Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Barrett's Esophagus Identification Using Optimum-Path Forest

Computer-assisted analysis of endoscopic imagescan be helpful to the automatic diagnosis and classificationof neoplastic lesions. Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a commontype of reflux that is not straightforward to be detected byendoscopic surveillance, thus being way susceptible to erroneousdiagnosis, which can cause cancer when not treated properly. In this work, we introduce the Optimum-Path Forest (OPF) classifier to the task of automatic identification of Barrett'sesophagus, with promising results and outperforming the wellknownSupport Vector Machines (SVM) in the aforementionedcontext. We consider describing endoscopic images by means offeature extractors based on key point information, such as theSpeeded up Robust Features (SURF) and Scale-Invariant FeatureTransform (SIFT), for further designing a bag-of-visual-wordsthat is used to feed both OPF and SVM classifiers. The bestresults were obtained by means of the OPF classifier for bothfeature extractors, with values lying on 0.732 (SURF) - 0.735(SIFT) for sensitivity, 0.782 (SURF) - 0.806 (SIFT) for specificity, and 0.738 (SURF) - 0.732 (SIFT) for the accuracy.
A Multichannel Serial Link Receiver With Dual-Loop Clock-and-Data Recovery and Channel Equalization

This paper presents a four channel receiver for high-speed signal conditioning. Each channel consists of a continuous time linear equalizer (CTLE) and a dual loop CDR with phase-interpolator. All channels share a single PLL that generates and distributes quadrature clock phases to each CDR for data recovery. Clock amplitude, phase INL and phase DNL are derived for IQ phase error and predict phase-dependent jitter contributions to the recovered clock. The multilane receiver was designed in 130-nm CMOS technology. The die occupies an area of 1930 μm by 1250 μm and consumes 67.9 mW per channel. It achieves a maximum data rate of 7 Gbps per channel for 0 and ±200 ppm clock frequency deviation.
ChineseFoodNet: A large-scale Image Dataset for Chinese Food Recognition

In this paper, we introduce a new and challenging large-scale food image dataset called "ChineseFoodNet", which aims to automatically recognizing pictured Chinese dishes. Most of the existing food image datasets collected food images either from recipe pictures or selfie. In our dataset, images of each food category of our dataset consists of not only web recipe and menu pictures but photos taken from real dishes, recipe and menu as well. ChineseFoodNet contains over 180,000 food photos of 208 categories, with each category covering a large variations in presentations of same Chinese food. We present our efforts to build this large-scale image dataset, including food category selection, data collection, and data clean and label, in particular how to use machine learning methods to reduce manual labeling work that is an expensive process. We share a detailed benchmark of several state-of-the-art deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on ChineseFoodNet. We further propose a novel two-step data fusion approach referred as "TastyNet", which combines prediction results from different CNNs with voting method. Our proposed approach achieves top-1 accuracies of 81.43% on the validation set and 81.55% on the test set, respectively. The latest dataset is public available for research and can be achieved at this https URL.
Business Cycle Risk in Currency Markets ∗ †

We find that a strategy that buys the currencies of countries with high output gaps and sells those of countries with low output gaps offers appealing (risk-adjusted) returns and diversification properties. The returns are uncorrelated with standard currency investment strategies and derive principally from predicting spot exchange rate movements. The strategy is implementable out of sample using leading economic indicator data or real-time industrial production data. We show that this result is consistent with a habit model of exchange rates, which predicts that the output gap is more strongly related to surplus consumption than consumption growth.
Signal Processing Framework for Virtual Headphone Listening Tests in a Noisy Environment

A signal processing framework is introduced to enable parallel evaluation of headphones in a virtual listening test. It is otherwise impractical to conduct a blind comparison of several headphones. The ambient noise isolation capability of headphones has become an important design feature, since the mobile usage of earphones takes place in noisy listening environments. Therefore, the proposed signal processing framework allows a noise signal to be fed through a filter simulating the ambient sound isolation at the same time when music is played. This enables the simultaneous evaluation of the timbre and background noise characteristics, which together define the total headphone listening experience. Methods to design FIR filters for compensating the reference headphone response and for simulating the frequency response and isolation curve of the headphones to be tested are presented. Furthermore, a real-time test environment implemented using Matlab and Playrec is described.
Probing the importance of clonality: Single cell subcloning of clonally derived CHO cell lines yields widely diverse clones differing in growth, productivity, and product quality

In the past few decades, a large variety of therapeutic antibodies and proteins have been expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. This mammalian expression system is robust, scalable, relatively inexpensive, and importantly allows for post‐translational modifications that are important for some therapeutic proteins. Historically, CHO cell lines were derived from colonies of cells grown in semi‐solid or liquid plates using either serum‐containing or serum‐free media. Current advancements in cell sorting and imaging technologies have allowed for isolating and imaging single cell progenitors at the seeding step, significantly increasing the probability of isolating clonally derived cell lines. However, it is debatable how much population heterogeneity can be eliminated when clonally derived cell lines, originated from a single cell progenitor, are scaled up. To further investigate this phenomenon, we subcloned two different clonally derived (day 0 imaged and visually inspected) cell lines expressing antibody‐X. The results showed that when six randomly chosen subclones of each line were evaluated in a production assay, these subclones displayed a range of variation in titer, specific productivity, growth, and product quality attributes. Some subclones displayed variations in transgene copy numbers. Additionally, clonal derivation did not assure stability of the derived cell lines. Our findings show that cell heterogeneity exists in a population even when derived from a single cell progenitor. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 34:624–634, 2018
Expression Pattern and Regulation of Heme Oxygenase-1/Heat Shock Protein 32 in Human Liver Cells

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is a stress response protein that is highly inducible under various conditions, such as oxidative or heat stress. The present study investigated expression pattern and regulation of HO-1 in human liver. Expression pattern of HO-1 immunoreactive protein was studied in liver biopsies by immunohistochemistry, revealing constitutive expression in Kupffer cells but not in hepatocytes. HO-1 was, however, inducible in hepatocytes and vascular tissue under pathological conditions, e.g. associated with fatty degeneration or liver malignancies. Regulation of HO-1 gene expression was further studied by Northern blot analysis in HepG2 cells and freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells as model systems of parenchymal and nonparenchymal liver cell populations, respectively. HO-1 mRNA was inducible in HepG2 cells and mononuclear cells by various agents inducing oxidative stress. However, HO-1 gene expression was not inducible by heat shock. Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, an inhibitor of nuclear factor &kgr;B-dependent gene expression, dose dependently decreased HO-1 mRNA transcripts in human mononuclear cells subjected to oxidative stress while slightly increasing HO-1 gene expression in HepG2 cells. In contrast, HO-1 induction upon oxidative stress was attenuated in HepG2 cells by cycloheximide and dexamethasone. Although activator protein-1 has been reported as the predominant redox-sensitive transcription factor inducing HO-1 expression in murine macrophages, nuclear factor &kgr;B seems to play a significant role in human mononuclear cells. Our data are consistent with a role for activator protein-1in HO-1 induction in human HepG2 hepatoma cells. These data suggest a differential regulation of HO-1 gene expression in parenchymal and non-parenchymal human liver cells and may provide a topographic basis for the understanding of the role of the heme oxygenase/carbon monoxide pathway in human liver disease.
A general framework to learn surrogate relevance criterion for atlas based image segmentation

Multi-atlas based image segmentation sees great opportunities in the big data era but also faces unprecedented challenges in identifying positive contributors from extensive heterogeneous data. To assess data relevance, image similarity criteria based on various image features widely serve as surrogates for the inaccessible geometric agreement criteria. This paper proposes a general framework to learn image based surrogate relevance criteria to better mimic the behaviors of segmentation based oracle geometric relevance. The validity of its general rationale is verified in the specific context of fusion set selection for image segmentation. More specifically, we first present a unified formulation for surrogate relevance criteria and model the neighborhood relationship among atlases based on the oracle relevance knowledge. Surrogates are then trained to be small for geometrically relevant neighbors and large for irrelevant remotes to the given targets. The proposed surrogate learning framework is verified in corpus callosum segmentation. The learned surrogates demonstrate superiority in inferring the underlying oracle value and selecting relevant fusion set, compared to benchmark surrogates.
Sp1 Specifically Binds to an Evolutionarily Conserved DNA Segment within a Region Necessary for Podocyte-Specific Expression of Nephrin

We have analyzed a conserved 237-bp segment located in a 1.9-kb upstream region of the nephrin gene, previously shown to contain kidney specific enhancer element(s). Electromobility shift assay was used to identify a 20-nucleotide region specifically recognized and bound by protein factors in nuclear extracts from immortalized podocyte and human embryonic kidney cell lines. The region was further narrowed down by competition assays to a stretch of 6 consecutive guanines, which are conserved at this location in multiple species. Introduction of mutations in this sequence abolished all protein binding activity whereas mutations in the flanking nucleotides did not. By means of gel supershift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays we have shown that the protein factor from podocyte nuclear extracts able to recognize and bind the target sequence is the Sp1 zinc-finger protein.
Re-evaluation of absorbed fractions for photons and electrons in spheres of various sizes.

UNLABELLED Absorbed fractions for unit density spheres in an infinite unit density medium, previously calculated for photon emitters and electron emitters, were reevaluated with the Monte Carlo codes EGS4 and MCNP4B. METHODS Activity was assumed to be distributed uniformly throughout the spheres, and absorbed fractions for self-irradiation were calculated at discrete photon and electron energies. RESULTS For electrons, the codes were in very good agreement with each other (+/-5%) and with published values, except at higher energies in the very smallest spheres, where some differences exceeded 10%. For photons, the codes were again in good agreement with each other but produced results that varied considerably from published MIRD values. For energies <1 MeV and sphere sizes <50 g, the absorbed fractions determined using the Monte Carlo codes were typically 20%-40% higher than values in MIRD 3 and 8. For energies >1 MeV, the Monte Carlo values were sometimes lower than those in the MIRD documents. Recommended values, generally the average results from the 2 Monte Carlo codes, are given for all sphere sizes and energies for both electrons and photons. CONCLUSION The absorbed fractions calculated using the Monte Carlo codes should replace the older values and are helpful in evaluating tumor doses, doses to small organs, and other situations in which a uniform distribution of activity throughout a spherical structure of unit density can be assumed.
Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: Twelve Years of Experience at a Regional Referral Center

Abstract Background: Infants exposed to opiates antenatally display withdrawal symptoms after birth referred to as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Patients: A total of 366 newborns (166 females, 10 twins) from 361 mothers were diagnosed with NAS from 2000 to 2011 at a single large metropolitan referral center. Methods: Retrospective chart review of all newborn infants exposed to opiates in utero. Results: 20% were premature (gestational age<37 weeks), 32% were small-for-gestational-age (<10th percentile). 70% of infants (195/278) antenatally exposed to methadone (racemic methadone or levomethadone) required pharmacological treatment for 11 (1–55) days (median; range); however, 45% of infants (28/62) exposed to buprenorphine required pharmacological treatment for a median of only 5 (1–20) days (p=0.014). Pharmacological treatment of infants with phenobarbital (n=189) took a median of 9 (1–53) days, but treatment with morphine (n=39) took 19 (3–55) days (p<0.001). The median duration of hospitalization increased from 11 days in 2000–2004 to 19 days in 2008–2011 (p<0.001). The increased durations of neonatal hospitalization were associated with similar increases in the average dosages of maternal methadone. Conclusion: Use of buprenorphine, rather than methadone, for treatment of opiate-addicted pregnant women is associated with fewer and shorter neonatal withdrawal symptoms. The duration of hospitalization and treatment for NAS has increased over time.
Smart Shopping Assistant: A Multimedia and Social Media Augmented System with Mobile Devices to Enhance Customers' Experience and Interaction

Multimedia, social media content, and interaction are common means to attract customers in shopping. However these features are not always fully available for customers when they go shopping in physical shopping centers. The authors propose Smart Shopping Assistant, a multimedia and social media augmented system on mobile devices to enhance users’ experience and interaction in shopping. Smart Shopping turns a regular mobile device into a special prism so that a customer can enjoy multimedia, get useful social media related to a product, give feedbacks or make actions on a product during shopping. The system is specified as a flexible framework to take advantages of different visual descriptors and web information extraction modules. Experimental results show that Smart Shopping can process and provide augmented data in a realtime-manner. Smart Shopping can be used to attract more customers and to build an online social community of customers to share their interests in shopping.
Nonconvex optimal resource allocation for multiuser OFDM systems

Power is inefficient due to the large peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) of the Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal. In this paper, we propose an efficient power control algorithm for the OFDM systems, to achieve the optimum and fair resource utilization by maximizing a weighted sum utility. The objective function in this optimization problem is always nonconcave, which makes the problem difficult to solve. We make progress in solving this type of optimization problem using PSO (particle swarm optimization). It's proved that the proposed algorithm converges to the global optimal solutions in this paper. Numerical examples show that our algorithm can guarantee the fast convergence and fairness within a few iterations.
Large deletion of the GJB6 gene in deaf patients heterozygous for the GJB2 gene mutation: Genotypic and phenotypic analysis

Recent investigations identified a large deletion of the GJB6 gene in trans to a mutation of GJB2 in deaf patients. We looked for GJB2 mutations and GJB6 deletions in 255 French patients presenting with a phenotype compatible with DFNB1. 32% of the patients had biallelic GJB2 mutations and 6% were a heterozygous for a GJB2 mutation and a GJB6 deletion. Biallelic GJB2 mutations and combined GJB2/GJB6 anomalies were more frequent in profoundly deaf children. Based on these results, we are now assessing GJB6 deletion status in cases of prelingual hearing loss. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Novel Class Detection Using RBF SVM Kernel from Feature Evolving Data Streams

In the data mining field the classification of data stream creates many problems. The challenges faces in the data stream are infinite length, concept drift, concept evaluation and feature evolution. Most of the existing system focuses on the only first two challenges. We propose a framework in which each classifier is prepared with the novel class detector for addressing the two challenges concept drift and concept evaluation and for addressing the feature evolution feature set homogeneous technique is proposed. We improved the novel class detection module by building it more adaptive to evolving the stream. SVM based feature extraction for RBF kernel method is also proposed for detecting the novel class from the steaming data. By using the concept of permutation and combination RBF kernel extracts the features and find out the relation between them. This improves the novel class detect technique and provide more accuracy for classifying the data
Cardiovascular effects of intravenous delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol: Autonomic nervous mechanisms

The contribution of autonomic nervous system activity to the cardiovascular effects of delta‐9‐tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) was evaluated in 4 normal subjects. The peak heart rate rise after THC was attenuated by atropine and by propranolol, and nearly abolished by atropine‐propranolol pretreatment. Blocking drugs also attenuated THC‐induced changes in forearm blood flow and vascular resistance but did not affect changes in fingertip temperature. The data suggest that THC acts to induce sympathetic stimulation and parasympathetic inhibition of cardiovascular control pathways. Cardiovascular responses in an additional subject who developed hypertension after either intravenous or smoked marijuana are described.
A Novel Method for Live Debugging of Production Web Applications by Dynamic Resource Replacement

—This paper proposes a novel methodology for enabling debugging and tracing of production web applications without affecting its normal ﬂow and functionality. This method of debugging enables developers and maintenance engineers to replace a set of existing resources such as images, server side scripts, cascading style sheets with another set of resources per web session. The new resources will only be active in the debug session and other sessions will not be affected. This methodology will help developers in tracing defects, especially those that appear only in production environments and in exploring the behaviour of the system. A realization of the proposed methodology has been implemented in Java.
Personalization of Head-Related Transfer Functions with Limited Acoustic Measurements

6 The main goal of this project was to take advantage of the spatial 7 structure inherent within a set of HRTFs in order to provide a 8 mechanism by which an entire set of individualized HRTFs could 9 be estimated from a small set of measurement locations. Several 10 methods were investigated for this purpose including missing 11 feature techniques such as latent variable model decomposition and 12 k-Nearest Neighbor averaging, as well as naïve methods such as 13 spherical harmonic decomposition and linear interpolation. The 14 most successful method investigated was a Linear Minimum Mean 15 Square Error (LMMSE) estimation procedure which showed near 16 complete reconstruction of the 232 HRTFs from a subset of less 17 than 30 randomly distributed locations and promising results for as 18 few as 20 locations. More practical measurement schemes like 19 measurements only taken on the horizontal plane proved to be less 20 successful than even distributions; however they still provided 21 benefit over other rapid HRTF personalization techniques such as 22 derivation from anthropometric measurements. 23
RAD51 interconnects between DNA replication, DNA repair and immunity

Abstract RAD51, a multifunctional protein, plays a central role in DNA replication and homologous recombination repair, and is known to be involved in cancer development. We identified a novel role for RAD51 in innate immune response signaling. Defects in RAD51 lead to the accumulation of self-DNA in the cytoplasm, triggering a STING-mediated innate immune response after replication stress and DNA damage. In the absence of RAD51, the unprotected newly replicated genome is degraded by the exonuclease activity of MRE11, and the fragmented nascent DNA accumulates in the cytosol, initiating an innate immune response. Our data suggest that in addition to playing roles in homologous recombination-mediated DNA double-strand break repair and replication fork processing, RAD51 is also implicated in the suppression of innate immunity. Thus, our study reveals a previously uncharacterized role of RAD51 in initiating immune signaling, placing it at the hub of new interconnections between DNA replication, DNA repair, and immunity.
Convergent Signaling Pathways Controlled by LRP1 (Receptor-related Protein 1) Cytoplasmic and Extracellular Domains Limit Cellular Cholesterol Accumulation*

The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) is a ubiquitously expressed cell surface receptor that protects from intracellular cholesterol accumulation. However, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Here we show that the extracellular (α) chain of LRP1 mediates TGFβ-induced enhancement of Wnt5a, which limits intracellular cholesterol accumulation by inhibiting cholesterol biosynthesis and by promoting cholesterol export. Moreover, we demonstrate that the cytoplasmic (β) chain of LRP1 suffices to limit cholesterol accumulation in LRP1−/− cells. Through binding of Erk2 to the second of its carboxyl-terminal NPXY motifs, LRP1 β-chain positively regulates the expression of ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) and of neutral cholesterol ester hydrolase (NCEH1). These results highlight the unexpected functions of LRP1 and the canonical Wnt5a pathway and new therapeutic potential in cholesterol-associated disorders including cardiovascular diseases.