Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Colonic and colorectal cancer stem cells: progress in the search for putative biomarkers

The maintenance of healthy colonic crypts is dependent on the integrity of the adult epithelial stem cells located within them. Perturbations in stem cell dynamics are generally believed to represent the first step towards colorectal tumorigenesis. Experimental manipulation of intestinal stem cells has greatly increased our understanding of them, but further progress has been slowed due to the absence of a reliable stem cell biomarker. In this review we discuss the candidate colonic stem cell biomarkers which have been proposed. Furthermore, we investigate the putative biomarkers for so‐called colorectal cancer stem cells, a highly aggressive subpopulation of cells considered to drive tumour development.
Fine-Grained Human Evaluation of Neural Versus Phrase-Based Machine Translation

Abstract We compare three approaches to statistical machine translation (pure phrase-based, factored phrase-based and neural) by performing a fine-grained manual evaluation via error annotation of the systems’ outputs. The error types in our annotation are compliant with the multidimensional quality metrics (MQM), and the annotation is performed by two annotators. Inter-annotator agreement is high for such a task, and results show that the best performing system (neural) reduces the errors produced by the worst system (phrase-based) by 54%.
Methodology for Estimating the Abundance of Rare Animals: Seabird Nesting on North East Herald Cay

Summary. We discuss the problem of estimating the number of nests of different species of seabirds on North East Herald Cay based on the data from a 1996 survey of quadrats along transects and data from similar past surveys. We consider three approaches based on different plausible models, namely a conditional negative binomial model that allows for additional zeros in the data, a weighting approach (based on a heteroscedastic regression model), and a transform‐both‐sides regression approach. We find that the conditional negative binomial approach and a linear regression approach work well but that the transform‐both‐sides approach should not be used. We apply the conditional negative binomial and linear regression approaches with poststratification based on data quality and availability to estimate the number of frigatebird nests on North East Herald Cay.
Miniaturised low‐profile super‐wideband Koch snowflake fractal monopole slot antenna with improved BW and stabilised radiation pattern

This communication explores the super-wideband Koch snowflake fractal monopole slot antenna for different wireless/multiband applications. The antenna comprises of a modified star-shaped patch, a 50 Ω triangular tapered feedline, a partial slot loaded ground plane and an I-shaped parasitic element located beneath the radiating element. The self-similarity and space-filling features of Koch iteration technique have been employed at the triangular patch to acquire the antenna compactness and broadband performances. Further by placing a pair of symmetrical L-shaped slots and an inverted U-shaped slot in the ground plane, a super-wide-impedance bandwidth (BW) ( ) of 650 MHz–20 GHz with a ratio BW of 30.7:7 is attained. The proposed antenna has a compact size of 17 × 29 × 0.787 mm 3 and has a stable radiation pattern over the entire frequency spectrum. For pattern stability, an I-shaped parasitic element was utilised. Moreover, the typical antenna parameters such as return loss, gain, radiation pattern and group delay have been simulated and verified experimentally. Time-domain characteristics have also been studied.
Correlation between hypoxic area in primary brain tumors and WHO grade: differentiation from malignancy using 18F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography

Background 18F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography (FMISO-PET) has been used for identification of hypoxic areas in tumors, and since hypoxia causes hypoxia-inducible factor-1 and enhancement of tumor growth, identifying the hypoxic area in the tumor tissue is important. Purpose To evaluate the usefulness of FMISO-PET in the grading of primary brain tumors. Material and Methods FMISO-PET was performed preoperatively on 41 consecutive patients with pathologically confirmed brain tumor. A neuroradiologist retrospectively measured both maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and mean SUV (SUVmean) in the tumor and normal cerebellar parenchyma. Maximum tumor/normal control ratio (T/Nmax) and mean tumor/normal control ratio (T/Nmean) were calculated and analyzed. Results There was a positive correlation between World Health Organization (WHO) grade and both T/Nmax and T/Nmean (r = 0.731 and 0.713, respectively). When all cases were divided into benign (WHO grade II) and malignant groups (III and IV), there were significant differences between the two groups in both T/Nmax and T/Nmean (P < 0.001). If the cutoff value was defined as T/Nmax = 1.25 and T/Nmean = 1.23, T/Nmax had a sensitivity of 90.0% and a specificity of 90.9% while T/Nmean had a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 90.9% in differentiating the benign group from the malignant group. Conclusion Both T/Nmax and T/Nmean in FMISO-PET have a positive correlation with primary brain tumor grading, making FMISO-PET useful in diagnosing the malignancy of primary brain tumors.
Ethnic/Racial Differences in the Self-Reported Physical and Mental Health Correlates of Adolescent Obesity

Adolescent obesity has increased significantly during the past 20 years disproportionately affecting African-Americans. We tested the cultural hypothesis which suggests that the acceptance of a larger body size among African-Americans serves as a protective factor against negative physical and mental health consequences. Secondary analyses of data from a subsample of 5158 Black and White participants in the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were conducted to assess the relationship between weight status and global self-reports of physical and psychological health. Planned comparisons revealed support of our hypotheses for some outcomes but not others. Implications for interventions targeting adolescent obesity are discussed.
Inter-Laboratory Ring Trial to Evaluate Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods Used for Dolphin Morbillivirus Detection in Italy

Dolphin Morbillivirus (DMV) is one of the most frequently detected pathogens in stranded cetacean specimens worldwide as well as in Italy. Due to the persistence of DMV in the Mediterranean Sea and to the lack of information about the efficiency of the available diagnostic techniques, the Italian National Reference Centre for diagnostic activities on dead stranded marine mammals (C.Re.Di.Ma) performed the first inter-laboratory ring trial with the aim to standardize a diagnostic biomolecular approach for DMV in Italy. Viral isolation is usually considered the “gold standard” for the definitive diagnosis of most pathogens, but it is not often feasible in DMV diagnosis, due to the poor preservation of virus-targeted tissues in stranded cetacean carcasses, as well as to the lack of appropriate sensitivity of cell lines towards DMV variability. Therefore direct viral detection on tissues by means of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) represents a valuable option for DMV infection’s diagnosis. For detecting DMV in cetacean die-offs occurred in the Mediterranean basin since 2013, C.Re. Di.Ma developed an RT-PCR based method targeting to a 287 bp fragment of DMV nucleoprotein (N) gene. With the purpose to evaluate its performances in terms of accuracy (Se = sensitivity and Sp = specificity) and precision (reproducibility), it was submitted to a ring trial. So, 12 Public Laboratories belonging to the Italian dead stranded marine mammals diagnostic network were asked to analyze a panel of 40 samples (positive and negative for DMV, using different dilutions of a viral suspension obtained from a cell culture supernatant of a DMV strain) with the aforementioned technique. Furthermore, we also aimed at comparing the accuracy of other 7 molecular methods routinely applied for DMV detection in Italy. For this purpose, the second panel of identical 40 DMV +ve and -ve samples was provided to Laboratories that routinely used DMV detection methods other than those developed by C.Re. Di.Ma, in order to be analyzed simultaneously with the method they usually applied. The C.Re. Di.Ma technique showed high accuracy [mean Se = 97.8% (95% CI 84.2% - 99.3%), mean Sp = 98.1% (95% CI 72.5% - 99.9%)] and very good precision [k combined equal to 0.91 (95% CI 0.87 - 0.95)]. In conclusion, this study highlighted a satisfactory reliability of most of the molecular methods used in Italy for DMV detection.
Symmetric Encryption Algorithm for RFID Systems using a Dynamic Generation of Key

The security of RFID systems come to be a major subject today, notably for low cost RFID tags. Multiple Cryptographic algorithms were proposed to insure the information security and in the same time respect the resource-constrained RFID systems (limited computational, storage capability.). In this paper, we proposed a hybrid encryption approach as symmetric key encryption that generate the key dynamically, together with integrity check factors. The key stream generation step follows the chained method, starting from the initial pre-shared key. The approach uses logical operations on intermediate cipher texts and intermediate Keys generated in each stage (named derive function), to generate successive keys. This is improving the chaining technique which use only cipher text to generate the successive keys. Finally, our approach will diminish the computational complexity as well as improve performance.
Geology of the Josemaría Porphyry Copper-Gold Deposit, Argentina: Formation, Exhumation, and Burial in Two Million Years

The Josemaría porphyry copper-gold deposit is located in the Frontal Cordillera of San Juan Province, Argentina, near the present-day northern limit of the Chilean-Pampean flat-slab segment of the central Andes, and midway between the Maricunga and El Indio metallogenic belts. The deposit is centered on small, multiphase dacite porphyry intrusions that were emplaced at the contact between rhyolitic volcanic and tonalitic plutonic rocks of Late Permian to Triassic age. The earlier, more intensely quartz ± magnetite-veined porphyry phases and contiguous wall rocks display a telescoped sequence of alteration-mineralization zones, from shallow advanced argillic (mainly quartz-pyrophyllite) and underlying sericitic to deeper chlorite-sericite and minor remnant potassic. All the alteration types are mineralized, but the highest copper and gold grades are present as a low-arsenic, high-sulfidation assemblage in the quartz-pyrophyllite and sericitic zones. The outermost parts of the copper-gold zone are overlapped by a pronounced molybdenum-bearing annulus. New U-Pb zircon ages show that the deposit was formed at ~25 to 24.5 Ma, partially unroofed during continued NNE-striking, high-angle reverse faulting, and then unconformably overlain by red-bed conglomerate and sandstone capped by andesitic and dacitic tuff and lava. The andesite reported an age of ~22.35 Ma. A second, discrete pulse of currently undated, advanced argillic alteration, accompanied by minor high-sulfidation enargite mineralization, locally affected the southern periphery of the deposit, including its postmineral cover. Following erosional removal of the volcano-sedimentary strata from the northern and central parts of the deposit, the NNE-trending fault zone underwent minor normal displacement and localized economically significant supergene chalcocite enrichment. However, probably because of the rapidity of deposit unroofing, supergene processes were barely able to keep pace with erosion, resulting in a thin supergene profile over much of the exposed deposit. The southern part of the deposit remains beneath the postmineral cover and, hence, escaped the enrichment. Josemaría is unusual among the many central Andean porphyry copper deposits formed during rapid uplift because it preserves evidence for not only alteration-mineralization telescoping but also exceptionally rapid postmineral exhumation and subsequent burial beneath thick volcano-sedimentary cover. Unroofing of porphyry copper deposits in 1 to 2 m.y. is more typical of the high erosion rates that characterize pluvial tropical climates than the semiarid conditions that prevailed during and since the formation of Josemaría.
EphA2 overexpression is associated with angiogenesis in ovarian cancer

EphA2 is overexpressed in the majority of ovarian cancers and predicts poor clinical outcome. Based on EphA2's emerging role in angiogenesis, we hypothesized that tumors overexpressing EphA2 demonstrate greater microvessel density (MVD) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression.
ON MEASURES, PRICING AND SHARING OF RISK

Suppose each member of some syndicate applies a monetary measure to price risk. Then, how might they reasonably share risk? What premiums could apply to insurance policies? More basically: can modestly informed, moderately skilled members eventually allocate risk eciently and fairly? These questions are framed here below by convoluting the members' monetary measures. If the resulting inf-convolution admits a global subgradient at the aggregate risk, then any such gradient provides equilibrium pricing in a pure exchange economy. Most important, it's shown that clearing prices - and ecient sharing - might emerge after repeated bilateral exchanges. KEYWORDS: convolution, exchange market, equilibrium, risk measures. MSC: 90C15. 90C25, 91A26.
An Empirical Explanation of the Chubb Illusion

The perceived difference in brightness between elements of a patterned target is diminished when the target is embedded in a similar surround of higher luminance contrast (the Chubb illusion). Here we show that this puzzling effect can be explained by the degree to which imperfect transmittance is likely to have affected the light that reaches the eye. These observations indicate that this illusion is yet another signature of the fundamentally empirical strategy of visual perception, in this case generated by the typical influence of transmittance on inherently ambiguous stimuli.
Fall Detection System Using Tri-Accelerometer for Wireless Body Area Network

In this paper, we observe the physical condition of elderly people or patients in personal environments such as home, office, and restroom. The elderly peoples mostly have limited physical abilities and are affected with serious physical damages even with small injuries like fall. The falls are not predictable also not avoidable. In case of a fall, its early detection with notification to emergency services is essential for quick recovery. The existing fall detection devices are more bulky and uncomfortable to wear. In this paper, a new fall detection system is used which includes tri-axial accelerometer sensors to classify the behavior and posture of the detection subject. Body motion can be classified into different patterns, i.e. vertical position, lying position, sitting position, horizontal position and fall. If a fall is suspected, an automatic message can be sent (GSM) with fall location (GPS). The major advantage of the proposed system is the use of mobile phone which is readily available to most people[1][2].
Binge eating as a major phenotype of melanocortin 4 receptor gene mutations.

BACKGROUND Obesity, a multifactorial disease caused by the interaction of genetic factors with the environment, is largely polygenic. A few mutations in these genes, such as in the leptin receptor (LEPR) gene and melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) gene, have been identified as causes of monogenic obesity. METHODS We sequenced the complete MC4R coding region, the region of the proopiomelanocortin gene (POMC) encoding the alpha melanocyte-stimulating hormone, and the leptin-binding domain of LEPR in 469 severely obese white subjects (370 women and 99 men; mean [+/-SE] age, 41.0+/-0.5 years; body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 44.1+/-2.0). Fifteen women and 10 men without a history of dieting or a family history of obesity served as normal-weight controls (age, 47.7+/-2.0 years; body-mass index, 21.6+/-0.4). Detailed phenotypic data, including information on body fat, resting energy expenditure, diet-induced thermogenesis, serum concentrations of leptin, and eating behavior, were collected. RESULTS Twenty-four obese subjects (5.1 percent) and one control subject (4 percent) had MC4R mutations, including five novel variants. Twenty of the 24 obese subjects with an MC4R mutation were matched for age, sex, and body-mass index with 120 of the 445 obese subjects without an MC4R mutation. All mutation carriers reported binge eating, as compared with 14.2 percent of obese subjects without mutations (P<0.001) and 0 percent of the normal-weight subjects without mutations. The prevalence of binge eating was similar among carriers of mutations in the leptin-binding domain of LEPR and noncarriers. No mutations were found in the region of POMC encoding alpha melanocyte-stimulating hormone. CONCLUSIONS Binge eating is a major phenotypic characteristic of subjects with a mutation in MC4R, a candidate gene for the control of eating behavior.
Erythrocyte Lysis and Xenopus laevis Oocyte Rupture by Recombinant Plasmodium falciparum Hemolysin III

ABSTRACT Malaria kills more than 1 million people per year worldwide, with severe malaria anemia accounting for the majority of the deaths. Malaria anemia is multifactorial in etiology, including infected erythrocyte destruction and decrease in erythrocyte production, as well as destruction or clearance of noninfected erythrocytes. We identified a panspecies Plasmodium hemolysin type III related to bacterial hemolysins. The identification of a hemolysin III homologue in Plasmodium suggests a potential role in host erythrocyte lysis. Here, we report the first characterization of Plasmodium falciparum hemolysin III, showing that the soluble recombinant P. falciparum hemolysin III is a pore-forming protein capable of lysing human erythrocytes in a dose-, time-, and temperature-dependent fashion. The recombinant P. falciparum hemolysin III-induced hemolysis was partially inhibited by glibenclamide, a known channel antagonist. Studies with polyethylene glycol molecules of different molecular weights indicated a pore size of approximately 3.2 nm. Heterologous expression of recombinant P. falciparum hemolysin III in Xenopus oocytes demonstrated early hypotonic lysis similar to that of the pore-forming aquaporin control. Live fluorescence microscopy localized transfected recombinant green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged P. falciparum hemolysin III to the essential digestive vacuole of the P. falciparum parasite. These transfected trophozoites also possessed a swollen digestive vacuole phenotype. Native Plasmodium hemolysin III in the digestive vacuole may contribute to lysis of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane derived from the host erythrocyte. After merozoite egress from infected erythrocytes, remnant P. falciparum hemolysin III released from digestive vacuoles could potentially contribute to lysis of uninfected erythrocytes to contribute to severe life-threatening anemia.
Deciding parity games in quasipolynomial time

It is shown that the parity game can be solved in quasipolynomial time. The parameterised parity game - with n nodes and m distinct values (aka colours or priorities) - is proven to be in the class of fixed parameter tractable (FPT) problems when parameterised over m. Both results improve known bounds, from runtime nO(√n) to O(nlog(m)+6) and from an XP-algorithm with runtime O(nΘ(m)) for fixed parameter m to an FPT-algorithm with runtime O(n5)+g(m), for some function g depending on m only. As an application it is proven that coloured Muller games with n nodes and m colours can be decided in time O((mm · n)5); it is also shown that this bound cannot be improved to O((2m · n)c), for any c, unless FPT = W[1].
Joint Parameter Optimization for Perpetual Nanonetworks and Maximum Network Capacity

One of the major bottlenecks in nanonetworks is the very limited energy that can be accessed by nanodevices. To achieve perpetual data transmission, it is required to investigate in-depth the relationship between energy harvesting and consumption, and the underlying constraints in nanonetworks. In this paper, the tradeoff between energy harvesting and consumption is analyzed by considering the peculiarities of THz communication. First, based on the TS-OOK scheme and constrained energy in nanodevices, the upper bound of the transmitted pulse amplitude is presented. Second, given the proposed mathematical expression of the signal-to-interference-noise ratio (SINR) in multi-user nanonetworks, the lower bound of pulse amplitude is presented to satisfy the required SINR threshold. Third, the minimum spreading factor is derived to guarantee the perpetual nanonetworks by considering the energy harvesting-consumption tradeoff. Finally, the maximization of network capacity is investigated by jointly optimizing the parameters of spreading factor, transmission distance, amplitude of the transmitted pulse, pulse probability, and node density for perpetual nanonetworks. The simulation results demonstrate short transmission distance and small spreading factor are recommended to improve the network capacity. Moreover, pulse probability, pulse amplitude, spreading factor, and node density are required to be comprehensively manipulated to achieve the maximum network capacity and perpetual communication.
Study on particulates and volatile organic compounds removal with TiO2 nonwoven filter prepared by electrospinning

In this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and titania (TiO2) Degussa P-25 were mixed to generate TiO2 nonwoven filters using electrospinning. The wires of titanium dioxide and the nonwoven binding titania nanofibers were formed using 14 kV voltage and a distance of 15 cm. A single-factor experimental method was used to investigate the effects of parameters such as initial concentration, retention time, and light source on acetone removal by nonwoven binding titania nanofibers. Furthermore, the effects of parameters such as gas pressure, particle size, initial concentration, and retention time on the removal of particulates were also assessed. The results showed that the degradation efficiency increased with decreasing initial concentrations and increasing retention time. The best operational conditions during this study for the removal of acetone using the TiO2 nonwoven filters were a retention time of 100 sec, initial acetone concentration of 250 ppm, and ultraviolet (UV) light source of 254 nm. Under those conditions, 99% acetone removal efficiency was obtained. In addition, 90% particulate matter removal efficiency was reached when the particulate size was greater than 200 nm and the reaction time was longer than 5 minutes. The prepared TiO2/nanofiber has good performance for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate removal at the same time. Implications: In this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and titania (TiO2) Degussa P-25 were mixed to generate TiO2 nonwoven filters using electrospinning. The results showed that the optimum operating conditions for the removal of acetone using the TiO2 nonwoven filters were a retention time of 100 sec, initial acetone concentration of 250 ppm, and UV light source of 254 nm. Under those conditions, 99% acetone removal efficiency was obtained.
SACAM - A Model for Describing and Classifying Sentiment Analysis Methods

In this paper we introduce SACAM — a model for describing and classifying sentiment analysis (SA) methods. The model focuses on the knowledge used during processing textual opinions. SACAM was designed to create informative descriptions of SA methods (or classes of SA methods) and is strongly integrated with its accompanying graphical notation suited for presenting the descriptions in diagrammatical form. The paper discusses applications of SACAM and shows directions of its further development.