Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Case With Immunoassay Interferences in the Measurement of Multiple Hormones.

CONTEXT Commonly used immunoassays are not free from interference, which can be a confounder in the interpretation of test results. We present a case with extremely high multiple hormone levels due to such interference. CASE DESCRIPTION A 33-year-old woman with no specific symptoms had markedly elevated TSH with normal free T4 and free T3 levels. Repeated measurements revealed discordantly high TSH, ACTH, FSH, PTH, IGF-1, prolactin, β-human chorionic gonadotropin, and calcitonin levels without the associated clinical pictures. The measurements were repeated with the same patient sample on four different analytical platforms using chemiluminescence immunoassays/electrochemiluminescence immunoassays, and the results were divergent on each platform. Serial dilutions of serum samples revealed nonlinearity, suggesting assay interference. All hormonal measurements were in the normal range when heterophile antibody blocking tubes were used. The serum of the patient was then subjected to polyethylene glycol precipitation. The post-polyethylene glycol recovery resulted in hormone levels in the normal range. The patient did not receive any medications and has been under follow-up without any signs and symptoms for 24 months. CONCLUSIONS This report illustrates a rare case of falsely elevated hormone levels due to assay interference caused by heterophile antibodies. We point out the importance of a close collaboration between clinicians and the laboratory to avoid unnecessary clinical investigations as well as inappropriate treatments.
Scalable peer-to-peer networked virtual environment

We propose a fully-distributed peer-to-peer architecture to solve the scalability problem of Networked Virtual Environment in a simple and efficient manner. Our method exploits locality of user interest inherent to such systems and is based on the mathematical construct Voronoi diagram. Scalable, responsive, fault-tolerant NVE can thus be constructed and deployed in an affordable way.
Simulation model for frictional contact of two elastic surfaces in micro/nanoscale and its validation

Abstract A numerical model is suggested and validated for simulating frictional forces between two samples. The model employs knowledge of surface topographies and values of surface properties provided in the relevant literature and can be applied to contact between complex surfaces. It employs the Lennard-Jones molecular force theory and applies it to a surface segmented into cuboids, which represent separate springs in a Winkler layer. In order to model a contact of two rough surfaces, their asperities are merged into one surface that is put into contact with a perfectly flat surface. Validation, done by atomic force microscopy (AFM), shows that the model can be applied for contacts of rigid samples in the elastic regime of forces.
Another look at non-standard discrete log and Diffie-Hellman problems

Abstract We examine several versions of the one-more-discrete-log and one-more-Diffie-Hellman problems. In attempting to evaluate their intractability, we find conflicting evidence of the relative hardness of the different problems. Much of this evidence comes from natural families of groups associated with curves of genus 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. This leads to questions about how to interpret reductionist security arguments that rely on these non-standard problems.
Fibril protein fragmentation pattern in systemic AL‐amyloidosis

Immunoglobulin light chain (AL)‐amyloidosis was one of the first types of amyloidosis discovered and still little is known about its pathogenic mechanisms. One major obstacle is the very heterogeneous condition; in fact, every patient could be considered to have their own disease since symptoms and outcome vary enormously. The reason for this is not known but intrinsic factors of the immunoglobulin light chain (LC) and the fact that every LC is unique seem to be important. Post‐translational modifications such as glycosylation and proteolysis are most certainly involved. By using western blotting, we studied in detail the proteolytic pattern in six patients with AL‐amyloidosis of kappa type with the aid of three peptide antisera against two domains in the constant segment and one conserved domain in framework 3 of the variable region. Materials from one to five organs were analysed. The result clearly demonstrates that the fragmentation pattern was similar in amyloid of different organs in one patient but differed greatly between patients. Full‐length, N‐, and C‐terminal fragments were detected with the three antisera. The results strongly support the hypothesis that proteolytic cleavage occurs after fibril formation. Copyright © 2009 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Tobacco control policy development in the European Union: do political factors matter?

BACKGROUND There has been much variation between European countries in the development of tobacco control policy. Not much is known about the factors that shape this variation. This study aimed to assess the role of political factors in tobacco control policy development. METHODS We used data from 11 European countries from 1996 to 2010. Multilevel regression modelling was used to investigate associations between the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS) and indicators of left-wing government and government effectiveness (policy formulation, implementation and enforcement), with control for confounders. RESULTS An association was found between left-wing government and TCS over the period 1996-2003, but not over the whole period. The association between government effectiveness and TCS was significant and negative over the whole period, but positive between 2001 and 2005. Residual analysis showed that TCS scores from 2002 onwards were higher than expected based on the political factors. Associations varied among the five subscales of the TCS. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that, on the whole, national political factors have had only a minor influence on the large variations in tobacco control policy development in Europe over the last 15 years. However, there are indications that left-wing governments were important for early adoption of tobacco control policy, and high government effectiveness was important in the phase of adopting innovative policies. However, since 2002, with the advent of international treaties, the influence of national politics has diminished.
Geometrical insights into the dendritic cell algorithm

This work examines the dendritic cell algorithm (DCA) from a mathematical perspective. By representing the signal processing phase of the algorithm using the dot product it is shown that the signal processing element of the DCA is actually a collection of linear classifiers. It is further shown that the decision boundaries of these classifiers have the potentially serious drawback of being parallel, severely limiting the applications for which the existing algorithm can be potentially used on. These ideas are further explored using artificially generated data and a novel visualisation technique that allows an entire population of dendritic cells to be inspected as a single classifier. The paper concludes that the applicability of the DCA to more complex problems is highly limited.
General system theoretic approach to data mining system

This paper presents a formal description of a data mining system in the mathematical general systems theory (MGST) and shows that the description can be implemented in extProlog in a natural way, which the authors' group is developing. The MGST description provides a systems theoretic image of a data mining system. The implementation indicates that the MGST can be another Unified Modeling Language (UML) of an information system. The MGST approach has an advantage over the conventional UML because the former uses the set theory as a description tool while the latter uses diagrams. The set theory is more precise, more operational and has a more descriptive capability than diagrams. The MGST is, therefore, desirable for development of an information system because it can be implemented easily with extProlog.
Effects of exercise training intensity on nocturnal growth hormone secretion in obese adults with the metabolic syndrome.

CONTEXT Abdominal adiposity is associated with reduced spontaneous GH secretion, and an increased incidence of the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Exercise training increases GH secretion, induces abdominal visceral fat loss, and has been shown to improve the cardiometabolic risk factor profile. However, little is known about the effects of endurance training intensity on spontaneous GH release in obese individuals. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to examine the effects of 16 wk endurance training on spontaneous 12-h overnight GH secretion in adults with the metabolic syndrome. DESIGN AND SETTING This randomized, controlled exercise intervention was conducted at the University of Virginia. PARTICIPANTS A total of 34 adults with the metabolic syndrome (mean +/- sem: age: 49.1 +/- 1.8 yr) participated. INTERVENTION Participants were randomized to one of three groups for 16 wk: no exercise training (control), low-intensity exercise training, or high-intensity training. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Change in nocturnal integrated GH area under the curve (AUC) was calculated. RESULTS Both exercise training conditions augmented within-group nocturnal GH AUC pretrain to post-training (low-intensity exercise training approximately (upward arrow) 49%, P < 0.05; and high-intensity training approximately (upward arrow) 65%, P < 0.01), and these changes were also greater than the changes in the control group (P < 0.01). The change in nocturnal GH AUC was inversely associated with the change in fat mass across the entire sample (r = -0.34; P = 0.051; n=34) but was not significantly associated with the change in abdominal visceral fat (r = 0.02; P = 0.920; n = 34). CONCLUSIONS Sixteen wk of supervised exercise training in adults with the metabolic syndrome increases spontaneous nocturnal GH secretion independent of exercise training intensity.
Atorvastatin-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs): strategy to overcome oral delivery drawbacks

Abstract Atorvastatin (AT) is a widely used lipid-regulating drug to reduce cholesterol and triglycerides. Its poor aqueous solubility and hepatic metabolism require development of drug delivery systems able to improve its solubility and bypass hepatic effect. For this purpose, atorvastatin nanostructured lipid carriers (AT-NLCs) were prepared and characterized. AT-NLCs were prepared by emulsification using high-speed homogenization followed by ultrasonication. The prepared NLCs showed particle size between 162.5 ± 12 and 865.55 ± 28 nm while zeta potential values varied between −34 ± 0.29 and −23 ± 0.36 mV. They also showed high encapsulation efficiency (>87%) and amorphous state of the drug in lipid matrix. Pharmacokinetic parameters of optimized formulation (NLC-1; composed of 2% Gelucire® 43/01, 8% Capryol® PGMC, 2% Pluronic®F68 and 0.5% lecithin) revealed 3.6- and 2.1-fold increase in bioavailability as compared to atorvastatin suspension and commercial product (Lipitor®), respectively. Administration of NLC-1 led to significant reduction (p < .05) in the rats’ serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and significant increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This improvement was confirmed histologically by minimizing the associated hepatic steatosis. These investigations demonstrated the superiority of NLCs for improvement of oral bioavailability and in vivo performance of AT.
Optimal Quantum Strong Coin Flipping

Coin flipping is a fundamental cryptographic primitive that enables two distrustful and far apart parties to create a uniformly random bit. Quantum information allows for protocols in the information theoretic setting where no dishonest party can perfectly cheat. The previously best-known quantum protocol by Ambain is achieved a cheating probability of at most 3/4. On the other hand, Kitaev showed that no quantum protocol can have cheating probability less than 1/sqrt{2}. Closing this gap has been one of the important open questions in quantum cryptography. In this paper, we resolve this question by presenting a quantum strong coin flipping protocol with cheating probability arbitrarily close to 1/sqrt{2}. More precisely, we show how to use any weak coin flipping protocol with cheating probability 1/2+epsilon in order to achieve a strong coin flipping protocol with cheating probability 1/sqrt{2}+O(epsilon). The optimal quantum strong coin flipping protocol follows from our construction and the optimal quantum weak coin flipping protocol described by Mochon.
Wideband OFDM receiver using split spectrum processing

A new wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) receiver based on split spectrum processing (SSP) technique is presented. In this receiver, the spectrum of the input signal is first decomposed into a number of sub-bands, and then independently down-converted to baseband for filtering and demodulation. This technique, which is characterized by the number of sub-bands and their bandwidths, reduces the sampling rate of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) by the sub-band bandwidth compared to conventional OFDM system. Analysis and simulation of the phase noise show that the new receiver exhibits the same bit error rate (BER) performance as the conventional OFDM system. Also, the Chebyshev II filter gives rise to superior BER performance compared to Butterworth, Chebyshev I, Elliptic, and Bessel filters. Interestingly, the traditional time domain synchronization algorithms can be employed for the new SSP receiver with only minor modifications.
Do Thematic Maps Improve Information Retrieval?

Thematic maps in the context of information retrieval are tools that graphically present documents and characterising terms. We investigated the usefulness of thematic maps in a laboratory experiment comparing a thematic map with a command language interface. Six subjects solved eight search tasks producing ten hours of logged and tape-recorded data. The experiment revealed no improvement in the quality of the documents retrieved when using a thematic map. A majority of the subjects considered the thematic map pleasant to use and thought that useful information was found on the map. However, searching took longer time using the thematic map compared with the boolean interface. Several subjects occasionally misinterpreted the structure and content of the map. The common expectation that thematic maps improve information retrieval lacks empirical underpinning and is in the present study only weakly confirmed.
Cloud Score for Feature Selection

Feature selection has been studied widely in literatures in supervised learning scenarios. Feature selection methods are categorized into two classes: “wrapper” and “filter” approaches. In this paper, we propose a filter method called Cloud score based on Membership Cloud model in fuzzy field. We determine the discrimination power of a certain feature by Cloud score to evaluate the feature’s importance. This method is compared with Variance and Fisher score methods on UCI Iris dataset. The results of the experiments demonstrate the feasibility of our algorithm.
Molecular methods for strain typing of Candida albicans: a review

Candida albicans is one of the most medically important fungi because of its high frequency as a commensal and pathogenic microorganism causing superficial as well as invasive infections. Strain typing and delineation of the species are essential for understanding its biology, epidemiology and population structure. A wide range of molecular techniques have been used for this purpose including non‐DNA‐based methods (multi‐locus enzyme electrophoresis), conventional DNA‐based methods (electrophoretic karyotyping, random amplified polymorphic DNA, amplified fragment length polymorphism, restriction enzyme analysis with and without hybridization, rep‐PCR) and DNA‐based methods called exact typing methods because they generate unambiguous and highly reproducible typing data (including microsatellite length polymorphism and multi‐locus sequence typing). In this review, the main molecular methods used for C. albicans strain typing are summarized, and their advantages and limitations are discussed with regard to their discriminatory power, reproducibility, cost and ease of performance.
Transcriptomic analysis of mouse limb tendon cells during development

The molecular signals driving tendon development are not fully identified. We have undertaken a transcriptome analysis of mouse limb tendon cells that were isolated at different stages of development based on scleraxis (Scx) expression. Microarray comparisons allowed us to establish a list of genes regulated in tendon cells during mouse limb development. Bioinformatics analysis of the tendon transcriptome showed that the two most strongly modified signalling pathways were TGF-β and MAPK. TGF-β/SMAD2/3 gain- and loss-of-function experiments in mouse limb explants and mesenchymal stem cells showed that TGF-β signalling was sufficient and required via SMAD2/3 to drive mouse mesodermal stem cells towards the tendon lineage ex vivo and in vitro. TGF-β was also sufficient for tendon gene expression in late limb explants during tendon differentiation. FGF does not have a tenogenic effect and the inhibition of the ERK MAPK signalling pathway was sufficient to activate Scx in mouse limb mesodermal progenitors and mesenchymal stem cells.
Adaptive rate-distortion optimization using perceptual hints

The paper proposes a novel video coding approach that performs adaptive rate-distortion optimization guided by perceptual hints. The key idea is to adjust adaptively the Lagrange multipliers of the RDO coder control module based on visual attention analysis. The observation is that human vision is sensitive to movement of well-structured objects while tolerating large distortion in moving areas with random structure (texture-wise and motion-wise). The proposed algorithm analyzes permissible perceptual distortions and, accordingly, assigns larger Lagrange multipliers to regions that are perceptually less sensitive to distortion so that rate reduction is weighted more than distortion reduction in these regions. Experiments show that this scheme achieves bit-rate saving of 5-7% with virtually the same perceptual quality and is very promising for practical systems
Functional development of carbon dioxide detection in the maxillary palp of Anopheles gambiae

ABSTRACT Olfactory information drives several behaviours critical for the survival and persistence of insect pests and vectors. Insect behaviour is variable, linked to their biological needs, and regulated by physiological dynamics. For mosquitoes, CO2 is an important cue that signifies the presence of a host, and which elicits activation and attraction. To investigate the genetic basis of olfactory modulation in mosquitoes, we assayed changes in CO2 detection from receptor gene expression through physiological function to behaviour, associated with the onset of host seeking in the malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae. The gene encoding a subunit of the CO2 receptor, AgGr22, was found to be significantly up-regulated in host-seeking females, consistent with a significant increase in sensitivity of CO2-responsive neurons (cpA) housed in capitate peg sensilla of the maxillary palp. In addition, the odorant receptor AgOr28, which is expressed in cpC neurons, was significantly up-regulated. In contrast, AgOr8, which is expressed in cpB neurons, was not affected by this change in physiological state, in agreement with results for the obligate co-receptor Orco. Moreover, the sensitivity of the cpB neuron to (R)-1-octen-3-ol, a well-known mammalian kairomone, did not change in response to the onset of host seeking. The concentration of CO2 flux influenced both the propensity of A. gambiae to take off into the wind and the speed with which this activation occurred. Female A. gambiae mosquitoes responded to CO2 whether mature for host seeking or not, but onset of host seeking enhanced sensitivity and speed of activation at relevant doses of CO2. Summary: Onset of host-seeking behaviour in malaria mosquitoes is correlated with an increased receptor gene expression, and physiological and behavioural sensitivity to CO2.
Tool for Environmental Efficient Ship Design

Energy consumption and related emissions are the most important environmental effects of transport. This applies to all transport modes even though the contribution from waterborne transport in general is less severe than for instance from road transport. Also the environmental effects from waterborne traffic can be substantially reduced, but this will depend on, among other, better design methodologies and tools. Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the ship design process may help the designer to optimise a project concerning energy use over its entire life span. As part of “The Energy Efficient Ship”-project funded by the European Commission and a number of small and medium sized enterprises, a prototype ship design tool is developed. The purpose of the tool is to assist the designer in reducing not only the energy consumption during the entire life span of a ship, but also important environmental aspects. The tool is developed for design of fast ferries, containerships and fishing vessels. The paper presents the computer model including a case study demonstrating its use in design of a long lining fishing vessel. Environmental effects of alternative conceptual choices in the design phase will be demonstrated.
Practical Tips for Facilitating Research

Published in March 2016, this book is the first in Facet Publishing’s planned Practical Tips for Library and Information Professionals Series, edited by Helen Blanchett. The series is envisioned as a set of practical guides for busy professionals, grounded in theory but full of practical advice and best practices contributed by practitioners for “information professionals looking for new ideas and inspiration. ”
Chitosan chemistry and pharmaceutical perspectives.

Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Sector 67, S. A. S. Nagar,Mohali, Punjab-160 062, India, Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Polytechnic University, Via Ranieri 67, IT-60100 Ancona, Italy,Green Biotechnology Research Group, The Special Division for Human Life Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology, 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka-563-8577, Japan, and Department of Medicinal Chemistry & Natural Products,The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine, Jerusalem 91120, IsraelReceived March 2, 2004