Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
All-trans retinoic acid impairs the vasculogenic mimicry formation ability of U87 stem-like cells through promoting differentiation

The poor therapeutic effect of traditional antiangiogenic therapy on glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) may be attributed to vasculogenic mimicry (VM), which was previously reported to be promoted by cancer stem-like cells (SLCs). All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a potent reagent which drives differentiation, was reported to be able to eradicate cancer SLCs in certain malignancies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of ATRA on the VM formation ability of U87 glioblastoma SLCs. The expression of cancer SLC markers CD133 and nestin was detected using immunocytochemistry in order to identify U87 SLCs. In addition, the differentiation of these SLCs was observed through detecting the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), β-tubulin III and galactosylceramidase (Galc) using immunofluorescent staining. The results showed that the expression levels of GFAP, β-tubulin III and Galc were upregulated following treatment with ATRA in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, ATRA significantly reduced the proliferation, invasiveness, tube formation and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion of U87 SLCs. In conclusion, the VM formation ability of SLCs was found to be negatively correlated with differentiation. These results therefore suggested that ATRA may serve as a promising novel agent for the treatment of GBM due to its role in reducing VM formation.
The Ewing Sarcoma Protein (EWS) Binds Directly to the Proximal Elements of the Macrophage-Specific Promoter of the CSF-1 Receptor (csf1r) Gene1

Many macrophage-specific promoters lack classical transcriptional start site elements such as TATA boxes and Sp1 sites. One example is the CSF-1 receptor (CSF-1R, CD115, c-fms), which is used as a model of the transcriptional regulation of macrophage genes. To understand the molecular basis of start site recognition in this gene, we identified cellular proteins binding specifically to the transcriptional start site (TSS) region. The mouse and human csf1r TSS were identified using cap analysis gene expression (CAGE) data. Conserved elements flanking the TSS cluster were analyzed using EMSAs to identify discrete DNA-binding factors in primary bone marrow macrophages as candidate transcriptional regulators. Two complexes were identified that bind in a highly sequence-specific manner to the mouse and human TSS proximal region and also to high-affinity sites recognized by myeloid zinc finger protein 1 (Mzf1). The murine proteins were purified by DNA affinity isolation from the RAW264.7 macrophage cell line and identified by mass spectrometry as EWS and FUS/TLS, closely related DNA and RNA-binding proteins. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments in bone marrow macrophages confirmed that EWS, but not FUS/TLS, was present in vivo on the CSF-1R proximal promoter in unstimulated primary macrophages. Transfection assays suggest that EWS does not act as a conventional transcriptional activator or repressor. We hypothesize that EWS contributes to start site recognition in TATA-less mammalian promoters.
A simplified model for load frequency control in deregulated power systems

This paper presents a simplified model for load frequency control (LFC) in deregulated power systems. LFC in deregulated power system is modeled by modifying conventional model with inclusion of bilateral contracts. Bilateral contracts will allow DISCOs in one area to get power from another area. This inclusion complicates the design of the controller by adding the contracted power also along with the disturbance power. New LFC model facilitates us to design the controller without considering bilateral contracts which works for power system with bilateral contracts also. And concentrates only the load disturbances not on the contracted loads. The proposed new AGC model is simulated in MATLAB environment and results were presented.
Watermarking security part one: Theory

This article proposes a theory of watermarking security based on a cryptanalysis point of view. The main idea is that information about the secret key leaks from the observations, for instance watermarked pieces of content, available to the opponent. Tools from information theory (Shannon's mutual information and Fisher's information matrix) can measure this leakage of information. The security level is then defined as the number of observations the attacker needs to successfully estimate the secret key. This theory is applied to common watermarking methods: the substitutive scheme and spread spectrum based techniques. Their security levels are calculated against three kinds of attack.
DR-DEVICE: a Defeasible Logic RDF Rule Language

Defeasible reasoning is a rule-based approach for efficient reasoning with incomplete and inconsistent information. Such reasoning is, among others, useful for ontology integration, where conflicting information arises naturally; and for the modeling of business rules and policies, where rules with exceptions are often used. In this demonstration we present a prototype system for defeasible reasoning on the Web. The system is called DR-DEVICE [4] and is capable of reasoning about RDF metadata over multiple Web sources using defeasible logic [1] rules. The system is implemented on top of CLIPS production rule system and builds upon R-DEVICE [5], an earlier deductive rule system over RDF metadata that also supports derived attribute and aggregate attribute rules. Rules can be expressed either in a native CLIPS-like language, or in an extension of the OO-RuleML [9] syntax. The operational semantics of defeasible logic are implemented through compilation into the generic rule language of R-DEVICE. This demonstration includes a complete use case of a semantic web broker that reasons about apartment renting. The most important features of DR-DEVICE are the following: • Support for multiple rule types of defeasible logic, such as strict rules, defeasible rules, and defeaters. • Support for both classical (strong) negation and negation-as-failure. • Support for conflicting literals, i.e. derived objects that exclude each other. • Direct import from the Web of RDF ontologies and data as input facts to the defeasible logic program. • Direct import from the Web of defeasible logic programs in an XML compliant rule syntax (RuleML). • Direct export to the Web of the results (conclusions) of the logic program as an RDF document.
Sex Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates in the United States: A Study of California Public Schools

The teen pregnancy rates within the United States far exceed the rates recorded in other industrialized nations around the world, a discrepancy that has been found to be due primarily to the failure of teenagers within the U.S. to properly utilize contraceptives. Studies reveal that this lack of contraceptive use, as well as the teen pregnancies that result from it, is significantly correlated to the type of sex education mandated within states. More specifically, higher teen pregnancy rates can be found in states that mandate abstinenceonly sex education programs than those that utilize comprehensive programs. However, these correlations were measured across states as whole, resulting in a limited data set of only fifty data points. In order to increase the data set, and, ideally, further prove the strength of this correlation, I propose performing a similar study that correlates the types of sex education utilized in individual counties or independent school districts and teen pregnancy rates across a sufficiently diverse state, such as California. If the correlation between the type of sex education utilized within a region and teen pregnancy rates of that area is once again proved significant through this study, it would pose serious policy implications in regards to the federal funding of abstinence-education, state mandates requiring abstinence-only education, as well as local decisions regarding sex education curriculum choices in states lacking mandates.
Twenty years of system justification theory: Introduction to the special issue on “Ideology and system justification processes”

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich is not the first person (nor, we suspect, the last) to wonder why people, including members of disadvantaged groups, frequently accept existing social, economic, and political arrangements, even when those arrangements are characterized by inequality and other pervasive shortcomings. Philosophers and social theorists have often attributed the lack of rebellion to a purely passive yielding to the power or ideology of political elites, but they have rarely considered the possibility that individuals from all segments of society are, at least to some extent, motivated—for psychological reasons—to legitimize the social systems on which they depend. Perhaps Antonio Gramsci came close when he wrote that:
Joint Compression and Watermarking Using Variable-Rate Quantization and its Applications to JPEG

In digital watermarking, one embeds a watermark into a covertext, in such a way that the resulting watermarked signal is robust to a certain distortion caused by either standard data processing in a friendly environment or malicious attacks in an unfriendly environment. In addition to the robustness, there are two other conflicting requirements a good watermarking system should meet: one is referred as perceptual quality, that is, the distortion incurred to the original signal should be small; and the other is payload, the amount of information embedded (embedding rate) should be as high as possible. To a large extent, digital watermarking is a science and/or art aiming to design watermarking systems meeting these three conflicting requirements. As watermarked signals are highly desired to be compressed in real world applications, we have looked into the design and analysis of joint watermarking and compression (JWC) systems to achieve efficient tradeoffs among the embedding rate, compression rate, distortion and robustness. Using variable-rate scalar quantization, an optimum encoding and decoding scheme for JWC systems is designed and analyzed to maximize the robustness in the presence of additive Gaussian attacks under constraints on both compression distortion and composite rate. Simulation results show that in comparison with the previous work of designing JWC systems using fixed-rate scalar quantization, optimum JWC systems using variable-rate scalar quantization can achieve better performance in the distortion-to-noise ratio region of practical interest. Inspired by the good performance of JWC systems, we then investigate its applications in image compression. We look into the design of a joint image compression and blind watermarking system to maximize the compression rate-distortion performance while maintaining baseline JPEG decoder compatibility and satisfying the additional constraints imposed by watermarking. Two watermarking embedding schemes, odd-even watermarking (OEW) and zero-nonzero watermarking (ZNW), have been proposed for the robustness to a class of standard JPEG recompression attacks. To maximize the compression performance, two corresponding alternating algorithms have been developed to jointly optimize run-length coding, Huffman coding and quantization table selection subject to the additional constraints imposed by OEW and ZNW respectively. Both of two algorithms have been demonstrated to have better compression performance than the DQW and DEW algorithms developed in the recent literature. Compared with OEW scheme, the ZNW embedding method sacrifices some payload but earns more robustness against other types of attacks. In particular, the zero-nonzero watermarking scheme can survive a class
Learning pure-strategy Nash equilibria in networked multi-agent systems with uncertainty

A multi-agent system with uncertainty entails a set of agents intent on maximizing their local utility functions that depend on the actions of other agents and a state of the world while having partial and different information about actions of other agents and the state of the world. When agents repeatedly have to make decisions in these settings, we propose a general class of decision-making dynamics based on the Fictitious Play (FP) algorithm with inertia. We show convergence of the proposed algorithm to pure Nash equilibria for the class of weakly acyclic games - a structural assumption on local utility functions that guarantees existence of pure Nash equilibria - as long as the predictions of the agents of their local utilities satisfy a mild asymptotic accuracy condition. Using the results on the general dynamics, the paper proposes distributed implementations of the FP algorithm with inertia suited for networked multi-agent systems and shows its convergence to pure Nash equilibria. Numerical examples corroborate the analysis providing insights to convergence time.
Toll-like receptor agonists influence the magnitude and quality of memory T cell responses after prime-boost immunization in nonhuman primates

There is a remarkable heterogeneity in the functional profile (quality) of T cell responses. Importantly, the magnitude and/or quality of a response required for protection may be different depending on the infection. Here, we assessed the capacity of different Toll like receptor (TLR)-binding compounds to influence T helper cell (Th)1 and CD8+ T cell responses when used as adjuvants in nonhuman primates (NHP) with HIV Gag as a model antigen. NHP were immunized with HIV Gag protein emulsified in Montanide ISA 51, an oil-based adjuvant, with or without a TLR7/8 agonist, a TLR8 agonist, or the TLR9 ligand cytosine phosphate guanosine oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN), and boosted 12 wk later with a replication-defective adenovirus-expressing HIV-Gag (rAD-Gag). Animals vaccinated with HIV Gag protein/Montanide and CpG ODN or the TLR7/8 agonist had higher frequencies of Th1 responses after primary immunization compared to all other vaccine groups. Although the rAD-Gag boost did not elevate the frequency of Th1 memory cytokine responses, there was a striking increase in HIV Gag-specific CD8+ T cell responses after the boost in all animals that had received a primary immunization with any of the TLR adjuvants. Importantly, the presence and type of TLR adjuvant used during primary immunization conferred stability and dramatically influenced the magnitude and quality of the Th1 and CD8+ T cell responses after the rAD-Gag boost. These data provide insights for designing prime-boost immunization regimens to optimize Th1 and CD8+ T cell responses.
Striatal-Enriched Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Controls Responses to Aversive Stimuli: Implication for Ethanol Drinking

The STriatal-Enriched protein tyrosine Phosphatase (STEP) is a brain-specific phosphatase whose dysregulation in expression and/or activity is associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders. We recently showed that long-term excessive consumption of ethanol induces a sustained inhibition of STEP activity in the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) of mice. We further showed that down-regulation of STEP expression in the DMS, and not in the adjacent dorsolateral striatum, increases ethanol intake, suggesting that the inactivation of STEP in the DMS contributes to the development of ethanol drinking behaviors. Here, we compared the consequence of global deletion of the STEP gene on voluntary ethanol intake to the consumption of an appetitive rewarding substance (saccharin) or an aversive solution (quinine or denatonium). Whereas saccharin intake was similar in STEP knockout (KO) and wild type (WT) littermate mice, the consumption of ethanol as well as quinine and denatonium was increased in STEP KO mice. These results suggested that the aversive taste of these substances was masked upon deletion of the STEP gene. We therefore hypothesized that STEP contributes to the physiological avoidance towards aversive stimuli. To further test this hypothesis, we measured the responses of STEP KO and WT mice to lithium-induced conditioned place aversion (CPA) and found that whereas WT mice developed lithium place aversion, STEP KO mice did not. In contrast, conditioned place preference (CPP) to ethanol was similar in both genotypes. Together, our results indicate that STEP contributes, at least in part, to the protection against the ingestion of aversive agents.
Evaluation of an intervention for student disaffection using motivational interviewing techniques

This study considers the impact of Motivational Interviewing (MI) as an intervention for working with disaffected secondary school pupils. Three mainstream secondary students identified by schools as disaffected were each offered a series of MI sessions. Outcomes were considered through qualitative analysis of discussions and through the use of questionnaires.Results suggest that in some cases a MI approach may help to promote students' motivation and a general positive attitude towards school. The question of whether it remains an effective and valuable intervention for schools requires further investigation, possibly in view of a newly defined role for Educational Psychologists (EPs) and the way in which time for such interventions might be allocated.The implications for the practice of EPs in working with both individual students and at a systems level are deliberated.
Using Interactive Exercise in Mobile Devices to Support Evidence-based Teaching and Learning

To improve student's class experience, the use of mobile devices has been steadily increasing. However, such use of mobile learning environments in the class is mostly static in nature through content delivery or multiple choice and true/false quiz taking. In CS courses, we need learning environments where students can interact with the problem in a hands-on-approach and instructor can assess their learning skills in real-time with problems having different degree of difficulty. To facilitate such interactive problem solving and real-time assessment using mobile devices, a comprehensive backend system is necessary. This paper presents one such system, named Mobile Response System (MRS) software, associated interactive problem-solving activities, and lessons learned by using it in the CS classrooms. MRS provides instructor with the opportunity of evidence-based teaching by allowing students to perform interactive exercises in their mobile devices with different learning outcomes and by getting an instant feedback on their performance and mental models. MRS is easy-to-use, extensible and can render interactive exercises developed by third-party developers. The student performance data shows its effectiveness in increasing student understanding of difficult concepts and the overall perception of using the software was very positive.
The Impact of Health Information on the Internet on Health Care and the Physician-Patient Relationship: National U.S. Survey among 1.050 U.S. Physicians

Background Public use of the Internet for health information is increasing but its effect on health care is unclear. We studied physicians' experience of patients looking for health information on the Internet and their perceptions of the impact of this information on the physician-patient relationship, health care, and workload. Methods Cross-sectional survey of a nationally-representative sample of United States physicians (1050 respondents; response rate 53%). Results Eighty-five percent of respondents had experienced a patient bringing Internet information to a visit. The quality of information was important: accurate, relevant information benefited, while inaccurate or irrelevant information harmed health care, health outcomes, and the physician-patient relationship. However, the physician's feeling that the patient was challenging his or her authority was the most consistent predictor of a perceived deterioration in the physician-patient relationship (OR = 14.9; 95% CI, 5.5-40.5), in the quality of health care (OR = 3.4; 95% CI, 1.1-10.9), or health outcomes (OR = 5.6; 95% CI, 1.7-18.7). Thirty-eight percent of physicians believed that the patient bringing in information made the visit less time efficient, particularly if the patient wanted something inappropriate (OR = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.5-4.4), or the physician felt challenged (OR = 3.6; 95% CI, 1.8-7.2). Conclusions The quality of information on the Internet is paramount: accurate relevant information is beneficial, while inaccurate information is harmful. Physicians appear to acquiesce to clinically-inappropriate requests generated by information from the Internet, either for fear of damaging the physician-patient relationship or because of the negative effect on time efficiency of not doing so. A minority of physicians feels challenged by patients bringing health information to the visit; reasons for this require further research.
From Couplon to Cell : Subcellular EC Coupling and the Genesis of Ca Alternans

The goal of systems biology is to relate events at the molecular level to more integrated scales from organelle to cell, tissue, and living organism. Here, we review how normal and abnormal excitation–contraction coupling properties emerge from the protein scale, where behaviors are dominated by randomness, to the cell and tissue scales, where heart has to beat with reliable regularity for a lifetime. Beginning with the fundamental unit of excitation–contraction coupling, the couplon where L-type Ca channels in the sarcolemmal membrane adjoin ryanodine receptors in the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane, we show how a network of couplons with 3 basic properties (random activation, refractoriness, and recruitment) produces the classic physiological properties of excitation–contraction coupling and, under pathophysiological conditions, leads to Ca alternans and Ca waves. Moving to the tissue scale, we discuss how cellular Ca alternans and Ca waves promote both reentrant and focal arrhythmias in the heart. Throughout, we emphasize the qualitatively novel properties that emerge at each new scale of integration. (Circ Res. 2011;108:98-112.)
Portable GPS Baseband Logging

We present the design and implementation of a highly portable multi-antenna datalogging system which can log several minutes of multi-channel raw GPS L1 baseband. In addition, our design interleaves two serial data streams with the baseband data, allowing, e.g., inertial data to remain synchronized with the data stream. The system is FPGA-based and uses two CompactFlash cards for storage. The data is extracted by imaging the CompactFlash cards onto a PC and recovering synchronization codes interleaved with the baseband data. The resulting system is useful for multi(and single-) antenna receiver development, as it allows for simple data collection. The data files Figure 1. Multi-channel GPS L1 data collection system can then be used as inputs to software receivers for algorithm development, testing, and quantitative comparisons. Because the digital logging section is cleanly separated from the RF front-end section, it is possible to substitute any manner of RF front-end (e.g. Galileo) in place of our GPS L1 section, so long as the total data rate stays within the 250 megabit/sec capacity of the logging section.