Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidative stress and air pollution exposure during pregnancy

Chronic air pollution exposure during pregnancy can cause oxidative stress leading to adverse birth outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess and compare oxidative stress response in peripheral lymphocytes isolated from pregnant women from a highly industrialized locale (south Durban (SD); n = 50) and a control with lower air pollutant levels (north Durban (ND); n = 50). Oxidative stress response was measured by quantifying malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and a SuperArray gene panel. Mitochondrial function (adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels and mitochondrial depolarization), DNA integrity (comet assay and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) viability) and DNA repair (OGG1) were assessed. Antioxidant response was assessed by quantification of glutathione (GSH) and SOD2, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. Levels of MDA (p = 0.9), mitochondrial depolarization (p = 0.88), ATP (1.89-fold), SOD2 (1.23-fold) and UCP2 (1.58-fold) gene expression were elevated in the SD group with significantly higher UCP2 protein levels (p = 0.05) and longer comet tail length (p = 0.0004). The expression of Nrf2 protein (p = 0.03) and mRNA levels (−1.37-fold), GSH concentration (p < 0.0001), mtDNA amplification (−2.04-fold) and OGG1 mRNA (−2.78-fold) activity were decreased in the SD group. Of the 84 oxidative stress-related genes evaluated, 26 were differentially regulated. Pregnant women exposed to higher air pollutant levels showed increased markers for oxidative stress and compromised DNA integrity and repair.
The Paradox of Openness and Value Protection Strategies: Effect of Extramural R&D on Innovative Performance

The emphasis in firms on extramural research and development (R&D), involving increased engagement with external entities in the conduct of research, can also result in knowledge leakage. Knowledge leaks can undermine firm competitiveness, and to prevent this, firms deploy various isolating mechanisms to protect their knowledge. Integrating insights from the resource-based view and evolutionary theory, we hypothesize an inverted curvilinear relationship between extramural R&D and innovation and explain why the value protection strategies employed by firms change the relationship at various degrees of external knowledge sourcing. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 506 French manufacturing firms using data from three surveys conducted in the period 1998 to 2006. We find an inverted-U-shaped relationship between extramural R&D and innovation performance. This relationship is moderated by employee retention and secrecy such that the benefits of extramural R&D are weakened at lower degrees of extramural R&D.
Localization of the N-terminal Domain of the Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor*

The low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor is a transmembrane glycoprotein performing “receptor-mediated endocytosis” of cholesterol-rich lipoproteins. At the N terminus, the LDL receptor has modular cysteine-rich repeats in both the ligand binding domain and the epidermal growth factor (EGF) precursor homology domain. Each repeat contains six disulfide-bonded cysteine residues, and this structural motif has also been found in many other proteins. The bovine LDL receptor has been purified and reconstituted into egg yolk phosphatidylcholine vesicle bilayers. Using gel electrophoresis and cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM), the ability of the reconstituted LDL receptor to bind its ligand LDL has been demonstrated. After reduction of the disulfide-bonds in the N-terminal domain of the receptor, the reduced LDL receptor was visualized using cryoEM; reduced LDL receptors showed images with a diffuse density region at the distal end of the extracellular domain. Gold labeling of the reduced cysteine residues was achieved with monomaleimido-Nanogold, and the bound Nanogold was visualized in cryoEM images of the reduced, gold-labeled receptor. Multiple gold particles were observed in the diffuse density region at the distal end of the receptor. Thus, the location of the ligand binding domain of the LDL receptor has been determined, and a model is suggested for the arrangement of the seven cysteine-rich repeats of the ligand binding domain and two EGF-like cysteine-rich repeats of the EGF precursor homology domain.
Associations Between Alcohol Consumption and Leukocyte Telomere Length Modified by a Common Polymorphism of ALDH2.

BACKGROUND Data on the association between alcohol consumption and telomere length, a marker of biological aging, are inconsistent. Moreover, the genetic modification of this association has been reported only rarely. To evaluate the association between alcohol consumption and leukocyte telomere length (LTL), and the effect modification of this association by a common polymorphism of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene, we conducted a cross-sectional study in a general population including 1,771 middle-aged and elderly Koreans, aged 49 to 79 years. METHODS Study participants provided blood samples between 2011 and 2012 for the LTL assay, and between 2001 and 2002 for genomewide genotyping. Between 2011 and 2012, they also completed a questionnaire-based interview regarding their alcohol consumption. We examined effect modification by rs2074356, a surrogate marker of the ALDH2 polymorphism. RESULTS Heavy alcohol consumption (average daily alcohol consumption of >30 g) was inversely associated with LTL only among carriers of the mutant alleles (CT and TT) of rs2074356 (p < 0.01). Among these subjects, elderly drinkers in particular showed the strongest association (p < 0.001). Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption on an almost daily basis was positively associated with LTL (p < 0.001), and this association was significant among carriers of the wild-type allele (CC) of rs2074356 (p < 0.01) but not among those with the mutant alleles. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that the potential benefit of light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and the detriment of heavy alcohol consumption on biological aging may depend on ALDH2 polymorphism.
Soluble forms of membrane cofactor protein (CD46, MCP) are present in plasma, tears, and seminal fluid in normal subjects

We have established an ELISA for determination of membrane cofactor protein (MCP, CD46) both solubilized from cell membranes and released in body fluids. In this assay, mouse MoAbs against MCP, M177 and M160 whose epitopes were different, were used as capture and detection antibodies, respectively. The NP‐40 concentration in samples for MCP to be measured must be less than 0.05%. The detection limit of this MCP assay was 0.5 ng. The assay was used to quantify solubilized membrane MCP, and soluble MCP in normal human plasma, serum, urine, saliva, tears, and seminal fluid, and culture media of tumour cell lines. Soluble MCP was barely detected in the conditioned media of the cell lines. The levels of sMCP in plasma and serum were 10–60 ng/ml and that in tears, 0–50 ng/ml. Seminal fluid contained about 10‐fold more soluble MCP than serum. Soluble MCP was not detectable by this assay in the other body fluids, suggesting that their MCP levels were less than the detection limit, if any.
Babies Catch a Break

Events are dynamic and continuous, with no pauses to mark boundaries between individual actions. In stark contrast, language describes categories of actions and events that have discrete beginnings and ends, such as The boy climbed the ladder and The man slid down the pole. Language learning thus requires that children segment continuous events into units that will be labeled by verbs like climb or slide. Research indicates that infants are sensitive to boundaries in continuous events (Hespos, Grossman, & Saylor, 2010; Saylor, Baldwin, Baird, & LaBounty, 2007). How they divide the flow of information into discrete actions, however, remains unclear. Some researchers suggest that infants use speechaction synchrony, such that points of convergence act like wedges to carve individual action units (Brand & Tapscott, 2007). Others hold that familiar routines anchor the segmentation of events (Hespos et al., 2010). Still others argue that attention to actors’ intentionality offers functional units that structure the world (Baldwin, Baird, Saylor, & Clark, 2001). A more general mechanism that could work in tandem with each of these strategies is statistical learning. Infants’ ability to track transitional probabilities in continuous auditory speech is well documented (Aslin, Saffran, & Newport, 1998; Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996). After hearing an artificial language, 8-month-olds differentiate its wordlike units from part-words, even when the frequency of exposure to test items is controlled (Aslin et al., 1998). Statistical learning also extends to the visual domain. Adults can track transitional probabilities in continuous, dynamic events (Baldwin, Andersson, Saffran, & Meyer, 2008), but studies of infants’ visual statistical learning have investigated their performance with static pictures only (Fiser & Aslin, 2002; Kirkham, Slemmer, & Johnson, 2002). Perhaps statistical learning is a tool with which infants find bounded actions in events. In the study reported here, we examined whether infants use statistical learning to parse continuous, dynamic events. Our approach paralleled that of research showing that infants utilize transitional probabilities in a corpus of natural speech (Pelucchi, Hay, & Saffran, 2009) and use statistics to distinguish words from part-words (Aslin et al., 1998). Thus, we familiarized infants to a corpus of dynamic, continuous events and tested their ability to differentiate units from part-units.
A Tent Map Based A/D Conversion Circuit for Robot Tactile Sensor

Force and tactile sensors are basic elements for robot perception and control, which call for large range and high-accuracy amplifier. In this paper, a novel conversion circuit for array tactile sensor is proposed by using nonlinear tent map phenomenon, which is characterized by sensitivity to small signal and nonlinear amplifying function. The tent map based conversion circuits can simultaneously realize amplifying and converting functions. The proposed circuit is not only simple but also easy to integrate and produce. It is very suited for multipath signal parallel sampling and converting of large array tactile sensor.
The New Approach of AES Key Schedule for Lightweight Block Ciphers

This paper considers block ciphers and key schedule algorithm that is one of the crucial components of a block cipher. It computes round keys/subkeys for relevant round from a short key. The presented experiments show that proposed key schedule algorithm which inspired by Advanced Encryption Standard's (AES) key schedule has desirable properties: Avalanche Effect and Strict Avalanche Criterion (SAC). It satisfies good bit confusion and diffusion. The average success rate of the proposed key schedule algorithm for the SAC test is 95%. As a side result it was found that while testing SAC effect computed values that lie between confidence lower and upper bounds, greater than upper bounds and less than lower bound all of them reach normal distribution. Also based on example given experimental result, proposed structure exhibits a very strong Avalanche Effect because almost at the first round approximately half the bits are changed in the key.
Soil, Rock, and Snow: On Designing for Information Sharing in Outdoor Sports

While outdoor sport activities keep gaining popularity as part of a global trend to maintain a healthier lifestyle, current technology offers limited support for activity-specific needs. Therefore, a greater understanding of information sharing behaviours is necessary in order to build comprehensive, socially-embedded sports applications. To this purpose, we interviewed 46 practitioners in three outdoor sports: trail running, climbing, and skiing. Our qualitative study investigates how participants share information in the context of outdoor sports and how current technology supports this practice. Through thematic analysis, we derived five themes that describe the current information sharing practices: nature, risk and planning, content selection, audience selection, and privacy. Based on these themes, we present five recommendations for design that can inform, inspire and refine future sharing technologies for outdoor sport.
Weak Cytotoxic Activity of Miltefosine Against Clinical Isolates of Acanthamoeba spp

Abstract Hexadecylphosphocholine (miltefosine) is an anticancer drug active in vitro against various protozoan parasites, and recently used for the treatment of disseminated Acanthamoeba infection. In the present study, we present results of weak cytotoxic activity of this potential amoebicidal agent for 2 of 3 clinical isolates of Acanthamoeba spp. Although the inhibition effect for all tested concentrations was apparent, and showed 100% eradication of trophozoites of Acanthamoeba castellanii strain at a concentration of 62.5 µM after 24 hr, the strains Acanthamoeba sp. and Acanthamoeba lugdunensis exhibited low sensitivity to hexadecylphosphocholine, even in high concentrations. The determined minimal trophocidal concentrations were 250 µM for Acanthamoeba sp. and 500 µM for A. lugdunensis after 24 hr of exposure. Although hexadecylphosphocholine is a potential agent for treatment of Acanthamoeba keratitis and systemic infections, in clinical practice the possible insusceptibility of the amoebic strain should be considered for optimizing therapy.
RACT - Randomized Algorithms Control Toolbox: A Tutorial Introduction

Probabilistic and randomized techniques for analysis of uncertain systems and design for robustly performing control systems have attracted considerable interest in recent years, and a significant amount of theoretical and algorithmic results have appeared in the literature. The starting idea in the probabilistic approach to the analysis of uncertain systems is to characterize the uncertain parameters as random variables, and then to evaluate the system performance in terms of probabilities. In an analogous sense, probabilistic synthesis is aimed at determining the design parameters so that certain desired levels of performance are attained with high probability. This probabilistic approach is complementary to the mainstream methods in robust control, which seek worst-case performance guarantees and consider the uncertainties as deterministic unknown-but-bounded quantities.
A Potential-Based Formulation for Motion-Induced Electric Fields in MRI

This paper presents a potential-based formulation conceived to estimate the electric field induced in a human body moving through the stray stationary magnetic field produced by magnetic resonance scanners. Two different descriptions are adopted, giving rise to two different driving terms, and the corresponding electromagnetic problems are solved numerically, according to a finite element approach. The application of the procedure recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines to perform the exposure assessment is discussed, and some examples, which refer to a realistic situation, are finally presented.
Utilizing the Diversities and Invariants of the Internet to Support Multi-Services

In this paper, we first make the observation that it is possible for a network to well support multi-services by utilizing the diverse user requirements and the Internet traffic characteristics. Motivated by this observation, we propose a harmonious priority-based multi-services support scheme (HARP) to treat flows using different criteria based on their service requirements. HARP uses a Discrete Smallest Transmitted Flow first (DSTF) to assign dynamic priorities for Web and background flows based on the number of bytes transmitted, and a fixed priority assignment for real-time and streaming flows based on their delay requirements. HARP can harmonize the co-existence of different flows by providing low queueing delays for real-time and streaming flows, guaranteeing short response time for interactive Web flows, and offering comparable throughput for background flows as in the traditional best effort network. Furthermore, HARP increases the goodput of the network by significantly reducing the packet drop rate. To demonstrate the effectiveness of HARP, simulations are carried out using realistic Internet traffic sources such as Web traffic, real-time and streaming traffic, and traditional best effort traffic. Simulation results indicate that a simple, scalable, and easyto-deploy scheme can be designed to support multi-services by utilizing the invariants of the Internet through HARP.
A Late Bronze Age Cultic Installation at Tall al-ʿUmayri, Jordan

Not many architectural ruins have been discovered that date to the famously underrepresented Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BCE) in the highlands of Jordan. This is particularly to south of the Zarqa River in the central and southern Transjordanian highlands where settlement had declined and the extant population, it has been frequently argued, assumed a largely nomadic way of life.
Determining the relative permeability and conductivity of thin materials

In order to determine the relative permeability and conductivity of thin materials that could not be found using traditional methods, we constructed a shield box and developed a measuring system to estimate the unknown electric parameters of exotic shielding materials such as thin cloths. Thin electromagnetic shielding sheets of both nonmagnetic materials and ferromagnetic materials were used. The shielding effectiveness of the materials was measured as a function of frequency, and the results were compared with the calculated solutions for a multilayered model that was evaluated using the Sommerfeld integral that expresses near-field spherical waves by a composition of cylindrical waves. In these calculations, the relative permeability and conductivity were varied to determine the solution closest to the measured results. The least squares method was used to determine the best fitted values. Initially the nominal values of relative permeability were assumed, and the conductivity was found using the fitting technique. Then this determined value of the conductivity was assumed, and the relative permeability was found using the fitting technique. For the nonmagnetic materials, the estimated relative permeability was the same as the nominal values. For the ferromagnetic materials, the estimated relative permeability varied 0%-30% from the nominal values. For both types of materials, the estimated conductivities were 0%-9.8% different from nominal values. This research details a new method for evaluating the attenuation of interfering electromagnetic waves for thin materials.
A new visual object tracking algorithm using Bayesian Kalman filter

This paper proposes a new visual object tracking algorithm using a novel Bayesian Kalman filter (BKF) with simplified Gaussian mixture (BKF-SGM). The new BKF-SGM employs a GM representation of the state and noise densities and a novel direct density simplifying algorithm for avoiding the exponential complexity growth of conventional KFs using GM. Together with an improved mean shift (MS) algorithm, a new BKF-SGM with improved MS (BKF-SGM-IMS) algorithm with more robust tracking performance is also proposed. Experimental results show that our method can successfully handle complex scenarios with good performance and low arithmetic complexity.
Allergic contact dermatitis from doxepin cream.

In the article by Taylor et al,1there looms a dilemma of which patch tests we are to believe. The report discusses patches where erythema, irritation, and positive results in the nature of 1+'s are seen in various patients who at some time in the past had used doxepin hydrochloride cream. There were no adequate controls. In addition, the article cursorily mentions the Draize-Shelanski-Jordan repeat-insult patch test. This Draize-Shelanski-Jordan test2is the standard test for seeking out allergic contact dermatitis for a premarketed topical drug or cosmetic.3The article mentions that nearly 500 patients had this performed with no positive results occurring. I confirmed this with a telephone call to the scientists at GenDerm Corp, Lincolnshire, Ill (June 1996). This test has been the standard for more than 50 years and I know of no instance where a negative test result later was shown to have
Visualization of Software Assurance Information

During the conduct of Software Assurance on a software development project, data is gathered on both the software being developed, and the development processes being followed. It is from this information that Software Assurance derives insights into the quality of the software itself and the efficacy of the development process. For large software developments such data can be voluminous, making deriving and conveying insights challenging. This motivates our ongoing efforts to apply information visualization techniques to software assurance data. While visualization techniques have long been applied to software itself, the application to software development processes and the data they yield is relatively novel. We report on several such applications and the insights they revealed. We offer some suggestions for the further investigation of information visualization techniques applied to assurance data.
Detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) at picogram level by a capacitive immunosensor

This work presents the use of a flow injection capacitive immunosensor to detect staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA). The study was based on the direct detection of a capacitance change due to the binding between SEA and anti-SEA immobilized on a gold electrode. The optimal regeneration solution, flow rate, sample volume and buffer conditions were studied. Under the optimum conditions, this label-free biosensor provided linearity between 1 × 10−12 g L−1 and 1 × 10−8 g L−1 of SEA and the limit of detection was 1 × 10−12 g L−1 which was much lower than the infectious dose (0.5 × 10−6 – 1 × 10−6 g L−1). Using the regeneration solution of, 15.0 mM glycine-HCl pH 2.20, to break the binding between SEA and the immobilized anti-SEA enabled the electrode to be reused up to 39 times. This technique was applied to analyze SEA in liquid and solid food samples. Any matrix effect can be eliminated by simple dilution. SEA contamination was found in three samples, iced tea with milk (28 ± 1 ng L−1), orange juice (113 ± 6 ng L−1) and fried chicken (1.1 ± 0.2 ng g−1); however, the concentrations were much lower than the infectious dose. The proposed method would be useful for rapid screening of SEA in various matrices.
An Optimization Framework for Investment Evaluation of Complex Renewable Energy Systems

Enhancing the role of renewable energies in existing power systems is one of the most crucial challenges that society faces today. However, the high variability of their generation potential and the temporal disparity between the demand and the generation potential represent technological and operational gaps that burden the massive incorporation of renewable sources into power systems. Energy storage technologies are an alternative to tackle this gap; nonetheless, their incorporation within large-scale power grids calls for decision-making tools that ensure an appropriate design and sizing of power systems that exploit the benefits of incorporating storage facilities along with renewable generation power. In this paper, we present an optimization framework for aiding the evaluation of the strategic design of complex renewable power systems. The developed tool relies on an optimization problem, the generation, transmission, storage energy location and sizing problem, which allows one to compute economically-attractive investment plans given by the location and sizing of generation and storage energy systems, along with the corresponding layout of transmission lines. Results on a real case study (located in the central region of Chile), characterized by carefully-curated data, show the potential of the developed tool for aiding long-term investment planning.