Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Can Some Marine-Derived Fungal Metabolites Become Actual Anticancer Agents?

Marine fungi are known to produce structurally unique secondary metabolites, and more than 1000 marine fungal-derived metabolites have already been reported. Despite the absence of marine fungal-derived metabolites in the current clinical pipeline, dozens of them have been classified as potential chemotherapy candidates because of their anticancer activity. Over the last decade, several comprehensive reviews have covered the potential anticancer activity of marine fungal-derived metabolites. However, these reviews consider the term “cytotoxicity” to be synonymous with “anticancer agent”, which is not actually true. Indeed, a cytotoxic compound is by definition a poisonous compound. To become a potential anticancer agent, a cytotoxic compound must at least display (i) selectivity between normal and cancer cells (ii) activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR) cancer cells; and (iii) a preferentially non-apoptotic cell death mechanism, as it is now well known that a high proportion of cancer cells that resist chemotherapy are in fact apoptosis-resistant cancer cells against which pro-apoptotic drugs have more than limited efficacy. The present review thus focuses on the cytotoxic marine fungal-derived metabolites whose ability to kill cancer cells has been reported in the literature. Particular attention is paid to the compounds that kill cancer cells through non-apoptotic cell death mechanisms.
Generating and Searching Families of FFT Algorithms

A fundamental question of longstanding theoretical interest is to prove the lowest exact count of real additions and multiplications required to compute a power-of-two discrete Fourier transform (DFT). For 35 years the split-radix algorithm held the record by requiring just 4n log n - 6n + 8 arithmetic operations on real numbers for a size-n DFT, and was widely believed to be the best possible. Recent work by Van Buskirk et al. demonstrated improvements to the split-radix operation count by using multiplier coefficients or "twiddle factors" that are not n-th roots of unity for a size-n DFT. This paper presents a Boolean Satisfiability-based proof of the lowest operation count for certain classes of DFT algorithms. First, we present a novel way to choose new yet valid twiddle factors for the nodes in flowgraphs generated by common power-of-two fast Fourier transform algorithms, FFTs. With this new technique, we can generate a large family of FFTs realizable by a fixed flowgraph. This solution space of FFTs is cast as a Boolean Satisfiability problem, and a modern Satisfiability Modulo Theory solver is applied to search for FFTs requiring the fewest arithmetic operations. Surprisingly, we find that there are FFTs requiring fewer operations than the split-radix even when all twiddle factors are n-th roots of unity.
Is tumor growth sustained by rare cancer stem cells or dominant clones?

A key issue for cancer biology and therapy is whether the relentless growth of a tumor is driven by a substantial proportion of its cells or exclusively by a rare subpopulation, commonly termed "cancer stem cells. " Support for the cancer stem cell model has been stimulated by experiments in which human tumor cells were transplanted into immunodeficient mice. Most notably, in human acute myeloid leukemia, only a minute proportion of the cells, displaying a defined phenotype, could seed leukemia in mice. Xenotransplantation, however, may fail to reveal many tumor growth-sustaining cells because the foreign microenvironment precludes essential interactions with support cells. In studies that instead have transplanted mouse leukemias and lymphomas into syngeneic animals, most of the tumors seem to be maintained by the dominant cell population, and only a few types of mouse leukemia seem to be sustained by a minor tumor growth-sustaining subpopulation. The collective evidence suggests that various tumors may span the spectrum between the extremes represented by the two models. If tumor growth can indeed be sustained either by rare cancer stem cells or dominant clones or both, as current evidence suggests, curative therapy for many types of tumors will most likely require targeting all the tumor cell populations.
Time Dilation Induced by Object Motion is Based on Spatiotopic but not Retinotopic Positions

Time perception of visual events depends on the visual attributes of the scene. Previous studies reported that motion of object can induce an illusion of lengthened time. In the present study, we asked the question whether such time dilation effect depends on the actual physical motion of the object (spatiotopic coordinate), or its relative motion with respect to the retina (retinotopic coordinate). Observers were presented with a moving stimulus and a static reference stimulus in separate intervals, and judged which interval they perceived as having a longer duration, under conditions with eye fixation (Experiment 1) and with eye movement at same velocity as the moving stimulus (Experiment 2). The data indicated that the perceived duration was longer under object motion, and depended on the actual movement of the object rather than relative retinal motion. These results are in support with the notion that the brain possesses a spatiotopic representation regarding the real world positions of objects in which the perception of time is associated with.
Denoising sparse noise via online dictionary learning

The idea of learning overcomplete dictionaries based on the paradigm of compressive sensing has found numerous applications, among which image denoising is considered one of the most successful. But many state-of-the-art denoising techniques inherently assume that the signal noise is Gaussian. We instead propose to learn overcomplete dictionaries where the signal is allowed to have both Gaussian and (sparse) Laplacian noise. Dictionary learning in this setting leads to a difficult non-convex optimization problem, which is further exacerbated by large input datasets. We tackle these difficulties by developing an efficient online algorithm that scales to data size. To assess the efficacy of our model, we apply it to dictionary learning for data that naturally satisfy our noise model, namely, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) descriptors. For these data, we measure performance of the learned dictionary on the task of nearest-neighbor retrieval: compared to methods that do not explicitly model sparse noise our method exhibits superior performance.
Identification of a new serotype of Rickettsia heilongjiangensis in wild rats from Guangdong Province, China.

Spotted fever (SF) rickettsioses are acute febrile, mostly tick-borne infections caused by obligate intracellular bacteria of the genus Rickettsia. In China, three rickettsiae SF groups, including Rickettsia sibirica subsp. sibirica, R. sibirica subsp. mongolitimonae, and Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, have been isolated in humans [1]. In addition, several SF rickettsiae have been detected in ticks. R. sibirica was first isolated from Dermacentor nuttallii in Xinjiang Province in 1974. Later, up to 20 R. sibirica strains were isolated from ticks in different parts of continental China. In Guangdong Province, R. sibirica was initially identified in Dermacentor ticks in Lianping County in 1999 (Fig. 1). Subsequently, we identified Rickettsia honei, Rickettsia africae and Rickettsia slovaca in Boophilus microplus, Haemaphysalis cornigera and Ixodes granulatus ticks, respectively, that were collected in the same area. In another investigation, we detected R. heilongjiangensis and Rickettsia massiliae in Haemaphysalis longicornis, which is the main tick in this area. In order to further study the prevalence of SF rickettsiae in Lianping County, we investigated their presence in rodents, which are the ticks’ hosts. Herein, we detail the characterization of six rickettsial isolates obtained from wild rats trapped in this area.
Radar analysis of long-lived trade wind cumulus clouds from the rain in cumulus over the ocean experiment (RICO)

The Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean Experiment (RICO) was recently conducted in the Caribbean (11/24/2004 01/24/2005) with the goal to characterize and understand the properties of shallow trade wind cumulus clouds on all scales and to determine the importance of precipitation. One of our early findings during RICO was that trade wind cumulus clouds were often unexpectedly long-lived. In a first attempt to understand our observations we track radar echoes using PPI scans from the National Center for Atmospheric Research S-Pol radar. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the radar reflectivity evolution of trade wind cumulus clouds. Multi-parameter radar measurements will be used in combination with aircraft data to determine whether any significant differences are detectable in the time to onset of precipitation that can be associated with the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and/or giant and ultragiant aerosol concentration of the boundary layer.
Greening web servers: A case for ultra low-power web servers

This paper studies the feasibility and benefits of greening Web servers by using ultra-low-power micro-computing boards to serve Web content. Our study focuses on the tradeoff between power and performance in such systems. Our premise is that low-power computing platforms can provide adequate performance for low-volume Websites run by small businesses or groups, while delivering a significantly higher request per Watt. We use the popular Raspberry Pi platform as an example low-power computing platform and experimentally evaluate our hypothesis for static and dynamic Web content served using this platform. Our result show that this platform can provide comparable response times to more capable server-class machines for rates up to 200 requests per second (rps); however, the scalability of the system is reduced to 20 rps for serving more compute-intensive dynamic content. Next, we study the feasibility of using clusters of low-power systems to serve requests for larger Websites. We find that, by utilising low-power multi-server clusters, we can achieve 17x to 23x more requests per Watt than typical tower server systems. Using simulations driven by parameters obtained from our real-world experiments, we also study dynamic multi-server policies that consider the tradeoff between power savings and overhead cost of turning servers on and off.
Human Papillomavirus–Attributable Head and Neck Cancers in India—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE Head and neck cancer accounts for about one third of the global burden in India. Mucosal high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) has been hypothesized as a contributory risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC) but its prevalence in Indian patients is not well established. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of HPV in HNC in India and their attributable fraction by considering the biomarkers of carcinogenesis, p16, and HPV E6/E7 mRNA. METHODS A systematic literature search was done in Medline via PubMed, Embase, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Cochrane to identify studies on HPV and HNC in the Indian population, published between January 1990 and October 2022. Fifty-four eligible studies were identified and relevant clinical information was collected. Meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence of HPV DNA, p16INK4a, and E6/E7 mRNA percent positivity by random-effect logistic regression model using Metapreg, STATA 18. RESULTS Thirty-four high-quality studies were taken for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of HPV in HNC was 20% (95% CI, 12 to 32) with a high level of heterogeneity (I2 = 90.79%). The proportion of HPV in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC; 22% [95% CI, 13 to 34]) and laryngeal cancer (LC; 29% [95% CI, 17 to 46]) was higher than in oral cancer (OC; 16% [95% CI, 8 to 30]). The HPV-attributable fraction of OPC, considering the E6/E7 mRNA and p16 positivity, was 12.54% and 9.68%, respectively, almost similar to LC (11.6% and 9.57%), while it was much lower in OC (3.36% and 4%). CONCLUSION The HPV-attributable fraction is considerably lower for OC, suggesting a negligible causative role of HPV in OC. A significant proportion of OPC and LC are attributed to HPV; however, their exact causative role is unclear because of the presence of other known risk factors.
Line formation algorithm in a self-organized swarm of micro-underwater unmanned vehicles

Most of real-world underwater exploration systems are composed of a unique remotely operated vehicle. But, another way to explore area is to use many small autonomous robots. For underwater exploratory missions, environment contraints lead to select a line formation exploration strategy. We propose in this work a line formation algorithm in a self-organized swarm of micro-underwater unmanned vehicles. This algorithm is based on emergent behavior depending on an imprecise global positioning and a precise local positioning. Our approach tries to be realistic on sensors and effectors. We tested robustness of our algorithm in various scenarios, with different initial conditions and obstacles existence.
Functional Analysis of Glycosyltransferases Encoded by the Capsular Polysaccharide Biosynthesis Locus of Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 14*

Bacteria belonging to the speciesStreptococcus pneumoniae vary in their capsule. Presently, 90 capsular serotypes are known, all possessing their own specific polysaccharide structure. Little is known about the biosynthesis of these capsular polysaccharides. The cps locus of S. pneumoniae serotype 14 was cloned. So far, 7 open reading frames have been sequenced, cps14B to cps14H. The gene products are similar to proteins involved in bacterial polysaccharide biosynthesis, both of Gram-negative and -positive micro-organisms. Gene-specific mutants were created for cps14D tocps14H by insertional mutagenesis. All mutants no longer agglutinated with a monoclonal antibody against type 14 capsule polysaccharides. The biosynthetic function of cps14E andcps14G was determined by analysis of the intermediates in the synthesis of the oligosaccharide subunit, formed in membrane preparations of the wild-type and mutant strains and in membrane preparations of Escherichia coli expressing the pneumococcal glycosyltransferases. The enzyme encoded bycps14E is a glucosyl-1-phosphate transferase that links glucose to a lipid carrier, the first step in the biosynthesis of the type 14 repeating unit. The gene product of cps14G encodes a β-1,4-galactosyltransferase, the enzyme responsible for the second step in the subunit synthesis, the transfer of galactose to lipid-linked glucose.
Modeling and deadlock avoidance of automated manufacturing systems with multiple automated guided vehicles

An automated manufacturing system (AMS) contains a number of versatile machines (or workstations), buffers, an automated material handling system (MHS), and is computer-controlled. An effective and flexible alternative for implementing MHS is to use automated guided vehicle (AGV) system. The deadlock issue in AMS is very important in its operation and has extensively been studied. The deadlock problems were separately treated for parts in production and transportation and many techniques were developed for each problem. However, such treatment does not take the advantage of the flexibility offered by multiple AGVs. In general, it is intractable to obtain maximally permissive control policy for either problem. Instead, this paper investigates these two problems in an integrated way. First we model an AGV system and part processing processes by resource-oriented Petri nets, respectively. Then the two models are integrated by using macro transitions. Based on the combined model, a novel control policy for deadlock avoidance is proposed. It is shown to be maximally permissive with computational complexity of O(n/sup 2/) where n is the number of machines in AMS if the complexity for controlling the part transportation by AGVs is not considered. Thus, the complexity of deadlock avoidance for the whole system is bounded by the complexity in controlling the AGV system. An illustrative example shows its application and power.
Recent Concepts of Ovarian Carcinogenesis: Type I and Type II

Type I ovarian tumors, where precursor lesions in the ovary have clearly been described, include endometrioid, clear cell, mucinous, low grade serous, and transitional cell carcinomas, while type II tumors, where such lesions have not been described clearly and tumors may develop de novo from the tubal and/or ovarian surface epithelium, comprise high grade serous carcinomas, undifferentiated carcinomas, and carcinosarcomas. The carcinogenesis of endometrioid and clear cell carcinoma (CCC) arising from endometriotic cysts is significantly influenced by the free iron concentration, which is associated with cancer development through the induction of persistent oxidative stress. A subset of mucinous carcinomas develop in association with ovarian teratomas; however, the majority of these tumors do not harbor any teratomatous component. Other theories of their origin include mucinous metaplasia of surface epithelial inclusions, endometriosis, and Brenner tumors. Low grade serous carcinomas are thought to evolve in a stepwise fashion from benign serous cystadenoma to a serous borderline tumor (SBT). With regard to high grade serous carcinoma, the serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas (STICs) of the junction of the fallopian tube epithelium with the mesothelium of the tubal serosa, termed the “tubal peritoneal junction” (TPJ), undergo malignant transformation due to their location, and metastasize to the nearby ovary and surrounding pelvic peritoneum. Other theories of their origin include the ovarian hilum cells.
Compressed matrix dual-component vaginal drug delivery system containing metoclopramide hydrochloride

Compressed matrix dual-component vaginal drug delivery system containing metoclopramide hydrochloride The purpose of the present investigation was to produce a quick/slow biphasic delivery system for metoclopramide hydrochloride using the superdisintegrant Ac-di-sol for the fast release layer and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose K100M and Ucarflock 302 to modulate the release of the drug. A dual component tablet made up of a sustained release and an immediate release layer was prepared by direct compression. A 32 full factorial design was applied to systematically optimize the drug release profile of the sustained release layer. The results of the full factorial design indicate that a small amount of HPMC K100M and a large amount of Ucarflock 302 favor sustained release of the metoclopramide hydrochloride vaginal dual component system. The ex vivo residence time reveals that the formulation was retained for more than 10 h. The formulation gave an initial burst effect to provide the loading dose of the drug followed by sustained release for 12 h, thus solving the problem of repeated administration, especially in pregnancy. Komprimirani matriksni dvokomponentni sustavi s metoklopramid hidrokloridom Cilj rada bila je priprava brzog/sporog bifazičnog sustava za isporuku metoklopramid hidroklorida koristeći dezintegrator Ac-di-sol za sloj koji brzo oslobađa i hidroksipropil metilcelulozu K100M i Ucarflock 302 za moduliranje oslobađanja ljekovite tvari. Dvokomponentna tableta sa slojem za usporeno i slojem za brzo oslobađanje pripravljena je metodom izravne kompresije. 32 faktorijalni dizajn primijenjen je za sistematsko optimiranje profila oslobađanja ljekovite tvari u sloju za usporeno oslobađanje. Rezultati ukazuju na to da su mala količina HPMC K100M i velika količina Ucarflock 302 bitne za usporeno oslobađanje metoklopramid hidroklorida u dvokomponentnom sustavu za vaginalnu upotrebu. Ex vivo ispitivanja pokazuju da se pripravak zadržava više od 10 h. Naglo oslobađanje lijeka omogućava brzo postizanje udarne doze, a postupno oslobađanje tijekom 12 h održavanje učinkovite koncentracije, čime se rješava problem opetovane primjene, posebno u trudnoći.
Decentralized lattice formation control for micro robotic swarms

In this paper we discuss an algorithm for distributed formation of a lattice structures using a team of mobile robots. Lattice structures can be used for solving task allocation problems, as well as for utilizing cooperative swarm like motion for the agents. We are specifically dealing with the problem of constructing a lattice decentralized with the agents having only a limited sensing radius and a possibly imperfect communication channel that make “agree and go” methods unsuitable for solving the problem. The proposed algorithm is based on reducing the 2D problem to an 1D problem, i.e. moving on a curve that connects all the lattice points without intersecting itself. The algorithm is decentralized and is exact in the sense that all agents will converge to the lattice structure.
Ornaments in practice

Ornaments have been introduced as a way to describe some changes in datatype definitions that preserve their recursive structure, reorganizing, adding, or dropping some pieces of data. After a new data structure has been described as an ornament of older one, some functions operating on the bare structure can be partially or sometimes totally lifted into functions operating on the ornamented structure. We explore the feasibility and the interest of using ornaments in practice by applying these notions in an ML-like programming language. We propose a concrete syntax for defining ornaments of datatypes and the lifting of bare functions to their ornamented counterparts, describe the lifting process, and present several interesting use cases of ornaments.
A Randomized Trial

Olaf J. Bakker, MD Hjalmar C. van Santvoort, MD, PhD Sandra van Brunschot, MD Ronald B. Geskus, PhD Marc G. Besselink, MD, PhD Thomas L. Bollen, MD Casper H. van Eijck, MD, PhD Paul Fockens, MD, PhD Eric J. Hazebroek, MD, PhD Rian M. Nijmeijer, MD Jan-Werner Poley, MD Bert van Ramshorst, MD, PhD Frank P. Vleggaar, MD, PhD Marja A. Boermeester, MD, PhD Hein G. Gooszen, MD, PhD Bas L. Weusten, MD, PhD Robin Timmer, MD, PhD for the Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group
Theory of the elasticity of nanometer-sized objects

We initiate the development of a theory of the elasticity of nanoscale objects based upon new physical concepts which remain properly defined on the nanoscale. This theory provides a powerful way of understanding nanoscale elasticity in terms of local group contributions. This understanding leads to a new relation between the bending and stretching properties of nanomechanical resonators which is much more accurate than the continuum-based relations employed in present experimental analyses.