Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of two novel mutations in the CFTR gene: 3007 del G and 3271 +1 G→A

The cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, the gene which when mutated causes symptoms of the disease, cystic fibrosis, was isolated in 1989 (Kerem et al., 1989; Riordan et al., 1989; Rommens et al., 1989). Its 27 exons span over 230 kb on the long arm of chromosome 7 and in addition to the most common mutation, the AF508 deletion, more than 400 other molecular defects have been reported through the Cystic Fibrosis Genetics Analysis Consortium (personal communication). Most of these mutations are very rare and their occurrence is particular to geographic or ethnic origin of CF patients (Tsui, 1992). To gain an understanding of the precise distribution of these mutations is an important prerequisite in the improvement of genetic counselling as well as genetic diagnosis of CF. In our ongoing effort to identify uncharacterized CFTR alleles, we have scanned the entire coding sequence of CF patients, which were carrying an unidentified allele using DGGE and DNA sequencing. In this paper we report the description of two novel mutations and the clinical symptoms associated with these genotypes found in CF patients of French origin.
Richness of random multipath fields in waveguides

The richness of random multipath fields are studied in a sphere located in a 3-D waveguide. The multipath fields are represented by superposition of weighted orthonormal basis functions in an infinite-dimensional linear vector space. The truncation error of multipath fields is studied to find the number of orthonormal basis functions that can essentially build the field, and we find that only the radius of sphere wherein the multipath fields are measured has an influence on it. Then the stochastic waveguide environment is considered to study the richness of the random multipath fields. The Karhunen-Loeve (KL) expansion is used to quantify the richness of random multipath fields by providing a set of eigenvalues. We define the richness as the number of significant eigenvalues that account for 99% of the summation of total eigenvalues. We set reflection coefficient and slope angle of boundaries be random variables to create stochastic waveguide environment, and the richness is shown by plotting the distribution of eigenvalues obtained from KL the expansion.
Markovian master equations: a critical study

We derive Markovian master equations for single and interacting harmonic systems in different scenarios, including strong internal coupling. By comparing the dynamics resulting from the corresponding master equations with numerical simulations of the global system's evolution, we delimit their validity regimes and assess the robustness of the assumptions usually made in the process of deriving the reduced Markovian dynamics. The results of these illustrative examples serve to clarify the general properties of other open quantum system scenarios subject to treatment within a Markovian approximation.
A single-reagent manual method for directly determining urea nitrogen in serum.

A direct method is described, in which a single reagent is used without deproteinization, for measuring blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in serum. The reagent is a mixture of diacetylmonoxime, antipyrine (phenazone), and arsenic pentoxide in acid solution. Lipemia, bilirubin to 25 mg/100 ml, hemoglobin to lg/100 ml, and protein to 20g/100 ml do not affect the results. Beer’s law is followed at 460 nm for BUN concentrations as great as 100 mg/100 ml. The direct method compares favorably with a manual urease— Berthelot color method and with the diacetylmonoxime procedure as automated for the Technicon SMA 6/60. The method (CV, 6.7%) can be completed in less than 20 mm. The reagent is stable for at least two months.
A single-carrier frequency-domain SDMA basestation

Two major technical challenges in the design of future broadband wireless networks are the impairments of the propagation channel and the need for spectral efficiency. We previously proposed a combined OFDM/SDMA approach that mitigates the channel impairments by orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with cyclic prefix insertion and that achieves a high spectral efficiency by space division multiple access (SDMA). However, because of the multicarrier modulation, this approach requires high-backoff power amplifiers in the analog frontend. We present a SC-FD-SDMA basestation, which avoids these expensive amplifiers by using constant-envelope single-carrier (SC) modulation and still features the advantages of frequency-domain (FD) multipath mitigation and SDMA. We pay special attention to the initialization of such basestation and its fixed point requirements, since they are critical aspects of any realistic implementation. A case-study shows how SC-FD-SDMA enables a 100 Mbps wireless LAN with a bandwidth efficiency of 8 bps/Hz and an uncoded BER of 10/sup -3/ at 13.5 dB.
DeviceGuard: External Device-Assisted System And Data Security

This thesis addresses the threat that personal computer faced from malware when the personal computer is connected to the Internet. Traditional host-based security approaches, such as anti-virus scanning protect the host from virus, worms, Trojans and other malwares. One of the issues of the host-based security approaches is that when the operating system is compromised by the malware, the antivirus software also becomes vulnerable. In this thesis, we present a novel approach through using an external device to enhance the host security by offloading the security solution from the host to the external device. We describe the design of the DeviceGuard framework that separate the security solution from the host and offload it to the external device, a Trusted Device. The architecture of the DeviceGuard consists of two components, the DeviceGuard application on the Trusted Device and a DeviceGuard daemon on the host. Our prototype based on Android Development Phone (ADP) shows the feasibilities and efficiency of our approach to provide security features including system file and user data integrity monitoring, secure signing and secure decryption. We use Bluetooth as the communication protocol between the host and the Trusted Device. Our experiment results indicates a practical Bluetooth throughput at about 2M Bytes per second is sufficient for short range communication between the host and the Trusted Device; Message digest with SHA-512, digital signing with 1024 bits signature and secure decryption with AES 256 bits on the Trusted device takes only the scale of 101 and 103 ms for 1K bytes and 1M bytes respectively which are also shows the feasibility and efficiency of the DeviceGuard solution. We also investigated the use of embedded system as the Trusted Device. Our solution takes advantage of the proliferation of devices, such as Smartphone, for stronger system and data security.
Monitoring cryoablation lesions with quantitative ultrasound elastography: A feasibility study

Percutaneous cryoablation (CA) is a minimally invasive approach where pathological areas are ablated by freezing them with a needle-shaped instrument inserted through the skin of the patient. CA requires image guidance to correctly reach the target lesion since the operator cannot directly see the area of intervention. Ultrasound (US) guidance is commonly used in percutaneous needle based procedures but the image quality is lower compared to other modalities and is user-dependent. On the other hand, US provides inexpensive, portable and real-time images and is harmless for the patient and operator. Unfortunately, in the case of CA the strong reflections and shadows in the US images caused by the ice-ball make the monitoring of the full coverage of the pathological area very difficult. One of the more promising developments in the US imaging is elastography, that could be used to improve the monitoring of the ablation area. US elastography has been already successfully applied to monitor other type of percutaneous ablation based on heat sources. The quality of US data during CA treatment makes very difficult to use elastography. In this work we show results of an ex-vivo animal experiment that proves the feasibility of using US elastography to monitor the frozen zone after the complete thawing of the tissue.
Modified resazurin reduction test for determining the fertility potential of bovine spermatozoa.

The objective of this study was to determine if reduction of the dye resazurin by bovine sperm is associated with the concentration of motile and progressively motile sperm. Metabolically active sperm reduce resazurin (blue color) to resorufin (pink color) and upon further reduction to dihydroresorufin (white color). A total of 68 semen samples from 20 Limousin bulls were collected using electroejaculation. The concentration of motile and progressively motile sperm was determined. Resazurin was added to each semen sample (8.8 microgram/mL semen), samples were then incubated at 37 degrees C for a maximum of 15 min, and visual color changes indicative of dye reduction were noted. Samples were identified as having either low fertility potential (< 200 x 10(6)/mL motile sperm and < 100 x 10(6)/mL progressively motile sperm) or high fertility potential (> or = 200 x 10(6)/mL motile sperm and > or = 100 x 10(6)/mL progressively motile sperm). Assessment of the reduction of resazurin from blue to pink (< or = 3.5 min) allowed identification of 88% of the low and 94% of the high fertility potential samples. In addition, the reduction of resazurin from blue to white (< 15 min) resulted in identification of 82% of the low and 76% of the high fertility potential samples. The modified resazurin reduction test is useful for determining the fertility potential of bovine spermatozoa.
Incorporating topical support documents into a small training set in text categorization

This paper explores the incorporation of topical support documents into a training set as a means of compensating for a shortage of positive training data in text categorization. To support topical representation, our method applies a simple transformation to documents, i.e., making new documents from existing positive documents by squaring a conventional term weight. The topical support documents thus created not only are expected to preserve the topic, but even improve the topical representation by emphasizing terms with higher weights. Experiments with support vector machines showed the effectiveness on RCV1 collection with a small number of positive training data. Our topical support representation achieved 52.01% and 8.83% improvements for 33 and 56 categories of RCV1 Topic in micro-averaged F1 with less than 100 and 300 positive documents in learning, respectively. Result analyses based on robustness indicate that topical support documents contribute to a steady and stable improvement.
Differences in end‐of‐life communication for children with advanced cancer who were referred to a palliative care team

There is a general consensus that involving a specialized palliative care team in the care of children with advanced cancer can help optimize end‐of‐life communication; however, how this compares to standard oncology care is still unknown. We aimed to determine whether there was an association between specialist palliative care involvement and improved end‐of‐life communication for children with advanced cancer and their families.
Modern Authentication Techniques in Smart Phones: Security and Usability Perspective

A smartphone has more advanced computing ability and connectivity than basic featured phones. Presently, we are moving from the Internet society to a mobile society where more and more access to the information is required. This has resulted in a mobile security which is no longer immanent, but imperative. Smartphone authentication has received substantial attention of the research community for the past several years because there have been modern developments beyond the classical PINs and passwords making user authentication more challenging. In this paper, we critically analyze the attacks and the vulnerabilities in smartphones’ authentication mechanisms. A comparative analysis of different authentication techniques along with the usage of the different authentication methods is discussed which lead the end-user towards choosing the most suitable and customizable authentication technique.
cDNA Cloning of a Mannose-Binding Lectin-Associated Serine Protease (MASP) Gene from Hagfish (Eptatretus burgeri)

Abstract Hagfish, agnathan cyclostome, is the most primitive extant vertebrate and its complement (C) system seems to be a primordial system in comparison with a well-developed C system in gnathostome vertebrates. From a phylogenic perspective of defense mechanisms, we have isolated complement C3 from the serum of hagfish (Eptatretus burgeri). In this study, we first attempted to identify a hagfish Bf or C2 as a C3 convertase by RT-PCR using degenerative primers designed on the basis of the conserved amino acid stretches among the several kinds of serine proteases. Contrary to our expectation, homology search of cloned RT-PCR product suggested that there was a partial cDNA encoding the homologue of neither Bf nor C2 but a mannose-binding lectin-associated serine protease (MASP). Analyses of a full-length cDNA clone isolated from a hagfish liver cDNA library by using the partial cDNA as a probe indicated that this cDNA encoded hagfish MASP 1. This evidence strongly suggests that the hagfish defends itself against pathogens at least by the complement system composed of lectin pathway.
Image reconstruction in regions-of-interest from truncated projections in a reduced fan-beam scan

In a reduced fan-beam scan, the scanned angular range is smaller than that in a short scan (i.e., a half-scan). In this work, we have developed a new algorithm, which is referred to as the backprojection-filtration (BPF) algorithm, for exact image reconstruction within ROIs from reduced-scan data containing truncations. Explicit conditions on data acquisition have also been derived for exact image reconstruction within an ROI. We have performed a preliminary quantitative study whose results demonstrated and verified the proposed fan-beam BPF algorithm and the derived conditions on data acquisition. The proposed BPF algorithm can have significant implications for clinical and animal CT imaging, therapy imaging, electron paramagnetic resonance imaging and other tomographic imaging because it allows for reconstruction from truncated data and for a potentially drastic reduction of radiation dose and/or of imaging time.
RHEOMETRIC STUDY OF PARTICLE-PARTICLE INTERACTIONS IN SUSPENSIONS.

Gillespie's development of the Goodeve impulse theory of suspension viscosity leads to a relationship that explicitly gives the particle–particle interaction energy as a function of a number of variables. Studies with a concentric cylinder rotational viscometer have demonstrated the usefulness of this theory in providing quantitative insight into the roles played by the dispersed phase, the solvent phase, and the interface in the aggregation behavior of suspensions. Silica suspensions in dibutyl phthalate, hexadecane, mineral oil, ethylene glycol, and mixtures of these solvents have been investigated with and without varying amounts of different surface-active agents, including water. In some cases, the data have been correlated with the sedimentation behavior of the suspensions.
Secure browser architecture based on hardware virtualization

Ensuring the entire code base of a browser to deal with the security concerns of integrity and confidentiality is a daunting task. The basic method is to split it into different components and place each of them in its own protection domain. OS processes are the prevalent isolation mechanism to implement the protection domain, which result in expensive context-switching overheads produced by Inter-Process Communication (TPC). Besides, the dependences of multiple web instance processes on a single set of privileged ones reduce the entire concurrency. In this paper, we present a secure browser architecture design based on processor virtualization technique. First, we divide the browser code base into privileged components and constrained components which consist of distrusted web page Tenderer components and plugins. All constrained components are in the form of shared object (SO) libraries. Second, we create an isolated execution environment for each distrusted shared object library using the hardware virtualization support available in modern Intel and AMD processors. Different from the current researches, we design a custom kernel module to gain the hardware virtualization capabilities. Third, to enhance the entire security of browser, we implement a validation mechanism to check the OS resources access from distrusted web page Tenderer to the privileged components. Our validation rules is similar with Google chrome. By utilizing VMENTER and VMEXIT which are both CPU instructions, our approach can gain a better system performance substantially.
Does Self-reporting Facilitate History Taking in Food Poisoning Mass-casualty Incidents?

Abstract Introduction Medical history is an important contributor to diagnosis and patient management. In mass-casualty incidents (MCIs), health care providers are often overwhelmed by large numbers of casualties. An efficient, reliable, and affordable method of information collection is essential for effective health care response. Hypothesis/Problem In some MCIs, self-reporting of symptoms can decrease the time required for history taking, without sacrificing the completeness of triage information. Methods Two resident doctors and a number of seventh graders who had previous experience of abdominal discomfort were invited to join this study. A questionnaire was developed to collect information on common symptoms in food poisoning. Each question was scored, and enrolled students were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group students answered the questionnaire first and then were interviewed to complete the medical history. The control group students were interviewed in the traditional way to collect medical history. Time of all interviews was measured and recorded. The time needed to complete the history taking and completeness of obtained information were compared with students’ t tests, or Mann-Whitney U tests, based on the normality of data. Comprehensibility of each question, scored by enrolled students, was reported by descriptive statistics. Results There were 41 students enrolled: 22 in the experimental group and 19 in the control group. Time to complete history taking in the experimental group (163.0 seconds, SD=52.3) was shorter than that in the control group (198.7 seconds, SD=40.9) (P=.010). There was no difference in the completeness of history obtained between the experimental group and the control group (94.8%, SD=5.0 vs 94.2%, SD=6.1; P=.747). Between the two doctors, no significant difference was found in the time required for history taking (185.2 seconds, SD=42.2 vs 173.1 seconds, SD=58.6; P=.449), or the completeness of information (94.1%, SD=5.9 vs 95.0%, SD=5.0; P=.601). Most of the questions were scored “good” in comprehensibility. Conclusion Self-reporting of symptoms can shorten the time of history taking during a food poisoning mass-casualty event without sacrificing the completeness of information. HsuY, HuangYC. Does self-reporting facilitate history taking in food poisoning mass-casualty incidents? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(4):1-4 .
Left Ventriculotomy for Closure of Muscular Ventricular Septal Defects: Treatment of Choice

AbstractClosure of muscular ventricular septal defects (VSDs) through the right atriotomy or right ventriculotomy may be difficult. These VSDs are often located behind the hypertrophied trabeculae carnae or papillary muscle. Residual or recurrent VSD may result from the difficult approach. Between March 1971 and December 1975, we have used the left ventriculotomy near the apex for closure of muscular VSDs in ten children. The patients' ages ranged from five months to eight years and three months. The diagnosis was established by cardiac catheterisation and left ventricular angiocardiogram in all patients. Six patients had multiple VSDs; in four patients VSD in the muscular septum was present (three apical, one midseptal). Operations were performed on cardiopulmonary bypass with moderate hypothermia and intermittent anoxic arrest. VSDs in the membranous septum were closed through the right atrium. Muscular VSDs were approached through a small vertical incision in the left ventricle near the apex. The postoperative course was uneventful in eight patients. Two patients, aged 16 months and eight years, died; histology showed grade IV pulmonary vascular disease in both. All survivors are well, four months to five years after the operation, without clinical evidence of residual or recurrent VSD.
Feature based dense disparity estimation

Dense disparity estimation for stereo imaging is an important building block for several computer vision applications. Feature based disparity estimation technique provides disparity at only few of the known feature points and thus does not give a good estimate of the complete region. In this paper, a novel framework of dense disparity estimation using feature correspondences are proposed, which employs image segmentation and feature based segment matching technique as the core methodology. It avoids any optimization technique and is thus not an NP-hard problem. The initial features obtained using SURF detector is used for matching segments indirectly. Segments which do not contain any feature point are matched via epipolar constraint by randomly selecting keypoints in the reference image. The proposed technique has been compared with local window based matching technique and found to provide better texture conservation in the resultant dense image. The proposed algorithm sets a new mechanism for computing dense depth from sparse disparity points which though requires further improvement in terms of accuracy.
Bilaterally symmetrical rhopalial nervous system of the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora

Cubomedusae, or box jellyfish, have the most elaborate visual system of all cnidarians. They have 24 eyes of four morphological types, distributed on four sensory structures called rhopalia. Box jellyfish also display complex, probably visually guided behaviors such as obstacle avoidance and fast directional swimming. Here we describe the strikingly complex and partially bilaterally symmetrical nervous system found in each rhopalium of the box jellyfish, Tripedalia cystophora, and present the rhopalial neuroanatomy in an atlas‐like series of drawings. Discrete populations of neurons and commissures connecting the left and the right side along with two populations of nonneuronal cells were visualized using several different histochemical staining techniques and electron microscopy. The number of rhopalial nerve cells and their overall arrangement indicates that visual processing and integration at least partly happen within the rhopalia. The larger of the two nonneuronal cell populations comprises ∼2,000 likely undifferentiated cells and may support a rapid cell turnover in the rhopalial nervous system. J. Morphol. , 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.