Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is early colonoscopy after admission for acute diverticular bleeding needed?

OBJECTIVES:Urgent colonoscopy has been proposed for the diagnosis and management of acute colonic diverticular bleeding. Identification of active bleeding and nonbleeding stigmata facilitates diagnosis and endoscopic therapy, but it is unclear whether urgent colonoscopy after presentation increases the diagnostic yield. This study evaluated the association between timing of colonoscopy and diagnostic yield in patients admitted with acute colonic diverticular bleeding.METHODS:Patients admitted for hematochezia and receiving a diagnosis of diverticular hemorrhage were identified using the Mayo Clinic GI Bleeding Team and Emergency Room Admissions Databases for the years 1998–2000. Timing of colonoscopy was determined from the time of admission. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess whether the timing of colonoscopy was associated with an endoscopic finding of active bleeding or nonbleeding stigmata (or both). RESULTS:A diagnosis of definitive or presumptive diverticular bleeding was made in 78 patients (39 men and 39 women, mean age 78 yr, range 49–96 yr). Twelve patients (15%) had active bleeding or stigmata. Colonoscopies were performed a mean of 18 ± 11 h after admission. The association between a definitive diagnosis of acute diverticular bleeding and the timing of colonoscopy was not significant (p > 0.46). CONCLUSION:No significant association is apparent between the timing of colonoscopy after admission and encountering active bleeding or nonbleeding stigmata. Based on these observations, urgent colonoscopy for these patients does not seem advantageous.
A Testbed-based Visualization of Misbehavior in Peer-to-Peer Systems

The Pastry [2] Distributed Hastable (DHT) provides decentralized peer-to-peer services in a scalable and efficient manor. Peers do not have to provide links to each node in the network, but only to a small subset of nodes. Due to this, lookup requests for services offered in the peer-to-peer system mostly can not be sent to the destination directly, but have to be forwarded to a node that is logically located closer to the destination regarding the structure of the Peer-to-Peer overlay. This intermediate node again forwards the lookup request to an intermediate node closer to destination, unless the destination is reached. Even though this approach reduces the routing table size and, therefore, the overhead, each intermediate node has to behave benign. Yet, this can not be assumed in a realistic scenario. Therefore, mechanisms are required to increase the robustness of the routing algorithms. To visualize the impact of misbehavior in Pastry, we introduce a tool that provides a graphical representation of the peer-to-peer structure of the overlay network and the routing behavior of benign and malicious nodes. By now, we implemented the Incorrect Lookup Routing attack and the Redundant Routing algorithm as countermeasure for this attack. Yet, further attacks and countermeasures can be implemented easily.
Exact Routing in Large Road Networks Using Contraction Hierarchies

Contraction hierarchies are a simple approach for fast routing in road networks. Our algorithm calculates exact shortest paths and handles road networks of whole continents. During a preprocessing step, we exploit the inherent hierarchical structure of road networks by adding shortcut edges. A subsequent modified bidirectional Dijkstra algorithm can then find a shortest path in a fraction of a millisecond, visiting only a few hundred nodes. This small search space makes it suitable to implement it on a mobile device. We present a mobile implementation that also handles changes in the road network, like traffic jams, and that allows instantaneous routing without noticeable delay for the user. Also, an algorithm to calculate large distance tables is currently the fastest if based on contraction hierarchies.
RISE: A Wide-Area Hybrid OpenFlow Network Testbed

The deployment of hybrid wide-area OpenFlow networks is essential for the gradual integration of OpenFlow technology into existing wide-area networks. Integration is necessary because it is impractical to replace such wide-area networks with OpenFlow-enabled ones at once. On the other hand, the design, deployment, and operation of such hybrid OpenFlow networks are often conducted intuitively without in-depth technical considerations. In this paper, we systematically discuss the technical aspects of the hybrid architecture for OpenFlow networks based on our experience so far in developing wide-area hybrid OpenFlow networks on JGN2plus and JGN-X, which are nation-wide testbed networks in Japan. We also describe the design and operation of RISE (Research Infrastructure for large-Scale network Experiments) on JGN-X, whose objective is to support a variety of OpenFlow network experiments. key words: OpenFlow, NWGN, testbed networks, operation
Validating Network Value of Influencers by Means of Explanations

Recently, there has been significant interest in social influence analysis. One of the central problems in this area is the problem of identifying influencers, such that by convincing these users to perform a certain action (like buying a new product), a large number of other users get influenced to follow the action. The client of such an application is essentially a marketer who would target these influencers for marketing a given new product, say by providing free samples or discounts. It is natural that before committing resources for targeting an influencer the marketer would be interested in validating the influence (or network value) of influencers returned. This requires digging deeper into such analytical questions as: who are their followers, on what actions (or products) they are influential, etc. However, the current approaches to identifying influencers largely work as a black box in this respect. The goal of this paper is to open up the black box, address these questions and provide informative and crisp explanations for validating the network value of influencers. We formulate the problem of providing explanations (called PROXI) as a discrete optimization problem of feature selection. We show that PROXI is not only NP-hard to solve exactly, it is NP-hard to approximate within any reasonable factor. Nevertheless, we show interesting properties of the objective function and develop an intuitive greedy heuristic. We perform detailed experimental analysis on two real world datasets - Twitter and Flixster, and show that our approach is useful in generating concise and insightful explanations of the influence distribution of users and that our greedy algorithm is effective and efficient with respect to several baselines.
Robust physical layer authentication using inherent properties of channel impulse response

We propose a robust physical layer authentication scheme for wireless communications based on a hypothesis testing of the inherent properties of channel impulse response (CIR) in a time-varying multipath environment. In this paper, the variation between two consecutive CIRs from a transmitter of interest is monitored at the receiver to distinguish the identities of transmitters for authentication purpose. To improve the authentication performance, we develop a new test statistic based on the difference between noise-mitigated CIRs, to minimize the impact of noise and interference from the wireless environment. To achieve this goal, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) dependent threshold is derived to eliminate the excessive noise in the estimated CIRs prior to the determination of CIR difference. An adaptive threshold for authentication decision is also developed by statistically evaluating the CIR variation between the legitimate transmitter and the receiver. The theoretical False Alarm Rate (FAR) and Probability of Detection (PD) are analyzed to evaluate the performance and robustness of the proposed authentication technique. Additionally, an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system is employed to validate the proposed scheme and the related theoretical analysis.
Polymicrobial Sepsis Contribute to Mortality in Murine Cells and Their Suppressor Activity Do Not Regulatory T + CD25+ Increased Natural CD4

Regulatory T cells (Tregs), including natural CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) Tregs and inducible IL-10 producing T regulatory type 1 (T R 1) cells, maintain tolerance and inhibit autoimmunity. Recently, increased percentages of Tregs have been observed in the blood of septic patients, and ex vivo-activated Tregs were shown to prevent polymicrobial sepsis mortality. Whether endogenous Tregs contribute to sepsis outcome remains unclear. Polymicrobial sepsis, induced by cecal ligation and puncture, caused an increased number of splenic Tregs compared with sham-treated mice. Splenic CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) T cells from septic mice expressed higher levels of Foxp3 mRNA and were more efﬁcient suppressors of CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:2) T effector cell proliferation. Isolated CD4 (cid:1) T cells from septic mice displayed increased intracellular IL-10 staining following stimulation, indicating that T R 1 cells may also be elevated in sepsis. Surprisingly, Ab depletion of total CD4 (cid:1) or CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) populations did not affect mortality. Furthermore, no difference in survival outcome was found between CD25 or IL-10 null mice and wild-type littermates, indicating that Treg or T R 1-generated IL-10 are not required for survival. These results demonstrate that, although sepsis causes a relative increase in Treg number and increases their suppressive function, their presence does not contribute signiﬁcantly
Applying Monte Carlo Techniques to Language Identification

Two major stages stages in language identification systems can be identified: the language modeling stage, where the distinctive features of languages are determined and stored in models, and the classification stage, in which the model of the (partial) input document is compared to the reference language models. The language model most similar to the input document represents the language of the document. We describe the best-known modeling and classification techniques known in literature, and identify one disadvantage in them: the need to create a model of the entire document, even though the language can be identified with a small number of features. To avoid this, we introduce a new language identification technique that is based on Monte Carlo sampling. We show that, by determining the language of a large enough number of random features, we can determine the document language to be the language which result most often from these features. Whether the amount of samples is sufficiently large can be determined by calculating the standard error of the samples. Finally, we discuss some pilot experiments where we compare this new technique with others.
Topographical mapping assisted evolutionary search for multilevel optimization

In many problems in science and engineering, it is often the case that there exist a number of computational models to simulate the problem at hand. These models are usually trade-offs between accuracy and computational expense. Given a limited computation budget, there is need to develop a framework for selecting between different models in a sensible fashion during the search. The method proposed here is based on the construction of a heteroassociative mapping to estimate the differences between models, and using this information to guide the search. The proposed framework is tested on the problem of minimizing the transmitted vibration energy in a satellite boom.
Contingent Valuation: A User's Guide†

Contingent valuation (CV) is a survey-based method frequently used for placing monetary values on environmental goods and services not bought and sold in the marketplace. CV is usually the only feasible method for including passive use considerations in an economic analysis, a practice that has engendered considerable controversy. The issue of what a CV study tries to value is first addressed from the perspective of a policymaker and then the controversy over the inclusion of passive use is taken up in more detail. The major issues and positions taken in the technical debate over the use of CV are summarized from a user's perspective. Key design and implementation issues involved in undertaking a CV survey are examined and the reader is provided with a set of factors to examine in assessing the quality of a CV study.
Dissociation of sensory ganglia from the embryonic chick by pronase and other dispersing agents.

The gross effect of protein factors from mouse salivary glands and certain snake venoms on the growth, in tissue culture, of expiants of sensory ganglia from chick embryos is well established (Levi-Montalcini, 1964, 1965; Angeletti, Calissano, Chen & Levi-Montalcini, 1967; Banks et al. 1968; Varon, Nomura & Shooter, 1967 a , b ). The effects of these substances, called nerve growth factors, on individual neurons in vitro have, however, been little investigated and no quantitative studies have been reported. In order to make such a study we required a method of making cell suspensions of high density from chick embryonic sensory ganglia: the target tissue normally used for the assay of nerve growth factors. Several methods for obtaining dispersed cells from nervous tissue are recorded in the literature and, of these methods, micro-dissection of mammalian central nervous tissue (Hyden, 1959; Lowry, 1962; Hyden & Lange, 1965) appears to result in the least damage to cells.
Ultrasound-Enhanced Thrombolytic Effect of Tissue Plasminogen Activator–Loaded Echogenic Liposomes in an In Vivo Rabbit Aorta Thrombus Model—Brief Report

Objective—Ultrasound enhances thrombolysis when combined with a thrombolytic and a contrast agent. This study aimed to evaluate the thrombolytic effect of our tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)–loaded echogenic liposomes (ELIP) in an in vivo clot model, with and without ultrasound treatment. Methods and Results—The femoral arteries of New Zealand White rabbits (n=4 per group) were cannulated. The abdominal aortas were denuded, and thrombi were created using a solution of sodium ricinoleate plus thrombin. Rabbits were then randomly selected to receive tPA-loaded ELIP (200 &mgr;g of tPA/5 mg of lipid) or empty ELIP with or without pulsed (color) Doppler ultrasound (5.7 MHz) for 2 minutes. Thrombus was imaged and echogenicity analyzed before and after ELIP injection. Blood flow velocities were measured at baseline, after clot formation, and serially after treatment up to 15 minutes. tPA-loaded ELIP highlighted thrombus in the abdominal aorta more effectively than empty ELIP (P<0.05). Ultrasound enhanced the thrombolytic effect of tPA-loaded ELIP, resulting in earlier and more complete recanalization rates (P<0.001). Conclusion—This study demonstrates effective highlighting of clots and thrombolytic effect of tPA-loaded ELIP in an in vivo rabbit aorta clot model. Doppler ultrasound treatment enhances this thrombolytic effect, resulting in earlier and more complete recanalization rates.
Cucurbitacin E reduces obesity and related metabolic dysfunction in mice by targeting JAK-STAT5 signaling pathway

Several members of cucurbitaceae family have been reported to regulate growth of cancer by interfering with STAT3 signaling. In the present study, we investigated the unique role and molecular mechanism of cucurbitacins (Cucs) in reducing symptoms of metabolic syndrome in mice. Cucurbitacin E (CuE) was found to reduce adipogenesis in murine adipocytes. CuE treatment diminished hypertrophy of adipocytes, visceral obesity and lipogenesis gene expression in diet induced mice model of metabolic syndrome (MetS). CuE also ameliorated adipose tissue dysfunction by reducing hyperleptinemia and TNF-alpha levels and enhancing hypoadiponectinemia. Results show that CuE mediated these effects by attenuating Jenus kinase- Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (JAK- STAT5) signaling in visceral fat tissue. As a result, CuE treatment also reduced PPAR gamma expression. Glucose uptake enhanced in adipocytes after stimulation with CuE and insulin resistance diminished in mice treated with CuE, as reflected by reduced glucose intolerance and glucose stimulated insulin secretion. CuE restored insulin sensitivity indirectly by inhibiting JAK phosphorylation and improving AMPK activity. Consequently, insulin signaling was up-regulated in mice muscle. As CuE positively regulated adipose tissue function and suppressed visceral obesity, dyslipedemia, hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in mice model of MetS, we suggest that CuE can be used as novel approach to treat metabolic diseases.
A Nanosecond-Transient Fine-Grained Digital LDO With Multi-Step Switching Scheme and Asynchronous Adaptive Pipeline Control

This paper introduces a multi-step switching scheme for a digital low dropout regulator (DLDO) that emerges as a new way of achieving nanosecond-transient and fine-grained on-chip voltage regulation. The multi-step switching scheme takes advantage of the adaptive pipeline control and asynchronous clocking for area- and power-efficient digital controller utilization. It speeds up the transient response by varying the pass transistor sizing in two available lengths of coarse steps as per the perturbation, while maintaining a small output voltage ripple by toggling in a finer step at steady operation. A prototype proving the proposed concept, i.e., a 0.6–1.0-V input, 50–200-mV dropout, and 500-mA maximum loading DLDO with an on-chip 1.5-nF output capacitor, is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process to verify the effectiveness of this scheme. By employing the multi-step switching scheme and adaptive control, the DLDO achieved a fast transient response to nanoseconds loading current change, and a 100 mV per 10-ns reference voltage switching, as well as a resolution of 768 levels (~9.5 bits) with a 5-mV output ripple. The quiescent current consumed by this DLDO at steady operation is down to $300~{\mu }\text{A}$ .
MDAC design for 1.5-bit pipeline stage of high-speed high-resolution ADC

This paper presents a design of residue amplification circuit (MDAC) used in the first 1.5-bit pipeline stage of an ADC, and the MDAC should meet requirements of a 100MS/s 14-bit pipeline ADC with 1.8V supply voltage. In order to obtain the corresponding performance, the circuits such as operational amplifier and bootstrap circuit are designed which could realize the objective of high-speed and high-resolution. The gain-boost structure is used in the amplifier to obtain the specified resolution, and an optimization between speed and power dissipation should be carefully conducted as a high speed requires a large slew rate or trans-conductance which is proportional to power dissipation. The design is implemented in the 0. 18µm CMOS process with 9.6mW power consumption and the simulation results in Spectre illustrate that, the designed operational amplifier could reach the fixed objective and the residue signal of MDAC could set up completely in the specified time 3ns.
New experiments on speaker diarization for unsupervised speaking style voice building for speech synthesis

Universal use of speech synthesis in different applications would require an easy development of new voices with little manual intervention. Considering the amount of multimedia data available on internet and media, one interesting goal is to develop tools and methods to automatically build multi-style voices from them. In a previous paper a methodology for constructing such tools was sketched, and preliminary experiments with a multi-style database were presented. In this paper we further investigate such approach and propose several improvements to it based on the selection of the appropriate number of initial speakers, the use or not of noise reduction filters, the use of the F0 feature and the use of a music detection algorithm. We have demonstrated that the best system using music detection algorithm decreases the precision error 22.36% relative for the development set and 39.64% relative for the test set compared to the baseline, without degrading the merit factor. The average precision for the test set is 90.62% ranging from 76.18% for reportages to 99.93% for meteorology reports.
A Single Theoretical Framework for Circular Features Processing in Humans: Orientation and Direction of Motion Compared

Common computational principles underlie processing of various visual features in the cortex. They are considered to create similar patterns of contextual modulations in behavioral studies for different features as orientation and direction of motion. Here, I studied the possibility that a single theoretical framework, implemented in different visual areas, of circular feature coding and processing could explain these similarities in observations. Stimuli were created that allowed direct comparison of the contextual effects on orientation and motion direction with two different psychophysical probes: changes in weak and strong signal perception. One unique simplified theoretical model of circular feature coding including only inhibitory interactions, and decoding through standard vector average, successfully predicted the similarities in the two domains, while different feature population characteristics explained well the differences in modulation on both experimental probes. These results demonstrate how a single computational principle underlies processing of various features across the cortices.
Estrogen Stimulation of Proinflammatory Cytokine and Matrix Metalloproteinase Gene Expression in Human Corneal Epithelial Cells

Purpose: Researchers have proposed that the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) by corneal epithelial cells contributes to the development of ocular surface inflammation in dry eye syndromes. We hypothesize that this cytokine and MMP production is promoted by estrogens, given that dry eye syndromes occur predominantly in women and estrogen therapy is associated with an increase in dry eye signs and symptoms. Moreover, corneal epithelial cells contain estrogen receptors and estrogens are known to influence other aspects of corneal immunity. The purpose of this study was to test our hypothesis. Methods: Immortalized human corneal epithelial cells were exposed to vehicle, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or varying concentrations of 17β-estradiol. After 6 or 24 hours of hormone treatment, cells were harvested and processed for total RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis, and the analysis of cytokine and MMP mRNA levels by multiplex and real-time PCR methods. Results: Our results demonstrate that 17β-estradiol upregulates the expression of proinflammatory cytokine and MMP genes in human corneal epithelial cells. Estrogen administration significantly increased the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and GM-CSF mRNAs, as well as MMP 2, 7, and 9 mRNAs, compared with those of placebo-treated controls. This estrogen effect was found after 6 and/or 24 hours of hormone treatment. An analogous stimulation of gene expression was observed following cellular exposure to LPS. Conclusions: Our findings show that 17β-estradiol increases the expression of inflammatory genes in human corneal epithelial cells. This hormone action may play an etiologic role in the ocular surface inflammation of dry eye.