Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular cytogenetic characterization of a prenatally detected supernumerary minute marker chromosome 8

The characterization of a prenatally detected very small (approximately half of 18p—(karyotype: 47,XX,+mar[16]/46,XX[7]) supernumerary marker chromosome (SMC) identified by GTG‐banding analysis is described. The marker has been identified as derived from chromosome 8 centromeric material using a combination of different cytogenetic (GTG‐, NOR‐, CBG banding), molecular cytogenetic (24 colour‐fluorescent in situ hybridization [FISH], three‐colour FISH using centromeric probes for all human chromosomes) and molecular genetic techniques (microsatellite analysis). This is the first case described with such a minute SMC derived from chromosome 8 diagnosed prenatally, the 15th case reporting on a SMC originating from chromosome 8 and the third such case without any severe clinical features. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Protective effects on myocardial infarction model: delivery of schisandrin B using matrix metalloproteinase-sensitive peptide-modified, PEGylated lipid nanoparticles

Purpose Schisandrin B (Sch B) is clinically applied for the treatment of hepatitis and ischemic disease. However, its clinical efficacy is limited due to the poor solubility and low bioavailability. This study aimed to develop matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-sensitive peptide-modified, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified (PEGylated) solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) for loading Sch B (MMP-Sch B SLNs), and to evaluate the therapeutic effect in the myocardial infarction model. Methods PEG lipid and MMP-targeting peptide conjugate were synthesized. MMP-Sch B SLNs were prepared by solvent displacement technique. The physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetics of SLNs were investigated. In vivo effects on infarct size was evaluated in rats. Results The successful synthesis of lipid-peptide conjugate was confirmed. MMP-Sch B SLNs had a particle size of 130 nm, a zeta potential of 18.3 mV, and a sustained-release behavior. Higher heart drug concentration and longer blood circulation times were achieved by Sch B loaded SLNs than the drug solution according to the pharmacokinetic and biodistribution results. The best therapeutic efficacy was exhibited by MMP-Sch B SLNs by reducing the infarction size to the greatest extent. Conclusion The modified SLNs may be a good choice for delivery of Sch B for the treatment of myocardial infarction.
Trade Creation and Trade Diversion in the North American Free Trade Agreement: The Case of the Agricultural Sector

This paper examines the effect of the U.S.-Mexico trade agreement under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The results suggest that U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico have been responsive to tariff rate reductions applied to Mexican products. A one percentage point decrease in tariff rates is associated with an increase in U.S. agricultural imports from Mexico by 5.31% in the first 6 years of NAFTA and by 2.62% in the last 6 years of NAFTA. U.S. imports from Mexico have also been attributable to the pre-NAFTA tariff rates. Overall, the results indicate that the U.S-Mexico trade agreement under NAFTA has been trade creating rather than trade diverting.
Genes, Parenting, Self-Control, and Criminal Behavior

Self-control has been found to predict a wide variety of criminal behaviors. In addition, studies have consistently shown that parenting is an important influence on both self-control and offending. However, few studies have examined the role that biological factors may play in moderating the relationship between parenting, self-control, and offending. Using a sample of adolescent males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 3,610), we explore whether variants of the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) and the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene interact with parenting to affect self-control and offending. Results reveal that parenting interacts with these genes to influence self-control and offending, and that the parenting-by-gene interaction effect on offending is mediated by self-control. The effects of parenting on self-control and offending are most pronounced for those who carry plasticity alleles for both MAOA and DAT1. Thus, MAOA and DAT1 may be implicated in offending because they increase the negative effects of parenting on self-control. Implications for theory are discussed.
Improved Lower Bounds for Online Hypercube and Rectangle Packing

Packing a given sequence of items into as few bins as possible in an online fashion is a widely studied problem. We improve lower bounds for packing boxes into bins in two or more dimensions, both for general algorithms for squares and rectangles (in two dimensions) and for an important subclass, so-called Harmonic-type algorithms for hypercubes (in two or more dimensions). Lastly, we show that two adaptions of ideas from a one-dimensional packing algorithm to square packing do not help to break the barrier of 2.
Reverberant speech enhancement by spectral processing with reward-punishment weights

This paper presents an approach for the suppression of late reverberation and additive noise in single-channel speech recordings by spectral processing with reward-punishment weights. The spectral variance of the late reverberant signal can be estimated directly from the received reverberant signal using a statistical reverberation model and a limited amount of a priori knowledge about the acoustic channel between the source and the microphone. However, the suppression of late reverberation by spectral subtraction tends to degrade disproportionally low-level signal regions and signal transients. In this work, several reward-punishment criteria such as correlation parameter, Spectral Flatness Measure (SFM), Peak-to-Sidelobe Energy Ratio (PSLER), are taken into account to avoid degrading low-level signal regions and signal transients by identifying and enhancing the high signal-to-reverberation ratio (SRR) regions in a signal-dependent fashion. The performance of our method is demonstrated by experiments using synthesized room impulse responses. The experimental results indicated that this method provides superior speech quality to state-of-the-art late reverberation suppression algorithms.
Localization of classically chaotic diffusion for hydrogen atoms in microwave fields.

New experimental results are presented for short-pulse microwave ionization of highly excited hydrogen atoms. A comparison of these results with quantum numerical computations and analytical predictions provides for the first time experimentally grounded evidence of the localization phenomenon that leads to the suppression of the quantum version of the chaotic diffusion in action space occurring in the classical limit.
Automated Essay Scoring by Combining Syntactically Enhanced Latent Semantic Analysis and Coreference Resolution (SCOPUS)

The objective of this research is to measure how much syntactic information (in the form of word order) and Coreference Resolution affect the result of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). To incorporate the syntactic information, Syntactically Enhanced LSA (SELSA) is used, whilst Stanford CoreNLP Natural Language Processing Toolkit is used for the Coreference Resolution. To evaluate the results, we calculate the average absolute difference between the system score and human score for each essay. Based on the results, we can conclude that syntactic information, when combined with Coreference Resolution, do not have higher correlation to human score than LSA (an average absolute difference of 0.15748 as opposed to LSA’s 0.12597). But interestingly, the two techniques work better when they are used together, rather than when they are used separately. We also develop a new algorithm to calculate the scores, with a better average absolute difference, which is as high as 0.08969.
Intelligent Data Mining of Social Media for Improving Health Care

: online Social media is providing massive opportunities for users to discuss their experiences and opinion with medicines and diseases, Pharmaceutical companies prefer social network monitoring within their IT departments, creating an opportunity for rapid dissemination and feedback of products and services to optimize and enhance delivery, increase turnover and profit and reduce costs. Online Social media can open the door for the health care sector to optimization service and patient care. The proposed system gives opinion related to medicine and most discussed side effects
ANALYSIS OF IMPULSE RESPONSE ON WALKING BALANCE

The fluctuation of movement, i.e., the feedback control movement of left and right legs in the walking sequence, becomes less stable under the influence of a problem to part of the lower limb or back. CCD video cameras have been used for the 3-D measurement of human movement. However, there are some problems: the measured distance is not enough for the walking analysis because cameras are fixed at one place, and it is necessary to process many images. Also sometimes markers on joints disappear because of the camera angles in walking.
Analysis of an Ultrashort PCF-Based Polarization Splitter

We propose a new structure of polarization splitter based on a dual-elliptical-core photonic crystal fiber. The polarization splitter has a simple and symmetric directional coupler configuration. The vector boundary element method is used to investigate the propagation characteristics of the device under various conditions. Results of the numerical calculation relevant to the design conditions are presented. A 0.3-mm-long splitter with an extinction ratio of 23 dB is obtained.
A Novel System for Simultaneous in Vivo Tracking and Biological Assessment of Leukemia Cells and ex Vivo Generated Leukemia-Reactive Cytotoxic T Cells

To determine the mechanisms by which adoptive immunotherapy could reduce lethality to acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a novel technique was developed to track both leukemic blasts and adoptively transferred cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) independently and simultaneously in mice. To follow the fate of ex vivo generated anti-AML-reactive CTLs, splenocytes obtained from enhanced green fluorescent protein transgenic mice were cocultured with AML lysate-pulsed dendritic cells, which subsequently were expanded by exposure to anti-CD3/CD28 monoclonal antibody-coated magnetic microspheres. To track AML cells, stable transfectants of C1498 expressing DsRed2, a red fluorescent protein, were generated. Three factors related to CTLs correlated with disease-free survival: (a) CTL l-selectin expression. l-Selectin high fractions resulted in 70% disease-free survival, whereas l-selectin low-expressing CTLs resulted in only 30% disease-free survival. (b) Duration of ex vivo expansion (9 versus 16 days). Short-term expanded CTLs could be found at high frequency in lymphoid organs for longer than 4 weeks after transfer, whereas long-term expanded CTLs were cleared from the system after 2 weeks. Duration of expansion correlated inversely with l-selectin expression. (c) CTL dose. A higher dose (40 versus 5 × 106) resulted in superior disease-free survival. This survival advantage was achieved with short-term expanded CTLs only. The site of treatment failure was mainly the central nervous system where no CTLs could be identified at AML sites.
The acute structural changes of loaded articular cartilage following meniscectomy or ACL-transection.

OBJECTIVE Meniscectomy and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture have been identified as precursors of osteoarthrosis (OA) in clinical reviews and animal experiments. In this study, the acute effects of these injuries on articular cartilage matrix deformation, preserved in a loaded state using a cryopreservation technique, were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). METHOD Whole knee joints from adult White New Zealand rabbits (N=87) were loaded ex vivo, using a simulated quadriceps pull under static and cyclic loading conditions, following medial meniscectomy or transection of the ACL. Specimens were plunge-frozen while under load, or following a recovery period, and prepared for SEM by cryofixation. Using SEM and photographic images, the medial tibial plateau cartilage was assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS After meniscectomy, significantly increased bending and crimping of radial collagen fibers occurred with static loading. Compared to intact knees, the area of tibial cartilage showing an indentation was increased by 80% (P< 0.05), the articular cartilage thickness was significantly more reduced when under load (for high force long duration static loading, intact joints had 53%+/-3 reduction in cartilage thickness compared to 39%+/-4 after meniscectomy, P< 0.05), and it took nearly twice as long for the cartilage thickness to recover following loading. These post-meniscectomy differences were either not present or were minimal when the joint was allowed to extend when loaded. ACL-transection slightly increased collagen deformation in the deeper zones, but only with cyclic loading. CONCLUSION The findings indicate that, with static loading, significantly increased deformation of articular cartilage collagen structure can occur following meniscectomy, but is minimized by joint motion. This increased deformation may be relevant to the etiology and progression of joint degeneration.
Rheology, Microstructure, and Baking Characteristics of Frozen Dough Containing Rhizopus chinensis Lipase and Transglutaminase

ABSTRACT The beneficial effects of a new recombinant lipase (Rhizopus chinensis lipase [RCL]) and transglutaminase (TG) were investigated on frozen dough systems and their breadmaking quality. Rheological properties and microstructure of doughs were measured using a dynamic rheometer, rheofermentometer F3, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Measurements of viscoelastic properties showed that both G′ and G″ of dough containing RCL and TG were greater than those of the control after 35 days of frozen storage. The SEM micrographs showed that dough containing RCL and TG had the most starch granules embedded in or attached to the gluten network, and the gluten seemed more powerful and resilient than for the control dough after 35 days of frozen storage. Results of the gas production and dough development tests indicated that RCL and TG improved the rheofermentative characteristics of frozen dough. RCL and TG could improve water-holding capacity and significantly increase the glycerol content of the contro.
Optimization of an Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting Device

This paper presents the modeling and optimization of an electromagnetic-based generator for generating power from ambient vibrations. Basic equations describing such generators are presented and the conditions for maximum power generation are described. Two-centimeter scale prototype generators, which consist of magnets suspended on a beam vibrating relative to a coil, have been built and tested. The measured power and modeled results are compared. It is shown that the experimental results confirm the optimization theory
Clinical correlates of thalamus volume deficits in anti-psychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients: A 3-Tesla MRI study

Background: Thalamus, the sensory and motor gateway to the cortex, plays an important role in cognitive and perceptual disturbances in schizophrenia. Studies examining the volume of the thalamus in schizophrenia have reported conflicting findings due to the presence of potential confounding factors such as low-resolution imaging and anti-psychotics. The thalamus volume in anti-psychotic-naïve patients determined using high-resolution 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has not yet been examined. Materials and Methods: Using 3-Tesla MRI, this study for the first time examined anti-psychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients (n=18; M:F:11:7) in comparison with healthy controls (n=19;M:F:9:10) group-matched for age, sex, handedness, education, and socioeconomic status. The volume of the thalamus was measured using a three-dimensional, interactive, semi-automated analysis with good inter-rater and intra-rater reliability. Psychopathology was assessed using the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). Results: Right, left, and total thalamus volumes of patients were significantly smaller than those of controls after controlling for the potential confounding effect of intracranial volume. Thalamus volumes had significant positive correlation with positive symptoms score (SAPS) and significant negative correlation with negative symptoms score (SANS). Conclusions: Thalamus volume deficits in anti-psychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients support a neurodevelopmental pathogenesis. The contrasting correlation of thalamus volume deficits with psychopathology scores suggests that contrasting pruning aberrations underlie symptom genesis in schizophrenia.
Heat Shock Element Architecture Is an Important Determinant in the Temperature and Transactivation Domain Requirements for Heat Shock Transcription Factor

ABSTRACT The baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses a single gene encoding heat shock transcription factor (HSF), which is required for the activation of genes that participate in stress protection as well as normal growth and viability. Yeast HSF (yHSF) contains two distinct transcriptional activation regions located at the amino and carboxyl termini. Activation of the yeast metallothionein gene, CUP1, depends on a nonconsensus heat shock element (HSE), occurs at higher temperatures than other heat shock-responsive genes, and is highly dependent on the carboxyl-terminal transactivation domain (CTA) of yHSF. The results described here show that the noncanonical (or gapped) spacing of GAA units in the CUP1HSE (HSE1) functions to limit the magnitude of CUP1transcriptional activation in response to heat and oxidative stress. The spacing in HSE1 modulates the dependence for transcriptional activation by both stresses on the yHSF CTA. Furthermore, a previously uncharacterized HSE in the CUP1 promoter, HSE2, modulates the magnitude of the transcriptional activation of CUP1, via HSE1, in response to stress. In vitro DNase I footprinting experiments suggest that the occupation of HSE2 by yHSF strongly influences the manner in which yHSF occupies HSE1. Limited proteolysis assays show that HSF adopts a distinct protease-sensitive conformation when bound to the CUP1HSE1, providing evidence that the HSE influences DNA-bound HSF conformation. Together, these results suggest that CUP1regulation is distinct from that of other classic heat shock genes through the interaction of yHSF with two nonconsensus HSEs. Consistent with this view, we have identified other gene targets of yHSF containing HSEs with sequence and spacing features similar to those ofCUP1 HSE1 and show a correlation between the spacing of the GAA units and the relative dependence on the yHSF CTA.
Distributed MAC Protocols for Underwater Acoustic Data Networks

In this paper, we consider MAC (media access control) protocols appropriate to the underwater acoustic networks. First, we consider a media access method based on the Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) protocol used in the wireless local area networks IEEE 802.11 (WiFi). In the underwater acoustic channel, the acoustic wave propagates very slowly with regard to the electromagnetic wave (about 1500 m s ). Therefore the propagation delay is significant and thus collisions present a high cost considering the delay of transmission and the available throughput. To avoid this problem, we consider a second protocol in which we integrate a WAIT command [1]. Finally we integrate to our proposition a power control mechanism in order to increase network performance (delay, throughput). The performance evaluation of the three propositions has been done in terms of available throughput of the underwater sensors, delay of transmission and collision probability. The proposed simulation system model is detailed.
Alterations in cellular metabolome after pharmacological inhibition of Notch in glioblastoma cells

Notch signaling can promote tumorigenesis in the nervous system and plays important roles in stem‐like cancer cells. However, little is known about how Notch inhibition might alter tumor metabolism, particularly in lesions arising in the brain. The gamma‐secretase inhibitor MRK003 was used to treat glioblastoma neurospheres, and they were subdivided into sensitive and insensitive groups in terms of canonical Notch target response. Global metabolomes were then examined using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and changes in intracellular concentration of various metabolites identified which correlate with Notch inhibition. Reductions in glutamate were verified by oxidation‐based colorimetric assays. Interestingly, the alkylating chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide, the mTOR‐inhibitor MLN0128, and the WNT inhibitor LGK974 did not reduce glutamate levels, suggesting that changes to this metabolite might reflect specific downstream effects of Notch blockade in gliomas rather than general sequelae of tumor growth inhibition. Global and targeted expression analyses revealed that multiple genes important in glutamate homeostasis, including glutaminase, are dysregulated after Notch inhibition. Treatment with an allosteric inhibitor of glutaminase, compound 968, could slow glioblastoma growth, and Notch inhibition may act at least in part by regulating glutaminase and glutamate.
On the dynamics of neutral mutations in a mathematical model for a homogeneous stem cell population

The theory of the clonal origin of cancer states that a tumour arises from one cell that acquires mutation(s) leading to the malignant phenotype. It is the current belief that many of these mutations give a fitness advantage to the mutant population allowing it to expand, eventually leading to disease. However, mutations that lead to such a clonal expansion need not give a fitness advantage and may in fact be neutral—or almost neutral—with respect to fitness. Such mutant clones can be eliminated or expand stochastically, leading to a malignant phenotype (disease). Mutations in haematopoietic stem cells give rise to diseases such as chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH). Although neutral drift often leads to clonal extinction, disease is still possible, and in this case, it has important implications both for the incidence of disease and for therapy, as it may be more difficult to eliminate neutral mutations with therapy. We illustrate the consequences of such dynamics, using CML and PNH as examples. These considerations have implications for many other tumours as well.
Methodology for the Differential Diagnosis of a Complex Data Set

Data from routine CT scan examinations are employed to illustrate the use of the polychotomous logistic regression model as a statistical diagnostic tool. The assumptions of the model, the interpretation of its parameters, and its capabilities are described in detail. In carrying out the analysis on the CT data, a large, relatively sparse data set, many technical difficulties were encountered. Modifications to the methodology that were necessary to permit its implementation are described, and it is demonstrated that an unbiased analysis of T + 1 diagnostic categories can be implemented by separately performing T individual simple logistic analyses. The limitations of the methodology are discussed. It is hoped that this paper may serve as a basis for the practical implementation of the polychotomous logistic model in similar diagnostic settings.