Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Expression on Peripheral Blood T-Lymphocytes in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and its Relation to Disease Activity

Aim: In this study, we evaluated the expression of CXCR4 on peripheral blood T cells from SLE patients and studied the association between these levels and various clinical and laboratory parameters in order to find out whether SLE patients demonstrated expression abnormalities of CXCR4 to establish if there is a relation between its expression and disease activity in SLE. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on thirty two patients with SLE. All patients were diagnosed according to the 1997 updated American College of Rheumatology (ACR) revised Criteria for diagnosis of SLE. The study also included ten ages and sex matched apparently healthy controls. All patients were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination, assessment of the disease activity according to the modified SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI), SLE cumulative organ damage was scored using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) damage index. Routine laboratory investigations were done as well as estimation of CXCR4 expression by flowcytometry on Total Lymphocytes and TLymphocytes. Results: There was a significant increase in CXCR4 expression on Lymphocytes in general and specifically on Tlymphocytes among SLE patients compared to healthy controls. SLE patients with joint manifestations had significantly lower frequency of expression of CXCR4 on their T cells. On the other hand, patients with serositis had significantly higher levels of expression of CXCR4 on their lymphocytes. Patients with nephritis did not show a significant difference in their chemokine receptor expression as compared to patients without nephritis. Also, no such difference was found regarding the any other clinical or lab characteristic of the patients. A positive significant correlation between T lymphocytes expressing CXCR4 and disease activity measured by the SLEDAI was found. The test validity characters of CXCR4 expression on T lymphocytes for discrimination of SLE at the best cutoff value of 34.6% showed 100% specificity, 87.5% sensitivity and 90.5% efficacy. Conclusion: CXCR4 expression levels are elevated on total lymphocytes as well as T cells from SLE patients. This increase in cell expression of CXCR4 correlates positively with disease activity. These findings suggest that CXCR4 hyperexpression may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of SLE, and may after further studies be used as an indicator of disease activity. This also suggests CXCR4 antagonists may halt the role of these cells in the pathogenesis of the disease and improve prognosis for SLE patients. [Dina S. Al-Zifzaf, Abir M. Nabil, Rasha Mamdouh and Reem A K khattab. CXCR4 Expression on Peripheral Blood T-Lymphocytes in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and its Relation to Disease Activity. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):3073-3079] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 451
ENETS Consensus Guidelines for the Standards of Care in Neuroendocrine Tumours: Surgery for Small Intestinal and Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumours

The small intestine and pancreas are among the most frequent abdominal sites of origin of neuroendocrine tumours. Distinctive features of these forms are represented by the relatively low incidence and the wide heterogeneity in biological behaviour. In this light, it is difficult to standardize indications for surgery and the most appropriate approach. It would be helpful for surgeons managing patients with these tumours to have guidelines for surgical treatment of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumours and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. The proposed guidelines represent a consensus of the working group of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS).
Latino Students and College Entrance Exams: How Much Do They Really Matter?

Because many colleges and universities reduce the weight of college entrance exam (e.g., Scholastic Aptitude Test [SAT]) scores for otherwise high-achieving minority students, the common wisdom has been that low SAT scores are relatively benign for Latino students with high grade point averages (GPAs). This study questioned that assumption and asked whether test scores affect other opportunities, such as scholarships; whether the scores erode the confidence of students who score low; and whether low test scores are predictive of time to complete degree or likelihood of doing postgraduate study. The studyfound that SATscores did not predictfor time to completion of a degree, college GPA, or likelihood of applying to graduate school. Students with low SAT scores were more likely to judge themselves as having lower ability than those who received high scores, independent of GPA, and almost half of the students were aware of missed opportunities as a result of their scores.
Efficient Least Squares Multimodal Registration With a Globally Exhaustive Alignment Search

There are many image registration situations in which the initial misalignment of the two images is large. These registration problems, often involving comparison of the two images only within a region of interest (ROI), are difficult to solve. Most intensity-based registration methods perform local optimization of their cost function and often miss the global optimum when the initial misregistration is large. The registration of multimodal images makes the problem even more difficult since it limits the choice of available cost functions. We have developed an efficient method, capable of multimodal rigid-body registration within an ROI, that performs an exhaustive search over all integer translations, and a local search over rotations. The method uses the fast Fourier transform to efficiently compute the sum of squared differences cost function for all possible integer pixel shifts, and for each shift models the relationship between the intensities of the two images using linear regression. Test cases involving medical imaging, remote sensing and forensic science applications show that the method consistently brings the two images into close registration so that a local optimization method should have no trouble fine-tuning the solution.
Dead-Band-Free, High-Resolution Microwave Frequency Measurement Using a Free-Running Triple-Comb Fiber Laser

Microwave photonic solutions of frequency measurement have advantages in broad frequency coverage, but achieving high-resolution measurement remains a challenge. Those schemes based on optical frequency combs could achieve high-resolution measurement over a broad frequency range. Here, a dead-band-free, high-resolution microwave frequency measurement scheme based on undersampling the microwave signal by three pulse sequences generated from a triple-wavelength mode-locked fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated. The triple-wavelength ultrashort pulses generated in one laser cavity have slightly different repetition rates due to chromatic dispersion. This eliminates the needs of multiple mode-locked lasers and frequency control between them and drastically reduces the system complexity. The absolute frequency of the microwave signal can be determined based on three down-converted low-frequency beat notes of the microwave signal with the nearest comb lines without ambiguity. A 10–10 relative measurement precision at a sampling speed of 100 Hz is demonstrated from 1 to 20 GHz, and the measurement accuracy remains within 0.3 Hz. Microwave signal with an RF power as low as −75 dBm can be measured with a 10 Hz precision at 10 GHz by using RF frontend amplifiers. The simple and compact triple-comb fiber laser would enable the development of low-complexity, high-performance microwave characterization instrument.
The impact of self-monitoring on the negotiation of emotionally laden and non?emotionally laden issues

A 2 × 2 × 2 bargaining experiment used Snyder and Gangestad's self-monitoring scale to match negotiators (high versus low) and their opponents (high versus low). The nature of the issues (emotionally laden versus non? emotionally laden) was a third factor. When both negotiators were high in self-monitoring, higher joint outcomes were obtained. Distributive Justice beliefs and satisfaction with outcomes generally followed the pattern of outcomes. Two covariates were used. Machiavellianism was negatively related to the dependent variables. Emotional Intelligence, as measured by the MSCEIT test, was unrelated to the dependent variables. Implications of the findings for the selection of negotiators were discussed.
Superovulation induces alterations in the epigenome of zygotes, and results in differences in gene expression at the blastocyst stage in mice

Gamete and embryo manipulations can result in alterations to the epigenome, and are associated with altered gene expression. The initial objective of this study was to determine the transcript level of several epigenetic modifiers in embryos that had been cultured from the 2‐cell stage until the late‐blastocyst stage in four culture conditions. Cultured embryos were compared to control, in vivo‐produced late blastocysts to ascertain if differences in gene expression existed among the culture conditions; none were observed. As all of the embryos used were produced in females that had undergone superovulation, we next compared the transcript level of the same epigenetic modifiers between superovulated, in vivo‐produced embryos and embryos produced from natural ovulation. Following in vitro culturing, expression of the genes analyzed was increased in all superovulation groups. We therefore hypothesized that the superovulation procedure—used to increase the number of embryos obtained for experimentation—may have caused an inappropriate acquisition of epigenetic modifications in the maternal genome prior to ovulation, which in turn caused misexpression of genes at the blastocyst stage. To test this hypothesis, we compared the level of global DNA methylation and histone 3 lysine‐9 or ‐14 acetylation in zygotes obtained by natural‐ or superovulation. Indeed, superovulation decreased global DNA methylation on the maternal pronucleus of zygotes, which inversely correlated with H3K9/14 acetylation. In conclusion, superovulation alters the epigenome of the oocyte, resulting in the dysregulation of gene expression at the blastocyst stage. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 82: 207–217, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Species Delimitation Using a Combined Coalescent and Information-Theoretic Approach: An Example from North American Myotis Bats

Abstract Coalescent model–based methods for phylogeny estimation force systematists to confront issues related to the identification of species boundaries. Unlike conventional phylogenetic analysis, where species membership can be assessed qualitatively after the phylogeny is estimated, the phylogenies that are estimated under a coalescent model treat aggregates of individuals as the operational taxonomic units and thus require a priori definition of these sets because the models assume that the alleles in a given lineage are sampled from a single panmictic population. Fortunately, the use of coalescent model–based approaches allows systematists to conduct probabilistic tests of species limits by calculating the probability of competing models of lineage composition. Here, we conduct the first exploration of the issues related to applying such tests to a complex empirical system. Sequence data from multiple loci were used to assess species limits and phylogeny in a clade of North American Myotis bats. After estimating gene trees at each locus, the likelihood of models representing all hierarchical permutations of lineage composition was calculated and Akaike information criterion scores were computed. Metrics borrowed from information theory suggest that there is strong support for several models that include multiple evolutionary lineages within the currently described species Myotis lucifugus and M. evotis. Although these results are preliminary, they illustrate the practical importance of coupled species delimitation and phylogeny estimation.
Local Energy Pattern for Texture Classification Using Self-Adaptive Quantization Thresholds

Local energy pattern, a statistical histogram-based representation, is proposed for texture classification. First, we use normalized local-oriented energies to generate local feature vectors, which describe the local structures distinctively and are less sensitive to imaging conditions. Then, each local feature vector is quantized by self-adaptive quantization thresholds determined in the learning stage using histogram specification, and the quantized local feature vector is transformed to a number by N-nary coding, which helps to preserve more structure information during vector quantization. Finally, the frequency histogram is used as the representation feature. The performance is benchmarked by material categorization on KTH-TIPS and KTH-TIPS2-a databases. Our method is compared with typical statistical approaches, such as basic image features, local binary pattern (LBP), local ternary pattern, completed LBP, Weber local descriptor, and VZ algorithms (VZ-MR8 and VZ-Joint). The results show that our method is superior to other methods on the KTH-TIPS2-a database, and achieving competitive performance on the KTH-TIPS database. Furthermore, we extend the representation from static image to dynamic texture, and achieve favorable recognition results on the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) dynamic texture database.
An Integrated Planning Framework for Different Types of PEV Charging Facilities in Urban Area

To build a properly planned infrastructure for plugin electric vehicle (PEV), charging will bolster their market acceptance. Different types of PEV charging facilities for private PEVs, including public charging spots deployed in public parking lots (PLCSs) and roadside fast-charging stations (FCSs), are substitutes for each other. This paper proposes an integrated planning framework for them in an urban area from the perspective of a social planner. The planning objective is to minimize the social costs of the whole PEV charging system. The proposed framework decouples the planning for different types of charging facilities. The spatial and temporal charging demands for FCSs are generated by a charging demand forecasting method, when the quantities of different types of PLCSs are given. The optimal siting and sizing problem of FCSs is solved by Voronoi diagram together with particle swarm optimization algorithm. By traversing the quantities of different types of PLCSs, the optimal planning results are obtained. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is verified via a case study of a real-urban area in China. The substitution effect between different types of charging facilities is studied. The impacts of the ambient temperature, the private charging spot possession rate, and the service level of PLCSs on the planning results are also assessed.
Life Years at Risk: A Population Health Measure from a Prevention Perspective

This paper aims to present life years at risk (LYAR), a new measure of population health needs for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, which classifies health outcomes by care type and distinguishes between positive and negative outcomes. It is determined by the probability of ill-health event, population size and life years lost, based on expected incidence, prevalence and mortality. The LYAR consists of two components: the observed LYAR, available using disability adjusted life years, and the avoided LYAR. Three examples are given to illustrate the calculation and application of the measure. The advantages, disadvantages and policy implications are also discussed.
MRONLINE: MapReduce online performance tuning

MapReduce job parameter tuning is a daunting and time consuming task. The parameter configuration space is huge; there are more than 70 parameters that impact job performance. It is also difficult for users to determine suitable values for the parameters without first having a good understanding of the MapReduce application characteristics. Thus, it is a challenge to systematically explore the parameter space and select a near-optimal configuration. Extant offline tuning approaches are slow and inefficient as they entail multiple test runs and significant human effort. To this end, we propose an online performance tuning system, MRONLINE, that monitors a job's execution, tunes associated performance-tuning parameters based on collected statistics, and provides fine-grained control over parameter configuration. MRONLINE allows each task to have a different configuration, instead of having to use the same configuration for all tasks. Moreover, we design a gray-box based smart hill climbing algorithm that can efficiently converge to a near-optimal configuration with high probability. To improve the search quality and increase convergence speed, we also incorporate a set of MapReduce-specific tuning rules in MRONLINE. Our results using a real implementation on a representative 19-node cluster show that dynamic performance tuning can effectively improve MapReduce application performance by up to 30% compared to the default configuration used in YARN.
Exosomes Released from Mycoplasma Infected Tumor Cells Activate Inhibitory B Cells

Mycoplasmas cause numerous human diseases and are common opportunistic pathogens in cancer patients and immunocompromised individuals. Mycoplasma infection elicits various host immune responses. Here we demonstrate that mycoplasma-infected tumor cells release exosomes (myco+ exosomes) that specifically activate splenic B cells and induce splenocytes cytokine production. Induction of cytokines, including the proinflammatory IFN-γ and the anti-inflammatory IL-10, was largely dependent on the presence of B cells. B cells were the major IL-10 producers. In splenocytes from B cell deficient μMT mice, induction of IFN-γ+ T cells by myco+ exosomes was greatly increased compared with wild type splenocytes. In addition, anti-CD3-stimulated T cell proliferation was greatly inhibited in the presence of myco+ exosome-treated B cells. Also, anti-CD3-stimulated T cell signaling was impaired by myco+ exosome treatment. Proteomic analysis identified mycoplasma proteins in exosomes that potentially contribute to the effects. Our results demonstrate that mycoplasma-infected tumor cells release exosomes carrying mycoplasma components that preferentially activate B cells, which in turn, are able to inhibit T cell activity. These results suggest that mycoplasmas infecting tumor cells can exploit the exosome pathway to disseminate their own components and modulate the activity of immune cells, in particular, activate B cells with inhibitory activity.
The possible role of adrenomedullin in the etiology of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.

INTRODUCTION Nowadays the possible role of vasoactive peptide adrenomedullin (ADM) is considered in the etiology of preeclampsia (PE), where ADM is indicated to be a protective factor decreasing blood pressure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of -1984A>G ADM gene polymorphism and its connection with ADM plasma level in women with gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia. MATERIAL AND METHODS 63 hypertensive (30 with GH and 33 with PE) and 94 healthy pregnant women were included into the study The frequency of genotypes and alleles of -1984A>G ADM gene polymorphism was examined by PCR/RFLP method. ADM concentration was measured by ELISA method. RESULTS In GH subgroup higher frequency of heterozygous AG genotype (16.67% vs. 8.50%, O.R. = 2.68, p = ns) and G allele (11.67 vs. 4.30%, O.R. = 2.97, p = 0.043) was observed. In PE subgroup overrepresentation of heterozygous AG genotype (15.15% vs. 8.5%) and slightly higher frequency of G allele (p = ns) were noted. In AA genotype subgroup of hypertensive women in comparison to the AG+GG genotype group higher proteinuria value (212.1 vs. 90.9 mg/dl, p < 0.0001), lower systolic (171.1 vs. 177.3 mmHg), as well as lower diastolic blood pressure level (107.1 vs. 111.4 mmHg) were noted. The highest ADM plasma level was observed in the group of women with PE (1.817 vs. 1.692 ng/ml, p = ns). Moreover, higher ADM plasma concentration in patients with AA genotypes in comparison to the carriers of AG and GG genotypes (1.844 vs. 1.402 ng/ml, p = ns) was noted. CONCLUSIONS Higher ADM plasma concentration in women with PE suggests possible correlation between ADM level and pathological changes in cardiovascular system during pregnancy Overrepresentation of genotypes containing at least one mutated G allele of the -1984A>G ADM gene polymorphism in women with GH and PE suggests participation of this allele in pathogenesis of these conditions. Higher ADM concentration in carriers of homozygous AA genotype found in GH and PE groups indicates the possible important role of A allele in prevention of GH/PE appearance.
A Framework for Ischemic Beat Detection using Multi-Layer Feedforward Neural Network and Principal Component Analysis (IBD-MLFFNN-PCA)

In this paper, we describe a novel procedure to automatically classify the ischemic beats of an ECG signal using multilayer feedforward neural network (MLFFNN) and principal component analysis. A framework for the proposed method is also suggested. ECG recordings are given as input to the system and ischemic beats are detected from the recordings. The efficacy of the framework is tested using recordings from the European ST database. The ECG recording goes through preprocessing steps and feature vector formation. The feature vector is further reduced using principal component analysis. This reduced feature vector is given as input to the 3 layer MLFFNN which uses scaled conjugate gradient backpropagation algorithm for training. The network was further validated and tested to check its efficacy. The efficacy of the procedure was measured using sensitivity (91%) and positive predictive accuracy (94%). Also the proposed method is compared with some other existing work and it is seen that the proposed method outperforms others.
Stochastic Modeling and Statistical Inference of Intrinsic Noise in Gene Regulation System via Chemical Master Equation

Intrinsic noise, the stochastic cell-to-cell fluctuations in mRNAs and proteins, has been observed and proved to play important roles in cellular systems. Due to the recent development in single-cell-level measurement technology, the studies on intrinsic noise are becoming increasingly popular among scholars. The chemical master equation (CME) has been used to model the evolutions of complex chemical and biological systems since 1940, and are often served as the standard tool for modeling intrinsic noise in gene regulation system. A CME-based model can capture the discrete, stochastic, and dynamical nature of gene regulation system, and may offer casual and physical explanation of the observed data at single-cell level. Nonetheless, the complexity of CME also pose serious challenge for researchers in proposing practical modeling and inference frameworks. In this article, we will review the existing works on the modelings and inference of intrinsic noise in gene regulation system within the framework of CME model. We will explore the principles in constructing a CME model for studying gene regulation system and discuss the popular approximations of CME. Then we will study the simulation simulation methods as well as the analytical and numerical approaches that can be used to obtain solution to a CME model. Finally we will summary the exiting statistical methods that can be used to infer the unknown parameters or structures in CME model using single-cell-level gene expression data.