Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum cortisol levels in children with acute bacterial and aseptic meningitis

Objective: To study serum cortisol levels in acute childhood meningitis with respect to the severity of illness and the outcome. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: Pediatric services of a tertiary care teaching and referral hospital. Subjects: A total of 30 consecutive children, 2 months to 12 yrs of age, with suspected bacterial meningitis. Methods: Serum cortisol levels (by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) obtained at admission were correlated with clinical characteristics (including Glasgow Coma Scale and Pediatric Risk of Mortality scores) recorded at admission and with neurologic and hearing status 2 months after discharge using SPSS 10.0. Results: Mean ± sd serum cortisol was 467 ± 251 ng/dL in patients with bacterial (n = 16) and 319 ± 159 ng/dL in aseptic meningitis (n = 14, p = .068). Glasgow coma scale score, systolic blood pressure, age, Pediatric Risk of Mortality, and cerebrospinal fluid protein were significant independent predictors of serum cortisol on stepwise multivariate regression analysis (each had an R2 change of >5%). Patients with neurologic or hearing sequelae had significantly higher median serum cortisol (450 ng/mL, n = 12) than those without sequelae (300 ng/mL, n = 17; p = .043 by Mann-Whitney U test). On multivariate logistic regression analysis, a serum cortisol of ≥420 ng/mL (odds ratio, 0.022; 95% confidence interval, 0.01–0.43) and systolic blood pressure (odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.74) were significant independent predictors of neurologic and hearing sequelae. Conclusion: Low serum cortisol is uncommon in acute bacterial meningitis of nonmeningococcal pathogenesis. Very high levels are likely to be associated with sequelae.
A 6–18 GHz GaN pHEMT power amplifier using non-foster matching

Non-Foster matching is applied to design a multi-octave broadband GaN power amplifier (PA) in this work. The bandwidth limitation from high-Q interstage matching is mitigated through the use of negative capacitor, which is realized with a negative impedance converter (NIC). Detailed analysis is presented to understand the frequency and power limits of NIC circuits for PA application. A 6-18 GHz power amplifier fabricated with 0.25-μm GaN pHEMT process shows the output power reaching 35.7-37.5 dBm with 13-21% PAE. The NIC boosts the efficiencies and power below 11 GHz to achieve broadband performance without the use of any lossy matching circuits or negative feedback. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of NIC-based broadband amplifiers with Watt-level output power.
Android mobile security by detecting and classification of malware based on permissions using machine learning algorithms

Android occupies a major share in the mobile application market. Android mobiles have become an easy target for the attackers. The main reason is the user ignorance in the process of installing and usage of the apps. Android malware can be detected based on the permissions it requests from the user. Several machine learning algorithms are being used in the detection of android malware based on the list of permissions enabled for each app. This paper makes an attempt to study the performance of some of the machine learning algorithms, viz., naïve Bayes, J48, Random Forest, Multi-class classifier and Multi-layer perceptron. Google play store 2015 and 2016 app data are used for normal apps and standard malware data sets are used in the evaluation. Multi-class classifier was found to be outperforming the other algorithms in terms of classification accuracy. Naïve Bayes classifier has outperformed as far as model construction time is concerned.
A practical construction method for polar codes in AWGN channels

Polar coding, introduced by Arikan, is the first code construction method that could be proved to construct capacity-achieving codes for any symmetric binary-input discrete memoryless channels (B-DMCs). However, this construction method is not explicit or efficient if the channel is not binary erasure channel (BEC). Density evolution is proposed to help solve this problem for any B-DMCs but the implementation is not tractable and requires a high computation complexity. Here, we introduce an efficient method to calculate Bhattacharyya parameter and construct polar codes based on Gaussian approximation. Then we evaluate the code performance and compare it with the existing methods. It is shown that the constructed code using Gaussian approximation can have a comparable error performance with a low computation complexity.
Fault simulation based test generation for combinational circuits using dynamically selected subcircuits

We propose a fault simulation based method to generate test patterns that achieve high fault coverages for combinational circuits. Due to the use of fault simulation, the proposed method is scalable and can be applied to large designs. The unique feature of the proposed method is that it uses a dynamic circuit partitioning scheme. Under this scheme, test patterns are generated so as to activate and propagate faults within specific subcircuits. The circuit is first partitioned statically. If it turns out that certain areas of the circuit still contain undetected faults, additional sub-circuits are added to the originally selected ones in order to better cover these areas. We present experimental results using stuck-at faults and bridging faults as the fault model driving the dynamic partitioning scheme.
Infrastructure pour la gestion générique et optimisée des traces d'exécution pour les systèmes embarqués. . (An Infrastructure for the generic and optimized analysis of execution traces of embedded systems)

La validation des systemes est un des aspects critiques dans les phases de developpement. Cette validation est d'autant plus importante pour les systemes embarques, dont le fonctionnement doit etre autonome, mais aussi contraint par des limitations physiques et techniques. Avec la complexification des systemes embarques ces dernieres annees, l'applications de methodes de validation durant le developpement devient trop couteux, et la mise en place de mecanismes de verification post-conception est necessaire. L'utilisation de traces d'execution, permettant de capturer le comportement du systeme lors de son execution, se revele efficace pour la comprehension et la validation des systemes observes. Cependant, les outils d'exploitation de traces actuels se confrontent a deux defis majeurs, a savoir, la gestion de traces pouvant atteindre des tailles considerables, et l'extraction de mesures pertinentes a partir des informations bas-niveau contenues dans ces traces. Dans cette these, faite dans le cadre du projet FUI SoC-TRACE, nous presentons trois contributions. La premiere concerne la definition d'un format generique pour la representation des traces d'execution, enrichi en semantique. La seconde concerne une infrastructure d'analyse utilisant des mecanismes de workflow permettant l'analyse generique et automatique de traces d'execution. Cette infrastructure repond au probleme de gestion des traces de tailles considerables textit{via} des mecanismes de streaming, permet la creation d'analyses modulaires et configurables, ainsi qu'un enchainement automatique des traitements. Notre troisieme contribution propose une methode generique pour l'analyse de performances de systemes Linux. Cette contribution propose a la fois la methode et les outils de collecte de traces, mais aussi le workflow permettant d'obtenir des profils unifies pour les traces capturees. La validation de nos propositions ont ete faites d'une part sur des traces issues de cas d'usages proposes par STMicroelectronics, partenaire du projet, et d'autre part sur des traces issues de programmes de benchmarks. L'utilisation d'un format enrichi en semantique a permis de mettre en evidence des anomalies d'executions, et ce de maniere semi-automatique. L'utilisation de mecanismes de streaming au sein de notre infrastructure nous a permis de traiter des traces de plusieurs centaines de gigaoctets. Enfin, notre methode d'analyse generique nous a permis de mettre en evidence, de maniere automatique et sans connaissances a priori des programmes, le fonctionnement interne de ces differents benchmarks. La genericite de nos solutions a permis d'observer le comportement de programmes similaires sur des plates-formes et des architectures differentes, et d'en montrer leur impact sur les executions.
Protective effect against oxygen reactive species and skin fibroblast stimulation of Couroupita guianensis leaf extracts

In this study, hydroalcoholic leaf extracts of Couroupita guianensis were examined for antioxidant activity, phytochemical and total phenolic composition, stimulation of human skin fibroblast (HSF) proliferation and UV-absorption. The radical scavenging capacity, reducing power and protection against joint oxidation of linoleic acid and β-carotene bleaching oxidation in emulsion were used to evaluate the antioxidant activity. The results of this study strongly indicate in vitro antioxidant activity, which may be due to the presence of a high total phenolic content. In order to identify active principles, the extracts were submitted to fractionation and the compounds isolated were the flavonoids 2′,4′-dihydroxy-6′-methoxy-3′,5′-dimethylchalcone (1), 7-hydroxy-5-methoxy-6,8-dimethylflavanone (2) and the phenolic acid 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3). In addition, a high level of stimulation of HSF proliferation and significant absorption of UV radiation were also observed. The results suggest that the hydroalcoholic leaf extracts of C. guianensis have promising skin care properties.
Spatial database indices for large extended objects

An analytic model is given for the behavior of dynamic spatial index structures under insertions and deletions. Based on this model a new tool, called the oversize shelf to improve the performance of tree-based indices by minimizing redundancy, is optimized and evaluated. Oversize shelves are extra disk pages that are attached to the interior nodes of a tree-based spatial index structure. These pages are used to accommodate very large data objects in order to avoid their excessive fragmentation. Whenever inserting a new object into the tree, it should be decided whether to store it on an oversize shelf or to insert it into the subtrees. From the analytic model a threshold q* for the object size is obtained. If the object is larger than q*, it is more favorable to put it on the oversize shelf, otherwise the insertion into the subtrees is preferable. <<ETX>>
Long-Standing Nonunion of Fractures of the Lateral Humeral Condyle

Background: Patients with nonunion of a fracture of the lateral humeral condyle often have pain, instability, or progressive cubitus valgus deformity with tardy ulnar nerve palsy. However, some patients have minimal or no symptoms or disabilities. We evaluated patients with long-standing established nonunion of the lateral humeral condyle to correlate the clinical long-term outcome of this condition with the original fracture type. Methods: Nineteen elbows in eighteen patients who were at least twenty years of age were evaluated. Fourteen patients were male, and four were female. The average age at presentation was 42.5 years. The average interval from the injury to the presentation of the symptoms of the nonunion was thirty-seven years. Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of the size of the fragment and the location of the fracture line. Group 1 included nine elbows with nonunion resulting from a Milch Type-I injury, and Group 2 included ten elbows with a nonunion resulting from a Milch Type-II injury. Evaluations were performed with use of radiographic examination, clinical assessment, and calculation of the Broberg and Morrey score. Results: Symptoms were seen more frequently in Group 1 than in Group 2. The range of flexion in Group 1 (range, 60° to 145°; average, 99°) was more restricted than that in Group 2 (range, 100° to 150°; average, 129°) (p = 0.0078). The functional score in Group 2 was significantly higher than that in Group 1 (p = 0.03). Conclusion: Disabling symptoms only rarely developed in Group-2 patients. Occasionally, however, these patients do present with clinically detectable dysfunction of the ulnar nerve. In contrast, pain, instability, and loss of range of motion as well as ulnar nerve dysfunction developed in Group 1. For this reason we think that a nonunion of a Milch Type-I fracture should be treated as soon as possible after injury, preferably before the patient reaches skeletal maturity.
Cleavage of the iron‐methionine bond in c‐type cytochromes: Crystal structure of oxidized and reduced cytochrome c2 from Rhodopseudomonas palustris and its ammonia complex

The three‐dimensional structures of the native cytochrome c2 from Rhodopseudomonas palustris and of its ammonia complex have been obtained at pH 4.4 and pH 8.5, respectively. The structure of the native form has been refined in the oxidized state at 1.70 Å and in the reduced state at 1.95 Å resolution. These are the first high‐resolution crystal structures in both oxidation states of a cytochrome c2 with relatively high redox potential (+350 mV). The differences between the two oxidation states of the native form, including the position of internal water molecules, are small. The unusual six‐residue insertion Gly82‐Ala87, which precedes the heme binding Met93, forms an isolated 310‐helix secondary structural element not previously observed in other c‐type cytochromes. Furthermore, this cytochrome shows an external methionine residue involved in a strained folding near the exposed edge of the heme. The structural comparison of the present cytochrome c2 with other c‐type cytochromes has revealed that the presence of such a residue, with torsion angles ϕ and ξ of approximately −140 and −130°, respectively, is a typical feature of this family of proteins. The refined crystal structure of the ammonia complex, obtained at 1.15 Å resolution, shows that the sulphur atom of the Met93 axial ligand does not coordinate the heme iron atom, but is replaced by an exogenous ammonia molecule. This is the only example so far reported of an X‐ray structure with the heme iron coordinated by an ammonia molecule. The detachment of Met93 is accompanied by a very localized change in backbone conformation, involving mainly the residues Lys92, Met93, and Thr94. Previous studies under typical denaturing conditions, including high‐pH values and the presence of exogenous ligands, have shown that the detachment of the Met axial ligand is a basic step in the folding/unfolding process of c‐type cytochromes. The ammonia adduct represents a structural model for this important step of the unfolding pathway. Factors proposed to be important for the methionine dissociation are the strength of the H‐bond between the Met93 and Tyr66 residues that stabilizes the native form, and the presence in this bacterial cytochrome c2 of the rare six‐residue insertion in the helix 310 conformation that increases Met loop flexibility.
Discovery of Frequent Itemsets: Frequent Item Tree-Based Approach

Mining frequent patterns in large transactional databases is a highly researched area in the field of data mining. Existing frequent pattern discovering algorithms suffer from many problems regarding the high memory dependency when mining large amount of data, computational and I/O cost. Additionally, the recursive mining process to mine these structures is also too voracious in memory resources. In this paper, we describe a more efficient algorithm for mining complete frequent itemsets from transactional databases. The suggested algorithm is partially based on FP-tree hypothesis and extracts the frequent itemsets directly from the tree. Its memory requirement, which is independent from the number of processed transactions, is another benefit of the new method. We present performance comparisons for our algorithm against the Apriori algorithm and FP-growth.
Exploration and verification of liver fibrosis non-invasive diagnostic model in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective: This study aimed to establish a new non-invasive diagnostic model for liver fibrosis in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and to evaluate its diagnostic accuracy. Methods: This was a prospective study on the liver histology of 240 CHB patients. Patients were divided into 2 groups: 120 patients were included for the establishment of diagnostic model (modeling group) and remaining patients for the validation. Results: A new non-invasive diagnostic model for liver fibrosis contained two parameters: P = -0.32+0.568 * LnFS (kPa)-0.035 * LnPLT (109/L), and liver fibrosis index was calculated as eP/(1+eP). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for significant fibrosis was 0.934 (95% CI = 0.865, 1.0) in modeling group (n = 120) and 0.891 ((95% CI = 0.811, 0.971) in validation group (n = 120). When the model value was <0.58, the negative predictive value was 76%, the sensitivity was 100% for significant fibrosis, the specificity was 95%, the positive predictive value was 100% and the negative predictive value was 76% with the model index >0.88. When the data of all patients were analyzed with Forns Index, Fibro index and Fibrotest model, the AUROC was 0.756, 0.705 and 0.742, respectively, which were lower than in the new model. Conclusion: The newly established non-invasive diagnostic model is good for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis in CHB patients, especially in those with significant liver fibrosis. Fibroscan has a higher diagnostic accuracy in liver fibrosis caused by CHB and can be used as an independent predictor.
Application of PCA in the Porosity Evaluation of a Coal Reservoir

In this paper, we study the feasibility of applying the principal component analysis (PCA) for porosity evaluation of a coal Reservoir. The geological characteristics of the No. 3 coal reservoir in Qinshui Basin (Shanxi Province, China) were analyzed at first. On this basis, vitrinite reflectance, coal macrolithotype, ash content, macro-fissure density, micro-fissure density, and coal structure were adopted as the index variables for evaluating the porosity. Three principal components were extracted by reducing dimensions of the six primitive variables. Then, a scoring model of the principal components was constructed to calculate the comprehensive scores for porosity of the coal samples. In addition, Qinshui Basin was partitioned into four regions: a (Yangquan), b (Jingfang-Wangzhuang), c (Changcun), and d (Jincheng), which were listed in a descending order as a, c, b, and d with reducing porosities. Explanation of the principal components and geological theoretical analysis revealed that the geotectonic movements and evolutions, and sedimentary environment are main controlling factors for studying the porosity based zoning of the research region. The results prove that it is feasible to apply PCA to evaluate the porosity of coal reservoirs.
Protein C Osaka 10 with Aberrant Propeptide Processing: Loss of Anticoagulant Activity Due to an Amino Acid Substitution in the Protein C Precursor

Summary We studied the molecular basis of protein C deficiency in a family with a history of thromboembolic disease. An approximately 50% reduction in anticoagulant activity despite normal levels of protein C amidolytic activity and antigen was detected in plasma from the proband. All the exons and intron/exon junctions of the protein C gene were studied using a strategy that combined polymerase chain reaction amplification with DNA sequencing of the amplified fragments. We identified a C-to-A change at nucleotide number 1387 of the protein C gene in the proband and his mother, and this mutant was designated protein C Osaka 10. The C-to-A change resulted in the substitution of Ser for Arg at position -1, which is the processing protease cleavage site. The mutant protein C was partially purified from plasma of the patient’s mother using barium adsorption followed by ion-exchange column chromatography. It eluted at the same sodium chloride concentration as normal protein C, and thus γ-carboxylation of the mutant protein appeared to be normal. The apparent molecular weight of this mutant protein C was the same as that of the normal protein on immunoblotting. Amino-terminal sequence analysis showed that the light chain of the mutant protein C had an additional Ser at position -1. Thus, the loss of anticoagulant activity of protein C Osaka 10 can be explained by alteration of the conformation of the Gla domain by the additional Ser in the mutant molecule.
The Required Role of Endogenously Produced Lipoxin A4 and Annexin-1 for the Production of IL-10 and Inflammatory Hyporesponsiveness in Mice1

The appropriate development of an inflammatory response is central for the ability of a host to deal with any infectious insult. However, excessive, misplaced, or uncontrolled inflammation may lead to acute or chronic diseases. The microbiota plays an important role in the control of inflammatory responsiveness. In this study, we investigated the role of lipoxin A4 and annexin-1 for the IL-10-dependent inflammatory hyporesponsiveness observed in germfree mice. Administration of a 15-epi-lipoxin A4 analog or an annexin-1-derived peptide to conventional mice prevented tissue injury, TNF-α production, and lethality after intestinal ischemia/reperfusion. This was associated with enhanced IL-10 production. Lipoxin A4 and annexin-1 failed to prevent reperfusion injury in IL-10-deficient mice. In germfree mice, there was enhanced expression of both lipoxin A4 and annexin-1. Blockade of lipoxin A4 synthesis with a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor or Abs against annexin-1 partially prevented IL-10 production and this was accompanied by partial reversion of inflammatory hyporesponsiveness in germfree mice. Administration of BOC-1, an antagonist of ALX receptors (at which both lipoxin A4 and annexin-1 act), or simultaneous administration of 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor and anti-annexin-1 Abs, was associated with tissue injury, TNF-α production, and lethality similar to that found in conventional mice. Thus, our data demonstrate that inflammatory responsiveness is tightly controlled by the presence of the microbiota and that the innate capacity of germfree mice to produce IL-10 is secondary to their endogenous greater ability to produce lipoxin A4 and annexin-1.
Design, Construction, and Performance Testing of a 6.5 T Superconducting Wavelength Shifter

A compact three-pole superconducting magnet with an aluminum warm beam duct was designed and fabricated as an X-ray source in a 1.5 GeV Taiwan Light Source (TLS) or the 3 GeV Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). Three pairs of racetrack NbTi superconducting coils were connected to one main power supply to create a central field of over 6.5 T. Two low current trim power supplies were connected in parallel to the two side pairs of the coil to eliminate the first and second field integrals. The wavelength shifter magnet was cooled in a pool boiling helium bath. Helium boils off at 1.3 L/hr. The vapor-cooled current lead is used to pass the 350 A excitation current. The magnetic field strength was measured at room temperature using a Hall probe and a stretched wire system. The magnet was tested successfully to 308 A, at which the central field exceeded 6.5 T, and the peak field on coil was 8.2 T. The design and construction of the magnet and the cryostat, the quenching protection, and field measurement results will be presented and discussed.