Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and evaluation of anti-oxidant and cytotoxic activities of novel 10-undecenoic acid methyl ester based lipoconjugates of phenolic acids

The synthesis of five novel methyl 10-undecenoate-based lipoconjugates of phenolic acids from undecenoic acid was carried out. Undecenoic acid was methylated to methyl 10-undecenoate which was subjected to a thiol–ene reaction with cysteamine hydrochloride. Further amidation of the amine was carried out with different phenolic acids such as caffeic, ferulic, sinapic, coumaric and cinnamic acid. All synthesized compounds were fully characterized and their structures were conﬁrmed by spectral data. The anti-oxidant activity of the synthesized lipoconjugates of phenolic acids was studied by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay and also by the inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation in micellar medium by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The prepared compounds were also screened for their cytotoxic activity against five cell lines. It was observed that the lipoconjugates of caffeic acid, sinapic acid, ferulic acid, and coumaric acid displayed anticancer and anti-oxidant properties. The anticancer properties of these derivatives have been assessed by their IC50 inhibitory values in the proliferation of MDA-MB231, SKOV3, MCF7, DU 145 and HepG2 cancer cell lines.
Incremental increase in fitness cost with increased beta -lactam resistance in pneumococci evaluated by competition in an infant rat nasal colonization model.

BACKGROUND We evaluated the impact of resistant penicillin-binding protein (PBP) allele acquisition on the ability of penicillin-resistant (PEN-R) pneumococcal strains to compete with penicillin-susceptible (PEN-S) ancestors for upper-respiratory-tract (URT) colonization. METHODS PEN-S serotype 2, 6B, and 9V strains were transformed into derivatives expressing an increasing number of PEN-R PBP forms (2X, 2X-1A, and 2X-1A-2B for serotype 2 and 2X, 2X-2B, and 2X-2B-1A for 6B and 9V). Infant rats were inoculated intranasally with a mix of a PEN-R and PEN-S strains. For consecutive days, samples were collected for assessment of the ratio of PEN-S to PEN-R cells colonizing the URT. The selective index (SI), defined as the change in the natural logarithm of the ratio of PEN-S to PEN-R strains from the inoculum to the nasal-wash samples, quantified differences in fitness. RESULTS SIs significantly > 0 (indicating a cost of resistant allele acquisition) were observed 4-5 days after colonization in all but serotype 6B pbp2x transfomants. Additional replacements with low-affinity forms of pbp2b and pbp1a genes reduced further ability to compete in all strains. CONCLUSIONS The cost of penicillin-resistance acquisition for the Streptococcus pneumoniae strain competing with its susceptible ancestor to colonize the URT increases with the number of resistant pbp alleles acquired.
Multi-Objective Optimal Energy Consumption Scheduling in Smart Grids

A major source of inefficiency in power grids is the underutilization of generation capacity. This is mainly because load demand during peak hours is much larger than that during off-peak hours. Moreover, extra generation capacity is needed to maintain a security margin above peak load demand. As load demand keeps increasing and two-way communications are enabled by smart meters (SMs), demand response (DR) has been proposed as an alternative to installing new power plants in smart grids. DR makes use of real-time schemes to allow users to modify their load demand patterns according to their energy consumption costs. In particular, when load demand is high, energy consumption cost will be high and users may decide to postpone certain amount of their consumption needs. This strategy may effectively reduce the peak load demand and increases the off-peak demand, and hence could increase existing generation capacity utilization and reduce the need to install extra generation plants. In this paper, we consider a third-party managing the energy consumption of a group of users, and formulate the load scheduling problem as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem (CMOP). The optimization objectives are to minimize energy consumption cost and to maximize a certain utility, which can be conflicting and non-commensurable. We then develop two evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to obtain the Pareto-front solutions and the ε-Pareto front solutions to the CMOP, respectively, which are validated by extensive simulation results.
Fast stereo-based pedestrian detection using hypotheses

In this paper, we present a multiple hypotheses framework to detect pedestrians accurately and precisely. The multiple hypotheses framework consists of obstacle detection, pedestrian recognition and data association. Obstacle detection detects all obstacles on the road. Pedestrian recognition classifies the detected obstacles as persons or non-persons. The data association component assigns multiple results to the correct hypotheses with multiple similarity functions. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method enhances the accuracy and precision of the region of interest.
Triple band-notched UWB antenna using meandered ground stubs

In this paper, three pairs of meandered ground stubs are used to create a triple band-notched characteristic for a compact planar-monopole antenna used in the ultrawide band (UWB). The three band notches include the IEEE 802.16 (WiMax) band (3.3–3.6 GHz), the lower wireless area network (WLAN) band (5.15–5.35 GHz) and the higher WLAN band (5.725–5.825 GHz). The center frequencies and bandwidths of the notches can be adjusted using the dimensions of the meandered ground stubs. Prototype of the proposed antenna is designed and fabricated. The band-notched characteristics, return loss, radiation patterns, peak gains and efficiencies of the antenna are studied using both computer simulation and measurements.
Assessing Complex Emergency Management with Clinical Case-Vignettes: A Validation Study

Objective To evaluate whether responses to dynamic case-vignettes accurately reflect actual practices in complex emergency situations. We hypothesized that when obstetricians were faced with vignette of emergency situation identical to one they previously managed, they would report the management strategy they actually used. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that their response to a vignette based on a source case managed by another obstetrician would be the same as the actual management. Methods A multicenter vignette-based study was used in 7 French maternity units. We chose the example of severe postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) to study the use of case-vignettes for assessing the management of complex situations. We developed dynamic case-vignettes describing incidents of PPH in several steps, using documentation in patient files. Vignettes described the postpartum course and included multiple-choice questions detailing proposed clinical care. Each participating obstetrician was asked to evaluate 4 case-vignettes: 2 directly derived from cases they previously managed and 2 derived from other obstetricians’ cases. We compared the final treatment decision in vignette responses to those documented in the source-case by the overall agreement and the Kappa coefficient, both for the cases the obstetricians previously managed and the cases of others. Results Thirty obstetricians participated. Overall agreement between final treatment decisions in case-vignettes and documented care for cases obstetricians previously managed was 82% (Kappa coefficient: 0.75, 95% CI [0.62–0.88]). Overall agreement between final treatment decisions in case-vignettes and documented care in vignettes derived from other obstetricians’ cases was only 48% (Kappa coefficient: 0.30, 95% CI [0.12–0.48]). Final agreement with documented care was significantly better for cases based on their own previous cases than for others (p<0.001). Conclusions Dynamic case-vignettes accurately reflect actual practices in complex emergency situations. Therefore, they can be used to assess the quality of management in these situations.
Modern Natural Language Interfaces to Databases: Composing Statistical Parsing with Semantic Tractability

Natural Language Interfaces to Databases (NLIs) can benefit from the advances in statistical parsing over the last fifteen years or so. However, statistical parsers require training on a massive, labeled corpus, and manually creating such a corpus for each database is prohibitively expensive. To address this quandary, this paper reports on the PRECISE NLI, which uses a statistical parser as a "plug in". The paper shows how a strong semantic model coupled with "light re-training" enables PRECISE to overcome parser errors, and correctly map from parsed questions to the corresponding SQL queries. We discuss the issues in using statistical parsers to build database-independent NLIs, and report on experimental results with the benchmark ATIS data set where PRECISE achieves 94% accuracy.
Behavioral and psychophysiological markers of disordered attention.

Behavioral and psychophysiological assays provide the most sensitive indication of whether a presumed neurotoxin has a deleterious effect on the nervous system. The effects of lead on the nervous system are strongly suggestive that this agent can produce disturbances in attention; moreover, there are clinical reports of such effects. The action of lead is also manifest in behaviors described as "hyperactive," or reflecting "minimal brain damage. " The core symptom in both disorders is probably impairment in attention. The recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III) of the American Psychiatric Association uses the term Attention Deficit Disorder to replace such terms as hyperactivity and minimal brain damage. Prior studies of the behavioral toxicity of lead may have used inadequate or incomplete assays of attention; this could in part account for the variability in outcomes. Recent research on attention suggests that it is a complex behavior consisting of a number of elements or components, each of which may be in part dependent upon a different region of the central nervous system. Behavioral assays should examine the components of attentive behavior using tests which are sensitive to the different elements. It is recommended that psychophysiological assays (using cognitive event-related potentials), although more difficult and costly to implement, be used as well. These assays may provide a more dynamic view of altered information processing in the brain and help to localize and characterize the behavioral impairment.
Massive character recognition with a large ground-truthed database

In character recognition, multiple prototype classifiers, where multiple patterns are prepared as representative patterns of each class, have often been employed to improve recognition accuracy. Our question is how we can improve the recognition accuracy by increasing prototypes massively in the multiple prototype classifier. In this paper, we will answer this question through several experimental analyses, using a simple 1-nearest neighbor (1-NN) classifier and about 550,000 manually labeled handwritten numeral patterns. The analysis results under the leave-one-out evaluation showed not only a simple fact that more prototypes provide fewer recognition errors, but also a more important fact that the error rate decreases approximately to 40% by increasing the prototypes 10 times. The analysis results also showed other phenomena in massive character recognition, such that the NN prototypes become visually closer to the input pattern by increasing the prototypes.
Stream-Based Learning through Data Selection in a Road Safety Application⋆

In this paper, we derive incremental learning algorithms from a difficult real world task. Our application learns how to evaluate the risk of collision for road users at intersections, based on occupation measurements supplied by video sensors. The data are noisy and complex, and only a human expert can evaluate the risk on video recordings. In order to avoid arbitrary labeling, the expert is allowed to give fuzzy labels. The performance of classical batch passive learning is not satisfying for our application. In order to improve, we were inspired by active learning and ensemble methods. The strong sequential ordering of the data entails a stream-based incremental learning. We present an original approach based on an active learner who selects a subset of the labeled data and combines by vote the hypotheses learnt during the incremental process.
Combined use of vitamin D status and FGF23 for risk stratification of renal outcome.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Hyperphosphatemia, vitamin D deficiency, hyperparathyroidism, and high serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) levels, when studied separately, were found to predict the progression of CKD. However, studies with simultaneous measurement of mineral bone disorder (MBD)-related factors were scarce. This study aimed to identify factors predicting renal outcome independent of other factors. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This was a prospective cohort study of 738 Japanese predialysis outpatients in the nephrology departments of two hospitals. The outcome was defined as a doubling of serum creatinine or initiation of dialysis. RESULTS Mean estimated GFR (eGFR) was 35 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). At enrollment, the increase in intact FGF23 with decreasing eGFR was the earliest among changes in MBD-related factors, followed by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D decrease, parathyroid hormone increase, and phosphate increase. During a median duration of 4.4 years, 213 patients reached the endpoint. In a multivariable Cox model, high FGF23 and low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25D) levels were the only MBD-related factors associated with a higher risk of renal endpoint (adjusted hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] per unit change of log FGF23 and 10 ng/ml of 25D: 1.83 [1.28-2.61] and 0.61 [0.41-0.90], respectively). There was no significant interaction between 25D and FGF23 (P=0.11). Active vitamin D therapy, serum phosphate, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and parathyroid hormone levels were not related to the renal endpoint. Treating death as a competing risk or multiple imputation for missing values yielded similar results. CONCLUSIONS Combined use of two markers is useful for the risk stratification of renal outcome.
Long-term behavioral changes in response to early developmental exposure to ethanol in zebrafish.

BACKGROUND Zebrafish is becoming an important research tool for the analysis of brain function and behavior. It has been proposed to model human alcoholism as well as fetal alcohol syndrome. Previous studies investigating the consequences of exposure to ethanol during early development of zebrafish employed robust dosing regimens (high ethanol concentration and long exposure) that may model a rare situation in the human clinic. These studies found major structural abnormalities developing in the exposed fish. METHODS Here we hope to avoid such gross changes and administer only low doses of ethanol (0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 vol/vol %) at 24-hour postfertilization and for only a short period of time (for 2 hours). We analyze the behavior of exposed fish at adult stage using computerized stimulus presentation and automated videotracking response quantification. RESULTS Despite the short ethanol exposure period and the modest concentrations, significant behavioral alterations were found: fish exposed to higher doses of ethanol swam at an increased distance from a computer-animated zebrafish shoal while their activity levels did not change. CONCLUSIONS Although the interpretation of and the mechanisms underlying this finding will require further investigation, the results suggest that zebrafish will be an appropriate model organism for the analysis of the effects of moderate to mild prenatal ethanol exposure.
High-temperature and high-frequency performance evaluation of 4H-SiC unipolar power devices

Silicon carbide (SiC) unipolar devices have much higher breakdown voltages because of the ten times greater electric field strength of SiC compared with silicon (Si). 4H-SiC unipolar devices have higher switching speeds due to the higher bulk mobility of 4H-SiC compared to other polytypes. Four commercially available SiC Schottky diodes at different voltage and current ratings, an experimental VJFET, and MOSFET samples have been tested to characterize their performance at different temperatures. Their forward characteristics and switching characteristics in a temperature range of -50degC to 175degC are presented. The results of the SiC Schottky diodes are compared with those of a Si pn diode with comparable ratings
Assessment of nephroprotective action of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor ramipril in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis

Aim: to study links between morphological glomerular kidney lesion parameters and serum cystatin C (CysC) in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) with saved renal function, and to assess therapeutic correction of identified changes using ACE inhibitor ramipril. Methods: eighty one patients with CGN were enrolled in the study. Blood samples of the biomarker were collected. The diagnosis of "chronic glomerulonephritis" was verified on the basis of clinical, laboratory and morphological data. Patients were divided into 2 clinical groups: patients with CGN and arterial hypertension (AH) and without AH. We used data of renal biopsies to analyze the indicators of glomerular kidney lesion in patients with CGN. The level of serum CysC was measured using ELISA kits. Treatment of patients was carried out over 24 weeks using the ACE inhibitor ramipril. The average daily dose of ramipril for the entire treatment period for patients with AH was 12.8±5.6 mg, patients of the second group– 8 Oleg Kraydaschenko et al. without AH, were treated with ramipril at a dose of 2.5 mg. Results: according to the results of renal microscopy 88% patients had mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, 7% – membranous nephropathy, 5% – membranous proliferative glomerulonephritis. On the basis of rank correlation analysis we proved that the level of serum CysC directly correlated with glomerulosclerosis (r = 0.85, p < 0.05). Levels of blood creatinine, proteinuria and CysC reduced under the influence of 24-week ramipril treatment. Conclusion: serum CysC is the most sensitive marker of glomerular kidney lesion with diagnostic efficiency up to 97%. The 24-week treatment with ACE inhibitor ramipril in patients with CGN with and without AH reduced levels of glomerular kidney lesion markers that confirmed nephroprotective effect of the drug.
Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Develop a Bilingual Mental Health Survey for Latinos

Background: Despite rapid growth, Latino communities' mental health needs are unmet by existing services and research. Barriers may vary by geographic locations, but often include language, insurance coverage, immigration status, cultural beliefs, and lack of services. Objectives: The aim of this research was development of a cross-sectional instrument to assess the mental health status, beliefs, and knowledge of resources among rural and urban Latinos residing in a Midwestern state. Methods: The purpose of this article is to describe the community-based participatory research (CBPR) process of instrument development and lessons learned. Results: A culturally relevant, 100-item bilingual survey instrument was developed by community and academic partners. Lessons Learned: Community-based participatory research methods are salient for sensitive health topics and varied research objectives, including instrument development. To ensure cultural and social relevance of research, community participation is crucial at all stages of research, including developing the research question and instrument.
Event attributed Spatial Entity Knowledge (EASE) based Spatio-Temporal reasoning to infer geographic processes

Remote Sensing of resource in a geographic space at regular temporal intervals has paved way for the evolution of geo-spatial information processing. Knowledge engineering of facts acquired through this technology primarily aims at qualitative results to support human in solving complex tasks that cannot be solved through quantitative relational query processing methods with Database Management Systems (DBMS). This necessitates the need for automated inference mechanism to be built over relational databases. Automated reasoning, a systematic process of formal symbolic representation to codify the acquired facts enables the system to infer new knowledge which can further update the facts. A formal representation of Event Attributed Spatial Entity (EASE) Knowledge base is proposed using the theory of Allen's Interval calculus and Randel's RCC-8. The objective of the proposed knowledge base is to formalize spatial entities in a geographic region whose temporal attributes are events occurring in an interval, at time instant and over successive intervals to qualitatively answer the event-based queries on prediction of spatial process. The significance of this formal approach is shown using query evaluation on real datasets. The working of proposed knowledge base is explained with illustrative results. Towards the end of this work, the direction for enhancement of EASE to explore its use is discussed.
jehps . net Origins and extensions of the k-means algorithm in cluster analysis

This paper presents a historical view of the well-known k-means algorithm that aims at minimizing (approximately) the classical SSQ or variance criterion in cluster analysis . We show to which authors the different (discrete and continuous) versions of this algorithm can be traced back, and which were the underlying applications. Moreover, the paper describes a series of extensions and generalizations of this algorithm (for fuzzy clustering, maximum likelihood clustering, convexity-based criteria,.) that shows the importance and usefulness of the k-means approach and related alternating minimization techniques in data analysis.
Dry Generation of CeO2 Nanoparticles and Deposition onto a Co-Culture of A549 and THP-1 Cells in Air-Liquid Interface—Dosimetry Considerations and Comparison to Submerged Exposure

Relevant in vitro assays that can simulate exposure to nanoparticles (NPs) via inhalation are urgently needed. Presently, the most common method employed is to expose lung cells under submerged conditions, but the cellular responses to NPs under such conditions might differ from those observed at the more physiological air-liquid interface (ALI). The aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic and inflammatory potential of CeO2 NPs (NM-212) in a co-culture of A549 lung epithelial cells and differentiated THP-1 cells in both ALI and submerged conditions. Cellular dose was examined quantitatively using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The role of serum and LPS-priming for IL-1β release was further tested in THP-1 cells in submerged exposure. An aerosol of CeO2 NPs was generated by using the PreciseInhale® system, and NPs were deposited on the co-culture using XposeALI®. No or minor cytotoxicity and no increased release of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, MCP-1) were observed after exposure of the co-culture in ALI (max 5 µg/cm2) or submerged (max 22 µg/cm2) conditions. In contrast, CeO2 NPs cause clear IL-1β release in monocultures of macrophage-like THP-1, independent of the presence of serum and LPS-priming. This study demonstrates a useful approach for comparing effects at various in-vitro conditions.