Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RNAi reveals anti-apoptotic and transcriptionally repressive activities of DAXX

The function of DAXX, a highly conserved mammalian gene, has remained controversial; this is due, in part, to its identification in a variety of yeast two-hybrid screens. Targeted deletion in the mouse revealed that DAXX is essential for embryonic development. Furthermore, the increased levels of apoptosis observed in Daxx-knockout embryos and embryonic stem cell lines suggested that DAXX functions in an anti-apoptotic capacity. In contrast, overexpression studies showed that DAXX may promote apoptosis. Additional studies showed that, when overexpressed, DAXX could function as a transcriptional repressor. To clarify these matters, we have used RNAi to deplete endogenous DAXX and thereby assess DAXX function in cell lines previously tested in overexpression studies. Increased apoptosis was observed in DAXX-depleted cells, showing DAXX to be anti-apoptotic. The apoptosis induced by the absence of DAXX was rescued by Bcl-2 overexpression. In addition, transcriptional derepression was observed in RNAi-treated cells, indicating the ability of endogenous DAXX to repress gene expression and allowing for the identification of novel targets of DAXX repression, including nuclear factor κB (NF-κB)- and E2F1- regulated targets. Thus, depletion of DAXX by RNAi has verified the crucial role of endogenous DAXX as an anti-apoptotic regulator, and has allowed the identification of probable physiological targets of DAXX transcriptional repression.
On Lowest Density MDS Codes

Let F/sub q/ denote the finite field GF(q) and let h be a positive integer. MDS (maximum distance separable) codes over the symbol alphabet F/sub q//sup b/ are considered that are linear over F/sub q/ and have sparse ("low-density") parity-check and generator matrices over F/sub q/ that are systematic over F/sub q//sup b/. Lower bounds are presented on the number of nonzero elements in any systematic parity-check or generator matrix of an F/sub q/-linear MDS code over F/sub q//sup b/, along with upper bounds on the length of any MDS code that attains those lower bounds. A construction is presented that achieves those bounds for certain redundancy values. The building block of the construction is a set of sparse nonsingular matrices over F/sub q/ whose pairwise differences are also nonsingular. Bounds and constructions are presented also for the case where the systematic condition on the parity-check and generator matrices is relaxed to be over F/sub q/, rather than over F/sub q//sup b/.
Interactions between Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterase 11 Catalytic Site and Substrates or Tadalafil and Role of a Critical Gln-869 Hydrogen Bond

Poor understanding of the topography of cyclic nucleotide (CN) phosphodiesterase (PDE) catalytic sites compromises development of potent, selective inhibitors for therapeutic use. In the X-ray crystal structures of the catalytic domains of some PDEs, an invariant glutamine hydrogen bonds with groups at C6 and N1 or N7 on catalytic products or analogous positions of some inhibitors, inferring similar bonds with CNs (Nature 425:98–102, 2003; J Mol Biol 337:355–365, 2004; Mol Cell 15:279–286, 2004). A site-directed mutant (Q869A) lacking this invariant Gln in cGMP-/cAMP-hydrolyzing PDE11 had unaltered catalytic activity and affinity for sildenafil; but cGMP/cAMP or tadalafil affinity was reduced ∼50- or 140-fold, respectively, and calculated free energy of binding suggested one hydrogen bond for each. A cGMP analog lacking the C6 oxygen had ∼80-fold weakened affinity, modifications at N2, N7, or 2′-OH diminished affinity ∼16-fold, and analogs with groups appended at N1 had only 2- to 6-fold weakened affinity. Analogs with C8 substitutions were ineffective inhibitors, suggesting that cGMP binds in the anti conformation. Calculated decline in free energy of binding was consistent with that for one hydrogen bond only in the analog lacking binding potential at C6. In conclusion, Gln-869 interacts strongly with cGMP/cAMP and tadalafil, but not with sildenafil; interactions with CN analogs suggest a hydrogen bond only between Gln-869 and the C6 substituent. The results define interactions between the PDE11 catalytic site and substrates/inhibitors and advance potential for inhibitor design.
Ex-Ray: Detection of History-Leaking Browser Extensions

Web browsers have become the predominant means for developing and deploying applications, and thus they often handle sensitive data such as social interactions or financial credentials and information. As a consequence, defensive measures such as TLS, the Same-Origin Policy (SOP), and Content Security Policy (CSP) are critical for ensuring that sensitive data remains in trusted hands. Browser extensions, while a useful mechanism for allowing third-party extensions to core browser functionality, pose a security risk in this regard since they have access to privileged browser APIs that are not necessarily restricted by the SOP or CSP. Because of this, they have become a major vector for introducing malicious code into the browser. Prior work has led to improved security models for isolating and sandboxing extensions, as well as techniques for identifying potentially malicious extensions. The area of privacy-violating browser extensions has so far been covered by manual analysis and systems performing search on specific text on network traffic. However, comprehensive content-agnostic systems for identifying tracking behavior at the network level are an area that has not yet received significant attention. In this paper, we present a dynamic technique for identifying privacy-violating extensions in Web browsers that relies solely on observations of the network traffic patterns generated by browser extensions. We then present Ex-Ray, a prototype implementation of this technique for the Chrome Web browser, and use it to evaluate all extensions from the Chrome store with more than 1,000 installations (10,691 in total). Our evaluation finds new types of tracking behavior not covered by state of the art systems. Finally, we discuss potential browser improvements to prevent abuse by future user-tracking extensions.
Applying class triggers in Chinese POS tagging based on maximum entropy model

A method of applying class triggers in Chinese POS tagging based on maximum entropy model is proposed in this paper. First of all, feature template of "word-> word/tag" is used to extract the triggers from corpus and the triggers that we extracted are added into the maximum entropy model as a new kind of feature. Then, the average mutual information is applied to make feature selection and the semantic lexicon is used to build class triggers to overcome sparseness problem. Meanwhile, a solution based on experience to deal with over-fitting problem in model training is presented. Finally, the performance of the system is evaluated on a manually annotated POS tag corpus. The experiment demonstrates that the method can provide increase of accuracy of POS tagging from 94% to 96%, compared our new model with HMM model that is smoothed by absolute smoothing.
Patterns, causes, and consequences of marine larval dispersal

Significance Networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) have been widely implemented to combat global population declines. Although their efficacy largely depends on larval exchange between populations, quantitative analyses of dispersal have been limited due to the difficulties of tracking larvae. Here, we systematically measure dispersal in the fish Elacatinus lori, producing the first robust estimate of a dispersal kernel. We find that dispersal declines exponentially, with most larvae traveling less than 2 km from their parents. Remarkably, the distance an individual travels is unrelated to the number of days it spends in the larval phase. These results suggest that simple distance-based models may be useful conservation tools and that MPAs that are close in space will accommodate short-distance dispersers. Quantifying the probability of larval exchange among marine populations is key to predicting local population dynamics and optimizing networks of marine protected areas. The pattern of connectivity among populations can be described by the measurement of a dispersal kernel. However, a statistically robust, empirical dispersal kernel has been lacking for any marine species. Here, we use genetic parentage analysis to quantify a dispersal kernel for the reef fish Elacatinus lori, demonstrating that dispersal declines exponentially with distance. The spatial scale of dispersal is an order of magnitude less than previous estimates—the median dispersal distance is just 1.7 km and no dispersal events exceed 16.4 km despite intensive sampling out to 30 km from source. Overlaid on this strong pattern is subtle spatial variation, but neither pelagic larval duration nor direction is associated with the probability of successful dispersal. Given the strong relationship between distance and dispersal, we show that distance-driven logistic models have strong power to predict dispersal probabilities. Moreover, connectivity matrices generated from these models are congruent with empirical estimates of spatial genetic structure, suggesting that the pattern of dispersal we uncovered reflects long-term patterns of gene flow. These results challenge assumptions regarding the spatial scale and presumed predictors of marine population connectivity. We conclude that if marine reserve networks aim to connect whole communities of fishes and conserve biodiversity broadly, then reserves that are close in space (<10 km) will accommodate those members of the community that are short-distance dispersers.
Sleep apnea and sinus node dysfunction.

To the Editor. — I read with interest the recent article by Drs Alpert and Flaker 1 on sinus node dysfunction. However, I was surprised to find no mention of a relatively common, easily treatable condition that is associated with reversible sinus arrhythmias. Obstructive sleep apnea commonly produces the bradycardia/ tachycardia syndrome, bradycardia, or sinus arrest. 2,3 The associated sinus arrhythmias that, in our experience, have produced episodic sinus arrest for periods as long as 12 s are readily reversible by surgical treatment of the obstructive sleep apnea. 2 This cause of sinus node dysfunction warrants special mention, since it does not appear to be readily recognized by physicians, including cardiologists, as we have documented two cases in which the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea was missed by others and the associated sinus arrhythmia treated by implantation of a permanent pacemaker. Specific treatment of the underlying obstructive sleep apnea is regarded as
Testing the Suitability of a Terrestrial 2D LiDAR Scanner for Canopy Characterization of Greenhouse Tomato Crops

Canopy characterization is essential for pesticide dosage adjustment according to vegetation volume and density. It is especially important for fresh exportable vegetables like greenhouse tomatoes. These plants are thin and tall and are planted in pairs, which makes their characterization with electronic methods difficult. Therefore, the accuracy of the terrestrial 2D LiDAR sensor is evaluated for determining canopy parameters related to volume and density and established useful correlations between manual and electronic parameters for leaf area estimation. Experiments were performed in three commercial tomato greenhouses with a paired plantation system. In the electronic characterization, a LiDAR sensor scanned the plant pairs from both sides. The canopy height, canopy width, canopy volume, and leaf area were obtained. From these, other important parameters were calculated, like the tree row volume, leaf wall area, leaf area index, and leaf area density. Manual measurements were found to overestimate the parameters compared with the LiDAR sensor. The canopy volume estimated with the scanner was found to be reliable for estimating the canopy height, volume, and density. Moreover, the LiDAR scanner could assess the high variability in canopy density along rows and hence is an important tool for generating canopy maps.
Empirical evaluation of visible spectrum iris versus periocular recognition in unconstrained scenario on smartphones

Smartphones are increasingly used as biométrie sensor for many authentication applications due to the computational ability and high resolution cameras that can be used to capture biométrie information. The objective of this paper is to assess the performance of iris versus periocular recognition for smartphones in non ideal conditions (change of illumination, highly pigmented iris, shadows on iris pattern) in real-life for verification in visible spectrum. We introduce various protocols for real-life verification scenarios using smartphones for iris and periocular recognition. Further, we also study the verification performance where enrollment and probe data originate from different smartphones. From the extensive set of experiments conducted on a publicly available smartphone database, it can be observed that the information from periocular region provides substantially good performance in terms of recognition accuracy in cross sensor and varying illumination scenarios as compared to iris under same conditions.
Innovation and absorptive capacity: What is the role of technological frontier?

This paper explores how absorptive capacity affects the innovative performance and productivity dynamics of Spanish firms. A firmâ€™s efficiency levels are measured using two variables: the labour productivity and the Total Factor Productivity (TFP). The theoretical framework is based on the seminal contributions of Cohen and Levinthal (1989, 1990) regarding absorptive capacity; and the applied framework is based on the four-stage structural model proposed by CrA©pon, Duguet and Mairesse (1998) for setting the determinants of R&D, the effects of R&D activities on innovation outputs, and the impacts of innovation on firm productivity. The present study uses a twostage structural model. In the first stage, a probit estimation is used to investigate how the sources of R&D, the absorptive capacity and a vector of the firmâ€™s individual features influence the firmâ€™s likelihood of developing innovations in products or processes. In the second phase, a quantile regression is used to analyze the effect of R&D sources, absorptive capacity and firm characteristics on productivity. This method shows the elasticity of each exogenous variable on productivity according to the firmsâ€™ levels of efficiency, and thus allows us to distinguish between firms that are close to the technological frontier and those that are further away from it. We used extensive firm-level panel data from 5,575 firms for the 2004-2009 period. The results show that the internal absorptive capacity has a strong impact on the productivity of firms, whereas the role of external absorptive capacity differs according to nature of the each industry and according the distance of firms from the technological frontier. Key words: R&D sources, innovation strategies, absorptive capacity, technological distance, quantile regression.
3-D printed haptic devices for educational applications

Haptic technology has the potential to expand and transform the ways that students can experience a variety of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics. Designing kinesthetic haptic devices for educational applications is challenging because of the competing objectives of using low-cost components, making the device robust enough to be handled by students, and the desire to render high fidelity haptic virtual environments. In this paper, we present the evolution of a device called "Hapkit": a low cost, one-degree-of-freedom haptic kit that can be assembled by students. From 2013-2015, different versions of Hapkit were used in courses as a tool to teach haptics, physics, and control. These include a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), two undergraduate courses, a graduate course, and a middle school class. Based on our experience using Hapkit in these educational environments, we evolved the design in terms of its structural materials, drive mechanism, and mechatronic components. Our latest design, Hapkit 3.0, includes several features that allow students to manufacture and assemble a robust and high-fidelity haptic device. First, it uses 3-D printed plastic structural material, which allows the design to be built and customized using readily available tools. Second, the design takes into account the limitations of 3-D printing, such as warping during printing and poor tolerances. This is achieved at a materials cost of approximately US $50, which makes it feasible for distribution in classroom and online education settings. The open source design is available at http://hapkit.stanford. edu.
Crescentic, proliferative IgA nephropathy: clinical and histological response to methylprednisolone and intravenous cyclophosphamide.

BACKGROUND IgA nephropathy is an immune-complex glomerulopathy that can result in capillary or extra-capillary proliferation. Previous attempts to correlate specific histological findings including cellular crescents or endocapillary proliferation, with clinical outcomes, have produced conflicting results. METHODS We conducted a prospective open-labelled trial of 12 patients with crescentic, proliferative IgA nephropathy and clinically progressive disease and treated them with pulse steroids and intravenous cyclophosphamide. Therapy included pulse solumedrol at 15 mg/kg/day for 3 days, followed by monthly intravenous cyclophosphamide at 0.5 g/m(2) body surface area for 6 months. Clinically significant proteinuria (>1.0 g/24 h) was present in all patients, while nephrotic-range proteinuria (>3.0 g/24 h) was observed in eight of 12 patients. All patients were hypertensive (BP >140/90 mmHg). RESULTS After 6 months of treatment, the mean serum creatinine was reduced from a maximum of 2.65+/-0.39 to 1.51+/-0.10 mg/dl (P<0.03), while proteinuria was reduced from 4.04 to 1.35 g/24 h (P<0.01). The mean slope of 1/serum creatinine increased from -0.0398+/-0.02 to 0.0076+/-0.01 after 6 months of therapy, but this trend did not reach statistical significance (P<0.08). A repeat kidney biopsy was performed in all treated patients. Endocapillary proliferation, cellular crescents and karyorrhexis were eliminated in all 12 patients after 6 months of therapy, while interstitial fibrosis and tubule dropout remained unchanged. To determine the long-term efficacy of the treatment, treated patients were compared to 12 historical controls matched for severity of IgA on initial biopsy. After 36 months, the rate of end-stage renal disease in the treated group was lower (1/12) than in the historical controls (5/12). CONCLUSIONS We conclude that steroids and intravenous cyclophosphamide reduce proliferative lesions, reduce proteinuria and stabilize renal function in patients with crescentic IgA nephropathy.
A Study of the Understated Violence within Social Contexts against Adolescent Girls

Violence against women is linked to their disadvantaged position in the society. It is rooted in unequal power relationships between men and women in society and is a global problem which is not limited to a specific group of women in society. An adolescent girl’s life is often accustomed to the likelihood of violence, and acts of violence exert additional power over girls because the stigma of violence often attaches more to a girl than to the perpetrator. The experience of violence is distressing at the individual emotional and physical level. The field of research and programmes for adolescent girls has traditionally focused on sexuality, reproductive health, and behaviour, neglecting the broader social issues that underpin adolescent girls’ human rights, overall development, health, and well-being. This paper is an endeavour to address the understated or disguised form of violence which the adolescent girls experience within the social contexts. The parameters exposed under this research had been ignored to a large extent when it comes to studying the dimension of violence under the social domain. Hence, the researchers attempted to explore this camouflaged form of violence and discovered some specific parameters such as: Diminished Self Worth and Esteem, Verbal Abuse, Menstruation Taboo and Social Rigidity, Negligence of Medical and Health Facilities and Complexion- A Prime Parameter for Judging Beauty. The study was conducted in the districts of Haryana (India) where personal interviews were taken from both urban and rural adolescent girls (aged 13 to 19 years) based on a structured interview schedule. The results revealed that the adolescent girls, both in urban as well as rural areas were quite affected with the above mentioned issues. In urban areas, however, due to the higher literacy rate, which resulted in more rational thinking, the magnitude was comparatively smaller, but the difference was still negligible.
Atrial fibrillation and stroke: risk factors, anticoagulation, and left atrial appendage occluders.

[Graphic][1] Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common arrhythmias. Its incidence and prevalence increase with age, particularly in patients with hypertension and heart failure.1,2 Although by itself not a particularly dangerous arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation is associated with a considerable risk of stroke. Of note, patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure have a higher risk of thrombo-embolic events and overall mortality compared with those with atrial fibrillation without heart failure as reflected by the CHA2DS2-VASc score.3,4 Importantly, the prevalence of atrial fibrillation increases with the severity of heart failure. Anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists is more unstable in patients with concomitant atrial fibrillation and heart failure, which is an independent risk factor for reduced time under the therapeutic range. Thus the clinical review ‘ Antithrombotic therapy in heart failure patients with and without atrial fibrillation: update and future challenges ’ by Joao Pedro Ferreira and colleagues from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy in France is a timely update for the clinician.5 Of importance in this context, non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants, the so-called NOACs,6,7 have emerged as therapeutic alternatives for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, as they are at least as efficacious and safe, with less intracranial bleeding events, compared with vitamin K antagonists. The subgroup analyses of the NOAC trials in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure revealed that the efficacy and safety of these agents are likely to be similar to those observed in patients with atrial fibrillation without heart failure. However, many gaps in evidence exist, since heart failure has been neither consistently defined nor used as an … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif