Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complex chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes as a potential biomarker of exposure to high-LET alpha-particles.

PURPOSE To determine the induction and transmission, to second and third division cells, of complex chromosome aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes after exposure to high-LET alpha-particles in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS Separated peripheral blood lymphocytes collected from four healthy donors were irradiated in vitro with either high-LET alpha-particles (121 keV/microm; 0.5 Gy) or low-LET X-rays (250kV constant potential; 3 Gy). Cells were harvested in first, second and third division post-irradiation and chromosome aberrations observed at each cell division were analysed by combining the techniques of FISH and DAPI/Hoechst 33258 harlequin staining. Whole chromosome probes were used for chromosomes 1, 2 and 5, together with a pan-centromeric probe and the resulting chromosome 'painting' patterns were classified according to the Savage and Simpson (S & S) scheme (Savage and Simpson 1994a, Savage and Tucker 1996). RESULTS A greater proportion of complex chromosome aberrations was observed, defined as involving three or more breaks in two or more chromosomes, relative to total exchanges, after exposure to 0.5 Gy alpha-particles (mean 1 track/cell) than after the high reference dose of 3 Gy X-rays (49-56% and 20-22%, respectively). Qualitatively, alpha-particles induced chromosome aberrations of far greater complexity than those observed after X-rays. This was reflected by both the rapid reduction in the percentage of damaged cells between first and second division indicative of cell death, and the spectrum of aberration types observed in second and third division cells post-irradiation. Regardless of this complexity, 15% of the complexes induced by alpha-particles at first division were potentially transmissible and by third division, transmissible-type complexes, specifically insertions, represented the predominant complex type (65%). CONCLUSION Transmissible-type complexes were observed, specifically insertions, in both second and third division cells after exposure to high-LET alpha-particles (0.5 Gy) in vitro. The authors predict these cells to be stable and to be capable of persisting through many cell generations. Considering that the induction of complex chromosome aberrations by low-LET radiation is strongly dependent on dose, so that they are expected to be undetectable at environmental exposures, insertions are much more likely to be a characteristic feature of high-LET radiation at all doses. From this the usefulness of insertions as biomarkers of past exposure to environmentally relevant doses of high-LET alpha-particles is supported.
Robust Automatic Target Recognition Algorithm for Large-Scene SAR Images and Its Adaptability Analysis on Speckle

Aiming at the multiple target recognition problems in large-scene SAR image with strong speckle, a robust full-process method from target detection, feature extraction to target recognition is studied in this paper. By introducing a simple 8-neighborhood orthogonal basis, a local multiscale decomposition method from the center of gravity of the target is presented. Using this method, an image can be processed with a multilevel sampling filter and the target’s multiscale features in eight directions and one low frequency filtering feature can be derived directly by the key pixels sampling. At the same time, a recognition algorithm organically integrating the local multiscale features and the multiscale wavelet kernel classifier is studied, which realizes the quick classification with robustness and high accuracy for multiclass image targets. The results of classification and adaptability analysis on speckle show that the robust algorithm is effective not only for the MSTAR Moving and Stationary Target Automatic Recognition target chips but also for the automatic target recognition of multiclass/multitarget in large-scene SAR image with strong speckle; meanwhile, the method has good robustness to target’s rotation and scale transformation.
Using Attachment Theory to Understand Intergenerational Transmission of Intimate Partner Violence and Implications for Use in Treatment and Policy Reform

Background: Intimate partner violence is experienced by at least 1.3 million women each year, who make up 85 percent of victims. One in every four women will experience intimate partner violence in her lifetime. Many programs are available that offer limited services to victims and perpetrators alike. These programs have been proven to be ineffective and are deficient in evidence-based practice and outcome evaluation, yet they continue to be funded each year. Objective: To identify current evidence-based practice and outcome evaluation research on intimate partner violence as a result of attachment style and the use of attachment theory in therapeutic treatment programming and policy-making. Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify articles that have described intimate partner violence, how intergenerational transmission works and the theories behind it, and how attachment theory lends itself to the understanding of intergenerational transmission and perpetuation of intimate partner violence. Results: An association was found between the intergenerational transmission of intimate partner violence and individual or partner attachment styles. Witnessing intimate partner violence in combination with the influence of insecure parental attachment bonds creates an individual who often develops anxious adult romantic attachment patterns leading to a greater propensity to enter into a violent intimate relationship. Conclusions: This problem is of great public health significance due to the amount of women affected each year by intimate partner violence in the United States. There is a great need for implementation of attachment theory in treatment provisions for victims and perpetrators of IPV. Current treatments are not effective and policies surrounding IPV lack effective restorative and rehabilitative therapies, while relying too heavily on retributive justice. More multifaceted treatment is needed that can be tailored to a specific couple’s needs. In addition, policies are essential to guide these treatment recommendations and decrease IPV in the United States.
Event-Related Potential (ERP) Word Imageability Effects in The Attentional Blink

Highly imageable words (e.g., banana) are easier to process than abstract words that are not readily associated with an image (e.g., justice). This difference has been attributed to the existence of two separate verbal- and image-based semantic codes. The advantage of highly imageable words may result from the fact that they activate information in both semantic systems, whereas non-imageable words only activate verbal codes. Electrophysiological research supports the idea of a separate imageability code by showing cortical activation associated with the processing of highly imageable words. This study examines the imageability effect during the attentional blink, a short period of time after the detection of a stimulus in a rapid visual stream in which subsequent stimuli are missed. Previous research has shown that words are processed for meaning during the attentional blink even though participants seem unaware of the word. This study investigates the activation of image-based information in this state of unawareness by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) to fi nd out whether this activation is dependent upon deep semantic processing or whether it occurs automatically. Signifi cant effects of imageability, as evidenced by the ERP imageability effect, indicate activation of image-based codes in the absence of awareness. This fi nding lends support to a view of semantic activation in which image-based codes are automatically activated.
Preservability of rabbit semen after chilled storage in tris based extender enriched with different concentrations of Propolis ethanolic extract (PEE)

Objective: To maintain semen quality of male rabbits during chilled storage by enrichment the tris based diluent with different concentrations of propolis ethanolic extracts. Methods: Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, as well as antioxidant activity was determined in propolis ethanolic extract (PEE). The extract was analysed by HPLC for separation and identification of target metabolites. Semen was collected from 10 rabbit bucks, pooled, then divided into five aliquots (each of 500 μL) and diluted each in 5 mL Tris-citric acid-glucose-egg yolk extender (TCGY). The 1st aliquot served as control while PEE was added at concentration of 0.8, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 mg/5 mL tris extender in the aliquot 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively. Diluted semen samples were subjected to cooling at 4 °C for 72 h. Sperm motility, sperm viability, sperm abnormality, sperm membrane integrity and acrosome integrity were evaluated in chilled semen allover the chilling period. Results: The resluts revealed presence of a considerable amount of total phenolic compounds (98.67 mg GAE/g extract) and total flavonoids (70.16 mg CE/g extract) which were parallel to an antioxidant activity assessed as ABTS, DPPH and FRAP (198.65, 180.18 and 306.17 mM TE/g extract respectively). The dominant phenolic acid was chlorogenic acids (3.959 mg/g extract). Other compounds were found in less amounts rosmarinic acid (3.959 mg/g extract), myrcetin (1.946 mg/g extract), kaempferol (1.089 mg/g extract) and apeginin-7-glucoside (1.113 mg/g extract). Obtained results clearly demonstrated that the addition of 1.21.6 mg PEE in the chilled extended rabbit semen proved to be beneficial for maintaining semen characteristics compared to control and the addition of 0.8 and 2 mg PEE. Conclusions: The enrichment of rabbit semen tris-basic extender with 1.2-1.6 mg PEE/5 mL tris-extender (as the best and safe concentrations) maintain the sperm characteristics in good condition all over 72 h of chilling.
Robust Control of Fault-Tolerant Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor for Aerospace Application With Guaranteed Fault Switch Process

This paper proposes a novel ten-phase fault-tolerant permanent-magnet synchronous motor (FTPMSM) with two stators and two rotors on the same shaft. Furthermore, a concentrated, single-layer, and alternate-teeth-wound winding is adopted to enhance the fault isolation capacity of the motor. In addition, we propose a new approach to the speed control of the developed motor, which takes the electromagnetic torque ripple in the fault switch process into account. The control can guarantee the uniform boundedness and uniform ultimate boundedness of the system regardless of the load disturbance and the parameter variation, particularly for the fault switch process after a fault occurrence before the fault-tolerant control can take effect. Moreover, an optimal torque control is adopted to further improve the fault-tolerant performance, which enables a ripple-free torque operation under open-circuit and short-circuit fault conditions. Simulation and experimental results show that the FTPMSM system with the proposed control strategy has excellent fault-tolerant performance and good robustness. This paper provides an innovative approach by employing a robust control for a speed loop to guarantee the fault-tolerant performance of the proposed motor system under normal and fault conditions, even in the fault switch process.
Translating Synchronous Systems to Data-Flow Process Networks

The synchronous model of computation (MoC) has been successfully used for the design of embedded systems having a local control like hardware circuits and single-threaded software, while its application to distributed parallel embedded systems is still a challenge. In contrast, other MoCs such as data-flow process networks (DPNs) directly match with these architectures. In this paper, we therefore present a translation of synchronous systems to data-flow process networks, thereby bridging the gap between synchronous and asynchronous MoCs. We use the resulting DPNs to generate CAL code for the Open DF package, which offers important features for embedded system design.
Recognition of phoneme strings using TRAP technique

We investigate and compare several techniques for automatic recognition of unconstrained context-independent phoneme strings from TIMIT and NTIMIT databases. Among the compared techniques, the technique based on TempoRAl Patterns (TRAP) achieves the best results in the clean speech, it achieves about 10% relative improvements against baseline system. Its advantage is also observed in the presence of mismatch between training and testing conditions. Issues such as the optimal length of temporal patterns in the TRAP technique and the effectiveness of mean and variance normalization of the patterns and the multi-band input the TRAP estimations, are also explored.
Regulating effects of novel CpG chitosan-nanoparticles on immune responses of mice to porcine paratyphoid vaccines.

OBJECTIVE To study the regulating effects of a novel CpG oligodeoxynuleotide and the synergistic effect of chitosan-nanoparticles (CNP) with CpG on immune responses of mice, which were used to develop a novel immunoadjuvant to boost immune response to conventional vaccines. METHODS A novel CpG ODN containing 11 CpG motifs was synthesized and its bioactivities to stimulate the proliferation of lymphocytes of pig in vitro were detected. Then it was entrapped with CNP prepared in our laboratory by the method of ionic cross linkage, and immunized Kunming mice were co-inoculated with paratyphoid vaccine. The peripheral blood was collected weekly from the tail vein of inoculated mice to detect the contents of IgG, IgA, IgM, and specific antibody against salmonella as well as the levels of interleukin-2 (IL2), IL-4, and IL-6 by SABC-ELISA assay. The numbers of leucocytes, monocytes, granuloytes, and lymphocytes were calculated separately using the routine method. The experimental mice were orally challenged with virulent salmonella 35 days after inoculation. RESULTS This CpG ODN could remarkably provoke the proliferation of lymphocytes of pig in vitro in contrast with the control (P < 0.05). Compared with those of the control, immunoglobulins, including IgG, IgA, IgM, and specific antibodies to paratyphoid vaccine, increased significantly in sera from the CpG or CpG-CNP-vaccinated mice (P < 0.05). IL-2, IL-4, and IL-6 increased remarkably in sera from immunized mice (P < 0.05). The leucocytes, monocytes, granuloytes, and lymphocytes of the mice immunized with CpG or CpG-CNP were also increased in number (P < 0.05). After the challenge, these immunity values were elevated in the mice vaccinated with CpG or CpG-CNP. The immunized mice all survived, while the control mice fell ill with evident lesions with diffuse hemorrhage in stomach, small intestine, and peritoneum. CONCLUSIONS CpG ODN entrapped with CNP is a promising effective immunoadjuvant for vaccination, which promotes humoral and cellular immune responses, enhances immunity and resistance against salmonella by co-administration with paratyphoid vaccine.
Interaction between tobacco and alcohol use and the risk of head and neck cancer: pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.

BACKGROUND The magnitude of risk conferred by the interaction between tobacco and alcohol use on the risk of head and neck cancers is not clear because studies have used various methods to quantify the excess head and neck cancer burden. METHODS We analyzed individual-level pooled data from 17 European and American case-control studies (11,221 cases and 16,168 controls) participating in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology consortium. We estimated the multiplicative interaction parameter (psi) and population attributable risks (PAR). RESULTS A greater than multiplicative joint effect between ever tobacco and alcohol use was observed for head and neck cancer risk (psi = 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.53-3.04). The PAR for tobacco or alcohol was 72% (95% confidence interval, 61-79%) for head and neck cancer, of which 4% was due to alcohol alone, 33% was due to tobacco alone, and 35% was due to tobacco and alcohol combined. The total PAR differed by subsite (64% for oral cavity cancer, 72% for pharyngeal cancer, 89% for laryngeal cancer), by sex (74% for men, 57% for women), by age (33% for cases <45 years, 73% for cases >60 years), and by region (84% in Europe, 51% in North America, 83% in Latin America). CONCLUSIONS Our results confirm that the joint effect between tobacco and alcohol use is greater than multiplicative on head and neck cancer risk. However, a substantial proportion of head and neck cancers cannot be attributed to tobacco or alcohol use, particularly for oral cavity cancer and for head and neck cancer among women and among young-onset cases.
Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the Measles outbreak in the Nylon Health District, Douala Cameroon: a retrospective descriptive cross sectional study

Introduction Measles is a public health problem especially in South Asia and Africa. Nylon Health District has experienced two measles outbreaks over a period of three years. We hereby describe the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the outbreak of February 2011. Methods A retrospective descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in November 2011. All suspected measles cases according to the World Health Organization case definition line listed in the district service were included. Data was analyzed using Epi Info version 3.5. 3 for Windows and Microsoft Office Excel 2010. An epidemic curve was drawn and proportions per variable category were estimated and presented in frequency tables. Results The outbreak started from the 4th to the 25th epidemiological week of 2011 with a peak on the 10th week after onset. The attack and case fatality rates were 34/100000 inhabitants and zero respectively. Females and infants aged 9-59 months represented 97(63.4%) and 75(49%) of cases respectively. Bonadiwoto health area alone had 81(52.9%) of cases. Of the 153 cases, only 34(22.2%) had a card-confirmed measles vaccination status. Active community surveillance permitted the identification of 42(27.5%) cases. Conclusion Low measles vaccine coverage rate over the past years in the Nylon health district led to the accumulation of susceptible individuals which coupled with poor environmental conditions favoured inter-human spread of measles. Developing novel strategies to vaccinate every child, especially the Hard-to-Reach in the slums of the district will help to prevent future outbreaks.
Precoding for Asymmetric MIMO-OFDM Channels

We study space-time precoding techniques for asymmetric multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) channels with more transmit than receive antennas which is a typical downlink setup. Under the condition of perfect channel state information (CSI) at the receiver but no CSI at the transmitter, we consider linear dispersion coding (LDC), groupwise space-time block coding (GSTBC), quasi-orthogonal space-time block coding (QSTBC), and spatial spreading (SS) and study their capacity and diversity performances. Our results show that for both ergodic and outage capacities, SS is worse than LDC, GSTBC and QSTBC, while the latter three have very close/same performance. We also show that by adjusting the phase shift values in the SS matrices, its outage capacities can be improved. In terms of diversity, LDC, GSTBC and QSTBC have both transmit and receive spatial diversity, and LDC's diversity order is slightly higher than the latter two. SS, on the other hand, has not only receive spatial diversity, but also introduces additional frequency diversity. This contributes to their very close bit error rate (BER) performance when turbo processing is deployed at the receiver. Considering the implementation flexibility and complexity, we therefore recommend SS and GSTBC as the promising precoding schemes for asymmetric MIMO-OFDM channels.
Collaborative Design Research: The Visualization of Medical Concepts

The proliferation of data is threatening to swamp our ability to convert data into knowledge. Visualization promises to facilitate this conversion. Yet visual communication designers have not been deeply involved. One potential impediment to involvement is the lack of collaboration between visual communication designers and knowledge workers in specialized domains This paper describes a collaborative research project that integrates medical science and visual communication design. The project involves the development of a visual language to represent medical concepts by deriving propositions from papers, breaking propositions into concept objects, designing a visual object system (consisting of icons, glyphs and combinations) to represent the objects, and displaying the objects as a network of concepts with links to the original papers. Prototypes have proven to be highly condensed and accurate yet readable in seconds. If the visualization approach proves successful, the results would be groundbreaking in science and design.
A survey on prominent iris recognition systems

Biometric identification system is used for the automatic identification of an individual based on the unique characteristics or features possessed by an individual. Many Biometric Technologies are available today. Iris Recognition System is the most reliable and accurate Biometric identification system available. Iris Recognition is the identification of an individual based on iris features. In the past few years many methods are used to improve the performance of iris recognition systems. These methods mainly focused on the robustness, accuracy and rapidity of iris recognition systems. The purpose of this technical report is for comparing different iris recognition systems based on their performance.
Specific targeting of angiogenesis in lung cancer with RGD‐conjugated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particles using a 4.7T magnetic resonance scanner

Background Angiogenesis is an essential step for tumor development and metastasis. The cell adhesion molecule &agr;v&bgr;3 integrin plays an important role in angiogenesis and is a specific marker of tumor angiogenesis. A novel &agr;v&bgr;3 integrintargeted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging contrast agent utilizing Arg‐Gly‐Asp (RGD) and ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (USPIO) (referred to as RGD‐USPIO) was designed and its uptake by endothelial cells was assessed both in vitro and in vivo to evaluate the angiogenic profile of lung cancer. Methods USPIO were coated with ‐NH3+ and conjugated with RGD peptides. Prussian blue staining was performed to evaluate the specific uptake of RGD‐USPIO by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Targeted uptake and subcellular localization of RGD‐USPIO in HUVECs were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The ability of RGD‐USPIO to noninvasively assess &agr;v&bgr;3 integrin positive vessels in lung adenocarcinoma A549 tumor xenografts was evaluated with a 4.7T MR scanner. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect &agr;v&bgr;3 integrin expression and vessel distribution in A549 tumor xenografts. Results HUVECs internalized RGD‐USPIO significantly more than plain USPIO. The uptake of RGD‐USPIO by HUVECs could be competitively inhibited by addition of free RGD. A significant decrease in T2 signal intensity (SI) was observed at the periphery of A549 tumor xenografts at 30 minutes (P <0.05) and 2 hours (P <0.01) after RGD‐USPIO was injected via the tail vein. Angiogenic blood vessels were mainly distributed in the periphery of tumor xenografts with positive &agr;v&bgr;3 integrin expression. Conclusions RGD‐USPIO could specifically label &agr;v&bgr;3 integrin and be taken up by HUVECs. This molecular MR imaging contrast agent can specifically evaluate the angiogenic profile of lung cancer using a 4.7T MR scanner.