Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase oxidation in cell adhesion and migration.

SIGNIFICANCE Redox-regulated control of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) through inhibitory reversible oxidation of their active site is emerging as a novel and general mechanism for control of cell surface receptor-activated signaling. This mechanism allows for a previously unrecognized crosstalk between redox regulators and signaling pathways, governed by, for example, receptor tyrosine kinases and integrins, which control cell proliferation and migration. RECENT ADVANCES A large number of different molecules, in addition to hydrogen peroxide, have been found to induce PTP inactivation, including lipid peroxides, reactive nitrogen species, and hydrogen sulfide. Characterization of oxidized PTPs has identified different types of oxidative modifications that are likely to display differential sensitivity to various reducing systems. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that PTP oxidation occurs in a temporally and spatially restricted manner. Studies in cell and animal models indicate altered PTP oxidation in models of common diseases, such as cancer and metabolic/cardiovascular disease. Novel methods have appeared that allow characterization of global PTP oxidation. CRITICAL ISSUES As the understanding of the molecular and cellular biology of PTP oxidation is developing, it will be important to establish experimental procedures that allow analyses of PTP oxidation, and its regulation, in physiological and pathophysiological settings. Future studies should also aim to establish specific connections between various oxidants, specific PTPs, and defined signaling contexts. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Modulation of PTP activity still appears as a valid strategy for correction or inhibition of dys-regulated cell signaling. Continued studies on PTP oxidation might present yet unrecognized means to exploit this regulatory mechanism for pharmacological purposes.
Ccq1p and the Condensin Proteins Cut3p and Cut14p Prevent Telomere Entanglements in the Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

ABSTRACT The Schizosaccharomyces pombe telomere-associated protein Ccq1p has previously been shown to participate in telomerase recruitment, heterochromatin formation, and suppression of checkpoint activation. Here we characterize a critical role for Ccq1p in mitotic transit. We show that mitotic cells lacking Ccq1p lose minichromosomes at high frequencies but that conditional knockdown of Ccq1p expression results in telomere bridging within one cell cycle. Elevating Ccq1p expression resolves the telomere entanglements caused by decreased Taz1p activity. Ccq1p affects telomere resolution in the absence of changes in telomere size, indicating a role for Ccq1p that is independent of telomere length regulation. Using affinity purification, we identify the condensin proteins Cut3p and Cut14p as candidate Ccq1p interactors in this activity. Condensin loss-of-function disrupts Ccq1p telomeric localization and normal intertelomere clustering, while condensin overexpression relieves the chromosome segregation defects associated with conditional Ccq1p knockdown. These data suggest that Ccq1p and condensins collaborate to mediate resolution of telomeres in mitosis and regulate intertelomeric clustering during interphase.
Detection of Multiple Pedestrians using Motion Information and Adaboost Algorithm

Robust detection of pedestrians in video streams is important for many applications. However, if pedestrians are adjacent to each other, it is much more difficult to accurately detect them. In this paper, we propose a method to detect multiple pedestrians using motion information and Adaboost algorithm from an image sequence acquired by a single camera on a mobile or stationary system. In case of mobile system, the ego-motion of the camera is compensated for using corresponding feature sets. The region of interest is calculated by the difference image between two consecutive images using the compensated image. Pedestrian detector is learned by boosting a number of weak classifiers which are based on Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) features. The proposed approach has been tested to a number of image sequences, and it was shown to detect multiple pedestrians very well.
Evaluation of Six Commercial Nucleic Acid Amplification Tests for Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Other Neisseria Species

ABSTRACT Molecular detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in extragenital samples may result in false-positive results due to cross-reaction with commensal Neisseria species or Neisseria meningitidis. This study examined 450 characterized clinical culture isolates, comprising 216 N. gonorrhoeae isolates and 234 isolates of nongonococcal Neisseria species (n = 218) and 16 isolates of other closely related bacteria, with six commercial nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs). The six NAATs tested were Gen-Probe APTIMA COMBO 2 and APTIMA GC, Roche COBAS Amplicor CT/NG and COBAS 4800 CT/NG tests, BD ProbeTec GC Qx amplified DNA assay, and Abbott RealTime CT/NG test. All assays except COBAS Amplicor CT/NG test where four (1.9%) isolates were not detected showed a positive result with all N. gonorrhoeae isolates (n = 216). Among the 234 nongonococcal isolates examined, initial results from all assays displayed some false-positive results due to cross-reactions. Specifically, the COBAS Amplicor and ProbeTec tests showed the highest number of false-positive results, detecting 33 (14.1%) and 26 (11%) nongonococcal Neisseria isolates, respectively. On the first testing, APTIMA COMBO 2, APTIMA GC, Abbott RealTime, and Roche COBAS 4800 showed lower level of cross-reactions with five (2.1%), four (1.7%), two (1%), and two (1%) of the isolates showing low-level positivity, respectively. Upon retesting of these nine nongonococcal isolates using freshly cultured colonies, none were positive by the APTIMA COMBO 2, Abbott RealTime, or COBAS 4800 test. In conclusion, the COBAS Amplicor and ProbeTec tests displayed high number of false-positive results, while the remaining NAATs showed only sporadic low-level false-positive results. Supplementary testing for confirmation of N. gonorrhoeae NAATs remains recommended with all samples tested, in particular those from extragenital sites.
Global consensus making on multiplex scale-free networks

Most individuals, if not all, are active in various social networks. Opinion formation is an outcome of social interactions and information propagation occurring in such social systems. In this paper, we study on opinion formation on multiplex networks composed of two layers, each of which is a scale-free network, with a special focus on global consensus making in such networks. We impose a new rule of pair-wise interactions under inter-layer interplay termed as compromise following which two interacting nodes have a tendency to make a fair compromise in both senses of inter-and intra-layer interplay. It is found that in a duplex network composed of two identical layers, an increase in tolerance range in a layer declines the opinion diversity on the other layer and the two critical confidence bounds for achieving global consensus in both layers follow a one-sum rule; that is, each of the layers reaches a global consensus if the sum of two critical bounds on the two layers is approximately equal to 1, a double of critical bound on a single-layer network. However, in duplex networks of two non-identical layers with layer-layer coupling quantified by a link overlap parameter, the rule does not hold any longer. In this case, due to the larger portion of low-degree nodes in typical scale-free networks, a layer only can reach a complete consensus if its associated tolerance range is as large as nearly 0.5 even when the tolerance range on the other layer is utmost.
Family-Based Association Study of the MCF2L2 Gene and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the association between three single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variants (rs35368790, rs35069869 and rs684846) of the MCF2 cell line-derived transforming sequence-like 2 (MCF2L2) gene and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in PCOS family trios. Methods: Genotyping was done by TaqMan assay that incorporates minor groove-binding probe technology for allelic discrimination. One hundred and fifty-two unrelated PCOS probands and their biological parents were recruited. All subjects were of Han Chinese origin and from Shandong Province. Results: The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) for allelic association demonstrated that a weak association was detected in SNP rs35368790 with p = 0.008. However, we found no significant transmission distortion of the other two SNPs (rs35069869, χ2 = 3.645, p = 0.056; rs684846, χ2 = 1.429, p = 0.232, respectively). Conclusions: These results suggest that the genetic polymorphisms within MCF2L2 are likely to confer an increased susceptibility to PCOS in the Chinese population. Our present data may provide a basis for further studies of the role of the MCF2L2 gene in the etiology of PCOS.
Fingers' Range and Comfortable Area for One-Handed Smartphone Interaction Beyond the Touchscreen

Previous research and recent smartphone development presented a wide range of input controls beyond the touchscreen. Fingerprint scanners, silent switches, and Back-of-Device (BoD) touch panels offer additional ways to perform input. However, with the increasing amount of input controls on the device, unintentional input or limited reachability can hinder interaction. In a one-handed scenario, we conducted a study to investigate the areas that can be reached without losing grip stability (comfortable area), and with stretched fingers (maximum range) using four different phone sizes. We describe the characteristics of the comfortable area and maximum range for different phone sizes and derive four design implications for the placement of input controls to support one-handed BoD and edge interaction. Amongst others, we show that the index and middle finger are the most suited fingers for BoD interaction and that the grip shifts towards the top edge with increasing phone sizes.
Improving the efficiency of thermal covert channels in multi-/many-core systems

In many-core chips seen in mobile computing, data center, AI, and elsewhere, thermal covert channels could be established to transmit data (e.g., passwords), supposedly to be kept secret and private. Effectiveness of a thermal covert channel, measured by its transmission rate and bit error rate (BER), is so much dependent on the thermal noise/interference imposed on the channel. In this paper, we present a few techniques to improve the capacity of thermal covert channel by overcoming the thermal interference. In particular, data in a thermal covert channel are encoded and represented following a new thermal signaling scheme where logic value, 0 or 1, modules the thermal signals duty cycle. Next, we show in this study that proper selection of transmission frequency can significantly minimize thermal interference. In addition, we propose a robust end-to-end communication protocol for reliable communications. Our experiments have confirmed that, compared to an existing thermal covert channel attack [1] [2], a thermal covert channel enhanced with all the improvements proposed in this study is seeing significant BER reduction (by as much as 75%), and transmission rate boost (by more than threefold). Building such a strong thermal covert channel is the key step towards developing robust defense and countermeasures against information leaking over thermal covert channel.
Calculating the Mean Amplitude of Glycemic Excursions from Continuous Glucose Data Using an Open-Code Programmable Algorithm Based on the Integer Nonlinear Method

The mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE) is an essential index for glycemic variability assessment, which is treated as a key reference for blood glucose controlling at clinic. However, the traditional “ruler and pencil” manual method for the calculation of MAGE is time-consuming and prone to error due to the huge data size, making the development of robust computer-aided program an urgent requirement. Although several software products are available instead of manual calculation, poor agreement among them is reported. Therefore, more studies are required in this field. In this paper, we developed a mathematical algorithm based on integer nonlinear programming. Following the proposed mathematical method, an open-code computer program named MAGECAA v1.0 was developed and validated. The results of the statistical analysis indicated that the developed program was robust compared to the manual method. The agreement among the developed program and currently available popular software is satisfied, indicating that the worry about the disagreement among different software products is not necessary. The open-code programmable algorithm is an extra resource for those peers who are interested in the related study on methodology in the future.
The MT pool size ratio and the DTI radial diffusivity may reflect the myelination in shiverer and control mice

A quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) technique was employed to quantify the ratio of the sizes of the bound and free water proton pools in ex vivo mouse brains. The goal was to determine the pool size ratio sensitivity to myelin. Fixed brains from both shiverer mice and control littermates were imaged. The pool size ratio in the corpus callosum of shiverer mice was substantially lower than that in the control mice, while there was no distinguishable difference in the pool size ratio in the gray matter. These results correlate with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) derived radial diffusivity which previously was shown to reflect myelin integrity in this animal model. Histological study reveals the presence of myelin in control mice white matter and the absence of myelin in shiverer mice white matter, supporting the qMT and DTI results. Our findings support the view that qMT may be used for estimating myelin integrity. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
GestAKey: Touch Interaction on Individual Keycaps

Conventionally, keys on a physical keyboard have only two states: "released'' and "pressed''. As such, various techniques, such as hotkeys, are designed to enhance the keyboard expressiveness. Realizing that user inevitably perform touch actions during keystrokes, we propose GestAKey, leveraging location and motion of the touch on individual keycaps to augment the functionalities of existing keystrokes. With a log study, we collected touch data for both normal usage (typing and hotkeys) and while performing touch gestures (location and motion), which are analyzed to assess the viability of augmenting keystrokes with simultaneous gestures. A controlled experiment was conducted to compare GestAKey with existing keyboard interaction techniques, in terms of efficiency and learnability. The results show that GestAKey has comparable performance with hotkey. We further discuss the insights of integrating such touch modality into existing keyboard interaction, and demonstrate several usage scenarios.
Superimposed positive sequence voltage and current based islanding detection techniques for microgrid

This paper presents an islanding detection technique using superimposed positive sequence voltage and current for microgrid system. The conventional passive methods have the drawback of non-detection zone (NDZ), and active islanding detection methods introduce disturbance which might cause problems with reliability, stability, and power quality on a power system. Two systems are simulated using RSCAD/RTDS software and several test cases are generated to test the performance of the proposed technique.
Effects of Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation on root surfaces for adhesion of blood components and morphology.

OBJECTIVE This in vitro study evaluated the effects of Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation on root surfaces for adhesion of blood components and morphology. BACKGROUND DATA No previous research has evaluated the biocompatibility of root surfaces irradiated by Er,Cr:YSGG laser. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifteen teeth were studied from nonsmoking patients with severe periodontal disease. Sixty root surface specimens were obtained by selecting four from each tooth. Specimens were divided into three groups of 20 each, according to treatments. Group 1 (G1) was treated by scaling and root planing (SRP), group 2 (G2) was irradiated by Er,Cr:YSGG laser, and group 3 (G3) was treated by SRP and Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation. Blood was placed on each of 10 specimens from each of the three groups, to evaluate adhesion of blood components to the root surfaces. A morphological analysis was made of the root surfaces of the other 10 specimens from each group. All were photomicrographed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and classified according to the index of blood component adhesion and modified index for analysis of morphology. Statistical processing was done with the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (p < 0.05). RESULTS No statistical differences for adhesion of blood components to root surfaces were found between the groups (p = 0.359). However, morphological analysis disclosed that all root surfaces irradiated by Er,Cr:YSGG laser (100%) were rougher than surfaces that were not irradiated (G1-G2: p = 0.0003 and G1-G3: p = 0.0003). CONCLUSION Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation produced rougher root surfaces than treatment by SRP. However, it did not interfere with the adhesion of blood components to the root surfaces.
State-Level Estimates of Obesity-Attributable Costs of Absenteeism

Objective: To provide state-level estimates of obesity-attributable costs of absenteeism among working adults in the United States. Methods: Nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 1998 to 2008 and from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for 2012 are examined. The outcome is obesity-attributable workdays missed in the previous year because of health and their costs to states. Results: Obesity, but not overweight, is associated with a significant increase in workdays absent, from 1.1 to 1.7 extra days missed annually compared with normal-weight employees. Obesity-attributable absenteeism among American workers costs the nation an estimated $8.65 billion per year. Conclusions: Obesity imposes a considerable financial burden on states, accounting for 6.5% to 12.6% of total absenteeism costs in the workplace. State legislatures and employers should seek effective ways to reduce these costs.
CTRL-Labs: Hand Activity Estimation and Real-time Control from Neuromuscular Signals

CTRL-Labs has developed algorithms for determination of hand movements and forces and real-time control from neuromuscular signals. This technology enables users to create their own control schemes at run-time -- dynamically mapping neuromuscular activity to continuous (real-valued) and discrete (categorical/integer-valued) machine-input signals. To demonstrate the potential of this approach to enable novel interactions, we have built three example applications. One displays an ongoing visualization of the current posture/rotation of the hand and each finger as determined from neuromuscular signals. The other two showcase dynamic mapping of neuromuscular signals to continuous and discrete input controls for a two-player competitive target acquisition game and a single-player space shooter game.
Label-Free and Real-Time Detection of Protein Ubiquitination with a Biological Nanopore

The covalent addition of ubiquitin to target proteins is a key post-translational modification that is linked to a myriad of biological processes. Here, we report a fast, single-molecule, and label-free method to probe the ubiquitination of proteins employing an engineered Cytolysin A (ClyA) nanopore. We show that ionic currents can be used to recognize mono- and polyubiquitinated forms of native proteins under physiological conditions. Using defined conjugates, we also show that isomeric monoubiquitinated proteins can be discriminated. The nanopore approach allows following the ubiquitination reaction in real time, which will accelerate the understanding of fundamental mechanisms linked to protein ubiquitination.
On pointers versus addresses

The problem of determining the cost of random-access memory (RAM) is addressed by studying the simulation of random addressing by a machine which lacks it, called a pointer machine. The model allows the use of a data type of choice. A RAM program of time t and space s can be simulated in O(t log s) time using a tree. However, this is not an obvious lower bound since a high-level data type can allow the data to be encoded in a more economical way. The major contribution is the formalization of incompressibility for general data types. The definition extends a similar property of strings that underlies the theory of Kolmogorov complexity. The main theorem states that for all incompressible data types an Omega (t log s) lower bound holds. Incompressibility is proved for the real numbers with a set of primitives which includes all functions which are continuously differentiable except on a countable closed set. <<ETX>>
Docker based computation off-loading for video game based mobile VR framework

The 3D video game applications by using mobile device with limited resource have been growing and their requirements also have been complicated. Many virtual reality (VR) applications based on a 3D video game need to handle diverse sensors and user inputs continuously in a streaming manner. In this paper, we mainly focused on how to reduce the gap between mobile device with limited resources and complex functions including rendering image. In order to extend capabilities of mobile device, we apply computation off-loading when rendering and moving images to the mobile device. For this work we apply Docker as cloud container technologies that can be used to take the requirement of resource intensive VR application by computation off-loading.
Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease presenting with recurrent pulmonary oedema and the use of nitric oxide to predict response to sildenafil

Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease (PVOD) is a disorder which causes progressive pulmonary hypertension, usually presenting with worsening dyspnoea and right heart failure. Pulmonary oedema induced by pulmonary vasodilator therapy to reduce pulmonary arterial pressure has been well described in PVOD, but here we describe a case of PVOD presenting with recurrent episodes of acute non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, in the absence of significant pulmonary hypertension. Concern over the risk of precipitating pulmonary oedema led us to use inhaled nitric oxide to predict the safety and efficacy of sildenafil.
Dual mode CMOS ISFET sensor for DNA sequencing

Genetic disorders can be identified and treated in the most suitable manner by knowing the pattern of its bases. DNA sequencing is the process of detection of the order in which these nucleotides are arranged in DNA. To overcome the disadvantages of traditional methods of DNA sequencing CMOS ISFET sensors can be used. Dual mode CMOS ISFET has the provision for image sensing which makes the DNA sequencing more accurate.