Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in Poly(ADP-Ribosyl)ation Patterns in Workers Exposed to BTX

Occupational exposure to (benzene, toluene and xylene, BTX is common in the Chinese workplace. Chronic occupational exposure to benzene is associated with an increased risk of hematological malignancies such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. This study investigates changes in poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and DNA methylation in subjects occupationally exposed to a BTX. Blood DNA samples and exposure data were obtained from subjects with different levels of exposure, including 132 decorators, 129 painters, and 130 unexposed referents in a container-manufacturing factory in Shenzhen, China. Occupational exposure assessment included personal monitoring of airborne benzene, toluene and xylene. Hematological parameters were measured and the cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) assay was used to detect DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) and poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG), DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) including DNMT1, DNMT3a and DNMT3b, methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2(MBD2). PARP1 assay was used to measure PARP activity. Airborne levels of benzene, toluene and xylene in the two exposed groups were significantly higher than those of controls (P<0.001). The two exposed groups (decorators, painters) showed decreased PARP1, DNMTs and MBD2 expression relative to controls (P<0.05), and PARP activity was also decreased (P<0.05). Decreased PARP1, DNMT1, DNMT3a, DNMT3b and MBD2 mRNA expression was correlated with increased airborne BTX (Pearson's r: −0.587, −0.314, −0.636, −0.567 and −0.592 respectively, P<0.001). No significant differences in hematological parameters and CBMN were found among the three groups. Together, these results suggest that decreased DNMTs, MBD2 and PARP1 might be involved in the global hypomethylation associated with BTX exposure, and the imbalance of PARP/PARG might participate in the down-regulation of DNMTs. This is the first human study to link altered poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation patterns, which reproduce the aberrant epigenetic patterns found in benzene-treated cells, to chronic occupational exposure to BTX.
Analysis of Therapeutic Effect of Ilex hainanensis Merr. Extract on Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease through Urine Metabolite Profiling by Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common form of chronic liver disease, is increased worldwide in parallel with the obesity epidemic. Our previous studies have showed that the extract of I. hainanensis (EIH) can prevent NAFLD in rat fed with high-fat diet. In this work, we aimed to find biomarkers of NAFLD and investigate the therapeutic effects of EIH. NAFLD model was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by high-fat diet. The NAFLD rats were administered EIH orally (250 mg/kg) for two weeks. After the experimental period, samples of 24 h urine were collected and analyzed by ultraperformance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF). Orthogonal partial least squares analysis (OPLSs) models were built to find biomarkers of NAFLD and investigate the therapeutic effects of EIH. 22 metabolites, which are distributed in several metabolic pathways, were identified as potential biomarkers of NAFLD. Taking these biomarkers as screening indexes, EIH could reverse the pathological process of NAFLD through regulating the disturbed pathway of metabolism. The metabolomic results not only supply a systematic view of the development and progression of NAFLD but also provide a theoretical basis for the prevention or treatment of NAFLD.
2016 Ieee International Conference on Big Data (big Data) Distributed and Parallel High Utility Sequential Pattern Mining

—The problem of mining high utility sequential patterns (HUSP) has been studied recently. Existing solutions are mostly memory-based, which assume that data can fit into the main memory of a computer. However, with advent of big data, such an assumption does not hold any longer. Hence, existing algorithms are not applicable to the big data environments, where data are often distributed and too large to be dealt with by a single machine. In this paper, we propose a new framework for mining HUSPs in big data. A distributed and parallel algorithm called BigHUSP is proposed to discover HUSPs efficiently. At its heart, BigHUSP uses multiple MapReduce-like steps to process data in parallel. We also propose a number of pruning strategies to minimize search space in a distributed environment, and thus decrease computational and communication costs, while still maintaining correctness. Our experiments with real life and large synthetic datasets validate the effectiveness of BigHUSP for mining HUSPs from large sequence datasets.
The Effects of the Combination of Cognitive Training and Supported Employment on Improving Clinical and Working Outcomes for People with Schizophrenia in Japan

Background: In Japan, Job assistance for SMI have been not active. Compared with mental retardation, employment rate of SMI was low. The needs of the effective job assistance for SMI are growing. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the combination approach of Cognitive Remediation (CR) and Supported Employment (SE) in clinical outcomes, including cognitive functioning and psychiatric symptoms besides vocational outcomes. Methods: The participants diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were assigned to CR+SE group (n=52) and SE group (n=57). CR comprised computer based trainings using COGPACK and group works. SE was individualized vocational support provided by employment specialists. Outcome measures included cognitive functioning, psychiatric symptoms, social functioning, performance of tasks as clinical outcomes, employment rate, duration of employment, and earned wage as vocational outcome. Results: CR+SE group displayed significantly better psychiatric symptoms (F=3.490, p<.10), interpersonal relations (F=11.695, p<.01), and social and cognitive functioning including verbal memory (F=9.439, p<.01), digit sequencing (F=5.544, p<.05), token motor tasks (F=6.685, p<.05), and overall cognitive functioning (F=8.136, p<.01). We did not find any significant difference between two groups in terms of employment rate and earned wage. Discussions: This is the first controlled study to determine the effectiveness of CR on vocational outcomes in Japan. The results showed that CR and SE programs were feasible in Japan and that CR using COGPACK had favorable effects on cognitive functioning, psychiatric symptoms, and social functioning, which is consistent with previous researches.
Relating Paths in Transition Systems

We revisit Janin and Walukiewicz’s classic result on the expressive completeness of the modal mu-calculus with respect to Monadic Second Order Logic (MSO), which is where the mu-calculus corresponds precisely to the fragment of MSO that is invariant under bisimulation. We show that adding binary relations over finite paths in the picture may alter the situation. We consider a general setting where finite paths of transition systems are linked by means of a fixed binary relation. This setting gives rise to natural extensions of MSO and the mu-calculus, that we call the MSO with paths relation and the jumping mu-calculus, the expressivities of which we aim at comparing. We first show that “bounded-memory” binary relations bring about no additional expressivity to either of the two logics, and thus preserve expressive completeness. In contrast, we show that for a natural, classic “infinite-memory” binary relation stemming from games with imperfect information, the existence of a winning strategy in such games, though expressible in the bisimulation-invariant fragment of MSO with paths relation, cannot be expressed in the jumping mu-calculus. Expressive completeness thus fails for this relation. These results crucially rely on our observation that the jumping mu-calculus has a tree automata counterpart: the jumping tree automata, hence the name of the jumping mu-calculus. We also prove that for observable winning conditions, the existence of winning strategies in games with imperfect information is expressible in the jumping mu-calculus. Finally, we derive from our main theorem that jumping automata cannot be projected, and ATL with imperfect information does not admit expansion laws.
Adaptive rate control algorithm for SHVC: Application to HD/UHD

Scalable video coding consists in compressing the video sequence into a layered bitstream where each layer refers to different spatial, temporal or quality representation of the video. Scalability enables compression gain compared to the simulcast encoding of layers thanks to inter-layer predictions. The scalable HEVC extension (SHVC) is the latest scalable technology promising up to 30% bitrate gains under the common test conditions, defined by JCT-VC. These conditions do not consider UHD and use fixed quantization step, which is not relevant in operational environment. In this paper, we propose an innovative adaptive rate control algorithm for SHVC. We consider HD as a base layer and UHD as an enhancement layer, with a constant global bitrate and a dynamic bitrate ratio adjustment between layers. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a UHD data set where enables on average a BD-BR gain of 4.25% compared to a fixed-ratio encoding.
Restoration of fibroblast growth factor receptor2 suppresses growth and tumorigenicity of malignant human prostate carcinoma PC‐3 cells

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGFRs) expedite stromal–epithelial communication in development and homeostasis of the human prostate. Loss of resident epithelial cell FGFR2IIIb that responds to stromal FGF7 and FGF10 accompanies malignant progression of both model animal and human prostate tumors.
Evaluation of fiber clustering methods for diffusion tensor imaging

Fiber tracking is a standard approach for the visualization of the results of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). If fibers are reconstructed and visualized individually through the complete white matter, the display gets easily cluttered making it difficult to get insight in the data. Various clustering techniques have been proposed to automatically obtain bundles that should represent anatomical structures, but it is unclear which clustering methods and parameter settings give the best results. We propose a framework to validate clustering methods for white-matter fibers. Clusters are compared with a manual classification which is used as a ground truth. For the quantitative evaluation of the methods, we developed a new measure to assess the difference between the ground truth and the clusterings. The measure was validated and calibrated by presenting different clusterings to physicians and asking them for their judgement. We found that the values of our new measure for different clusterings match well with the opinions of physicians. Using this framework, we have evaluated different clustering algorithms, including shared nearest neighbor clustering, which has not been used before for this purpose. We found that the use of hierarchical clustering using single-link and a fiber similarity measure based on the mean distance between fibers gave the best results.
Host Genetics in Granuloma Formation: Human-Like Lung Pathology in Mice with Reciprocal Genetic Susceptibility to M. tuberculosis and M. avium

Development of lung granulomata is a hallmark of infections caused by virulent mycobacteria, reflecting both protective host response that restricts infection spreading and inflammatory pathology. The role of host genetics in granuloma formation is not well defined. Earlier we have shown that mice of the I/St strain are extremely susceptible to Mycobacterium tuberculosis but resistant to M. avium infection, whereas B6 mice show a reversed pattern of susceptibility. Here, by directly comparing: (i) characteristics of susceptibility to two infections in vivo; (ii) architecture of lung granulomata assessed by immune staining; and (iii) expression of genes encoding regulatory factors of neutrophil influx in the lung tissue, we demonstrate that genetic susceptibility of the host largely determines the pattern of lung pathology. Necrotizing granuloma surrounded by hypoxic zones, as well as a massive neutrophil influx, develop in the lungs of M. avium-infected B6 mice and in the lungs of M. tuberculosis-infected I/St mice, but not in the lungs of corresponding genetically resistant counterparts. The mirror-type lung tissue responses to two virulent mycobacteria indicate that the level of genetic susceptibility of the host to a given mycobacterial species largely determines characteristics of pathology, and directly demonstrate the importance of host genetics in pathogenesis.
A new cross-segmented power supply rail for roadway powered electric vehicles

A new cross-segmented power supply rail for roadway powered electric vehicles is proposed in this paper for reducing construction cost and EMF. The proposed rail consists of two pairs of power cables, core, bi-directional power switches, a transformer, capacitors, and harness. Each rail is connected through a switch box, which can change the current direction of a pair of power cables. Hence, adding the current of the two pairs of power cables results in the activation mode while nullifying it does the silence mode. A coupling transformer with two capacitors is introduced to compensate the variable line inductance of the rail due to the change of current direction. Therefore, multiple rails can be concurrently activated by selective turning-on and off the power switches using an inverter. In addition, the EMF for the silence mode drastically is reduced if a twisted pair of power cables is used. The proposed cross-segmented power supply rail was implemented for experiments and verified for practical applications.
Caracterização da clientela da clínica-escola de psicologia da Universidade São Francisco

Objetivou-se caracterizar a clientela que buscou atendimento psicologico na clinica-escola da Universidade Sao Francisco – Campus de Sao Paulo, entre 1995 e 2000, em funcao do genero, faixa etaria, escolaridade e adesao ao tratamento, utilizando-se uma metodologia retrospectiva documental, de consulta aos prontuarios clinicos e as fichas de triagem e um levantamento das queixas apresentadas pelas criancas e adolescentes. Dos 590 pacientes atendidos nesse periodo, 42% pertenciam a faixa etaria de 4-14 anos, 7,5% de 15-19 anos e 50,5%, acima de 20 anos. As principais implicacoes deste estudo dirigemse para a criacao de servicos especificos que atendam a demanda por atendimento psicologico relativa as diversas faixas etarias, especialmente a adolescencia e a terceira idade. Palavras-chave: Caracterizacao da clientela; Clinica-escola; Atendimento psicologico; Triagem psicologica; Saude mental.
Improvement in the performance of P3HT: PCBM based organic photovoltaic cell using DMDCNQI as n type dopant and buffer layer

The critical issues in the improvement of organic photovoltaic cell efficiency are excition rate, charge separation and carrier mobility. Recently, the modification of interface between metal electrode and organic active layer was widely studied in order to obtain high performance device. In general, bulkheterojunction organic photovoltaic cell blended with P3HT as an electron donor and PCBM as an electron acceptor has been used to improve the charge separation [1]. It is well known that dimethyldicyanoquinonediimine(DMDCNQI) reduce contact resistance owing to the formation of highly conducting charge transfer complex in conventional lateral type organic transistor [2], [3]. We have fabricated P3HT:PCBM based organic photovoltaic cell using DMDNCQI as n type dopant and buffer layer in order to improve the back recombination from guest material to host material and the contact resistance between metal electrode and organic active layer. In the present work, we have investigated the electrical properties of organic photovoltaic cell consisting of ITO / PEDOT:PSS / P3HT:PCBM:DMDCNQI / DMDCNQI / Al. Here, DMDCNQI was used as n type dopant having electron acceptor ability and charge transfer complex buffer layer between Al electrode and organic active layer, respectively.
Playing Multiaction Adversarial Games: Online Evolutionary Planning Versus Tree Search

We address the problem of playing turn-based multiaction adversarial games, which include many strategy games with extremely high branching factors as players take multiple actions each turn. This leads to the breakdown of standard tree search methods, including Monte Carlo tree search (MCTS), as they become unable to reach a sufficient depth in the game tree. In this paper, we introduce online evolutionary planning (OEP) to address this challenge, which searches for combinations of actions to perform during a single turn guided by a fitness function that evaluates the quality of a particular state. We compare OEP to different MCTS variations that constrain the exploration to deal with the high branching factor in the turn-based multiaction game Hero Academy. While the constrained MCTS variations outperform the vanilla MCTS implementation by a large margin, OEP is able to search the space of plans more efficiently than any of the tested tree search methods as it has a relative advantage when the number of actions per turn increases.
Awareness coverage control over large scale domains with intermittent communications

In this paper a novel dynamic awareness coverage model is proposed and applied to coverage control over a large-scale task domain for a decentralized multi-vehicle sensor network with intermittent communications and possibly faulty sensors. For each vehicle, an individual state of awareness is defined. The individual vehicle's state of awareness continuously evolves based on the vehicle's motion and is updated at discrete instants whenever the vehicle establishes a new range- based communication link with other vehicles. This information sharing update step aides in reducing the amount of redundant coverage. In this paper we first consider the simplifying assumption where no awareness loss occurs when no sensors are monitoring portions of the domain. This scenario is applicable to some search and rescue/retrieval problems (especially with static victims or objects of interests), domain monitoring, and low level surveillance. Under this assumption, a decentralized control strategy is proposed that guarantees that every point within the task domain will be covered with a satisfactory state of awareness even under intermittent communications and/or faulty sensors. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the novel awareness model and decentralized control law via numerical simulations.
Ties to the Countryside: Accounting for Urbanites Attitudes toward Hunting, Wolves, and Wildlife

Forty years ago Philip M. Hauser (1962) argued that classifying all urbanites without regard to their rural origins ignored the cultural effects of rural life on recreation. A population of urbanites who grew up in rural areas should be more likely to participate in hunting, for example, than multigenerational urbanites, because of the rural cultural influences on hunting. This article extends Hauser’s logic to attitudes toward hunting, wildlife, and wolves. Does where a city resident grew up make any difference? Do contacts with the countryside have an influence on the attitudes of urbanites? This article’s data, based on a national survey of Swedes, show that multigenerational urbanites, those who where born in cities of parents who lived in cities have more negative attitudes toward hunting and toward wolves, and feel that wildlife is less important, in comparison to those with rural experience. Urban residents who had more contact with the countryside had more positive attitudes toward hunting, wildlife, and wolves. As fewer urban Swedes have rural origins, support for wildlife, hunting and wolves may be expected to decline. Cultural or management actions that increase urban residents’ contacts with rural areas could, however, help promote or maintain more positive attitudes toward wildlife-related attitude objects such as hunting and wolves. The authors thank Glenn Fuguitt, Tom Moore, Doris Slesinger, Elizabeth Thomson, Halliman Winsborough, Franklin Wilson, Katherine White, Jerry Vaske and two anonymous reviewers for constructive and insightful comments on previous versions. The authors also thank Åsa Laurell for help with data collection and survey administration. The Fulbright Commission, the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management provided support.
Human Genetic Relevance and Potent Antitumor Activity of Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibition in Canine Lung Adenocarcinoma Cell Lines

Background It has been an open question how similar human and canine lung cancers are. This has major implications in availability of human treatments for dogs and in establishing translational models to test new therapies in pet dogs. The prognosis for canine advanced lung cancer is poor and new treatments are needed. Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is an ATPase-dependent molecular chaperone ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotic cells. HSP90 is essential for posttranslational conformational maturation and stability of client proteins including protein kinases and transcription factors, many of which are important for the proliferation and survival of cancer cells. We investigated the activity of STA-1474, a HSP90 inhibitor, in two canine lung cancer cell lines, BACA and CLAC. Results Comparative genomic hybridization analysis of both cell lines revealed genetic relevance to human non-small cell lung cancer. STA-1474 inhibited growth and induced apoptosis of both cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The ICs50 after 72 h treatment with STA-1474 were 0.08 and 0.11 μM for BACA and CLAC, respectively. When grown as spheroids, the IC50 of STA-1474 for BACA cells was approximately two-fold higher than when grown as a monolayer (0.348 μM vs. 0.168 μM), whereas CLAC spheroids were relatively drug resistant. Treatment of tumor-stromal fibroblasts with STA-1474 resulted in a dose-dependent decrease in their relative cell viability with a low IC50 of 0.28 μM. Conclusions Here we first established that lung adenocarcinoma in people and dogs are genetically and biochemically similar. STA1474 demonstrated biological activity in both canine lung cancer cell lines and tumor-stromal fibroblasts. As significant decreases in relative cell viability can be achieved with nanomolar concentrations of STA-1474, investigation into the clinical efficacy of this drug in canine lung cancer patients is warranted.