Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Usefulness of analytical CEA doubling time and half-life time for overlooked synchronous metastases in colorectal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has been widely applied to detect recurrence, especially of colorectal carcinoma. The validity however, is still controversial. We investigated serial changes in CEA values to calculate whether the CEA doubling time and half-life time could predict metastatic progression or prognosis in colorectal carcinoma. METHODS Pre- and post-operative serial serum CEA contents were determined in 22 cases of colorectal cancer with or without metastasis. CEA values were determined by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Patients were assigned depending upon survival time (within vs. more than 18 months after primary resection) for assessment of CEA doubling time. From the gradient of the semi-logarithmic CEA graph, the preoperative doubling time was calculated and the postoperative half-life time was estimated according to the diagnosis of metastases within 2 years after primary resection [metastasis (+) or (-)]. RESULTS In spite of the effect of curative re-operation of metastatic lesions or of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, the CEA doubling time of the groups showed a relation with prognosis (p = 0.045, Student's t-test) when the patients were divided into >18 and < or =18 months survival time. The CEA half-life time of the groups without overlooked metastases was statistically longer than those with (mean +/- SD 8.01 +/- 2.07 and 4.33 +/- 1.11, respectively, p < 0.01, one-factor ANOVA test). Clearance (k) showed a significant difference between the groups (p < 0.001, Student's t-test). CONCLUSION The CEA doubling time appeared to be a less independent prognostic factor, whereas prolongation of the CEA half-life time might potentially suggest the existence of overlooked synchronous metastases from colorectal carcinoma.
Membrane Integration of Poliovirus 2B Viroporin

ABSTRACT Virus infections can result in a variety of cellular injuries, and these often involve the permeabilization of host membranes by viral proteins of the viroporin family. Prototypical viroporin 2B is responsible for the alterations in host cell membrane permeability that take place in enterovirus-infected cells. 2B protein can be localized at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the Golgi complex, inducing membrane remodeling and the blockade of glycoprotein trafficking. These findings suggest that 2B has the potential to integrate into the ER membrane, but specific information regarding its biogenesis and mechanism of membrane insertion is lacking. Here, we report experimental results of in vitro translation-glycosylation compatible with the translocon-mediated insertion of the 2B product into the ER membrane as a double-spanning integral membrane protein with an N-/C-terminal cytoplasmic orientation. A similar topology was found when 2B was synthesized in cultured cells. In addition, the in vitro translation of several truncated versions of the 2B protein suggests that the two hydrophobic regions cooperate to insert into the ER-derived microsomal membranes.
Utility Accrual Scheduling under Arbitrary Time/Utility Functions and Multi-unit Resource Constraints

We present a uni-processor real-time scheduling algorithm called Resource-contrainted Utility Accrual algorithm (or RUA). RUA considers an application model, where activities can be subject to arbitrarily-shaped time/utility function (TUF) time constraints and resource constraints including mutual exclusion under a multi-unit resource request model. For such a model, we consider the scheduling objective of maximizing the total utility accrued by all activities. This problem was previously open. Since the problem is NP-hard, RUA heuristically computes schedules with a polynomial-time cost. We analytically establish several timeliness and non-timeliness properties of the algorithm, including upper bound on blocking time (under multi-unit request model) and deadlock-freedom. We also implement RUA on a POSIX RTOS and conduct experimental comparisons with other TUF scheduling algorithms that address a subset of RUA’s model. Our implementation measurements show that RUA performs generally better than, or as good as, other TUF algorithms for the applicable cases.
Ormen Lange: investigation and excavation of a shipwreck in 170m depth

Final conclusions have not yet been reached. However, it seems likely that the ship is a merchantman of around 40 meters in length that was either trading on the Norwegian coast or passing by. Using the unique new technology developed for this project it is possible to conduct mapping, surveying, sampling and excavation of shipwrecks in deep water. The Ormen Lange project is the most technologically advanced deepwater archaeology project, and first major deepwater archaeological excavation of a shipwreck that has been performed world-wide. The only comparable projects are treasure related salvage operations, but these cannot be called marine archaeology. In fact, this project shows that marine archaeology in deepwater can be carried out with purely scientific goals and without economic motives. 14 shipwrecks have been discovered in the pipeline routes. This clearly shows that the potential of deepwater archaeology is high. Marine archaeological investigations should therefore be an integral part of all industrial development projects in deepwater.
Crosslinking-Induced Endocytosis of Acetylcholine Receptors by Quantum Dots

In a majority of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies target postsynaptic AChR clusters and thus compromise the membrane integrity of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) and lead to muscle weakness. Antibody-induced endocytosis of AChRs in the postsynaptic membrane represents the initial step in the pathogenesis of MG; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying AChR endocytosis remain largely unknown. Here, we developed an approach to mimic the pathogenic antibodies for inducing the crosslinking and internalization of AChRs from the postsynaptic membrane. Using biotin-α-bungarotoxin and quantum dot (QD)-streptavidin, cell-surface and internalized AChRs could be readily distinguished by comparing the size, fluorescence intensity, trajectory, and subcellular localization of the QD signals. QD-induced AChR endocytosis was mediated by clathrin-dependent and caveolin-independent mechanisms, and the trafficking of internalized AChRs in the early endosomes required the integrity of microtubule structures. Furthermore, activation of the agrin/MuSK (muscle-specific kinase) signaling pathway strongly suppressed QD-induced internalization of AChRs. Lastly, QD-induced AChR crosslinking potentiated the dispersal of aneural AChR clusters upon synaptic induction. Taken together, our results identify a novel approach to study the mechanisms of AChR trafficking upon receptor crosslinking and endocytosis, and demonstrate that agrin-MuSK signaling pathways protect against crosslinking-induced endocytosis of AChRs.
Androgen and estrogen treatments alter steady state messengers RNA (mRNA) levels of testicular steroidogenic enzymes in the rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

Recent investigations have shown that estrogens have profound inhibitory effects on steroidogenic enzyme gene expressions before and after testicular differentiation in the rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. This present study bring new data on juvenile rainbow trout treated with estrogens and androgens. Following a 8 days oral treatment of juvenile male with 17α‐ethynyl‐estradiol (EE2, 20 mg/kg diet) or 11β‐hydroxyandrostenedione (11βOHΔ4, 10 mg/kg diet), we observed a fast and marked decrease of steady‐state mRNA levels for 3βHSD, P450scc, P450c17, and P450c11 enzymes in the testis. After completion of these treatments, mRNA levels of these enzymes remained low in EE2 treated males whereas in 11βOHΔ4 treated males they recovered their initial levels in 8 days. This demonstrate that both androgen and estrogen treatments have profound effects on testicular steroidogenesis by decreasing steroid enzymes steady‐state mRNA. After in vitro incubation of testicular explants with 17β‐estradiol (E2, 600 ng/ml of medium), we also observed a decrease of mRNA levels for 3βHSD and P450c11. This suggest that estrogens effects could be triggered, at least to some extend, directly on the testis. We also investigated the hypothesis of a negative feedback of steroids on follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion, but FSH plasmatic levels in treated fish did not showed any significant decrease. This demonstrate that FSH is not implied in this steroids inhibition of steroidogenic enzymes gene expression. Mol. Reprod. Dev. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Manual guidance of humanoid robots without force sensors: Preliminary experiments with NAO

In this paper we propose a method to perform manual guidance with humanoid robots. Manual guidance is a general model of physical interaction: here we focus on guiding a humanoid by its hands. The proposed technique can be, however, used also for joint object transportation and other tasks implying human-humanoid physical interaction. Using a measure of the Instantaneous Capture Point, we develop an equilibrium-based interaction technique that does not require force/torque or vision sensors. It is, therefore, particularly suitable for low-cost humanoids and toys. The proposed method has been experimentally validated on the small humanoid NAO.
An Earthquake Sequential Pattern Mining Algorithm Based on General Constraint

In recent years, time series data mining has already been an important branch of data mining. In this paper, an improved sequential pattern mining algorithm PBGC ( sequential pattern mining algorithm based on general constraint) is presented, in which seismic knowledge is used as general constraint to restrict the sequential patterns, and eventually enhances the suitability and the value of the result. Its application is to discover general earthquake sequence from earthquake catalogue data and to study the similarity of earthquake sequence.
Distributed large scale network utility maximization

Recent work by Zymnis et al. proposes an efficient primal-dual interior-point method, using a truncated Newton method, for solving the network utility maximization (NUM) problem. This method has shown superior performance relative to the traditional dual-decomposition approach. Other recent work by Bickson et al. shows how to compute efficiently and distributively the Newton step, which is the main computational bottleneck of the Newton method, utilizing the Gaussian belief propagation algorithm. In the current work, we combine both approaches to create an efficient distributed algorithm for solving the NUM problem. Unlike the work of Zymnis, which uses a centralized approach, our new algorithm is easily distributed. Using an empirical evaluation we show that our new method outperforms previous approaches, including the truncated Newton method and dual-decomposition methods. As an additional contribution, this is the first work that evaluates the performance of the Gaussian belief propagation algorithm vs. the preconditioned conjugate gradient method, for a large scale problem.
Investigation from chemical structure to photoluminescent mechanism: a type of carbon dots from the pyrolysis of citric acid and an amine

Carbon dots (CDs) are one of the advancing fluorescent materials, which draw increasing attention in both theoretical research and practical applications. However, the clear chemical structure and photoluminescence (PL) mechanism of CDs is still an open debate, which limits the development of CDs. Because of the diversity of CDs, it is highly important to clarify this issue for specific CDs models. Herein, a type of CDs, made from citric acid with extremely high quantum yield, is investigated. Through the separation of the CDs, a type of bright blue fluorophore (IPCA) was discovered. IPCA and its derivatives were investigated and they were proven to contribute to the molecular state PL. Other components in the CDs were related to the carbon core state PL, which included polymer clusters and nanosized carbon cores. We conclude that this type of CDs contained complex components and multiple PL centers and that an independent fluorophore strongly affects the PL properties of the CDs. These two conclusions can potentially be true for similar CDs.
Permeabilization of animal cells for kinetic studies of intracellular enzymes: in situ behavior of the glycolytic enzymes of erythrocytes.

Intracellular enzymes in erythrocytes can be made accessible for in situ kinetic studies by treating the cells with bifunctional reagents to crosslink proteins, thus creating a network that allows subsequent permeabilization by delipidation without escape of intracellular proteins. Dimethyl suberimidate, dimethyl 3,3'-dithiobispropionimidate, and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate have been used successfully as crosslinking reagents, and digitonin has been used for delipidation. In a systematic study of the in situ behavior of the 11 glycolytic enzymes of rat erythrocytes, it was observed that Km and Vmax values for the majority of the enzymes are essentially the same in situ as in vitro. Lactate dehydrogenase (L-lactate:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.27) is inhibited by excess of pyruvate as much in situ as in vitro. Hexokinase (ATP:D-hexose 6-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.1) was allosterically inhibited by glucose 6-phosphate nearly as much in situ as in vitro but was not affected by 2,3-biphosphoglycerate. The allosteric properties of 6-phosphofructokinase (ATP:D-fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.11), glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase [D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate:NAD+ oxidoreductase (phosphorylating), EC 1.2. 1.12], and pyruvate kinase (ATP: pyruvate 2-O-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.40) in situ were qualitatively similar to those observed in vitro, but some important quantitative differences were noticed. Particularly striking was the much greater activity of phosphofructokinase in situ compared to that in vitro at physiological concentrations of effector metabolites.
Functionalization of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles with targeting ligands: their physicochemical properties and in vivo behavior.

AIM To develop and evaluate two tumor-specific nanoprobes by functionalization of a polyethylene glycol-immobilized nanoparticle with arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) or chlorotoxin ligand that targets α(v)β(3) integrin and matrix metalloproteinase-2 receptors, respectively. MATERIALS & METHODS The nanoprobes were made of iron oxide cores, biocompatible polymer coating, and surface-conjugated RGD or chlorotoxin peptide. The tumor-targeting specificity of the nanoprobes was evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS & DISCUSSION Both nanoprobes were highly dispersive and exhibited excellent long-term stability in cell culture media. The RGD-conjugated nanoprobe displayed a strong initial accumulation near neovasculatures in tumors followed by quick clearance. Conversely, the chlorotoxin-enabled nanoprobe exhibited sustained accumulation throughout the tumor. CONCLUSION These findings revealed the influence of the targeting ligands on the intratumoral distribution of the ligand-enabled nanoprobes. With flexible surface chemistry, our nanoparticle platform can be used in a modular fashion to conjugate biomolecules for intended applications.
Designing human benchmark experiments for testing software agents

Background: Software agents are becoming increasingly common in the engineering of software systems. We explore the use of humans in creating benchmarks for the evaluation of software agents. In our case studies, we address the domain of instructable software agents (e-students) as proposed by the Bootstrapped Learning project [Oblinger, 2006]. Aim: Our aim is to define and refine requirements, problem solving strategies, and evaluation methodologies for e-students, paving the way for rigorous experiments comparing e-student performance with human benchmarks. Method: Little was known about what factors would be critical, so our empirical approach is exploratory case studies. In two studies covering three distinct groups, we use human subjects to develop an evaluation curriculum for e-students, collecting quantitative data through online quizzes and tests and qualitative data through observation. Results: Though we collect quantitative data, our most important results are qualitative. We uncover and address several intrinsic challenges in comparing software agents with humans, including the greater semantic understanding of humans, the eidetic memory of e-students, and the importance of various study parameters (including timing issues and lesson complexity) to human performance. Conclusions: Important future work will be controlled experiments based on the experience of these case studies. These will provide benchmark human performance results for specific problem domains for comparison to e-student results.
Mechanical Properties of Additive Manufactured Ti-6Al-4V Using Wire and Powder Based Processes

Since 1986 several techniques of building up geometries layer by layer have been developed and successfully commercialized under numerous trade names. Today, not only prototypes are realized by these techniques, but serial production parts are envisaged. To achieve this progress, the development activities have to focus on the reliability and output material quality. Particularly for aerospace applications, the material quality is an all-dominant factor. In this paper, an electron beam based powder-bed process and a laser based wire-feed process are investigated. Microstructure, chemical composition, static tensile and high cycle fatigue properties of Ti-6Al-4V samples are presented and evaluated from an aerospace application point of view. The static tensile properties resulting from both processes are mostly comparable to properties of cast or wrought material depending on post heat treatment and test direction. Fatigue limits of all samples are similar to those of wrought material. The impurity levels of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen are below the maximum level of plate material (AMS 4911L). The wire-feed process leads to a material with fewer impurities than the powder-bed process.
Partial Pole Placement with Controller Optimization

An arbitrary subset (n - m) of the (n) closed loop eigenvalues of an nth order continuous time single input linear time invariant system is to be placed using full state feedback, at pre-specified locations in the complex plane. The remaining m closed loop eigenvalues can be placed anywhere inside a pre-defined region in the complex plane. This region constraint on the unspecified poles is translated into a linear matrix inequality constraint on the feedback gains through a convex inner approximation of the polynomial stability region. The closed loop locations for these m eigenvalues are optimized to obtain a minimum norm feedback gain vector. This reduces the controller effort leading to less expensive actuators required to be installed in the control system. The proposed algorithm is illustrated on a linearized model of a 4-machine, 2-area power system example.
The influence of contextual factors on running performance in female Australian Football match-play.

Given the recent growth of the professional status among multiple female football codes, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of contextual factors on activity profiles and pacing strategies in female Australian football players. Thirty-five female Australian football players participated in this study. Global positioning system analysis was completed over one competitive season. Matches were separated into eight 10-minute periods. Greater distances were covered during the first half irrespective of playing position (ES = 0.39-0.50, Likelihood ≥90%). Throughout a number of periods half-backs (defensive players) covered greater distances during losses (ES ≥0.74, Likelihood ≥92%) and against Top 3 opponents (ES ≥1.0, Likelihood ≥ 97%). Midfielders and half-backs covered greater distances (ES ≥ 0.49, Likelihood ≥89%) in the final match period in winning compared with losing matches. A reduction in player work-rate is evident during the second half of matches. The influence of contextual factors varied across positional groups. However, it is clear coaches could use player rotation both early in the match in an attempt to delay the effect of fatigue and more frequently during the second half to increase running intensity.
Minimum error land cover separability analysis and classification of MODIS time series data

Three minimum-error land cover classifiers are compared on coarse resolution MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data for discerning between vegetation and settlement classes. It is shown that good class separability can be achieved using only the seasonal component of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data, or the mean component of several other MODIS land bands. It is also shown why particular classifiers fail in certain spectral bands. Finally it is shown that after NDVI, band 2 has the highest separability of all the MODIS land bands, and band 5 has the lowest separability.
Autonomous airborne wildlife tracking using radio signal strength

In wildlife radio tagging, small radio transmitters attached to animals are located by human operators using directional antennas and analog receivers which provide audio output. The location of the transmitter is determined by listening to the signal and scanning the area while closing in. This procedure can be very tedious, especially in rough terrain. Searching radio tags with autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offers a number of advantages, including better line-of-sight signal reception, terrain-independence and faster localization. In this paper we continue upon previous work by presenting a received-signal-strength (RSS) sensor implementation based on a modified commercial wildlife tracking receiver that is designed to operate on an autonomous fixed-wing UAV. Furthermore, an extension of the search and tracking framework for multiple targets that are undistinguishable from the sensors' point of view is proposed. After a brief system overview and a summary of the particle filter based approach, the signal processing theory and realization of the RSS sensor are outlined, including strategies for frequency tracking and receiver gain control. The paper also presents experimental results.
The pH value of granulating wound and skin graft in burn patients

The relationship between pH of granulation of burn wound and take rate of skin graft was presented. The bacteria in the granulation tissue were also quantified. The results showed: (1) The optimal pH of granulation wound for the take of skin graft is 7.2-7.5; (2) pH of granulation of burn wound is related to quantity and species of bacteria in the granulation tissue. The wound pH is 6.7 or lower when the number of Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus is over 10(7)/gm of granulation tissue. The wound pH is 8.0 when the number of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is 10(8)/gm of granulation tissue. Because the measurement of wound pH is rapid, simple and noninvasive, it might be useful in predicting the take rate of skin graft.