Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Life Body Fatness, Serum Anti-Müllerian Hormone, and Breast Density in Young Adult Women

Background: Emerging evidence suggests positive associations between serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), a marker of ovarian function, and breast cancer risk. Body size at young ages may influence AMH levels, but few studies have examined this. Also, no studies have examined the relation of AMH levels with breast density, a strong predictor of breast cancer risk. Methods: We examined associations of early life body fatness, AMH concentrations, and breast density among 172 women in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC). Height and weight were measured at baseline (ages 8–10) and throughout adolescence. Serum AMH concentrations and breast density were assessed at ages 25–29 at the DISC 2006 Follow-up visit. We used linear mixed effects models to quantify associations of AMH (dependent variable) with quartiles of age-specific youth body mass index (BMI) Z-scores (independent variable). We assessed cross-sectional associations of breast density (dependent variable) with AMH concentration (independent variable). Results: Neither early life BMI nor current adult BMI was associated with AMH concentrations. There were no associations between AMH and percent or absolute dense breast volume. In contrast, women with higher AMH concentrations had significantly lower absolute nondense breast volume (Ptrend < 0.01). Conclusions: We found no evidence that current or early life BMI influences AMH concentrations in later life. Women with higher concentrations of AMH had similar percent and absolute dense breast volume, but lower nondense volume. Impact: These results suggest that AMH may be associated with lower absolute nondense breast volume; however, future prospective studies are needed to establish temporality. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(7); 1151–7. ©2016 AACR.
Wearable automatic feedback devices for physical activities

With this work we want to illustrate new ways to assist students during sports training and to enhance their learning experience. As an example, we present the design of a wearable system intended for snowboard training on the slope. The hardware platform consists of a custom-built sensor/actuator box and a mobile phone acting as host device. These devices run algorithms for activity, context, and mistake recognition, and trigger feedback in response to classification results. Instructors can use such a system to automatically supervise posture and motion of students, i.e., to detect common mistakes that are difficult to recognize when observing students from far away, and to provide immediate audible or tactile feedback for corrections during courses. The presented approach can further be applied to supervise posture and to alert users to potentially harmful body movements performed during daily physical activities.
The Self-Assessment of Resilience and Anxiety: Psychometric Properties

ABSTRACT This report describes the psychometric properties of the Self-Assessment of Resilience and Anxiety (SARA) scale within the context of a study of kava for generalized anxiety. This eight-item, patient-rated scale includes questions designed to measure calmness, mental clarity, confidence, physical well being, sociability, and resilience. The SARA scale was administered during a clinical trial of kava versus placebo in 38 subjects diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Validation of the SARA scale was assessed against the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Sheehan Disability Scale, Arizona Sexual Experience scale, and Clinical Global Impression of Illness Improvement scale. Good test-retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity, and sensitivity to treatment were identified, and factor analyses revealed a three-factor internal structure. The SARA scale was responsive to symptom change over time and correlated with comparable GAD symptom measures. The SARA scale demonstrates solid psychometric properties and may serve as a reliable and valid measure in the use of kava or related medicinal herbs.
Mechanism for Unimolecular Decomposition of HMX (1,3,5,7-Tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine), an ab Initio Study

To improve the mechanistic understanding of the possible decomposition in the gas phase of the energetic material HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine), we used ab initio calculations to determine the various unimolecular decomposition channels. We find three distinct mechanisms: (i) homolytic cleavage of N−N bond to form NO2 (M = 46) and HMR (M = 250) which subsequently decomposes to form various products; (ii) successive HONO eliminations to give four HONO (M = 47) plus a stable intermediate (M = 108); (iii) O-migration from one of the NO2 groups of HMX to neighboring C atom followed by the decomposition of intermediate (M = 296) to INT222 (a ring-opened RDX structure) and MN-oring (M = 74), which can undergo dissociation to smaller mass fragments. The decomposition scheme for HMX is similar to that for RDX presented earlier (J. Phys. Chem. A 2000, 104, 2261), except that concerted decomposition of HMX to four MN (M = 74) molecules is not a favorable decomposition pathway, whereas this.
Iron Overload and Apoptosis of HL-1 Cardiomyocytes: Effects of Calcium Channel Blockade

Background Iron overload cardiomyopathy that prevails in some forms of hemosiderosis is caused by excessive deposition of iron into the heart tissue and ensuing damage caused by a raise in labile cell iron. The underlying mechanisms of iron uptake into cardiomyocytes in iron overload condition are still under investigation. Both L-type calcium channels (LTCC) and T-type calcium channels (TTCC) have been proposed to be the main portals of non-transferrinic iron into heart cells, but controversies remain. Here, we investigated the roles of LTCC and TTCC as mediators of cardiac iron overload and cellular damage by using specific Calcium channel blockers as potential suppressors of labile Fe(II) and Fe(III) ingress in cultured cardiomyocytes and ensuing apoptosis. Methods Fe(II) and Fe(III) uptake was assessed by exposing HL-1 cardiomyocytes to iron sources and quantitative real-time fluorescence imaging of cytosolic labile iron with the fluorescent iron sensor calcein while iron-induced apoptosis was quantitatively measured by flow cytometry analysis with Annexin V. The role of calcium channels as routes of iron uptake was assessed by cell pretreatment with specific blockers of LTCC and TTCC. Results Iron entered HL-1 cardiomyocytes in a time- and dose-dependent manner and induced cardiac apoptosis via mitochondria-mediated caspase-3 dependent pathways. Blockade of LTCC but not of TTCC demonstrably inhibited the uptake of ferric but not of ferrous iron. However, neither channel blocker conferred cardiomyocytes with protection from iron-induced apoptosis. Conclusion Our study implicates LTCC as major mediators of Fe(III) uptake into cardiomyocytes exposed to ferric salts but not necessarily as contributors to ensuing apoptosis. Thus, to the extent that apoptosis can be considered a biological indicator of damage, the etiopathology of cardiosiderotic damage that accompanies some forms of hemosiderosis would seem to be unrelated to LTCC or TTCC, but rather to other routes of iron ingress present in heart cells.
Digitization and Analysis Framework for Warehouse Truck Berth

In distribution warehouses, various forms of data transformation are underway, such as the conversion of data related to receiving and inventory management. Distribution warehouses have designated areas known as truck berths, where trucks are parked for loading/unloading. While data collection is expected to enhance work efficiency at these truck berths, there is no data regarding the status of work in progress in the unloading space, and no system is in place to analyze the work. Consequently, it is unclear which tasks are problematic and how to enhance efficiency. To address this issue, this paper proposes a framework for analyzing the loading/unloading situation at truck berths with the objective of enhancing berth utilization efficiency and work efficiency. Specifically, we employed a fixed camera for object detection through instance segmentation. This approach enables us to understand the situation of trucks, unloading spaces, and workers. The training data were annotated using a large amount of real-world data, allowing for the measurement and analysis of the efficiency of loading/unloading operations. By calculating the amount of cargo based on the floor space, we assessed the efficiency of unloading operations per truck. Through the analysis of both efficient and inefficient operations, insights for enhancing work efficiency were provided.
HIV-1 Nef Binds the DOCK2–ELMO1 Complex to Activate Rac and Inhibit Lymphocyte Chemotaxis

The infectious cycle of primate lentiviruses is intimately linked to interactions between cells of the immune system. Nef, a potent virulence factor, alters cellular environments to increase lentiviral replication in the host, yet the mechanisms underlying these effects have remained elusive. Since Nef likely functions as an adaptor protein, we exploited a proteomic approach to directly identify molecules that Nef targets to subvert the signaling machinery in T cells. We purified to near homogeneity a major Nef-associated protein complex from T cells and identified by mass spectroscopy its subunits as DOCK2–ELMO1, a key activator of Rac in antigen- and chemokine-initiated signaling pathways, and Rac. We show that Nef activates Rac in T cell lines and in primary T cells following infection with HIV-1 in the absence of antigenic stimuli. Nef activates Rac by binding the DOCK2–ELMO1 complex, and this interaction is linked to the abilities of Nef to inhibit chemotaxis and promote T cell activation. Our data indicate that Nef targets a critical switch that regulates Rac GTPases downstream of chemokine- and antigen-initiated signaling pathways. This interaction enables Nef to influence multiple aspects of T cell function and thus provides an important mechanism by which Nef impacts pathogenesis by primate lentiviruses.
Volume-based reasoning and visualization of diecastability

Because of the nature of the die casting process, the part geometry severely restricts the die geometry and hence affects the quality of the part. However, as is often the case in other manufacturing processes, diecastings are currently designed purely based on their function. The manufacturability of the diecastings is not considered until the design has been nearly completed and detailed. This is due to the design support limitations of current CAE tools. We present a new volume-based approach to support diecastability evaluation, especially in preliminary design. Our approach can be applied to arbitrarily shaped parts without pre-defined feature libraries. The focus is on the identification of geometric characteristics, e.g. heavy mass regions, that could be responsible for thermal-related part defects. A distance transform with city-block metric is used to extract this geometric property. Volume visualization techniques are also adopted to allow users to visualize the results in a clear and precise way.
Three-Dimensional Texture Analysis

Three-dimensional (3D) microscopy is a new and rapidly expanding area. A DualBeam system, with both a focused ion beam (FIB) column and an electron column, is a powerful instrument for imaging and sectioning microstructures to generate a full 3D sample reconstruction. When an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) system is attached to the DualBeam, it becomes a unique tool for making 3D crystallographic measurements on a wide variety of materials. Combining the successive removal by FIB, with sequential EBSD maps taken with the electron beam requires clear geometric considerations and a high level of automation to obtain a decent resolution in the third dimension, including positional sub-pixel re-alignment. Complete automation allows controlled sectioning and analysis of a significant volume of material without operator intervention: a process that may run continuously and automatically for many hours. Using a Nova600, a Channel 6 EBSD system and dedicated control software, Aluminium, Nickel and Steel specimens have been examined and volumes with up to 200 slices have been successfully analysed.
Structural monitoring of a bending beam using Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensors

Due to the large measurement range, distributed optical fiber sensors are very effective in the monitoring of large structures. Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensors, which measure strain by using Brillouin frequency shift, show some measurement error for non-uniformly distributed strain because of their spatial resolution characteristics. They require compensation of measured values and positions in the end-parts of the measurement range because measured values are not distributed over all the positions of the spatial resolution range. In this paper, we present the strain measurement characteristics of Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensors and the compensation method in the end-parts of the measurement range. A deflection measurement method for a beam subjected to a bending load using Brillouin distributed optical fiber sensors is also presented. This is verified by a three-point bending experiment employing an 8 m aluminum beam. The experimental results showed that the measured value agrees with the one expected by Brillouin measurement theory.
Isolating commodity hosted hypervisors with HyperLock

Hosted hypervisors (e.g., KVM) are being widely deployed. One key reason is that they can effectively take advantage of the mature features and broad user bases of commodity operating systems. However, they are not immune to exploitable software bugs. Particularly, due to the close integration with the host and the unique presence underneath guest virtual machines, a hosted hypervisor -- if compromised -- can also jeopardize the host system and completely take over all guests in the same physical machine. In this paper, we present HyperLock, a systematic approach to strictly isolate privileged, but potentially vulnerable, hosted hypervisors from compromising the host OSs. Specifically, we provide a secure hypervisor isolation runtime with its own separated address space and a restricted instruction set for safe execution. In addition, we propose another technique, i.e., hypervisor shadowing, to efficiently create a separate shadow hypervisor and pair it with each guest so that a compromised hypervisor can affect only the paired guest, not others. We have built a proof-of-concept HyperLock prototype to confine the popular KVM hypervisor on Linux. Our results show that HyperLock has a much smaller (12%) trusted computing base (TCB) than the original KVM. Moreover, our system completely removes QEMU, the companion user program of KVM (with >531K SLOC), from the TCB. The security experiments and performance measurements also demonstrated the practicality and effectiveness of our approach.
DiSCo: Distributed Scalable Compilation Tool for Heavy Compilation Workload

The size and complexity of software in computer systems and even in consumer electronics is drastically and continuously increasing, thus increasing the compilation time. For example, the compilation time for building some of mobile phones’ platform software takes several hours. In order to reduce the compilation time, this paper proposes a Distributed Scalable Compilation Tool, called DiSCo where full compilation passes such as preprocessing, compilation, and even linking are performed at remote machines, i.e. in parallel. To the best of our knowledge DiSCo is the first distributed compiler to support complete distributed processing in all the compilation passes. We use an extensive dependency analysis in parsing compilation commands for exploiting higher command-level parallelism, and we apply a file caching method and a network-drive protocol for reducing the remote compilation overhead and simplifying the implementation. Lastly, we minimize load imbalance and remote machine management overhead with our heuristic static scheduling method by predicting compilation time and considering the overheads invoked by the compilation process. Our evaluation using four large mobile applications and eight GNU applications shows that the performance of DiSCo is scalable and the performance is close to a profile scheduling. key words: distributed compiler, remote linking, compiler
Towards Efficient Mobile M2M Communications: Survey and Open Challenges

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications enable networked devices and services to exchange information and perform actions seamlessly without the need for human intervention. They are viewed as a key enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT) and ubiquitous applications, like mobile healthcare, telemetry, or intelligent transport systems. We survey existing work on mobile M2M communications, we identify open challenges that have a direct impact on performance and resource usage efficiency, especially the impact on energy efficiency, and we review techniques to improve communications. We review the ETSI standard and application protocols, and draw considerations on the impact of their use in constrained mobile devices. Nowadays, smartphones are equipped with a wide range of embedded sensors, with varied local and wide area connectivity capabilities, and thus they offer a unique opportunity to serve as mobile gateways for other more constrained devices with local connectivity. At the same time, they can gather context data about users and environment from the embedded sensors. These capabilities may be crucial for mobile M2M applications. Finally, in this paper, we consider a scenario where smartphones are used as gateways that collect and aggregate data from sensors in a cellular network. We conclude that, in order for their use to the feasible in terms of a normal depletion time of a smartphone's battery, it is a good advice to maximize the collection of data necessary to be transmitted from nearby sensors, and maximize the intervals between transmissions. More research is required to devise energy efficient transmission methods that enable the use of smartphones as mobile gateways.
Crizotinib, a MET inhibitor, inhibits growth, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells in vitro and synergizes with chemotherapeutic agents

MET is a receptor tyrosine kinase known for its pleiotropic effects in tumorigenesis. Dysregulations of MET expression and/or signaling have been reported and determined to be associated with inferior outcomes in breast cancer patients rendering MET a versatile candidate for targeted therapeutic intervention. Crizotinib is a multi-targeted small-molecule kinase inhibitor for MET, ALK, and ROS1 kinases. This study evaluated the anti-proliferative, cytotoxic, anti-migratory, and anti-invasive effects of crizotinib in breast cancer cells in vitro. Cell viability was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric assay. In vitro wound-healing assay was used to examine the effect of crizotinib on breast cancer cell migration. The expressions of Ki-67, MET, and phospho-MET receptors were characterized using immunofluorescence staining. Results showed that crizotinib has significant anti-proliferative activity on all mammary tumor cells with IC50 values of 5.16, 1.5, and 3.85 µM in MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and SK-BR-3 cells, respectively. Crizotinib induced cytotoxic effects in all breast cancer cells examined. Combined treatment of small dose of crizotinib with paclitaxel or doxorubicin exhibited a highly synergistic inhibition of growth of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells with combination index values <1 while no significant effect was observed in SK-BR-3 cells compared with individual compounds. Treatment with crizotinib demonstrated a remarkable reduction in the expression of Ki-67 protein in all 3 tested cell lines. Crizotinib inhibited migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent fashion. Crizotinib reduced MET receptor activation in MDA-MB-231 cells when treated at effective concentrations. In conclusion, crizotinib suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells in vitro. The results of this study demonstrated that combined treatment of crizotinib with chemotherapeutic agents resulted in a synergistic growth inhibition of specific breast cancer cell lines.
Power laws, Pareto distributions and Zipf's law

When the probability of measuring a particular value of some quantity varies inversely as a power of that value, the quantity is said to follow a power law, also known variously as Zipf's law or the Pareto distribution. Power laws appear widely in physics, biology, earth and planetary sciences, economics and finance, computer science, demography and the social sciences. For instance, the distributions of the sizes of cities, earthquakes, forest fires, solar flares, moon craters and people's personal fortunes all appear to follow power laws. The origin of power-law behaviour has been a topic of debate in the scientific community for more than a century. Here we review some of the empirical evidence for the existence of power-law forms and the theories proposed to explain them.
Asbestos exposure induces alveolar epithelial cell plasticity through MAPK/Erk signaling

The inhalation of asbestos fibers is considered to be highly harmful, and lead to fibrotic and/or malignant disease. Epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a common pathogenic mechanism in asbestos associated fibrotic (asbestosis) and malignant lung diseases. The characterization of molecular pathways contributing to EMT may provide new possibilities for prognostic and therapeutic applications. The role of asbestos as an inducer of EMT has not been previously characterized. We exposed cultured human lung epithelial cells to crocidolite asbestos and analyzed alterations in the expression of epithelial and mesenchymal marker proteins and cell morphology. Asbestos was found to induce downregulation of E‐cadherin protein levels in A549 lung carcinoma cells in 2‐dimensional (2D) and 3D cultures. Similar findings were made in primary small airway epithelial cells cultured in 3D conditions where the cells retained alveolar type II cell phenotype. A549 cells also exhibited loss of cell–cell contacts, actin reorganization and expression of α‐smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA) in 2D cultures. These phenotypic changes were not associated with increased transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β signaling activity. MAPK/Erk signaling pathway was found to mediate asbestos‐induced downregulation of E‐cadherin and alterations in cell morphology. Our results suggest that asbestos can induce epithelial plasticity, which can be interfered by blocking the MAPK/Erk kinase activity. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 2234–2247, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
ShopProfiler: Profiling shops with crowdsourcing data

Sensing data from mobile phones provide us exciting and profitable applications. Recent research focuses on sensing indoor environment, but suffers from inaccuracy because of the limited reachability of human traces or requires human intervention to perform sophisticated tasks. In this paper, we present ShopProfiler, a shop profiling system on crowdsourcing data. First, we extract customer movement patterns from traces. Second, we improve accuracy of building floor plan by adopting a gradient-based approach and then localize shops through WiFi heat map. Third, we categorize shops by designing an SVM classifier in shop space to support multi-label classification. Finally, we infer brand name from SSID by applying string similarity measurement. Based on over five thousand traces in three big malls in two different countries, we conclude that ShopProfiler achieves better accuracy in building refined floor plan, and characterizes shops in terms of location, category and name with little human intervention.