Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome Walking by Next Generation Sequencing Approaches

Genome Walking (GW) comprises a number of PCR-based methods for the identification of nucleotide sequences flanking known regions. The different methods have been used for several purposes: from de novo sequencing, useful for the identification of unknown regions, to the characterization of insertion sites for viruses and transposons. In the latter cases Genome Walking methods have been recently boosted by coupling to Next Generation Sequencing technologies. This review will focus on the development of several protocols for the application of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies to GW, which have been developed in the course of analysis of insertional libraries. These analyses find broad application in protocols for functional genomics and gene therapy. Thanks to the application of NGS technologies, the original vision of GW as a procedure for walking along an unknown genome is now changing into the possibility of observing the parallel marching of hundreds of thousands of primers across the borders of inserted DNA molecules in host genomes.
Prediction of significant prostate cancer diagnosed 20 to 30 years later with a single measure of prostate‐specific antigen at or before age 50

We previously reported that a single prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) measured at ages 44‐50 was highly predictive of subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis in an unscreened population. Here we report an additional 7 years of follow‐up. This provides replication using an independent data set and allows estimates of the association between early PSA and subsequent advanced cancer (clinical stage ≥T3 or metastases at diagnosis).
Leukoaraiosis in Relation to Prognosis for Patients with Lacunar Infarction

Background and Purpose: Close relations between leukoaraiosis detected by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging and stroke, particularly lacunar infarction, have been reported. We studied whether leukoaraiosis is related to long‐term prognosis for patients with lacunar infarction. Methods: We examined monthly 215 patients with lacunar infarction after their first stroke. They comprised 95 patients with leukoaraiosis disclosed by computed tomography on admission (58 men and 37 women; mean age, 71.3±9.0 years) and 120 patients without leukoaraiosis (81 men and 39 women; mean age, 65.5±8.9 years). These patients had no previous history of either stroke or obvious dementia before their index stroke. We compared the prognosis with and without leukoaraiosis based on analysis of recurrent stroke, survival, and the prevalence of dementia and rate of dependence in activities of daily living. Results: Life table analysis revealed that the recurrent stroke rate was significantly higher in the patients with leukoaraiosis than in those without it (p=0.004). The prevalence of dementia and rate of dependence in activities of daily living both 1 month after the index stroke and at the end of the follow‐up period were significantly higher in the patients with leukoaraiosis (all parameters, p<0.001). Their survival rate was significantly lower than in those not suffering from leukoaraiosis (p=0.012). Significant differences in these comparisons were also observed after matching for age and sex. Conclusions: The presence of leukoaraiosis as identified by computed tomography indicates a poor prognosis for patients with lacunar infarction. (Stroke 1992;23:1434‐1438)
Parallelizing Partial MUS Enumeration

The problem of enumerating minimal unsatisfiable subsets of a constraint system (MUSes) is a natural candidate for parallelization: as an enumeration problem, it allows for concurrent solving of independent subproblems, and as a typically intractable problem w.r. t. completion (which parallelization cannot transcend), the speed or rate of output (which parallelization can improve) is often the most important performance characteristic. In this work, we explore the parallelization of partial MUS enumeration (aiming to enumerate some MUSes within given resource constraints) via two extensions to a recently-developed sequential algorithm – one employing an existing parallel single-MUS extraction algorithm, the other parallelizing the entire enumeration algorithm–– and we discuss variants and implementation details as well. Results of experiments run with up to 16 cores show that the full parallelization of the entire enumeration algorithm scales well, reaching an average of 92% of perfect scaling with 4 cores and 70% at 16 cores. Evaluating variants and implementation details illuminates how those choices impact performance, including a potentially counterintuitive result that sharing results between threads to avoid duplicate work is not beneficial in the general case.
Hardware-in-loop simulation and application for high-power AC-DC-AC rolling mill driving system

Hardware-in-loop (HIL) Simulation is an excellent verification tool for controllers operated under high voltage & power conditions. In this paper, aim to high-power AC-DC-AC rolling mill driving converter system, a HIL simulation platform based on dSPACE simulator was built. With the real-time simulator, a virtual field operation environment was constructed for converter controller debugging and test, which could completely satisfy the requirements of AC-DC-AC rolling mill driving system products functions and performances verifying, reducing the products development depending on test resource greatly. The simulation platform has applied in rolling mill converter development, shortening the products development cycle and decreasing the cost largely.
Environmental Toxins and Parkinson's Disease

Introduction 51 Normal Aging and the Nigrostriatal Pathway and PD 51 Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease 52 Parkinsonism 53 Neurodegenerative Parkinsonism versus Parkinson’s Disease: The Role of Oxidative Stress 53 Chemical Exposure-Induced Parkinsonism: The Role of Oxidative Stress 53 MPTP 54 Paraquat 54 Iron 55 Manganese 55 Role of Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Chemicals in Parkinson’s Disease 56 Conclusions 58 A Loving Tribute to Robert G. Feldman, M.D 58 References 58
The Effect of Kinesiology Taping and Muscle Fatigue on Movement Control in the Shoulder Joint ‐ Preliminary Report

OBJECTIVES Methods, that can reduce rehabilitation time after shoulder injuries and improve its effi cacy, include those serving to improve proprioception in the shoulder joint. Sensorimotor control of the shoulder joint, especially during 45-60o abduction, relies on the deltoid muscle. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of Kinesiology Taping application and muscle fatigue to the deltoid on movement control in the shoulder joint.
On stability of switched homogeneous systems

In this paper, the robustness of a class of homo-geneous systems is investigated, in which a relation among the high-order term, the converging rate and the stability region of the system is explicitly established. Such a new observation facilitates to establish several robust stabilization conditions for switched homogeneous systems with high-order terms. Several stability regions related to exponential, finite-time and rational stability properties of the switched system are provided.
A new single-phase ZCS-PWM boost rectifier with high power factor and low conduction losses

This paper proposes a new single-phase high-power-factor rectifier, which features regulation by conventional pulsewidth modulation (PWM), soft commutation, and instantaneous average line current control. A new zero-current switching PWM (ZCS-PWM) auxiliary circuit is configured in the presented ZCS-PWM rectifier to perform ZCS in the active switches and zero-voltage switching (ZVS) in the passive switches. Furthermore, soft commutation of the main switch is achieved without additional current stress by the presented ZCS-PWM auxiliary circuit. A significant reduction in the conduction losses is achieved because of the following reasons: 1) the circulating current for the soft switching flows only through the auxiliary circuit; 2) a minimum number of switching devices are involved in the circulating current path; and 3) the proposed rectifier uses a single converter instead of the conventional configuration composed of a four-diode front-end rectifier followed by a boost converter. Seven transition states for describing the behavior of the ZCS-PWM rectifier in one switching period are described. The PWM-switch model is used to predict the system performance. A prototype rated at 1 kW, operating at 60 kHz, with an input alternating current voltage of 220 V/sub rms/ and an output voltage of 400 V/sub dc/, has been implemented in laboratory. An efficiency of 98.3% and a power factor over 0.99 have been measured. Analysis, design, and the control circuitry are also presented in this paper.
Le territoire-produit : étude des frontières cognitives de la marque

Cet article a pour objet d'étudier le territoire-produit de la marque et ses implications pour la stratégie d'extension de marque. Il se fonde sur l'étude des processus cognitifs d'organisation des connaissances et s'appuie sur la théorie de la catégorisation. Une étude empirique sur des produits cosmétiques permet de mettre en évidence la différence entre gamme réelle et gamme perçue qui forme la structure cognitive de la marque. Celle-ci est organisée en fonction de la typicalité perçue. De plus, cette structure a des implications pour le potentiel d'extension de la marque et la considération des extensions.
X-ray micromodulated luminescence tomography in dual-cone geometry

Abstract. We propose a scanning method utilizing dual-cone beams of x-rays to induce luminescence from nanophosphors and reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of these particles in a biological sample or a small animal. For this purpose, x-rays are focused through a polycapillary lens onto a spot of a few micrometers in size. Such x-ray scanning can be point-wise performed to acquire photon emission data on an object surface. The x-ray-induced luminescence data allow for reliable image reconstruction with high spatial resolution and large imaging depth. We describe several numerical simulation studies to demonstrate the feasibility and merits of the proposed approach.
IVEE: an Information Visualization and Exploration Environment

The Information Visualization and Exploration Environment (NEE) is a system for automatic creation of dynamic queries applications. IVEE imports database relations and automatically creates environments holding visualizations and query devices. IVEE offers multiple visualizations such as maps and starfields, and multiple query devices, such as sliders, alphasliders, and toggles. Arbitrary graphical objects can be attached to database objects in visualizations. Multiple visualizations may be active simultaneously. Users can interactively lay out and change between types of query devices. Users may retrieve details-on-demand by clicking on visualization objects. An HTML file may be provided along with the database, specifying how details-on-demand information should be presented, allowing for presentation of multimedia information in database objects. Finally, multiple IVEE clients running on separate workstations on a network can communicate by letting one user's actions affect the visualization in an another IVEE client.
Vaccines in pregnancy: The dual benefit for pregnant women and infants

ABSTRACT Maternal immunization has the potential to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in the pregnant woman and her infant. Many countries now recommend immunization against influenza at any stage of pregnancy and against pertussis in the third trimester. Despite evidence of the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines when administered during pregnancy, uptake generally remains low for influenza and moderate for pertussis vaccine. Enhancing confidence in both immunization providers and pregnant women by increasing the evidence-base for the safety and effectiveness of vaccines during pregnancy, improving communication and access by incorporating immunization into standard models of antenatal care are likely to improve uptake. Developing a framework for implementation of vaccines for pregnant women which is cognizant of local and national cultural, epidemiological, behavioral and societal factors will enable a smooth transition and high uptake for new vaccines currently in development for pregnant women.
Model Predictive Direct Torque Control of a Five-Level ANPC Converter Drive System

The five-level active neutral-point-clamped converter is a recently introduced topology that offers low harmonic distortion and a high output voltage. In addition to a neutral point potential in the dc link, this topology features, in each phase, a flying phase capacitor. Balancing these four internal converter voltages around their references while providing fast torque and/or current control for the machine is an intrinsically challenging control problem. Model predictive direct torque control (DTC) (MPDTC) is an ideal control methodology to address this problem. It is shown, in this paper, how MPDTC, originally developed for three-level inverters, can be adapted to this new five-level topology. Compared to DTC, the performance results of MPDTC are very promising-for the same switching frequency, the harmonic distortions of the stator currents and the torque can be more than halved. At the same time, the very fast torque response of DTC is maintained.
A Francisella tularensis Pathogenicity Island Required for Intramacrophage Growth

ABSTRACT Francisella tularensis is a gram-negative, facultative intracellular pathogen that causes the highly infectious zoonotic disease tularemia. We have discovered a ca. 30-kb pathogenicity island of F. tularensis (FPI) that includes four large open reading frames (ORFs) of 2.5 to 3.9 kb and 13 ORFs of 1.5 kb or smaller. Previously, two small genes located near the center of the FPI were shown to be needed for intramacrophage growth. In this work we show that two of the large ORFs, located toward the ends of the FPI, are needed for virulence. Although most genes in the FPI encode proteins with amino acid sequences that are highly conserved between high- and low-virulence strains, one of the FPI genes is present in highly virulent type A F. tularensis, absent in moderately virulent type B F. tularensis, and altered in F. tularensis subsp. novicida, which is highly virulent for mice but avirulent for humans. The G+C content of a 17.7-kb stretch of the FPI is 26.6%, which is 6.6% below the average G+C content of the F. tularensis genome. This extremely low G+C content suggests that the DNA was imported from a microbe with a very low G+C-containing chromosome.
FURTHER MINERAL REQUIREMENTS OF STREPTOCOCCUS FAECALIS

The chief obstacle in the path of any study of the mineral nutrition of microorganisms is the difficulty encountered in obtaining media sufficiently free of inorganic ion contaminants to permit mineral requirements of the organisms to be demonstrated. The complexity of the nutritive requirements of the lactic acid bacteria makes the purification of suitable media by the usual methods even more difficult. With the aid of a biological purification procedure, however, it has been possible to demonstrate with relative ease that a number of lactic acid bacteria require K+, Mn++, and P04for growth (MacLeod and Snell, 1947). In the purification procedure applied, use was made of the ability of an organism requiring an inorganic ion to remove contaminating traces of that ion from the medium during growth. After growth of the organism in the medium and removal of the cells, no further growth of the organism would take place in the medium on reinoculation unless the essential ion was added back. This purification procedure, however, will remove a metal ion successfully only if the amount of the ion present as an impurity in the medium is equal to or less than the amount that the organism used for purification can remove during growth. In the previous study, a medium containing an enzymatic casein Thydrolysate was used. One might expect this medium, due to the presence of the casein, to be contaminated with relatively high concentrations of at least some inorganic ions. A study, therefore, was made to determine whether further inorganic requirements of the eight lactic acid bacteria previously studied would be revealed if the biological purification procedure previously used was applied to a medium containing crystalline amino acids in place of the casein hydrolysate. For only one of the organisms studied, Streptococcus faecalis, strain R, could further mineral requirements be demonstrated. In the case of this organism, a requirement for both Mn++ and Mg++ was revealed. In addition, the rate of autolysis of S. faecalis was found to be greatly increased in a medium containing insufficient amounts of Mnl and Mg++ for maximum growth. The results of studies with S. faecalis are presented in the following pages.
Beyond Deterrence: An Expanded View of Employee Computer Abuse

Recent academic investigations of computer security policy violations have largely focused on nonmalicious noncompliance due to poor training, low employee motivation, weak affective commitment, or individual oversight. Established theoretical foundations applied to this domain have related to protection motivation, deterrence, planned behavior, self-efficacy, individual adoption factors, organizational commitment, and other individual cognitive factors. But another class of violation demands greater research emphasis: the intentional commission of computer security policy violation, or insider computer abuse. Whether motivated by greed, disgruntlement, or other psychological processes, this act has the greatest potential for loss and damage to the employer. We argue the focus must include not only the act and its immediate antecedents of intention (to commit computer abuse) and deterrence (of the crime), but also phenomena which temporally precede these areas. Specifically, we assert the need to consider the thought processes of the potential offender and how these are influenced by the organizational context, prior to deterrence. We believe the interplay between thought processes and this context may significantly impact the efficacy of IS security controls, specifically deterrence safeguards. Through this focus, we extend the Straub and Welke (1998) security action cycle framework and propose three areas worthy of empirical investigation--techniques of neutralization (rationalization), expressive/instrumental criminal motivations, and disgruntlement as a result of perceptions of organizational injustice--and propose questions for future research in these areas.
How to diagnose autism

Over the past two decades, there has been an explosion of interest in autism and autism spectrum disorders. Knowledge and awareness of the condition has grown exponentially at all levels among the general public, parents, health professionals, the research community and, more recently, at parliamentary level. Alongside the increased understanding of these complex and disabling conditions is the acknowledgment of a broadening of the diagnostic criteria away from a narrow definition of autism to the autism spectrum with less clear diagnostic boundaries. Growing evidence of the importance of early diagnosis and intervention demands knowledge and skills from all professionals working with young children and in particular those involved in recognising early concerns about a child’s development. This article outlines current clinical and research findings in relation to early diagnosis and considers the role of the paediatrician in this process. Reference is also made to the National Autism Plan for Children.
Losing a Parent: Analysis of the Literature on the Experiences and Needs of Adolescents Dealing With Grief

In industrialized countries, the progressive chronicization of acute diseases is producing a wide range of chronically ill patients having a lethal prognosis at a relatively young age. Based on the above, it is not inconceivable that a teenager will have to face the death of a parent. The aims of this study were to describe the reactions, experiences, and needs of adolescents who lose a parent as a result of a chronic illness and to identify the factors that have proven to be useful in helping them deal with grief. A systematic search of the literature was performed in the CINAHL and PubMed databases. The analysis of 14 publications included has led to the identification of 4 key factors on mourning in adolescents: response to parent loss, the teenagers’ life after the death of their parent and of their needs, coping strategies and the factors influencing the grieving process, and relations with context. Knowledge of the various aspects that need to be faced in supporting adolescents who lose a parent is a challenge for health professionals, parents, teachers, and those who want to initiate concrete actions to improve their well-being.
Tobacco smoking as a risk factor for colon polyps.

BACKGROUND Data from a cancer screening project among pattern makers were used to evaluate the association between tobacco smoking and prevalence of colon polyps. METHODS From 1981-1983, 549 White men were examined by flexible sigmoidoscopy and completed self-administered questionnaires including smoking histories. RESULTS One or more colon polyps were detected in 76 men. Standardized prevalence rates (SPR) for polyps increased by smoking category (never smoked = 0.094; ex-smokers = 0.118, current smokers = 0.214) and by cigarettes per day, years of smoking, and pack-years among both current and ex-smokers. Both adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps showed an association with smoking while other types of polyps and polyps with unspecified histology did not. The risk associated with smoking was greater for polyps greater than one centimeter in diameter. An interaction with occupational exposures was suggested by a greater increase in the SPR for polyps among current smokers employed as pattern makers for more than 10 years than among current smokers similarly employed for 10 years or less. CONCLUSIONS Since at least some colon polyps are considered precursor lesions to colon cancer, one of the most common cancers in the United States, this report suggests that the possible link between colon polyps and smoking deserves further evaluation.
Cancer stem cells from colorectal cancer-derived cell lines

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the subpopulation of cells within a tumor that can self-renew, differentiate into multiple lineages, and drive tumor growth. Here we describe a two-pronged approach for the identification and characterization of CSCs from colorectal cancer cell lines, using a Matrigel-based differentiation assay, and cell surface markers CD44 and CD24. About 20 to 30% of cells from the SW1222 cell line form megacolonies in Matrigel that have complex 3D structures resembling colonic crypts. The megacolonies’ capacity to self-renew in vitro is direct evidence that they contain the CSCs. Furthermore, just 200 cells from SW1222 megacolonies initiate tumors in NOD/SCID mice. We also showed that CD44+CD24+ cells enriched for colorectal CSCs in the HT29 and SW1222 cell lines, which can self-renew and reform all four CD44/CD24 subpopulations, are the most clonogenic in vitro and can initiate tumors in vivo. A single SW1222 CD44+CD24+ CSC, when grown in Matrigel, can form large megacolonies that differentiate into enterocyte, enteroendocrine, and goblet cell lineages. The HCT116 line does not differentiate or express CDX1, nor does it contain subpopulations of cells with greater tumor-forming capacity, suggesting that HCT116 contains mainly CSCs. However, forced expression of CDX1 in HCT116 leads to reduced clonogenicity and production of differentiating crypt-containing colonies, which can explain the selection for reduced CDX1 expression in many colorectal cancers. In summary, colorectal cancer cell lines contain subpopulations of CSCs, characterized by their cell surface markers and colony morphology, which can self-renew and differentiate into multiple lineages.