Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Transcriptomics of Arabidopsis Sperm Cells1[C][W]

In flowering plants, the two sperm cells are embedded within the cytoplasm of the growing pollen tube and as such are passively transported to the embryo sac, wherein double fertilization occurs upon their release. Understanding the mechanisms and conditions by which male gametes mature and take part in fertilization are crucial goals in the study of plant reproduction. Studies of gene expression in male gametes of maize (Zea mays) and Plumbago and in lily (Lilium longiflorum) generative cells already showed that the previously held view of transcriptionally inert male gametes was not true, but genome-wide studies were lacking. Analyses in the model plant Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) were hindered, because no method to isolate sperm cells was available. Here, we used fluorescence-activated cell sorting to isolate sperm cells from Arabidopsis, allowing GeneChip analysis of their transcriptome at a genome-wide level. Comparative analysis of the sperm cell transcriptome with those of representative sporophytic tissues and of pollen showed that sperm has a distinct and diverse transcriptional profile. Functional classifications of genes with enriched expression in sperm cells showed that DNA repair, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, and cell cycle progression are overrepresented Gene Ontology categories. Moreover, analysis of the small RNA and DNA methylation pathways suggests that distinct mechanisms might be involved in regulating the epigenetic state of the paternal genome. We identified numerous candidate genes whose involvement in sperm cell development and fertilization can now be directly tested in Arabidopsis. These results provide a roadmap to decipher the role of sperm-expressed proteins.
Yttrium 90 ibritumomab tiuxetan in lymphoma

Radioimmunoconjugates are radioisotope-bound monoclonal antibodies that target radiation specifically to sites of lymphoma involvement. Initial studies of 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) have suggested benefit in patients with relapsed or refractory indolent disease. However, the routine adoption of this agent is tempered by concerns of associated toxicities and unclear long-term benefit. A comprehensive search for studies on 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan use in lymphoma was completed. The aims of this systematic review were to summarize and evaluate the evidence on: (1) the benefits and risks of this novel therapy; (2) predictors for response and toxicity; and (3) the role of dosimetry and imaging studies prior to treatment. A total of twenty trials investigating the use of 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan for the treatment of adult patients with NHL were identified. In trials of patients with relapsed or refractory indolent NHL, overall response rates ranged from 67 – 83%. In patients with follicular NHL refractory to the monoclonal antibody, rituximab, response rates remained high (74%). However, in rituximab-naïve patients with relapsed or refractory indolent or transformed NHL, the higher response rate seen with 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan therapy compared to rituximab monotherapy has not translated into clear improvements in time-to-progression or survival. 90Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan is an active agent in relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that should be considered in select patients.
Inclusion of Respiratory Frequency Information in Heart Rate Variability Analysis for Stress Assessment

Respiratory rate and heart rate variability (HRV) are studied as stress markers in a database of young healthy volunteers subjected to acute emotional stress, induced by a modification of the Trier Social Stress Test. First, instantaneous frequency domain HRV parameters are computed using time-frequency analysis in the classical bands. Then, the respiratory rate is estimated and this information is included in HRV analysis in two ways: 1) redefining the high-frequency (HF) band to be centered at respiratory frequency; 2) excluding from the analysis those instants where respiratory frequency falls within the low-frequency (LF) band. Classical frequency domain HRV indices scarcely show statistical differences during stress. However, when including respiratory frequency information in HRV analysis, the normalized LF power as well as the LF/HF ratio significantly increase during stress (p-value <; 0.05 according to the Wilcoxon test), revealing higher sympathetic dominance. The LF power increases during stress, only being significantly different in a stress anticipation stage, while the HF power decreases during stress, only being significantly different during the stress task demanding attention. Our results support that joint analysis of respiration and HRV obtains a more reliable characterization of autonomic nervous response to stress. In addition, the respiratory rate is observed to be higher and less stable during stress than during relax (p-value <; 0.05 according to the Wilcoxon test) being the most discriminative index for stress stratification (AUC = 88.2%).
Motivating domestic energy conservation through comparative, community-based feedback in mobile and social media

The progress of technology has led to the increased adoption of energy monitors among household energy consumers. While the monitors available on the market deliver real-time energy usage feedback to the consumer, the format of this data is usually unengaging and mundane. Moreover, it fails to address consumers with different motivations and needs to save and compare energy. This paper presents a study that seeks to provide initial indications for motivation-specific design of energy-related feedback. We focus on comparative feedback supported by a community of energy consumers. In particular, we examine eco-visualisations, temporal self-comparison, norm comparison, one-on-one comparison and ranking, whereby the last three allow us to explore the potential of socialising energy-related feedback. These feedback types were integrated in EnergyWiz -- a mobile application that enables users to compare with their past performance, neighbours, contacts from social networking sites and other EnergyWiz users. The application was evaluated in personal, semi-structured interviews, which provided first insights on how to design motivation-related comparative feedback.
Glycaemic and insulin responses, glycaemic index and insulinaemic index values of rice between three Asian ethnic groups

Asians exhibit larger glycaemic response (GR) and insulin response (IR) than Caucasians, predisposing to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We aimed to determine the GR and IR as well as the glycaemic index (GI) and insulinaemic index (II) of two rice varieties among three ethnic groups in Singapore. A total of seventy-five healthy males (twenty-five Chinese, twenty-five Malay and twenty-five Asian-Indians) were served the available equivalent carbohydrate amounts (50 g) of test foods (Jasmine rice and Basmati rice) and a reference food (glucose) on separate occasions. Postprandial blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations were measured at fasting ( − 5 and 0 min) and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min after food consumption. Using the trapezoidal rule, GR, IR, GI and II values were determined. The GR did not differ between ethnic groups for Jasmine rice and Basmati rice. The IR was consistently higher for Jasmine rice (P= 0·002) and Basmati rice (P= 0·002) among Asian-Indians, probably due to compensatory hyperinsulinaemia to maintain normoglycaemia. The GI and II of both rice varieties did not differ significantly between ethnicities. The overall mean GI for Jasmine rice and Basmati rice were 91 (sd 21) and 59 (sd 15), respectively. The overall mean II for Jasmine rice was 76 (sd 26) and for Basmati rice was 57 (sd 24). We conclude that the GI values presented for Jasmine rice and Basmati rice were applicable to all three ethnic groups in Singapore. Future studies should include deriving the II for greater clinical utility in the prevention and management of T2DM.
Learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information for expression-robust 3D face recognition

This paper proposes a novel approach for 3D face recognition by learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information. To comprehensively describe 3D facial surface, three components, in X, Y, and Z-plane respectively, of normal vector are encoded locally to their corresponding normal pattern histograms. They are finally fed to a sparse representation classifier enhanced by learning based spatial weights. Experimental results achieved on the FRGC v2.0 database prove that the proposed encoded normal information is much more discriminative than original normal information. Moreover, the patch based weights learned using the FRGC v1.0 and Bosphorus datasets also demonstrate the importance of each facial physical component for 3D face recognition.
Antenatal assessment of discordant umbilical arteries in singleton pregnancies.

AIM To assess the relationship between discordant umbilical arterial size and resultant blood flow parameters and determine the impact of discordance on fetal outcome. METHODS This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study of 200 patients with a singleton gestation, who underwent a fetal anatomy survey between 18 to 23 weeks of gestation, with documented umbilical cord morphological patterns and blood flow characteristics. Umbilical vessel diameters and Doppler parameters (umbilical vein blood flow volume, mean resistance index, and peak-systolic velocity) were analyzed for discordance. Discordances encountered were examined for their possible association with perinatal outcome. RESULTS We had adequate ultrasound umbilical cord images, Doppler flow parameters, and all necessary demographic data for 154 patients. Umbilical artery discordance averaged 13.1% and was significantly correlated with both the expected and the true percent of difference in resistance index values (RI, P<0.001). In 12 patients (7.8%), a significant discordance of more than 29.5%, or 95th percentile, was observed between the two umbilical artery diameters. However, in these cases no associated adverse perinatal outcome or significant placental pathology was noted. There was no significant difference between patients discordant or concordant umbilical artery in terms of maternal, labor, and neonatal data. CONCLUSION The magnitude of umbilical arteries' luminal discordance directly influences the corresponding blood flow parameters. In our sample of patients, the presence of discordant-in-size umbilical arteries was not associated with umbilical cord or placental abnormalities.
Prevention and Reduction of Complications in Women with Vulvar Cancer: Development of an Algorithm for Safer Multidisciplinary Care

Purpose: Women who are surgically treated for vulvar cancer often have complications leading to substantial patient morbidity. Post-surgical complications could be minimized by the identification of pre-surgical risks for complications and by planned post-surgical interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a clinical care algorithm for vulvar cancer to assess risk for complications and prevent and control post-surgical complications. Methods: Key elements of the algorithm were identified via a literature review, structured chart review, a survey of care team members and interviews with stakeholders including healthcare team, patients and their family. Results: An algorithm for the management of wound and psychosocial complications was developed, based on internal and external evidence and was vetted by expert reviewers. Conclusion: Describing the process and defining the roles of health care professionals contributes to purposeful, systematic prevention and treatment of post-surgical complications. The care algorithm provides structured reference points for healthcare professionals with regard to multidisciplinary post-surgical management of vulvar cancer patients.
Identification of a starter unit acyl-carrier protein transacylase domain in an iterative type I polyketide synthase

Polyketides are a class of natural products that exhibit a wide range of functional and structural diversity. They include antibiotics, immunosuppressants, antifungals, antihypercholesterolemics, and cytotoxins. Polyketide synthases (PKSs) use chemistry similar to fatty acid synthases (FASs), although building block variation and differing extents of reduction of the growing polyketide chain underlie their biosynthetic versatility. In contrast to the well studied sequential modular type I PKSs, less is known about how the iterative type I PKSs carry out and control chain initiation, elongation, folding, and cyclization during polyketide processing. Domain structure analysis of a group of related fungal, nonreducing PKSs has revealed well defined N-terminal domains longer than commonly seen for FASs and modular PKSs. Predicted structure of this domain disclosed a region similar to malonyl-CoA:acyl-carrier protein (ACP) transacylases (MATs). MATs play a key role transferring precursor CoA thioesters from solution onto FASs and PKSs for chain elongation. On the basis of site-directed mutagenesis, radiolabeling, and kinetics experiments carried out with individual domains of the norsolorinic acid PKS, we propose that the N-terminal domain is a starter unit:ACP transacylase (SAT domain) that selects a C6 fatty acid from a dedicated yeast-like FAS and transfers this unit onto the PKS ACP, leading to the production of the aflatoxin precursor, norsolorinic acid. These findings could indicate a much broader role for SAT domains in starter unit selection among nonreducing iterative, fungal PKSs, and they provide a biochemical rationale for the classical acetyl “starter unit effect. ”
Open Government, Technological Innovation and the Politics of Democratic Disillusionment: (E-)Democracy from Socrates to Obama

There is an intriguing dissonance between the optimistic democratic vision underlying the open government movement, which seems to be driven by a belief in the transformative power of technology, and the actual achievements of the e-democracy movement in changing the praxis of democratic engagement. The present article explores this dissonance in order to develop a better understanding of the potential and limits of the Internet in fostering democratic engagement. The article begins with a discussion of the competing theoretical concepts that drive the debate on open government and e-democracy (Section II). In this context, it contrasts between the political model of Plato in The Republic (governance by philosopher king) and the open government (OG) model, especially as envisaged by President Obama. The subsequent Sections (III-V) provide an in-depth study of three e-democracy projects involving three Canadian agencies and a transnational organization (AccountAbility). Together the three case studies expose some of the critical challenges facing the e-democracy movement. The article then proceeds to develop a new model of citizenship that I term 'punctuated citizenship', which seeks to capture the dissonance underlying the e-democracy movement, through a more nuanced understanding of political engagement (Section VI). The article concludes with a discussion of the pragmatic challenges facing the open government and e-democracy projects. I argue that the findings of the case studies discussed in this article (as well as preliminary assessments of Obama's OG initiative) demonstrate that the success of e-democracy projects depends on hierarchical coordination in matters that cover both technical and non-technical issues. This hierarchical intervention creates an agency problem that does not receive sufficient attention in the open government discourse. The open government project has to develop, I argue, new administrative law structures, which can cope with the inevitable dependency of e-democratic initiatives on hierarchical ordering. I consider in this context the possible emergence of a new form of hybrid regulatory mechanisms that bring together legal institutions and web-based agents and examine the problems underlying this phenomenon.
Disruption of Endocytosis with the Dynamin Mutant shibirets1 Suppresses Seizures in Drosophila

One challenge in modern medicine is to control epilepsies that do not respond to currently available medications. Since seizures consist of coordinated and high-frequency neural activity, our goal was to disrupt neurotransmission with a synaptic transmission mutant and evaluate its ability to suppress seizures. We found that the mutant shibire, encoding dynamin, suppresses seizure-like activity in multiple seizure–sensitive Drosophila genotypes, one of which resembles human intractable epilepsy in several aspects. Because of the requirement of dynamin in endocytosis, increased temperature in the shits1 mutant causes impairment of synaptic vesicle recycling and is associated with suppression of the seizure-like activity. Additionally, we identified the giant fiber neuron as critical in the seizure circuit and sufficient to suppress seizures. Overall, our results implicate mutant dynamin as an effective seizure suppressor, suggesting that targeting or limiting the availability of synaptic vesicles could be an effective and general method of controlling epilepsy disorders.
Histopathology of Growth Anomaly Affecting the Coral, Montipora capitata: Implications on Biological Functions and Population Viability

Growth anomalies (GAs) affect the coral, Montipora capitata, at Wai'ōpae, southeast Hawai'i Island. Our histopathological analysis of this disease revealed that the GA tissue undergoes changes which compromise anatomical machinery for biological functions such as defense, feeding, digestion, and reproduction. GA tissue exhibited significant reductions in density of ova (66.1–93.7%), symbiotic dinoflagellates (38.8–67.5%), mesenterial filaments (11.2–29.0%), and nematocytes (28.8–46.0%). Hyperplasia of the basal body wall but no abnormal levels of necrosis and algal or fungal invasion was found in GA tissue. Skeletal density along the basal body wall was significantly reduced in GAs compared to healthy or unaffected sections. The reductions in density of the above histological features in GA tissue were collated with disease severity data to quantify the impact of this disease at the colony and population level. Resulting calculations showed this disease reduces the fecundity of M. capitata colonies at Wai'ōpae by 0.7–49.6%, depending on GA severity, and the overall population fecundity by 2.41±0.29%. In sum, GA in this M. capitata population reduces the coral's critical biological functions and increases susceptibility to erosion, clearly defining itself as a disease and an ecological threat.
Electroplated solenoid-type inductors for CMOS rf CO

A Solenoid-type Inductors have been realized using electroplating technique mainly used for 2 Ghz band CMOS RF VCO applications. The integrated spiral inductor has low Q factor due to substrate loss and skin effects. And it also occupies large area compared to solenoid-type inductor. The direction of flux of the solenoid-type inductor is parallel to the substrate, which can lower substrate loss and other interference with integrated passive components. In this research, Solenoid-type inductors are simulated and modeled as equivalent circuit for CMOS RF VCO based on extracted S- parameters. The electroplated solenoid-type inductors are fabricated on both a standard silicon substrate and glass substrate by thick PR photolithography and copper electroplating. The achieved inductance varies range from 1 nH to 5 nH, and maximum Q factor over 10. The inductors are scheduled to be integrated on CMOS RF VCO with RF MEMS capacitor for future.
Automated Concept Extraction From Plain TextBoris

We describe a system for extracting concepts from unstructured text. We do this by identifying relationships between words in the text based on a lexical database and identifying groups of these words which form closely tied conceptual groups. The word relationships are used to create a directed graph, called a Semantic Relationship Graph (SRG). This SRG is a robust representation of the relationships between word senses which can be used to identify the individual concepts which occur in the text. We demonstrate the usefulness of this technique by creating a classiier based on SRGs which is considerably more accurate than a Na ve Bayes text classiier.
A Reputation-Based Announcement Scheme for VANETs

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) allow vehicles to generate and broadcast messages to inform nearby vehicles about road conditions, such as traffic congestion and accidents. Neighboring vehicles can utilize this information, which may improve road safety and traffic efficiency. However, messages generated by vehicles may not be reliable. We propose a novel announcement scheme for VANETs based on a reputation system that allows evaluation of message reliability. We present a secure and efficient scheme that is robust and fault tolerant against temporary unavailability of the central server.
A Host Kernel-Based Approach for Tracing and Analyzing vCPUs in Virtual Machines

Virtual machines (VMs) are a crucial technology for cloud computing, permitting multiple operating systems to run on a single physical host. Here, we propose a method for analyzing the performance of virtual machines in a cloud computing environment. The current approach of tracing both the host and virtual machines can be inefficient and may not be feasible for various reasons, such as security and privacy issues. We propose a host-only kernel tracing technique that uses only trace data generated on the host system. The trace data is then analyzed using the TraceCompass tool and two algorithms: Virtual CPU State Finder (VSF) and State Time Analysis (STA). The VSF algorithm generates a graphical view of the state of each thread running inside virtual machines for the identification of latency and performance degradation. The STA algorithm calculates the amount of time each virtual CPU spends in different states, providing important insights into the resource utilization and performance of virtual resources. In addition, our usage of the Trace Compass tool and EASE scripting allows more manageable analysis and visualization of the tracing data, making it accessible to a broader range of users. This method provides cloud providers with valuable information to maintain QoS and SLA parameters and improve the overall performance of running VMs.
Recognizing iris texture by phase demodulation

A method for rapid visual recognition of personal identity is described, based on the failure of a statistical test of independence. The most unique phenotypic feature visible in a person's face is the detailed texture of each eye's iris: an estimate of its statistical complexity in a sample of the human population reveals variation corresponding to several hundred independent degrees-of-freedom. Morphogenetic randomness in the texture expressed phenotypically in the iris trabecular meshwork ensures that a test of statistical independence on two coded patterns originating from different eyes is passed almost certainly, whereas the same test is failed almost certainly when the compared codes originate from the same eye. >