Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Drosophila rolled locus encodes a MAP kinase required in the sevenless signal transduction pathway.

Mitogen‐activated protein (MAP) kinases have been proposed to play a critical role in receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)‐mediated signal transduction pathways. Although genetic and biochemical studies of RTK pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and mammals have revealed remarkable similarities, a genetic requirement for MAP kinases in RTK signaling has not been established. During retinal development in Drosophila, the sevenless (Sev) RTK is required for development of the R7 photoreceptor cell. Components of the signal transduction pathway activated by Sev in the R7 precursor include proteins encoded by the gap1, drk, Sos, ras1 and raf loci. In this report we present evidence that a Drosophila MAP kinase, ERK‐A, is encoded by the rolled locus and is required downstream of raf in the Sev signal transduction pathway.
Identifying the diffusion covariation and the co-jumps given discrete observations

In this paper we consider two processes driven by diffusions and jumps. We consider both finite activity and infinite activity jump components. Given discrete observations we disentangle the covariation between the two diffusion parts from the co-jumps. A commonly used approach to estimate the diffusion covariation part is to take the sum of the cross products of the two processes increments; however this estimator can be highly biased in the presence of jump components, since it approaches the quadratic covariation containing also the co-jumps. Our estimator is based on a threshold principle allowing to isolate the jumps. %detect the presence of jumps. As a consequence we find an estimator which is consistent. In the case of finite activity jump components the estimator is also asymptotically Gaussian. We assess the performance of our estimator for finite samples on four different simulated models.
Retributive and restorative justice: Importance of crime severity and shared identity in people's justice responses

Abstract Retributive and restorative justice present two different responses to wrongdoing: one that focuses on addressing the moral wrong through punitive sanctions (retribution) and one that focuses on addressing the harm that has been caused through reparative sanctions (restoration). Psychological investigations of what factors influence which justice outcome that people desire (retributive, restorative, or both) have focused on two constructs: crime severity and shared identity. The crime severity approach contends that people can have multiple justice goals, and which justice goals people want to fulfil is dependent on the salient features of the situation (such as offence seriousness). The shared identity approach argues that people's desire for restoration or retribution is dependent on the shared identity and perceptions of value consensus between offender and victim in the judgement context. The findings related to both of these factors are reviewed, and possibilities for future research integra.
Pleuropulmonary Meningothelial Proliferations: Evidence for a Common Histogenesis

Primary pleuropulmonary meningothelial proliferations include minute pulmonary meningothelial-like nodules (MPMN) and pleural or pulmonary meningiomas (PPM). These lesions share histologic, ultrastructural, and immunohistochemical features with meningiomas of the central nervous system (CNS). Meningiomas of the CNS exhibit a number of genetic abnormalities, most commonly loss of the neurofibromatosis (NF) 2 gene on chromosome 22. The molecular changes of pleuropulmonary meningothelial proliferations, however, have only rarely been investigated. This study explores the status of the NF2 gene in pleuropulmonary meningothelial proliferations compared with CNS meningioma using interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization. Whole tissue sections of 9 pleuropulmonary meningothelial lesions (6 MPMNs and 3 PPMs) and 9 CNS meningiomas were analyzed by fluorescence in situ hybridization using a commercially available locus-specific probe for the NF2 region. Deletion of the NF2 gene was identified in 2 MPMNs, 1 PPM, and 4 CNS meningiomas. Chromosomal gains of 22q were noted in 2 cases of MPMN and 1 PPM. Our results indicate that pleuropulmonary meningothelial lesions share common genetic pathways with CNS meningiomas. In addition, they provide support for the hypothesis that MPMN and PPM are related lesions that may arise from the same precursor cell. As for CNS meningiomas, these mutational changes may provide additional targets for future personalized therapies.
The prognostic role of echocardiographic indices in chronic heart failure: right ventricle revisited

We read the recent paper by Damy et al. on the prognostic value of right ventricular (RV) echocardiographic indices in chronic heart failure (CHF) with great interest. The authors assessed 136 patients with CHF due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction [ejection fraction (EF) ,35%] with traditional and novel echocardiographic RV indices that included RV fractional area, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, integral of the systolic wave, and peak systolic wave velocity at lateral tricuspid annulus (s). Among the studied parameters, only s (optimal cut-off value, 9.5 cm/s) along with B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) predicted event-free survival at a mean follow-up time of 295 days. We have also delivered similar results by assessing the prognostic value of RV tissue Doppler indices in 96 consecutive hospitalized patients with advanced CHF (NYHA class III or IV; mean EF, 23+ 6%; mean BNP, 1016+660 ng/mL). Right ventricular indices included s (mean, 7.6+2.4 cm/s), peak early diastolic velocity (mean, 8.0+ 3.0 cm/s), peak late diastolic velocity (mean, 8.7+4.6 cm/s) and e/a ratio (mean, 1.2+ 0.9 cm/s). In multivariate Cox’s regression analysis that included a number of wellestablished clinical and echocardiographic markers as well as baseline medication, only BNP and s were found to be independently associated with 6-month outcome, in terms of survival free of death or hospitalization. According to receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis, a cut-off value of 6.7 cm/s for s predicted 6-month disease progression with a sensitivity of 64% and a specificity of 60%. When s was combined with BNP (ROC-derived cut-off value, 724 ng/mL), the prognostic value of both markers was enhanced and patients with both BNP 724 ng/mL and s , 6.7 cm/s had an even shorter survival at 6 months. The different cut-off values for s derived by the two studies (9.5 cm/s by Damy et al. vs. 6.7 cm/s in our study) may be explained by the fact that the two study populations were not identical. In fact, Damy et al. enrolled clinically stable CHF patients (mean NYHA class, 2.9+0.8 in the group with events and 2.3+ 0.7 in the group with no events), whereas we studied patients hospitalized for acute decompensation of CHF in NYHA class III or IV. Moreover, the population in the Damy et al. study was somewhat younger (mean age, 56+11 vs. 64+ 10 years in our cohort). Despite those differences, however, the key message derived by both studies is that the hitherto overlooked RV function indices may contribute to the long-term risk stratification of CHF patients, both stable and decompensated ones.
Question analysis for Vietnamese legal question answering

This paper presents a study on analyzing questions in legal domain for Vietnamese language, which is an important step in building an automated question answering system for the domain. We focus on questions about transportation law — the law with arguably the largest number of violations and thus is the most asked about. Given a legal question in natural language, our goal is to extract important information such as Type of Vehicle, Action of Vehicle, Location, and Question Type. We model the question analysis task as a sequence labeling problem and present a CRF-based method to deal with it. Experimental results on a corpus consisting of 1678 Vietnamese questions show that our method can extract 16 types of information with high precision and recall.
Exploring the use of family therapy with adults with a learning disability

Clients with a learning disability have received little attention so far from psychotherapeutic services. Systems thinking seems to have obvious potential for this group, given the stresses which such a disability puts on the client and his family and the variety of different organizations with which they become involved. This paper describes the use of family therapy within a clinic setting and considers similarities to and differences from general family therapy practice. Ways of overcoming communication difficulties are highlighted, as is the need to redress the power imbalance within the therapeutic situation.
Temperature-Regulated Model of Focal Ischemia in the Mouse: A Study With Histopathological and Behavioral Outcomes

Background and Purpose— The importance of mouse stroke models has increased with the development of genetically manipulated animals. We hypothesized that immediate postischemia hypothermia may attenuate ischemic brain injury in the mouse. Methods— Intraabdominal radio frequency probes were implanted in animals and core temperature monitored. Groups included: MCAO-45-REG (45 minutes middle cerebral artery occlusion [MCAO]) temperature-controlled in the postischemic period > 34°C for 24 hours; MCAO-45 (45 minutes MCAO) were allowed to self-regulate core temperature during recovery; MCAO-30-REG (30 minutes MCAO), with the same temperature protocol as MCAO-45-REG; MCAO-30 (30 minutes MCAO), with temperature protocol the same as MCAO-45. Behavior and histological score was assessed at 7 days. The qualitative histological score assessed for injury in 18 specified regions. Results— MCAO-45-REG core temperature (mean 34.94°C±0.8°C) was significantly different than the self-regulating (MCAO-45, mean 33.1°C±2.3°C) for the first 4 hours after anesthesia (P < 0.01). There was a trend toward similar differences in temperatures for MCAO-30-REG and MCAO-30 (P = 0.08). At 7 days, a greater improvement in behavior score was observed for MCAO-45 and MCAO-30 compared with MCAO-45-REG and MCAO-30-REG (P < 0.001). The histological score confirmed reduced injury in unregulated temperature groups (MCAO-45-REG mean 38±10 and MCAO-45 30±5.1, P < 0.05; MCAO-30-REG 41±10 and MCAO-30 30±9, P < 0.05). Conclusions— Hypothermia is an important confounder of stroke injury in the intraluminal filament mouse model. Future mouse stroke studies must use strict temperature regulation.
PAFit: A Statistical Method for Measuring Preferential Attachment in Temporal Complex Networks

Preferential attachment is a stochastic process that has been proposed to explain certain topological features characteristic of complex networks from diverse domains. The systematic investigation of preferential attachment is an important area of research in network science, not only for the theoretical matter of verifying whether this hypothesized process is operative in real-world networks, but also for the practical insights that follow from knowledge of its functional form. Here we describe a maximum likelihood based estimation method for the measurement of preferential attachment in temporal complex networks. We call the method PAFit, and implement it in an R package of the same name. PAFit constitutes an advance over previous methods primarily because we based it on a nonparametric statistical framework that enables attachment kernel estimation free of any assumptions about its functional form. We show this results in PAFit outperforming the popular methods of Jeong and Newman in Monte Carlo simulations. What is more, we found that the application of PAFit to a publically available Flickr social network dataset yielded clear evidence for a deviation of the attachment kernel from the popularly assumed log-linear form. Independent of our main work, we provide a correction to a consequential error in Newman’s original method which had evidently gone unnoticed since its publication over a decade ago.
Experimental evaluation of ATM congestion control mechanisms

A critical issue in the design of fast packet-switch-based networks is the avoidance of data loss due to congestion. In the context of ATM networks, many link-level congestion control mechanisms for ABR traffic have been proposed and simulated, and a few have been implemented. This paper presents, for the first time, an experimental comparison of several such mechanisms. To drive this comparison, we have developed a set of benchmarks that provide a quantitative characterization of congestion control performance. We also describe a simple but novel technique, the "virtual port card", for implementing both non-native switch behavior and long link delays in ATM networks. This technique allows us to compare a wide range of mechanisms on a single flexible hardware platform. Our measurements show that while several of the ATM flow control mechanisms can eliminate cell loss, there are still several unresolved problems. First, for some traffic scenarios we see very poor application-level performance, especially in the presence of bursty traffic. Second, the performance is very sensitive to the flow control parameters and identifying an appropriate set of parameters is difficult since it depends heavily on the traffic conditions.
Developing a Detailed Integrated Optics Computational Model Capable of Quantitative Descriptions and Predictions of the Image Analysis Performance of Compound Eyes

Summary This is the final report of a three-year project supported by the EOARD. The aim of the project has been to contribute to a quantitative description of image processing by compound eyes. The main results of the performed research on three types of compound eyes are summarized, and a list of publications is appended. Introduction Compound eyes are the imaging systems of insects and crustaceans. These compactly built animal machines fulfill a variety of tasks essential for survival: find food, find mates, and avoid predators. Arthropods have developed many potentially useful sensors, which could be considered revolutionary if they were engineered for use in autonomous robots. The project is part of a long-term initiative to develop an advanced optical sensor, that is a multi-aperture seeker, motivated by detailed understanding of the arthropod (insect) compound eye. From an optics point of view, flies have arguably the simplest compound eye. The fly eye is now well understood, notably due to the recent work performed in the early phases of the project. This knowledge base has provided a solid foundation for the study of the more complicated compound eyes of other invertebrate species to which we have shifted subsequently. For studying the simultaneous processing of spatial and spectral information, butterflies have great potential. This is firstly because of their large and accessible eyes, and secondly because they have developed a wide range of optical tools to achieve sophisticated image acquisition. Various butterfly species have most exquisite eyes with a vast structural as well as functional diversity. Our present research is mostly 1
Localization, Dynamics, and Protein Interactions Reveal Distinct Roles for ER and Golgi SNAREs

ER-to-Golgi transport, and perhaps intraGolgi transport involves a set of interacting soluble N-ethylmaleimide–sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins including syntaxin 5, GOS-28, membrin, rsec22b, and rbet1. By immunoelectron microscopy we find that rsec22b and rbet1 are enriched in COPII-coated vesicles that bud from the ER and presumably fuse with nearby vesicular tubular clusters (VTCs). However, all of the SNAREs were found on both COPII- and COPI-coated membranes, indicating that similar SNARE machinery directs both vesicle pathways. rsec22b and rbet1 do not appear beyond the first Golgi cisterna, whereas syntaxin 5 and membrin penetrate deeply into the Golgi stacks. Temperature shifts reveal that membrin, rsec22b, rbet1, and syntaxin 5 are present together on membranes that rapidly recycle between peripheral and Golgi-centric locations. GOS-28, on the other hand, maintains a fixed localization in the Golgi. By immunoprecipitation analysis, syntaxin 5 exists in at least two major subcomplexes: one containing syntaxin 5 (34-kD isoform) and GOS-28, and another containing syntaxin 5 (41- and 34-kD isoforms), membrin, rsec22b, and rbet1. Both subcomplexes appear to involve direct interactions of each SNARE with syntaxin 5. Our results indicate a central role for complexes among rbet1, rsec22b, membrin, and syntaxin 5 (34 and 41 kD) at two membrane fusion interfaces: the fusion of ER-derived vesicles with VTCs, and the assembly of VTCs to form cis-Golgi elements. The 34-kD syntaxin 5 isoform, membrin, and GOS-28 may function in intraGolgi transport.
The Postwar Conservation Boom in British Colonial Africa

As World War II came to a close, there was neither any national park legislation nor any national parks department in British East and Central Africa (comprising the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland). Not all of the colonial territories in the region even had a "game" department. The existing departments were minute in relation to the size of their territories and none possessed any sort of research agenda or scientifically trained staff member. Fifteen years later, the situation had shifted 18o degrees. Colonial development funds poured into the improvement of new national parks across the region, airplanes crisscrossed the skies overhead to count wildlife herds, and scores of biologists and ecologists moved over the landscape to analyze the habits and histories of the parks" faunal residents. The shift represented a veritable conservation boom and dozens of new parks appeared as bright green patches on previously monochrome maps. What had happened in the immediate postwar years to change the status of national parks and wildlife conservation so dramatically? Some historians have traced the origins of twentieth-century wildlife conservation to the psychological and emotional importance of the African environment for European colonizers. Accordingly the roots of British colonial national park and wildlife laws have been traced to culturally constructed "western" ideas of nature in Africa. Historians have offered concepts such as the "the Eden complex" or "the cult of the Hunt"' to explain European, particularly British, fascination with African wildlife and anxieties over its disappearance. The core of their argument is that the idea of Africa as symbolic Eden has stimulated western interests in African conservation through the colonial period and into the present. Without dismissing their importance in shaping British attitudes toward nature in Africa, elite European cultural values do not fully explain the explosion in conservation initiatives in the final years of colonialism. There had been many proposals for national parks in the first half of the century and an international wildlife treaty as early as 1900, but territorial governments in Africa largely ignored these until the 1940s.
Advanced Security System using RFID and IRIS Recognition System using ICA, PCA, Daugman's Rubber Sheet Model Together

Iris recognition is the mean of biometric identification using very large amount of iris database taken without contact to the human body. Basically three main methods are available to process iris data, out of which in this paper, an iris image synthesis method based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent component analysis (ICA) and Daugman’s rubber sheet model& hybrid model is proposed. Iris Recognition is a most secure biometric authentication that uses pattern-recognition techniques. The video based iris recognition system is used to locate eye and iris, to evaluate degree of occlusion by eyelids, determine the centre & boundary of pupil and outer edge of iris. The measured features are encoded into 512-byte iris code which is further enrolled for identification. Here we compared different techniques i.e. ICA, PCA, Daugman’s rubber sheet model & hybrid model which is combination of all above three along with RFID system. Out of 400 degrees of freedom (measurable variables), 200 features are compared to create the code which can be compared to an entire database in milliseconds. After using lot many algorithms for iris recognition we found that existing system shows, Daugman’s rubber sheet model is better. The comparative study of the various algorithms proposed above shows some interesting results which is the achievement of the practical study on iris recognition. General Terms Iris Recognition, Daugman’s rubber sheet model, Hough Transform, Histogram equalization, Gabor Filters, Gabor Wavelets etc.
Small for Gestational Age and Higher Birth Weight Predict Childhood Obesity in Preterm Infants

We sought to determine the association between small for gestational age (SGA), birth weight, and childhood obesity within preterm polysubstance exposed children. We sampled 312 preterm children with 11-year body mass index (BMI; age- and sex-specific) data from the Maternal Lifestyle Study (51% girls, 21.5% SGA, 46% prenatal cocaine, and 55% tobacco exposed). Multinomial regression analyzed the association between 11-year obesity (OBE) and overweight (OW) and SGA, birth weight, first-year growth velocity, diet, and physical activity variables. Overall, 24% were OBE (BMI for age ≥95th percentile) and 16.7% were OW (BMI ≥85th and <95th percentiles). In adjusted analyses, SGA was associated with OW (odds ratio [OR] = 3.4, confidence interval [CI] 1.5 to 7.5). Higher birth weight was associated with OBE (OR = 1.8, CI 1.3 to 2.4) and OW (OR = 1.4, CI 1.1 to 2.0). Growth velocity was associated with OBE (OR = 2.7, CI 1.8 to 4.0) and OW (OR = 1.6, CI 1.1 to 2.4). Low exercise was associated with OBE (OR = 2.1, CI 1.0 to 4.4) and OW (OR = 2.1, CI 1.0 to 4.5). There was no effect of substance exposure on obesity outcomes. Many (41%) of these high-risk preterm 11-year-olds were obese/overweight. Multiple growth-related processes may be involved in obesity risk for preterm children, including fetal programming as indicated by the SGA effect.
Usefulness of transoesophageal echocardiography before cardioversion in patients with atrial fibrillation and different anticoagulant regimens

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of atrial thrombi in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing different anticoagulation regimens before cardioversion; to evaluate the usefulness of transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) guided cardioversion to prevent thromboembolic complications; and to correlate the presence of atrial thrombi with clinical and echocardiographic data. Methods: 757 consecutive patients admitted as candidates for cardioversion of atrial fibrillation were enrolled in the study. They were divided into four groups: effective conventional oral anticoagulation, short term anticoagulation, ineffective oral anticoagulation or subtherapeutic anticoagulation, and effective oral anticoagulation with a duration of < 3 weeks for various clinical reasons. All patients underwent TOE before cardioversion; in the presence of atrial thrombi or extreme left atrial echo contrast, cardioversion was postponed. The incidence of thromboembolic events was evaluated after cardioversion. Results: Atrial thrombi were detected in 48 of the 757 (6.3%) patients. No significant differences in the percentage of atrial thrombosis were found in the four study groups. Patients with atrial thrombosis were older and had a higher percentage of mitral prosthetic valves, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, more severe atrial spontaneous echo contrast, and lower Doppler left atrial appendage velocities. 648 patients were scheduled for cardioversion. Cardioversion was successful in 89% of patients without any major thromboembolic event. Conclusions: The prevalence of atrial thrombosis before cardioversion despite different treatments with anticoagulants is about 7% and a TOE guided approach may prevent the risk of embolic events.