice for 2/sup x/ and sin x for x/spl isin/[1/2,1[, in double precision.
Intraspecific Variation in Growth and Morphology of the Bloom-Forming Cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa

ABSTRACT In the laboratory, we documented large variation in the morphology, toxicity, and maximum population growth rates for 32 Microcystis aeruginosa strains isolated from 12 lakes. Growth rates and mean colony sizes varied significantly across strains and were positively correlated. However, growth rates were unrelated to toxin production.
Detection of X-Ray Emission from the Eastern Radio Lobe of Pictor A

The XMM-Newton satellite has revealed extended X-ray emission from the eastern radio lobe of the Fanaroff-Riley II radio galaxy Pictor A. The X-ray spectrum, accumulated on a region covering about half the entire radio lobe, is well described by both a thermal (kT = 5 keV) model and a power law with an energy index αX = 0.6 ± 0.2. The X-ray emission could be thermal and produced by circumgalactic gas shocked by the expanding radio lobe or, alternatively, by inverse Compton (IC) scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by relativistic electrons in the lobe. The latter possibility seems to be supported by the good agreement between the lobe-averaged synchrotron radio index (⟨αradio⟩ = 0.8) and the X-ray energy slope αX. However, if this is the case, the magnetic field (BIC ~ 1-2 μG), as deduced from the comparison of the IC X-ray and radio fluxes, is more than a factor of 2 below the equipartition value estimated in the same X-ray region.
Weak updates and separation logic ( Technical Report )

Separation Logic (SL) provides a simple but powerful techni que for reasoning about imperative programs that use shared data st ructures. Unfortunately, SL supports only “strong updates”, in which mutatio n t a heap location is safe only if a unique reference is owned. This limits the ap plicability of SL when reasoning about the interaction between many high-lev el anguages (e.g., ML, Java, C#) and low-level ones since these high-level lang u ges do not support strong updates. Instead, they adopt the discipline of “weak updates”, in which there is a global “heap type” to enforce the invariant of type -pr serving heap updates. We present SL w, a logic that extends SL with reference types and elegantly reasons about the interaction between strong and weak updat es. We also describe a semantic framework for reference types; this framework is used to prove the soundness of SL w.
Uncovering the delegitimized experience of non-Spanish speaking Latinos/as attending a predominantly white institution

Language is an integral part of the Latino/a community. For Latinos/as, language is a symbolic marker of ethnic authenticity; however, no higher education research exists describing the ethnic identity development of non-Spanish speaking Latinos/as. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how non-speaking Spanish Latinos/as understood their status within the Latino/a community and the larger campus community. Utilizing Torres‘s (1999, 2003) work on ethnic identity development to situate participants‘ ethnic identity development, three themes emerged as descriptive of student‘s lived experiences: (a) It is a Midwest thing; (b) I am not that type of Hispanic; and (c) family. Implications for student affairs professional are discussed. In addition, recommendations for future research are explored.
Efficient k-Party Voting with Two Choices

We consider the problem of distributed $k$-party voting with two choices as well as a simple modification of this protocol in complete graphs. In the standard version, we are given a graph in which every node possesses one of $k$ different opinions at the beginning. In each step, every node chooses two neighbors uniformly at random. If the opinions of the two neighbors coincide, then this opinion is adopted. It is known that if $k=2$ and the difference between the two opinions is $\Omega(\sqrt{n \log n})$, then after $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$ steps, every node will possess the largest initial opinion, with high probability. We show that if $k =\mathcal{O}(n^\epsilon)$ for some small $\epsilon$, then this protocol converges to the initial majority within $\mathcal{O}(k\log{n})$ steps, with high probability, as long as the initial difference between the largest and second largest opinion is $\Omega(\sqrt{n \log n})$. Furthermore, there exist initial configurations where the $\Theta(k)$ bound on the run time is matched. If the initial difference is $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{n})$, then the largest opinion may loose the vote with constant probability. To speed up our process, we consider the following variant of the two-choices protocol. The process is divided into several phases, and in the first step of a phase every node applies the two choices protocol. If a new opinion is adopted, the node remembers it by setting a certain bit to true. In the subsequent steps of that phase, each node samples one neighbor, and if the bit of this neighbor is set to true, then the node takes the opinion of this neighbor and sets its bit to true as well. At the end of the phase, the bits are reset to false. Then, the phases are repeated several times. We show that this modified protocol improves significantly over the standard two-choices protocol.
Implicit resolution of the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations for sequential circuits: an application in power estimation

In this work we describe an approach that implicitly formulates and solves the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations that describe the state probabilities associated with the stationary behavior of sequential circuits. Unlike previous approaches that assumed uncorrelated input signals, we model the more general case where the sequential circuit is driven by a sequence of inputs described by a discrete time Markov chain. This Markov chain is described implicitly using a formalism that allows for a compact description of chains with an exponentially high number of states. Using this approach, we present an application in power estimation of sequential circuits that takes into account all the temporal and spatial correlations between the primary inputs and the internal signals. We present results showing that, in some cases, it is possible to solve exactly the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations for systems with more than 10/sup 7/ equations.