Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic variants in pigmentation genes, pigmentary phenotypes, and risk of skin cancer in Caucasians

Human pigmentation is a polygenic quantitative trait with high heritability. Although a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified in pigmentation genes, very few SNPs have been examined in relation to human pigmentary phenotypes and skin cancer risk. We evaluated the associations between 15 SNPs in 8 candidate pigmentation genes (TYR, TYRP1, OCA2, SLC24A5, SLC45A2, POMC, ASIP and ATRN) and both pigmentary phenotypes (hair color, skin color and tanning ability) and skin cancer risk in a nested case‐control study of Caucasians within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) among 218 melanoma cases, 285 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases, 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases and 870 common controls. We found that the TYR Arg402Gln variant was significantly associated with skin color (p‐value = 7.7 × 10−4) and tanning ability (p‐value = 7.3 × 10−4); the SLC45A2 Phe374Leu variant was significantly associated with hair color (black to blonde) (p‐value = 2.4 × 10−7), skin color (p‐value = 1.1 × 10−7) and tanning ability (p‐value = 2.5 × 10−4). These associations remained significant after controlling for MC1R variants. No significant associations were found between these polymorphisms and the risk of skin cancer. We observed that the TYRP1 rs1408799 and SLC45A2 1721 C>G were associated with melanoma risk (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.60–0.98 and OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.60–0.95, respectively). The TYR Ser192Tyr was associated with SCC risk (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.00–1.50). The TYR haplotype carrying only the Arg402Gln variant allele was significantly associated with SCC risk (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.04–1.74). The OCA2 Arg419Gln and ASIP g.8818 A>G were associated with BCC risk (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.06–2.13 and OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.53–1.00, respectively). The haplotype near ASIP (rs4911414[T] and rs1015362[G]) was significantly associated with fair skin color (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.46–3.57) as well as the risks of melanoma (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.18–2.39) and SCC (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.08–2.19). These associations remained similar after adjusting for pigmentary phenotypes and MC1R variants. The statistical power of our study was modest and additional studies are warranted to confirm the associations observed in the present study. Our study provides evidence for the contribution of pigmentation genetic variants, in addition to the MC1R variants, to variation in human pigmentary phenotypes and possibly the development of skin cancer. © 2009 UICC
Hydrogen Sulfide and Ammonia Removal on Activated Carbon Fiber Cloth-Supported Metal Oxides

The present investigation attempts to provide mechanisms for the influence of metal catalysts on carbon supports in odorous gas removal. For this purpose, an activated carbon fiber cloth (ACFC) was subjected to successive metal impregnation to modify its surface properties and so increase its treatment capacity. The carbon fiber cloth adsorbent was prepared by classical incipient wetness impregnation followed by calcination in order to obtain metal oxide phases. Different impregnation parameters (type of metal, level of impregnation, calcination temperature) in the removal of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia were studied. Adsorption kinetics and capacities were carried out in a batch reactor at room temperature. It was found that removal activity depended on metal loading as well as on the order of the metal addition and calcination phase. The capacity of ACFC-supported metal oxides to adsorb both pollutants showed great improvement compared to the virgin adsorbent.
Verification of designs containing black boxes

Often modern designs contain regions where the implementation of certain components is not (fully) known. These regions are called black boxes in the following. They occur e.g. if different designers work on a project in parallel or if IP cores are used. An approach based on a symbolic representation of characteristic functions for verifying circuits with black boxes is presented. We show that by this method more faults can be detected than with pure binary simulation and symbolic simulation using BDDs, respectively, only. This results from the formulation of our algorithm that allows implications over the black box. Experimental results are given to show what parts of a design can be proven to be correct, if black boxes are assumed. Of course, the probability for the detection of a fault in general depends on the size of the unknown regions. But fault injection experiments on benchmarks show that for many circuits, even up to 90% of the faults are detected, even though large parts of the design are unspecified.
Squalamine as a broad-spectrum systemic antiviral agent with therapeutic potential

Antiviral compounds that increase the resistance of host tissues represent an attractive class of therapeutic. Here, we show that squalamine, a compound previously isolated from the tissues of the dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) and the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity against human pathogens, which were studied in vitro as well as in vivo. Both RNA- and DNA-enveloped viruses are shown to be susceptible. The proposed mechanism involves the capacity of squalamine, a cationic amphipathic sterol, to neutralize the negative electrostatic surface charge of intracellular membranes in a way that renders the cell less effective in supporting viral replication. Because squalamine can be readily synthesized and has a known safety profile in man, we believe its potential as a broad-spectrum human antiviral agent should be explored.
Statistical modeling of syllable-level F0 features for HMM-based unit selection speech synthesis

In current hidden Markov model(HMM) based unit selection speech synthesis method, the optimal phone-sized candidate units are selected following the maximum likelihood(ML) criterion of the HMMs trained for various acoustic features. This paper introduces the statistical models for syllable-level F0 features into this method. Different from the frame-level F0 parameters used in the current framework, the pitch contour of the vowel in each syllable and its combination for adjacent syllables are extracted to represent the suprasegmental property of F0 features. A context-dependent statistical model is trained using these syllable-level F0 features and the likelihood function of this model is integrated into the unit selection criterion to evaluate the suprasegmental prosody of a given unit sequence. The conventional dynamic programming search algorithm for the phone-sized unit selection is modified to take into account the dependency between the candidate units for the vowels of adjacent syllables which is caused by the syllable-level F0 modeling. Our experiment results prove that this method can improve the naturalness of synthesized speech significantly.
Statistical Eigenmode Transmission Over Jointly Correlated MIMO Channels

We investigate multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) eigenmode transmission using statistical channel state information at the transmitter. We consider a general jointly correlated MIMO channel model, which does not require separable spatial correlations at the transmitter and receiver. For this model, we first derive a closed-form tight upper bound for the ergodic capacity, which reveals a simple and interesting relationship in terms of the matrix permanent of the eigenmode channel coupling matrix and embraces many existing results in the literature as special cases. Based on this closed-form and tractable upper bound expression, we then employ convex optimization techniques to develop low-complexity power allocation solutions involving only the channel statistics. Necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are derived, from which we develop an iterative water-filling algorithm with guaranteed convergence. Simulations demonstrate the tightness of the capacity upper bound and the near-optimal performance of the proposed low-complexity transmitter optimization approach.
Offloading on the edge: Performance and cost analysis of local data storage and offloading in HetNets

The rapid increase in data traffic demand has overloaded existing cellular networks. Planned upgrades in the communication architecture (e.g. LTE), while helpful, are not expected to keep up with demand. As a result, extensive densification through small cells, caching content closer to or even at the device, device-to-device (D2D) communications, and delayed content delivery are seen as necessary components for future heterogeneous cellular networks to withstand the data crunch. Nevertheless, these options imply new CAPEX and OPEX costs, extensive backhaul support, and contract plan incentives for D2D. A number of interesting tradeoffs, relating to performance and costs, arise thus for the operator. In this paper, we analytically investigate the extent to which local storage and communication through “edge” nodes could help offload traffic in a heterogeneous network (HetNet). We propose a model that can capture generic HetNet setups (comprising small cells, D2D communication, delayed delivery schemes, transmission costs, etc.). We analyse (a) the offloading performance and (b) the costs involved for the operator, and derive simple closed-form expressions as a function of the network parameters. Our results can be useful in performance evaluation and optimization of offloading and caching strategies, network dimensioning, pricing policies, etc.
Naming abilities: Differentiation between objects and verbs in aphasia

Cognitive Neuropsychology aims to understand the processing mechanisms of normal and injured brain, by means of functional architectural models of information processing. Naming is one of the most important abilities in linguistic processing. Naming of different semantic and grammatical categories differ in their lexical properties and have distinct neuroanatomical substrates. We reviewed literature data on the differences between nouns and verbs in aphasic subjects reported by scientific publications in the form of indexed articles. Studies on naming abilities tended to emphasize the differentiation between nouns and verbs both in their lexical properties and neuroanatomical substrates. Functional neuroimaging studies have improved the state of knowledge regarding category-specific naming abilities, but further studies on different types of aphasia and the use of naming abilities in different contexts are warranted.
P,T-Odd Spin-Rotational Hamiltonian for YbF Molecule.

An {ital ab} {ital initio} relativistic effective core potential calculation of electronic wave function for the ground state ({sup 2}{Sigma}) of a YbF molecule is carried out followed by the restoration of molecular four-component spinor behavior in the core region of ytterbium in the framework of a nonvariational procedure. The constructed spinors are used to evaluate the spin-rotational Hamiltonian parameters including {ital P}- and {ital P},{ital T}-odd terms of the molecule. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society. }
Supporting collaboration among healthcare professionals and disease surveillance in remote areas

It is estimated that global climate change and regional land use and cover changes in the Amazon region will contribute to the spread of vector-borne diseases such as bartonellosis and leishmaniasis. The large geographical distances and the sparsity of human settlements in the region pose challenges to the collaboration among health professionals whose goals range from diagnosing diseases to monitoring their spread. This paper presents work in progress on a system to support the tasks of local healthcare professionals and enabling collection, compilation, sharing and visualisation of data for purposes of epidemiological research and disease surveillance in remote regions.
GOODS-Herschel: ultra-deep XMM-Newton observations reveal AGN/star-formation connection

We acknowledge financial contribution from the agreement ASI-INAF I/009/10/00. E.R. acknowledges financial support from the Marie-Curie Fellowship grant RF040294. F.J.C. acknowledges financial support for this work by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the grant AYA2010-21490-C02-01. D.M.A. and A.D.M. acknowledge support from the STFC.
Establishment of Methylation-Specific PCR for the Mouse p53 Gene

Methylation-specific PCR (MSP) of the mouse p53 gene has not yet been reported. We searched the CpG islands, sequenced the bisulfited DNA, and designed PCR primers for methylation and unmethylation sites. DNA from a young mouse produced a strong PCR product with the unmethylated primer and a weaker band with the methylated primer. DNA from an old mouse produced bands of similar intensities with both primers. In radiation-induced tumors, DNA from an old mouse yielded similar bands with both types of primers. We suggest that MSP is a valuable technique for the epigenetic study of the mouse p53 gene.
UST/DME: a clock tree router for general skew constraints

We propose new approaches for solving the useful-skew tree (UST) routing problem, Clock routing subject to general skew constraints. The clock layout synthesis engine of our UST algorithms is based on the deferred-merge embedding (DME) paradigm for zero-skew tree and bounded-skew tree routings; hence, the names UST/DME and Greedy-UST/DME for our algorithms. They simultaneously perform skew scheduling and tree routing such that each local skew range is incrementally refined to a skew value that minimizes the wirelength during the bottom-up merging phase of DME. The resulting skew schedule is not only feasible, but is also best for routing in terms of wirelength. The experimental results show very encouraging improvement over the previous BST/DME algorithm on three ISCAS89 benchmarks under general skew constraints in terms of total wirelength.
PRMT4 Is a Novel Coactivator of c-Myb-Dependent Transcription in Haematopoietic Cell Lines

Protein arginine methyltransferase 4 (PRMT4)–dependent methylation of arginine residues in histones and other chromatin-associated proteins plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. However, the exact mechanism of how PRMT4 activates transcription remains elusive. Here, we identify the chromatin remodeller Mi2α as a novel interaction partner of PRMT4. PRMT4 binds Mi2α and its close relative Mi2β, but not the other components of the repressive Mi2-containing NuRD complex. In the search for the biological role of this interaction, we find that PRMT4 and Mi2α/β interact with the transcription factor c-Myb and cooperatively coactivate c-Myb target gene expression in haematopoietic cell lines. This coactivation requires the methyltransferase and ATPase activity of PRMT4 and Mi2, respectively. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis shows that c-Myb target genes are direct transcriptional targets of PRMT4 and Mi2. Knockdown of PRMT4 or Mi2α/β in haematopoietic cells of the erythroid lineage results in diminished transcriptional induction of c-Myb target genes, attenuated cell growth and survival, and deregulated differentiation resembling the effects caused by c-Myb depletion. These findings reveal an important and so far unknown connection between PRMT4 and the chromatin remodeller Mi2 in c-Myb signalling.
Primary Structure and Function Analysis of the Abrus precatorius Agglutinin A Chain by Site-directed Mutagenesis

Abrus agglutinin (AAG), a low-toxicity protein from the plant Abrus precatorius, is less lethal than abrina (ABRa) in mice (LD50 = 5 mg/kgversus 20 μg/kg of body weight). Nucleotide sequence analysis of a cDNA clone encoding full-length AAG showed an open reading frame with 1641 base pairs, corresponding to a 547-amino acid residue preproprotein containing a signal peptide and a linker region (two amino acid residues) between the AAG-A and AAG-B subunits. AAG had high homology to ABRa (77.8%). The 13 amino acid residues involved in catalytic function, which are highly conserved among abrins and ricins, were also conserved within AAG-A. The protein synthesis inhibitory activity of AAG-A (IC50 = 3.5 nm) was weaker than that of ABRa-A (0.05 nm). Molecular modeling followed by site-directed mutagenesis showed that Pro199 of AAG-A, located in amphiphilic helix H and corresponding to Asn200of ABRa-A, can induce bending of helix H. This bending would presumably affect the binding of AAG-A to its target sequence, GpApGpAp, in the tetraloop structure of the 28 S rRNA subunit and could be one of the major factors contributing to the relatively weak protein synthesis inhibitory activity and toxicity of AAG.
Structural Stress of Coronary Plaques to Predict Risk for Clinical Events: New Biomechanical Modeling Frontiers Derived From Plaque Anatomy.

Plaque disruption generally occurs in the setting of a thin cap fibroatheroma morphology, characterized by a large necrotic lipid core, intense macrophage infiltration, microcalcifications, and a thin fibrous cap,1 but it has recently become clear that characterization of plaque risk based on anatomy alone is necessary but not sufficient to predict those high-risk plaques likely to destabilize and cause a new clinical event. Using the baseline anatomic plaque characteristics of large plaque burden, small minimal lumen area, and thin cap fibroatheroma morphology, the major long-term natural history follow-up studies have generally demonstrated a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) rate ≤20% over 1 to 3 years of follow-up.2–6 The low positive predictive accuracy of these ostensibly high-risk plaques for subsequent adverse clinical events based on plaque anatomy alone is likely related to inadequate assessment of the true vulnerability of an individual plaque by current imaging modalities utilizing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), optical coherence tomography, or near-infrared spectroscopy and the fact that the majority of high-risk plaques continue to evolve over time and become quiescent,7,8 so that an imaging snapshot at a single point in time does not adequately represent the natural history path of that particular plaque. See Article by Brown et al A variety of innovative in vivo approaches are being actively pursued to go beyond assessment of plaque anatomy alone to identify which apparent high-risk plaques based on anatomy will actually progress to cause a new MACE in follow-up. Candidate in vivo approaches include assessment of active inflammation within plaques by identifying ongoing local …
Severe Juxtahepatic Venous Injury: Survival after Prolonged Hepatic Vascular Isolation Without Shunting

Survival following major juxtahepatic venous injury is rare in blunt liver trauma despite the use of intracaval shunting. Prolonged liver arterial inflow control, total hepatic venous isolation and lobectomy without shunting was used in a patient to repair a combined vena caval and hepatic venous injury after blunt liver injury. An extended period of normothermic hepatic ischemia was tolerated. Early recognition of retrohepatic venous injury and temporary liver packing to control bleeding and correct hypovolemia are essential before caval occlusion. Hepatic vascular isolation without shunting is an effective simple alternative technique allowing major venous repair in complex liver trauma.
A Sparsity Constraint for Topic Models - Application to Temporal Activity Mining

We address the mining of sequential activity patterns from document logs given as word-time occurrences. We achieve this using topics that models both the cooccurrence and the temporal order in which words occur within a temporal window. Discovering such topics, which is particularly hard when multiple activities can occur simultaneously, is conducted through the joint inference of the temporal topics and of their starting times, allowing the implicit alignment of the same activity occurences in the document. A current issue is that while we would like topic starting times to be represented by sparse distributions, this is not achieved in practice. Thus, in this paper, we propose a method that encourages sparsity, by adding regularization constraints on the searched distributions. The constraints can be used with most topic models (e.g. PLSA, LDA) and lead to a simple modified version of the EM standard optimization procedure. The effect of the sparsity constraint on our activity model and the robustness improvment in the presence of difference noises have been validated on synthetic data. Its effectiveness is also illustrated in video activity analysis, where the discovered topics capture frequent patterns that implicitly represent typical trajectories of scene objects.
Caching Proxies: Limitations and Potentials

As the number of World Wide Web users grows, so does the number of connections made to servers. This increases both network load and server load. Caching can reduce both loads by migrating copies of server files closer to the clients that use those files. Caching can either be done at a client or in the network (by a proxy server or gateway). We assess the potential of proxy servers to cache documents retrieved with the HTTP, GOPHER, FTP, and WAIS protocols using World Wide Web browsers. We monitored traffic corresponding to three types of educational workloads over a one-semester period, and used this as input to a cache simulation. Our main findings are (1) that with our workloads a proxy has a 30--50% maximum possible hit rate no matter how it is designed; (2) that when the cache is full and a document is replaced, classic least recently used (LRU) is a poor policy, but simple variations can dramatically improve hit rate and reduce cache size; (3) that a proxy server really functions as a second-level cache, and its hit rate may tend to decline with time after initial loading, given a more or less constant set of users; and (4) that certain modifications to proxy-server configuration parameters for a cache may have little benefit.
Boosting for document routing

RankBoost is a recently proposed algorithm for learning ranking functions. It is simple to implement and has strong justifica tions from computational learning theory. We describe the algorithm and present experimental results on applying it to the document routing problem. The first set of results applies RankBoost t o a text representation produced using modern term weighting methods. Performance of RankBoost is somewhat inferior to that of a state-of-the-art routing algorithm which is, however, more complex and less theoretically justified than RankBoost. RankB oost achieves comparable performance to the state-of-the-art algorithm when combined with feature or example selection heuristics. Our second set of results examines the behavior of RankBoost when it has to learn not only a ranking function but also all aspect s of term weighting from raw data. Performance is usually, though not always, less good here, but the term weighting functions implicit in the resulting ranking functions are intriguing, and the a pproach could easily be adapted to mixtures of textual and nontextual data.