Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Profiles of differentially expressed genes and overexpression of NEBL indicates a positive prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer

The present study aimed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and provide novel prognostic biomarkers for CRC. The microarray dataset GSE41258 was used to screen DEGs of CRC. Subsequently, a protein-protein interaction network of DEGs and Gene Ontology analysis were performed to identify hub genes and associated biological processes. Nebulette (NEBL) and complement C1q like 1 (C1QL1) were validated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction in patients with CRC. Survival analysis was performed for the two hub genes. GSE41258 dataset included 182 CRC samples and 54 normal tissues. A total of 759 DEGs, including 279 upregulated and 480 downregulated were screened between both groups. NEBL and C1QL1 were identified as the two hub genes and upregulated genes involved in various biological processes, including ‘regulation of biological quality’ and ‘response to stimulus’, respectively. Additionally, the overexpression of NEBL and C1QL1 in experimental validation was consistent with the aforementioned bioinformatics analysis results. Survival analysis suggested that overexpressed NEBL in patients with CRC was associated with a positive prognosis for overall survival. In conclusion, CRC was associated with a large group of DEGs. From the upregulated genes, overexpressed NEBL in patients CRC indicated a positive prognosis for overall survival and may be used as a prognostic biomarker for patients with CRC.
Speech rhythm: a metaphor?

Is speech rhythmic? In the absence of evidence for a traditional view that languages strive to coordinate either syllables or stress-feet with regular time intervals, we consider the alternative that languages exhibit contrastive rhythm subsisting merely in the alternation of stronger and weaker elements. This is initially plausible, particularly for languages with a steep ‘prominence gradient’, i.e. a large disparity between stronger and weaker elements; but we point out that alternation is poorly achieved even by a ‘stress-timed’ language such as English, and, historically, languages have conspicuously failed to adopt simple phonological remedies that would ensure alternation. Languages seem more concerned to allow ‘syntagmatic contrast’ between successive units and to use durational effects to support linguistic functions than to facilitate rhythm. Furthermore, some languages (e.g. Tamil, Korean) lack the lexical prominence which would most straightforwardly underpin prominence of alternation. We conclude that speech is not incontestibly rhythmic, and may even be antirhythmic. However, its linguistic structure and patterning allow the metaphorical extension of rhythm in varying degrees and in different ways depending on the language, and it is this analogical process which allows speech to be matched to external rhythms.
Phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCγ2) Is Key Component in Dectin-2 Signaling Pathway, Mediating Anti-fungal Innate Immune Responses*

Background: Dectin-2 is involved in anti-fungal immunity. However, its signaling pathway is not fully characterized. Results: We showed that PLCγ2 deficiency impairs Dectin-2-induced NF-κB and MAPK activation in response to fungal infection. Conclusion: PLCγ2 is a key component in Dectin-2 signaling pathway, mediating immune responses against fungal infection. Significance: These studies reveal a potential therapeutic target for fungal infection. C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) such as Dectin-2 function as pattern recognition receptors to sense fungal infection. However, the signaling pathways induced by these receptors remain largely unknown. Previous studies suggest that the CLR-induced signaling pathway may utilize similar signaling components as the B cell receptor-induced signaling pathway. Phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCγ2) is a key component in B cell receptor signaling, but its role in other signaling pathways has not been fully characterized. Here, we show that PLCγ2 functions downstream of Dectin-2 in response to the stimulation by the hyphal form of Candida albicans, an opportunistic pathogenic fungus. Using PLCγ2- and PLCγ1-deficient macrophages, we found that the lack of PLCγ2, but not PLCγ1, impairs cytokine production in response to infection with C. albicans. PLCγ2 deficiency results in the defective activation of NF-κB and MAPK and a significantly reduced production of reactive oxygen species following fungal challenge. In addition, PLCγ2-deficient mice are defective in clearing C. albicans infection in vivo. Together, these findings demonstrate that PLCγ2 plays a critical role in CLR-induced signaling pathways, governing antifungal innate immune responses.
Pulse Reformation Algorithm for Leakage of Connected Operators

The Discrete Pulse Transform (DPT) is a hierarchical decomposition of a signal in n-dimensions, built from iteratively applying the LULU operators. The DPT is a fairly new mathematical framework with minimal application and is prone to leakage within the domain, as are most other connected operators. Leakage is the unwanted union of two connected sets and thus provides false connectedness information regarding the data. The Pulse Reformation Framework (PRF) is developed to address the leakage problem within the DPT. It was specifically tested with circular probes and showed successful object extraction of blood cells.
Multi-stage decoding for multi-level block modulation codes

In this paper, we investigate various types of multi-stage decoding for multi-level block modulation codes, in which the decoding of a component code at each stage can be either soft-decision or hard-decision, maximum likelihood or bounded-distance. Error performance of codes is analyzed for a memoryless additive channel based on various types of multi-stage decoding, and upper bounds on the probability of an incorrect decoding are derived. Based on our study and computation results, we find that, if component codes of a multi-level modulation code and types of decoding at various stages are chosen properly, high spectral efficiency and large coding gain can be achieved with reduced decoding complexity. In particular, we find that the difference in performance between the suboptimum multi-stage soft-decision maximum likelihood decoding of a modulation code and the single-stage optimum decoding of the overall code is very small: only a fraction of dB loss in SNR at the probability of an incorrect decoding for a block of 10(exp -6). Multi-stage decoding of multi-level modulation codes really offers a way to achieve the best of three worlds, bandwidth efficiency, coding gain, and decoding complexity.
A Milk Protein, Casein, as a Proliferation Promoting Factor in Prostate Cancer Cells

Purpose Despite most epidemiologic studies reporting that an increase in milk intake affects the growth of prostate cancer, the results of experimental studies are not consistent. In this study, we investigated the proliferation of prostate cancer cells treated with casein, the main protein in milk. Materials and Methods Prostate cancer cells (LNCaP and PC3), lung cancer cells (A459), stomach cancer cells (SNU484), breast cancer cells (MCF7), immortalized human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293), and immortalized normal prostate cells (RWPE1) were treated with either 0.1 or 1 mg/mL of α-casein and total casein extracted from bovine milk. Treatments were carried out in serum-free media for 72 hours. The proliferation of each cell line was evaluated by an 3-(4,5-Dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Results α-Casein and total casein did not affect the proliferations of RWPE1, HEK293, A459, SNU484, MCF7, HEK293, or RWPE1 cells. However, PC3 cells treated with 1 mg/mL of α-casein and casein showed increased proliferation (228% and 166%, respectively), and the proliferation of LNCaP cells was also enhanced by 134% and 142%, respectively. The proliferation mechanism of α-casein in PC3 and LNCaP cells did not appear to be related to the induction of Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), since the level of IGF-1 did not change upon the supplementation of casein. Conclusions The milk protein, casein, promotes the proliferation of prostate cancer cells such as PC3 and LNCaP.
Rubber, 4. Chemicals and Additives

The article contains sections titled: 1. Introduction 2. Vulcanization Chemicals 2.1. Basics of Vulcanization 2.2. Sulfur-Containing Cross-Linking Agents 2.3. Vulcanization Accelerators 2.3.1. Classes of Accelerators 2.3.2. Toxicology and Ecology of Organic Vulcanization Accelerators 2.3.3. Delivery Forms of Vulcanization Accelerators 2.4. Accelerator Activators 2.5. Sulfur-Free Cross-Linking Agents 2.5.1. Peroxides (Organic Peroxides and Peroxycarboxylic Acids) 2.5.2. Quinone Dioxime 2.5.3. Polymethylolphenol Resins 2.5.4. Other Cross-Linking Agents 2.5. 5. Radiation Cross-Linking 2.6. Vulcanization Retarders 3. Antidegradants 3.1. Appearance of Aging and Fatigue 3.2. Classification and Types of Antidegradants 3.2.1. Staining Antidegradants that Act as Anti-Flex-Cracking Agents and Antiozonants 3.2.2. Staining Antidegradants with Protection against Fatigue, but Not against Ozone 3.2.3. Staining Antidegradants with Little or No Protection against Fatigue and None against Ozone 3.2.4. Nonstaining Antidegradants with Protection against Fatigue or Ozone 3.2.5. Nonstaining Antidegradants without Protection against Fatigue or Ozone 3.2.6. Nonstaining Antiozonants without Protection against Aging 3.2. 7. Other Antidegradants 3.3. Choice of Antidegradants 4. Fillers and Pigments 4.1. Typical Properties and Types of Fillers 4.1. 1. Action of Fillers 4.1. 2. Properties of Fillers and Their Significance 4.2. Carbon Blacks 4.3. White Fillers 4.3.1. Active White Fillers 4.3.2. Inactive White Fillers 4.3.3. Coating of Fillers 4.4. Pigments 4.4.1. White Pigments 4.4.2. Inorganic Colored Pigments 4.4.3. Organic Colored Pigments 4.5. Organic Fillers 5. Plasticizers 5.1. General 5.2. Mineral Oils 5.3. Synthetic Plasticizers 5.4. Natural Products 6. Processing Aids 6.1. Behavior and Classification of Processing Aids 6.2. Peptizers 6.3. Dispersion Agents, Homogenizers, Lubricating Agents 6.4. Tackifiers 6.5. Factice 6.6. Other Processing Aids 7. Rubber Adhesion 7.1. Adhesion of Rubber to Reinforcing Materials 7.2. Rubber - Metal Bond 8. Chemical Blowing Agents 8.1. Cellular Rubber Articles 8.2. Product Types and Properties 9. Latex Chemicals 10. Flameresistant Rubber Articles 10.1. Combustion Process in Polymeric Materials 10.2. Testing of Flammability 10.3. Inhibition of Combustion
Cost-of-Service Segmentation of Energy Consumers

Uncertainty in consumption is a key challenge at energy utility companies, which are faced with balancing highly stochastic demand with increasingly volatile supply characterized by significant penetration rates of intermittent renewable sources. This paper proposes a methodology to quantify uncertainty in consumption that highlights the dependence of the cost-of-service with volatility in demand. We use a large and rich dataset of consumption time series to provide evidence that there is a substantial degree of high-level structure in the statistics of consumption across users which may be partially explained by certain characteristics of the users. To uncover this structure, we propose a new technique for extracting typical statistical signatures of consumption-energy demand distributions (EDDs)-that is based on clustering distributions using a fast, approximated algorithm. We next study the factors influencing the choice of consumption signature and identify certain types of appliances and behaviors related to appliance operation that are most predictive. Finally, we comment on how structure in consumption statistics may be used to target residential energy efficiency programs to achieve greatest impact in curtailing cost of service.
Overall Introduction Table 1. Si and Older Units Used in Radiation Dosimetry, with Conversion Factors Figure 2. Bands of the Electromagnetic Spectrum in Which X-and Γ Γ-rays Fall Non-ionizing Radiation Ionizing Radiation X-rays Γ-rays Table 2. Radiation Weighting Factors

Ionizing radiation consists of particles and photons that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms in the human body, thus inducing chemical changes that may be biologically important for the functioning of cells. The greatest exposure to ionizing radiation is from natural sources. Humans have always been exposed to ionizing radiation, since natural sources existed on earth even before life emerged. Natural γ-radiation is of two origins, extraterrestrial and terrestrial. Extraterrestrial radiation originates in outer space as primary cosmic rays and reaches the atmosphere, with which the incoming energy and particles interact, giving rise to the secondary cosmic rays to which living beings on the earth’s surface are exposed. Terrestrial radiation is emitted from primordial radioactive atoms that have been present in the earth since its formation. These radioactive atoms (called radionuclides) are present in varying amounts in all soils and rocks, in the atmosphere and in the hydrosphere. Radionuclides are characterized by the numbers of protons and neutrons in their nuclei, as AX, where X is the name of the element, uniquely defined by the number of protons, Z, in its nucleus, and A is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. For example, 137Cs is a radionuclide of the element caesium (symbol Cs, Z = 55) with A = 137. Until the end of the nineteenth century, human beings were exposed only to natural radiation. The discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895 and of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896 led to the development of many applications of ionizing radiation and to the introduction of man-made radiation. The new sources of ionizing radiation consist of further kinds of radionuclides and machines that produce ionizing radiation. The most important applications of ionizing radiation which result in human exposures are in the diagnosis of diseases and the treatment of patients, in the production of nuclear weapons and in the production of electricity by means of nuclear reactors. Members of the public can be exposed to man-made sources of radiation as a result of environmental releases of radionuclides from facilities where ionizing radiation is used and when they are subjected to medical diagnosis or treatment involving ionizing radiation. In addition, occupational exposure occurs in such facilities. An important natural source of exposure that has been enhanced by human activity is the radioactive indoor pollutant radon and its short-lived daughters. α-Emitting radon is an element of the uranium and thorium decay chains and was considered in depth in the Monographs series (IARC, 1988). Radon will be considered again at a later meeting of the IARC Monographs in 2000.
Prognostic Value of Troponin T and I Among Asymptomatic Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Background— The prognostic usefulness of troponin enzymes in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients is controversial. To resolve this uncertainty of troponin as a prognostic tool, we conducted a systematic review to quantify the association between elevated troponin I or T and long-term total mortality among ESRD patients not suspected of having acute coronary syndrome. Methods and Results— We conducted an unrestricted search from the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and DARE bibliographic databases to December 2004 using the terms troponin.mp. or exp troponin and exp kidney, exp renal, exp kidney disease exp renal replacement therapy. We also manually searched review articles and bibliographies to supplement the search. Studies were included if they were prospective observational studies, used cardiac-specific troponin assays, and evaluated long-term risk of death or cardiac events for asymptomatic ESRD patients. Two authors independently abstracted data on study and patient characteristics. Studies findings were stratified according to troponin T or I levels. We used a random-effects model to pool study results and tested for heterogeneity using &khgr;2 testing and used funnel-plot inspection to evaluate the presence of publication bias. Data from 28 studies (3931 patients) published between 1999 and December 2004 were included in this review. Patients received dialysis for a median duration of 4 years, with a mean follow-up of 23 months. From the pooled analysis, elevated troponin T (>0.1 ng/mL) was significantly associated with increased all-cause mortality (relative risk, 2.64; 95% CI, 2.17 to 3.20). Although the prognostic effect sizes were all consistent with a positive relationship between troponin T and mortality, there was significant heterogeneity in the magnitude of these effect sizes (P=0.015). The funnel plot showed evidence of publication bias. Elevated troponin T was also strongly associated with increased cardiac death. Studies evaluating troponin I included a wide variety of assays and differing cut points, rendering synthesis of the study findings difficult. Conclusions— Elevated troponin T (>0.1 ng/mL) identifies a subgroup of ESRD patients who have poor survival and a high risk of cardiac death despite being asymptomatic. These findings suggest that troponin T is a promising risk stratification tool and may help frame therapeutic decisions. The clinical interpretation of elevated troponin I levels, however, remain unclear, largely because of the lack of standardization of assays.
On the Termination of Integer Loops

In this article we study the decidability of termination of several variants of simple integer loops, without branching in the loop body and with affine constraints as the loop guard (and possibly a precondition). We show that termination of such loops is undecidable in some cases, in particular, when the body of the loop is expressed by a set of linear inequalities where the coefficients are from Z ∪ {r} with r an arbitrary irrational; when the loop is a sequence of instructions, that compute either linear expressions or the step function; and when the loop body is a piecewise linear deterministic update with two pieces. The undecidability result is proven by a reduction from counter programs, whose termination is known to be undecidable. For the common case of integer linear-constraint loops with rational coefficients we have not succeeded in proving either decidability or undecidability of termination, but we show that a Petri net can be simulated with such a loop; this implies some interesting lower bounds. For example, termination for a partially specified input is at least EXPSPACE-hard.
Transmission of raised blood pressure and endothelial dysfunction to the F2 generation induced by maternal protein restriction in the F0, in the absence of dietary challenge in the F1 generation

We have previously demonstrated that maternal protein restriction during pregnancy leads to raised blood pressure and endothelial dysfunction in the offspring (F1). Here we show that these characteristics are transmitted to the F2 offspring through the maternal line, in the absence of any additional challenges to the F1. Female Wistar rats were fed either a control (18 % casein) or protein-restricted diet (PR; 9 % casein) throughout pregnancy. Female F1 offspring, maintained on standard chow postpartum, were mated with breeding males to produce F2 progeny. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) in male F2 offspring was assessed by tail-cuff plethysmography at age 100 d and vascular function of small mesenteric arteries by wire myography at age 80 and 200 d. SBP was raised in PR F2 offspring compared with controls (control 122·1 (sem 2·3) mmHg, n 7; PR 134·7 (sem 3·2) mmHg, n 6; P < 0·01) and endothelial function, assessed by vasodilatation to acetylcholine, was impaired at both age 80 d (% maximal response: control 89·7 (sem 2·6), n 14; PR 72·7 (sem 4·4), n 15; P < 0·01) and 200 d (effective concentration equal to 50 % of maximum (pEC50): control 7·67 (sem 0·10), n 10; PR 7·33 (sem 0·07), n 8; P < 0·05). The present study demonstrates that both raised blood pressure and endothelial dysfunction are passed via the maternal line to grand-offspring in the absence of any additional dietary challenges to their F1 mothers. Risk factors for chronic disease may therefore be heritable by non-genomic processes.
A cost-effectiveness analysis of celecoxib compared with diclofenac in the treatment of pain in osteoarthritis (OA) within the Swedish health system using an adaptation of the NICE OA model

Abstract Objectives: Celecoxib for the treatment of pain resulting from osteoarthritis (OA) was reviewed by the Tandvårds- och läkemedelsförmånsverket–Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Board (TLV) in Sweden in late 2010. This study aimed to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of celecoxib plus a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) compared to diclofenac plus a PPI in a Swedish setting. Methods: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK developed a health economic model as part of their 2008 assessment of treatments for OA. In this analysis, the model was reconstructed and adapted to a Swedish perspective. Drug costs were updated using the TLV database. Adverse event costs were calculated using the regional price list of Southern Sweden and the standard treatment guidelines from the county council of Stockholm. Costs for treating cardiovascular (CV) events were taken from the Swedish DRG codes and the literature. Results: Over a patient’s lifetime treatment with celecoxib plus a PPI was associated with a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gain of 0.006 per patient when compared to diclofenac plus a PPI. There was an increase in discounted costs of 529kr per patient, which resulted in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of 82,313kr ($12,141). Sensitivity analysis showed that treatment was more cost effective in patients with an increased risk of bleeding or gastrointestinal (GI) complications. Conclusions: The results suggest that celecoxib plus a PPI is a cost effective treatment for OA when compared to diclofenac plus a PPI. Treatment is shown to be more cost effective in Sweden for patients with a high risk of bleeding or GI complications. It was in this population that the TLV gave a positive recommendation. There are known limitations on efficacy in the original NICE model.