Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LightTx: A lightweight transactional design in flash-based SSDs to support flexible transactions

Flash memory has accelerated the architectural evolution of storage systems with its unique characteristics compared to magnetic disks. The no-overwrite property of flash memory has been leveraged to efficiently support transactions, a commonly used mechanism in systems to provide consistency. However, existing transaction designs embedded in flash-based Solid State Drives (SSDs) have limited support for transaction flexibility, i.e., support for different isolation levels between transactions, which is essential to enable different systems to make tradeoffs between performance and consistency. Since they provide support for only strict isolation between transactions, existing designs lead to a reduced number of on-the-fly requests and therefore cannot exploit the abundant internal parallelism of an SSD. There are two design challenges that need to be overcome to support flexible transactions: (1) enabling a transaction commit protocol that supports parallel execution of transactions; and (2) efficiently tracking the state of transactions that have pages scattered over different locations due to parallel allocation of pages. In this paper, we propose LightTx to address these two challenges. LightTx supports transaction flexibility using a lightweight embedded transaction design. The design of LightTx is based on two key techniques. First, LightTx uses a commit protocol that determines the transaction state solely inside each transaction (as opposed to having dependencies between transactions that complicate state tracking) in order to support parallel transaction execution. Second, LightTx periodically retires the dead transactions to reduce transaction state tracking cost. Experiments show that LightTx provides up to 20.6% performance improvement due to transaction flexibility. LightTx also achieves nearly the lowest overhead in garbage collection and mapping persistence compared to existing embedded transaction designs.
Dietary Sugars and Endogenous Formation of Advanced Glycation Endproducts: Emerging Mechanisms of Disease

The rapid increase in metabolic diseases, which occurred in the last three decades in both industrialized and developing countries, has been related to the rise in sugar-added foods and sweetened beverages consumption. An emerging topic in the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases related to modern nutrition is the role of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs). AGEs can be ingested with high temperature processed foods, but also endogenously formed as a consequence of a high dietary sugar intake. Animal models of high sugar consumption, in particular fructose, have reported AGE accumulation in different tissues in association with peripheral insulin resistance and lipid metabolism alterations. The in vitro observation that fructose is one of the most rapid and effective glycating agents when compared to other sugars has prompted the investigation of the in vivo fructose-induced glycation. In particular, the widespread employment of fructose as sweetener has been ascribed by many experimental and observational studies for the enhancement of lipogenesis and intracellular lipid deposition. Indeed, diet-derived AGEs have been demonstrated to interfere with many cell functions such as lipid synthesis, inflammation, antioxidant defences, and mitochondrial metabolism. Moreover, emerging evidence also in humans suggest that this impact of dietary AGEs on different signalling pathways can contribute to the onset of organ damage in liver, skeletal and cardiac muscle, and the brain, affecting not only metabolic control, but global health. Indeed, the most recent reports on the effects of high sugar consumption and diet-derived AGEs on human health reviewed here suggest the need to limit the dietary sources of AGEs, including added sugars, to prevent the development of metabolic diseases and related comorbidities.
On the Effectiveness of Malware Protection on Android An evaluation of Android antivirus

Android is currently the most popular smartphone operating system. However, users feel their private information at threat, facing a rapidly increasing number of malware for Android which significantly exceeds that of other platforms. Antivirus software promises to effectively protect against malware on mobile devices and many products are available for free or at reasonable prices. Their effectiveness is supported by various reports, attesting very high detection rates. However, a more detailed investigation is required in order to understand the real risk level arising from malware for the Android platform. Neither do the exceedingly high numbers of different malware variants reflect the real threat in comparison to other platforms, nor do the results of testing antivirus software against a set of already known malware samples (retrospective tests) provide a clear picture of the capabilities and limitations of antivirus software on the Android platform. The primary objective of this report is thus to help corporate and private users to assess the real risk level imposed by Android malware on the one hand, and the protection level offered by antivirus software on the other hand. For this purpose, we discuss how malware spreads and which limitations antivirus apps are subject to. We then evaluate how well Android antivirus software performs under realworld conditions, as opposed to retrospective detection rate tests. Based on our findings, we give recommendations for private and corporate users and sketch possible future solutions to overcome some of the current issues of antivirus software. For this report, we conducted various tests on several antivirus apps for Android. As we aim to reflect real-world threats better than retrospective tests, in which antivirus software is tested for recognizing known malware samples, our test setup considers the ability to cope with typical malware distribution channels, infection routines, and privilege escalation techniques. We found that it is easy for malware to evade detection by most antivirus apps with only trivial alterations to their package files. In order to test different malware detection techniques, we also used a newly developed proof of concept malware. This proof of concept malware demonstrates advanced functionality which is not present in most of today’s Android malware, and is intended to determine how Android antivirus software will deal with unknown and upcoming malware. Fraunhofer AISEC On the Effectiveness of Malware Protection on Android 2
Transport of Topoisomerase I Inhibitors by the Breast Cancer Resistance Protein: Potential Clinical Implications

Abstract: The multidrug resistance protein BCRP (breast cancer resistance protein) is a member of the ATP‐binding cassette family of drug transporters. Overexpression of BCRP caused by exposure of cells to mitoxantrone (MX) or doxorubicin/verapamil resulted in a resistance pattern that is different from what is generally seen in the case of P‐glycoprotein and MRP1 overexpression. Recently, the BCRP gene has been described in ovarian, breast, colon,and gastric cancer and fibrosarcoma cell lines. Our human tumor cells T8 and MX3, derived from the ovarian cancer cell line IGROV1 by stepwise increased exposure to topotecan and MX, are resistant to topotecan, CPT11, SN38, and 9‐aminocamptothecin as well as MX. Increased energy‐dependent efflux of affected drugs was noted. BCRP is a very efficient transporter of topotecan. Our recent studies, using the monoclonal antibody (mAb) BXP34, revealed that BCRP is located in the plasma membrane of the T8 and MX3 cell lines. Preliminary results of staining of human tumor cells showed low or absent levels of BCRP in a panel of solid tumors and acute myeloid leukemia cells.
Response to Dr. Choudhuri

TO THE EDITOR: Typhoid carrier state has been implicated as an important etiological factor in gallbladder carcinogenesis by many investigators from all over the world. Duttaet al. (1) reported that 16% of patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC) were detected to be typhoid carriers, in contrast to 2.5% among controls ( p 0.01). The control arm (n 80) comprised only gallstone patients without any evidence of GBC, whereas all cancer patients (n 37) had coexisting gallstone disease. An apparently similar kind of study, published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology (2) by the same authors, indicated that 74% (37 of 50) of GBC patients and 76% (84 of 114) of patients with gallstones were typhoid carriers in contrast to 29% (14 of 48) of healthy controls. The two publications by the same group seemed to have the same samples, used the same techniques (in-house ELISA for Vi antibody), but reported very different results. It would, therefore, be interesting to know whether normal healthy controls were included in the studies and the explanation for the observed differences in the respective results, particularly in reference to status of typhoid carrier state in GBC and gallstone disease. One study showed significant difference between these two groups (16% and 2.5%, respectively), whereas the other did not (74% and 76%, respectively). Could the authors please clarify?
Change oriented versioning in a software engineering database

We present the change oriented model of versioning, which focuses strongly on functional changes in a software product and therefore can be seen as an alternative to the traditional, “version oriented” models. The change oriented model is used as a basis for the versioning in the EPOS software engineering database, which features an integrated transaction and versioning mechanism.
The Pathological Roles of Ganglioside Metabolism in Alzheimer's Disease: Effects of Gangliosides on Neurogenesis

Conversion of the soluble, nontoxic amyloid β-protein (Aβ) into an aggregated, toxic form rich in β-sheets is a key step in the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has been suggested that Aβ induces changes in neuronal membrane fluidity as a result of its interactions with membrane components such as cholesterol, phospholipids, and gangliosides. Gangliosides are known to bind Aβ. A complex of GM1 and Aβ, termed “GAβ”, has been identified in AD brains. Abnormal ganglioside metabolism also may occur in AD brains. We have reported an increase of Chol-1α antigens, GQ1bα and GT1aα, in the brain of transgenic mouse AD model. GQ1bα and GT1aα exhibit high affinities to Aβs. The presence of Chol-1α gangliosides represents evidence for genesis of cholinergic neurons in AD brains. We evaluated the effects of GM1 and Aβ1–40 on mouse neuroepithelial cells. Treatment of these cells simultaneously with GM1 and Aβ1–40 caused a significant reduction of cell number, suggesting that Aβ1–40 and GM1 cooperatively exert a cytotoxic effect on neuroepithelial cells. An understanding of the mechanism on the interaction of GM1 and Aβs in AD may contribute to the development of new neuroregenerative therapies for this disorder.
Reginald G. Golledge: In Memoriam

The Editorial Board of Spatial Cognition and Computation notes in sadness the passing of Dr. Reginald (Reg) G. Golledge at the age of 71 on 29 May 2009 in Goleta, California. Reg was a member of the Advisory Board of this journal since its inception. In this capacity, he was eager to help shape the journal’s mission and promote the journal to a wide range of audiences. He was co-author of an article published in the very first issue of the journal (Klatzky, Beall, Loomis, Golledge, & Philbeck, 1999) and followed that up as co-author on an article published the next year (Waller, Loomis, Golledge, & Beall, 2000). Reg was born on 6 December 1937 in the small town of Dungog, New South Wales. As a boy, he worked hard on the farm, fished, and pushed other boys around on the rugby field. As a young man, he studied at the University of New England in Australia, receiving his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Geography. After a short stint as lecturer at the University of Canterbury in NZ, he received a scholarship to study in America, at the University of Iowa, where he earned his Ph.D. in Geography in 1966 with Harold McCarty. Reg took a faculty position at the University of British Columbia, followed a year later by a position at The Ohio State University. He spent his summers as a visiting professor at several universities in the United States and elsewhere, but in 1977, he was recruited by David Simonett to come to the Geography Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He spent the rest of his career there. As an academic, Reg was highly innovative, amazingly productive, communally directed, and very influential. He became something of a legend in the discipline of geography, virtually canonized in numerous textbooks and histories of the field. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a main creator and popularizer of the subfield of behavioral geography, co-editing the 1969 symposium proceedings Behavioral Problems in Geography (Cox & Golledge, 1969) and writing influential early articles and chapters on cognitive aspects of economic decisions in space and place, and on people’s cognitive representations of cities, particularly Columbus, Ohio. The core insight of behavioral geography is that people’s behaviors in space and place depend on their beliefs about reality, not just reality itself, and that people’s behaviors can differ considerably from each other as a result of differences in their subjective worlds. People might shop at a particular market because they believe it is closest and has the best products, not because it actually is the closest and has the best products.
Spinal Cord Injury in the Rat: Treatment with Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide and Indomethacin Enhances Cellular Repair and Locomotor Function

Trauma to the rat's spinal cord results in a lesion characterized by ingrowth of glial cells, accumulation of macrophages, and the progressive development of necrosis and cavitation. Since, when appropriately activated, both astrocytes and macrophages secrete growth-promoting cytokines, we examined whether treatment with drugs that stimulate the secretory activities of these cells might promote tissue repair and reduce necrosis in the traumatized spinal cord. The spinal cord of rats was crushed extradurally at T8 and the rats were injected intraperitoneally with (i) a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or ImuVert to activate cytokine secretion, (ii) Indomethacin to reduce necrosis by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis, (iii) a combination of LPS+Indomethacin, or (iv) vehicle. After 28 days the lesion site was examined quantitatively by light microscopical image analysis. The lesion of vehicle-treated control animals showed large cavities, extensive infiltration by debris-engorged macrophages, and relatively few axons. Treatment with LPS or ImuVert significantly reduced the degree of cavitation and increased the number of cells and axons in the lesion. Treatment with LPS+Indomethacin was significantly more effective than treatment with LPS alone, while treatment with Indomethacin alone was ineffective. To test whether the histopathological differences between treated and control rats might be reflected in functional improvement, rats were subjected to a contusion (weight-drop) injury and their walking ability was quantified by the Tarlov scale for 28 days postoperatively. Treatment with LPS+Indomethacin significantly improved locomotor function of animals subjected to a moderate (1.25 g x 20 cm) injury. We conclude that tissue repair and functional recovery after spinal cord injury are enhanced by combined treatment with agents that promote the secretory activities of the nonneuronal cells and that inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. These results indicate that the search for more effective treatments should include studies on combinations of drugs having different pharmacological specificities.
Bioaccessibility, Intestinal Permeability and Plasma Stability of Isorhamnetin Glycosides from Opuntia ficus-indica (L.)

Isorhamnetin glycosides are representative compounds of Opuntia ficus-indica that possess different biological activities. There is slight information about the changes in bioaccessibility induced by the glycosylation pattern of flavonoids, particularly for isorhamnetin. In this study, the bioaccessibility and permeability of isorhamnetin glycosides extracted from O. ficus-indica were contrasted with an isorhamnetin standard. Also, the plasma stability of these isorhamnetin glycosides after intravenous administration in rats was evaluated. Recoveries of isorhamnetin after oral and gastric digestion were lower than that observed for its glycosides. After intestinal digestion, isorhamnetin glycosides recoveries were reduced to less than 81.0%. The apparent permeability coefficient from apical (AP) to basolateral (BL) direction (Papp(AP-BL)) of isorhamnetin was 2.6 to 4.6-fold higher than those obtained for its glycosides. Isorhamnetin diglycosides showed higher Papp(AP-BL) values than triglycosides. Sugar substituents affected the Papp(AP-BL) of the triglycosides. Isorhamnetin glycosides were better retained in the circulatory system than the aglycone. After intravenous dose of the isorhamnetin standard, the elimination half-life was 0.64 h but increased to 1.08 h when the O. ficus-indica extract was administered. These results suggest that isorhamnetin glycosides naturally found in O. ficus-indica could be a controlled delivery system to maintain a constant plasmatic concentration of this important flavonoid to exert its biological effects in vivo.
PIKO-1, an effective, handy device for the patient's personal PEFR and FEV1 electronic long-term monitoring.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Subjects with airway obstruction are strongly recommended to monitor their lung function, which is particularly variable in asthma. Unlike PEFR, other personal measurements (such as FEV1) are still difficult to perform. PIKO-1 is the first electronic device for both PEFR and FEV1 personal check, but its precision has not yet been assessed. The aim of this study was to compare PEFR and FEV1 values from PIKO-1 and from a conventional spirometer in subjects with airway obstruction. METHODS In total, 352 subjects (217 men; 47.6 +/- 19.0 years; 72.6 +/- 15.0 kg; 168.1 +/- 11.9 cm) performed sequential measurements using a PIKO-1 device and a spirometer. Wilcoxon signed-rank test and sign test were used as statistical tests. RESULTS Mean FEV1 values from the spirometer and PIKO-1, respectively, were 2.9 L +/- 1.1 and 3.0 L +/- 1.1, and mean PEFR values were 466.1 L/min +/- 164.5 SD and 426.3 L/min +/- 151.6 SD. PIKO-1 proved to overestimate FEV1 values by 4% (p<0.0001) and to underestimate PEFR values by 8% (p<0.000) systematically. CONCLUSIONS The precision of both PIKO-1 measurements (such as FEV1 and PEFR) have been assessed. PEFR and FEV1 measures should be reset by two different constants. Nevertheless, PIKO-1 is a suitable and reliable device for the personal monitoring of obstructive patients in real life.
Traumatic brain injury in Greece: Report of a countrywide registry

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of TBI in Greece and to provide evidence on the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease. Patients and methods: This is a prospective observational study initiated by the Hellenic Society of Trauma and Emergency Surgery. Thirty hospitals participated in the registry. All trauma patients requiring admission transfer to a higher level centre and those who arrived dead were included in the study. This report evaluated the epidemiologic characteristics of patients with brain trauma, the cause and the severity of the injury and the final outcome. Results: Eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-two patients were included in the registry. Of them, 3383 had at least one brain injury. There were 2451 males and 932 females. Traffic accidents were the leading cause of TBI (54.1%), followed by falls (27.7%). The most affected age group was the 15–44 year olds (48.0%), but TBIs were more lethal in the 45–64 age group (17.8%). Interestingly, a 3.4% mortality was recorded if a TBI was present, even if ISS was relatively low (0–9 ISS group). Conclusion: TBI is a major element of trauma. Knowledge of the epidemiologic characteristics of the disease is imperative for adequate planning and future quality assessment.
The effects of fault counting methods on fault model quality

Over the past few years, we have been developing software fault predictors based on a system's measured structural evolution. We have previously shown there is a significant linear relationship between code chum, a set of synthesized metrics, and the rate at which faults are inserted into the system in terms of number of faults per unit change in code chum. A limiting factor in this and other investigations of a similar nature has been the absence of a quantitative, consistent, and repeatable definition of what constitutes a fault. The rules for fault definition were not sufficiently rigorous to provide unambiguous, repeatable fault counts. Within the framework of a space mission software development effort at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) we have developed a standard for the precise enumeration of faults. This new standard permits software faults to be measured directly from configuration control documents. Our results indicate that reasonable predictors of the number of faults inserted into a software system can be developed from measures of the system's structural evolution. We compared the new method of counting faults with two existing techniques to determine whether the fault counting technique has an effect on the quality of the fault models constructed from those counts. The new fault definition provides higher quality fault models than those obtained using the other definitions of fault