Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protective immunity in human filariasis: a role for parasite-specific IgA responses.

BACKGROUND Filaria-specific antibodies of immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgE, and IgM isotypes have been correlated with acquired immunity in the literature, but the status of filaria-specific IgA and its role in human filariasis has not been addressed. The present study attempts to fill this lacuna. METHODS Both total and filaria-specific IgA to different developmental stages of filarial parasites were quantified by solid-phase immunoassays in 412 clinically and parasitologically defined cases occurring in an area endemic for human bancroftian filariasis in Orissa, India. RESULTS Compared with other clinical categories, microfilariae carriers were deficient in total as well as filaria-specific IgA. More crucially, significantly high levels were observed in putatively immune control subjects from areas of endemicity. These associations were also related to sex; female subjects in each category displayed higher levels of filaria-specific IgA than did male subjects. CONCLUSION The study demonstrates, for the first time, a positive correlation between protective immunity and increased levels of filaria-specific IgA in human bancroftian filariasis. Furthermore, filaria-specific IgA appears to be an immunological window for the sex-related differences in susceptibility to infection observed in human filariasis.
Prediction of Breast Cancer Survival Using Clinical and Genetic Markers by Tumor Subtypes

Purpose To identify the genetic variants associated with breast cancer survival, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted of Korean breast cancer patients. Methods From the Seoul Breast Cancer Study (SEBCS), 3,226 patients with breast cancer (1,732 in the discovery and 1,494 in the replication set) were included in a two-stage GWAS on disease-free survival (DFS) by tumor subtypes based on hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). The associations of the re-classified combined prognostic markers through recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) of DFS for breast cancer were assessed with the Cox proportional hazard model. The prognostic predictive values of the clinical and genetic models were evaluated by Harrell’s C. Results In the two-stage GWAS stratified by tumor subtypes, rs166870 and rs10825036 were consistently associated with DFS in the HR+ HER2- and HR- HER2- breast cancer subtypes, respectively (P rs166870=2.88×10-7 and P rs10825036=3.54×10-7 in the combined set). When patients were classified by the RPA in each subtype, genetic factors contributed significantly to differentiating the high risk group associated with DFS inbreast cancer, specifically the HR+ HER2- (P discovery=1.18×10-8 and P replication=2.08×10-5) and HR- HRE2- subtypes (P discovery=2.35×10-4 and P replication=2.60×10-2). The inclusion of the SNPs tended to improve the performance of the prognostic models consisting of age, TNM stage and tumor subtypes based on ER, PR, and HER2 status. Conclusion Combined prognostic markers that include clinical and genetic factors by tumor subtypes could improve the prediction of survival in breast cancer.
Reducing snoop-energy in shared bus-based mpsocs by filtering useless broadcasts

In shared bus-based multiprocessor system-on-a-chips (MPSoCs), snoop-based schemes are widely used to maintain cache coherency. However, many of broadcasts are useless because remote caches seldom have the matching blocks and their tag lookups do not supply data. From the energy perspective, such tag lookups consume unnecessary energy and make the system energy wasteful. In this paper, we propose a broadcast filtering technique to reduce snoop-energy in both of cache and bus. Broadcast filtering is achieved by help of snooping cache and split-bus. The snooping cache checks if matching blocks exist in remote caches before broad casting a coherency request. If no remote cache has the matching block, it eliminates the broadcast. If broadcasting is necessary, only a part of split-bus is used so that the request is selectively broadcasted only to the remote caches that have matching blocks. Simulation results show that our technique reduces 90%, 50%, and 30% of cache lookups, bus usage, and snoop-energy, respectively, with only 2% of degradation in performance. Our technique reduces more energy than other state-of-the-art techniques.
Effects of NaCl Replacement with Gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the Quality Characteristics and Sensorial Properties of Model Meat Products

This study investigated the effects of γ-aminobutylic acid (GABA) on the quality and sensorial properties of both the GABA/NaCl complex and model meat products. GABA/NaCl complex was prepared by spray-drying, and the surface dimensions, morphology, rheology, and saltiness were characterized. For model meat products, pork patties were prepared by replacing NaCl with GABA. For characteristics of the complex, increasing GABA concentration increased the surface dimensions of the complex. However, GABA did not affect the rheological properties of solutions containing the complex. The addition of 2% GABA exhibited significantly higher saltiness than the control (no GABA treatment). In the case of pork patties, sensory testing indicated that the addition of GABA decreased the saltiness intensity. Both the intensity of juiciness and tenderness of patties containing GABA also scored lower than the control, based on the NaCl reduction. These results were consistent with the quality characteristics (cooking loss and texture profile analysis). Nevertheless, overall acceptability of the pork patties showed that up to 1.5%, patties containing GABA did not significantly differ from the control. Consequently, the results indicated that GABA has a potential application in meat products, but also manifested a deterioration of quality by the NaCl reduction, which warrants further exploration.
Design , Analysis , and FPGA prototyping of High-Performance Arithmetic for Cryptographic Applications Literature Review-Part 1 : Cryptographic Algorithms

This report presents a brief survey on secret key and public key cryptography algorithms. These include: block ciphers, stream ciphers, RSA, ElGamal and Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECC). Since ECC achieved security levels comparable to those of traditional public key cryptosystems using smaller keys (160 bits), this work focus more on ECC. Finally, this work also presents a survey on scalar multiplication algorithms used in ECC.
Evaluation of Railway Rails with Non-Destructive Techniques

Non-destructive testing methods, such as Magnetic Barkhausen Noise method, are widely used on railways for examining the stress state of running railway rails. Detailed information about the morphology of the microstructure features of the rail surface is derived by Scanning Electron Microscopy. Phase composition, hardness and residual stress state of the rails are determined by MBN signal.
Different Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Dependent Cytokine Responses in Cells of the Monocyte Lineage

Macrophages release cytokines that may contribute to the chronic inflammation observed in pulmonary conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Thus, inhibition of macrophage cytokine production may have a therapeutic benefit. Human lung macrophages are a rich source of the proinflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8, that are elevated in the bronchoalveolar lavage and sputum of subjects with respiratory diseases. Cytokine production from both monocytes and macrophages is mediated by mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. This study compared the effects of a novel p38 MAPK inhibitor, N-cyano-N′-(2-{[8-(2,6-difluorophenyl)-4-(4-fluoro-2-methylphenyl)-7-oxo-7,8-dihydropyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidin-2-yl]amino}ethyl)-guanidine (PCG), and an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway inhibitor, 2-(2-amino-3-methoxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (PD098059), on cytokine release from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM), and lung macrophages. Lung macrophages, MDM, and monocytes were stimulated with LPS, and cytokine release was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immunoblots were performed to confirm p38 and ERK1/2 MAPK expression and activity. PCG inhibited TNF-α release more effectively from monocytes compared with MDM or macrophages (maximal inhibition was 99.3 ± 1.4, 62.7 ± 4.3, and 58.6 ± 6.6%, respectively; n = 7–9). PD098059 was less effective at suppressing TNF-α release from monocytes compared with MDM and lung macrophages (maximal inhibition was 37.4 ± 2.8, 70.1 ± 4.5, and 68.7 ± 5.1%, respectively; n = 7–9). The pattern of GM-CSF, IL-6, and IL-8 release was comparable with that of TNF-α. These data suggest a differential involvement for each of these MAPK pathways in macrophage cytokine production compared with monocytes.
Noncoherent space-time block coded modulation

Unitary space-time modulation is well tailored for flat fading channels where the noncoherent receiver is used. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme of unitary space-time modulation, called noncoherent space-time block coded modulation, by using the set partitioning of signal sets and multilevel coding. Signal sets for two and four transmitter antennas are proposed, and the factor which dominates the error performance is derived as well. Unitary space-time modulations of the proposed scheme are designed by selecting appropriate component codes. The advantage of the proposed scheme can be demonstrated by the distance analysis and computer simulations.
A 0.6–107 µW Energy-Scalable Processor for Directly Analyzing Compressively-Sensed EEG

Compressive sensing has been used to overcome communication constraints (energy and bandwidth) in low-power sensors. In this work, we present a seizure-detection processor that directly uses compressively-sensed electroencephalograms (EEGs) for embedded signal analysis. In addition to addressing communication, this has two advantages for local computation. First, with compressive sensing, reconstruction costs are typically severe, precluding embedded analysis; directly analyzing the compressed signals circumvents reconstruction costs, enabling embedded analysis within applications. Second, compared to Nyquist-sampled signals, the use of compressed representations reduces the computational energy of signal analysis due to the reduced number of signal samples. We describe an algorithmic formulation as well as a hardware architecture that enables two strong power-management knobs, wherein application-level performance can scale with computational energy. The two knobs are parameterized as follows: 1) ξ, which quantifies the amount of data compression, and 2) ν, which determines the approximation error within the proposed compressed-domain processing algorithm. For ξ and ν in the range 2-24×, the energy to extract signal features (over 18 channels) is 70.8-1.3 nJ, and the detector's performance for sensitivity, latency, and specificity is 96-91%, 4.7-5.3 sec. , and 0.17-0.30 false-alarms/hr. , respectively (compared to a baseline performance of 96%, 4.6 sec., and 0.15 false-alarms/hr.).
Floodgate: application-driven flow control in network-on-chip for many-core architectures

With the prevalence of multi- and many-core architecture, network-on-chip (NoC) is becoming the main paradigm for on-chip interconnection. However, the performance of NoCs can be degraded significantly if the network flow is not controlled properly. Most previous solutions have tried to detect network congestion by monitoring the hardware status of the network switches or links. Unfortunately, such strategies rely on the backpressure of the traffic flows for congestion detection and may be too slow to respond. This paper proposes a proactive strategy which predicts the global, end-to-end traffic patterns of the running application and takes preventive flow control actions to avoid congestions. The proposed system entails an application-level prediction table for accurate traffic prediction and a packet injection scheduler for congestion avoidance. The proposed scheme is evaluated by a trace-driven simulator with synthetic traffic traces as well as a real application trace of an instance in the SPLASH-2 benchmark. The results show the superior performance of the proposed scheme with negligible execution overhead.
The Effects of the Transition From Medicaid to Medicare on Health Care Use for Adults With Mental Illness

Background:The transition from Medicaid-only to dual Medicare/Medicaid coverage has the potential to reduce financial barriers to health care for patients with serious mental illness through increased coverage or expanded access to clinicians as their reimbursement increases. Aims:To estimate the effect of dual coverage after Medicaid enrollment during the required waiting period among adults with serious mental illness on health care use, overall and related to mental health and substance use disorders (MHSUD). Methods:Data include enrollment and claims from Medicaid and Medicare in Missouri and South Carolina, from January 2004 to December 2007. We used an interrupted time-series design to estimate the effect of dual coverage on average use of outpatient, emergency department (ED), and inpatient care/month. Results:After 12 months of dual coverage, the probability of outpatient care use increased in both states from 4% to 9%. In Missouri, the mean probability and frequency of ED visits, total and MHSUD related, increased by 21%–32%; the probability of all-cause and MHSUD-related inpatient admissions increased by 10% and 19%, respectively. In South Carolina, the mean probability of any inpatient admission increased by 27% and of any MHSUD-related inpatient admission by 42%. Discussion:The increase in use of outpatient care is consistent with the expected increase in coverage of, and payment for, outpatient services under dual coverage relative to Medicaid-only. Sustained increases in ED and inpatient admissions raise questions regarding the complexity of obtaining care under 2 programs, pent-up demand among beneficiaries pretransition, and the complementarity of outpatient and inpatient service use.
Consumption of Lysozyme-Rich Milk Can Alter Microbial Fecal Populations

ABSTRACT Human milk contains antimicrobial factors such as lysozyme and lactoferrin that are thought to contribute to the development of an intestinal microbiota beneficial to host health. However, these factors are lacking in the milk of dairy animals. Here we report the establishment of an animal model to allow the dissection of the role of milk components in gut microbiota modulation and subsequent changes in overall and intestinal health. Using milk from transgenic goats expressing human lysozyme at 68%, the level found in human milk and young pigs as feeding subjects, the fecal microbiota was analyzed over time using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the G2 Phylochip. The two methods yielded similar results, with the G2 Phylochip giving more comprehensive information by detecting more OTUs. Total community populations remained similar within the feeding groups, and community member diversity was changed significantly upon consumption of lysozyme milk. Levels of Firmicutes (Clostridia) declined whereas those of Bacteroidetes increased over time in response to the consumption of lysozyme-rich milk. The proportions of these major phyla were significantly different (P < 0.05) from the proportions seen with control-fed animals after 14 days of feeding. Within phyla, the abundance of bacteria associated with gut health (Bifidobacteriaceae and Lactobacillaceae) increased and the abundance of those associated with disease (Mycobacteriaceae, Streptococcaceae, Campylobacterales) decreased with consumption of lysozyme milk. This study demonstrated that a single component of the diet with bioactivity changed the gut microbiome composition. Additionally, this model enabled the direct examination of the impact of lysozyme on beneficial microbe enrichment versus detrimental microbe reduction in the gut microbiome community.
Multi-query Optimization for Distributed Similarity Query Processing

This paper considers a multi-query optimization issue for distributed similarity query processing, which attempts to exploit the dependencies in the derivation of a query evaluation plan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work investigating a multi- query optimization technique for distributed similarity query processing (MDSQ). Four steps are incorporated in our MDSQ algorithm. First when a number of query requests(i.e., m query vectors and m radiuses) are simultaneously submitted by users, then a cost-based dynamic query scheduling(DQS) procedure is invoked to quickly and effectively identify the correlation among the query spheres (requests). After that, an index-based vector set reduction is performed at data node level in parallel. Finally, a refinement process of the candidate vectors is conducted to get the answer set. The proposed method includes a cost-based dynamic query scheduling, a Start-Distance(SD)-based load balancing scheme, and an index-based vector set reduction algorithm. The experimental results validate the efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithm in minimizing the response time and increasing the parallelism of I/O and CPU.
Believable Robot Characters

� Believability of characters has been an objective in literature, theater, film, and animation. We argue that believable robot characters are important in human-robot interaction, as well. In particular, we contend that believable characters evoke users’ social responses that, for some tasks, lead to more natural interactions and are associated with improved task performance. In a dialogue-capable robot, a key to such believability is the integration of a consistent story line, verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and sociocultural context. We describe our work in this area and present empirical results from three robot receptionist test beds that operate “in the wild. ”
Optimizing regulatable gene expression using adenoviral vectors

Inducible gene expression systems have typically encountered limitations, such as pleitropic effects of the inducer, basal leakiness, toxicity of inducing agents and low levels of expression. However, recently non‐toxic, tightly regulated control of transgene expression has been reported for several systems, the most frequently cited being the tetracycline gene control system. We have found that the individual components of the Tet system [the Tet transactivators and tetracycline responsive element (TRE)] function optimally to control gene expression when they are incorporated into separate adenoviral vectors. Furthermore, incorporation of the Woodchuck hepatitis virus post‐transcriptional enhancer (WPRE) allows a dual vector Tet‐regulatable Ad system to be used at very low titres (2 × 104) that elicit a minimal inflammatory response, with no loss of transgene expression or ability to regulate transgene expression. This and similar regulatable systems will benefit studies investigating neuronal gene function and those seeking to develop effective neuronal gene therapy strategies.
Quantitative Assessment of the Reinforcement Distribution Homogeneity in CNT/Metal Composites

Reinforcement distribution has a major influence on composite material behavior. This work presents a method to quantitatively analyze the reinforcement distribution homogeneity in metal matrix composites reinforced with carbon nanotubes. The method is based on the statistical two‐dimensional analysis of the CNT cluster distribution within defined regions. A subsequent analysis of the material hardness allowed a correlation to the homogeneity, highlighting the influence of the CNT distribution. This analysis provides a straightforward and objective assessment of the reinforcement distribution, applicable to other types of composites.
Smoking and colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

CONTEXT Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The association between cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer has been inconsistent among studies. OBJECTIVE To clarify the association of cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer, we performed a comprehensive literature search and a meta-analysis of observational studies considering both incidence and mortality. DATA SOURCES We performed a literature search using PubMed, ISI Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded), and EMBASE to May 2008, with no restrictions. We also reviewed references from all retrieved articles. STUDY SELECTION All articles that were independent and contained the minimum information necessary to estimate the colorectal cancer risk associated with cigarette smoking and a corresponding measure of uncertainty. DATA EXTRACTION Articles were reviewed and data were extracted and cross-checked independently by 3 investigators, and any disagreement was resolved by consensus among all 3. RESULTS One hundred six observational studies were included in the analysis of incidence. Twenty-six studies provided adjusted risk estimates for ever smokers vs never smokers, leading to a pooled relative risk of 1.18 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11-1.25). Smoking was associated with an absolute risk increase of 10.8 cases per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 7.9-13.6). We found a statistically significant dose-relationship with an increasing number of pack-years and cigarettes per day. However, the association was statistically significant only after 30 years of smoking. Seventeen cohort studies were included in the analysis of mortality. The pooled risk estimate for ever vs never smokers was 1.25 (95% CI, 1.14-1.37). Smoking was associated with an absolute risk increase of 6.0 deaths per 100,000 person-years (95% CI, 4.2-7.6). For both incidence and mortality, the association was stronger for cancer of the rectum than of the colon. CONCLUSION Cigarette smoking is significantly associated with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality.
Spoken language conversion with accent morphing

Spoken language conversion is the challenge of using synthesis systems to generate utterances in the voice of a speaker but in a language unknown to the speaker. Previous approaches have been based on voice conversion and voice adaptation technologies applied to the output of a foreign language TTS system. This inevitably reduces the quality and intelligibility of the output, since the source speaker will not be a good source of phonetic material in the new language. This article contrasts previous work with a new approach that uses two synthesis systems: one in the source speaker's voice, one in the voice of a native speaker of the target language. Audio morphing technology is then exploited to correct the foreign accent of the source speaker, while at the same time trying to maintain his or her identity. In this paper we construct a spoken language conversion system using accent morphing and evaluate its performance in terms of intelligibility. Encouraging results tell us more about the challenges of spoken language conversion.
Orientation relationship and interfacial structure between α-Nb5Si3 and Nb solid solution in the eutectic lamellar structure

The orientation relationship (OR) and the interfacial structure of the eutectic α-Nb5Si3 and Nb solid solution (Nbss) lamellar microstructure were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The OR between α-Nb5Si3 and Nbss was determined as and . In spite of the significant difference in crystal structure between α-Nb5Si3 and Nbss, the interface was found to be semi-coherent with good matching. High-resolution TEM images of the α-Nb5Si3/Nbss interface are presented to describe the chemistry of the terminating plane of α-Nb5Si3. The results revealed that a pure Nb layer not Si or mixed (Nb + Si) layer of the α-Nb5Si3 phase was bonded to the Nb phase at the interface. A periodic array of edge-type misfit dislocations, with line direction and Burgers vector , was observed at the interface.