Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic Value of Cancer Stem Cells Markers in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a significant clinical relevance of being associated with a shorter median time to relapse and death and does not respond to endocrine therapy or other available targeted agents. Increased aggressiveness of this tumor, as well as resistance to standard drug therapies, may be associated with the presence of stem cell populations within the tumor. Several stemness markers have been described for the various histological subtypes of breast cancer, such as CD44, CD24, CD133, ALDH1, and ABCG2. The role of these markers in breast cancer is not clear yet and above all there are conflicting opinions about their real prognostic value. To investigate the role of CSCs markers in TNBC cancerogenesis and tumor progression, we selected 160 TNBCs samples on which we detected protein expression of CD44, CD24, CD133, ALDH1, and ABCG2 by immunohistochemistry. Our results highlighted a real prognostic role only for CD44 in TNBCs. All other CSCs markers do not appear to be related to the survival of TNBC patients. In conclusion, despite the fact that the presence of the cancer stem cells in the tumor provides important information on its potential aggressiveness, today their detection by immunohistochemistry is not sufficient to confirm their role in carcinogenesis, because specific markers probably are not yet identified.
Quantification and Mechanisms of Oxidative Stress in Chronic Disease

There is now strong evidence that the redox environment inside cells is very different to that outside the cell, and that many extracellular environments are both more oxidizing and also subject to extensive oxidation. This difference in redox environments results in significant changes in oxidation chemistry and biology, altered redox equilibria, and antioxidant defense mechanisms. It is also increasingly apparent that oxidation events both inside and outside cells (extracellular oxidation) play a critical role in driving many diseases. Many extracellular proteins are highly abundant, long-lived and relatively poorly protected against damage. They can therefore accumulate high levels of modification during ageing and chronic disease, resulting in their use as biomarkers of long-term oxidative stress. Furthermore, increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that oxidized extracellular matrix materials play a key role in determining cell function and fate.
Fingering instability on curved substrates: optimal initial film and substrate perturbations

We investigate the stability of a thin Newtonian fluid spreading on a horizontal cylinder under the action of gravity. The capillary ridge forming at the advancing front is known to be unstable with respect to spanwise perturbations, resulting in the formation of fingers. In contrast to the classic case of a flow over an inclined plane, the gravity components along a cylindrical substrate vary in space and the draining flow is time-dependent, making a modal stability analysis inappropriate. A linear optimal transient growth analysis is instead performed to find the optimal spanwise wavenumber. We not only consider the optimal perturbations of the initial film thickness, as commonly done in the literature, but also the optimal topographical perturbations of the substrate, which are of significant practical relevance. We found that, in both cases, the optimal gains are obtained when the perturbation structures are the least affected by the time horizon. The optimal spanwise wavenumber is found to be dependent on the front location, due to the dependence of the characteristic length of the capillary ridge on its polar location.
Megakernels considered harmful: wavefront path tracing on GPUs

When programming for GPUs, simply porting a large CPU program into an equally large GPU kernel is generally not a good approach. Due to SIMT execution model on GPUs, divergence in control flow carries substantial performance penalties, as does high register us-age that lessens the latency-hiding capability that is essential for the high-latency, high-bandwidth memory system of a GPU. In this paper, we implement a path tracer on a GPU using a wavefront formulation, avoiding these pitfalls that can be especially prominent when using materials that are expensive to evaluate. We compare our performance against the traditional megakernel approach, and demonstrate that the wavefront formulation is much better suited for real-world use cases where multiple complex materials are present in the scene.
Contextual Relationship-based Activity Segmentation on an Event Stream in the IoT Environment with Multi-user Activities

The human activity recognition in the IoT environment plays the central role in the ambient assisted living, where the human activities can be represented as a concatenated event stream generated from various smart objects. From the concatenated event stream, each activity should be distinguished separately for the human activity recognition to provide services that users may need. In this regard, accurately segmenting the entire stream at the precise boundary of each activity is indispensable high priority task to realize the activity recognition. Multiple human activities in an IoT environment generate varying event stream patterns, and the unpredictability of these patterns makes them include redundant or missing events. In dealing with this complex segmentation problem, we figured out that the dynamic and confusing patterns cause major problems due to: inclusive event stream, redundant events, and shared events. To address these problems, we exploited the contextual relationships associated with the activity status about either ongoing or terminated/started. To discover the intrinsic relationships between the events in a stream, we utilized the LSTM model by rendering it for the activity segmentation. Then, the inferred boundaries were revised by our validation algorithm for a bit shifted boundaries. Our experiments show the surprising result of high accuracy above 95%, on our own testbed with various smart objects. This is superior to the prior works that even do not assume the environment with multi-user activities, where their accuracies are slightly above 80% in their test environment. It means that our work is feasible enough to be applied in the IoT environment.
Systemic Induction of NO-, Redox-, and cGMP Signaling in the Pumpkin Extrafascicular Phloem upon Local Leaf Wounding

Cucurbits developed the unique extrafascicular phloem (EFP) as a defensive structure against herbivorous animals. Mechanical leaf injury was previously shown to induce a systemic wound response in the EFP of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima). Here, we demonstrate that the phloem antioxidant system and protein modifications by NO are strongly regulated during this process. Activities of the central antioxidant enzymes dehydroascorbate reductase, glutathione reductase and ascorbate reductase were rapidly down-regulated at 30 min with a second minimum at 24 h after wounding. As a consequence levels of total ascorbate and glutathione also decreased with similar bi-phasic kinetics. These results hint toward a wound-induced shift in the redox status of the EFP. Nitric oxide (NO) is another important player in stress-induced redox signaling in plants. Therefore, we analyzed NO-dependent protein modifications in the EFP. Six to forty eight hours after leaf damage total S-nitrosothiol content and protein S-nitrosylation were clearly reduced, which was contrasted by a pronounced increase in protein tyrosine nitration. Collectively, these findings suggest that NO-dependent S-nitrosylation turned into peroxynitrite-mediated protein nitration upon a stress-induced redox shift probably involving the accumulation of reactive oxygen species within the EFP. Using the biotin switch assay and anti-nitrotyrosine antibodies we identified 9 candidate S-nitrosylated and 6 candidate tyrosine-nitrated phloem proteins. The wound-responsive Phloem Protein 16-1 (PP16-1) and Cyclophilin 18 (CYP18) as well as the 26.5 kD isoform of Phloem Protein 2 (PP2) were amenable to both NO modifications and could represent important redox-sensors within the cucurbit EFP. We also found that leaf injury triggered the systemic accumulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in the EFP and discuss the possible function of this second messenger in systemic NO and redox signaling within the EFP.
Time as a Heuristic in Serious Games for Education

The article proposes a conceptual framework for studying the organization of time in educational games. A time-focused analysis can productively examine time frames and time work in a serious game, in order to understand its timescapes of learning, and its politics of time. Games may be designed to accommodate strategies of play of variable time intensity, to assist players’ time work, to support dynamics of learning, to encourage knowledge of history and foresight, and to illustrate various economies of time.
Leveraging AI's Breadth in CS 1

Artificial Intelligence offers a compelling backdrop for student assignments and projects even very early in the computer science curriculum. We have leveraged so-called high-level AI, in the form of reasoning about language and game-playing to motivate students in CS 1. More recently we have added activities that might be described as “lower-level” AI: robotics programming via both simulated and real platforms and audio processing and classification. This work presents both student and faculty responses to this experiment and concludes that, with appropriate scaffolding, topics from AI’s full breadth succeed equally as hooks into early CS.
Cryptographic Key Management Technique in Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Networks

A wireless sensor network can be defined as a network of possibly low-size and low-complex devices denoted as sensor nodes that can sense the environment and communicate the information gathered from the monitored field through wireless links. The sensor nodes are battery powered or the energy is scavenged from the environment. Also they are limited in memory, bandwidth, computation power and energy. The wireless sensor networks are usually deployed in hostile environments so security becomes a serious concern. Nodes deployed are susceptible to both internal and external attacks. And such attacks are difficult to detect since the sensor nodes doesn't communicate in a regular manner. So the communication between the nodes must be protected using encryption techniques. For that encryption keys must be provided. Key Management is the management of cryptographic keys in the cryptosystem. Here an inter-cluster key management scheme for hierarchical WSNs is proposed. The Group-based Deployment Model is employed in this scheme. Before network deployment, nodes are divided into different deployment groups. There are different types of sensor nodes, based on the levels of implementation as member sensor nodes, cluster heads and super cluster heads. This scheme is based on the congruence property of modular arithmetic. Each Super Cluster head is pre-distributed with private and public keys. The Cluster Head will store a key seed send by the super cluster head. This seed is used to compute a unique shared key with its super cluster head and a group key shared with other nodes in the same cluster. Thus it requires minimum key storage space only. Also the failure of the cluster head due to energy drain and frequent packet drop (a malicious behavior) is addressed.
Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent with paramagnetic-inositol phosphates complexes

The present invention relates to relates to a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents the novel, specifically, at least one paramagnetic MRI contrast agents and the imaging method using the same that includes a chelating compound having at least two phosphorus acid groups combined with the material. MRI, contrast agents, paramagnetic materials, pie Tate, inositol phosphate, and liver diseases, cancer metastasis
Effect of dietary oligofructose and inulin on colonic preneoplastic aberrant crypt foci inhibition.

Oligofructose and inulin, naturally-occurring fermentable chicory fructans, have been shown to stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria which are regarded as beneficial strains in the colon and inhibit colon carcinogenesis in the laboratory animal models. The present study was designed to determine the effect of oligofructose and inulin on the azoxymethane (AOM)-induced preneoplastic lesions such as aberrant crypt foci (ACF) formation in the colon of male F344 rats. At 5 weeks of age, groups of animals were fed the AIN-76A (control) and the experimental diets containing 10% oligofructose or inulin. At 7 weeks of age, all animals received s.c. injection of AOM dissolved in normal saline at a dose rate of 15 mg/kg body wt, once weekly for 2 weeks. The animals were necropsied 7 weeks after the last AOM injection, and the ACF were visualized under light microscopy in the formalin-fixed, unsectioned methylene blue-stained colons. They were distinguished by their increased size, more prominent epithelial cells and pericryptal space. The feeding of oligofructose or inulin significantly inhibited the ACF formation and the crypt multiplicity in the colon. The degree of ACF inhibition was more pronounced in animals fed inulin than in those fed oligofructose. The findings suggest that chicory fructan supplements inhibit ACF formation, an early preneoplastic marker of malignant potential in the process of colon carcinogenesis.
Overcoming tissue scattering in wide-field deep imaging by extended detection and computational reconstruction

Compared to the golden technique of point‐scanning multiphoton microscopy, line‐scanning temporal focusing microscopy (LTFM) is competitive in high imaging speed while maintaining tight axial confinement. However, considering its wide‐field detection mode, LTFM suffers from shallow penetration depth as a result of crosstalk induced by tissue scattering. In contrast to the spatial filtering based on confocal slit detection, we propose the extended detection LTFM (ED‐LTFM), the first technique to extract signals from scattered photons and thus effectively extend the imaging depth. By recording a succession of line‐shape excited signals in 2D and reconstructing signals under Hessian regularization, we can push the depth limitation in scattering tissue imaging. We valid the concept with numerical simulations, and demonstrate the performance of enhanced imaging depth in in vivo imaging of mouse brains.
Verified validation of lazy code motion

Translation validation establishes a posteriori the correctness of a run of a compilation pass or other program transformation. In this paper, we develop an efficient translation validation algorithm for the Lazy Code Motion (LCM) optimization. LCM is an interesting challenge for validation because it is a global optimization that moves code across loops. Consequently, care must be taken not to move computations that may fail before loops that may not terminate. Our validator includes a specific check for anticipability to rule out such incorrect moves. We present a mechanically-checked proof of correctness of the validation algorithm, using the Coq proof assistant. Combining our validator with an unverified implementation of LCM, we obtain a LCM pass that is provably semantics-preserving and was integrated in the CompCert formally verified compiler.
Common Data Elements for Neurological Registries

core data fields to include in all neurological registries in Canada. This project targeted neurological registries in Canada for all priority neurological conditions identified in the call for proposal including: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain tumours, cerebral palsy (CP), dystonia, epilepsy, Huntington’s disease (HD), hydrocephalus, multiple sclerosis (MS), muscular dystrophy (MD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), spina bifida, spinal cord injuries (SCI), Tourette syndrome and traumatic brain injury (TBI). The project team sought to identify all existing neurological condition registries in Canada to consult as stakeholders in this project. Disease experts from all of the above priority conditions were included in the process. Neurological registries represented in the project included: • The Canadian Cerebral Palsy Registry – a voluntary registry including children with CP across several jurisdictions in Canada. (Edmonton, Alberta). • The Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry (CNDR) – a voluntary registry which includes MD, ALS and all other adults and children with neuromuscular disease in Canada (Calgary, Alberta, www.cndr.org) • Hydrocephalus Registry (under development) • The North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) Registry a voluntary online registry for patients worldwide with MS (Birmingham, Alabama, www.narcoms.org) • The Ontario Stroke Registry – formerly known as the Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network, a mandatory registry under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) based at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto, Ontario. http://www.ices. on.ca/webpage . cfm? site_id=1&org_id=26&morg_id=0&gsec_id=7071&item_ id=7071 • The Quebec Myotonic Dystrophy Registry – a voluntary registry for Quebec patients with myotonic dystrophy (a form of MD) (Quebec, Quebec http://www.dystrophiemyotonique.chuq. qc.ca/ENG/registry-why.html) • The Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR) – a voluntary registry which includes individuals with SCI from across Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia, www.rickhansen registry.org)
Electrically Small, Planar, Complementary Antenna With Reconfigurable Frequency

An electrically small, planar, complementary antenna with endfire radiation patterns is investigated in this paper. It mainly consists of an electric dipole and a segmented loop that functions as an equivalent magnetic dipole. There is also an additional stub used to adjust the maximum radiation direction and a slotted circular patch for impedance matching. Two modes of the electric dipole and magnetic-dipole loop are excited and combined, realizing an impedance bandwidth of 6.1%, a gain of 4.85 dBi, a front-to-back ratio (FTBR) of 18.5 dB, and an efficiency of over 90%. Furthermore, it is found that the resonance frequency of the loop relies on the length of its small segments. Therefore, two p-i-n diodes are introduced to the loop to manipulate its resonance frequency. Also, two extra p-i-n diodes are added to adjust the resonance frequency of the electric dipole. Consequently, two reconfigurable bands (1.5 and 2.4 GHz) with consistent endfire radiation patterns are achieved for the first time in a complementary antenna.
Detection of an Allele Conferring Resistance to Bacillus sphaericus Binary Toxin in Culex quinquefasciatus Populations by Molecular Screening

ABSTRACT The activity of the Bacillus sphaericus binary (Bin) toxin on Culex quinquefasciatus larvae depends on its specific binding to the Cqm1 receptor, a midgut membrane-bound α-glucosidase. A 19-nucleotide deletion in the cqm1 gene (cqm1REC) mediates high-level resistance to Bin toxin. Here, resistance in nontreated and B. sphaericus-treated field populations of C. quinquefasciatus was assessed through bioassays as well as a specific PCR assay designed to detect the cqm1REC allele in individual larvae. Resistance ratios at 90% lethal concentration, gathered through bioassays, were close to 1 and indicate that the selected populations had similar levels of susceptibility to B. sphaericus, comparable to that of a laboratory colony. A diagnostic PCR assay detected the cqm1REC allele in all populations investigated, and its frequency in two nontreated areas was 0.006 and 0.003, while the frequency in the B. sphaericus-treated population was significantly higher. Values of 0.053 and 0.055 were detected for two distinct sets of samples, and homozygote resistant larvae were found. Evaluation of Cqm1 expression in individual larvae through α-glucosidase assays corroborated the allelic frequency revealed by PCR. The data from this study indicate that the cqm1REC allele was present at a detectable frequency in nontreated populations, while the higher frequency in samples from the treated area is, perhaps, correlated with the exposure to B. sphaericus. This is the first report of the molecular detection of a biolarvicide resistance allele in mosquito populations, and it confirms that the PCR-based approach is suitable to track such alleles in target populations.
Bacterial Life and Dinitrogen Fixation at a Gypsum Rock

ABSTRACT The organisms of a bluish-green layer beneath the shards of a gypsum rock were characterized by molecular techniques. The cyanobacterial consortium consisted almost exclusively of Chroococcidiopsis spp. The organisms of the shards expressed nitrogenase activity (C2H2 reduction) aerobically and in light. After a prolonged period of drought at the rock, the cells were inactive, but they resumed nitrogenase activity 2 to 3 days after the addition of water. In a suspension culture of Chroococcidiopsis sp. strain PCC7203, C2H2 reduction required microaerobic conditions and was strictly dependent on low light intensities. Sequencing of a segment of the nitrogenase reductase gene (nifH) indicated that Chroococcidiopsis possesses the alternative molybdenum nitrogenase 2, expressed in Anabaena variabilis only under reduced O2 tensions, rather than the widespread, common molybdenum nitrogenase. The shards apparently provide microsites with reduced light intensities and reduced O2 tension that allow N2 fixation to proceed in the unicellular Chroococcidiopsis at the gypsum rock, unless the activity is due to minute amounts of other, very active cyanobacteria. Phylogenetic analysis of nifH sequences tends to suggest that molybdenum nitrogenase 2 is characteristic of those unicellular or filamentous, nonheterocystous cyanobacteria fixing N2 under microaerobic conditions only.
Dual modes of rabies P-protein association with microtubules: a novel strategy to suppress the antiviral response

Conventional nuclear import is independent of the cytoskeleton, but recent data have shown that the import of specific proteins can be either facilitated or inhibited by microtubules (MTs). Nuclear import of the P-protein from rabies virus involves a MT-facilitated mechanism, but here, we show that P-protein is unique in that it also undergoes MT-inhibited import, with the mode of MT-interaction being regulated by the oligomeric state of the P-protein. This is the first demonstration that a protein can utilise both MT-inhibited and MT-facilitated import mechanisms, and can switch between these different modes of MT interaction to regulate its nuclear trafficking. Importantly, we show that the P-protein exploits MT-dependent mechanisms to manipulate host cell processes by switching the import of the interferon-activated transcription factor STAT1 from a conventional to a MT-inhibited mechanism. This prevents STAT1 nuclear import and signalling in response to interferon, which is vital to the host innate antiviral response. This is the first report of MT involvement in the viral subversion of interferon signalling that is central to virus pathogenicity, and identifies novel targets for the development of antiviral drugs or attenuated viruses for vaccine applications.