Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modular framework for molecular-FET device-to-circuit modeling

Recently, several molecular devices have been realized with interesting properties like conductance, switching, gate modulation and negative differential resistance. In this paper we present a new modular framework based on VHDL-AMS that allows a comparison among different Molecular-FET models in terms of capability to capture an accurate I-V characteristics. It also allows to analyze the impact of Molecular-FET and to inspect the circuit proper behavior and its possible use in an architecture organized as a cascade of basic crossbars. This comparison exhibits technological choices, capability of different models features to capture physical quantities and models computational efforts.
Consumer survey on the new format of the European Energy Label for televisions - Comparison of a "A-G closed" versus a "beyond A" scale format

Since the mid 90s, the European Union has had a compulsory label which shows the energy efficiency class for different kinds of household appliances so that consumers could determine the energy efficiency of a labelled household appliance more easily. However, the embrace of innovation has led to the development of so many energy-efficient products that for many product categories, the highest class of the scale has already been achieved or even surpassed. The EU Energy label has become a victim of its own success with too many appliances crowded in the top of the scale, and is now about to be revised by the Commission. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the effect of two discussed labelling schemes on consumer decisions regarding investigated choices for televisions. We aim to demonstrate the difference in magnitude of the effect of both schemes in realistic choice experiments in order to define how to best move forward from a policy and a marketing perspective.
Combined Use of TBNA and EBUS-TBNA in the Preoperative Staging of Lung Cancer Patients

The identification of the optimal mediastinal staging strategy in lung cancer patients remains an important objective to improve their selection for appropriate treatment. The aim of this study was to analyze our experience with traditional transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) and endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) as minimally invasive alternative procedures to mediastinoscopy in the preoperative staging of lung cancer patients with positive mediastinal positron emission tomography. Forty-four patients staged N2 or N3 after positron emission tomography were included in the study. Traditional TBNA was used in 15 patients to puncture “easy” targets such as the subcarinal lymph nodes. EBUS-TBNA was used in 29 patients to puncture “difficult” targets such as the paratracheal stations. A malignant adenopathy was identified in 39 patients (89%) who avoided a mediastinoscopy and were referred for neoadjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy according to their mediastinal status (N2 or N3), as determined on the positron emission tomography image. In the remaining 5 patients (11%), samples were nondiagnostic. These patients underwent mediastinoscopy and subsequent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (3 cases) or surgery (2 cases) according to the presence of an N2 or an N0 disease. The combined use of traditional and EBUS-TBNA avoided a mediastinoscopy in approximately 90% of lung cancer patients referred for surgery with positive mediastinal positron emission tomography, sparing the associated costs and risks of surgical procedures. Traditional and EBUS-TBNA should be considered as complementary methods in the preoperative staging of lung cancer.
Avoiding infinite estimates of time‐dependent effects in small‐sample survival studies

We address the phenomenon of monotone likelihood in Cox regression with time‐dependent effects. Monotone likelihood occurs in the fitting process of a Cox model if at least one parameter estimate diverges to ± infinity. We show that the probability of monotone likelihood is increased by the inclusion of time‐dependent effects, particularly in small samples with several unbalanced and highly predictive covariates, and with a high percentage of censoring. Firth's bias reduction procedure was shown to provide an ideal solution to monotone likelihood. Here we extend his idea to Cox regression with time‐dependent effects. By penalized maximum likelihood estimation, finite hazard ratio estimates of constant and time‐dependent effects can be obtained. Penalized likelihood ratio tests and profile penalized likelihood confidence intervals are proposed as tools for inference. A Monte Carlo study of Cox regression with time‐dependent effects confirms advantages of Firth‐corrected (FC) over standard Cox analysis in terms of average bias and median absolute deviation. We also compare the FC and standard Cox approaches by means of analyses of two studies with time‐dependent effects. An SAS macro and an R package for FC Cox regression with time‐varying covariates and time‐dependent effects are available at: http://www.muw. ac.at/msi/biometrie/programs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Regulators of serine/threonine protein phosphatases at the dawn of a clinical era?

Reversible phosphorylation is a key mechanism for regulating the biological activity of many human proteins that affect a diverse array of cellular processes, including protein-protein interactions, gene transcription, cell-cycle progression and apoptosis. Once viewed as simple house keeping enzymes, recent studies have made it eminently clear that, like their kinase counterparts, protein phosphatases are dynamic and highly regulated enzymes. Therefore, the development of compounds that alter the activity of specific phosphatases is rapidly emerging as an important area in drug discovery. Because >98% of protein phosphorylation occurs on serine and threonine residues, the identification of agents that alter the activity of specific serine/threonine phosphatases seems especially promising for drug development in the future. This review is focused on the enzymes encoded by the PPP-gene family, which includes PP1, PP2A, PP2B, PP4, PP5, PP6 and PP7. The structure/functions of human phosphatases will be addressed briefly, as will the natural product inhibitors of PP1-PP6 (e.g. okadaic acid, microcystins, nodularin, cantharidin, calyculin A, tautomycin, and fostriecin). The development of chimeric antisense oligonucleotides that support RNAase H mediated degradation of the targeted mRNA has resulted in compounds capable of specifically suppressing the expression of PP5 (ISIS 15534) and PP1gamma 1 (ISIS 14435) in human cells. Such compounds have already proven useful for the validation of drug targets, and if difficulties associated with systemic delivery of antisense oligonucleotides can be overcome, antisense is poised to have a major impact on the clinical management of many human disorders.
Adjusting for Bounding and Time-in-Sample Eects in the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Property Crime Rate Estimation

In this study, we deal with two problems: rotation group bias and lack of bounding information for producing crime rate estimates using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data. Rotation group bias (time-in-sample effect) is the bias that occurs in a longitudinal survey when respondents provide less information as the number of times they are interviewed increases. Another kind of bias comes from the fact that respondents tend to remember serious events, like crimes, as having happened more recently than they actually did. At the first interviews, there is no previous record in the survey of crimes, and, as a result, more crimes are reported in the first interviews. Before 2006, the information from the first interviews in the NCVS was only used for bounding purposes and not in published crime rate estimates. However, in 2006, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the Census Bureau started to use the unbounded survey data for computing yearly crime rate estimates. As a result of the change in 2006, the estimated yearly crime rates have to be adjusted to eliminate the bias caused by lack of bounding information in the first interviews. We created a longitudinal property crime data file to track 26759 households through all seven of their NCVS interviews over a period of six years, recording the number of property crimes that were reported by each household in each interview. The main goal of this study is to develop a statistical model that will allow us to adjust the estimated crime rates for both time-in-sample and bounding biases. We fit
Indoor Tracking: Theory, Methods, and Technologies

In the last decade, the research on and the technology for outdoor tracking have seen an explosion of advances. It is expected that in the near future, we will witness similar trends for indoor scenarios where people spend more than 70% of their lives. The rationale for this is that there is a need for reliable and high-definition real-time tracking systems that have the ability to operate in indoor environments, thus complementing those based on satellite technologies, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). The indoor environments are very challenging, and as a result, a large variety of technologies have been proposed for coping with them, but no legacy solution has emerged. This paper presents a survey on indoor wireless tracking of mobile nodes from a signal processing perspective. It can be argued that the indoor tracking problem is more challenging than the problem on indoor localization. The reason is simple: From a set of measurements, one has to estimate not one location but a series of correlated locations of a mobile node. The paper illustrates the theory, the main tools, and the most promising technologies for indoor tracking. New directions of research are also discussed.
Wheat Proteins Enhance Stability and Function of Adhesion Molecules in Cryopreserved Hepatocytes

Cryopreserved hepatocytes with good hepatospecific functions upon thawing are important for clinical transplantation and for in vitro drug toxicity testing. However, cryopreservation reduces viability and certain hepatospecific functions, but the most pronounced change is diminished attachment efficiency of hepatocytes. Adhesion of cells to the extracellular matrix and cell–cell contacts are crucial for many aspects of cellular function. These processes are partly mediated and controlled by cellular adhesion molecules. The mechanisms responsible for reduced attachment efficiency of cryopreserved hepatocytes are not well understood. To address this question, we investigated the effect of a new cryopreservation procedure, using wheat proteins (WPs) or mixtures of recombinant forms of wheat freezing tolerance-associated proteins, on the stability of three important adhesion molecules (β1-integrin, E-cadherin, and β-catenin). Immunoblot analyses revealed that the levels of β1-integrin, E-cadherin, and β-catenin were much lower in cryopreserved rat hepatocytes, when compared to fresh cells. Protein expression of the adhesion molecules was generally lower in cells cryopreserved with DMSO, compared to WPs. Moreover, the stability of the adhesion molecules was not affected by cryopreservation to the same degree, with more pronounced decreases occurring for β1-integrin (62–74%) > β-catenin (51–58%) > E-cadherin (21–37%). However, when hepatocytes were cryopreserved with partially purified WPs (SulWPE, AcWPE) or with mixtures of recombinant wheat proteins, there was a clear protective effect against the loss of protein expression of β1-integrin, E-cadherin, and β-catenin. Protein expression was only 10–20% lower than that observed in fresh hepatocytes. These findings clearly demonstrate that WPs, and more particularly, partially purified WPs and recombinant wheat proteins, were more efficient for cryopreservation of rat hepatocytes by maintaining good expression of these adhesion molecules. These promising results could lead to a new and improved cryopreservation technology for applications such as clinical transplantation of hepatocytes.
Partial discharge and mechanical characteristics of NR-LLDPE-TiO2-coconut coir fibre

Organic materials are abundant, renewable, cheap and fully biodegradable. They are promising since they may be blended with plastic to enhance the mechanical and electrical properties of polymer matrix composites. In this research, sisal composites were manufactured from 1% NaOH treated coconut coir fibres (CCF) blended with Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The influence of fibre loading on the composites in the tensile tests and electrical properties tests has been evaluated. Partial discharge (PD) test was done to evaluate the electrical performance of the composites under constant 6.5 kV AC source for 1 hour utilizing the CIGRE Method II. The partial discharge characteristics were observed using picoscope and LabView 8.5 software. Then, tensile tests were carried out to evaluate the mechanical performance of the fibre reinforced composite materials. The results of PD characteristics and mechanical properties of composites obtained showed enhancement of the mechanical properties and improvement of the PD resistance of the composites with the addition of CCF. It is demonstrated that the composites containing 16 wt% CCF, 48 wt% NR, 32 wt% LDPE and 4 wt% TiO2 showed a good mechanical and PD resistance. Therefore, this composite is suggested to be used as electrical insulating material with better electrical and mechanical properties.
Macrolides for KCNJ5–mutated aldosterone-producing adenoma (MAPA): design of a study for personalized diagnosis of primary aldosteronism

Abstract Purpose: Aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) is the main curable cause of endocrine hypertension cause of primary aldosteronism (PA) and it is in up to 66% of all cases investigated with adrenal vein sampling (AVS). Mutations in the KCNJ5 potassium channel involve up to 70% of APA and cause the most florid PA phenotypes. The recent finding that macrolide antibiotics specifically inhibit in vitro the altered function of mutated KCNJ5 channels has opened new horizons for the diagnosis and treatment of APA with KCNJ5 mutations in that it can allow identification and target treatment of PA patients harbouring a mutated APA. Thus, we aimed at investigating if clarithromycin and roxithromycin, two macrolides that potently blunt mutated Kir3.4 channel function in vitro, affect plasma aldosterone concentration in adrenal vein blood during AVS and in peripheral blood, respectively, in PA patients with a mutated APA. Methods and design: We designed two proof of concept studies. In study A: consecutive patients with an unambiguous biochemical evidence of PA will be exposed to a single dose of 250 mg clarithromycin during AVS, to assess its effect on the relative aldosterone secretion index in adrenal vein blood from the gland with and without APA. In study B: consecutive hypertensive patients submitted to the work-up for hypertension will receive a single oral dose of 150 mg roxithromycin. The experimental endpoints will be the change induced by roxithromycin of plasma aldosterone concentration and other steroids, direct active renin concentration, serum K+, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Discussion: We expect to prove that: (i) clarithromycin allows identification of mutated APA before adrenalectomy and sequencing of tumour DNA; (ii) the acute changes of plasma aldosterone concentration, direct active renin concentration, and blood pressure in peripheral venous blood after roxithromycin can be a proxy for the presence of an APA with somatic mutations.
Definitions and predictors of successful aging: a comprehensive review of larger quantitative studies.

OBJECTIVE There is no consensual definition of "successful aging. " Our aim was to review the literature on proportions of subjects meeting criteria and individual components of definitions of successful aging as well as correlates of these definitions. METHODS We conducted a literature search for published English-language peer-reviewed reports of data-based studies of adults over age 60 that included an operationalized definition of successful aging. The authors categorized the components of these definitions and independent variables examined in relation to successful aging (e.g., gender, education, and social contacts). RESULTS The authors identified 28 studies with 29 different definitions that met our criteria. Most investigations used large samples of community-dwelling older adults. The mean reported proportion of successful agers was 35.8% (standard deviation: 19.8) but varied widely (interquartile range: 31%). Multiple components of these definitions were identified, although 26 of 29 included disability/physical functioning. The most frequent significant correlates of the various definitions of successful aging were age (young-old), nonsmoking, and absence of disability, arthritis, and diabetes. Moderate support was found for greater physical activity, more social contacts, better self-rated health, absence of depression and cognitive impairment, and fewer medical conditions. Gender, income, education, and marital status generally did not relate to successful aging. CONCLUSION Despite variability among definitions, approximately one-third of elderly individuals were classified as aging successfully. The majority of these definitions were based on the absence of disability with lesser inclusion of psychosocial variables. Predictors of successful aging varied yet point to several potentially modifiable targets for increasing the likelihood of successful aging.
Lipid-derived nanoparticles for immunostimulatory RNA adjuvant delivery

The specific activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) has potential utility for a variety of therapeutic indications including antiviral immunotherapy and as vaccine adjuvants. TLR7 and TLR 8 may be activated by their native ligands, single-stranded RNA, or by small molecules of the imidazoquinoline family. However the use of TLR7/8 agonists for in vivo therapy is limited by instability, in the case of RNA, or systemic biodistribution and toxicity in the case of small molecule agonists. We hypothesized that unique lipid-like materials, termed “lipidoids,” could be designed to efficiently deliver immunostimulatory RNA (isRNA) to TLR-expressing cells to drive innate and adaptive immune responses. A library of lipidoids was synthesized and screened for the ability to induce type I IFN activation in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells when combined with isRNA oligonucleotides. Effective lipidoid-isRNA nanoparticles, when tested in mice, stimulated strong IFN-α responses following subcutaneous injection, had robust antiviral activity that suppressed influenza virus replication, and enhanced antiovalbumin humoral and cell-mediated responses when used as a vaccine adjuvant. Further, we demonstrate that whereas all immunological activity was MyD88-dependent, certain materials were found to engage both TLR7-dependent and TLR7-independent activity in the mouse suggestive of cell-specific delivery. These lipidoid formulations, which are materials designed specifically for delivery of isRNA to Toll-like receptors, were superior to the commonly used N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium methylsulfate–RNA delivery system and may provide new tools for the manipulation of TLR responses in vitro and in vivo.
Gender Budgeting in India: An Appraisal

The premise of development paradigm is mainstreaming where the role of state is crucial. Women are at the core to the agenda of mainstreaming and thus various efforts have been initiated for empowering them. Among those various steps, gender budgeting emerges as a naive step for mainstreaming. Gender budgeting is a methodological intervention to mainstream women within the macroeconomics. India has adopted gender budgeting and institutionalized the process (at the union level) since 2005-06. Though, gender budgeting calls for looking both at qualitative and quantitative aspect but India has categorically focused on the quantitative aspect. But the present work argues that despite focusing on the quantitative aspect, the trends of gender budgeting are disturbing to note. The trends of some of the major schemes under Ministry of Women and Child Development are analysed which reveals that the share of allocation has increased if see them in vacuum but if we see in comparison to the overall budgetary allocations and ministries total allocation, their share has decreased. Noting this irony is important as it shows the political commitment of the state.
Lumbar extension exercises in conjunction with mechanical traction for the management of a patient with a lumbar herniated disc

ABSTRACT Low back pain resulting from lumbar disc herniation is a common reason for referral for physical therapy. There is no evidence to support the management of lumbar disc herniation and derangement using mechanical traction combined with lumbar extension exercises. Therefore, the purpose of this case report was to describe and discuss the use of mechanical traction in conjunction with lumbar extension exercises for a patient with a lumbar herniated disc. The patient was a 49-year-old male referred to physical therapy with a medical diagnosis of a lumbar herniated disc at L5-S1 with compression of the L5 nerve root confirmed by MRI. The patient's chief complaint was pain over the left lumbosacral and central lumbar region with radiating pain into the left buttock accompanied by numbness and tingling in the left lower leg and foot. The patient was seen for a total of 14 visits. The first 5 days (2 weeks) of therapy consisted of lumbar extension exercises. For the following nine visits (over a 3-week period), mechanical traction was added as an adjunct to the extension exercises. Outcome measures included the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire, Back Pain Function Scale (BPFS), and the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS). Results from initial evaluation to discharge (Oswestry: 36% to 0%; BPFS: 33/60 to 57/60; NPRS: 7/10 to 0/10) demonstrated that the patient no longer experienced low back pain and improved in terms of functional status and pain-related disability. The patient no longer complained of numbness and tingling in the left lower extremity and the goals for the patient had been attained. The data from this case report suggests lumbar extension exercises in conjunction with mechanical traction facilitated the patient's improvement in pain and return to prior level of function.
When Spectrum Meets Clouds: Optimal Session Based Spectrum Trading under Spectrum Uncertainty

Spectrum trading creates more accessing opportunities for secondary users (SUs) and economically benefits the primary users (PUs). However, it is challenging to implement spectrum trading in multi-hop cognitive radio networks (CRNs) due to harsh cognitive radio (CR) requirements on SUs' devices, uncertain spectrum supply from PUs and complex competition relationship among different CR sessions. Unlike the per-user based spectrum trading designs in previous studies, in this paper, we propose a novel session based spectrum trading system, spectrum clouds, in multi-hop CRNs. In spectrum clouds, we introduce a new service provider, secondary service provider (SSP), to facilitate the accessing of SUs without CR capability and harvest uncertain spectrum supply. The SSP also conducts spectrum trading among CR sessions w.r. t. their conflicts and competitions. Leveraging a 3-dimensional (3-D) conflict graph, we mathematically describe the conflicts and competitions among the candidate sessions for spectrum trading. Given the rate requirements and bidding values of candidate trading sessions, we formulate the optimal spectrum trading into the SSP's revenue maximization problem under multiple cross-layer constraints. In view of the NP-hardness of the problem, we develop heuristic algorithms to pursue feasible solutions. Through extensive simulations, we show that the solutions found by the proposed algorithms are close to the optimal one.