Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Host Metabolic Factors on Treatment Outcome in Chronic Hepatitis C

Background. Recent data suggest that chronic hepatitis C has to be considered a metabolic disease further to a viral infection. The aim of this study was to elaborate on the complex interactions between hepatitis C virus, host metabolic factors, and treatment response. Methods. Demographic, virological, and histological data from 356 consecutive patients were analyzed retrospectively. Hepatic steatosis, obesity, and insulin resistance were examined in relation to their impact on treatment outcome. Comparison between genotype 1 and 3 patients was performed to identify differences in the determinants of hepatic steatosis. Results. Histological evidence of hepatic steatosis was found in 113 patients, distributed in 20.3%, 9.0%, and 2.5% for grades I, II, and III, respectively. Hepatic steatosis was associated with past alcohol abuse (P = 0.003) and histological evidence of advanced fibrosis (P < 0.001). Older age (OR 2.51, P = 0.002), genotype (OR 3.28, P < 0.001), cirrhosis (OR 4.23, P = 0.005), and hepatic steatosis (OR 2.48, P = 0.001) were independent predictors for nonresponse. Correlations of hepatic steatosis with alcohol, insulin resistance, and fibrosis stage were found similar for both genotypes 1 and 3. Conclusions. Host metabolic factors may predict treatment outcome, and this impact remains significant even in genotype 3, where steatosis has been believed to be exclusively virus related.
Extensions of Access-Point Aggregation Algorithm for Large-scale Wireless Local Area Networks

Recently, many organizations such as universities and companies have deployed wireless local area networks (WLANs) to cover the whole site for ubiquitous network services. In these WLANs, wireless access-points (APs) are often managed independently by different groups such as laboratories or departments. Then, a host may detect signals from multiple APs, which can degrade the communication performance due to radio interferences among them and increase operational costs. Previously, we proposed the AP aggregation algorithm to solve this problem by minimizing the number of active APs through aggregating them using the virtual AP technology . However, our extensive simulations in various instances found that 1) the minimization of active APs sometimes excessively degrades the network performance, and 2) the sequential optimization of host associations does not always reach optimal where slow links are still used. In this paper, we propose two extensions of the AP aggregation algorithm to solve these problems by 1) ensuring the minimum average throughput for any host by adding active APs and 2) further optimizing host associations by changing multiple hosts simultaneously in the host association finalization phase. We verify the effectiveness through simulations in four network instances using the WIMNET simulator. Â
Assessing Text Processing: A Comparison of Four Methods

Tests commonly used to determine progress in reading skill and proficiency typically assess reading products (e.g., identifying characters or factual information, sequencing events) rather than the reading processes used to generate responses (e.g., hypothesizing, evaluating, monitoring, questioning). Yet, effective processing often determines how successfully a reader responds on testing measures. Identifying measures that can assist educators to better understand how a student processes text is vital. The purpose of this research was to compare the data generated from 4 assessment methods used to evaluate how readers process text: think-aloud, interview, error detection, and questionnaire. In this descriptive study, 40 fourth-grade students of average reading ability read the same text, and data were collected as each student responded to 1 of the 4 assessment measures. Results indicated that students assessed with think-aloud and interview measures generated a greater number and broader range of text processing responses. Think-aloud protocols reflected a close interaction with text while interview responses included more evidence of metacognitive processing. Issues frequently identified as problematic in error detection research (e.g., difficulty finding errors, purpose for reading) are supported in this study. The questionnaires provide less specific data about individual text processing since students were limited by the answer choices for each question. Results from this study suggest that by using think-aloud and interview assessments, educators can obtain a more complete understanding of a reader's text processing skill than by using error-detection and questionnaire methods.
Does being friendly help in making friends? The relation between the social position and social skills of pupils with special needs in mainstream education

Pupils with special needs can have difficulties in building relationships with peers in inclusive education. An important condition for developing positive relationships with peers is having the age‐group appropriate social skills. It seems likely that pupils with an insufficient set of social skills face a larger risk of being excluded. This study describes the social skills of pupils with special needs and relates these to their social position in inclusive classrooms. In total 989 pupils from the 4th and 7th grades participated in the data collection. The analyses are based on three different indexes for social inclusion: peer acceptance, friendships and membership of a cohesive subgroup. The results show that 20% to 25% of the pupils with special needs are not socially included in their peer group. In general social position and social skills show low correlations, but that does not hold for pupils with behaviour problems. Their social position strongly relates to their social skills. For this particular group, social skills training can support them in maintaining contacts, relationships and friendships with their peers.
The importance of IRS-1 Gly972Arg polymorphism in evaluating the response to metformin treatment in polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND Recent evidence suggests that one of the modes of action of metformin may be through phosphorylation of the insulin receptor and insulin receptor substrates. With this in mind, we supposed that the G972A variant of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) may modulate the response to metformin treatment in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS This preliminary study involved 60 randomly selected women with PCOS. All patients received dietary instructions and metformin 500 mg three times daily for 6 months. Main outcome measures were androgen levels, parameters of glucose and insulin metabolism and anthropometric variables. After a second evaluation of the patients at 6 months, they were genotyped for the Gly972Arg variant of the IRS-1 gene. RESULTS Metformin had differential effects on fasting insulin levels, insulin resistance as demonstrated by homeostasis model assessment (HOMA), LH, total testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and free testosterone index on the basis of IRS genotype. The response to metformin therapy in other parameters was not different according to IRS genotype. CONCLUSION There was a differential effect of metformin therapy in PCOS women on the basis of IRS genotype. This study may call attention to the importance of molecular markers in the management of women with PCOS.
Locating identity: performativity, foreign policy and state action

This article examines the politics and explanatory plausibility of performative accounts of state action through a critical analysis of the themes of continuity and change in the work of David Campbell. As political interventions, performative models reproduce a number of taken-for-granted conceptual distinctions. As explanations, performative models are undermined by an account of the social that privileges representation. Drawing on materialist feminist critiques of performativity, I argue for the necessity of locating accounts of subject formation and state action in the multiple logics that constitute the social.
Socioscientific Decision Making and the Ocean: A Case Study of 7th Grade Life Science Students

The purpose of achieving ocean literacy, like scientific literacy, is for citizens to be able to make informed decisions based on science. One approach for teaching students about decision making is to use socioscientific issues, or "SSI. " The case study included a group of students participating in an ocean literacy-focused curriculum called Signals of Spring - ACES . The authors used focus group interviews, student-produced documents, and a decision-making task to explore decision making as it relates to the ocean. Findings contradict previous ones that students do not rely on what they learn in science class when making decisions. The 7th grade students in this study were able to apply ocean concepts pertaining to physical and biological processes to personal and societal decision making related to pollution, food choice, and on a sample SSI-based task. The results suggest that students are empowered by the knowledge of the ocean gained through the ACES curriculum and that using SSI may be a way to help students achieve ocean literacy.
Statistical alignment: computational properties, homology testing and goodness-of-fit.

The model of insertions and deletions in biological sequences, first formulated by Thorne, Kishino, and Felsenstein in 1991 (the TKF91 model), provides a basis for performing alignment within a statistical framework. Here we investigate this model.Firstly, we show how to accelerate the statistical alignment algorithms several orders of magnitude. The main innovations are to confine likelihood calculations to a band close to the similarity based alignment, to get good initial guesses of the evolutionary parameters and to apply an efficient numerical optimisation algorithm for finding the maximum likelihood estimate. In addition, the recursions originally presented by Thorne, Kishino and Felsenstein can be simplified. Two proteins, about 1500 amino acids long, can be analysed with this method in less than five seconds on a fast desktop computer, which makes this method practical for actual data analysis.Secondly, we propose a new homology test based on this model, where homology means that an ancestor to a sequence pair can be found finitely far back in time. This test has statistical advantages relative to the traditional shuffle test for proteins.Finally, we describe a goodness-of-fit test, that allows testing the proposed insertion-deletion (indel) process inherent to this model and find that real sequences (here globins) probably experience indels longer than one, contrary to what is assumed by the model.
Peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids by lipoxygenases drives ferroptosis

Significance Ferroptosis is a regulated form of cell death induced by loss of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) phospholipid peroxidase activity and lethal accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Small-molecule inhibitors of GPX4 induce ferroptosis; however, the interaction between these inhibitors and GPX4 has remained elusive, as has the identity of the reactive oxygen species that drive execution of ferroptosis. We identified here a ligand-binding site on GPX4 and determined the specific lipids oxidized during ferroptosis. We further identified two key drivers of lipid peroxidation during ferroptosis: lipoxygenases and phosphorylase kinase G2. These findings reveal a previously enigmatic mechanism of ferroptotic lipid peroxide generation and suggest new strategies for pharmacological control of ferroptosis and diseases associated with this mode of cell death. Ferroptosis is form of regulated nonapoptotic cell death that is involved in diverse disease contexts. Small molecules that inhibit glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), a phospholipid peroxidase, cause lethal accumulation of lipid peroxides and induce ferroptotic cell death. Although ferroptosis has been suggested to involve accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in lipid environments, the mediators and substrates of ROS generation and the pharmacological mechanism of GPX4 inhibition that generates ROS in lipid environments are unknown. We report here the mechanism of lipid peroxidation during ferroptosis, which involves phosphorylase kinase G2 (PHKG2) regulation of iron availability to lipoxygenase enzymes, which in turn drive ferroptosis through peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) at the bis-allylic position; indeed, pretreating cells with PUFAs containing the heavy hydrogen isotope deuterium at the site of peroxidation (D-PUFA) prevented PUFA oxidation and blocked ferroptosis. We further found that ferroptosis inducers inhibit GPX4 by covalently targeting the active site selenocysteine, leading to accumulation of PUFA hydroperoxides. In summary, we found that PUFA oxidation by lipoxygenases via a PHKG2-dependent iron pool is necessary for ferroptosis and that the covalent inhibition of the catalytic selenocysteine in Gpx4 prevents elimination of PUFA hydroperoxides; these findings suggest new strategies for controlling ferroptosis in diverse contexts.
W-Band CMOS Amplifiers Achieving  $+$10 dBm Saturated Output Power and 7.5 dB NF

We present two W-band amplifiers, one implemented using conventional coplanar waveguides and unshielded passives and the other using slow-wave shielded waveguides and passives, realized in a 65-nm baseline CMOS technology. The measured results suggest that the slow-wave shielding of the passives is useful in achieving high performance and high frequency of operation. Our custom layout slotted plate capacitor employing slow-wave shield has low parasitic series resistance. Furthermore, as the substrate losses are minimal the modeling becomes more accurate. The measured based amplifier achieves +10 dBm output power at 100 GHz with a 1.2 V supply and 70 mA total DC-current consumption. The noise figure and gain at 100 GHz are 7.5 dB and 13 dB, respectively. The chip size of the implemented slow-wave amplifier is 0.33 mm2.
Cogging Force Minimization in a Coupled Permanent Magnet Linear Generator for Sea Wave Energy Extraction Applications

The paper analyzes permanent magnet geometry effects on cogging force of permanent magnet linear generators. The dynamic modeling of the generator's performance is based on sensitivity analysis technique and finite-element representation. The generator is coupled to a particular mechanical system for sea wave energy extraction applications. The proposed methodology involves minimization of cogging force through parametric sensitivity analysis on alternative magnet profile configurations.
Evolution and Philosophy

The first main criticisms of evolution lay in the idea that species were eternal types, and so by definition species could not change. More recently, criticisms have rested on the notion of science itself, that evolution fails to meet the standards of true science, views that also were expressed at the time of Darwin and earlier. If we are to understand these criticisms, we must understand the philosophy of science in some detail.
Interventional Magnetic Resonance Guidance of Deep Brain Stimulator Implantation for Parkinson Disease

Deep brain stimulation is increasingly being applied to movement disorders, and other novel applications are emerging. The therapy requires precise localization of the stimulation electrode at specific target sites in deep brain structures. Conventional means of implantation rely on stereotactic approaches, which lack sufficient targeting accuracy and therefore are supported by invasive physiological mapping. We review the use of interventional magnetic resonance image guidance for the implantation of deep brain stimulator electrodes in patients with moderate to advanced Parkinson disease. The methodologies used in this innovative surgical technique are presented, along with the potential benefits and limitations of such an approach. Targeting accuracies are shown to be within ∼1 mm of the intended deep brain structure and are achieved with a single brain penetration in most cases. Preliminary evaluation of clinical outcomes indicates comparable results to that achieved with conventional implantation methods, and the technique holds promise for substantially reducing operative durations.
aveolin-1 and-3 dissociations from caveolae to cytosol in the heart during aging and after myocardial infarction in rat

Objective: Caveolins, the structural proteins of caveolae, modulate numerous signaling pathways including Nitric Oxide (NO) production. Among the caveolin family, caveolin-1 and -3 are mainly expressed in endothelial and muscle cells, respectively. In this study, we investigate whether (i) changes in caveolin abundance and/or distribution occur during cardiac aging and failure in rat, and (ii) the process could influence NO synthase (NOS) activity. Methods: Using immunohistolabelling and Western blot approaches, expression and distribution of caveolins were analysed in adult (Ad), senescent (S-Sh) and myocardial infarction-induced failing (S-MI) hearts. NOS3/caveolin-1 interactions were evaluated by immunoprecipitation assays. Results: At the microscope level, caveolin-1 distribution in the endothelial cells was unchanged between the groups. Conversely the typical distribution of caveolin-3 in myocyte sarcolemma was dramatically altered in S-MI rats, resulting in a heterogeneous pattern throughout the septum. Total abundance of caveolin-1 and -3 remained stable whatever the group. In the fractions free of caveolae (Triton X-100 soluble), the levels of caveolin-1a and -3 increased with aging (120%, and 1104%, P , 0.05 versus Ad, respectively) and were further enhanced in S-MI (125%, 130%, P , 0.05, P , 0.001 versus S-Sh respectively). In these fractions, NOS3/caveolin-1a complexes increased as well. In addition, NOS activity was negatively correlated to caveolin-1 level in the cytosolic fractions. Conclusions: We demonstrate that dissociation of caveolin from caveolae is associated with aging and heart failure, the process being related to the decreased NOS activity.  2003 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Handling Noisy Training and Testing Data

In the field of empirical natural language processing, researchers constantly deal with large amounts of marked-up data; whether the markup is done by the researcher or someone else, human nature dictates that it will have errors in it. This paper will more fully characterise the problem and discuss whether and when (and how) to correct the errors. The discussion is illustrated with specific examples involving function tagging in the Penn treebank.
Predicated switching - optimizing speculation on EPIC machines

Explicitly parallel instruction computing (EPIC) processors are a very attractive platform for many of today's multimedia and communications applications. In particular, clustered EPIC machines can take aggressive advantage of the available instruction-level parallelism, while maintaining high energy-delay efficiency. However, multicluster machines are more challenging to compile to than centralized machines. In this paper, we propose a novel compiler-directed speculation technique called predicated switching (PS) that can be applied to both centralized and multicluster EPIC machines. The two novel contributions in PS are: 1) a compiler transformation, denoted static single assignment-predicated switching, that leverages required data transfers between clusters for performance gains and 2) a static speculation algorithm to decide which specific kernel operations should actually be speculated in the final code, so as to maximize execution performance on the target processor. Experimental results performed on a representative set of time critical kernels compiled for a number of target machines show that, when compared to "resource-unaware" speculation techniques, PS improves performance with respect to at least one of the baselines in 80% of the cases by up to 38%. Moreover, we show that code size and register pressure are not adversely affected by our technique.
QEEG Accepted in Death Penalty Trial in Florida v. Nelson

Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) was accepted for the first time in a Frye Hearing in the death penalty phase of a murder case in Florida. Issues of reliability, validity, and the basic science of QEEG were addressed in the case. Linkages of the defendant's conduct, QEEG results, other testing, and history demonstrated his state of impairment, resulting in a sentence of life without parole. Implications for the future of QEEG and a hierarchy of usage argues that its acceptance in life-and-death decisions makes insurance reimbursement denials for QEEG and neurofeedback, based on the same science, unreasonable.
Heuristic algorithms for joint configuration of the optical and electrical layer in multi-hop wavelength routing networks

An efficient and general graph-theoretic model (the wavelength-graph (WG)) has been proposed which enables solution of the static routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problems in multihop wavelength routing (WR) wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks simultaneously, and-as a unique feature-it optimises the optical layer jointly with the electrical one. Based on the proposed WG model the problem has been formulated as an integer linear program (ILP), solved by stochastic algorithms improved by simple heuristics. The topology of the physical layer, the type of each node (e.g., OADM, OXC or EXC), the number of available wavelengths per link and the capacity of each wavelength-channel are assumed given with the aggregated traffic demand of each node-pair. The output of the optimisation is the system of wavelength paths, light paths and semi-light paths. The objective of the optimisation is to reduce resource usage at upper (electrical) layers, subject to the constrained amount of capacity of each wavelength and a limited number of wavelengths. Although the problem to be solved is NP-hard, all methods proposed give a result in a very short time.
CDN Request Routing to reduce network access cost

Content Delivery Networks (CDN) are overlay network of servers being used to deliver growing traffic demands on the Internet. As a result, CDNs are facing ever-increasing operating costs. Internet Service Providers (ISP) charge CDNs on server traffic, computed using common usage-based charging models, e.g. 95th Percentile charging. We propose Network Cost Aware Request Routing, NetReq, that assign user requests to reduce server charging volume. We compare NetReq against nearest-available server request routing in large scale simulations for both Web and multicast traffic requests. NetReq reduces charging volume for both traffic request types, thereby reducing cost. NetReq provides comparable network performance for multicast traffic by introducing end-to-end delay as a constraint in the request-routing. NetReq marginally increases network performance for Web traffic, when content maybe available at every server.
Exploring the Role of IND–COL as a Moderator in the Comprehensive Service Evaluation Model

ABSTRACT Prior research shows that a comprehensive service evaluation model best explains the relationships among perceived service quality, sacrifice, value, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions; however, it ignores the influence of culture on these relationships. This article tests the moderating effects of the individualism–collectivism dimension of national culture on all the relationships in the comprehensive service evaluation model. Findings from a large-scale study across six retail categories (cosmetics, electronics, fashion, jewelry, telecom services, and department stores) show significant differences in the strength of relationships in the service evaluation process between shoppers from individualistic versus collectivistic cultures.