Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Top-Down Elasticity Analysis to Identify Sites of Thyroid Hormone-Induced Thermogenesis

Abstract Top-down elasticity analysis is a novel extension of top-down metabolic control analysis. It has provided researchers with a theoretical and practical platform upon which quantitative analyses of the sites of action of hormones and drugs can be based. This approach is easy to apply and involves dividing up the metabolic system in question into two or three blocks of enzyme reactions around an intermediate between the blocks of reactions. The kinetic response of each block to the intermediate is measured in the steady state in situ by determining the flux through the block at different measured intermediate concentrations. The intermediate can be manipulated by titrating the other blocks with suitable inhibitors or activators. Then, to determine which blocks of reactions are quantitatively the most important in terms of any change in the flux rate of the system, a quantitative comparison of the titration curves from the experimental preparations is made with those of the control preparations. In this minireview we will examine, as an example, the use of top-down elasticity analysis for the quantitative identification of the important sites of action of thyroid hormones on oxidative phosphorylation in hepatocytes. The experimental results show that approximately 50% of the change in resting oxygen consumption in hepatocytes from hypothyroid and hyperthyroid rats (compared with euthyroid controls) is attributable to changes in the rate of the mitochondrial proton leak; the remaining 50% is accounted for by changes in nonmitochondrial- and ATP turnover-dependent oxygen consumption in hypothyroid and hyperthyroid hepatocytes, respectively.
Design of robust adaptive sliding mode controller for uncertain nonlinear discrete-time systems

In this article, the problem of sliding mode control (SMC) for uncertain discrete-time systems is investigated. The matched uncertainties in the state matrix are norm-bounded and can be estimated by the adaptive approach. Two situations are considered in this text: the state is measurable, and the state is unmeasurable. We chose an appropriate sliding surface such that the trajectories of states will lie in the sliding surface from the initial time. The conclusion is derived that the the siding mode dynamics are asymptotic stability according to the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) approach. At last, two simulation examples are shown to express the advantages of the technique in this article.
A Resilient Architecture for Forensic Storage of Events in Critical Infrastructures

In Critical Infrastructures, forensic analysis of stored events is an essential task when a security breach occurs. The goal of forensic analysis is to provide evidence to be used as valid proofs in a legal proceeding. So, it is very important to ensure the integrity of the events stored in order to perform a correct forensic analysis. Today, most of the SIEMs used to protect the Critical Infrastructures sign the security events with RSA classic algorithm in order to ensure their integrity. The signed security events cannot be admissible as evidence if the secret key is compromised, or when the module responsible for signing operations is down for any reason. In this paper a new architecture that overcomes these limitations has been proposed. Experimental tests show the performance of our architecture and the high resilience in faulty situations, i.e. some nodes are under attack.
Alzheimer ' s disease ( AD )-like pathology has discontinuous effects on the brain and blood metabolome

Advanced Asset Technology Centre, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 5BN. Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Stranmillis Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. Dementia Research Group, Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol, Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, UK. Beaumont Research Institute, 3811W, 13 Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073, USA. Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Furness Building, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YG, UK. School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, UK.
Wintertime phytoplankton bloom in the subarctic Pacific supported by continental margin iron

Heightened biological activity was observed in February 1996 in the high‐nutrient low‐chlorophyll (HNLC) subarctic North Pacific Ocean, a region that is thought to be iron‐limited. Here we provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that Ocean Station Papa (OSP) in the subarctic Pacific received a lateral supply of particulate iron from the continental margin off the Aleutian Islands in the winter, coincident with the observed biological bloom. Synchrotron X‐ray analysis was used to describe the physical form, chemistry, and depth distributions of iron in size fractionated particulate matter samples. The analysis reveals that discrete micron‐sized iron‐rich hot spots are ubiquitous in the upper 200 m at OSP, more than 900 km from the closest coast. The specifics of the chemistry and depth profiles of the Fe hot spots trace them to the continental margins. We thus hypothesize that iron hot spots are a marker for the delivery of iron from the continental margin. We confirm the delivery of continental margin iron to the open ocean using an ocean general circulation model with an iron‐like tracer source at the continental margin. We suggest that iron from the continental margin stimulated a wintertime phytoplankton bloom, partially relieving the HNLC condition.
An improved authentication scheme for applying RFID in VANETs

This paper presents an improved authentication scheme for Radio-frequency identification (RFID) applied in VANETs. As often being considered as a precondition for the realization of IoT, RFID can be utilized in the vehicles, so as to make the vehicles identifiable and inventoriable by computers as long as they are fitted out with radio tags. One of the main concerns is to address the large number of security and privacy issues. A few light symmetric key management schemes have been proposed for RFID scenarios. We suggest EKA2 which is a new certificate revocation status validation scheme, and we use the concept of clustering from data mining to evaluate the trustiness of digital certificates.
Molecular pathways linking metabolic inflammation and thermogenesis

Obesity is caused by chronic positive energy balance because of higher energy intake relative to energy expenditure. Thermogenesis, the capacity of an organism to produce heat, is an important component of energy expenditure. Thus targeting the molecular mechanisms controlling thermogenesis could be an effective strategy for the prevention or treatment of obesity. Thermogenesis is modulated by three major factors: environmental temperature, nutrient quantity and quality, and by systemic inflammation. Obesity is now recognized to be a state of chronic low‐grade systemic inflammation, which has been proposed to play a major role in the pathogenesis of obesity and obesity‐associated diseases. This review discussed the molecular pathways that are recruited during metabolic inflammation and that are also implicated in the control of thermogenesis and energy balance. It emerges that the complex signalling network recruited during metabolic inflammation exerts a balanced action on the modulation of thermogenesis and energy balance, with some pathways promoting weight gain whereas other pathways have opposite actions. It is thus concluded that immunomodulation of metabolic inflammation, rather than an anti‐inflammatory intervention aiming at its suppression, may be a more promising strategy to increase thermogenesis for the treatment or prevention of obesity and its associated diseases.
Incidence of progressive supranuclear palsy and multiple system atrophy in Olmsted County, Minnesota, 1976 to 1990

Information on the incidence of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is limited; incidence rates for multiple system atrophy (MSA) are not available. We studied the incidence of PSP and MSA in Olmsted County, Minnesota, for the years 1976 to 1990. This study was part of a larger investigation of all forms of parkinsonism. We used the medical records-linkage system of the Rochester Epidemiology Project to identify all subjects whose records contained documentation of any form of parkinsonism, related neurodegenerative diseases, or tremor of any type. A nurse abstractor screened the records and, when applicable, a neurologist reviewed them to determine the presence or absence of parkinsonism. Cases of parkinsonism were classified using specified diagnostic criteria. Population denominators were derived from census data and were corrected by removing prevalent cases of parkinsonism. Over the 15 years of the study, we found 16 incident cases of PSP and nine incident cases of MSA. No cases of PSP or MSA had onset before age 50 years. The average annual incidence rate (new cases per 100,000 person-years) for ages 50 to 99 years was 5.3 for PSP and 3.0 for MSA. The incidence of PSP increased steeply with age from 1.7 at 50 to 59 years to 14.7 at 80 to 99 years, and was consistently higher in men. Median survival time from symptom onset was 5.3 years for PSP and 8.5 years for MSA. The incidence of PSP increases with age and is consistently higher in men at all ages. PSP and MSA are more common than previously recognized.
Characterization of the cholinergic stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis in rat brain slices

The stimulation of the formation of inositol phosphates by various cholinergic agonists and antagonists was studied in rat brain cortical slices. Incubation of the slices with [3H]inositol led to the incorporation of radioactivity into inositol lipids. The accumulation of inositol phosphates was then followed in the presence of 8 mM lithium which blocks the hydrolysis of inositol phosphate. The release of inositol phosphate was linear up to 15 min when stimulated by 1 mM carbachol. Acetylcholine, muscarine, and methacholine also stimulated the release of inositol phosphates with about the same efficacy as carbachol. Oxotremorine, arecoline, pilocarpine, and bethanechol were not as effective as carbachol at stimulating the accumulation of inositol phosphates. Indicative of partial agonist activity, oxotremorine and pilocarpine inhibited the maximal response induced by carbachol. Muscarinic antagonists atropine, scopolamine, and pirenzepine blocked the stimulation by acetylcholine in contrast to nicotinic antagonists, which had no effect. The brain regional response to carbachol-stimulated inositol phosphate release varied widely with large responses observed in the striatum, cerebral cortex, and hippocampus. Smaller responses were seen in the brainstem, hypothalamus, and cerebellum. Although carbachol stimulated inositol phosphate release in cortical slices in the absence of added calcium, EGTA completely blocked the response. These results suggest that the previously characterized stimulation of the incorporation of 32Pi into phosphatidylinositol by cholinergic agonists in synaptosomes (Fisher, S. K., P. D. Klinger, and B. W. Agranoff (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258: 7358–7363) is due to the initial hydrolysis of inositol lipids. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Fluorescent monoclonal antibody compared with carbohydrate utilization for rapid identification of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

A commercially available fluorescein-conjugated monoclonal antibody (MAb) (Syva Co., Palo Alto, Calif.; Genetic Systems, Seattle, Wash.) against Neisseria gonorrhoeae was compared with a standard cystine Trypticase agar (CTA) sugar utilization method and with three rapid carbohydrate utilization tests, including the Minitek (BBL Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.), Neisseria-Stat (Richardson Scientific, Dallas, Tex.), and Neisseria-Kwik (Micro-Biologics, St. Cloud, Minn.) systems for the identification of Neisseria species. The MAb correctly identified all 86 clinical isolates of N. gonorrhoeae. Of these 86 isolates, 28 were found later (48 h after the initial inoculation) to be contaminated with non-Neisseria bacteria. In the other four test systems studied, the identification rates for pure and contaminated N. gonorrhoeae cultures were, respectively, as follows: CTA sugars, 88 and 32%; Minitek, 67 and 50%; Neisseria-Stat, 97 and 96%; and Neisseria-Kwik, 80 and 74%. The MAb did not identify any of the 50 nongonoccocal Neisseria isolates tested. The most expensive test system was the MAb, followed by the Neisseria-Kwik, Minitek, Neisseria-Stat, and CTA sugars systems. The MAb appears to be a rapid and accurate method to identify in vitro isolates of N. gonorrhoeae.
Feedback Control Structures, Embedded Residual Signals, and Feedback Control Schemes With an Integrated Residual Access

Driven by the increasing needs for the integration of model-based fault diagnosis into the electronic control units (ECUs) with limited computation capacity and motivated by the recent study on the fault tolerant controller architecture, we investigate feedback controller structures aiming at accessing the residuals embedded in the control loops. For this purpose, we first develop an observer-based realization of the Youla parameterization. This result reveals a new interpretation of control signals as a composite of the residual and reference signals. From this viewpoint, different control schemes are studied and useful relationships between the controller structures and embedded residual signals are established. It leads to the development of two kinds of schemes: 1) extracting residual signals from an existing control loop and 2) configuring control loops with an integrated residual access. The achieved results are demonstrated by two examples of the feedback control loops in engine management systems.
Platelet activation after endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm

Aim To investigate the effect of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) on platelet (PLT) function and reveal possible associated factors. Methods Fifty consecutive patients were included. PLT count and activation (CD62P-CD36), white blood cell (WBC) count, and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured preoperatively, at the first and third postoperative day. Results EVAR elicited a significant reduction in PLT count from baseline to first day after EVAR (p < 0.001), while no significant difference was noted between the first and third day. Furthermore, CD62P expression was markedly elevated at the first day after EVAR (median % positive PLTs from 13.7 at baseline to 22.1, p = 0.05), but returned to baseline levels by the third day. Maximum abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter was the only factor that significantly affected the CD62P values (p = 0.005). Postoperative CD36 values were significantly correlated with total aneurysm volume (p = 0.05) and were higher in endografts made from polyester (p = 0.01). There were no correlation between PLT activation and hs-CRP, WBC, maximum temperature, and 30-day morbidity. Conclusion EVAR has elucidated a significant reduction in PLT count and increase in PLT activation at the immediate postoperative period. The type of the endograft material and the aneurysm maximum diameter and volume appear to play an important role in PLT activation.
Functional Dependencies in a Relational Data Base and Propositional Logic

An equivalence is shown between functional dependency statements of a relational database, where "→" has the meaning of "determines," and implicational statements of propositional logic, where"⇒" has the meaning of "implies. " Specifically, it is shown that a dependency statement is a consequence of a set of dependency statements if the corresponding implicational statement is a consequence of the corresponding set of implicational statements. The database designer can take advantage of this equivalence to reduce problems of interest to him to simpler problems in propositional logic. A detailed algorithm is presented for such an application. Two proofs of the equivalence are presented: a "syntactic" proof and a "semantic" proof. The syntactic proof proceeds in several steps. It is shown that 1) Armstrong's Dependency Axioms are complete for dependency statements in the usual logical sense that they are strong enough to prove every consequence, and that 2) Armstrong's Axioms are also complete for implicational statements in propositional logic. The equivalence then follows from 1) and 2). The other proof proceeds by considering appropriate semantic interpretations for the propositional variables. The Delobel-Casey Relational Database Decomposition Theorems, which heretofore have seemed somewhat fortuitous, are immediate and natural corollaries of the equivalence. Furthermore, a counterexample is demonstrated, which shows that what seems to be a mild extension of the equivalence fails.
Compositional Distributional Models of Meaning

Compositional distributional models of meaning (CDMs) provide a function that produces a vectorial representation for a phrase or a sentence by composing the vectors of its words. Being the natural evolution of the traditional and well-studied distributional models at the word level, CDMs are steadily evolving to a popular and active area of NLP. This COLING 2016 tutorial aims at providing a concise introduction to this emerging field, presenting the different classes of CDMs and the various issues related to them in sufficient detail.
Resistive homogeneous MRI magnet design by matrix subset selection

A new technique for designing resistive homogeneous multi‐coil magnets for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is presented. A linearly independent subset of coils is chosen from a user‐defined feasible set using an efficient numerical algorithm. The coil currents are calculated using a linear least squares algorithm to minimize the deviation of the actual magnetic field from the target field. The solutions are converted to practical coils by rounding the currents to integer ratios, selecting the wire gauge, and optimizing the coil cross‐sections. To illustrate the technique, a new design of a short, homogeneous MRI magnet suitable for low‐field human torso imaging is presented. Magnets that satisfy other constraints on access and field uniformity can also be designed. Compared with conventional techniques that employ harmonic expansions, this technique is flexible, simple to implement, and numerically efficient. Magn Reson Med 41:1221–1229, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Comparison of the Diagnostic Sensitivity of MRI, CBF-SPECT, FDG-PET and Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for Detecting Alzheimer’s Disease in a Memory Clinic

Background/Aim: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cerebral blood flow single photon emission computed tomography (CBF-SPECT), fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers are used for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aimed to reveal the relative sensitivity of these tools in a memory clinic setting. Methods: In 207 patients with probable AD in our memory clinic, medial temporal lobe atrophy on MRI, hypoperfusion/hypometabolism of the parietotemporal lobe and posterior cingulate gyrus in ethylcysteinate dimer-CBF-SPECT/FDG-PET, and abnormalities of CSF amyloid β-protein 1–42, total tau and phosphorylated tau were evaluated as findings characteristic of AD. Results: The AD findings were observed in 77.4% of all AD patients with MRI, 81.6% with CBF-SPECT, 93.1% with FDG-PET and 94.0% with CSF biomarkers. At the stage of Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) 0.5, CSF biomarkers were the most sensitive (90.0%); at the stage of CDR 1, FDG-PET (96.7%) and CSF biomarkers (95.5%) were highly sensitive. At the stage of CDR 2, all tools showed high positive percentages. Conclusion: The diagnosis of AD was most often supported by CSF biomarkers and FDG-PET at the early stage of dementia (CDR 1) and by CSF biomarkers at the earlier stage (CDR 0.5).
Nonuniform sampling and antialiasing in image representation

A unified approach to the representation and processing of a class of images which are not bandlimited but belong to the space of locally bandlimited signals is presented. A nonuniform sampling theorem (Clark et al, 1985) for functions belonging to this space is extended, and a class of nonstationary stochastic processes is considered. The space of locally bandlimited signals is shown to be a reproducing-kernel space. A generalized projection theorem can therefore be applied, yielding either a continuous or a discrete projection filter. The former can be used for image conditioning prior to nonuniform sampling, while the latter provides a general tool for image representation by nonuniform sampling schemes. The problem of finding the local bandwidth of a given signal, in order to generate an optimal sampling scheme, is addressed in the context of signal representation in the combined position-frequency space. The stochastic estimation of parameters which characterize the local bandwidth is discussed. Bounds on the error resulting from the utilization of nonexact position-varying signal parameters are derived. >
Supplementing Public Health Inspection via Social Media

Foodborne illness is prevented by inspection and surveillance conducted by health departments across America. Appropriate restaurant behavior is enforced and monitored via public health inspections. However, surveillance coverage provided by state and local health departments is insufficient in preventing the rising number of foodborne illness outbreaks. To address this need for improved surveillance coverage we conducted a supplementary form of public health surveillance using social media data: Yelp.com restaurant reviews in the city of San Francisco. Yelp is a social media site where users post reviews and rate restaurants they have personally visited. Presence of keywords related to health code regulations and foodborne illness symptoms, number of restaurant reviews, number of Yelp stars, and restaurant price range were included in a model predicting a restaurant’s likelihood of health code violation measured by the assigned San Francisco public health code rating. For a list of major health code violations see (S1 Table). We built the predictive model using 71,360 Yelp reviews of restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. The predictive model was able to predict health code violations in 78% of the restaurants receiving serious citations in our pilot study of 440 restaurants. Training and validation data sets each pulled data from 220 restaurants in San Francisco. Keyword analysis of free text within Yelp not only improved detection of high-risk restaurants, but it also served to identify specific risk factors related to health code violation. To further validate our model we applied the model generated in our pilot study to Yelp data from 1,542 restaurants in San Francisco. The model achieved 91% sensitivity 74% specificity, area under the receiver operator curve of 98%, and positive predictive value of 29% (given a substandard health code rating prevalence of 10%). When our model was applied to restaurant reviews in New York City we achieved 74% sensitivity, 54% specificity, area under the receiver operator curve of 77%, and positive predictive value of 25% (given a prevalence of 12%). Model accuracy improved when reviews ranked highest by Yelp were utilized. Our results indicate that public health surveillance can be improved by using social media data to identify restaurants at high risk for health code violation. Additionally, using highly ranked Yelp reviews improves predictive power and limits the number of reviews needed to generate prediction. Use of this approach as an adjunct to current risk ranking of restaurants prior to inspection may enhance detection of those restaurants participating in high risk practices that may have gone previously undetected. This model represents a step forward in the integration of social media into meaningful public health interventions.