Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Análise de polimorfismos em genes de detoxificação e reparo em indivíduos de municípios goianos

Na agricultura brasileira o Estado de Goias e um dos maiores produtores de milho, feijao, algodao, sorgo, cana-de-acucar e soja, tendo 75% de suas exportacoes compostas de produtos ligados as areas de agricultura, agropecuaria e minerios. Dessa forma, grande parte da economia do Estado de Goias e voltada para atividades rurais, justificando o intenso uso de agrotoxicos na regiao. Esses agrotoxicos serao metabolizados no figado em 2 fases principais, a primeira de bioativacao convertendo as substâncias originais em metabolitos mais polares, por meio de reacoes de oxidacao reducao, hidrogenacao e desalogenacao, grande parte das reacoes sao feitas pela superfamilia de enzimas citocromo P450 (CYP) e a segunda fase na qual ocorrem reacoes de conjugacao, na qual metabolitos sao convertidos em produtos atoxicos. Os agrotoxicos tambem sao conhecidos por causarem diversos danos a saude humana, tais como, câncer, sindrome colinergica, mal de Parkinson e Alzheimer assim como alteracoes citogeneticas, tais como dano no DNA e translocacoes cromossomicas. Assim, polimorfismos nas enzimas atuantes em vias de detoxificacao e reparo de DNA podem ser importantes biomarcadores de doencas em individuos com exposicao a agrotoxicos. O presente estudo sequenciou 3 regioes dos seguintes genes: CYP2E1 (regiao promotora), CYP1A1 (exon 7) e OGG1 (regiao de intron) de 260 individuos de Goiânia e Aparecida de Goiânia, GO. Foram coletados 20 ml de sangue, o DNA foi extraido com o uso de kits comercias e foi realizada a PCR. Posteriormente, os amplicons foram sequenciados pelo metodo de Sanger automatizado e comparados com a populacao do projeto 1000 genomas. A populacao deste estudo foi composta por 159 homens e 101 mulheres, medias de idade de 38 anos. Foram encontrados na populacao goiana um total de 5 SNP’s, sendo eles rs2031922 (mudanca de C>T e frequencia do alelo T de 0,05) do gene CYP2E1, rs1048943 (mudanca de A>G e frequencia do alelo G de 0,1) e rs1799814 (mudanca de C>A e frequencia do alelo A de 0,07) do gene CYP1A1 e rs1052133 (mudanca de C>G e frequencia do alelo G de 0,2) e rs293795 (mudanca de A>G e frequencia do alelo T de 0,18) do gene OGG1. Todos os locos nao desviaram do equilibrio de Hardy-Weinberg, tambem nao houve diferenca estatisticamente significativa entre a idade e a composicao genotipica. Os locos rs1048943 e rs1799814 do gene CYP1A1 apresentaram um desequilibrio de ligacao moderado e os locos rs1052133 e rs293795 do gene OGG1 apresentaram um desequilibrio de ligacao forte. A inferencia haplotipica revelou uma frequencia dos haplotipos dos locos rs1048943 e rs1799814 de A/C=0,8, G/A= 0,12, A/A=0,07 do gene CYP1A1. Os haplotipos dos locos rs293795 e rs1052133 apresentaram frequencia de A/G=0,07, A/C=0,8, G/C=0,13. Devido a importante participacao em vias de detoxificacao ou reparo de DNA e relacao com agrotoxicos, os SNP’s rs2031920 do gene CYP2E1, rs1048943 do CYP1A1 e o rs1052133 do gene OGG1 sao potenciais biomarcadores de susceptibilidade ao desenvolvimento de doencas em individuos que possuem contato com estes xenobioticos.
Adapting the automatic assessment of free-text answers to the students

In this paper, we present the first approach in the field of Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) of students' free-text answers to model the student profiles. This approach has been implemented in a new version of Atenea, a system able to automatically assess students' short answers. The system has been improved so that it is now able to take into account the students' preferences and personal features to adapt not only the assessment process but also to personalize the appearance of the interface. In particular, it is now able to accept students’ answers written in Spanish or in English indistinctly, by means of Machine Translation. Moreover, we have observed that Atenea’s performance does not decrease drastically when combined with automatic translation, provided that the translation does not reduce greatly the variability in the vocabulary.
Modeling Electric Congestion Charges in a Composed Error Framework

Congestion charges, the opportunity cost of transmission in a regional electric market, present a unique modeling challenge. Their properties render many popular methods used to model energy prices ineffective. In this paper, we present a model utilizing the composed error framework to capture many of the unique properties of congestion charges. We then demonstrate how this model can be used to assess the risk associated with a financial instrument derived from congestion charges and compare our approach with an assessment that utilizes the bootstrap method.
An investigation on the reactive power support service needs of power producers

Reactive power is an important system support service in the current power market. Power producers or generators have the opportunity to offer this service to make a profit. Given the fact that a generator needs reactive power to transmit its own active power, however, it is possible that certain generators cannot support a system even if they are generating reactive power. This paper investigates such a phenomenon and proposes a method to determine the minimum amount of reactive power (Q/sub min/) required for a given generator. If a generator cannot supply this minimum amount, it actually draws reactive power support from the system to facilitate its own active power selling activity. Compensation to a generator's reactive power output should be made only to the amount that is above the Q/sub min/ amount. The proposed ideas are illustrated with simple systems in this paper and tested on a real-life power system. The test results verified the validity of the proposed concept and method.
Swahili Translation and Validation of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Depression Scale in the Kenyan Head and Neck Cancer Patient Population

Background: Depression is an important predictor of post therapy quality of life (QOL) in head and neck (H&N) cancer patients. In addition, depression rates may vary among cultures. Objective: As part of a larger cross cultural study on post therapy QOL differences in H&N cancer patients, the goal of this project was to translate a well-validated English language depression scale into Swahili, and then validate this scale in Kenyan H&N cancer patients. Methods, Settings and Subjects: In Part 1 of the study, we translated the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) into Swahili, adhering to established International Quality of Life Association (IQOLA) guidelines. In Part 2, we psychometrically validated the newly translated scale using a prospective study of 48 patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital ENT clinic in Nairobi, Kenya. Results: The Swahili PHQ-9 had good test retest reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.71) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.80). It also had good construct validity, as scores correlated strongly with TNM stage (Chi square=123, p < 0.05), and with the composite and global scores of an H&N cancer specific QOL scale (UW-QOL, r = −0.87, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The Swahili version of the PHQ-9 is a reliable scale in Kenyan H&N cancer patients, and is a valuable tool in screening for and monitoring of depression as a function of QOL in this population.
Variabilité de la connectivité et du recrutement au sein d'une métapopulation marine

La connectivite des populations marines est un element majeur de la demographie des metapopulations, car elle constitue le lien entre les sous-populations. Chez les invertebres marins ayant un cycle vital bentho-pelagique, la connectivite se produit au cours de la dissemination larvaire, laquelle est principalement dirigee par les courants marins. L’objectif principal de cette etude est de mettre en evidence la variabilite de la connectivite dans les metapopulations marines, et particulierement pour les populations de Mytilus spp. dans l’estuaire maritime du Saint-Laurent. L’objectif secondaire consiste a analyser les variations spatiotemporelles de la colonisation et du recrutement dans ce systeme, car ils representent des processus essentiels de la connectivite. (1) Les differentes methodes pour mesurer la connectivite et sa variabilite sont exposees, ainsi que leur applicabilite dans differents systemes. Apres avoir decrit les principaux facteurs influencant la connectivite, les elements moteurs d’une telle variabilite et leurs implications pour les metapopulations marines et la gestion de la biodiversite sont discutes. (2) Par ailleurs, des etudes sur le terrain ont ete effectuees et ont revele une variabilite saisonniere et interannuelle de la colonisation de Mytilus spp. dans l’ecosysteme boreal du Saint-Laurent. Ces observations ont montre que la colonisation, faisant suite a la phase initiale de dissemination larvaire (c.-a-d. large echelle spatiale), se deroule sur une ou deux courtes periodes (de 1 a 2 semaines) au cours de la saison de reproduction. De plus, une phase de colonisation secondaire effectuee par des stades post-metamorphiques (juveniles) a ete demontree tout au long de la saison de reproduction. Cette phase constitue une part importante de l’ensemble de la colonisation observee, particulierement dans les semaines suivant les evenements de recrutement primaire larvaire et les periodes de tempete. (3) Finalement, une methode geostatistique, basee sur la relation entre la biomasse d’adultes et le recrutement dans les differentes sous-populations, a permis de mettre en evidence un couplage demographique homogene a une distance de 12-24 km au cours des cinq annees d’etudes, dans la direction du courant dominant. Dans l’ensemble, cette etude confirme de maniere empirique l’importance des fluctuations de la biomasse d’adultes, de la colonisation et du recrutement pour determiner la variabilite de la connectivite des metapopulations marines et supporte ainsi les etudes theoriques considerant ces fluctuations. %%%%Connectivity of marine populations represents a key element of metapopulation demography, as it links local populations. For marine invertebrates with a bentho-pelagic life cycle, connectivity occurs during the dispersive larval stage, which is primarily driven by marine currents. The main objective of this study was to show the variability of connectivity within marine metapopulations, especially for Mytilus spp. populations in the St. Lawrence maritime estuary. The secondary objective was…
Three phase one switch modular-boost/vienna power factor corrected (PFC) rectifier

The power conversion circuit of a three phase Vienna or Modular-Boost switching power factor corrected (PFC) rectifier uses three controlled switches, eighteen diodes and two output split capacitors. Three PFC controller circuits are necessary for conversion circuit's voltage regulation, power factor control and input current waveform improvement. The circuit has been modified to have fewer active and passive components in the power circuit. The input voltages and currents are sensed and conditioned to one voltage and one current signal for the feedback controller circuit. Reduction of controlled switches, diodes of the power circuit, sensors, isolation, base drive supply circuits makes overall operation of the circuit reliable. The proposed three phase boost PFC rectifier circuit is easy to design, fabricate, operate and maintain. It occupies less space and is lighter in weight. Disadvantages of unidirectional power flow and only step-up voltage gain characteristics of conventional three phase Vienna/Modular-Boost rectifiers remain in the proposed modified circuits.
Omnidirectional slot arrays fed by stacked butler matrix for 5G handset devices

This paper presents a stacked Butler matrix which could be used in future 5G mobile terminal applications. Two stacked designs are discussed. Both of them are capable of generating eight beams with different pointing angles. The coverage is 256° which is twofold wider than the antenna array fed by the conventional one-layered Butler matrix. The total dimension is 72×21.3×1.016 mm3. The stacked Butler matrix and antenna array can be easily suited in current mobile phone and its ungrounded portion.
Data Model Comprehension: An Empirical Comparison of ER and UML Class Diagrams

We present the results of two controlled experiments to compare ER and UML class diagrams, in order to find out which of the models provides better support during the comprehension of data models. The experiment involved Master and Bachelor students performing comprehension tasks on data models represented by ER or UML class diagrams. The achieved results show that UML class diagrams significantly improve the comprehension level achieved by subjects. Moreover, having different subjects with different levels of ability and experience allowed us to also make some considerations on the influence of such factors on the comprehension performances.
Compact DFA Structure for Multiple Regular Expressions Matching

New applications such as real-time deep packet inspection require high-speed regular expression (regex) matcher, and the number of regexes in pattern store is increasing to several thousands, which requires a memory efficient solution. In this paper, a kind of hardware based compact DFA structure for multiple regexes matching called CPDFA is presented. According to statistics of regexes in Snort and L7-filter rules, transitions from each state to its next states are not evenly distributed. The summation of transitions from each state to its top three most popular next states takes about 90% of all the transitions. Therefore, CPDFA employs an indirect index table to represent transitions to top three most popular next states more efficiently. The remaining transitions which take about 10% of all the transitions are stored in direct transition table or K parallel SRAMs according to the number of remaining transitions from the same state is more than K or not. Simulation shows that CPDFA structure can save about 90% of memory storage comparing with the original DFA structure. By using pipelined architecture in FPGA, CPDFA can advance one character in one memory access cycle.
The antioxidant effects of vitamin A, C, and E on aflatoxin B1-induced oxidative stress in human lymphocytes

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible protective role of vitamin A, C, and E on aflatoxin B1-induced in human lymphocytes using biochemical approaches. The control group received dimethyl sulfoxide, the second group of cultures were administered aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) at a dose of 5 μM. The other group of cultures were treated with AFB1+vitamin A (0.5 and 1.0 and 1.5 μM) and AFB1+vitamin C (25, 50, and 100 μM) and AFB1+vitamin E (40, 100, and 200 μM). The results of this experiment show that AFB1 significantly decreased the level of GSH and the activities of superoxide dismutase and GPx and increased level of malondialdehyde. Simultaneous supplementation with vitamin A, C, and E restored these parameters to that of normal range. In conclusion, vitamin A, C, and E exhibited protective effects in human lymphocytes by inhibiting AFB1-induced ROS generation.
Multigap Pseudospark Switches for High Voltage Applications

The design of the pulse forming network (PFN) for the injection/extraction kicker magnet system of the future heavy ion synchrotron accelerator complex SIS100/300 at the Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung (GSI) requires an high-voltage switch, that can handle an hold-off voltage up to 70 kV, peak currents up to 6 kA and pulse durations up to 7 mus. It is planned to use instead of commercially available high-voltage thyratrons multigap pseudospark switches. In this paper the reported experimental data have been obtained by using a prototype two-gap pseudospark switch with hold-off voltages up to 30 kV. The long-term goal of the development is to construct a multigap pseudospark switch, which can handle the specifications listed before. The emphasis of the actual experiments is directed to the problems correlated with the triggering of such a multigap systems. Two trigger methods have been studied, the so-called high-dielectric trigger (HDT), which already has proven its long term capability, and a novel system, based upon the electron emission of carbon nanotubes (CNT), which is actually more of principle interest. It still suffers from an insufficient small lifetime of 104 discharges. For both trigger units and for the first gap the measured delay and jitter vary from 50 to 60 ns and 15 to 30 ns, respectively. For the second gap delay and jitter increase up to 200 and 45 ns, respectively
PTEN Expression Causes Feedback Upregulation of Insulin Receptor Substrate 2

ABSTRACT PTEN is a tumor suppressor that antagonizes phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) by dephosphorylating the D3 position of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-triphosphate (PtdIns-3,4,5-P3). Given the importance of PTEN in regulating PtdIns-3,4,5-P3 levels, we used Affymetrix GeneChip arrays to identify genes regulated by PTEN. PTEN expression rapidly reduced the activity of Akt, which was followed by a G1 arrest and eventually apoptosis. The gene encoding insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS-2), a mediator of insulin signaling, was found to be the most induced gene at all time points. A PI3K-specific inhibitor, LY294002, also upregulated IRS-2, providing evidence that it was the suppression of the PI3K pathway that was responsible for the message upregulation. In addition, PTEN, LY294002, and rapamycin, an inhibitor of mammalian target of rapamycin, caused a reduction in the molecular weight of IRS-2 and an increase in the association of IRS-2 with PI3K. Apparently, PTEN inhibits a negative regulator of IRS-2 to upregulate the IRS-2–PI3K interaction. These studies suggest that PtdIns-3,4,5-P3 levels regulate the specific activity and amount of IRS-2 available for insulin signaling.
An investigation of speech-based human emotion recognition

This paper presents our recent work on recognizing human emotion from the speech signal. The proposed recognition system was tested over a language, speaker, and context independent emotional speech database. Prosodic, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC), and formant frequency features are extracted from the speech utterances. We perform feature selection by using the stepwise method based on Mahalanobis distance. The selected features are used to classify the speeches into their corresponding emotional classes. Different classification algorithms including maximum likelihood classifier (MLC), Gaussian mixture model (GMM), neural network (NN), K-nearest neighbors (K-NN), and Fisher's linear discriminant analysis (FLDA) are compared in this study. The recognition results show that FLDA gives the best recognition accuracy by using the selected features.
Effects of Insula Resection on Autonomic Nervous System Activity

Background: The insula is an essential component of the central autonomic network and plays a critical role in autonomic regulation in response to environmental stressors. The role of the insula in human autonomic regulation has been primarily investigated following cerebrovascular accidents, but interpretation of these findings is complicated by lack of control over time-related processes preceding and following cerebrovascular accidents. Surgical resection of tumors in the insula provides unique information about the neural circuits of autonomic dysregulation and subsequent cardiac arrhythmias. Methods: This study examined autonomic modulation in 2 unique cases during tumor resection of the right and left insula, respectively (WHO grade II low-grade astrocytoma). The patients were monitored for changes in heart rate variability and cardiac arrhythmias before and during tumor resection. Results: Right insular tumor resection was accompanied by significantly increased parasympathetic activity followed by bradyarrhythmias. Removal of the left insula did not change autonomic indices. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the right insula plays a critical role in parasympathetic autonomic modulation and subsequent cardiac arrhythmias. Additional research is needed to establish the long-term effects of right versus left insula resection as related to autonomic dysregulation and adverse brain-heart interactions, particularly in patients at risk of cardiac arrhythmias.
Three-dimensional holographic ring traps

We describe a class of diffractive optical elements that intended for use in holographic optical trapping systems to project ring-like optical traps. The ring traps' hologram is design by shape-phase algorithm, that incodes amplitude information in Fourier space into shape. The flexibility of the shape-phase algorithm leeds to several advantages over commonly used optical vorteces. While, optical vorteces carry orbital angular momentum which determines the vortex diameter, ring trap dimensions do not depend on the angular momentum. In particular, we formed a ring trap without angular momentum, or tangetial-force. Also unlike most optical vortices or ring-like Bessel beams, these ring traps have strong enough axial intensity gradients to trap objects in three dimensions. We investigated the three dimensional vortex-like trapping experimentaly and by volumetric imaging.
Angiography in the evaluation of intracranial trauma.

Angiography in the diagnosis of intracranial lesions is not a new procedure, having been developed in 1927 by Egas Moniz (2). The technic has not been widely applied, however, in the evaluation of intracranial mass lesions occurring as a result of trauma. Many surgeons have preferred to depend upon watchful waiting, with the employment of a trephine as indicated. Under this type of management the diagnostic error has been high (30 to 40 per cent). In an attempt to reduce this figure, we have been utilizing carotid arteriography with increasing frequency since 1949. Approximately 1,000 head injury patients are seen on the neurosurgical services of the Detroit Receiving, Detroit Memorial, and Grace Hospitals each year. About one-half of these present evidence of severe intracranial damage. It is in this latter group that angiography has been useful in determining the presence of intracranial hematoma, its extent, and its localization. In previous reports on this subject, 30 cases studied by angiography were.
Predictive value of normal sperm morphology: a structured literature review.

The aim of the study was to conduct a structured review of the literature published on the use of normal sperm morphology, as an indicator of male fertility potential in the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) situation, and to establish the universal predictive value of this semen parameter. Published literature in which normal sperm morphology was used to predict fertilization and pregnancy, during the period 1978-1996, was reviewed. A total of 216 articles were identified by the sourcing methodology, but only 49 provided data that could be tabulated and analysed. Of these, only 18 provided sufficient data for statistical analysis. Fifteen studies used the strict criteria to evaluate sperm morphology, two used World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and one used both the strict criteria and the WHO guidelines. All the studies (n = 10) using the 5 and 14% normal sperm morphology thresholds (strict criteria) produced positive predictive values for IVF success. In the prediction of pregnancy, 82% (9/11) and 75% (6/8) of the studies produced positive predictive values when using the 5% and 14% thresholds respectively. Aggregating the data produced around the 5% normal sperm morphology threshold (strict criteria), the overall fertilization rates were 59.3% (1979/3337; per oocyte) for the < or = 4% group and 77.6% (10345/13327; per oocyte) for the >4% group, and the overall pregnancy rates were 15.2% (60/395; per cycle) and 26.0% (355/1368; per cycle) respectively. The no-transfer rates across the 5% threshold were 24.0% (86/359; per cycle) in the < or = 4% group compared to 7.4% (80/1088; per cycle) in the >4% group. The inclusion of an accurately evaluated normal sperm morphology count as an integral part of the standard semen analysis makes this analysis still the most cost-effective means of evaluating the male factor.