Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The risk of dementia among persons with diabetes mellitus: a population-based cohort study.

It is unclear whether persons with diabetes are at increased risk for dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. Existing studies are limited by small sample size, selection bias, and case-control designs. This population-based historical cohort study provides estimates of the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease associated with adult onset diabetes mellitus (AODM). The sample included all persons with AODM residing in Rochester, Minnesota, on January 1, 1970, plus all persons diagnosed in Rochester or who moved to Rochester with the diagnosis between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1984. Individuals were followed through review of their complete medical records from AODM diagnosis until dementia onset, emigration, death, or January 1, 1985. Standardized morbidity ratios for dementia and Alzheimer's disease were calculated, using an expected incidence based on age- and sex-specific rates for the Rochester population. Poisson regression was used to estimate risks for persons with AODM relative to those without. Of the 1,455 cases of AODM followed for 9,981 person-years, 101 developed dementia, including 77 who met criteria for Alzheimer's disease. Persons with AODM exhibited significantly increased risk of all dementia (Poisson regression relative risk (RR) = 1.66, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.34-2.05). Risk of Alzheimer's disease was also elevated (for men, RR = 2.27, 95% Cl 1.55-3.31; for women, RR = 1.37, 95% Cl 0.94-2.01). These findings emphasize the importance of AODM prevention and prompt additional investigation of the relation between AODM and dementia.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Enhance Metastatic Properties of Breast Cancer Cells by Activating Rho-Associated Kinase (ROCK)

Background Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a family of structurally related chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons. Numerous studies have documented a wide spectrum of biological effects of PCBs on human health, such as immunotoxicity, neurotoxocity, estrogenic or antiestrogenic activity, and carcinogensis. The role of PCBs as etiologic agents for breast cancer has been intensively explored in a variety of in vivo, animal and epidemiologic studies. A number of investigations indicated that higher levels of PCBs in mammary tissues or sera correlated to breast cancer risk, and PCBs might be implicated in advancing breast cancer progression. Methodology/Principal Findings In the current study, we for the first time report that PCBs greatly promote the ROCK activity and therefore increase cell motility for both non-metastatic and metastatic human breast cancer cells in vitro. In the in vivo study, PCBs significantly advance disease progression, leading to enhanced capability of metastatic breast cancer cells to metastasize to bone, lung and liver. Additionally, PCBs robustly induce the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in breast cancer cells; ROS mechanistically elevate ROCK activity. Conclusions/Significance PCBs enhance the metastatic propensity of breast cancer cells by activating the ROCK signaling, which is dependent on ROS induced by PCBs. Inhibition of ROCK may stand for a unique way to restrain metastases in breast cancer upon PCB exposure.
Distributed control for PARIS

1 Introduction We describe the control protocols of the PARIS experimental network. This high bandwidth network for integrated communication (data, voice, video) ia currently operational as a laboratory prototype. It will also be deployed within the AURORA Testbed that is part of the NSF/DARPA Gigabit Networking program. The high bandwidth dictates the need of specialized hardware to support faster packet handling and control protocols. A new network control architecture is presented which exploits the specialized hardware in order to support the expected real time needs of future traffic. In particular, since control information can be distributed quickly, decisions can be made based upon more complete and accurate information. In some respects , this has the effect of having the benefits of centralized control (e.g. easier bandwidth resource allocation to connections), while retaining the fault-tolerance and scalability of a distributed architecture. Packet switching networks have changed considerably in recent years. One factor has been the dramatic increase in the capacity of the communication links. The advent of fiber optic media has pushed the transmission speed of communication links to more than a Gigabit/set, representing an increase of several orders of magnitude over typical links in most packet switching networks ([KMS87]) that are still in use today. Increases in link speeds have not been matched by proportionate increases in the processing speeds of communication nodes. Another factor is the changed nature of t&Tic carried by these networks. As opposed to solely data networks, or solely voice networks, it is now accepted that packet switching networks (or variants of packet switching networks like ATM ([K&37])) will form the basis for multimedia high speed networks that will carry voice, data and video through a common set of nodes and links. The disparity between communication and processing speeds suggests that processing may become the main bottleneck in future networks. To avoid this possibility, these networks will be built with high speed switching hardware to off-load the routine packet handling and routing functions from the processor ([CGK88]). In addition, the real time trafEc (e.g. voice) requires that the route selection function be capable of guaranteeing the avaiiability of bandwidth on the links along the chosen path for a particular traffic stream. Otherwise, conges-Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or dixr-ibuted for direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the title of …
Molecular changes during pollen germination can be monitored by Raman microspectroscopy

The processes associated with pollen germination were studied in vitro for two tree species, Salix caprea and Fraxinus excelsior under different nutrient conditions. The results provide evidence of changes in chemical composition of the pollen grains during germination. From the comparison of spectra of the pollen grain body and the growing pollen tube, it can be concluded that there are major chemical differences between these two morphological units. Comparison of germinated and ungerminated pollen grains reveals alterations in the metabolism. Composition of the germinating pollen grain and its morphological units depends on the plant species, but also on the nutrient conditions. The results suggest species‐specific utilization of metabolite storage, and potential alterations of the pollen outer coat. Furthermore, discharge of molecules into the nutrient medium may depend on the nutrient conditions in the germination experiments. This has implications for further experiments on dynamic processes in pollen and related plant materials. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
GraphQ: Graph Query Processing with Abstraction Refinement - Scalable and Programmable Analytics over Very Large Graphs on a Single PC

This paper introduces GraphQ, a scalable querying framework for very large graphs. GraphQ is built on a key insight that many interesting graph properties -- such as finding cliques of a certain size, or finding vertices with a certain page rank -- can be effectively computed by exploring only a small fraction of the graph, and traversing the complete graph is an overkill. The centerpiece of our framework is the novel idea of abstraction refinement, where the very large graph is represented as multiple levels of abstractions, and a query is processed through iterative refinement across graph abstraction levels. As a result, GraphQ enjoys several distinctive traits unseen in existing graph processing systems: query processing is naturally budget-aware, friendly for out-of-core processing when "Big Graphs" cannot entirely fit into memory, and endowed with strong correctness properties on query answers. With GraphQ, a wide range of complex analytical queries over very large graphs can be answered with resources affordable to a single PC, which complies with the recent trend advocating single-machine-based Big Data processing. Experiments show GraphQ can answer queries in graphs 4-6 times bigger than the memory capacity, only in several seconds to minutes. In contrast, GraphChi, a state-of-the-art graph processing system, takes hours to days to compute a whole-graph solution. An additional comparison with a modified version of GraphChi that terminates immediately when a query is answered shows that GraphQ is on average 1.6-13.4× faster due to its ability to process partial graphs.
Jet schemes for advection problems

We present a systematic methodology to develop high order accurate numerical approaches for linear advection problems. These methods are based on evolving parts of the jet of the solution in time, and are thus called jet schemes. Through the tracking of characteristics and the use of suitable Hermite interpolations, high order is achieved in an optimally local fashion, i.e. the update for the data at any grid point uses information from a single grid cell only. We show that jet schemes can be interpreted as advect-and-project processes in function spaces, where the projection step minimizes a stability functional. Furthermore, this function space framework makes it possible to systematically inherit update rules for the higher derivatives from the ODE solver for the characteristics. Jet schemes of orders up to five are applied in numerical benchmark tests, and systematically compared with classical WENO finite difference schemes. It is observed that jet schemes tend to possess a higher accuracy than WENO schemes of the same order.
The Promoter of the pri-miR-375 Gene Directs Expression Selectively to the Endocrine Pancreas

microRNAs (miRNAs) are known to play an essential role in controlling a broad range of biological processes including animal development. Accordingly, many miRNAs are expressed preferentially in one or a small number of cell types. Yet the mechanisms responsible for this selectivity are not well understood. The aim of this study was to elucidate the molecular basis of cell-specific expression of the pri-miR-375 gene, which is selectively expressed in pancreatic islets, and has been implicated both in the development of islets, and the function of mature pancreatic beta cells. An evolutionarily conserved 768 bp region of DNA upstream of the pri-miR-375 gene was linked to GFP and luciferase reporter genes, and expression monitored in transgenic mice and transfected cultured cells. Deletion and targeted mutagenesis analysis was used to evaluate the functional significance of sequence blocks within the upstream fragment. 5′-RACE analysis was used for mapping the pri-miR-375 gene transcription start site. The conserved 768 bp region was able to direct preferential expression of a GFP reporter gene to pancreatic islets in transgenic mice. Deletion analysis using a luciferase reporter gene in transfected cultured cell lines confirmed the cell specificity of the putative promoter region, and identified several key cis-elements essential for optimal activity, including E-boxes and a TATA sequence. Consistent with this, 5′-RACE analysis identified a transcription start site within this DNA region, 24 bp downstream of the TATA sequence. These studies define the promoter of the pri-miR-375 gene, and show that islet-specific expression of the pri-miR-375 gene is controlled at the transcriptional level. Detailed analysis of the transcriptional mechanisms controlling expression of miRNA genes will be essential to permit a comprehensive understanding of the complex role of miRNAs such as miR-375 in developmental processes.
A Common Variant of PROK1 (V67I) Acts as a Genetic Modifier in Early Human Pregnancy through Down-Regulation of Gene Expression

PROK1-V67I has been shown to play a role as a modifier gene in the PROK1-PROKR system of human early pregnancy. To explore the related modifier mechanism of PROK1-V67I, we carried out a comparison study at the gene expression level and the cell function alternation of V67I, and its wild-type (WT), in transiently-transfected cells. We, respectively, performed quantitative RT-PCR and ELISA assays to evaluate the protein and/or transcript level of V67I and WT in HTR-8/SV neo, JAR, Ishikawa, and HEK293 cells. Transiently V67I- or WT-transfected HTR-8/SV neo and HEK293 cells were used to investigate cell function alternations. The transcript and protein expressions were down-regulated in all cell lines, ranging from 20% to 70%, compared with WT. There were no significant differences in the ligand activities of V67I and WT with regard to cell proliferation, cell invasion, calcium influx, and tubal formation. Both PROK1 alleles promoted cell invasion and intracellular calcium mobilization, whereas they had no significant effects on cell proliferation and tubal formation. In conclusion, the biological effects of PROK1-V67I on cell functions are similar to those of WT, and the common variant of V67I may act as a modifier in the PROK1-PROKR system through down-regulation of PROK1 expression. This study may provide a general mechanism that the common variant of V67I, modifying the disease severity of PROK1-related pathophysiologies.
Security Awareness of the Digital Natives

Young generations make extensive use of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, while a plethora of security risks associated with such devices are induced by vulnerabilities related to user behavior. Furthermore, the number of security breaches on or via portable devices increases exponentially. Thus, deploying suitable risk treatments requires the investigation of how the digital natives (young people, born and bred in the digital era) use their mobile devices and their level of security awareness, in order to identify common usage patterns with negative security impact. In this article, we present the results of a survey performed across a multinational sample of digital natives with distinct backgrounds and levels of competence in terms of security, to identify divergences in user behavior due to regional, educational and other factors. Our results highlight significant influences on the behavior of digital natives, arising from user confidence, educational background, and parameters related to usability and accessibility. The outcomes of this study justify the need for further analysis of the topic, in order to identify the influence of fine-grained semantics, but also the consolidation of wide and robust user-models.
New informations on the structure of the functional codes defined by forms of degree $h$ on non-degenerate Hermitian varieties in $\mathbb{P}^{n(\mathbb{F}_q)$}

We study the functional codes of order $h$ defined by G. Lachaud on $\mathcal{X} \subset {\mathbb{P}}^n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ a non-degenerate Hermitian variety. We give a condition of divisibility of the weights of the codewords. For $\mathcal{X}$ a non-degenerate Hermitian surface, we list the first five weights and the corresponding codewords and give a positive answer on a conjecture formulated on this question. The paper ends with a conjecture on the minimum distance and the distribution of the codewords of the first $2h+1$ weights of the functional codes for the functional codes of order $h$ on $\mathcal{X} \subset {\mathbb{P}}^n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ a non-singular Hermitian variety.
Activity of Some Enzymes Involved in Carbohydrate Metabolism in Normal and Scorbutic Guinea Pigs.∗

Summary Liver tissue of normal guinea pigs showed a markedly greater ability to phosphorylate substrates than tissue from ascorbic acid deficient animals. The difference in kidney tissue was less marked. The oxygen consumption of liver tissue increases noticeably in scurvy but there is no change in kidney. Adenosine triphosphatase activity of liver tissue was higher in the deficient animal as measured by the liberation of phosphate from adenosine triphosphate. Phosphorylase measurements in one group of normal animals gave higher results for both kidney and liver extracts. This was not true of muscle extracts. In the second series the results for liver were the same but a higher figure was again obtained for kidney extracts from normal animals. Aldolase activity did not seem to be lowered in scurvy.
A Fast Tracking Algorithm for Generalized LARS/LASSO

This letter gives an efficient algorithm for tracking the solution curve of sparse logistic regression with respect to the regularization parameter. The algorithm is based on approximating the logistic regression loss by a piecewise quadratic function, using Rosset and Zhu's path tracking algorithm on the approximate problem, and then applying a correction to get to the true path. Application of the algorithm to text classification and sparse kernel logistic regression shows that the algorithm is efficient.
Odour attributes and volatile chemical composition of milk produced in subtropical eastern Australia

iii Publications Arising from this Research . v Acknowledgments . vi List of Abbreviations . viii List of Tables . xiii List of Figures . xiv List of Equations . xiv Chapter 1 Introduction . 1 Chapter 2 Literature review. 3 2.
Contentiousness vs. sensitivity: improving contention aware runtime systems on multicore architectures

Runtime systems to mitigate memory resource contention problems on multicore processors have recently attracted much research attention. One critical component of these runtimes is the indicators to rank and classify applications based on their contention characteristics. However, although there has been significant research effort, application contention characteristics remain not well understood and indicators have not been thoroughly evaluated. In this paper we performed a thorough study of applications' contention characteristics to develop better indicators to improve contention-aware runtime systems. The contention characteristics are composed of an application's contentiousness, and its sensitivity to contention. We show that contentiousness and sensitivity are not strongly correlated, and contrary to prior work, a single indicator is not adequate to predict both. Also, while prior work argues that last level cache miss rate is one of the best indicators to predict an application's contention characteristics, we show that depending on the workloads, it can often be misleading. We then present prediction models that consider contention in various memory resources. Our regression analysis establishes an accurate model to predict application contentiousness. The analysis also demonstrates that performance counters alone may not be sufficient to accurately predict application sensitivity to contention. Our evaluation using SPEC CPU2006 benchmarks shows that when predicting an application's contentiousness, the linear correlation coefficient R2 of our predictor and the real measured contentiousness is 0.834, as opposed to 0.224 when using last level cache miss rate.
Efficient Exploration in Reinforcement Learning Based on Short-term Memory

Reinforcement learning addresses the question of how an autonomous agent that senses and acts in its environment can learn to choose optimal actions to achieve its goals. It is related to the problem of learning control strategies. In practice multiple situations are usually indistinguishable from immediate perceptual input. These multiple situations may require different responses from the agent. So, there is a need to use short-term memory to solve this incomplete perception problem. Efficient exploration is of fundamental importance for autonomous agents that learn to act. Previous approaches to exploration in reinforcement learning usually address exploration in case when the environment is fully observable. In contrast, we study the case when the environment is only partially observable. We consider some different exploration techniques applied to the learning algorithm "Utile Suffix Memory". Experimental results in a partially observable maze show that exploration techniques have dramatic impact on performance of learning algorithm.
Knowledge Discovery in Databases: An Attribute-Oriented Approach

Knowledge discovery in databases, or data mining, is an important issue in the development of data- and knowledge-base systems. An attribute-oriented induction method has been developed for knowledge discovery in databases. The method integrates a machine learning paradigm, especially learning-from-examples techniques, with set-oriented database operations and extracts generalized data from actual data in databases. An attribute-oriented concept tree ascension technique is applied in generalization, which substantially reduces the computational complex@ of database learning processes. Different kinas of knowledge rules, including characteristic rules, discrimination rules, quantitative rules, and data evolution regularities can be discovered efficiently using the attribute-oriented approach. In addition to learning in relational databases, the approach can be applied to knowledge discovery in nested relational and deductive databases. Learning can also be performed with databases containing noisy data and exceptional cases using database statistics. Furthermore, the rules discovered can be used to query database knowledge, answer cooperative queries and facilitate semantic query optimization. Based upon these principles, a prototyped database learning system, DBLEARN, has been constructed for experimentation.
Butterfly wing colours: scale beads make white pierid wings brighter

The wing–scale morphologies of the pierid butterflies Pieris rapae (small white) and Delias nigrina (common jezabel), and the heliconine Heliconius melpomene are compared and related to the wing–reflectance spectra. Light scattering at the wing scales determines the wing reflectance, but when the scales contain an absorbing pigment, reflectance is suppressed in the absorption wavelength range of the pigment. The reflectance of the white wing areas of P. rapae, where the scales are studded with beads, is considerably higher than that of the white wing areas of H. melpomene, which has scales lacking beads. The beads presumably cause the distinct matt–white colour of the wings of pierids and function to increase the reflectance amplitude. This will improve the visual discrimination between conspecific males and females.