Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Myeloperoxidase Serum Levels Predict Risk in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes

Background—Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) have gained attention as critical mediators of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Myeloperoxidase (MPO), a hemoprotein abundantly expressed by PMNs and secreted during activation, possesses potent proinflammatory properties and may contribute directly to tissue injury. However, whether MPO also provides prognostic information in patients with ACS remains unknown. Methods and Results—MPO serum levels were assessed in 1090 patients with ACS. We recorded death and myocardial infarctions during 6 months of follow-up. MPO levels did not correlate with troponin T, soluble CD40 ligand, or C-reactive protein levels or with ST-segment changes. However, patients with elevated MPO levels (>350 &mgr;g/L; 31.3%) experienced a markedly increased cardiac risk (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 2.25 [1.32 to 3.82]; P =0.003). In particular, MPO serum levels identified patients at risk who had troponin T levels below 0.01 &mgr;g/L (adjusted HR 7.48 [95% CI 1.98 to 28.29]; P =0.001). In a multivariate model that included other biochemical markers, troponin T (HR 1.99; P =0.023), C-reactive protein (1.25; P =0.044), vascular endothelial growth factor (HR 1.87; P =0.041), soluble CD40 ligand (HR 2.78; P <0.001), and MPO (HR 2.11; P =0.008) were all independent predictors of the patient’s 6-month outcome. Conclusions—In patients with ACS, MPO serum levels powerfully predict an increased risk for subsequent cardiovascular events and extend the prognostic information gained from traditional biochemical markers. Given its proinflammatory properties, MPO may serve as both a marker and mediator of vascular inflammation and further points toward the significance of PMN activation in the pathophysiology of ACS.
Simultaneous blurred face restoration and recognition

Blurred face restoration and recognition are closely related problems. Lots of existing works have proven that these two tasks contribute to each other, but only a few consider combining them together. In this paper, we propose Simultaneous Restoration and Recognition (SRR) method by iteratively dealing with these two tasks. Two new models are presented and then integrated into a two-staged method to handle the problems of the state-of-the-art exemplar based restoration method. The better-performing blurring method is chosen for recognition. Experimental results on FERET database demonstrate the efficiency of SRR in terms of restoration qualities and recognition accuracies for various blurs.
Intermittent Endurance and Repeated Sprint Ability in Soccer Players

Chaouachi, A, Manzi, V, Wong, DP, Chaalali, A, Laurencelle, L, Chamari, K, and Castagna, C. Intermittent endurance and repeated sprint ability in soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 24(x): 000-000, 2010-The ability to perform high-intensity intermittent exercise (i.e., Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test [Yo-Yo IR1]) and to repeat sprints with relatively short recovery times (i.e., 20- to 30-seconds, relatively short time interval [repeated sprint ability (RSA)]) has been shown to be relevant fitness variables in soccer. However, though they potentially share common features, it is not known whether these 2 abilities are associated. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between Yo-Yo IR1 and RSA performances in elite soccer players. Twenty-three soccer players (age 19 ± 1 years, height 181 ± 5.7 cm, body mass 73.2 ± 4.1 kg, %body fat 11 ± 2.4) performed the Yo-Yo IR1 and a test for RSA (7 × 30 m with 25-second recovery). Results were 2,289 ± 409 m, 31.21 ± 1.13 seconds, and 4 ± 2.1% for Yo-Yo IR1, total sprint time, and sprint decrement, respectively. Yo-Yo IR1 showed a significant and moderate relationship with sprint decrement (r = −0.44, p = 0.04). Splitting the sample into Best and Worst Yo-Yo IR1 performers according to median score (2,320 m), the Best group showed lower RSA total time (30.69 ± 0.99 vs. 31.79 ± 1.06, p < 0.05) and speed decrement (2.90 ± 0.86 vs. 5.09 ± 2.42, p < 0.01) compared to the Worst group. Sprint-time deterioration over 30 m occurred earlier (from the second sprint on) in the Yo-YoWorst compared with in the Yo-YoBest group (from the fourth sprint on, p < 0.001). Intermittent high-intensity endurance is poorly associated with RSA performance (r2 = 0.19). Consequently, coaches and strength and conditioning professionals should consider both Yo-Yo IR1 and RSA in their testing batteries. A Yo-Yo IR1 performance ≥2,320 m could be considered as a reasonable indicator of physical fitness in elite soccer. Relatively short time interval test protocols similar to the present study should consist of at least 5 sprint bouts.
Secure Authentication Protocol for RFID Systems

Authentication of products and humans is one of the main applications of RFID technology. In this paper, we present a novel cryptographic authentication protocol that is fully secure and it fills the security holes imposed by RFID technology. Our proposed authentication protocol has a significantly lower cost in terms of computation, memory and communication as compared to most of the existing RFID protocols. We compare our protocol with the existing protocols by implementing all these authentication protocols first time on a passive, computation capable RFID tag developed by Intel known as WISP.
The fractional maximal effect method: a new way to characterize the effect of antibiotic combinations and other nonlinear pharmacodynamic interactions

The checkerboard technique leading to the fractional inhibitory concentration indexes and the killing curve method are currently the most widely used methods to study antibiotic combinations. For both methods, experimental conditions and interpretation criteria are somewhat arbitrary. The relevance of the fractional inhibitory concentration index computation, in the classic case of additivity [P = d1/(D1)p + d2/(D2)p, where d1 and d2 are the doses of drugs 1 and 2 in combination to produce an effect at a percent level (P) and (D1)p and (D2)p are the doses required for the two respective drugs alone to produce the same effect] relies on the assumption of a linear relationship between the MIC and the concentration of the test antibiotics. In addition, there is no consensus as to the definition of synergy in killing curve interpretation. The fractional maximal effect (FME) method is a new approach which was developed to handle the nonlinear pharmacodynamics exhibited by antibiotics and other drugs. This method relies on the mathematical linearization of the nonlinear concentration-effect scales and eventual construction of an isobologram-type data plot. The FME method was applied to study interactions between several antibiotic combinations: amoxicillin and tetracycline, ciprofloxacin and erythromycin, and ticarcillin and tobramycin. These combinations were selected because the pharmacologic basis for their interactions has been previously described. The FME method correctly identified antagonism for the first two combinations and synergism for the last combination. Conclusions were reproducible across the range of concentrations studied. Besides providing information on the nature of the interaction, the method can rapidly explore the effect of changing concentration ratios of two antimicrobial agents on the degrees of interaction. The FME method may be applied to interactions between drugs or agents with either a linear or nonlinear endpoint measurement. Methods frequently used for drug combination testing are also discussed in the paper.
Deep Mixture of Diverse Experts for Large-Scale Visual Recognition

In this paper, a deep mixture of diverse experts algorithm is developed to achieve more efficient learning of a huge (mixture) network for large-scale visual recognition application. First, a two-layer ontology is constructed to assign large numbers of atomic object classes into a set of task groups according to the similarities of their learning complexities, where certain degrees of inter-group task overlapping are allowed to enable sufficient inter-group message passing. Second, one particular base deep CNNs with <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M+1$</tex-math><alternatives> <mml:math> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <inline-graphic xlink:href="fan-ieq1-2828821.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> outputs is learned for each task group to recognize its <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$M$</tex-math><alternatives> <mml:math> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> </mml:math> <inline-graphic xlink:href="fan-ieq2-2828821.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> atomic object classes and identify one special class of “not-in-group”, where the network structure (numbers of layers and units in each layer) of the well-designed deep CNNs (such as AlexNet, VGG, GoogleNet, ResNet) is directly used to configure such base deep CNNs. For enhancing the separability of the atomic object classes in the same task group, two approaches are developed to learn more discriminative base deep CNNs: (a) our deep multi-task learning algorithm that can effectively exploit the inter-class visual similarities; (b) our two-layer network cascade approach that can improve the accuracy rates for the hard object classes at certain degrees while effectively maintaining the high accuracy rates for the easy ones. Finally, all these complementary base deep CNNs with diverse but overlapped outputs are seamlessly combined to generate a mixture network with larger outputs for recognizing tens of thousands of atomic object classes. Our experimental results have demonstrated that our deep mixture of diverse experts algorithm can achieve very competitive results on large-scale visual recognition.
Virological features of hepatitis C virus infection in hemodialysis patients

The clinical and epidemiological relevance of circulating antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) in hemodialysis patients is uncertain, since clinical signs of infection are often mild or absent, with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values that are virtually always normal, and liver biopsies are only rarely performed. Determination of HCV RNA in serum is therefore critical for distinguishing chronic HCV infection from previous exposure to the virus. We studied HCV viremia by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the 5'-noncoding region of the viral genome in 77 dialysis patients who were screened for anti-HCV by a second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (the enzyme immunoassay II; Ortho HCV, 2nd generation, Ortho Diagnostic Systems Raritan, N.J.) and a second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay (Chiron Corporation and Ortho Diagnostic Systems) and prospectively evaluated for ALT elevations over a period of 5 years. Of 77 patients tested, 29 (38%) had active infection as shown by a positive PCR assay result, and of these, 26 were anti-HCV positive. Although a good correlation was found between circulating anti-HCV and HCV RNA in serum, 10 (28%) of 36 anti-HCV-positive patients were HCV RNA negative by PCR, suggesting either low levels of viremia or past exposure to HCV and subsequent recovery. On the other hand, 3 (7.3%) of 41 anti-HCV-negative patients had HCV RNA in their sera, indicating seronegative HCV infection. The ALT level had no predictive value for HCV infection, because it was repeatedly normal in 18 (62%) of 29 viremic patients. HCV genotyping was also performed and indicated that all four known genotypes of HCV were present in our group. In conclusion, serological assays are reliable for detecting exposure to HCV in hemodialysis patients; however, direct identification of the viral genome is required to document current infection.
A robust approach for the derivation of closed-form Green's functions

Spatial-domain Green's functions for multilayer, planar geometries are cast into closed forms with two-level approximation of the spectral-domain representation of the Green's functions. This approach is very robust and much faster compared to the original one-level approximation. Moreover, it does not require the investigation of the spectral-domain behavior of the Green's functions in advance to decide on the parameters of the approximation technique, and it can be applied to any component of the dyadic Green's function with the same ease.
Multi-level reconfiguration in the DANAH assistive system

Nowadays, interaction with our surrounding environment has increased due to the presence of numerous devices that provide us with services. This is especially true in Smart Homes and can be of great help for the disabled people and the elderly that can no longer perform daily tasks they used to. However, in case of failure, corrective actions can be heavy to take, thus the need for the system to recover by itself and ensure service availability. Service availability is provided through service reconfiguration. This papers deals with service reconfiguration in smart homes. It presents a multi-level approach in which both off-line and on-line reconfiguration schemes are used to gradually recover from failed services. Static, effect-based, path and resource reconfiguration levels are described. They have been successfully implemented in the DANAH assistive system, which combines both navigation and service provision for smart homes.
Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity and Reliability Optimization: The Role of Neuron Dynamics

Plastic changes in synaptic efficacy can depend on the time ordering of presynaptic and postsynaptic spikes. This phenomenon is called spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). One of the most striking aspects of this plasticity mechanism is that the STDP windows display a great variety of forms in different parts of the nervous system. We explore this issue from a theoretical point of view. We choose as the optimization principle the minimization of conditional entropy or maximization of reliability in the transmission of information. We apply this principle to two types of postsynaptic dynamics, designated type I and type II. The first is characterized as being an integrator, while the second is a resonator. We find that, depending on the parameters of the models, the optimization principle can give rise to a wide variety of STDP windows, such as antisymmetric Hebbian, predominantly depressing or symmetric with one positive region and two lateral negative regions. We can relate each of these forms to the dynamical behavior of the different models. We also propose experimental tests to assess the validity of the optimization principle.
Metagenome of the Microbial Community of Anammox Granules in a Nitritation/Anammox Wastewater Treatment System

ABSTRACT We sequenced the metagenome of a granular sludge in a nitritation/anammox bioreactor used for the treatment of ammonium-rich wastewater. Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Ignavibacteriae, and Acidobacteria were the predominant phyla in the studied bioreactor. Binning of contigs yielded a near-complete genome of the dominant anammox bacterium assigned to the candidate genus Brocadia.
Generating predictive models of learner community dynamics

In this paper we present a framework for learner modelling that combines latent semantic analysis and social network analysis of online discourse. The framework is supported by newly developed software, known as the Knowledge, Interaction, and Social Student Modelling Explorer (KISSME), that employs highly interactive visualizations of content-aware interactions among learners. Our goal is to develop, use and refine KISSME to generate and test predictive models of learner interactions to optimise learning.
A Role for Calmodulin-Stimulated Adenylyl Cyclases in Cocaine Sensitization

Cocaine sensitization is produced by repeated exposure to the drug and is thought to reflect neuroadaptations that contribute to addiction. Here, we identify the Ca2+/calmodulin-stimulated adenylyl cyclases, type 1 (AC1) and type 8 (AC8), as novel regulators of this behavioral plasticity. We show that, whereas AC1 and AC8 single knock-out mice (AC1−/− and AC8−/−) exhibit Ca2+-stimulated adenylyl cyclase activity in striatal membrane fractions, AC1/8 double-knock-out (DKO) mice do not. Furthermore, DKO mice are acutely supersensitive to low doses of cocaine and fail to display locomotor sensitization after chronic cocaine treatment. Because of the known role for the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway in cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity and its coupling to calcium-stimulated cAMP signaling in the hippocampus, we measured phosphorylated ERK (pERK) levels in the striatum. Under basal conditions, pERK is upregulated in choline acetyltransferase-positive interneurons in DKO mice relative to wild-type (WT) controls. After acute cocaine treatment, pERK signaling is significantly suppressed in medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of DKO mice relative to WT mice. In addition to the lack of striatal ERK activation by acute cocaine, signaling machinery downstream of ERK is uncoupled in DKO mice. We demonstrate that AC1 and AC8 are necessary for the phosphorylation of mitogen and stress-activated kinase-1 (pMSK1) at Ser376 and Thr581 and cAMP response element-binding protein (pCREB) at Ser133 after acute cocaine treatment. Our results demonstrate that the Ca2+-stimulated adenylyl cyclases regulate long-lasting cocaine-induced behavioral plasticity via activation of the ERK/MSK1/CREB signaling pathway in striatonigral MSNs.
Towards Ontology-based Services Interfaces in Services Systems based Environment

Web services ontologies formally represent the knowledge and define helps in information processing with the help of concepts, relations, axioms etc defined in them. This paper outlines various services interfaces in services systems with intent to describe them ontologically. We identify two types of services interfaces in the system discussed in this paper and propose semantic-based model for the ontologies and services identified in the system differently for both the kinds of interfaces. As we delve deeper in the interfaces, we also identify that we need a state-of-the-art access control framework for both the interfaces and present a brief discussion on currently available approaches for the same. We aim to describe the system completely using WSML, so that we can look on various future aspects of the research problem like formal specification, verification, and development.
Anti‐PcrV antibody in cystic fibrosis: A novel approach targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) airway infection is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF). The type III secretion system is one of the factors responsible for the increased virulence and pro‐inflammatory effects of Pa. KB001 is a PEGylated, recombinant, anti‐Pseudomonas‐PcrV antibody Fab′ fragment that blocks the function of Pa TTSS. We studied the safety, pharmacokinetic (PK), and pharmacodynamic properties of KB001 in CF subjects with chronic Pa infection. Twenty‐seven eligible CF subjects (≥12 years of age, FEV1 ≥40% of predicted, and sputum Pa density >105 CFU/g) received a single intravenous dose of KB001 (3 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) or placebo. Safety, PK, Pa density, clinical outcomes, and inflammatory markers were assessed. KB001 had an acceptable safety profile and a mean serum half‐life of 11.9 days. All subjects had Pa TTSS expression in sputum. There were no significant differences between KB001 and placebo for changes in Pa density, symptoms, or spirometry after a single dose. However, compared to baseline, at Day 28 there was a trend towards a dose‐dependent reduction in sputum myeloperoxidase, IL‐1, and IL‐8, and there were significant overall differences in change in sputum neutrophil elastase and neutrophil counts favoring the KB001 10 mg/kg group versus placebo (−0.61 log10 and −0.63 log10, respectively; P < 0.05). These results support targeting Pa TTSS with KB001 as a nonantibiotic strategy to reduce airway inflammation and damage in CF patients with chronic Pa infection. Repeat‐dosing studies are necessary to evaluate the durability of the anti‐inflammatory effects and how that may translate into clinical benefit. (NCT00638365) Pediatr Pulmonol. 2014; 49:650–658. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION TO TEMPERATURE. VIII. EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON GROWTH RATE IN NATURAL ISOLATES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI AND SALMONELLA ENTERICA FROM DIFFERENT THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract Are enteric bacteria specifically adapted to the thermal environment of their hosts? In particular, do the optimal temperatures and thermal niches of the bacterial flora reflect seasonal, geographic, or phylogenetic differences in their hosts' temperatures? We examined these questions by measuring the relationship between the temperature-dependent growth rates of enteric bacteria in a free-living ectothermic host. We sampled two species of enteric bacteria (Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica) from three natural populations of slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) seasonally over two years. Despite pronounced differences in turtle body temperatures at different seasons and in different locations, we found no evidence that the thermal growth profiles of these bacteria mirrored this variation. Optimal temperatures and maximal growth rates in rich medium were nearly the same for both bacterial species (35–36°C, 2.5 doublings per hour). The thermal niche (defined as the range of temperatures over which 75% of maximal growth rate occurred) was slightly higher for E. coli (28.5–41.0°C) than for S. enterica (27.7–39.8°C), but the niche breadth was about the same for both. We also measured the thermal dependence of growth rate in these same bacterial species isolated from mammalian hosts. Both bacterial species had temperatures of maximal growth and thermal niches that were about 2°C higher than those of their respective conspecifics sampled from turtles; niche breadths were not different. These data suggest that these bacterial species are thermal generalists that do not track fine-scale changes in their thermal environments. Even major differences in body temperatures, as great as those between ectothermic and endothermic hosts, may result in the evolution of rather modest changes in thermal properties. Corresponding Editor: T. J. Kawecki
Molluscicidal metabolites from an assemblage of Palmyra Atoll cyanobacteria.

Molluscicides can play an important role in the control of schistosomiasis because snails of the genus Biomphalaria act as intermediate hosts for the parasite. Schistosomiasis is one of 13 neglected tropical diseases with high morbidity and mortality that collectively affect one billion of the world's poorest population, mainly in developing countries. Thiopalmyrone (1) and palmyrrolinone (2), metabolites isolated from extracts of a Palmyra Atoll environmental assemblage of two cyanobacteria, cf. Oscillatoria and Hormoscilla spp. , represent new and potent molluscicidal chemotypes against Biomphalaria glabrata (LC50=8.3 and 6.0 μM, respectively). A slight enhancement in molluscicidal effect (LC50=5.0 μM) was observed when these two natural products were utilized as an equimolar binary mixture.