Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ITRACONAZOLE LOADED VESICLES PREPARED FROM NON-IONIC SURFACTANTS

This study aims to investigate the capability of forming itraconazole containing niosomes with Span 60 and Brij 58 as non-ionic surfactants. Lower cost and higher stability makes niosomes a more suitable choice in comparison with liposomes.The capability to form vesicles as an itraconazole delivery system and the influence of different factors such as type of surfactant and molar ratio of cholesterol/surfactant on the encapsulation efficiency was investigated. The size distribution of vesicles was measured by laser light scattering method. Based on the results, it was observed that the highest encapsulation efficiency and the smallest vesicle size were associated with the formulation composed of Span 60/cholesterol with the molar ratio of 30:70. The observed results were encouraging, and suggested the possibility of using this vesicle system for delivery of itraconazole as a new carrier for treating of fungal infections.
${\mathbb{Z}_{2}\mathbb{Z}_{4}}$ -Additive Cyclic Codes: Kernel and Rank

A <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbb {Z}}_{2}{\mathbb {Z}}_{4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-additive code <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ C}}\subseteq {\mathbb {Z}}_{2}^\alpha \times {\mathbb {Z}}_{4}^\beta $ </tex-math></inline-formula> is called cyclic if the set of coordinates can be partitioned into two subsets, the set of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbb {Z}}_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> coordinates and the set of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbb {Z}}_{4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> coordinates, such that any cyclic shift of the coordinates of both subsets leaves the code invariant. Let <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Phi ({\mathcal{ C}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> be the binary Gray map image of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ C}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. We study the rank and the dimension of the kernel of a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbb {Z}}_{2} {\mathbb {Z}}_{4} $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-additive cyclic code <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ C}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, that is, the dimensions of the binary linear codes <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle \Phi ({\mathcal{ C}}) \rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ker (\Phi ({\mathcal{ C}}))$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. We give upper and lower bounds for these parameters. It is known that the codes <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle \Phi ({\mathcal{ C}}) \rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ker (\Phi ({\mathcal{ C}}))$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are binary images of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbb {Z}}_{2} {\mathbb {Z}}_{4}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-additive codes that we denote by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ R}}({\mathcal{ C}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ K}}({\mathcal{ C}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively. Moreover, we show that <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ R}}({\mathcal{ C}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ K}}({\mathcal{ C}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are also cyclic and determine the generator polynomials of these codes in terms of the generator polynomials of the code <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathcal{ C}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>.
Factors influencing parenting efficacy of Asian immigrant, first‐time mothers: A cross‐sectional, correlational survey

In this study, we determined the factors influencing parenting efficacy of Asian immigrant, first-time mothers. The research design was a cross-sectional, correlational study. The study included 125 first-time mothers who immigrated and married Korean men, and were living in Korea. Data were collected using translated questionnaires, and analyzed for descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The major finding was that the parenting efficacy of immigrant women was influenced by childcare support from their husbands, maternal identity, and original nationality. The findings suggest that customized programs be developed and used to enhance parenting efficacy for Asian immigrant, first-time mothers. In developing such programs, the advantages of maternal identity, social support from the husband, and women's cultural context should be considered.
Interactions Between Bisphenol A Exposure and GSTP1 Polymorphisms in Childhood Asthma

Purpose Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may increase the risk of asthma. Genetic polymorphisms of oxidative stress-related genes, glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1, GSTP1), manganese superoxide dismutase, catalase, myeloperoxidase, and microsomal epoxide hydrolase may be related to BPA exposure. The aim is to evaluate whether oxidative stress genes modulates associations of BPA exposure with asthma. Methods We conducted a case-control study comprised of 126 asthmatic children and 327 controls. Urine Bisphenol A glucuronide (BPAG) levels were measured by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and genetic variants were analyzed by a TaqMan assay. Information on asthma and environmental exposure was collected. Analyses of variance and logistic regressions were performed to determine the association of genotypes and urine BPAG levels with asthma. Results BPAG levels were significantly associated with asthma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.29 per log unit increase in concentration; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.081.55). Compared to the GG genotype, children with a GSTP1 AA genotype had higher urine BPAG concentrations (geometric mean [standard error], 12.72 [4.16] vs 11.42 [2.82]; P=0.036). In children with high BPAG, the GSTP1 AA genotype was related to a higher odds of asthma than the GG genotype (aOR, 4.84; 95% CI, 1.0223.06). Conclusions GSTP1 variants are associated with urine BPA metabolite levels. Oxidative stress genes may modulate the effect of BPA exposure on asthma.
Photoplethysmography Revisited: From Contact to Noncontact, From Point to Imaging

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a noninvasive optical technique for detecting microvascular blood volume changes in tissues. Its ease of use, low cost and convenience make it an attractive area of research in the biomedical and clinical communities. Nevertheless, its single spot monitoring and the need to apply a PPG sensor directly to the skin limit its practicality in situations such as perfusion mapping and healing assessments or when free movement is required. The introduction of fast digital cameras into clinical imaging monitoring and diagnosis systems, the desire to reduce the physical restrictions, and the possible new insights that might come from perfusion imaging and mapping inspired the evolution of the conventional PPG technology to imaging PPG (IPPG). IPPG is a noncontact method that can detect heart-generated pulse waves by means of peripheral blood perfusion measurements. Since its inception, IPPG has attracted significant public interest and provided opportunities to improve personal healthcare. This study presents an overview of the wide range of IPPG systems currently being introduced along with examples of their application in various physiological assessments. We believe that the widespread acceptance of IPPG is happening, and it will dramatically accelerate the promotion of this healthcare model in the near future.
Diversity gain of lattice constellation-based joint orthogonal space-time block coding

It is generally thought that space-time block codes (STBCs) can obtain no more than full space diversity. In this study, the authors propose a new construction method of joint orthogonal STBCs based on M-dimensional lattice constellations for obtaining space and time diversities simultaneously. By deriving the Chernoff bound of error probability, they prove the exact diversity gain of the proposed code is M times of that in traditional STBCs. This is a valuable scheme as diversity gain is usually the primary factor to determine the ability of anti-fading. Moreover, the maximum-likelihood decoder for the proposed code just requires joint decoding of M real symbols, whose complexity is acceptable as M, usually, needs not to be too big. Numerical results show that the proposed code has remarkable improvement of performance compared with some typical STBCs under the comparable low decoding complexity.
Regulatory Perspectives in Pharmacometric Models of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disorder of the bones in which they are weakened to the extent that they become more prone to fracture. There are various forms of osteoporosis: some of them are induced by drugs, and others occur as a chronic progressive disorder as an individual gets older. As the median age of the population rises across the world, the chronic form of the bone disease is drawing attention as an important worldwide health issue. Developing new treatments for osteoporosis and comparing them with existing treatments are complicated processes due to current acceptance by regulatory authorities of bone mineral density (BMD) and fracture risk as clinical end points, which require clinical trials to be large, prolonged, and expensive to determine clinically significant impacts in BMD and fracture risk. Moreover, changes in BMD and fracture risk are not always correlated, with some clinical trials showing BMD improvement without a reduction in fractures. More recently, bone turnover markers specific to bone formation and resorption have been recognized that reflect bone physiology at a cellular level. These bone turnover markers change faster than BMD and fracture risk, and mathematically linking the biomarkers via a computational model to BMD and/or fracture risk may help in predicting BMD and fracture risk changes over time during the progression of a disease or when under treatment. Here, we discuss important concepts of bone physiology, osteoporosis, treatment options, mathematical modeling of osteoporosis, and the use of these models by the pharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration.
High Precision Temperature Insensitive Strain Sensor Based on Fiber-Optic Delay

A fiber-optic delay based strain sensor with high precision and temperature insensitivity was reported, which works on detecting the delay induced by strain instead of spectrum. In order to analyze the working principle of this sensor, the elastic property of fiber-optic delay was theoretically researched and the elastic coefficient was measured as 3.78 ps/km·με. In this sensor, an extra reference path was introduced to simplify the measurement of delay and resist the cross-effect of environmental temperature. Utilizing an optical fiber stretcher driven by piezoelectric ceramics, the performance of this strain sensor was tested. The experimental results demonstrate that temperature fluctuations contribute little to the strain error and that the calculated strain sensitivity is as high as 4.75 με in the range of 350 με. As a result, this strain sensor is proved to be feasible and practical, which is appropriate for strain measurement in a simple and economical way. Furthermore, on basis of this sensor, the quasi-distributed measurement could be also easily realized by wavelength division multiplexing and wavelength addressing for long-distance structure health and security monitoring.
Engineering tolerance to industrially relevant stress factors in yeast cell factories

Abstract The main focus in development of yeast cell factories has generally been on establishing optimal activity of heterologous pathways and further metabolic engineering of the host strain to maximize product yield and titer. Adequate stress tolerance of the host strain has turned out to be another major challenge for obtaining economically viable performance in industrial production. Although general robustness is a universal requirement for industrial microorganisms, production of novel compounds using artificial metabolic pathways presents additional challenges. Many of the bio-based compounds desirable for production by cell factories are highly toxic to the host cells in the titers required for economic viability. Artificial metabolic pathways also turn out to be much more sensitive to stress factors than endogenous pathways, likely because regulation of the latter has been optimized in evolution in myriads of environmental conditions. We discuss different environmental and metabolic stress factors with high relevance for industrial utilization of yeast cell factories and the experimental approaches used to engineer higher stress tolerance. Improving stress tolerance in a predictable manner in yeast cell factories should facilitate their widespread utilization in the bio-based economy and extend the range of products successfully produced in large scale in a sustainable and economically profitable way.
The Smoothed Spectral Abscissa for Robust Stability Optimization

This paper concerns the stability optimization of (parameterized) matrices $A(x)$, a problem typically arising in the design of fixed-order or fixed-structured feedback controllers. It is well known that the minimization of the spectral abscissa function $\alpha(A)$ gives rise to very difficult optimization problems, since $\alpha(A)$ is not everywhere differentiable and even not everywhere Lipschitz. We therefore propose a new stability measure, namely, the smoothed spectral abscissa $\tilde\alpha_{\epsilon}(A)$, which is based on the inversion of a relaxed $H_2$-type cost function. The regularization parameter $\epsilon$ allows tuning the degree of smoothness. For $\epsilon$ approaching zero, the smoothed spectral abscissa converges towards the nonsmooth spectral abscissa from above so that $\tilde\alpha_{\epsilon}(A)\leq0$ guarantees asymptotic stability. Evaluation of the smoothed spectral abscissa and its derivatives w.r. t. matrix parameters $x$ can be performed at the cost of solving a primal-dual Lyapunov equation pair, allowing for an efficient integration into a derivative-based optimization framework. Two optimization problems are considered: On the one hand, the minimization of the smoothed spectral abscissa $\tilde\alpha_{\epsilon}(A(x))$ as a function of the matrix parameters for a fixed value of $\epsilon$, and, on the other hand, the maximization of $\epsilon$ such that the stability requirement $\tilde\alpha_{\epsilon}(A(x))\leq0$ is still satisfied. The latter problem can be interpreted as an $H_2$-norm minimization problem, and its solution additionally implies an upper bound on the corresponding $H_\infty$-norm or a lower bound on the distance to instability. In both cases, additional equality and inequality constraints on the variables can be naturally taken into account in the optimization problem.
Genetic background effects in Neuroligin‐3 mutant mice: Minimal behavioral abnormalities on C57 background

Neuroligin‐3 (NLGN3) is a postsynaptic cell adhesion protein that interacts with presynaptic ligands including neurexin‐1 (NRXN1) [Ichtchenko et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271, 2676–2682, 1996]. Mice harboring a mutation in the NLGN3 gene (NL3R451C) mimicking a mutation found in two brothers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were previously generated and behaviorally phenotyped for autism‐related behaviors. In these NL3R451C mice generated and tested on a hybrid C57BL6J/129S2/SvPasCrl background, we observed enhanced spatial memory and reduced social interaction [Tabuchi et al., Science, 318, 71–76, 2007]. Curiously, an independently generated second line of mice harboring the same mutation on a C57BL6J background exhibited minimal aberrant behavior, thereby providing apparently discrepant results. To investigate the origin of the discrepancy, we previously replicated the original findings of Tabuchi et al. by studying the same NL3R451C mutation on a pure 129S2/SvPasCrl genetic background. Here we complete the behavioral characterization of the NL3R451C mutation on a pure C57BL6J genetic background to determine if background genetics play a role in the discrepant behavioral outcomes involving NL3R451C mice. NL3R451C mutant mice on a pure C57BL6J background did not display spatial memory enhancements or social interaction deficits. We only observed a decreased startle response and mildly increased locomotor activity in these mice suggesting that background genetics influences behavioral outcomes involving the NL3R451C mutation. Autism Res 2018, 11: 234–244. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Amyloid deposition in semantic dementia: a positron emission tomography study

Pittsburgh compound B ([11C]‐PIB) identifies amyloid‐β (Aβ) deposition in vivo. Asymptomatic Aβ deposition has been reported consistently in some healthy older subjects. Of patients with frontotemporal dementia, those who have later onset have a higher potential for Aβ deposition.
Prognostic role of the primary tumour site in patients with operable small intestine and gastrointestinal stromal tumours: a large population-based analysis

The postoperative recurrence risk of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) should be estimated when considering adjuvant systemic therapy. Previous studies in the literature have suggested that small intestinal GISTs are more aggressive than gastric GISTs. We assessed the prognostic role of the primary tumour site in patients with operable GIST to compare the outcomes of gastric and small intestinal GISTs over a decade of treatment. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was queried for cases of gastric and small intestinal GISTs between 2004 and 2014 using the GIST-specific histology code (ICD-O-3 code 8936), and only patients with tissues sampled by surgical resection were selected for this study. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between small intestinal and gastric GISTs using Cox regression analyses. GISTs were located in the stomach (n = 2594, 65%), duodenum (n = 228, 6%), and jejunum/ileum (n = 1176, 29%). The OS and CSS of patients with GISTs in the duodenum and jejunum/ileum were similar to those of patients with gastric GISTs in Cox regression analyses, except for the CSS of patients with tumour sizes 2.1-5 cm in diameter and ≤ 5 mitoses per 50 HPFs (HR 1.657; 95% CI 1.062-2.587, p = 0.026). Tumours sizes 2.1–5 cm in diameter and > 5 mitoses per 50 HPFs (HR 4.627; 95% CI 1.035-20.67, p = 0.045) in jejunal/ileal GIST locations had significantly worse CSS than did those in gastric GIST locations. In this large nationwide study, the primary tumour site was not an independent prognostic factor in patients with operable small intestinal and gastric GISTs.
EEG Beta Oscillations in the Temporoparietal Area Related to the Accuracy in Estimating Others' Preference

Humans often attempt to predict what others prefer based on a narrow slice of experience, called thin-slicing. According to the theoretical bases for how humans can predict the preference of others, one tends to estimate the other's preference using a perceived difference between the other and self. Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that the network of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) is related to the ability of predicting others' preference. However, it still remains unknown about the temporal patterns of neural activities for others' preference prediction through thin-slicing. To investigate such temporal aspects of neural activities, we investigated human electroencephalography (EEG) recorded during the task of predicting the preference of others while only a facial picture of others was provided. Twenty participants (all female, average age: 21.86) participated in the study. In each trial of the task, participants were shown a picture of either a target person or self for 3 s, followed by the presentation of a movie poster over which participants predicted the target person's preference as liking or disliking. The time-frequency EEG analysis was employed to analyze temporal changes in the amplitudes of brain oscillations. Participants could predict others' preference for movies with accuracy of 56.89 ± 3.16% and 10 out of 20 participants exhibited prediction accuracy higher than a chance level (95% interval). There was a significant difference in the power of the parietal alpha (10~13 Hz) oscillation 0.6~0.8 s after the onset of poster presentation between the cases when participants predicted others' preference and when they reported self-preference (p < 0.05). The power of brain oscillations at any frequency band and time period during the trial did not show a significant correlation with individual prediction accuracy. However, when we measured differences of the power between the trials of predicting other's preference and reporting self-preference, the right temporal beta oscillations 1.6~1.8 s after the onset of facial picture presentation exhibited a significant correlation with individual accuracy. Our results suggest that right temporoparietal beta oscillations may be correlated with one's ability to predict what others prefer with minimal information.
Coconut: A Scalable Bottom-Up Approach for Building Data Series Indexes

Many modern applications produce massive amounts of data series that need to be analyzed, requiring efficient similarity search operations. However, the state-of-the-art data series indexes that are used for this purpose do not scale well for massive datasets in terms of performance, or storage costs. We pinpoint the problem to the fact that existing summarizations of data series used for indexing cannot be sorted while keeping similar data series close to each other in the sorted order. This leads to two design problems. First, traditional bulk-loading algorithms based on sorting cannot be used. Instead, index construction takes place through slow top-down insertions, which create a non-contiguous index that results in many random I/Os. Second, data series cannot be sorted and split across nodes evenly based on their median value; thus, most leaf nodes are in practice nearly empty. This further slows down query speed and amplifies storage costs. To address these problems, we present Coconut. The first innovation in Coconut is an inverted, sortable data series summarization that organizes data series based on a z-order curve, keeping similar series close to each other in the sorted order. As a result, Coconut is able to use bulk-loading techniques that rely on sorting to quickly build a contiguous index using large sequential disk I/Os. We then explore prefix-based and median-based splitting policies for bottom-up bulk-loading, showing that median-based splitting outperforms the state of the art, ensuring that all nodes are densely populated. Overall, we show analytically and empirically that Coconut dominates the state-of-the-art data series indexes in terms of construction speed, query speed, and storage costs.
Free tissue transfer as a vascular source for the vessel‐depleted neck

Reconstructing head and neck defects postoncologic resection can be challenging. This problem is further amplified when tackling the vessel‐depleted or hostile neck. Free flaps still provide the gold standard of reconstructing such defects. However, with increasing reconstructions, recipient vessel options rapidly diminish. This article provides a technique and strategy in managing such difficult cases using previous free flap pedicles. It also highlights the importance of flap selection in paving the way for future successful reconstructions.