Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidative lipidomics coming of age: advances in analysis of oxidized phospholipids in physiology and pathology.

SIGNIFICANCE Oxidized phospholipids are now well recognized as markers of biological oxidative stress and bioactive molecules with both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. While analytical methods continue to be developed for studies of generic lipid oxidation, mass spectrometry (MS) has underpinned the advances in knowledge of specific oxidized phospholipids by allowing their identification and characterization, and it is responsible for the expansion of oxidative lipidomics. RECENT ADVANCES Studies of oxidized phospholipids in biological samples, from both animal models and clinical samples, have been facilitated by the recent improvements in MS, especially targeted routines that depend on the fragmentation pattern of the parent molecular ion and improved resolution and mass accuracy. MS can be used to identify selectively individual compounds or groups of compounds with common features, which greatly improves the sensitivity and specificity of detection. Application of these methods has enabled important advances in understanding the mechanisms of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, steatohepatitis, leprosy, and cystic fibrosis, and it offers potential for developing biomarkers of molecular aspects of the diseases. CRITICAL ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS The future in this field will depend on development of improved MS technologies, such as ion mobility, novel enrichment methods and databases, and software for data analysis, owing to the very large amount of data generated in these experiments. Imaging of oxidized phospholipids in tissue MS is an additional exciting direction emerging that can be expected to advance understanding of physiology and disease.
Distributed beamforming and subcarrier power allocation for OFDM-based asynchronous two-way relay networks

We consider an asynchronous two-way relay network where the signal paths, going through different relays, are subject to different propagation and/or processing delays. Such a relay channel can be viewed as an artificial multi-path channel which causes inter-symbol-interference (ISI). To combat such an ISI, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is deployed at the two transceivers while the relays are to use simple amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying protocol, thereby realizing a beamformer in a distributed manner. For such a communication scheme, we present two max-min design approaches to obtain jointly optimal subcarrier power loading at the transceivers and distributed beamforming weights at the relays. Numerical examples are presented to compare the performance of the two algorithms.
The Complementary Perspective of System of Systems in Collaboration, Integration, and Logistics: A Value-Chain Based Paradigm of Supply Chain Management

The importance and complexity of the problems associated with coordinating multiple organizations to configure value propositions for customers has drawn the attention of multiple disciplines. In an effort to clarify and consolidate terms, this conceptual research examines both supply chain management (SCM) and system of systems (SoS) literature to postulate, from a value-chain perspective, what roles integration and collaboration play in helping supply chains satisfy customer requirements. A literature review analysis was used to identify the commonalities and differences between supply chain management and system of systems approaches to examining interfirm coordination of value creation efforts. Although a framework of integration and collaboration roles in value creation is proposed, further empirical testing of the concept is required to substantiate initial conclusions. The concepts proposed may help clarify where strategic and operational managers need to focus their efforts in coordinating supply chain member firms. The incorporation of SoS engineering into the supply chain field will draw the linkage between the constituent principles, and concepts of Systems Theory as appropriate for the supply chain management field. This is the first effort to reconcile two separate but parallel scholarship streams examining the coordination of multiple organizations in value creation. This research shows that there are some methodologies, principles, and methods from the SoS field that can supplement supply chain management research. Mainly due to a unit of analysis issue, systems based approaches have not been in the mainstream of supply chain management field development.
Perception of the auditory‐visual illusion in speech perception by children with phonological disorders

An example of the auditory‐visual illusion in speech perception, first described by McGurk and MacDonald, is the perception of [ta] when listeners hear [pa] in synchrony with the lip movements for [ka]. One account of the illusion is that lip‐read and heard speech are combined in an articulatory code since people who mispronounce words respond differently from controls on lip‐reading tasks. A same‐different judgment task assessing perception of the illusion showed no difference in performance between controls and children with speech difficulties. Another experiment compared children with delayed and disordered speech on perception of the illusion. While neither group perceived many illusions, a significant interaction indicated that children with disordered phonology were strongly biased to the auditory component while the delayed group's response was more evenly split between the auditory and visual components of the illusion. These findings suggest that phonological processing, rather than articulation, supports lip‐reading ability.
Important Papers in the History of Document Preparation Systems: Basic Sources

SUMMARY This report provides a narrative description of influential papers that discuss computer-based document preparation systems. The report’s focus is on the systems actually used to prepare documents—editors and formatters, and the goal is to provide an introduction to the papers that have been influential on the community of researchers who investigate such systems.
Nonlinear process monitoring using improved kernel principal component analysis

Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) has become a popular technique for process monitoring in recent years. However, the performance largely depends on kernel function, yet methods to choose an appropriate kernel function among infinite ones have only been sporadically touched in the research literatures. In this paper, a novel methodology to learn a data-dependent kernel function automatically from specific input data is proposed and the improved kernel principal component analysis is obtained through using the data-dependent kernel function in traditional KPCA. The learning procedure includes two parts: learning a kernel matrix and approximating a kernel function. The kernel matrix is learned via a manifold learning method named maximum variance unfolding (MVU) which considers underlying manifold structure to ensure that principal components are linear in kernel space. Then, a kernel function is approximated via generalized Nystrom formula. The effectiveness of the improved KPCA model is confirmed by a numerical simulation and the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process benchmark.
Enterococcus faecalis Overcomes Foreign Body-Mediated Inflammation To Establish Urinary Tract Infections

ABSTRACT Urinary catheterization elicits major histological and immunological changes that render the bladder susceptible to microbial invasion, colonization, and dissemination. However, it is not understood how catheters induce these changes, how these changes act to promote infection, or whether they may have any protective benefit. In the present study, we examined how catheter-associated inflammation impacts infection by Enterococcus faecalis, a leading cause of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), a source of significant societal and clinical challenges. Using a recently optimized murine model of foreign body-associated UTI, we found that the implanted catheter itself was the primary inducer of inflammation. In the absence of the silicone tubing implant, E. faecalis induced only minimal inflammation and was rapidly cleared from the bladder. The catheter-induced inflammation was only minimally altered by subsequent enterococcal infection and was not suppressed by inhibitors of the neurogenic pathway and only partially by dexamethasone. Despite the robust inflammatory response induced by urinary implantation, E. faecalis produced biofilm and high bladder titers in these animals. Induction of inflammation in the absence of an implanted catheter failed to promote infection, suggesting that the presence of the catheter itself is essential for E. faecalis persistence in the bladder. Immunosuppression prior to urinary catheterization enhanced E. faecalis colonization, suggesting that implant-mediated inflammation contributes to the control of enterococcal infection. Thus, this study underscores the need for novel strategies against CAUTIs that seek to reduce the deleterious effects of implant-mediated inflammation on bladder homeostasis while maintaining an active immune response that effectively limits bacterial invaders.
Method of Cross-Language Aspect-Oriented Analysis of Statements Using Categorization Model of Machine Learning

Product reviews are the foremost source of information for customers and manufacturers to help them make appropriate purchasing and production decisions. Today, the Internet has become the largest source of consumer thought. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining is the field of study that analyzes people’s opinions, sentiments, evaluations, attitudes, and emotions from written language. In this paper, we present a study of aspect-based opinion mining using a lexicon-based approach and their adaptation to the processing of responses written in Ukrainian and English. This information helps to build systems to understand customer’s feedback and plan business strategies accordingly. This also helps in predicting the chances of product failure. In this paper, it is explained how machine learning can be used for opinion mining. The research methods used in the work are based on data mining methods, Web mining, machine learning, and information retrieval. The stages of the method of cross-language aspect-oriented analysis of statements are presented. The cross-language categorization of characteristics of goods is considered. The algorithm describes the model learning in cross-language virtual contextual documents.
Lack of Exuberance in Clustered Intrinsic Connections in the Striate Cortex of One‐month‐old Kitten

The topographies of the intrinsic tangential connections in layers II ‐ IVab of one‐month‐old and adult cat's striate cortex were compared by plotting the distribution of retrogradely labelled neurons following injection of small amounts of wheat‐germ agglutinin ‐ horseradish peroxidase. In both cortices, the tracer reveals the characteristic cluster‐like arrangement of intrinsic tangential connections. No differences were found between the two age groups in terms of either the numbers of cell clusters, their periodicities or their profiles, nor was there any difference in the lateral extent of the tangential connections. We conclude that one month postnatally, tangentially projecting intrinsic networks in the upper layers of the cat striate cortex lack exuberance and have an adult‐like topography.
The personal digital assistant: a new medical instrument for the exchange of clinical information at the point of care

Personal digital assistants can provide a portable, integrated platform for point‐of‐care clinical reference, patient management and data communication. Clinical reference programs allow the user to access information from the Internet and guidelines. Patient management programs allow doctors to access and store clinical information. Wireless technologies have potential for rapid exchange of clinical laboratory results and efficient “electronic patient handovers”. Thus, these devices provide the potential for true continuity of care across the healthcare system.
Pharmacoproteomic Study of Three Different Chondroitin Sulfate Compounds on Intracellular and Extracellular Human Chondrocyte Proteomes*

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a symptomatic slow acting drug for osteoarthritis (OA) widely used for the treatment of this highly prevalent disease, characterized by articular cartilage degradation. However, little is known about its mechanism of action, and recent large scale clinical trials have reported variable results on OA symptoms. Herein, we aimed to study the modulations in the intracellular proteome and the secretome of human articular cartilage cells (chondrocytes) treated with three different CS compounds, with different origin or purity, by two complementary proteomic approaches. Osteoarthritic cells were treated with 200 μg/ml of each brand of CS. Quantitative proteomics experiments were carried out by the DIGE and stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) techniques, followed by LC-MALDI-MS/MS analysis. The DIGE study, carried out on chondrocyte whole cell extracts, led to the detection of 46 spots that were differential between conditions in our study: 27 were modulated by CS1, 4 were modulated by CS2, and 15 were modulated by CS3. The SILAC experiment, carried out on the subset of chondrocyte-secreted proteins, allowed us to identify 104 different proteins. Most of them were extracellular matrix components, and 21 were modulated by CS1, 13 were modulated by CS2, and 9 were modulated by CS3. Each of the studied compounds induces a characteristic protein profile in OA chondrocytes. CS1 displayed the widest effect but increased the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase, the cartilage oligomeric matrix protein, and some catabolic or inflammatory factors like interstitial collagenase, stromelysin-1, and pentraxin-related protein. CS2 and CS3, on the other hand, increased a number of structural proteins, growth factors, and extracellular matrix proteins. Our study shows how, from the three CS compounds tested, CS1 induces the activation of inflammatory and catabolic pathways, whereas CS2 and CS3 induce an anti-inflammatory and anabolic response. The data presented emphasize the importance of employing high quality CS compounds, supported by controlled clinical trials, in the therapy of OA. Finally, the present work exemplifies the usefulness of proteomic approaches in pharmacological studies.
A new model of neighborhood change: Reconsidering the role of white flight

Abstract New Orleans, a highly segregated city with low homeownership, experienced a tremendous number of housing foreclosures between 1985 and 1990. This study highlights the process and impact of foreclosure in the urban housing market, which contributes to an understanding of their impact on the spatial structure of the city. Two aspects of foreclosure are examined: the differential impacts of foreclosure on low‐income and African‐American householders and changes in socioeconomic conditions (neighborhood change and the spatial structure of the city) resulting from foreclosure. Conventional wisdom holds that urban neighborhood transformation is driven largely by white flight. The data presented in this article suggest a counterhypoth‐esis. Middle‐income professional whites employed in businesses impacted by recession who had recently bought housing with high loan‐to‐value ratios were forced to sell or have their houses foreclosed upon. The depressed market, in turn, made such housing affordable to midd.
Identifying Asymmetric Comovements of International Stock Market Returns

Based on a new approach for measuring the comovements between stock market returns, we provide a nonparametric test for asymmetric comovements in the sense that stock market downturns will lead to stronger comovements than market upturns. The test is used to detect whether asymmetric comovements exist in international stock markets. We find the following empirical facts. First, asymmetric comovements exist between the United States (U.S.) stock market and the stock markets for Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (U.K.), but the data are unable to reject the null hypothesis of the symmetric comovements between the U.S. and Japanese stock markets. Second, either a larger negative drop or a positive increase in stock prices leads to stronger comovements of stock market returns, indicating that comovements in the data are different from comovements implied by a bivariate symmetric distribution, which implies that comovements tend to zero as the market returns become more positive or more negative.
An update on medical management on Crohn’s disease

Introduction: The management of Crohn’s disease (CD) is continuously evolving. New issues emerging from more recent studies could influence the decision-making process in clinical practice. Areas covered: The aim of this review article is to highlight critical issues on the management of CD, new evidence from clinical trials, long-term prospective studies and real life experience, beyond the current guidelines. Expert opinion: The role of mucosal healing in clinical practice is uncertain, clinical remission remains the primary end point. The timing for the definition of steroid-resistant CD should be considered between 2 and 4 weeks. Early treatment strategy with immunomodulators is effective for inducing remission but no controlled data are available regarding long-term outcome. Combination therapy (anti-TNFs agents and immunosuppressors) is more effective than single therapy but there is a lack of long-term data and an increased risk of malignancy. The effect of mesalazine, metronidazole and azathioprine in reducing postoperative recurrence is not clinically relevant; biologics are effective, but the duration of treatment is unknown. New drugs are under investigation in order to find exit strategy for patients who no longer respond to biologics. Combination therapy set on anti-TNF-α is until now the best option both to achieve fistula healing and avoid recurrence
Multi-sensor spatio-temporal vector prediction history tree (V-PHT) model for error correction in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have gained rapid popularity due to their deployment for critical applications such as defense, health care, agriculture, weather and tsunami monitoring etc. However, such sensor networks are fundamentally constrained by the data errors arising due to the harsh power constrained sensing environment. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-sensor vector prediction history tree (V-PHT) decision algorithm for error correction in a wireless sensor network (WSN). This scheme is based on the recently proposed prediction history tree (PHT) algorithm for model based error correction in WSNs. However, unlike the existing PHT model, which exclusively exploits the temporal correlation inherent in the narrowband sensor data, the proposed V-PHT model for sensor data correction exploits the joint spatial and temporal correlation in sensor data arising out of geographical proximity of the sensor nodes. Towards this end, an optimal multi-sensor spatio-temporal AR model is developed for predictive modeling of the sensor data. Further, employing the spatio-temporal correlation structure amongst the sensors, we develop a robust framework for optimal estimation of the multi-sensor AR predictor model. Simulation results obtained employing sensor data models available in literature demonstrate that the proposed spatio-temporal V-PHT model for error correction in a WSN results in a significant reduction in mean-squared error (MSE) compared to the existing PHT scheme which exploits only temporal correlation.
A Theory of Linear Profit-Sharing Incentives

I. Introduction to the general model, 460. —II. The problem of contractual incentives, 466. — III. Factors affecting the selection of an optimal incentive function, 470. —IV. Variation in the utility functions, 477. —V. Extension of results to Case II and Case II, 480. —VI. Government incentive contracts as a special case of the linear profit-sharing model, 480. —VII. Summary and conclusions, 481.
[Clinical value of Short Form-36 and clinical measures in a prospective cohort study of ankylosing spondylitis patients].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical value of Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire and the most commonly used clinical measures in a prospective cohort study of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. METHODS A total of 517 AS patients were collected from the Department of Rheumatology, Chinese PLA General Hospital from August 2013 to September 2015. The Quality of Life (QoL) was assessed by SF-36 questionnaire and compared with the general population. The correlations between QoL and clinical measures of AS, including the Bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI), Bath AS functional index (BASFI), Bath AS metrology index (BASMI) et al, were analyzed. RESULTS BASDAI and BASFI were significantly correlated with SF-36 scores (r>0.3, P<0.01). Logistic multiple regression analysis showed that BASDAI, BASFI, BASMI and education had close correlation with the baseline global QoL, physical and mental health. Among these clinical measures, BASDAI variation showed the most important influence on the change of global QoL, physical health and mental health (OR=0.235, 0.209, 0.125; P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS SF-36 can objectively reflect the QoL of patients with AS. Clinical measures such as BASDAI and BASFI show great application value in this prospective cohort study of AS patients.
Non-malignant respiratory epithelial cells preferentially proliferate from resected non-small cell lung cancer specimens cultured under conditionally reprogrammed conditions

The “conditionally reprogrammed cells” (CRC) method, using a Rho kinase inhibitor and irradiated mouse fibroblast cells has been described for the efficient growth of cells from malignant and non-malignant samples from primary tumor and non-malignant sites. Using the CRC method, four institutions independently cultured tumor tissues from 48 non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC, mostly from primary resected tumors) and 22 non-malignant lungs. We found that epithelial cells could be cultured from tumor and non-malignant lung. However, epithelial cells cultured from tumors had features of non-malignant respiratory epithelial cells which include: 1) among 22 mutations found in the original tumors only two mutations were found in the CRC cultures with reduced frequency (31% to 13% and 92% to 15% from original tumor and CRC culture respectively); 2) copy number variation was analyzed in 9 tumor and their CRC cultures and only diploid patterns were found in CRC cultures; 3) mRNA expression profiles were similar to those of normal respiratory epithelial cells; and 4) co-culture of tumor and non-malignant lung epithelial cells resulted in mostly non-malignant cells. We conclude that CRC method is a highly selective and useful method for the growth of non-malignant respiratory epithelial cells from tumor specimens and only occasionally do such CRC cultures contain a small subpopulation of cancer cells marked by oncogenic mutations. While our findings are restricted to resected primary NSCLC, they indicated the necessity to fully characterize all CRC cultures and the need to develop culture technology that facilitates the growth of primary lung cancers.
Currency devaluation and output growth: new evidence from panel data analysis

Using panel data unit root tests and panel cointegration tests including Johansen maximum likelihood cointegration tests, as well as estimation techniques appropriate for heterogeneous panels such as fully modified OLS, this study examines the effect of currency devaluation on output expansion in a sample of eleven Asian countries over the period 1968–1999. The results suggest that, in the long run, output growth is affected by currency devaluation in the majority of countries under examination and in the panel as a whole. This finding stands at variance with other recent studies, which concluded that devaluation does not exert any important influence on aggregate output.