Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smoking and Parkinson disease

Objective To investigate whether cigarette smoking interacts with genes involved in individual susceptibility to xenobiotics for the risk of Parkinson disease (PD). Methods Two French population-based case-control studies (513 patients, 1,147 controls) were included as a discovery sample to examine gene-smoking interactions based on 3,179 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 289 genes involved in individual susceptibility to xenobiotics. SNP–by–cigarette smoking interactions were tested in the discovery sample through an empirical Bayes (EB) approach. Nine SNPs were selected for replication in a population-based case-control study from California (410 patients, 845 controls) with standard logistic regression and the EB approach. For SNPs that replicated, we performed pooled analyses including the discovery and replication datasets and computed pooled odds ratios and confidence intervals (CIs) using random-effects meta-analysis. Results Nine SNPs interacted with smoking in the discovery dataset and were selected for replication. Interactions of smoking with rs4240705 in the RXRA gene and rs1900586 in the SLC17A6 gene were replicated. In pooled analyses (logistic regression), the interactions between smoking and rs4240705-G and rs1900586-G were 1.66 (95% CI 1.28–2.14, p = 1.1 × 10−4, p for heterogeneity = 0.366) and 1.61 (95% CI 1.17–2.21, p = 0.003, p for heterogeneity = 0.616), respectively. For both SNPs, while smoking was significantly less frequent in patients than controls in AA homozygotes, this inverse association disappeared in G allele carriers. Conclusions We identified and replicated suggestive gene-by-smoking interactions in PD. The inverse association of smoking with PD was less pronounced in carriers of minor alleles of both RXRA-rs4240705 and SLC17A6-rs1900586. These findings may help identify biological pathways involved in the inverse association between smoking and PD.
Chemically Bonded Ceramic Oxide Coatings on Carbon Nanotubes and Inorganic Nanowires

Acid-treated carbon nanotubes are reacted with metal halides and water and are then calcined to produce a chemically bonded oxide layer of controllable thickness on the nanotubes (see figure). Similar coatings are prepared on aluminum oxide and silicon nanowires by the reaction of the metal halides with the surface hydroxyl groups present on the nanowire surfaces. Potential applications include in sensors, insulation, and high-toughness composites.
RECONSTRUCTING MEMORY FOR EMOTIONS 167 Sources of Bias in Memory for Pain , Attitudes , and Emotions

This research assessed the stability of peoples' memory for their past emotions over time and the role of changing appraisals in accounting for biases in emotion recall. Following Ross Perot's abrupt withdrawal from the presidential race in July 1992, supporters (N = 227) rated their initial emotional reactions and described their interpretations of the event. After the elections in November, supporters (N = 147) again recalled their initial emotional reactions and described their current appraisals of Perot. In contrast to some current models, memories for past emotions were not indelible, and a general tendency to overestimate the intensity of past emotions was not observed. Rather, systematic distortions in emotion recall were found in the direction of consistency with current appraisals. These findings support the conclusion that memories for emotional responses are partially reconstructed or inferred on the basis of current appraisals of events.
Design, fabrication and characterization of a two-step released silicon dioxide piezoresistive microcantilever immunosensor

This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a silicon dioxide piezoresistive microcantilever immunosensor fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The microcantilever consists of two strips of single crystalline silicon piezoresistors sandwiched in between two silicon dioxide layers. A theoretical model for the laminated microcantilever with a discontinuous layer is deduced using classic laminated beam theory. A two-step release method combining anisotropic and isotropic etching is developed to suspend the microcantilever, and the fabrication results show an excellent yield. The residual stress-induced free bending of the microcantilever and the stress caused by self-heating of the piezoresistors are discussed. The microcantilever sensor is characterized as an immunosensor using specific binding of antigen and antibody. These methods and some conclusions are also applicable to the development of other piezoresistive sensors that use laminated structures.
Low Ki67/high ATM protein expression in malignant tumors predicts favorable prognosis in a retrospective study of early stage hormone receptor positive breast cancer

Introduction This study was designed to investigate the combined influence of ATM and Ki67 on clinical outcome in early stage hormone receptor positive breast cancer (ES-HPBC), particularly in patients with smaller tumors (< 4 cm) and fewer than four positive lymph nodes. Methods 532 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens of resected primary breast tumors were used to construct a tissue microarray. Samples from 297 patients were suitable for final statistical analysis. We detected ATM and Ki67 proteins using fluorescence and brightfield immunohistochemistry respectively, and quantified their expression with digital image analysis. Data on expression levels were subsequently correlated with clinical outcome. Results Remarkably, ATM expression was useful to stratify the low Ki67 group into subgroups with better or poorer prognosis. Specifically, in the low Ki67 subgroup defined as having smaller tumors and no positive nodes, patients with high ATM expression showed better outcome than those with low ATM, with estimated survival rates of 96% and 89% respectively at 15 years follow up (p = 0.04). Similarly, low-Ki67 patients with smaller tumors, 1-3 positive nodes and high ATM also had significantly better outcomes than their low ATM counterparts, with estimated survival rates of 88% and 46% respectively (p = 0.03) at 15 years follow up. Multivariable analysis indicated that the combination of high ATM and low Ki67 is prognostic of improved survival, independent of tumor size, grade, and lymph node status (p = 0.02). Conclusions These data suggest that the prognostic value of Ki67 can be improved by analyzing ATM expression in ES-HPBC.
Nanolithography on thin layers of PMMA using atomic force microscopy

A new technique for producing nanometre scale patterns on thin layers (<30 nm thick) of PMMA on silicon is described. The method consists of inducing the local modification of the PMMA by applying a positive voltage between the silicon and an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip. At voltages larger than 28 V, it is observed that a hole is directly produced on the PMMA. The silicon surface is simultaneously oxidized even in the case where a hole has not been created. Monitoring of the electrical current through the AFM tip during the application of the voltage allows elucidating the mechanism of the PMMA removal. The process is used to define nanometre scale electrodes by combining the AFM lithography with electron beam lithography, metal deposition and lift-off processes.
The diagnostic value of multimodality MRI in endometrial carcinoma staging

Background Multimodality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technology that is used to integrate the structural and functional information of lesions. MRI can determine the staging of endometrial carcinoma, provide guidance for selection of surgical treatment and postoperative prognostic assessment, and has an important role in improving the survival of patients with endometrial carcinoma. Purpose To evaluate multimodality MRI staging accuracy for endometrial carcinoma based on the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO 2009) staging system. Material and Methods This is a retrospective study of the complete clinical and surgical pathology data from 83 patients with endometrial carcinoma treated between June 2011 and August 2015. Using a blind design, the preoperative clinical staging according to the current FIGO2009 MRI-based staging for each endometrial carcinoma was analyzed and corrected by postoperative histopathological results, which served as the staging standard. The role of multimodality MRI on clinical staging accuracy for endometrial carcinoma was studied. Results Based on the pathological evaluation after surgery, the 83 endometrial carcinoma patients were staged according to the current FIGO2009 staging criteria as: stage I, n = 56; stage II, n = 17; stage III, n = 7; and stage IV, n = 3. The multimodality MRI staging accuracy for endometrial carcinoma stages I–IV by FIGO2009 were 91.6% (76/83), 91.6% (76/83), 92.8% (77/83), and 97.6% (81/83), respectively. Conclusion Multimodality MRI is an important imaging tool in the pre-operative clinical staging of endometrial carcinoma. The current FIGO staging system appears to be a concise, reasonable, and practical set of criteria for the clinical management of endometrial carcinoma.
Parabolic Double Cosets in Coxeter Groups

International audience Parabolic subgroups WI of Coxeter systems (W,S) and their ordinary and double cosets W/WI and WI\W/WJ appear in many contexts in combinatorics and Lie theory, including the geometry and topology of generalized flag varieties and the symmetry groups of regular polytopes. The set of ordinary cosets wWI , for I ⊆ S, forms the Coxeter complex of W , and is well-studied. In this extended abstract, we look at a less studied object: the set of all double cosets WIwWJ for I,J ⊆ S. Each double coset can be presented by many different triples (I, w, J). We describe what we call the lex-minimal presentation and prove that there exists a unique such choice for each double coset. Lex-minimal presentations can be enumerated via a finite automaton depending on the Coxeter graph for (W, S). In particular, we present a formula for the number of parabolic double cosets with a fixed minimal element when W is the symmetric group Sn. In that case, parabolic subgroups are also known as Young subgroups. Our formula is almost always linear time computable in n, and the formula can be generalized to any Coxeter group.
On Secrecy Capacity of Minimum Storage Regenerating Codes

In this paper, we revisit the problem of characterizing the secrecy capacity of minimum storage regenerating (MSR) codes under the passive <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(l_{1},l_{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-eavesdropper model, where the eavesdropper has access to data stored on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nodes and the repair data for an additional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nodes. We study it from the information-theoretic perspective. First, some general properties of MSR codes as well as a simple and generally applicable upper bound on secrecy capacity are given. Second, a new concept of <italic>stable</italic> MSR codes is introduced, where the stable property is shown to be closely linked with secrecy capacity. Finally, a comprehensive and explicit result on secrecy capacity in the linear MSR scenario is present, which generalizes all related works in the literature and also predicts certain results for some unexplored linear MSR codes.
Extracting key frames from first-person videos in the common space of multiple sensors

Selecting authentic scenes about activities of daily living (ADL) is useful to support our memory of everyday life. Key-frame extraction for first-person vision (FPV) videos is a core technology to realize such memory assistant. However, most existing key-frame extraction methods have mainly focused on stable scenes not related to ADL and only used visual signals of the image sequence even though the activities usually associate with our visual experience. To deal with dynamically changing scenes of FPV about daily activities, integrating motion and visual signals are essential. In this paper, we present a novel key-frame extraction method for ADL, which integrates multi-modal sensor signals to temper noise and detect salient activities. Our proposed method projects motion and visual features to a shared space by a probabilistic canonical correlation analysis and selects key frames there. The experimental results using ADL datasets collected in a house suggest that our key-frame extraction technique running in the shared space improves the precision of extracted key frames and the coverage of the entire video.
On the Effectiveness of the 2-hop Routing Strategy in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we study the performance of the 2-hop routing scheme proposed for ad hoc wireless networks with mobile nodes, considering realistic node mobility patterns. First, we provide a formal definition of optimal routing maximizing the throughput of a mobile ad hoc network, in terms of a multi-commodity flow problem over the associated contact graph. Then, we relate the effectiveness of the 2-hop routing strategy to structural properties of the contact graph. We present experimental results showing that, in real networks, contact times among the nodes are largely inhomogeneous. Our results show that, in networks with inhomogeneous contact times, the 2-hop routing strategy can result strongly inefficient in terms of network throughput.
Prenatal High Estradiol Exposure Induces Sex-Specific and Dietarily Reversible Insulin Resistance Through Decreased Hypothalamic INSR

An adverse intrauterine environment may induce adult disease in offspring, but the mechanisms are not well understood. It is reported that fresh embryo transfer (ET) in assisted reproductive technology leads to high maternal estradiol (E2), and prenatal high E2 exposure increases the risk of organ disorders in later life. We found that male newborns and children of fresh ET showed elevated fasting insulin and homeostasis model of assessment for insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) scores. Male mice with high prenatal estradiol exposure (HE) grew heavier than control mice and developed insulin resistance; they also showed increased food intake, with increased orexigenic hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) expression. The hypothalamic insulin receptor (INSR) was decreased in male HE mice, associated with elevated promoter methylation. Chronic food restriction (FR) in HE mice reversed insulin resistance and rescued hypothalamic INSR expression by correcting the elevated Insr promoter methylation. Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to high E2 may induce sex-specific metabolic disorders in later life through epigenetic programming of hypothalamic Insr promoter, and dietary intervention may reverse insulin resistance by remodeling its methylation pattern.
Acid ceramidase is upregulated in AML and represents a novel therapeutic target

There is an urgent unmet need for new therapeutics in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as standard therapy has not changed in the past three decades and outcome remains poor for most patients. Sphingolipid dysregulation through decreased ceramide levels and elevated sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) promotes cancer cell growth and survival. Acid ceramidase (AC) catalyzes ceramide breakdown to sphingosine, the precursor for S1P. We report for the first time that AC is required for AML blast survival. Transcriptome analysis and enzymatic assay show that primary AML cells have high levels of AC expression and activity. Treatment of patient samples and cell lines with AC inhibitor LCL204 reduced viability and induced apoptosis. AC overexpression increased the expression of anti-apoptotic Mcl-1, significantly increased S1P and decreased ceramide. Conversely, LCL204 induced ceramide accumulation and decreased Mcl-1 through post-translational mechanisms. LCL204 treatment significantly increased overall survival of C57BL/6 mice engrafted with leukemic C1498 cells and significantly decreased leukemic burden in NSG mice engrafted with primary human AML cells. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that AC plays a critical role in AML survival through regulation of both sphingolipid levels and Mcl-1. We propose that AC warrants further exploration as a novel therapeutic target in AML.
A study of circulating microRNAs identifies a new potential biomarker panel to distinguish aggressive prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men worldwide. Currently available diagnostic and prognostic tools for this disease, such as prostate specific antigen, suffer from lack of specificity and sensitivity, resulting in over- and misdiagnosis. Hence, there is an urgent need for clinically relevant biomarkers capable of distinguishing between aggressive and nonaggressive forms of prostate cancer to aid in stratification, management and therapeutic decisions. To address this unmet need, we investigated the patterns of expression of a panel of 68 plasma-derived microRNAs (miRNAs) in a cohort of African American (AA) and European American (EA) prostate cancer patients (n = 114). miRNA qPCR results were analyzed using in-depth statistical methods, and a bioinformatics analysis was conducted to identify potential targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs. Our data demonstrate that a new previously unreported circulating miRNA signature consisting of a combination of interacting miRNAs (miR-17/miR-192) and an independent miRNA (miR-181a) are capable of segregating aggressive and nonaggressive prostate cancer in both AA and EA patients. The interacting miRNAs outperformed independent miRNAs in identifying aggressiveness. Our results suggest that these circulating miRNAs may constitute novel biomarkers of prostate cancer aggressiveness in both races and warrant further investigation.
Detect face in the wild using CNN cascade with feature aggregation at multi-resolution

Face detection in the wild is a challenging vision problem due to large variations and unpredictable ambiguities commonly existed in real world images. Whilst using hand-crafted features is generally problematic, introducing powerful but complex models is often computationally inefficient. Feature aggregation and multi-resolution are two efficient strategies for traditional visual recognition methods. In this paper, we show that such strategies can be integrated into Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture via average pooling and channel-wise feature concatenation. Shallow networks with feature aggregation at multi-resolution enables the traditional cascade framework to tackle the challenging detection problems efficiently. The proposed method is tested on a public benchmark with across dataset evaluation. Both quantitative and qualitative results show promising performance improvements on detecting faces in unconstrained environment.
Caviar and Yachts: How Your Purchase Data May Come Back to Haunt You

A new generation of technologies allows firms to track online consumer behavior with increasing granularity, and to share this information with other firms. This promise of information sharing has driven considerable interest from firms; and its potential for monetization has allowed a large number of online and web services to be available free of charge to consumers (in exchange for behavioral tracking). At the same time, information sharing is not without risks, according to a variety of consumer advocates. We examine these risks and benefits using a game-theoretic model of information sharing. Online consumers decide whether to buy a product from two firms in sequence. Depending on the regulatory regime, the first firm may be allowed to sell its purchase information to the second firm. Unlike previous studies, our model employs a continuum of consumer types, revealing effects that have not been highlighted previously. Market outcomes depend critically on whether consumers are myopic, considering each purchase in isolation, or fully rational, considering the effect a purchase will have on future price discrimination. Myopic consumers always lose utility when firms are allowed to share information, though total welfare increases. On the other hand, fully rational consumers behave in a way that drastically limits firms’ abilities to price discriminate. As a result, both consumer surplus and overall welfare are higher when firms are allowed to share information. Surprisingly, firms actually earn less profit than they would if information sharing were forbidden, as long as consumers are fully rational. The fact that firms do not often offer strong privacy guarantees provides some evidence that many of today’s consumers are myopic.
Pseudopilin residue E5 is essential for recruitment by the type 2 secretion system assembly platform

Type II secretion systems (T2SSs) promote secretion of folded proteins playing important roles in nutrient acquisition, adaptation and virulence of Gram‐negative bacteria. Protein secretion is associated with the assembly of type 4 pilus (T4P)‐like fibres called pseudopili. Initially membrane embedded, pseudopilin and T4 pilin subunits share conserved transmembrane segments containing an invariant Glu residue at the fifth position, E5. Mutations of E5 in major T4 pilins and in PulG, the major pseudopilin of the Klebsiella T2SS abolish fibre assembly and function. Among the four minor pseudopilins, only PulH required E5 for secretion of pullulanase, the substrate of the Pul T2SS. Mass‐spectrometry analysis of pili resulting from the co‐assembly of PulGE5A variant and PulGWT ruled out an E5 role in pilin processing and N‐methylation. A bacterial two‐hybrid analysis revealed interactions of the full‐length pseudopilins PulG and PulH with the PulJ‐PulI‐PulK priming complex and with the assembly factors PulM and PulF. Remarkably, PulGE5A and PulHE5A variants were defective in interaction with PulM but not with PulF, and co‐purification experiments confirmed the E5‐dependent interaction between native PulM and PulG. These results reveal the role of E5 in a recruitment step critical for assembly of the functional T2SS, likely relevant to T4P assembly systems.
Adaptive Interference Removal for Uncoordinated Radar/Communication Coexistence

Most existing approaches to coexisting communication/radar systems assume that the radar and communication systems are coordinated, i.e., they share information, such as relative position, transmitted waveforms, and channel state. In this paper, we consider an uncoordinated scenario where a communication receiver is to operate in the presence of a number of radars, of which only a subset may be active, which poses the problem of estimating the active waveforms and the relevant parameters thereof, so as to cancel them prior to demodulation. Two algorithms are proposed for such a joint waveform estimation/data demodulation problem, both exploiting sparsity of a proper representation of the interference and of the vector containing the errors of the data block, so as to implement an iterative joint interference removal/data demodulation process. The former algorithm is based on classical on-grid compressed sensing, whereas the latter forces an atomic norm (AN) constraint: In both cases the radar parameters and the communication demodulation errors can be estimated by solving a convex problem. We also propose a way to improve the efficiency of the AN-based algorithm. The performance of these algorithms are demonstrated through extensive simulations, taking into account a variety of conditions concerning both the interferers and the respective channel states.