Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of VEGF, VEGFR, PDGFR, HIF and ERCC1 gene polymorphisms on thymic malignancies outcome after thymectomy

We aimed to analyze genotypes of VEGF-A, VEGFR2, Flt4, PDGFRα, HIF-1α and ERCC1 and their correlation with thymic tumor risk and patient outcome. DNA of 57 consecutive patients (43 thymomas and 14 thymic carcinomas) who underwent total thymectomy at our Institution was extracted from paraffin-embedded tissue. We selected polymorphisms in the following genes:HIF1-α (rs2057482T > C, rs1951795A > C, rs2301113C > A, rs10873142C > T, rs11158358G > C, rs12434438G > A, rs11549465C > T, rs11549467G > A), VEGF-A (rs2010963G > C, rs699947A > C), VEGFR-2 (rs2305948C > T, rs1870377T > A), VEGFR-3 (rs307826T > C, rs307821C > A), PDGFR-α (rs35597368C > T) and ERCC1 (rs11615A > G). Gene polymorphisms were determined by Real-Time PCR using TaqMan assays. As compared to the general population, the allele frequency of PDGFR-α rs35597368T was significantly higher (95% vs. 87%, p = 0.036), while the frequency of alleles HIF1-α rs2057482C (78% vs. 90%), rs1951795C (69% vs. 87%), rs2301113A (70% vs. 83%), rs10873142T (70% vs. 87%), rs11158358C (75% vs. 88%), rs12434438A (67% vs. 84%) were significantly lower. VEGFR-3 rs307821C frequency was significantly higher in thymomas vs. thymic carcinomas (79% vs. 72%, p = 0.0371). The following factors were significantly correlated with a longer overall survival: VEGFR-3 rs307826C, VEGFR-2 rs1870377A, PDGFR-α rs35597368T/C, HIF1-α rs2301113C, rs2057482C/T, rs1951795C, rs11158358G/C and rs10873142T/C, ERCC1 rs11615A (p < 0.05). Our results suggest, for the first time, that PDGFR-α, HIF-1α and VEGFR-3 SNPs are associated with thymic cancer risk and survival.
Traffic Induced Reflective Cracking on Pavements with Geogrid-Reinforced Asphalt Concrete Overlay

Abstact The progress of reflective cracking on geogrid-reinforced asphalt overlay on cracked rigid pavements was investigated by iterative analysis of three-dimensional finite element models. The model consisted of Winkler subgrade, jointed concrete slabs, bonded interfaces between layers, equivalent geogrid layers with membrane elements, and asphalt overlays. Cracking path was predicted according to fatigue life prediction of all parts of the model. The repetitions at all cracking stages that compose the entire cracking process were summed up to estimate the service life of geogrid-reinforced overlay. Geogrid position, overlay thickness, PCC slab integrity, and asphalt concrete stiffness were varied to model 18 analysis cases. Three basic types of reflective cracking propagation were all identified with the 18 FEM analyses. Most cases cracked from bottom, whereas top-down cracking were found likely happening with the condition of relatively soft overlay stiffness or very thick overlay. Placing the geogrid at the 1/3 depth of overlay thickness had the maximum predicted service life. The strength of geogrid does not affect overlay performance significantly.
Populist political right opinions and political trust among Norwegian youth

ABSTRACT Recent decades have seen the growth of various strands of right-wing populist political orientations, where populism and critique of immigration policies have been central. These ideological developments have caused concern for the legitimacy of social and political institutions. The question explored in this paper, based on Norwegian survey data, is ‘Which types of right political orientations exist among young people, and how do these political attitudes affect trust in social and political institutions? ’ The results reveal the existence of both a populist ‘new right’ political orientation similar to the ideology of the Progress Party and a nativist ideology. The new right orientation contains two sets of variables: (i) economic liberalism/state scepticism and (ii) nationalist values. For trust in political institutions, the emerging picture is complex because the nationalist dimension of both the populist orientation and the nativist ideological orientation implies a high level of trust in political institutions. To the extent the new right political orientations causes mistrust, it seems to come from the liberal economic, anti-statist values included in this ideology. Based on these findings, future researchers should distinguish more clearly between the ideological dimensions going into populist political right orientations and the relationship between attitudes and more practical implications of such ideologies.
Clinical profile of autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease

Most reports on the natural history, manifestations, and treatment of polycystic liver disease are based on the disease as it manifests in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). The purpose of this study was to develop a clinical profile of isolated autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease (ADPLD) using nonaffected family members as controls. The study included 146 probands, known affected relatives, and first‐degree relatives of affected individuals. Participants underwent a formalized medical history interview and physical examination, ultrasonographic examination of the liver and kidneys, magnetic resonance angiography of the brain, and echocardiography. Thirty‐eight of the 49 individuals diagnosed with polycystic liver disease before participation in the study were or had been symptomatic. Of 97 previously undiagnosed at‐risk individuals, 23 were affected, 39 were unaffected, and 35 were indeterminate. Compared with patients with a negative or indeterminate diagnosis, those with polycystic liver disease had slightly higher levels of serum alkaline phosphatase and total bilirubin and lower levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides. Female patients had a significantly higher mean cyst score than male patients. The cysts were found to arise from the dilatation of biliary microhamartomas and from peribiliary glands. Structural mitral leaflet abnormalities were detected more frequently in affected than in indeterminate or nonaffected individuals. A vascular phenotype was detected in 5.6% of the patients with isolated ADPLD diagnosed clinically and/or by linkage analysis but in none of the unaffected patients. In conclusion, isolated ADPLD is underdiagnosed and genetically distinct from polycystic liver disease associated with ADPKD but with similar pathogenesis, manifestations, and management.
Defining genetic interaction

Sometimes mutations in two genes produce a phenotype that is surprising in light of each mutation's individual effects. This phenomenon, which defines genetic interaction, can reveal functional relationships between genes and pathways. For example, double mutants with surprisingly slow growth define synergistic interactions that can identify compensatory pathways or protein complexes. Recent studies have used four mathematically distinct definitions of genetic interaction (here termed Product, Additive, Log, and Min). Whether this choice holds practical consequences has not been clear, because the definitions yield identical results under some conditions. Here, we show that the choice among alternative definitions can have profound consequences. Although 52% of known synergistic genetic interactions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae were inferred according to the Min definition, we find that both Product and Log definitions (shown here to be practically equivalent) are better than Min for identifying functional relationships. Additionally, we show that the Additive and Log definitions, each commonly used in population genetics, lead to differing conclusions related to the selective advantages of sexual reproduction.
Isophotal Structure and Dust Distribution in Radio-loud Elliptical Galaxies

We investigate isophotal properties and dust morphology in the nuclear regions of 84 radio galaxies, imaged in the optical and near-infrared as part of Hubble Space Telescope snapshot surveys. We present a sample-wide trend between host galaxy isophotal structure and the inclination of dusty circumnuclear disks at the centers of 13 of these objects. We find that galaxies containing edge-on disks are invariably seen to possess boxy isophotes, while round, face-on disks are seen exclusively in objects with round or elliptical isophotes. Dust-rich sources with disky isophotes are observed only to possess dust in the form of extended filamentary lanes, and not in settled distributions like disks. As we do not expect that edge-on and face-on disks reside in different populations of galaxies, we conclude that perceived isophotal boxiness is dependent on the angle at which the observer views the host galaxy's axis of symmetry. We discuss our results in the context of dissipative merger scenarios, and infer that dusty disks primarily reside in old, boxy remnants of gas-poor galaxy mergers, whereas filamentary dust lanes reside in younger disky remnants of gas-rich mergers.
Structure-Activity Relationships of Novel Salicylaldehyde Isonicotinoyl Hydrazone (SIH) Analogs: Iron Chelation, Anti-Oxidant and Cytotoxic Properties

Salicylaldehyde isonicotinoyl hydrazone (SIH) is a lipophilic, tridentate iron chelator with marked anti-oxidant and modest cytotoxic activity against neoplastic cells. However, it has poor stability in an aqueous environment due to the rapid hydrolysis of its hydrazone bond. In this study, we synthesized a series of new SIH analogs (based on previously described aromatic ketones with improved hydrolytic stability). Their structure-activity relationships were assessed with respect to their stability in plasma, iron chelation efficacy, redox effects and cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cells. Furthermore, studies assessed the cytotoxicity of these chelators and their ability to afford protection against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative injury in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. The ligands with a reduced hydrazone bond, or the presence of bulky alkyl substituents near the hydrazone bond, showed severely limited biological activity. The introduction of a bromine substituent increased ligand-induced cytotoxicity to both cancer cells and H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. A similar effect was observed when the phenolic ring was exchanged with pyridine (i.e., changing the ligating site from O, N, O to N, N, O), which led to pro-oxidative effects. In contrast, compounds with long, flexible alkyl chains adjacent to the hydrazone bond exhibited specific cytotoxic effects against MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cells and low toxicity against H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. Hence, this study highlights important structure-activity relationships and provides insight into the further development of aroylhydrazone iron chelators with more potent and selective anti-neoplastic effects.
MCPath: Effectively Query the Structure Data in the Multidimensional Moving Object Network

Aimed at the amount of aggregation graphs produced by the dimension which the user is interesting on the multidimensional moving object network. By introducing the idea of graph index, we put forward of the structure data query algorithm MCPath to solve the problem of querying the interesting structure data on specific dimension. MCPath algorithm decomposes the query structure to the shortest paths, and then joins those candidate paths, finally, generates the structural data which the user need to query. The algorithm changes the former method of query only one node once to the method of query one path once, reduces the times of querying structure data, and quickens the speed of querying the structural data.
Skeletal Muscle FOXO1 (FKHR) Transgenic Mice Have Less Skeletal Muscle Mass, Down-regulated Type I (Slow Twitch/Red Muscle) Fiber Genes, and Impaired Glycemic Control*[boxs]

FOXO1, a member of the FOXO forkhead type transcription factors, is markedly up-regulated in skeletal muscle in energy-deprived states such as fasting and severe diabetes, but its functions in skeletal muscle have remained poorly understood. In this study, we created transgenic mice specifically overexpressing FOXO1 in skeletal muscle. These mice weighed less than the wild-type control mice, had a reduced skeletal muscle mass, and the muscle was paler in color. Microarray analysis revealed that the expression of many genes related to the structural proteins of type I muscles (slow twitch, red muscle) was decreased. Histological analyses showed a marked decrease in size of both type I and type II fibers and a significant decrease in the number of type I fibers in the skeletal muscle of FOXO1 mice. Enhanced gene expression of a lysosomal proteinase, cathepsin L, which is known to be up-regulated during skeletal muscle atrophy, suggested increased protein degradation in the skeletal muscle of FOXO1 mice. Running wheel activity (spontaneous locomotive activity) was significantly reduced in FOXO1 mice compared with control mice. Moreover, the FOXO1 mice showed impaired glycemic control after oral glucose and intraperitoneal insulin administration. These results suggest that FOXO1 negatively regulates skeletal muscle mass and type I fiber gene expression and leads to impaired skeletal muscle function. Activation of FOXO1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia, the age-related decline in muscle mass in humans, which leads to obesity and diabetes.
Artificial Crab Burrows Facilitate Desalting of Rooted Mangrove Sediment in a Microcosm Study.

Water uptake by mangrove trees can result in salt accumulation in sediment around roots, negatively influencing growth. Tidal pumping facilitates salt release and can be enhanced by crab burrows. Similarly, flushing of burrows by incoming tidal water decreases sediment salinity. In contrast to burrows with multiple entrances, the role of burrows with one opening for salinity reduction is largely unknown. In a microcosm experiment we studied the effect of artificial, burrow-like macro-pores with one opening on the desalting of mangrove sediment and growth of Rhizophora mangle L. seedlings. Sediment salinity, seedling leaf area and seedling growth were monitored over six months. Artificial burrows facilitated salt release from the sediment after six weeks, but seedling growth was not influenced. To test whether crab burrows with one opening facilitate salt release in mangrove forests, sediment salinities were measured in areas with and without R. mangle stilt roots in North Brazil at the beginning and end of the wet season. In addition, burrows of Ucides cordatus were counted. High crab burrow densities and sediment salinities were associated with stilt root occurrence. Precipitation and salt accumulation by tree roots seem to have a larger effect on sediment salinity than desalting by U. cordatus burrows.
Receptor-Heteromer Investigation Technology and its application using BRET

Receptor heteromerization has the potential to alter every facet of receptor functioning, leading to new pharmacological profiles with increased signaling diversity and regulation from that of the monomeric receptor, or indeed receptor homomer. An understanding of the molecular consequences of receptor heteromerization will provide new insights into the physiology and pathology mediated by receptors, expanding the possibilities for pharmacological discovery. Particularly advantageous approaches to investigate novel heteromer pharmacology utilize cell-based assay technologies that assess ligand-dependent functional responses specific to the receptor heteromer. Importantly, this allows for differentiation of heteromer-specific pharmacology from pharmacology associated with the co-expressed receptor monomers and homomers. The Receptor-Heteromer Investigation Technology (Receptor-HIT) successfully employs a proximity-based reporter system, such as bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET), in a configuration that enables determination of such heteromer-specific pharmacology. Therefore, Receptor-HIT provides a simple, robust and versatile approach for investigating the elusive “biochemical fingerprint” of receptor heteromers.
Multi-Core Parallel Routing for FPGAs

We consider coarse and fine-grained techniques for parallel FPGA routing on modern multi-core processors. In the coarse-grained approach, sets of design signals are assigned to different processor cores and routed concurrently. Communication between cores is through the MPI (message passing interface) communications protocol. In the fine-grained approach, the task of routing of an individual load pin on a signal is parallelized using threads. Specifically, as FPGA routing resources are traversed during maze expansion, delay calculation, costing and priority queue insertion for these resources execute concurrently. The proposed techniques provide deterministic/repeatable results. Moreover, the coarse and fine-grained approaches are not mutually exclusive and can be used in tandem. Results show that on a 4-core processor, the techniques improve router run-time by ∼2.1×, on average, with no significant impact on circuit speed performance or interconnect resource usage.
Performance Analysis of Efficient RSA Text Encryption Using NVIDIA CUDA-C and OpenCL

Computer security relies on cryptography as a means to protect the data that we people have become increasingly reliant on. The main research in computer security domain is how to enhance the speed of RSA algorithm. The computing capability of Graphic Processing Unit as a co-processor of the CPU can leverage massive-parallelism. CUDA and OpenCL are the two programming interfaces used for this purpose. CUDA is specific to NVIDIA GPU's and OpenCL provides a portable language that can program CPU, GPU and other devices from different vendors too. This paper presents RSA algorithm as a source for comparing the performance of CUDA and OpenCL. First the traditional algorithm is studied. Secondly, the parallelized RSA algorithm is designed for both Nvidia CUDA and OpenCL framework. Thirdly, the designed algorithm is realized for small and large prime numbers on CUDA, OpenCL and C and performance gap is concluded. So, the main fundamental problem of RSA algorithm such as speed and use of poor or small prime numbers resulting in significant security holes, despite the RSA algorithm's mathematical soundness can be alleviated by GPU programming. Decision depends which programming interface is to use depending upon the various factors such as prior familiarity with the existing system, availability of development tools to target the GPU hardware, performance and portable programming language.
Overview of fine granularity scalability in MPEG-4 video standard

Streaming video profile is the subject of an Amendment of MPEG-4, and is developed in response to the growing need on a video coding standard for streaming video over the Internet. It provides the capability to distribute single-layered frame-based video over a wide range of bit rates with high coding efficiency. It also provides fine granularity scalability (FGS), and its combination with temporal scalability, to address a variety of challenging problems in delivering video over the Internet. This paper provides an overview of the FGS video coding technique in this Amendment of the MPEG-4.
Analysis of open answers via mediated peer-assessment

The analysis and grading of open answers (i.e. answers to open-ended questions) is a powerful means to model the state of knowledge and cognitive level of students in e-learning systems. In a previous work (presented at last SPEL workshop) we showed an approach to open answers grading, based on Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) and peer assessment, where students were defined as triples of finite-domain variables: K for student's Knowledge about the question's topic, C for Correctness of her/his answer, and J for her/his estimated ability to evaluate (“Judge”) another peer's answer. The CLP Prolog module supported the grading process helping eventually to get a complete set of grades although the teacher had actually graded only a (substantial indeed) part of them. Here we try and tackle the problem of grading open answers by an alternative approach, using peer-assessment in a social collaborative e-learning setting, mediated by the teacher through a simple Bayesian-networks-based model, that allows managing student models (based on the same finite-domain variables as above) and producing again automated evaluations of those answers that have not been graded by the teacher. In particular we give an account of the OpenAnswer web-based system, which can allow teachers and students to use our approach, and show the result of some experimentation we conducted.
Experience Report: Detecting Poor-Responsive UI in Android Applications

Good user interface (UI) design is key to successful mobile apps. UI latency, which can be considered as the time between the commencement of a UI operation and its intended UI update, is a critical consideration for app developers. Current literature still lacks a comprehensive study on how much UI latency a user can tolerate or how to identify UI design defects that cause intolerably long UI latency. As a result, bad UI apps are still common in app markets, leading to extensive user complaints. This paper examines user expectations of UI latency, anddevelops a tool to pinpoint intolerable UI latency in Android apps. To this end, we design an app to conduct a user survey of app UI latency. Through the survey, we find the tendency between user patience and UI latency. Therefore a timely screen update (e.g., loading animations) is critical to heavy-weighted UI operations (i.e. those that incur a long execution time before the final UI update is available). We then design a tool that, by monitoring the UI inputs and updates, can detect apps that do not follow this criterion. The survey and the tool are open-source released on-line. We also apply the tool to many real-world apps. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool in combating app UI design defects.
Corticotropin-releasing factor within the central nucleus of the amygdala mediates enhanced ethanol self-administration in ethanol-dependent rats during withdrawal.

Alcohol dependence is characterized by excessive consumption, loss of control over intake, and the presence of a withdrawal syndrome, including both motivational and physical symptoms. The motivational symptoms, including anxiety, have been hypothesized to be important factors eliciting excessive drinking during abstinence. Previous work has shown that ethanol-dependent rats also display enhanced anxiety-like behaviors and enhanced ethanol self-administration during withdrawal, likely resulting from dysregulation of brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) stress systems. The present study was designed to explore the brain sites within the extended amygdala [central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), and nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh)] that mediate the increased ethanol self-administration observed during withdrawal. Ethanol-dependent animals showed an increase in ethanol self-administration after acute withdrawal relative to nondependent controls. consumption in ethanol-dependent animals.
3D Reconstruction Based on Epipolar Geometry

In this paper, we propose a new method for 3D reconstruction from three cameras based on the projective geometry. If the subject is just synthesizing images from new viewpoint, 3D shape reconstruction in Euclidean space is not required, and projective reconstruction gives enough information to synthesize new viewpoint images. This means that full calibration is not needed but recovery of epipolar geometry between input cameras is sufficient. In the proposed method, three input camera images are rectified so that the vertical and horizontal directions can be completely aligned to the epipolar planes between the cameras. This rectification provides Projective Voxel Space(PVS); in which the three axis is aligned with the camera's projection direction. Such alignement simplifies the procedure for projection and back projection between the 3D space and the image planes. Taking advantage of this PVS, we apply shape-from-silhouette in the PVS to acquire bounding space of the object. The consistency of color value between the projected pixel in the camera images is evaluated for final determination of the object surface voxel.