Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suicide victim of paraquat poisoning make suitable corneal donor

This report addresses the possibility of expanding transplant corneal donor pool by inclusion of more patients who have suffered poisoning with paraquat pre-mortem. A 27-year-old depressed man committed suicide by ingesting 50 mL of 24% paraquat (Gramoxone, Syngenta, Taiwan). He was treated aggressively with gastric lavage, with large amounts of normal saline, followed by infusion of activated charcoal and magnesium citrate. Blood paraquat level was 1.90 μg/mL. Charcoal hemoperfusion was performed for 8 hours using a charcoal-containing dialysis machine. Furthermore, pulse therapies of cyclophosphamide (15 mg/kg/day for 2 days) and methylprednisolone (1 g/day for 3 days) were administered, followed by dexamethasone (20 mg/day for 14 days). Methylprednisolone pulse therapy was repeated since PaO2 on the 15th day of poisoning was <60 mm Hg. Chest radiography demonstrated diffuse ground glass opacities of both lungs, with thickening of the intralobular interstitium, compatible with interstitial pneumonitis. Arterial blood gas found persistent hypoxemia and large alveolar-arterial oxygen tension differences. Respiratory failure developed on the 21st day and he was intubated for mechanical ventilatory support. As the patient expressed his wish for organ donation, the corneas were harvested after expiration on the 22nd day. His corneas were transplanted in two recipients and visual acuities of the recipients were doing well at 6 months after transplantation.
Development and characterization of nine polymorphic microsatellite markers in the seven-spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

In this study, nine microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized from the seven-spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). The loci were validated and characterized using 20 samples collected from five Korean localities. These results indicate that some loci were highly variable in terms of number of alleles (2 to 13), heterozygosity (0.10 to 0.40), and polymorphic information content (0.31 to 0.85). These microsatellite markers will be very valuable for population genetic studies of C. septempunctata.
Speeding-Up Model-Selection in Graphnet via Early-Stopping and Univariate Feature-Screening

The Graph Net (aka S-Lasso), as well as other "spar-sity + structure" priors like TV-L1, are not easily applicable to brain data because of technical problems concerning the selection of the regularization parameters. Also, in their own right, such models lead to challenging high-dimensional optimization problems. In this manuscript, we present some heuristics for speeding up the overall optimization process: (a) Early-stopping, whereby one halts the optimization process when the test score(performance on left out data) for the internal cross validation for model-selection stops improving, and (b) univariate feature-screening, whereby irrelevant (non-predictive) voxels are detected and eliminated before the optimization problem is entered, thus reducing the size of the problem. Empirical results with Graph Net on real MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) datasets indicate that these heuristics are a win-win strategy, as they add speed without sacrificing the quality of the predictions. We expect the proposed heuristics to work on other models like TV-L1, etc.
Allelic and genotypic diversity in long‐term asexual populations of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum in comparison with sexual populations

Many aphid species exhibit geographical variation in the mode of reproduction that ranges from cyclical parthenogenesis with a sexual phase to obligate parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). Theoretical studies predict that organisms reproducing asexually should maintain higher allelic diversity per locus but lower genotypic diversity than organisms reproducing sexually. To corroborate this hypothesis, we evaluated genotypic and allelic diversities in the sexual and asexual populations of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris). Microsatellite analysis revealed that populations in central Japan are asexual, whereas populations in northern Japan are obligatorily sexual. No mixed populations were detected in our study sites. Phylogenetic analysis using microsatellite data and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences revealed a long history of asexuality in central Japan and negated the possibility of the recent origin of the asexual populations from the sexual populations. Asexual populations exhibited much lower genotypic diversity but higher allelic richness per locus than did sexual populations. Asexual populations consisted of a few predominant clones that were considerably differentiated from one another. Sexual populations on alfalfa, an exotic plant in Japan, were most closely related to asexual populations associated with Vicia sativa L. The alfalfa‐associated sexual populations harboured one COI haplotype that was included in the haplotype clade of the asexual populations. Available evidence suggests that the sexuality of the alfalfa‐associated populations has recently been restored through the northward migration and colonization of alfalfa by V. sativa‐associated lineages. Therefore, our results support the theoretical predictions and provide a new perspective on the origin of sexual populations.
Splice‐site contribution in alternative splicing of PLP1 and DM20: molecular studies in oligodendrocytes

Mutations in the proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1) gene cause the X‐linked dysmyelinating diseases Pelizaeus‐Merzbacher disease (PMD) and spastic paraplegia 2 (SPG2). We examined the severity of the following mutations that were suspected of affecting levels of PLP1 and DM20 RNA, the alternatively spliced products of PLP1: c.453G>A, c.453G>T, c.453G>C, c.453+2T>C, c.453+4A>G, c.347C>A, and c.453+28_+46del (the old nomenclature did not include the methionine codon: G450A, G450T, G450C, IVS3+2T>C, IVS3+4A>G, C344A, and IVS3+28‐+46del). These mutations were evaluated by information theory‐based analysis and compared with mRNA expression of the alternatively spliced products. The results are discussed relative to the clinical severity of disease. We conclude that the observed PLP1 and DM20 splicing patterns correlated well with predictions of information theory‐based analysis, and that the relative strength of the PLP1 and DM20 donor splice sites plays an important role in PLP1 alternative splicing. Hum Mutat 27(1), 69–77, 2006. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Typing References by E(cid:11)ect Inference

Hindley/Milner-style polymorphism is a simple, natural, and (cid:13)exible type discipline for functional languages, but incorporating imperative extensions is di(cid:14)-cult. We present a new technique for typing references in the presence of polymorphism by inferring a concise summary of each expression's allocation behavior|a type e(cid:11)ect. A simple technique for proving soundness with respect to a reduction semantics demonstrates that the type system prevents type errors. By establishing that the system corresponds to an alternate system better suited to implementation, we obtain an algorithm to perform type and e(cid:11)ect inference.
Estimates for the Aerodynamic Coefficients of Ringsail and Disk-Gap-Band Parachutes Operating on Mars

Models are presented for the aerodynamic coefficients of Supersonic Ringsail and Disk-Gap-Band parachutes as functions of total porosity, λT, Mach number, M, and total angle of attack, αT (when necessary). The source aerodynamic coefficients data used for creating these models were obtained from a wind tunnel test of subscale parachutes. In this wind tunnel test, subscale parachutes of both parachute types were fabricated from two different fabrics with very different permeabilities. By varying the fabric permeability, while maintaining the parachute geometry constant, it was possible to vary λT. The fabric permeability test data necessary for the calculation of λT were obtained from samples of the same fabrics used to fabricate the subscale parachutes. Although the models for the aerodynamic coefficients are simple polynomial functions of λT and M, they are capable of producing good reproductions of the source data. The (λT, M) domains over which these models are applicable are clearly defined. The models are applicable to flight operations on Mars.
Assessment of a real-time PCR method to detect human non-cryptococcal fungal meningitis.

BACKGROUND The signs and symptoms associated with fungal meningitis are similar to those seen with more common bacterial infections. In this study, we investigate whether Aspergillus or Candida DNA can be detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients suspected of fungal meningitis using real-time PCR assay. METHODS From April 2007 to November 2009, we evaluated CSF samples and sera from patients with risk factors for cerebral fungal meningitis in Nemazi Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran, by real-time PCR assay and routine mycological studies (direct microscopy examination and culture). Two CSF and two serum samples from each patient were examined. RESULTS CSF and serum samples from 38 patients (total: 152) suspected of fungal meningitis were examined. India ink staining and KOH smear were negative for all patients. C. albicans was isolated from two CSF samples. There were ten patients with positive real-time PCR results in their CSF samples: three patients had C. albicans, one with C. glabrata, four with Aspergillus species and two with both C. albicans and Aspergillus species DNA. Four patients had positive serum results for Aspergillus or Candida infections. CONCLUSION Considering the findings, it seems that molecular examination can help in the diagnosis of fungal meningitis in patients with clinical and radiological presentations. Further studies should be conducted in other regions and settings to confirm these findings.
Modelling DNA Methylation Dynamics

“Epigenetics” as introduced by ConradWaddington in 1946, is defined as a set of interactions between genes and the surrounding environment, which determines the phenotype or physical traits in an organism, (Murrell et al., 2005; Waddington, 1942). Initial research focused on genomic regions such as heterochromatin and euchromatin based on dense and relatively loose DNA packing, since these were known to contain inactive and active genes respectively, (Yasuhara et al., 2005). Subsequently, key roles of DNA methylation, Histone Modifications and other assistive proteins such as Methyl Binding Proteins (MBP) during gene expression and suppression were identified, (Baylin & Ohm, 2006; Jenuwein & Allis, 2001). An emergent and persistent view that every epigenetic event affects another, to strengthen or suppress gene expression has made this an active field of research. DNA methylation refers to the modification of DNAby addition of amethyl group to the cytosine base, and is themost stable, heritable and well conserved epigenetic change. It is introduced and maintained, (Riggs & Xiong, 2004; Ushijima et al., 2003) by an enzyme family called DNA Methyl Transferases (DNMT), (Doerfler et al., 1990). Methyl-Cytosine or “mC”, often referred to as the fifth type of nucleotide plays an extremely important role in gene expression and other cellular activities. Although DM is defined a simple molecular modification, its effect, can range from altering the state of a single gene to controlling a whole section of chromosome in the human genome.
Gene–environment interplay in the etiology of psychosis

Abstract Schizophrenia and other types of psychosis incur suffering, high health care costs and loss of human potential, due to the combination of early onset and poor response to treatment. Our ability to prevent or cure psychosis depends on knowledge of causal mechanisms. Molecular genetic studies show that thousands of common and rare variants contribute to the genetic risk for psychosis. Epidemiological studies have identified many environmental factors associated with increased risk of psychosis. However, no single genetic or environmental factor is sufficient to cause psychosis on its own. The risk of developing psychosis increases with the accumulation of many genetic risk variants and exposures to multiple adverse environmental factors. Additionally, the impact of environmental exposures likely depends on genetic factors, through gene–environment interactions. Only a few specific gene–environment combinations that lead to increased risk of psychosis have been identified to date. An example of replicable gene–environment interaction is a common polymorphism in the AKT1 gene that makes its carriers sensitive to developing psychosis with regular cannabis use. A synthesis of results from twin studies, molecular genetics, and epidemiological research outlines the many genetic and environmental factors contributing to psychosis. The interplay between these factors needs to be considered to draw a complete picture of etiology. To reach a more complete explanation of psychosis that can inform preventive strategies, future research should focus on longitudinal assessments of multiple environmental exposures within large, genotyped cohorts beginning early in life.
An externally driven magnetic microstirrer

In this paper, an inexpensive, easy–to–fabricate active magnetic mixer is presented. This mixer functions on top of a common magnetic stir plate and is capable of mixing two streams, each at flow rates up to 5 ml min–1. A liquid–phase photopolymerization technique is used to fabricate the device. An analysis of mixing efficiency is based on greyscale intensity measurements of two coloured streams passing through the mixer. A brief hypothesis of the mechanism of mixing is also presented.
3DSDM: A 3 data-source diagnostic method

The goal of this paper is to present a diagnosis method for bridging faults combining three different data sources: I/sub DDQ/ measurements, logical behavior and layout parasitic capacitances. The resulting hybrid method constitutes a significant improvement over an existing one based on probabilistic signatures. Combining these data contributes to reduce the number of potential fault sites to consider in the diagnosis process, and therefore accelerate this process. Simulation results show that the number of potential bridging fault sites is reduced from 0.5N(N-1) to less than N, where N is the number of nodes in the circuit under test.
Is Capillary Electrophoresis a Method of Choice for Systematic Toxicological Analysis?

Abstract This review presents an overview of current research on the use of capillary electrophoretic techniques for the analysis of drugs in biological matrices. The discussion focuses on the applicability of the methods for the identification of unknown toxic compounds, which is defined as systematic toxicological analysis (STA). The aim is to establish whether or not capillary electrophoresis (CE), in one or more of its separation modes, is a method of choice in systematic toxicological analysis. To answer this question, various aspects are discussed, including sample work-up, separation modes, detection techniques, electrophoretic concentration, and identification by database retrieval. Several ways to improve the poor reproducibility and sensitivity are discussed. This leads to the conclusion that CE can be comparable to HPLC in those respects, while it is more favorable in speed, efficiency, and cost. Thus, we conclude that CE is a method of choice for STA, keeping in mind that every method has its limitations and that a combination of several non-correlated methods is always required for the identification of unknown compounds.
Ku-band reconfigurable compact array in dual polarization

This paper outlines THALES ALENIA SPACE activities in the frame of mission's flexibility in Ku-band. The development of an antenna based on the association of a ‘focal’ array and a shaped reflector is detailed. Flexibility in Tx pattern coverage is achieved thanks to phase control only at each radiating element level of the array. The key drivers of this antenna are the performance of this ‘focal’ array in terms of efficiency, mass, volume, complexity and cost. The array architecture concept is developed in such a way to be modular and flexible in use (Rx/Tx Ku+/Ku, Tx only, fixed beam in one or two polarizations).
Authentication systems: principles and threats

Identity manipulation is considered a serious security issue that has been enlarged with the spread of automated systems that could be accessed either locally or remotely. Availability, integrity, and confidentiality represent the basic requirements that should be granted for successful authentication systems. Personality verification has taken multiple forms depending on different possession types. They are divided into knowledge based, token based, and biometric based authentication. The permanent ownership to the human being has increased the chances of deploying biometrics based authentication in highly secure systems. It includes capturing the biological traits, which are physiological or behavioral, extracting the important features and comparing them to the previously stored features that belong to the claimed user. Various kinds of attacks aim to take down the basic requirements at multiple points. This paper describes different types of authentication along with their vulnerable points and threatening attacks. Then it provides more details about the biometric system structure as well as examples of distinguishing biological characteristics, organized by their locations. It shows the performance results of various biometric systems along with the deployed algorithms for different components.
MONAD: A Model Driven Software Product Line to Create Domain Specific Websites

Websites in a specific domain, i.e., restaurants or product catalogs, share various commonalities. Besides the vocabulary, they can share aspects such as sitemap structure or presentation elements. Web development companies can take advantage of these commonalities to create reusable assets, in the process of website construction. We present MONAD, a software product line to efficiently build websites for specific business domains. MONAD introduces the concept of Domain Template, an asset intended to parametrize websites in terms of their specific domain concepts. Using model-driven techniques, domain templates allow users to reuse presentation elements, sitemap and pages structures, and automate the insertion of content into a particular website. Domain templates are implemented using platform independent models; therefore they can be used to create websites on different web content management systems, i.e., Joomla! or wiki systems.
Speed of Processing and Stimulus Complexity in Low-Frequency and High-Frequency Channels

Studies of the microgenesis of perception led to the hypothesis that global aspects of objects are processed faster than their details. If one starts with the assumption that low-frequency information of objects corresponds to the global, and high-frequency information to the local aspects, recognising objects should rely at first on information from the low-frequency channels and afterwards from that of the high-frequency channels. The priming paradigm provides a mean of investigating experimentally the temporal availability of low-frequency and high-frequency information in object perception. In the experiments subjects had to respond to target objects preceded either by related or by unrelated priming stimuli, which consisted of low-pass-filtered and high-pass-filtered versions of the objects. With the influence of stimulus complexity controlled, pictures of objects were chosen that varied in the number of intensity changes in the high-frequency components, with those of the low-frequency components kept constant. The exposure duration of each prime was varied between 40 and 100 ms. The results indicated that target identification only profits more from low-frequency than from high-frequency primes if the high-frequency information has a high level of complexity. If the number of intensity changes in the high-frequency components of the prime is low, target identification is most strongly facilitated. The results are discussed in terms of models which focus on organising principles at different scales.
Immunoreaction of a recombinant nanobody from camelid single domain antibody fragment with Acinetobacter baumannii.

BACKGROUND Acinetobacter baumannii, an important nosocominal pathogen, causes various human infections like meningitis, bacteremia and pneumonia. The aim of this study was to produce nanobodies derived from camel heavy chain antibodies (HcAb) against a conserved region of the biofilm associated protein (Bap) of A. baumannii, by phage display technique. METHODS A camel was immunized with the purified recombinant protein expressed from the conserved region of Bap and polyclonal antibody production was confirmed by ELISA. After RNA extraction from peripheral lymphocytes, cDNA was prepared and a phagemid library was constructed. RESULTS Phage particles encoding nanobodies were produced by infecting transformed cells with a M13K07 helper phage. A total of six panning rounds were performed to select high affinity clones. Screening of high affinity monoclonal nanobodies was performed using phage-ELISA. A clone with the highest absorption in monoclonal phage-ELISA was selected for soluble expression of the desired nanobody. CONCLUSIONS This is the first report on the expression and production of nanobodies against Bap. Increasing trends of drug resistance have shifted the focus to the role of antibodies in diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. Similarities of the produced VHH to human VH, makes the role of this nanobody promising in immunotherapy.
Non-affine fields in solid–solid transformations: the structure and stability of a product droplet

We describe the microstructure, morphology, and dynamics of growth of a droplet of martensite nucleating in a parent austenite during a solid–solid transformation, using a Landau theory written in terms of both conventional affine elastic deformations and non-affine deformations. Non-affineness, ϕ, serves as a source of strain incompatibility and screens long-ranged elastic interactions. It is produced wherever the local stress exceeds a threshold and anneals diffusively thereafter. Using a variational calculation, we find three types of stable solution (labeled I, II, and III) for the structure of the product droplet, depending on the stress threshold and the scaled mobilities of ϕ parallel and perpendicular to the parent–product interface. The profile of the non-affine field ϕ is different in these three solutions: I is characterized by a vanishingly small ϕ, II admits large values of ϕ localized in regions of high stress within the parent–product interface, and III is a structure in which ϕ completely wets the parent–product interface. The width l and size W of the twins follow the relation l ∝ W ? > in solution I; this relation does not hold for II or III. We obtain a dynamical phase diagram featuring these solutions, and argue that they represent specific solid-state microstructures.
TENSOR MODELING BASED FOR AIRBORNE LiDAR DATA CLASSIFICATION

Feature selection and description is a key factor in classification of Earth observation data. In this paper a classification method based on tensor decomposition is proposed. First, multiple features are extracted from raw LiDAR point cloud, and raster LiDAR images are derived by accumulating features or the “raw” data attributes. Then, the feature rasters of LiDAR data are stored as a tensor, and tensor decomposition is used to select component features. This tensor representation could keep the initial spatial structure and insure the consideration of the neighborhood. Based on a small number of component features a k nearest neighborhood classification is applied.