Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delayed-onset ataxia in mice lacking α-tocopherol transfer protein: Model for neuronal degeneration caused by chronic oxidative stress

α-Tocopherol transfer protein (α-TTP) maintains the concentration of serum α-tocopherol (vitamin E), one of the most potent fat-soluble antioxidants, by facilitating α-tocopherol export from the liver. Mutations of the α-TTP gene are linked to ataxia with isolated vitamin E deficiency (AVED). We produced a model mouse of AVED by deleting the α-TTP gene, which showed ataxia and retinal degeneration after 1 year of age. Because the brain α-TTP functions in maintaining α-tocopherol levels in the brain, α-tocopherol was completely depleted in the α-TTP−/− mouse brain, and the neurological phenotype of α-TTP−/− mice is much more severe than that of wild-type mice when maintained on an α-tocopherol-deficient diet. Lipid peroxidation in α-TTP−/− mice brains showed a significant increase, especially in degenerating neurons. α-Tocopherol supplementation suppressed lipid peroxidation and almost completely prevented the development of neurological symptoms. This therapy almost completely corrects the abnormalities in a mouse model of human neurodegenerative disease. Moreover, α-TTP−/− mice may prove to be excellent animal models of delayed onset, slowly progressive neuronal degeneration caused by chronic oxidative stress.
A driving behavior detection system based on a smartphone's built‐in sensor

Traffic accidents resulting from driving behavior and road conditions are crucial problems for drivers. The causes and responses to traffic accidents have been widely studied by researchers. Whereas several approaches have been proposed to ease these problems, most works entail high computational costs or rigid hardware conditions. To address these challenges, we propose Health Driving, a smartphone‐based system for detecting driving events and road conditions solely with a built‐in smartphone acceleration sensor. More specifically, we first collect acceleration data from the acceleration sensor of a smartphone on a vehicle, and then utilize an acceleration reorientation calibration algorithm to convert the obtained acceleration data from the smartphone to acceleration data of the vehicle. Finally, we exploit Health Driving to detect driving events and road conditions, and evaluate the seriousness of the road conditions and driving events by using an efficient scoring mechanism based on the ISO 2631 standard. An extensive evaluation demonstrates that Health Driving operates successfully with an ordinary smartphone, and operates with a low computational cost compared with other methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Endoscopic management of upper tract transitional cell carcinoma

Upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) accounts for up to 10% of cases of neoplasm of the upper urinary tract. The “gold standard” management of upper tract TCC is nephroureterectomy. Technological innovations, miniaturisations and increased availability of energy sources such as Holmium laser fibers have improved the armamentarium of endoscopic management of upper tract TCC. Endoscopic management of upper tract TCC includes the percutaneous (antegrade) and retrograde approaches. Modern flexible ureterorenoscopy allows retrograde approach to small (<1.5cm), low grade and noninvasive tumors, which is inaccessible to standard rigid ureteroscopes without breaching the urothelial barrier. In patients with large tumors or in whom retrograde access is difficult, the percutaneous approach to the renal pelvis, although more invasive, provides an alternative access and control. Both retrograde and percutaneous approaches allow instillation of various chemotherapeutic agents. Careful selection of patients is the key point in the successful endoscopic management of upper tract TCC. Patient selection is based on tumor size, grade and multifocality and other patient factors such as comorbidities, single kidney, post kidney transplant and patient choice. Both motivation and compliance of patients are needed for long-term successes. However, until large randomized trials with long term follow-up are available, endoscopic management of upper tract TCC should be reserved for only selected group of patients. This review summarizes the current techniques, indications, contraindications and outcomes of endoscopic management of UTTCC and the key published data.
Stability and performance analysis of a MAC protocol for a time-code air interface in LEO mobile satellite systems

The paper deals with low Earth orbit mobile satellite systems (LEO-MSSs) belonging to third-generation mobile networks and proposes a novel packet-access scheme suitable for a hybrid time-code wideband air interface. This medium-access control (MAC) protocol is a modification of the packet-reservation multiple-access scheme with hindering states (PRMA-HS) and is called code-division PRMA-HS (CD-PRMA-HS). Each mobile terminal that needs to transmit makes random accesses on available time-code resources until it receives a positive acknowledgment from the satellite. Both real-time voice and Web-traffic sources have been considered in our LEO-MSS scenario. An in-depth analysis of the random-access phase has been carried out, thus identifying the conditions that allow a good CD-PRMA-HS behavior. Finally, a performance analysis has been developed in order to evaluate the quality of service parameters for both voice and Web-traffic sources.
Using wikis for collaborative learning: Assessing collaboration through contribution

Wikis are widely promoted as collaborative writing tools and are gaining in popularity in educational settings. However, while wikis include features that are designed to facilitate collaboration, it does not necessarily follow that their use will ensure or even encourage collaborative learning behaviour. The few empirical studies that have considered this issue report equivocal findings. We assessed students collaborative behaviour based on their contributions to a wiki-based shared writing task using a variety of text and time based metrics. We found little evidence of collaboration despite adopting a learning design that was intended to support it. While overall participation was high, a relatively small proportion of students did the bulk of the work and many students' contributions were superficial. Students made little use of the wiki's commenting feature - a critical tool for contextualising and coordinating their contributions for and with others, and the majority of contributions were made very late in the task, making the possibility of extensive collaboration unlikely. These findings are discussed in relation to factors that may lead to the more successful integration of innovative, technology based learning activities into broader undergraduate curricula.
Transient Distal Renal Tubular Acidosis in Organophosphate Poisoning

Renal complications due to organophosphate poisoning are very rare. We are presenting a unique case of transient distal renal tubular acidosis due to organophosphate poisoning, which to the best of our knowledge is the first of its kind. An elderly female after deliberate self-harm with ingestion of chlorpyrifos had multiple ventricular arrhythmias due to hypokalemia secondary to distal renal tubular acidosis which improved completely after treatment.
The Utility of Routine Follow-Up Procedures in the Surveillance of Uterine Cancer: A 20-Year Institutional Review

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of routine follow-up procedures during uterine cancer surveillance and the corresponding cost throughout a 20-year period at a single medical institution. Methods: We sought to determine which surveillance method (CA-125, imaging, physical examination or vaginal cytology) detected the highest number of patient recurrences and the corresponding cost vis-à-vis the number of identified progressive disease cases. Results: Serial imaging detected the highest number of progressive disease cases but the cost was rather high (USD 17,174 per patient recurrence), whereas CA-125 testing was the least expensive (USD 6,810 per patient recurrence). We also found that those with a variant histology [for example, adenosquamous and uterine papillary serous carcinoma (p < 0.001) and advanced (III/IV) disease stage (p = 0.001)] were associated with an unfavorable progression-free interval. Conclusions: In the present investigation, serial imaging detected the highest number of progressive disease cases, although no single surveillance method was associated with a sensitive recurrent disease detection rate. Nevertheless, the CA-125 assay appeared to be the most cost-effective method in following patients with epithelial uterine malignancies. Thus, in the context of high-risk disease, a combination of procedures may still be necessary for optimal uterine cancer patient follow-up.
Ultrasonography as an objective tool for assessment of infantile hemangioma treatment with propranolol

Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common benign vascular tumors of childhood. Propranolol is an effective drug in treating IH. A reliable and complementary instrument is necessary to evaluate IH response to propranolol in addition to clinical and photographic assessments. Ultrasonography is a simple and non‐invasive technique that enables precise measurements of tumor size and contributes to objective follow‐up.
Melatonin as a Potent and Inducible Endogenous Antioxidant: Synthesis and Metabolism

Melatonin is a tryptophan-derived molecule with pleiotropic activities. It is present in almost all or all organisms. Its synthetic pathway depends on the species in which it is measured. For example, the tryptophan to melatonin pathway differs in plants and animals. It is speculated that the melatonin synthetic machinery in eukaryotes was inherited from bacteria as a result of endosymbiosis. However, melatonin’s synthetic mechanisms in microorganisms are currently unknown. Melatonin metabolism is highly complex with these enzymatic processes having evolved from cytochrome C. In addition to its enzymatic degradation, melatonin is metabolized via pseudoenzymatic and free radical interactive processes. The metabolic products of these processes overlap and it is often difficult to determine which process is dominant. However, under oxidative stress, the free radical interactive pathway may be featured over the others. Because of the complexity of the melatonin degradative processes, it is expected that additional novel melatonin metabolites will be identified in future investigations. The original and primary function of melatonin in early life forms such as in unicellular organisms was as a free radical scavenger and antioxidant. During evolution, melatonin was selected as a signaling molecule to transduce the environmental photoperiodic information into an endocrine message in multicellular organisms and for other purposes as well. As an antioxidant, melatonin exhibits several unique features which differ from the classic antioxidants. These include its cascade reaction with free radicals and its capacity to be induced under moderate oxidative stress. These features make melatonin a potent endogenously-occurring antioxidant that protects organisms from catastrophic oxidative stress.
Transgenerational developmental programming.

BACKGROUND The concept of developmental programming suggests that the early life environment influences offspring characteristics in later life, including the propensity to develop diseases such as the metabolic syndrome. There is now growing evidence that the effects of developmental programming may also manifest in further generations without further suboptimal exposure. This review considers the evidence, primarily from rodent models, for effects persisting to subsequent generations, and evaluates the mechanisms by which developmental programming may be transmitted to further generations. In particular, we focus on the potential role of the intrauterine environment in contributing to a developmentally programmed phenotype in subsequent generations. METHODS The literature was systematically searched at http://pubmed.org and http://scholar.google. com to identify published findings regarding transgenerational (F2 and beyond) developmental programming effects in human populations and animal models. RESULTS Transmission of programming effects is often viewed as a form of epigenetic inheritance, either via the maternal or paternal line. Evidence exists for both germline and somatic inheritance of epigenetic modifications which may be responsible for phenotypic changes in further generations. However, there is increasing evidence for the role of both extra-genomic components of the zygote and the interaction of the developing conceptus with the intrauterine environment in propagating programming effects. CONCLUSIONS The contribution of a suboptimal reproductive tract environment or maternal adaptations to pregnancy may be critical to inheritance of programming effects via the maternal line. As the effects of age exacerbate the programmed metabolic phenotype, advancing maternal age may increase the likelihood of developmental programming effects being transmitted to further generations. We suggest that developmental programming effects could be propagated through the maternal line de novo in generations beyond F2 as a consequence of development in a suboptimally developed intrauterine tract and not necessarily though directly transmitted epigenetic mechanisms.
Expressing OWL axioms by English sentences: dubious in theory, feasible in practice

With OWL (Web Ontology Language) established as a standard for encoding ontologies on the Semantic Web, interest has begun to focus on the task of verbalising OWL code in controlled English (or other natural language). Current approaches to this task assume that axioms in OWL can be mapped to sentences in English. We examine three potential problems with this approach (concerning logical sophistication, information structure, and size), and show that although these could in theory lead to insuperable difficulties, in practice they seldom arise, because ontology developers use OWL in ways that favour a transparent mapping. This result is evidenced by an analysis of patterns from a corpus of over 600,000 axioms in about 200 ontologies.
Improving the System Capacity by Client Cooperation in Distributed File Service

We have investigated the workload of a campus wide distributed file service. The observation is that hot files are downloaded many times within a short period of time. To reduce the server overhead, we employed a client side cooperation module in the system. The client side cooperation module can get file data from other clients instead of directly download data from data servers. The applied mechanism can significantly reduce server load that is critical to system scalability. Thus, this distributed file service can support more users with the same amount of servers while keeping or improving user experiences. We verified the proposed mechanism in the file service system with over 5000 registered users. Results show that, in the environment of campus network, server load can be reduced by up to 30%. The chunk response latency can be reduced by 90% percent and gives a significant boost to the client side download speed.
Object shape modelling from multiple range images by matching signed distance fields

Modelling object shapes from multiple range images requires three procedures: removal of measurement errors, registering input shapes and integrating them as a shape representation. We propose a unified framework in which these procedures can be solved simultaneously. Discrete samples of the signed distance field (SDF) from the object surface are used as the shape representation. If the data shapes are registered correctly, the SDF should match in the common coordinate system. The data shapes are first integrated by averaging the data SDF assuming that they are roughly pre-registered. The data shapes are registered to the integrated shape by matching the SDF. Integration and registration are iterated until the input shapes are registered to the integrated shape. Weighting values are controlled to reject outliers caused by measurement errors and wrong correspondences. The proposed method does not suffer from cumulative pairwise registration errors because all data shapes are registered to an integrated shape. A polygonal surface model is generated from the integrated SDF. The method was tested on synthetic and real range images, and multiresolution results are also presented.
Functional involvement of VAMP/synaptobrevin-2 in cAMP-stimulated aquaporin 2 translocation in renal collecting duct cells

The involvement of soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor-attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins in the cAMP-induced exocytosis of aquaporin 2 (AQP2)-containing vesicles was investigated in AQP2-transfected renal CD8 cells. RT-PCR and western blot analysis confirmed the presence of the SNARE homologs VAMP/synaptobrevin-2, syntaxin-1, syntaxin-4 and SNAP-23 in CD8 cells. Tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) was efficient in cleaving synaptobrevin-like protein both in vitro and in intact CD8 cells incubated with the toxin. TeNT treatment in intact CD8 cells completely abolished cAMP-stimulated AQP2 targeting to the plasma membrane, as assessed by quantification of cell-surface immunoreactivity to an anti-AQP2 antibody raised against a peptide reproducing the extracellular AQP2 C-loop. These results represent the first evidence for the functional involvement of VAMP-2 in cAMP-induced AQP2 exocytosis in renal cells.
Nanoindentation and nanoscratch properties of graphene nanoplatelets reinforced spark plasma sintered aluminium-based nanocomposite

ABSTRACT Aluminium matrix nanocomposites reinforced with 0.5 and 1wt% functionalized graphene nanoplatelets were fabricated via spark plasma sintering (SPS). Nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests were performed on the nanocomposites to evaluate the mechanical and tribological properties at small length scales. Al nanocomposite reinforced with 0.5wt% graphene nanaoplatelets (GNP) showed homogenous porosity free microstructure, whereas a significant amount of porosities were evident in Al-1.0wt% GNP nanocomposite. Indentations and scratches were performed at 2000 μN constant load using standard Berkovich indenter. Elastic modulus, nanohardness and wear volume were measured for the sintered samples. Al nanocomposite reinforced with 0.5wt% GNP showed high hardness and wear resistance as compared to that of monolithic aluminium. Improvement in the wear resistance was discussed with respect to strengthening effect by addition of GNPs.
Privacy in an identity-based DRM system

The present paper addresses privacy issues in electronic audio/video content distribution. It introduces an identity-based rights distribution and management system that enables users to access content anytime, anywhere, and on any device by means of authorization certificates issued by a content provider. These certificates openly link the identity of the users to the content that they are entitled to access. This fact, together with the availability of the certificates everywhere in the network, raises user privacy issues. A solution is proposed which deals with these issues and still allows the device to securely check the user's entitlement to the content.
Optical sensor in planar configuration based on multimode interference

In the paper a numerical analysis of optical sensors based on multimode interference in planar one-dimensional step-index configuration is presented. The structure consists in single-mode input and output waveguides and multimode waveguide which guide only few modes. Material parameters discussed refer to a SU8 polymer waveguide on SiO2 substrate. The optical system described will be designed to the analysis of biological substances.
The Performance of the Modified Subgradient Algorithm on Solving the 0-1 Quadratic Knapsack Problem

In this study, the performance of the modified subgradient algorithm (MSG) to solve the 0-1 quadratic knapsack problem (QKP) was examined. The MSG was proposed by Gasimov for solving dual problems constructed with respect to sharp Augmented Lagrangian function. The MSG has some important proven properties. For example, it is convergent, and it guarantees zero duality gap for the problems such that its objective and constraint functions are all Lipschtz. Additionally, the MSG has been successfully used for solving non-convex continuous and some combinatorial problems with equality constraints since it was first proposed. In this study, the MSG was used to solve the QKP which has an inequality constraint. The first step in solving the problem was converting zero-one nonlinear QKP problem into continuous nonlinear problem by adding only one constraint and not adding any new variables. Second, in order to solve the continuous QKP, dual problem with "zero duality gap" was constructed by using the sharp Augmented Lagrangian function. Finally, the MSG was used to solve the dual problem, by considering the equality constraint in the computation of the norm. To compare the performance of the MSG with some other methods, some test instances from the relevant literature were solved both by using the MSG and by using three different MINLP solvers of GAMS software. The results obtained were presented and discussed.
A Computational Trichotomy for Connectivity of Boolean Satisfiability

For Boolean satisfiability problems, the structure of the solution space is characterized by the solution graph, where the vertices are the solutions, and two solutions are connected iff they differ in exactly one variable. In 2006, Gopalan et al. studied connectivity properties of the solution graph and related complexity issues for CSPs, motivated mainly by research on satisfiability algorithms and the satisfiability threshold. They proved dichotomies for the diameter of connected components and for the complexity of the st-connectivity question, and conjectured a trichotomy for the connectivity question. Building on this work, we here prove the trichotomy: Connectivity is either in P, coNP-complete, or PSPACE-complete. Also, we correct a minor mistake of Gopalan et al., which leads to a slight shift of the boundaries towards the hard side.
On Supervised Selection of Bayesian Networks

Given a set of possible models (e.g., Bayesian network structures) and a data sample, in the unsupervised model selection problem the task is to choose the most accurate model with respect to the domain joint probability distribution. In contrast to this, in supervised model selection it is a priori known that the chosen model will be used in the future for prediction tasks involving more "focused" predictive distributions. Although focused predictive distributions can be produced from the joint probability distribution by marginalization, in practice the best model in the unsupervised sense does not necessarily perform well in supervised domains. In particular, the standard marginal likelihood score is a criterion for the unsupervised task, and, although frequently used for supervised model selection also, does not perform well in such tasks. In this paper we study the performance of the marginal likelihood score empirically in supervised Bayesian network selection tasks by using a large number of publicly available classification data sets, and compare the results to those obtained by alternative model selection criteria, including empirical crossvalidation methods, an approximation of a supervised marginal likelihood measure, and a supervised version of Dawid's prequential (predictive sequential) principle. The results demonstrate that the marginal likelihood score does not perform well for supervised model selection, while the best results are obtained by using Dawid's prequential approach.