Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dose-effect relationships and estimation of the carcinogenic effects of low doses of ionizing radiation

Executive Summary The assessment of carcinogenic risks associated with doses of ionizing radiation from 0.2 Sv to 5 Sv is based on numerous epidemiological data. However, the doses which are delivered during medical X-ray examinations are much lower (from 0.1 mSv to 20 mSv). Doses close to or slightly higher than, these can be received by workers or by populations in regions of high natural background irradiation. Epidemiological studies have been carried out to determine the possible carcinogenic risk of doses lower than 100 mSv, and they have not been able to detect statistically significant risks even on large cohorts or populations. Therefore, these risks are at worse low since the highest limit of the confidence interval is relatively low. It is highly unlikely that putative carcinogenic risks could be estimated or even established for such doses through case-control studies or the follow-up of cohorts. Even for several hundred thousands of subjects, the power of such epidemiological studies would not be sufficient to demonstrate the existence of a very small excess in cancer incidence or mortality adding to the natural cancer incidence which, in non-irradiated populations, is already very high and fluctuates according to lifestyle. Only comparisons between geographical regions with high and low natural irradiation and with similar living conditions could provide valuable information for this range of doses and dose rates. The results from the ongoing studies in Kerala (India) and China need to be carefully analyzed. Because of these epidemiological limitations, the only method for estimating the possible risks of low doses (< 100 mSv) is extrapolation from carcinogenic effects observed between 0.2 and 3 Sv. A linear no-threshold relationship (LNT) describes well the relation between the dose and the carcinogenic effect in this dose range where it could be tested. However, the use of this relationship to assess by extrapolation the risk of low and very low doses deserves great caution. Recent radiobiological data undermine the validity of estimations based on LNT in the range of doses lower than a few dozen mSv which leads to the questioning of the hypotheses on which LNT is implicitly based: 1) constancy of the probability of mutation (per unit dose) whatever the dose or dose rate, 2) independence of the carcinogenic process which after the initiation of a cell evolves similarly whatever the number of lesions present in neighboring cells and the tissue.
Purinergic Signaling Mechanisms in the Lower Urinary Tract A multiplexed analysis approach identifies new association of inflammatory proteins in patients with overactive bladder

Emily Ma,* Joel Vetter,* Laura Bliss, H. Henry Lai, Indira U. Mysorekar, and Sanjay Jain Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Renal Division, Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Division of Urologic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; and Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
What Predicts Teachers' Attitudes Toward the Gifted?

The present study explores teachers' attitudes toward the gifted and gifted education. Specifically, the authors examine whether teachers tailor their responses about attitudes toward the gifted to fit the perceived interests of the researcher. In addition, the authors examine several potential predictors of attitudes toward the gifted: training or experience in gifted education, training or experience in special education, and self-perceptions as gifted. A total of 262 teachers participate in the study. The perceived epistemic interests of the researcher do not affect teachers' self-reported attitudes toward the gifted. Teachers who had received training in gifted education hold higher perceptions of themselves as gifted. However, teachers' self-perceptions as gifted are unrelated to their attitudes toward gifted education. Finally, special education teachers hold slightly lower attitudes toward the gifted. The authors discuss the implications of these results for the field of gifted education.
A Pictet-Spengler ligation for protein chemical modification

Aldehyde- and ketone-functionalized proteins are appealing substrates for the development of chemically modified biotherapeutics and protein-based materials. Their reactive carbonyl groups are typically conjugated with α-effect nucleophiles, such as substituted hydrazines and alkoxyamines, to generate hydrazones and oximes, respectively. However, the resulting C=N linkages are susceptible to hydrolysis under physiologically relevant conditions, which limits the utility of such conjugates in biological systems. Here we introduce a Pictet-Spengler ligation that is based on the classic Pictet-Spengler reaction of aldehydes and tryptamine nucleophiles. The ligation exploits the bioorthogonal reaction of aldehydes and alkoxyamines to form an intermediate oxyiminium ion; this intermediate undergoes intramolecular C–C bond formation with an indole nucleophile to form an oxacarboline product that is hydrolytically stable. We used the reaction for site-specific chemical modification of glyoxyl- and formylglycine-functionalized proteins, including an aldehyde-tagged variant of the therapeutic monoclonal antibody Herceptin. In conjunction with techniques for site-specific introduction of aldehydes into proteins, the Pictet-Spengler ligation offers a means to generate stable bioconjugates for medical and materials applications.
Equalization in WCDMA Terminals

Conventional versions of linear multiuser detectors (MUD) are not feasible in the wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) downlink due to the use of long scrambling sequences. As an alternative, linear channel equalizers restore the orthogonality of the spreading sequences lost in frequency-selective channels, thus, suppressing multiple access interference (MAI) in the WCDMA downlink. In this thesis, linear channel equalizers in WCDMA terminals are studied. The purpose of the thesis is to develop novel receivers that provide performance enhancement over conventional rake receivers with an acceptable increase in complexity, and to validate their performance under WCDMA downlink conditions. Although the WCDMA standard is emphasized as the candidate system, the receivers presented are suitable for any synchronous direct sequence code division multiple access downlink employing coherent data detection and orthogonal user or channel separation. Two adaptive channel equalizers are developed based on the constrained minimum output energy (MOE) criterion and sample matrix inversion method. An existing equalizer based on the matrix inversion lemma is also developed further to become a prefilter-rake equalizer. Performance analysis is carried out for equalizers trained using a common pilot channel and for the channel response constrained MOE (CR-MOE) and sample matrix inversion (SMI) based equalizers developed in the thesis. The linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) channel equalizer, which assumes a random scrambling sequence, is shown to approximate the performance of the LMMSE MUD. The adaptive CR-MOE, SMI-based, and prefilter-rake equalizers are observed to attain performance close to that of an approximate LMMSE channel equalizer. The equalizers considered are also shown to be suitable for implementation with fixed-point arithmetic. The SMI-based equalizer is shown to provide good performance and to require an acceptable increase in complexity. It is also well suited for symbol rate equalization after despreading, which allows for computationally efficient receiver designs for low data rate terminals. Hence, the SMI-based equalizer is a suitable receiver candidate for both high and low data rate terminals. Adaptive equalizers are considered in conjunction with forward error correction (FEC) coding, soft handover, transmit diversity and high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). The adaptive equalizers are shown to provide significant performance gains over the rake receiver in frequency selective channels. The performance gains provided by one antenna equalizers are noted to decrease near the edges of a cell, whereas the equalizers with two receive antennas achieve significant performance improvements also with soft handover. The performance gains of one or two antenna equalizers are shown to be marginal in conjunction with transmit antenna diversity. Otherwise the equalizers are observed to attain good signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio performance. Therefore, they are also suitable receiver candidates for HSDPA.
Home computing, school engagement and academic achievement of low-income adolescents Findings from Year One of a Three Year Study of the CFY intervention

This study examines the relationship between specific home computing practices and low‐income adolescents’ school engagement and achievement. We surveyed 174 middle school students who participated in the Computers for Youth (CFY) program. More than 90% were Black or Hispanic, and a majority performed below grade level on reading and math standardized tests prior to receiving CFY’s intervention. We found that the students actively and regularly used their home computers and the Internet for learning and that their computer use was associated with increased success in school. Students’ engagement and home computer use, particularly their home Internet use and computer use for self‐regulated learning, explained 14% of the variance in their 2006 math test scores over and above 2005 scores.
A werd is not quite a word: On the role of sublexical phonological information in visual lexical decision

To establish the relative contribution of phonological and orthographic information to visual word recognition, we varied the instruction how to respond to the pseudohomophones in a Dutch lexical decision task. One participant group was asked to base their word/nonword decisions on spelling and therefore reject pseudohomophones together with the nonhomophonic nonwords; the other group had to base their decisions on phonology and therefore accept pseudohomophones together with real words. Rejecting pseudohomophones (ignoring phonological information) was accompanied by costs in speed and accuracy for the pseudohomophones but not for other items. Accepting pseudohomophones (ignoring orthographic information) led to speed and accuracy costs for pseudohomophones and nonhomophonic nonwords that were approximately ten times larger than those for rejecting pseudohomophones. The simultaneous costs for pseudohomophones and nonhomophonic nonwords contradict an explanation of pseudohomophone acceptance in terms of a postlexical spelling check. The results indicate that phonological information can be ignored much more easily than orthographic information. Therefore, they fail to support a primary role of sublexical phonological assembly in lexical decision. This conclusion was further supported by strong effects of phonological consistency that were found in a naming experiment but were completely absent in lexical decision.
Measuring TCP Tail Loss Probe Performance

This paper analyzes the performance of the TCP Tail Loss Probe algorithm proposed by Dukkipati et al. in February 2013 under various virtual network conditions. To provide accurate and repeatable measurements and varying network conditions the mininet virtual network is used. Variations include the available bandwidth, round trip time and number of tail loss segments. The tests are done by requesting HTTP data from an nginx web server. Results show that TLP is able to decrease the total transfer time in high-speed networks by 38% and the time until data is retransmitted by 81%. These improvements decrease significantly for higher delay links.
Population Modeling and Simulation Study of the Pharmacokinetics and Antituberculosis Pharmacodynamics of Isoniazid in Lungs

ABSTRACT Among first-line antituberculosis drugs, isoniazid (INH) displays the greatest early bactericidal activity (EBA) and is key to reducing contagiousness in treated patients. The pulmonary pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of INH have not been fully characterized with modeling and simulation approaches. INH concentrations measured in plasma, epithelial lining fluid, and alveolar cells for 89 patients, including fast acetylators (FAs) and slow acetylators (SAs), were modeled by use of population pharmacokinetic modeling. Then the model was used to simulate the EBA of INH in lungs and to investigate the influences of INH dose, acetylator status, and M. tuberculosis MIC on this effect. A three-compartment model adequately described INH concentrations in plasma and lungs. With an MIC of 0.0625 mg/liter, simulations showed that the mean bactericidal effect of a standard 300-mg daily dose of INH was only 11% lower for FA subjects than for SA subjects and that dose increases had little influence on the effects in either FA or SA subjects. With an MIC value of 1 mg/liter, the mean bactericidal effect associated with a 300-mg daily dose of INH in SA subjects was 41% greater than that in FA subjects. With the same MIC, increasing the daily INH dose from 300 mg to 450 mg resulted in a 22% increase in FA subjects. These results suggest that patients infected with M. tuberculosis with low-level resistance, especially FA patients, may benefit from higher INH doses, while dose adjustment for acetylator status has no significant impact on the EBA in patients with low-MIC strains.
Science against microbial pathogens : communicating current research and technological advances

M. V.Toledo, J. R. Stangarlin and C. M. Bonato EMATER, Empresa Paranaense de Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural, Rua Pastor Mayer 759, CEP 85960-000, Marechal Cândido Rondon, Paraná, Brazil Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná – UNIOESTE, Rua Pernambuco 1777, Caixa Postal 91, CEP 85960-000, Marechal Cândido Rondon, Paraná, Brazil. E-mail: jrstangarlin@pq.cnpq. br Universidade Estadual de Maringá UEM, Avenida Colombo 5790, CEP 87020-900, Maringá – PR, Brazil
Reservoir potential of sands formed in glaciomarine environments: an analogue study based on Cenozoic examples from McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Abstract This paper provides documentation of unexpectedly high-reservoir-quality glaciomarine sands found in the Cenozoic succession beneath McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, as an analogue study for evaluations of hydrocarbon prospectivity in basins elsewhere. The Oligocene to Lower Miocene succession of the Victoria Land Basin, an extant portion of the West Antarctic Rift System, comprises diamictites, mudrocks and sandstones with minor conglomerates. These lithologies are arranged in repetitive stacking patterns (cycles), interpreted to record repeated advance and retreat of glaciers into and out of the basin, with attendant eustatic and isostatic effects. Phases of ice retreat within the cycles comprise an array of mudrocks, sandy mudrocks and sandstones, deposited mainly during relative sea-level highstands. Clean, well-sorted, unconsolidated and porous sands <25 m thick from such intervals, which are interpreted to be mainly deltaic in origin, were encountered. Some of these sands, which have visible porosity as high as 41%, flowed into the well bore together with significant volumes of cold formation water. Diagenetic modification of sands in these intervals is minimal, which can be attributed to the low-temperature nature of the subsurface environment. Accordingly, glaciomarine sands in near-field glaciogenic successions should be considered as potential reservoir facies in prospectivity assessments.
Direct evidence of chloride ion efflux in ischaemic and pharmacological preconditioning of cultured cardiomyocytes.

AIMS We have previously shown that reduction of ischaemic cell swelling via enhanced cell volume regulation is a key mechanism of ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) in cardiomyocytes. We have also shown that pharmacological blockade of Cl(-) channels abolishes cardioprotection achieved by IPC in Langendorff-perfused hearts and freshly isolated cardiomyocytes, thus suggesting that Cl(-) plays a key role in IPC cardioprotection. However, direct evidence of Cl(-) channel activation resulting in transsarcolemmal Cl(-) efflux by IPC had been lacking. To address this issue, 24 h cultured rabbit cardiomyocytes were loaded with 5 mM 6-methoxy-N-(3-sulfopropyl)quinolinium (SPQ), a specific fluorescence indicator that is quenched by Cl(-) so that cellular efflux of Cl(-) results in an increase in SPQ fluorescence. METHODS AND RESULTS After stabilization for 10 min, cardiomyocytes were preconditioned either with 10 min simulated ischaemia/10 min simulated reperfusion or with 10 min treatment with 1 microM N(6)-2-(4-aminophenyl)ethyladenosine (APNEA). IPC and APNEA significantly (P < 0.001) reduced the intracellular Cl(-) concentration ([Cl(-)](i)) to 31.9 +/- 3.2 mM (mean +/- SEM) and 32.5 +/- 2.8 mM, respectively, from an initial [Cl(-)](i) (pooled stabilization 61.5 +/- 7.1 mM). [Cl(-)](i) did not change in control (non-preconditioned) cardiomyocytes (control 58.1 +/- 1.9 mM and control + vehicle 62.6 +/- 4.9 mM, P = 0.98 and 0.99 vs. pooled pre-treatment baseline, respectively). Inhibition of Cl(-) channels with 50 microM indanyloxyacetic acid 94 completely blocked preconditioning-induced Cl(-) efflux. Thus, a net Cl(-) efflux of 29.6 and 29.0 mM was triggered by IPC and APNEA. CONCLUSION These findings provide the first direct evidence of activation of sarcolemmal Cl(-) channels by ischaemic and pharmacological preconditioning in cardiomyocytes.
SemRec: A Semantic Enhancement Framework for Tag Based Recommendation

Collaborative tagging services provided by various social web sites become popular means to mark web resources for different purposes such as categorization, expression of a preference and so on. However, the tags are of syntactic nature, in a free style and do not reflect semantics, resulting in the problems of redundancy, ambiguity and less semantics. Current tag-based recommender systems mainly take the explicit structural information among users, resources and tags into consideration, while neglecting the important implicit semantic relationships hidden in tagging data. In this study, we propose a Semantic Enhancement Recommendation strategy (SemRec), based on both structural information and semantic information through a unified fusion model. Extensive experiments conducted on two real datasets demonstarte the effectiveness of our approaches.
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Visual Perception

Membrane potentials and spike sequences represent the basic modes of cerebral information processing. Both can be externally modulated in humans by quite specific techniques: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). These methods induce reversible circumscribed cortical excitability changes, either excitatory or inhibitory, outlasting stimulation in time. Experimental pharmacological interventions may selectively enhance the duration of the aftereffects. Whereas rTMS induces externally triggered changes in the neuronal spiking pattern and interrupts or excites neuronal firing in a spatially and temporally restricted fashion, tDCS modulates the spontaneous firing rates of neurons by changing resting-membrane potential. The easiest and most common way of evaluating the cortical excitability changes is by applying TMS to the motor cortex, since it allows reproducible quantification through the motor-evoked potential. Threshold determinations at the visual cortex or psychophysical methods usually require repeated and longer measurements and thus more time for each data set. Here, results derived from the use of tDCS in visual perception, including contrast as well as motion detection and visuo – motor coordination and learning, are summarised. It is demonstrated that visual functions can be transiently altered by tDCS, as has been shown for the motor cortex previously. Up- and down-regulation of different cortical areas by tDCS is likely to open a new branch in the field of visual psychophysics.
Adaptive control of a class of multilinearly parameterized systems by using noncertainty equivalence control

We propose in this work a new adaptive controller for a class of non-linearly parameterized systems with multi-linear parametrization dependent on the state containing an arbitrary number l of parameters. The proposed controller is non-certainty equivalence based and only the original parameters are adapted. Moreover, since the parameterization depends on the state, a trivial solution by over parameterization is not possible. The main idea of the paper is to combine two parameterizations, one to convexify and another to concavify the nonlinear function of the unknown parameters, because this permits the use of gradient search based convergence in the entire state-space. This leads however to discontinuous Lyapunov functions, and the use of a non-certainty equivalence based control eliminates any possibility of discontinuity, allowing then a standard Lyapunov function to be used. The stability proof relies on the concavity proof of some special functions, that requires in turn the proof of the positive semi-definiteness of an l-dimensional matrix, that is a challenge by itself.
Tighten after Relax: Minimax-Optimal Sparse PCA in Polynomial Time

We provide statistical and computational analysis of sparse Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in high dimensions. The sparse PCA problem is highly nonconvex in nature. Consequently, though its global solution attains the optimal statistical rate of convergence, such solution is computationally intractable to obtain. Meanwhile, although its convex relaxations are tractable to compute, they yield estimators with suboptimal statistical rates of convergence. On the other hand, existing nonconvex optimization procedures, such as greedy methods, lack statistical guarantees. In this paper, we propose a two-stage sparse PCA procedure that attains the optimal principal subspace estimator in polynomial time. The main stage employs a novel algorithm named sparse orthogonal iteration pursuit, which iteratively solves the underlying nonconvex problem. However, our analysis shows that this algorithm only has desired computational and statistical guarantees within a restricted region, namely the basin of attraction. To obtain the desired initial estimator that falls into this region, we solve a convex formulation of sparse PCA with early stopping. Under an integrated analytic framework, we simultaneously characterize the computational and statistical performance of this two-stage procedure. Computationally, our procedure converges at the rate of [Formula: see text] within the initialization stage, and at a geometric rate within the main stage. Statistically, the final principal subspace estimator achieves the minimax-optimal statistical rate of convergence with respect to the sparsity level s*, dimension d and sample size n. Our procedure motivates a general paradigm of tackling nonconvex statistical learning problems with provable statistical guarantees.