Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploração de métodos de sumarização automática multidocumento com base em conhecimento semântico-discursivo

The multi-document summarization aims at producing a summary from a set of related texts to be used for an individual or/and a particular task. Nowadays, with the exponential growth of available information and the people‟s need to obtain information in a short time, the task of automatic summarization has received wide attention. It is known that in a set of related texts there are pieces of redundant, contradictory and complementary information that represent the multi-document phenomenon. In each source text, the main subject is described in a sequence of subtopics. Furthermore, some sentences in the same text are more relevant than others. Considering this context, it is expected that a multi-document summary consists of relevant information that represents a set of texts. However, strategies for automatic multidocument summarization adopted until now have used only the relationships between texts and dismissed the analysis of textual structure of each source text, resulting in summaries that are less representative of subtopics and less informative than they could be. In order to properly treat the relevance of information, multi-document phenomena and distribution of subtopics, in this thesis, we investigated how to model the summarization process using the semantic-discursive knowledge and its impact for producing more informative and representative summaries from source texts. In order to formalize the semantic-discursive knowledge, we adopted RST (Rhetorical Structure Theory) and CST (Cross-document Structure Theory) theories. To support the work, a multi-document corpus was annotated with RST and subtopics, consisting of a new resource available for other researchers. From the corpus analysis, 10 methods for subtopic segmentation and 13 orignal methods for automatic summarization were proposed. The assessment of methods for subtopic segmentation showed that there is a strong relationship between the subtopics structure and the rhetorical analysis of a text. In regards to the assessment of the methods for automatic summarization, the results indicate that the use of semantic-discursive knowledge in good strategies for content selection affects positively the production of informative summaries.
Regular expression matching with pipelined delayed input DFAs for high-speed networks

Regular expression matching (RE matching) is a widely used operation in network security monitoring applications. With the speed of network links increasing to 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps, it is necessary to speed up packet processing and provide RE matching at such high speeds. Although many RE matching algorithms and architectures have been designed, none of them supports 100 Gbps throughput together with fast updates of an RE set. Therefore, this paper focuses on the design of a new hardware architecture that addresses both these requirements. The proposed architecture uses multiple highly memory-efficient Delayed Input DFAs (D2FAs), which are organized to a processing pipeline. As all D2FAs in the pipeline have only local communication, the proposed architecture is able to operate at high frequency even for a large number of parallel engines, which allows scaling throughput to hundreds of gigabits per second. The paper also analyses how to scale the number of engines and the capacity of buffers to achieve desired throughput. Using the parameters obtained while matching a sample RE set represented by a D2FA in a real network traffic, the architecture can be tuned for wire-speed throughput of 400 Gbps.
WormTerminator

The fast spreading worm is becoming one of the most serious threats to today's networked information systems. A fast spreading worm could infect hundreds of thousands of hosts within a few minutes. In order to stop a fast spreading worm, we need the capability to detect and contain worms automatically in real-time. While signature based worm detection and containment are effective in detecting and containing known worms, they are inherently ineffective against previously unknown worms and polymorphic worms. Existing traffic anomaly pattern based approaches have the potential to detect and/or contain previously unknown and polymorphic worms, but they either impose too much constraint on normal traffic or allow too much infectious worm traffic to go out to the Internet before an unknown or polymorphic worm can be detected. In this paper, we present WormTerminator, which can detect and completely contain, at least in theory, almost all fast spreading worms in real-time while blocking virtually no normal traffic. WormTerminator detects and contains the fast spreading worm based on its denning characteristic - a fast spreading worm will start to infect others as soon as it successfully infects one host. WormTerminator also exploits the observation that a fast spreading worm keeps exploiting the same set of vulnerabilities when infecting new machines. To prove the concept, we have implemented a prototype of WormTerminator and have examined its effectiveness against the real Internet worm Linux/Slapper.
Ensemble manifold regularization

We propose an automatic approximation of the intrinsic manifold for general semi-supervised learning problems. Unfortunately, it is not trivial to define an optimization function to obtain optimal hyperparameters. Usually, pure cross-validation is considered but it does not necessarily scale up. A second problem derives from the suboptimality incurred by discrete grid search and overfitting problems. As a consequence, we developed an ensemble manifold regularization (EMR) framework to approximate the intrinsic manifold by combining several initial guesses. Algorithmically, we designed EMR very carefully so that it (a) learns both the composite manifold and the semi-supervised classifier jointly; (b) is fully automatic for learning the intrinsic manifold hyperparameters implicitly; (c) is conditionally optimal for intrinsic manifold approximation under a mild and reasonable assumption; and (d) is scalable for a large number of candidate manifold hyperparameters, from both time and space perspectives. Extensive experiments over both synthetic and real datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
Hyperthyroidism in the personalized medicine era: the rise of mathematical optimization

Thyroid over-activity or hyperthyroidism constitutes a significant morbidity afflicting the world. The current medical practice of dose titration of anti-thyroid drug (ATD) treatment for hyperthyroidism is relatively archaic, being based on arbitrary and time-consuming trending of thyroid function that requires multiple clinic monitoring visits before an optimal dose is found. This prompts a re-examination into more deterministic and efficient treatment approaches in the present personalized medicine era. Our research project seeks to develop a personalized medicine model that facilitates optimal drug dosing via the titration regimen. We analysed 49 patients' data consisting of drug dosage, time period and serum free thyroxine (FT4). Ordinary differential equation modelling was applied to describe the dynamic behaviour of FT4 concentration. With each patient's data, an optimization model was developed to determine parameters of synthesis rate, decay rate and IC50. We derived the closed-form time- and dose-dependent solution which allowed explicit estimates of personalized predicted FT4. Our equation system involving time, drug dosage and FT4 can be solved for any variable provided the values of the other two are known. Compared against actual FT4 data within a tolerance, we demonstrated the feasibility of predicting the FT4 subsequent to any prescribed dose of ATD with favourable accuracy using the initial three to five patient-visits' data respectively. This proposed mathematical model may assist clinicians in rapid determination of optimal ATD doses within allowable prescription limits to achieve any desired FT4 within a specified treatment period to accelerate the attainment of euthyroid targets.
Refractive index matched, nearly hard polymer colloids

Refractive index matched particles serve as essential model systems for colloid scientists, providing nearly hard spheres to explore structure and dynamics. The poly(methyl methacrylate) latexes typically used are often refractive index matched by dispersing them in binary solvent mixtures, but this can lead to undesirable changes, such as particle charging or swelling. To avoid these shortcomings, we have synthesized refractive index matched colloids using polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) rather than as polymer latexes. The crucial difference is that these diblock copolymer nanoparticles consist of a single core-forming polymer in a single non-ionizable solvent. The diblock copolymer chosen was poly(stearyl methacrylate)–poly(2,2,2-trifluoroethyl methacrylate) (PSMA–PTFEMA), which self-assembles to form PTFEMA core spheres in n-alkanes. By monitoring scattered light intensity, n-tetradecane was found to be the optimal solvent for matching the refractive index of such nanoparticles. As expected for PISA syntheses, the diameter of the colloids can be controlled by varying the PTFEMA degree of polymerization. Concentrated dispersions were prepared, and the diffusion of the PSMA–PTFEMA nanoparticles as a function of volume fraction was measured. These diblock copolymer nanoparticles are a promising new system of transparent spheres for future colloidal studies.
MicroRNA-559 plays an inhibitory role in the malignant progression of glioblastoma cells by directly targeting metadherin

Purpose: Several microRNAs (miRNAs) that are aberrantly expressed in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) play a significant role in GBM formation and progression. The expression profile and functions of miR-559 in GBM remain unclear. Here, we quantified the expression and investigated the involvement of miR-559 in the oncogenicity of GBM cells in vitro and in vivo. Material and methods: Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was carried out to determine miR-559 expression in GBM tissues and cell lines. A series of functional assays was performed to evaluate the effects of miR-559 overexpression on GBM cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion in vitro and on GBM tumor growth in vivo. The regulatory mechanisms of miR-559 action in GBM cells were then explored. Results: The expression of miR‑559 was lower in GBM tissues and cell lines and significantly correlated with the Karnofsky performance score and tumor size among patients with GBM. Exogenous miR‑559 expression inhibited GBM cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis. MiR-559 overexpression decreased tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistic experiments confirmed metadherin (MTDH) as a direct target gene of miR-559 in GBM. Silencing of MTDH induced effects similar to those of miR-559 upregulation in GBM cells, whereas MTDH expression restoration attenuated the antitumor effects of miR‑559 in GBM cells. Protein kinase B (AKT) in the phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN)–AKT signaling pathway was found to be deactivated in GBM cells after upregulation of miR-559 both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion: MiR-559 acts as a tumor suppressor in GBM cells in vitro and in vivo, at least in part through the downregulation of MTDH and inhibition of AKT in the PTEN–AKT pathway. Therefore, targeting the miR-559–MTDH axis may be a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with GBM.
Sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitor ABC294640 displays anti-epithelial ovarian cancer activities in vitro and in vivo

Background: ABC294640 is a non-lipid competitive inhibitor of SphK2. It exhibited anti-proliferative activities in many human malignancies, including ovarian cancer. However, its potential mechanism of action remains poorly understood. Methods: In this paper, epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines SKOV3 and HO8910 were treated with ABC294640. In order to explore the effect of ABC294640 on the behavior of ovarian cancer cells in vitro, we used cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, colony formation assays, flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry to detect the effect of ABC294640 on cell proliferation, cell cycle distribution, cell apoptosis, the expression of related factors at mRNA levels, and the expression of related factors at protein level. An intra-abdominal xenograft tumor model of EOC was set up to assess the tumor growth in nude mice. Results: The results obtained indicate that EOC cell proliferation was noticeably inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by ABC294640. ABC294640 caused cell cycle arrest in S phase and increased cell apoptosis rate in EOC cells. Also, the proteins, including phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein (P-Rb), cyclin D1, cyclin B1, and Bcl-2 were significantly inhibited, while cleaved-caspase 3 was activated. ABC294640 inhibited the expression of c-Myc in EOC. The in vivo assay showed an inhibitory effect of ABC294640 on tumor growth. Conclusions: ABC294640 could downregulate the expression of c-Myc in EOC both in vitro and in vivo. ABC294640 inhibited tumor growth in EOC via cell cycle arrest and inducing cell apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo, partially by decreasing the expression of cell cycle–associated proteins (such as P-Rb, cyclin B1, and cyclin D1) and promoting caspase 3 activation via downregulation expression of c-Myc. It suggested that ABC294640 had the potential to serve as an agent in EOC treatment.
Molecular data reveal a new species of Rhopalias Stiles & Hassall, 1898 (Digenea, Echinostomatidae) in the Common opossum, Didelphismarsupialis L. (Mammalia, Didelphidae) in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Abstract A new species of Rhopalias Stiles & Hassall, 1898 is described from the small intestine of the Common opossum, Didelphismarsupialis Linnaeus from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Rhopaliasoochisp. nov. is morphologically very similar to the type species of the genus, Rhopaliascoronatus (Rudolphi, 1819) Stiles & Hassall 1898, a species widely distributed in opossums across Mexico. A molecular phylogenetic analysis using a mitochondrial gene (cox1), and the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2), of specimens of R.coronatus collected in several localities of Mexico revealed that those from the Yucatán Peninsula, originally recorded on morphological grounds as R.coronatus actually represented an independent genetic lineage. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses were performed for each data set independently, and for the concatenated data set (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 + cox1). All phylogenetic analyses showed that the specimens from Yucatán represented a monophyletic lineage, with high bootstrap support and Bayesian posterior probabilities. In addition, the genetic divergence estimated between R.oochisp. nov. and two species of Rhopalias, R.coronatus, and R.macracanthus Chandler, 1932 that also occur in Mexican marsupials ranged between 7–8% and 16–17%, for cox1, and between 0.1–0.2% and 7% for the ITS region, respectively. The molecular evidence gathered in this study (reciprocal monophyly in both phylogenetic analyses, and estimated genetic divergence) suggested that the specimens found in the intestine of D.marsupialis originally reported as R.coronatus from Yucatán, actually represent a new species. Morphological evidence was found through light and scanning electron microscopy to support the species distinction based on molecular data.
Evaluation of intra-tumoral blood feeding to predict the effect of induction therapy in patients with locally advanced lung cancer

ABSTRACT There is little known about predictors of the effects of induction therapy in locally advanced lung cancer, including superior sulcus tumors. We analyzed whether intra-tumoral blood feeding could predict a pathologic complete response (pCR). Patients who underwent induction therapy followed by surgery for locally advanced lung cancer were retrospectively reviewed. The intra-tumoral blood feeding was defined by the CT value (HU, Hounsfield unit), which was calculated by subtracting the non-enhanced value from the contrast-enhanced value (divided into the early and delayed phase) at the maximum diameter of the tumor on dynamic CT. The cases were classified, according to the efficacy of induction therapy, into the pCR and residual tumor (pRT) group. There were 38 cases of T3 and 12 of T4; the induction therapy consisted of chemoradiotherapy in 39 patients, chemotherapy in 6, and radiotherapy in 5. A pCR was obtained in 15 (30%) patients. The mean CT values of the early and delayed phases in the pCR group were 14.8 and 30.7 HU, while those in the pRT were 15.3 and 32.2 HU, respectively. A logistic regression analysis revealed that a smaller tumor size (< 42 mm) was a non-significant predictor of a pCR (p = 0.09); the maximum standardized uptake value on FDG-PET and the CT values on the early and delayed phases of dynamic CT were not associated with the achievement of a pCR. In conclusion, intra-tumoral blood feeding of the locally advanced lung cancer did not predict the effects of induction therapy, whereas smaller sized tumors tended to show a better response.
Current status of liquid biopsies for the detection and management of prostate cancer

Abstract In recent years, new therapeutic options have become available for prostate cancer (PC) patients, generating an urgent need for better biomarkers to guide the choice of therapy and monitor treatment response. Liquid biopsies, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), circulating nucleic acids, and exosomes, have been developed as minimally invasive assays allowing oncologists to monitor PC patients with real-time cellular or molecular information. While CTC counts remain the most extensively validated prognostic biomarker to monitor treatment response, recent advances demonstrate that CTC morphology and androgen receptor characterization can provide additional information to guide the choice of treatment. Characterization of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is another rapidly emerging field with novel technologies capable of monitoring the evolution of treatment relevant alterations such as those in DNA damage repair genes for poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition. In addition, several new liquid biopsy fields are emerging, including the characterization of heterogeneity, CTC RNA sequencing, the culture and xenografting of CTCs, and the characterization of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and circulating microRNAs. This review describes the clinical utilization of liquid biopsies in the management of PC patients and emerging liquid biopsy technologies with the potential to advance personalized cancer therapy.
Differential effects of experimentally induced anxiety and fear on pain: the role of anxiety sensitivity

Background: Anxiety has been associated with both increased and decreased pain perception. Rhudy and Meagher (2000) showed that pain sensitivity is enhanced by anxiety (anticipation of shocks), but diminished by fear (confrontation with shocks). A problem of this approach is the confounding of emotional and attentional effects: Administered shocks (fear induction) divert attention away from pain, which might account for lower pain in this condition. Moreover, heterogeneous findings in the past might be due to inter-individual differences in the proneness to react to anxiety and fear such as ones anxiety sensitivity (AS) level. Objectives: Our aim was to clarify the association between anxiety, fear and pain. We used the NPU paradigm for inducing these emotions and recording pain sensitivity at once with one stimulus to prevent interference by distraction. We assumed that anxiety and fear affect pain differently. Moreover, we hypothesized that subjects with clinically relevant (high) AS (H-AS group) show enhanced pain perception in contrast to low AS subjects (L-AS group). Method: Forty healthy subjects (female: N=20; age M=23.53 years) participated and H-AS or L-AS status was determined by clinically discriminating cut-off scores of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-III). Emotions were induced by the application of unpredictable (anxiety) and predictable (fear) electric stimuli. Pain ratings of electric stimuli were compared between the conditions. Startle reflex and anxiety ratings were recorded. Results: Results showed no general effects of anxiety and fear on pain perception. However, anxiety enhanced pain sensitivity in H-AS subjects, whereas fear did not affect pain sensitivity. In L-AS subjects no effects on pain perception were found. Conclusion: Results revealed that anxiety, not fear, enhanced pain perception but only in subjects with clinically relevant AS levels. This indicates that subclinical AS levels are sufficient to increase pain sensitivity, in uncertain situations.
A pooled analysis of transarterial radioembolization with yttrium-90 microspheres for the treatment of unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Purpose: The aim of this pooled analysis was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with yttrium-90 (90Y) microspheres for the treatment of unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, SCI with the English language from inception to October 2018. A pooled analysis was conducted using Stata software. Results: There were 16 eligible studies included in this pooled analysis. The pooled median overall survival (OS) from 12 studies was 14.3 (95% CI: 11.9–17.1) months. Based on Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), no complete response was reported, and the median of partial response, stable disease and progressive disease were 11.5% (range: 4.8–35.3%), 61.5% (range: 42.9–81.3%) and 22.7% (range: 12.5–52.4%) respectively. The pooled disease control rate (DCR) from nine studies was 77.2% (95% CI: 70.2–84.2%). According to the type of microspheres, subgroup analysis was performed, the median OS in the glass microspheres group was 14.0 (95% CI: 9.1–21.4) months, and 14.3 (95% CI: 11.5–17.8) months in the resin microspheres group. The DCR was 77.3% (95% CI: 63.5–91.1%) and 77.4% (95% CI: 66.8–87.9%) in the glass and resin microspheres groups respectively. Most of the side effects reported in the included studies were mild and did not require intervention. Conclusion: TARE with 90Y microspheres is safe and effective for patients with unresectable ICC with acceptable side effects. And it seems that the type of microsphere has no influence on therapeutic efficacy.