Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RMDN: New Approach to Maximize Influence Spread

Influence maximization modeling and analyzing is an important problem in Online Social Networks (OSNs). Influential nodes provide information on hot topics and forward interesting information, which can yield great influence on other nodes in OSNs. For word-of-mouth viral marketing, it is critical to find influential nodes within budgets. However, finding the optimal solution to maximize the influence spread in a given OSN has been proven to be NP-Hard. The existing algorithms suffer the following three defects: (1) need acquire the topological structure of the network, which is impractical for the continuously changing networks in real life, (2) are easy to get trapped in Rich Club phenomena, (3) can not balance very well between influence spread and running time. To solve this challenging problem, based on the randomly heuristic algorithm and the scale-free property of Complex Networks, we propose RMDN (Random Maximal Degree Neighbor) and its improved version RMDN++. We prove the feasibility and scalability of RMDNs in theory. Five real datasets are used to test the effectiveness and efficiency of RMDNs under two different influence diffusion models. The result shows that our methods have a comparable performance in terms of influence spread as state-of-the-art algorithms, but decrease the time by 1-2 orders of magnitude.
DOing REusable MUSical Data (DOREMUS)

The aim of this tutorial is first to provide in-depth explanations of DOREMUS, a model for describing music metadata. We will demonstrate how real data coming frommusical libraries can be converted to this model by presenting the whole DOREMUS tools chain. We will illustrate how the DOREMUS data can be used for query answering and consumed through various applications including an exploratory search engine and music recommender systems.
Performance analysis of heterogeneous TCP congestion control environments

There are a number of congestion control algorithms currently deployed and in use on the Internet today. These have a direct influence on streaming quality when delivering video content. The congestion algorithm determines how a stream behaves, such as how it reacts to congestion in the network, as well as influencing the maximum throughput that the stream is able to achieve. These are important metrics when discussing streaming video, as the streaming behaviour has a direct impact on the end user experience. An analysis on the state of TCP congestion control is presented, with the aim of highlighting conflicts that can occur in a heterogeneous congestion control environment. This includes some initial observations on the experimental congestion control algorithm, BBR, which is currently being developed by Google.
Barasertib (AZD1152), a Small Molecule Aurora B Inhibitor, Inhibits the Growth of SCLC Cell Lines In Vitro and In Vivo

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells have rapid proliferation, universal Rb inactivation, and high rates of MYC family amplification, making aurora kinase inhibition a natural target. Preclinical studies have demonstrated activity for Aurora A and pan-Aurora inhibitors with some relationship to MYC family expression. A clinical trial showed activity for an Aurora kinase A inhibitor, but no biomarkers were evaluated. We screened a panel of 23 SCLC lines with and without MYC family gene amplification or high MYC family gene expression for growth inhibition by the highly potent, selective aurora kinase B inhibitor barasertib. Nine of the SCLC lines were very sensitive to growth inhibition by barasertib, with IC50 values of <50 nmol/L and >75% growth inhibition at 100 nmol/L. Growth inhibition correlated with cMYC amplification (P = 0.018) and cMYC gene expression (P = 0.026). Sensitive cell lines were also enriched in a published MYC gene signature (P = 0.042). In vivo, barasertib inhibited the growth of xenografts established from an SCLC line that had high cMYC gene expression, no cMYC amplification, and was positive for the core MYC gene signature. Our studies suggest that SCLC tumors with cMYC amplification/high gene expression will frequently respond to Aurora B inhibitors and that clinical studies coupled with predictive biomarkers are indicated. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(10); 2314–22. ©2016 AACR.
Editor's Highlight: Evaluation of a Microelectrode Array-Based Assay for Neural Network Ontogeny Using Training Set Chemicals.

Thousands of compounds in the environment have not been characterized for developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) hazard. To address this issue, methods to screen compounds rapidly for DNT hazard evaluation are necessary and are being developed for key neurodevelopmental processes. In order to develop an assay for network formation, this study evaluated effects of a training set of chemicals on network ontogeny by measuring spontaneous electrical activity in neural networks grown on microelectrode arrays (MEAs). Rat (0-24 h old) primary cortical cells were plated in 48 well-MEA plates and exposed to 6 compounds: acetaminophen, bisindolylmaleimide-1 (Bis-1), domoic acid, mevastatin, sodium orthovanadate, and loperamide for a period of 12 days. Spontaneous network activity was recorded on days 2, 5, 7, 9, and 12 and viability was assessed using the Cell Titer Blue assay on day 12. Network activity (e.g. mean firing rate [MFR], burst rate [BR], etc), increased between days 5 and 12. Random Forest analysis indicated that across all compounds and times, temporal correlation of firing patterns (r), MFR, BR, number of active electrodes and % of spikes in a burst were the most influential parameters in separating control from treated wells. All compounds except acetaminophen (≤ 30 µM) caused concentration-related effects on one or more of these parameters. Domoic acid and sodium orthovanadate altered several of these parameters in the absence of cytotoxicity. Although cytotoxicity was observed with Bis1, mevastatin, and loperamide, some parameters were affected by these compounds at concentrations below those resulting in cytotoxicity. These results demonstrate that this assay may be suitable for screening of compounds for DNT hazard identification.
Graph-based fair resource allocation scheme combining interference alignment in femtocell networks

The exponential growth of services demands further increase of spectral efficiency which drives the next generation wireless access networks towards deploying femtocells with frequency reuse. However, the interference will be severe especially in dense deployment scenarios. The fair resource allocation problem by joint consideration of sub-channel assignment and interference alignment (IA) is more complicated than the traditional problem. First, not all the users are appropriate for IA since the number of participant users is limited by the feasibility constraint and the interference power levels are different for the path loss. Second, IA can increase the degrees-of-freedoms while occupy additional signal dimensions of participant users, hence more sub-channels are needed by IA compared with the non-participants when each user transmits the same number of streams. This study models the fair resource allocation problem as an optimisation problem, which is a non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP)-hard. To solve it with low complexity, the authors propose a graph-based scheme to give the approximate solution, where the selection criteria of IA group are based on the influence of IA on the interference graph. Simulation results show that the authors scheme can approximate the optimal solution in a small network and improve the fairness in dense deployment scenarios.
Automated PDF highlighting to support faster curation of literature for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are devastating and costly illnesses, a source of major global burden. In order to provide successful interventions for patients and reduce costs, both causes and pathological processes need to be understood. The ApiNATOMY project aims to contribute to our understanding of neurodegenerative disorders by manually curating and abstracting data from the vast body of literature amassed on these illnesses. As curation is labour-intensive, we aimed to speed up the process by automatically highlighting those parts of the PDF document of primary importance to the curator. Using techniques similar to those of summarisation, we developed an algorithm that relies on linguistic, semantic and spatial features. Employing this algorithm on a test set manually corrected for tool imprecision, we achieved a macro F1-measure of 0.51, which is an increase of 132% compared to the best bag-of-words baseline model. A user based evaluation was also conducted to assess the usefulness of the methodology on 40 unseen publications, which reveals that in 85% of cases all highlighted sentences are relevant to the curation task and in about 65% of the cases, the highlights are sufficient to support the knowledge curation task without needing to consult the full text. In conclusion, we believe that these are promising results for a step in automating the recognition of curation-relevant sentences. Refining our approach to pre-digest papers will lead to faster processing and cost reduction in the curation process. Database URL: https://github.com/KHP-Informatics/NapEasy
Posterior cortical atrophy: a single case cognitive and radiological follow-up

ABSTRACT Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by initial predominant visuoperceptual deficits followed by a progressive decline in other cognitive functions. This syndrome has not been as thoroughly described as other dementias, particularly from a neuropsychological evolution perspective with only a few studies describing the evolution of its cognitive progression. In this investigation we review the literature on this rare condition and we perform a 7-year neuropsychological and neuroradiological follow-up of a 64-year-old man with PCA. The subject’s deficits initially appeared in his visuoperceptual skills with later affectation appearing in language and other cognitive functions, this being coherent with the patient’s parieto-temporal atrophy evolution.
Influence of Telecommunication Modality, Internet Transmission Quality, and Accessories on Speech Perception in Cochlear Implant Users

Background Telecommunication is limited or even impossible for more than one-thirds of all cochlear implant (CI) users. Objective We sought therefore to study the impact of voice quality on speech perception with voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) under real and adverse network conditions. Methods Telephone speech perception was assessed in 19 CI users (15-69 years, average 42 years), using the German HSM (Hochmair-Schulz-Moser) sentence test comparing Skype and conventional telephone (public switched telephone networks, PSTN) transmission using a personal computer (PC) and a digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) telephone dual device. Five different Internet transmission quality modes and four accessories (PC speakers, headphones, 3.5 mm jack audio cable, and induction loop) were compared. As a secondary outcome, the subjective perceived voice quality was assessed using the mean opinion score (MOS). Results Speech telephone perception was significantly better (median 91.6%, P<.001) with Skype compared with PSTN (median 42.5%) under optimal conditions. Skype calls under adverse network conditions (data packet loss > 15%) were not superior to conventional telephony. In addition, there were no significant differences between the tested accessories (P>.05) using a PC. Coupling a Skype DECT phone device with an audio cable to the CI, however, resulted in higher speech perception (median 65%) and subjective MOS scores (3.2) than using PSTN (median 7.5%, P<.001). Conclusions Skype calls significantly improve speech perception for CI users compared with conventional telephony under real network conditions. Listening accessories do not further improve listening experience. Current Skype DECT telephone devices do not fully offer technical advantages in voice quality.
Comparison of the Impact of Wikipedia, UpToDate, and a Digital Textbook on Short-Term Knowledge Acquisition Among Medical Students: Randomized Controlled Trial of Three Web-Based Resources

Background Web-based resources are commonly used by medical students to supplement curricular material. Three commonly used resources are UpToDate (Wolters Kluwer Inc), digital textbooks, and Wikipedia; there are concerns, however, regarding Wikipedia’s reliability and accuracy. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Wikipedia use on medical students’ short-term knowledge acquisition compared with UpToDate and a digital textbook. Methods This was a prospective, nonblinded, three-arm randomized trial. The study was conducted from April 2014 to December 2016. Preclerkship medical students were recruited from four Canadian medical schools. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants through word of mouth, social media, and email. Participants must have been enrolled in their first or second year of medical school at a Canadian medical school. After recruitment, participants were randomized to one of the three Web-based resources: Wikipedia, UpToDate, or a digital textbook. During testing, participants first completed a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ) of 25 questions emulating a Canadian medical licensing examination. During the MCQ, participants took notes on topics to research. Then, participants researched topics and took written notes using their assigned resource. They completed the same MCQ again while referencing their notes. Participants also rated the importance and availability of five factors pertinent to Web-based resources. The primary outcome measure was knowledge acquisition as measured by posttest scores. The secondary outcome measures were participants’ perceptions of importance and availability of each resource factor. Results A total of 116 medical students were recruited. Analysis of variance of the MCQ scores demonstrated a significant interaction between time and group effects (P<.001, ηg2=0.03), with the Wikipedia group scoring higher on the MCQ posttest compared with the textbook group (P<.001, d=0.86). Access to hyperlinks, search functions, and open-source editing were rated significantly higher by the Wikipedia group compared with the textbook group (P<.001). Additionally, the Wikipedia group rated open access editing significantly higher than the UpToDate group; expert editing and references were rated significantly higher by the UpToDate group compared with the Wikipedia group (P<.001). Conclusions Medical students who used Wikipedia had superior short-term knowledge acquisition compared with those who used a digital textbook. Additionally, the Wikipedia group trended toward better posttest performance compared with the UpToDate group, though this difference was not significant. There were no significant differences between the UpToDate group and the digital textbook group. This study challenges the view that Wikipedia should be discouraged among medical students, instead suggesting a potential role in medical education.
Demographic and stroke-related factors as predictors of quality of acute stroke care provided by allied health professionals

Background: We recently indicated that patient age on its own is not a determinant of quality of allied health care received after an acute stroke. It has not been tested whether other non-age variables influence care decisions made by allied health professionals. This paper explores demographic and stroke-related variables that are putatively associated with the quality of care provided to acute stroke patients by allied health professionals. Methods: Data were retrospectively audited from 300 acute stroke patient records regarding allied health care. Compliance with each of 20 indicators of allied health care quality was established. The influence of various demographic and stroke-related variables on each performance indicator was examined. We undertook a series of analyses using univariate logistic regression models to establish the influence of these variables on care quality. Results: Patient age had a significant correlation with only one process indicator (early mobilization). Seven variables, including stroke severity and level of dependence, were associated with patient age. The majority of these age proxies had significant associations with process indicator compliance. Correlations between non-age variables, in particular stroke severity and comorbidity, suggest the potential for complex confounding relationships between non-age variables and quality of allied health care. Conclusion: Compliance with individual indicators of allied health care was significantly associated with variables other than patient age, and included stroke severity, previous independence, comorbidities, day of admission, stroke unit admission, and length of stay. The inter-relationships between these non-age variables suggest that their influence on quality of care is complex.
A scoping review of adult chronic kidney disease clinical pathways for primary care

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects ∼10% of the adult population. The majority of patients with CKD are managed by primary care physicians, and despite the availability of effective treatment options, the use of evidence-based interventions for CKD in this setting remains suboptimal. Clinical pathways have been identified as effective tools to guide primary care physicians in providing evidence-based care. We aimed to describe the availability, characteristics and credibility of clinical pathways for adult CKD using a scoping review methodology. Methods We searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL and targeted Internet sites from inception to 31 October 2014 to identify studies and resources that identified adult CKD clinical pathways for primary care settings. Study selection and data extraction were independently performed by two reviewers. Results From 487 citations, 41 items were eligible for review: 7 published articles and 34 grey literature resources published between 2001 and 2014. Of the 41 clinical pathways, 32, 24 and 22% were from the UK, USA and Canada, respectively. The majority (66%, n = 31) of clinical pathways were static in nature (did not have an online interactive feature). The majority (76%) of articles/resources reported using one or more clinical practice guidelines as a resource to guide the clinical pathway content. Few articles described a dissemination and evaluation plan for the clinical pathway, but most reported the targeted end-users. Conclusions Our scoping review synthesized available literature on CKD clinical pathways in the primary care setting. We found that existing clinical pathways are diverse in their design, content and implementation. These results can be used by researchers developing or testing new or existing clinical pathways and by practitioners and health system stakeholders who aim to implement CKD clinical pathways in clinical practice.
Differential receptive field organizations give rise to nearly identical neural correlations across three parallel sensory maps in weakly electric fish

Understanding how neural populations encode sensory information thereby leading to perception and behavior (i.e., the neural code) remains an important problem in neuroscience. When investigating the neural code, one must take into account the fact that neural activities are not independent but are actually correlated with one another. Such correlations are seen ubiquitously and have a strong impact on neural coding. Here we investigated how differences in the antagonistic center-surround receptive field (RF) organization across three parallel sensory maps influence correlations between the activities of electrosensory pyramidal neurons. Using a model based on known anatomical differences in receptive field center size and overlap, we initially predicted large differences in correlated activity across the maps. However, in vivo electrophysiological recordings showed that, contrary to modeling predictions, electrosensory pyramidal neurons across all three segments displayed nearly identical correlations. To explain this surprising result, we incorporated the effects of RF surround in our model. By systematically varying both the RF surround gain and size relative to that of the RF center, we found that multiple RF structures gave rise to similar levels of correlation. In particular, incorporating known physiological differences in RF structure between the three maps in our model gave rise to similar levels of correlation. Our results show that RF center overlap alone does not determine correlations which has important implications for understanding how RF structure influences correlated neural activity.
A systematic review and network meta‐analysis of immunotherapy and targeted therapy for advanced melanoma

Immune and BRAF‐targeted therapies have changed the therapeutic scenario of advanced melanoma, turning the clinical decision‐making a challenging task. This Bayesian network meta‐analysis assesses the role of immunotherapies and targeted therapies for advanced melanoma. We retrieved randomized controlled trials testing immune, BRAF‐ or MEK‐targeted therapies for advanced melanoma from electronic databases. A Bayesian network model compared therapies using hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival (OS), progression‐free survival (PFS), and odds ratio (OR) for response rate (RR), along with 95% credible intervals (95% CrI), and probabilities of drugs outperforming others. We assessed the impact of PD‐L1 expression on immunotherapy efficacy. Sixteen studies evaluating eight therapies in 6849 patients were analyzed. For OS, BRAF‐MEK combination and PD‐1 single agent ranked similarly and outperformed all other treatments. For PFS, BRAF‐MEK combination surpassed all other options, including CTLA‐4‐PD‐1 dual blockade hazard ratio (HR: 0.56; 95% CrI: 0.33–0.97; probability better 96.2%), whereas BRAF single agent ranked close to CTLA‐4‐PD‐1 blockade. For RR, BRAF‐MEK combination was superior to all treatments including CTLA‐4‐PD‐1 (OR: 2.78; 1.18–6.30; probability better 97.1%). No OS data were available for CTLA‐4‐PD‐1 blockade at the time of systematic review, although PFS and RR results suggested that this combination could also bring meaningful benefit. PD‐L1 expression, as presently defined, failed to inform patient selection to PD‐1‐based immunotherapy. BRAF‐MEK combination seemed an optimal therapy for BRAF‐mutated patients, whereas PD‐1 inhibitors seemed optimal for BRAF wild‐type patients. Longer follow‐up is needed to ascertain the role of CTLA‐4‐PD‐1 blockade. Immunotherapy biomarkers remain as an unmet need.
A 1,000x improvement in computer systems by bridging the processor-memory gap

For over 4 decades the gap between computer processing speed and memory access has grown at about 50% per year, to more than 1,000x today. This provides an excellent opportunity to enhance the single-core system performance. An innovative 3D integration technology combined with re-architecting the integrated memory device is proposed to bridge the gap and enable a 1,000 x improvement in computer systems. The proposed technology utilizes processes that are widely available and could be integrated in products within a very short time.