Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circulating Vitamin D and Overall Survival in Breast Cancer Patients: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies

Studies have shown that vitamin D could have a role in breast cancer survival; however, the evidence of the relationship between patients’ vitamin D levels and their survival has been inconsistent. This meta-analysis explores possible dose-response relationships between vitamin D levels and overall survival by allowing for differences in vitamin D levels among populations of the various studies. Studies relating vitamin D (25-OH-D [25-hydroxyvitamin D]) levels in breast cancer patients with their survival were identified by searching PubMed and Embase. A pooled HR (hazard ratio) comparing the highest with the lowest category of circulating 25-OH-D levels were synthesized using the Mantel-Haenszel method under a fixed-effects model. A two-stage fixed-effects dose-response model including both linear (a log-linear dose-response regression) and nonlinear (a restricted cubic spline regression) models were used to further explore possible dose-response relationships. Six studies with a total number of 5984 patients were identified. A pooled HR comparing the highest with the lowest category of circulating 25-OH-D levels under a fixed-effects model was 0.67 (95% confidence interval = 0.56-0.79, P < .001). Utilizing a dose-response meta-analysis, the pooled HR for overall survival in breast cancer patients was 0.994 (per 1 nmol/L), Pfor linear trend < . 001. At or above a 23.3 nmol/L threshold, for a 10 nmol/L, 20 nmol/L, or 25 nmol/L increment in circulating 25-OH-D levels, the risk of breast cancer overall mortality decreased by 6%, 12%, and 14%, respectively. There was no significant nonlinearity in the relationship between overall survival and circulating 25-OH-D levels. Our findings suggest that there is a highly significant linear dose-response relationship between circulating 25-OH-D levels and overall survival in patients with breast cancer. However, better designed prospective cohort studies and clinical trials are needed to further confirm these findings.
Comparison of combat outcomes: technical and tactical analysis of female MMA

The aim of the present study was to compare the technical-tactical aspects of female professional mixed martial arts (MMA) matches by combat outcomes and rounds from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC™). We analyzed 174 rounds separated by Combat Outcomes (Split Decision n=54; Unanimous Decision n=72; KO/TKO n=28; Submission n=20) of 2012-2014 events. The time-motion variables were categorized into total combat time separated by the amount of time spent performing low or high intensity activity per round, on stand-up or groundwork situations. The principal findings showed significant differences between Split and Unanimous Decision outcomes vs. KO/TKO and Submission groups in stand-up combat with low intensity by round (160.4±83.6s and 158.4±87.6s vs. 44.8±38.8s and 42.1±44.1s, respectively, p<0.001) and in total combat time by round (300.7±0.3s and 300.0±0.4s vs. 154.4±95.2s and 204.2±96.6s, respectively, p<0.001). Significant differences were found when compared the Total, Head and Leg Strikes Attempts, where winners by KO/TKO and Submission demonstrated lower frequencies than Split and Unanimous Decision(p<0.001; for all comparisons). In conclusion, technical-tactical skills can be associated with contextualized practices, where female athletes who finalized the matches by KO/TKO and Submission had higher values of striking and grappling actions during the groundwork combat, while those who had Split or Unanimous Decision outcomes showed higher values of striking actions during stand-up combat.
Modeling of Mixing in 96‐Well Microplates Observed with Fluorescence Indicators

Mixing in 96‐well microplates was studied using soluble pH indicators and a fluorescence pH sensor. Small amounts of alkali were added with the aid of a multichannel pipet, a piston pump, and a piezoelectric actuator. Mixing patterns were observed visually using a video camera. Addition of drops each of about 1 nL with the piezoelectric actuator resulted in umbrella and double‐disklike shapes. Convective mixing was mainly observed in the upper part of the well, whereas the lower part was only mixed quickly when using the multichannel pipet and the piston pump with an addition volume of 5 μL or larger. Estimated mixing times were between a few seconds and several minutes. Mixing by liquid dispensing was much more effective than by shaking. A mixing model consisting of 21 elements could describe mixing dynamics observed by the dissolved fluorescence dye and by the optical immobilized pH sensor. This model can be applied for designing pH control in microplates or for design of kinetic experiments with liquid addition.
Cell surface hydrophobicity of dental plaque microorganisms in situ

The cell surface hydrophobicity of bacteria obtained directly from human tooth surfaces was assayed by measuring their adherence to liquid hydrocarbons. Fresh samples of supragingival dental plaque were washed and dispersed in buffer. Adherence of the plaque microorganisms to hexadecane, octane, and xylene was tested turbidimetrically and by direct microscopic observation. The results clearly show that the vast majority of bacteria comprising dental plaque exhibit pronounced cell surface hydrophobicity. These data support the hypothesis that hydrophobic interactions play a major role in mediating bacterial adherence on tooth surfaces.
Robust Maximum Torque per Ampere (MTPA) control of Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous motor drives using Adaptive Input-Output Feedback Linearization approach

Recently, InteriorPermanentMagnet Synchronous Motor (IPMSM) drives are getting more popular in many applications such as electrical vehicles. In order to achieve Maximum Torque per Ampere (MTPA), knowledge of the motor parameters is necessary. Due to the saturation effect, variation of the motor parameters such as inductances is not avoidable. The main contribution of this paper is to use the well known Adaptive Input-Output Feedback Linearization (AIOFL) technique for robust MTPA control of IPMSM with online simultaneous estimation of direct and quadrature axis inductances (Ld, Lq). The overall stability of this controller is analytically proved based on Lyapunov theory. It is found that under Persistency of Excitation (PE) condition, the errors of two-axis fluxes and as well as the estimation errors in parameters Ld and Lq asymptotically converge to zero. In addition, the variation of stator resistance due to changes in temperature or frequency degrades the performance of stator linkage flux estimator and controller. Online estimation of the stator resistance using a PI estimator is also employed in this paper. The simulation results obtained confirm that the proposed method is capable of maintaining the MTPA condition and stays robust against the motor parameters variations. give you basic guidelines for preparing papers for conference proceedings.
Prestimulus alpha and mu activity predicts failure to inhibit motor responses

Do certain brain states predispose humans to commit errors in monotonous tasks? We used MEG to investigate how oscillatory brain activity indexes the brain state in subjects performing a Go‐noGo task. Elevated occipital alpha and sensorimotor mu activity just prior to the presentation of the stimuli predicted an upcoming error. An error resulted in increased frontal theta activity and decreased posterior alpha activity. This theta increase and alpha decrease correlated on a trial‐by‐trial basis reflecting post‐error functional connectivity between the frontal and occipital regions. By examining the state of the brain before a stimulus, we were able to show that it is possible to predict lapses of attention before they actually occur. This supports the case that the state of the brain is important for how incoming stimuli are processed and for how subjects respond. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Stochastic optimal control of delay equations arising in advertising models

AbstractWe consider a class of optimal control problems of stochastic delay diﬀerential equations(SDDE) that arise in connection with optimal advertising under uncertainty for the intro-duction of a new product to the market, generalizing classical work of Nerlove and Arrow[30]. In particular, we deal with controlled SDDE where the delay enters both the stateand the control. Following ideas of Vinter and Kwong [34] (which however hold only in thedeterministic case), we reformulate the problem as an inﬁnite dimensional stochastic controlproblem to which we associate, through the dynamic programming principle, a second orderHamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. We show a veriﬁcation theorem and we exhibit somesimple cases where such equation admits an explicit smooth solution, allowing us to constructoptimal feedback controls. 1 Introduction In this paper we consider a class of stochastic optimal control problems where the state equationis a stochastic delay diﬀerential equations (SDDE). Such problems arise for instance in modelingoptimal advertising under uncertainty for the introduction of a new product to the market,generalizing classical work of Nerlove and Arrow [30]. The main novelty in our model is thatwe deal also with delays in the control: this is interesting from the applied point of view andintroduces new mathematical diﬃculties in the problem.Dynamic models in marketing have a long history, that begins at least with the seminalpapers of Vidale and Wolfe [33] and Nerlove and Arrow [30]. Since then a considerable amountof work has been devoted to the extension of these models and to their application to problemsof optimal advertising, both in the monopolistic and the competitive settings, mainly underdeterministic assumptions. Models with uncertainty have received instead relatively less attention(see Feichtinger, Hartl, and Sethi [9] for a review of the existing work until 1994, Prasad and Sethi[31] for a Vidale and Wolf-like model in the competitive setting, and e.g. Grosset and Viscolani[21], Marinelli [29] for recent work on the case of a monopolistic ﬁrm). Moreover, it has beenadvocated in the literature (see e.g. Hartl [22], Feichtinger et al. [9] and references therein), asit reasonable to assume, that more realistic dynamic models of goodwill should allow for lags inthe eﬀect of advertisement. Namely, it is natural to assume that there will be a time lag betweenadvertising expenditure and the corresponding eﬀect on the goodwill level. More generally, afurther lag structure has been considered, allowing a distribution of the forgetting time.
Herpesvirus neutralization: the role of complement.

Complement functions in the neutralization of herpesvirus by causing immunoaggregation. Complement-requiring antibody (CRA) in early immune serum appears to behave like a monovalent antibody since it sensitizes virus to the action of complement, but immunoaggregates fail to develop until complement is added. It appears that each aggregate contains many virions and antibody molecules, but it functions only as a single infectious unit. The titer is reduced in proportion to the degree of immunoaggregation. Late immune serum is polyvalent since it is able to aggregate and neutralize virus in the absence of complement. However, complement may also enhance the neutralizing activity of such late immune serum. This enhancement can be detected only if monodispersed virus is used in the test system. Aggregates present in usual virus harvests resist neutralization (persistent fraction). Antibody can decrease virus titers only to the level of the number of virus aggregates present in the harvest.
Involvement of chlA, E, M, and N loci in Escherichia coli molybdopterin biosynthesis

All molybdenum enzymes except nitrogenase contain a common molybdenum cofactor, whose organic moiety is a novel pterin called molybdopterin (MPT). To assist in elucidating the biosynthetic pathway of MPT, two MPT-deficient mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 were isolated. They lacked activities of the molybdenum enzymes nitrate reductase and formate dehydrogenase, did not reconstitute apo nitrate reductase from a Neurospora crassa nit-1 strain, and did not yield form A, a derivative of MPT. By P1 mapping, these two mutations mapped to chlA and chlE, loci previously postulated but never definitely shown to be involved in MPT biosynthesis. The two new mutations are in different genetic complementation groups from previously isolated chlA and chlE mutations and have been designated as chlM and chlN (closely linked to chlA and chlE, respectively). The reported presence of Mo cofactor activity in the chlA1 strain is shown to be due to in vitro synthesis of MPT through complementation between a trypsin-sensitive macromolecule from the chlA1 strain and a low-molecular-weight compound from the nit-l strain.
Secure Data Retrieval over Graph Structured Data in Cloud

The main advantage of cloud computing is increasingly attracting individuals and organizations to outsource their data from local to remote cloud servers. For protecting data privacy, sensitive data has to be encrypted before outsourcing, it is a very challenging task. Here we define and solve the problem of privacy-preserving query over encrypted graph-structured data (PPGQ) and establish a set of privacy requirements for such a secure cloud data utilization in cloud computing. By utilizing the principle of filtering-and-verification, first prebuild a feature-based index to provide feature-related information about each encrypted data graph, and then choose the efficient inner product as the pruning tool to carry out the filtering procedure. To meet the challenge of supporting graph query without privacy breaches, propose a secure inner product computation technique, and then improve it to achieve various privacy requirements under the known-background threat model.
Nrf2 Regulates the Sensitivity of Mouse Keratinocytes to Nitrogen Mustard via Multidrug Resistance-Associated Protein 1 (Mrp1).

Sulfur mustard and nitrogen mustard (mechlorethamine, HN2) are potent vesicants developed as chemical warfare agents. These electrophilic, bifunctional alkylating agents cause skin injury, including inflammation, edema, and blistering. HN2 covalently modifies macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins or is scavenged by glutathione, forming adducts that can contribute to toxicity. Multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (Mrp1/MRP1) is a transmembrane ATPase known to efflux glutathione-conjugated electrophiles. In the present studies, we examined the effects of modulating Mrp1-mediated transport activity on the sensitivity of primary and PAM212 mouse keratinocytes to HN2. Primary keratinocytes, and to a lesser extent, PAM212 cells, express Mrp1 mRNA and protein and possess Mrp1 functional activity, as measured by calcein efflux. Sulforaphane, an activator of Nrf2, increased Mrp1 mRNA, protein, and functional activity in primary keratinocytes and PAM212 cells and decreased their sensitivity to HN2-induced growth inhibition (IC(50) = 1.4 and 4.8 µM in primary keratinocytes and 1 and 13 µM in PAM212 cells, in the absence and presence of sulforaphane, respectively). The Mrp1 inhibitor, MK-571, reversed the effects of sulforaphane on HN2-induced growth inhibition in both primary keratinocytes and PAM212 cells. In primary keratinocytes from Nrf2(-/-) mice, sulforaphane had no impact on Mrp1 expression or activity, or on sensitivity to HN2, demonstrating that its effects depend on Nrf2. These data suggest that Mrp1-mediated efflux is important in regulating HN2-induced keratinocyte growth inhibition. Enhancing HN2 efflux from keratinocytes may represent a novel strategy for mitigating vesicant-induced cytotoxicity.
Discovering Corridors From GPS Trajectories

The increasing pervasiveness of GPS-enabled devices results in the collection of massive trajectories datasets. The vast amount of the generated location data is particularly difficult to be processed, interpreted and analyzed, due to its complexity. Nevertheless, in many cases a considerable number of moving objects share common paths and their whole trajectory can be decomposed as a sequence of such commonly accessed paths, referred as corridors. In this paper we formulate the problem of corridor discovery using GPS data that represent user trajectories. We initiate research for developing an algorithm to solve this problem efficiently and we present initial experimental results that demonstrate our approach.
THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF DEEP HYPNOSIS: QUiescent and Physically Active

Abstract To study the phenomenology of hypnotic virtuosos, the author employed a 2 (hypnosis vs. control) × 3 (quiescent, pedaling a stationary bike, having a motor pedal the bike) within-subjects design with quantitative and qualitative measures. In a “neutral hypnosis” context with the only suggestion being to go as deeply into hypnosis as possible, participants reported alterations in body image, time sense, perception and meaning, sense of being in an altered state of awareness, affect, attention, and imagery. They also mentioned less self-awareness, rationality, voluntary control, and memory. Analyses of the 3 physical conditions showed that hypnotic experiences were overall similar, although quiescence was more conducive to alterations of body image and reports of depth. These results suggest that hypnotic virtuosos have alterations of consciousness that can be better conceptualized as distinct states rather than being on a continuum. This study was supported in part by the American Psychological Association’s MFP and Doctoral Dissertation fellowships. An earlier version of this paper received the Crasilneck award from SCEH after being presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Asheville, North Carolina. Thanks to Charles Tart, Ph.D., for his supervision; to Jaime Curts, Ph.D., for statistical consultation; and to Grant Benham, Ph.D., Dana Barth, and Lupita Weiner for editorial assistance.
PPi analogs as inhibitors of human T-lymphotropic virus type III reverse transcriptase

Twenty-six PPi analogs were tested for inhibitory effects on human T-lymphotropic virus type III reverse transcriptase. The structural requirements for inhibition and mechanism of action of the most active inhibitors have been investigated. Foscarnet (phosphonoformic acid) was the most potent inhibitor of human T-lymphotropic virus type III reverse transcriptase with 50% inhibition at 0.5 microM. The mechanism was a noncompetitive type of inhibition of a (riboadenylic acid)n . (deoxythymidylic acid)12-18 [(rA)n(dT)12-18]-directed transcription at varied dTTP concentration. At constant substrate (dTTP) concentration and varied amounts of template, (rA)n(dT)12-18, the inhibitory action of foscarnet was of an uncompetitive type. The same pattern of inhibition was seen when the less active inhibitor carbonyldiphosphonate was studied under identical conditions. The structural requirements for inhibition of human T-lymphotropic virus type III reverse transcriptase by PPi analogs were similar to those shown by other reverse transcriptases.
Activation of latent Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus by demethylation of the promoter of the lytic transactivator

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is strongly linked to Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphomas, and a subset of multicentric Castleman's disease. The mechanism by which this virus establishes latency and reactivation is unknown. KSHV Lyta (lytic transactivator, also named KSHV/Rta), mainly encoded by the ORF 50 gene, is a lytic switch gene for viral reactivation from latency, inasmuch as it is both essential and sufficient to drive the entire viral lytic cycle. Here we show that the Lyta promoter region was heavily methylated in latently infected cells. Treatment of primary effusion lymphoma-delivered cell lines with tetradecanoylphorbol acetate caused demethylation of the Lyta promoter and induced KSHV lytic phase in vitro. Methylation cassette assay shows demethylation of the Lyta promoter region was essential for the expression of Lyta. In vivo, biopsy samples obtained from patients with KSHV-related diseases show the most demethylation in the Lyta promoter region, whereas samples from a latently infected KSHV carrier remained in a methylated status. These results suggest a relationship among a demethylation status in the Lyta promoter, the reactivation of KSHV, and the development of KSHV-associated diseases.
The stellar masses of ~40 000 UV selected galaxies from the WiggleZ survey at 0.3

We characterize the stellar masses and star formation rates in a sample of ∼40 000 spectroscopically confirmed UV-luminous galaxies at 0.3 5σ in the UKIDSS-LAS at all redshifts. An even more luminous subset of 15 per cent are also detected in the WISE 3.4 and 4.6 μm bands. In addition, 22 of the WiggleZ galaxies are extremely luminous at 12 and 22 μm and have colours consistent with being star formation dominated. We compute stellar masses for this very large sample of extremely blue galaxies and quantify the sensitivity of the stellar mass estimates to various assumptions made during the spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. The median stellar masses are log10(M_*/M_⊙) = 9.6 ± 0.7, 10.2 ± 0.5 and 10.4 ± 0.4 for the IR undetected, UKIDSS detected and UKIDSS+WISE detected galaxies, respectively. We demonstrate that the inclusion of NIR photometry can lead to tighter constraints on the stellar masses by bringing down the upper bound on the stellar mass estimate. The mass estimates are found to be most sensitive to the inclusion of secondary bursts of star formation as well as changes in the stellar population synthesis models, both of which can lead to median discrepancies of the order of 0.3 dex in the stellar masses. We conclude that even for these extremely blue galaxies, different SED fitting codes therefore produce extremely robust stellar mass estimates. We find, however, that the best-fitting M/L_K is significantly lower than that predicted by simple optical colour-based estimators for many of the WiggleZ galaxies. The simple colour-based estimator overpredicts M/L_K by ∼0.4 dex on average. The effect is more pronounced for bluer galaxies with younger best-fitting ages. The WiggleZ galaxies have star formation rates of 3–10 M_⊙ yr^(−1) and mostly lie at the upper end of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies at these redshifts. Their rest-frame UV luminosities and stellar masses are comparable to both local compact UV-luminous galaxies as well as Lyman break galaxies at z ∼ 2–3. The stellar masses from this paper will be made publicly available with the next WiggleZ data release.
Binary Oriented Vulnerability Analyzer Based on Hidden Markov Model

The letter proposes a novel binary vulnerability analyzer for executable programs that is based on the Hidden Markov Model. A vulnerability instruction library (VIL) is primarily constructed by collecting binary frames located by double precision analysis. Executable programs are then converted into structurized code sequences with the VIL. The code sequences are essentially context-sensitive, which can be modeled by Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Finally, the HMM based vulnerability analyzer is built to recognize potential vulnerabilities of executable programs. Experimental results show the proposed approach achieves lower false positive/negative rate than latest static analyzers.
Post-fault operations of five-phase motor using a full-bridge inverter

This paper compares the post-fault current control strategies of a five-phase permanent magnet motor adopting a half-bridge and a full-bridge converter. The analysis covers both the open circuit of one and two phases. The adoption of the full-bridge converter allows to overcome the constraint of having a zero sum of the currents and this is particularly advantageous under the fault of two phases. The analytical model used to investigate the properties of each post-fault strategy yields more general results that can be applied to any five-phase PM motor. The experimental results validate the theoretical predictions.