Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heavy metal pollution and human biotoxic effects

Some heavy metals have bio-importance as trace elements but, the biotoxic effects of many of them in human biochemistry are of great concern. Hence, there is the need for proper understanding of the conditions, such as the concentrations and oxidation states, which make them harmful, and how biotoxicity occurs. It is also important to know their sources, leaching processes, chemical conversions and their modes of deposition to pollute the environment, which essentially supports lives. Literature sources point to the fact that these metals are released into the environment by both natural and anthropogenic sources, especially mining and industrial activities, and automobile exhausts (for lead). They leach into underground waters, moving along water pathways and eventually depositing in the aquifer, or are washed away by run-off into surface waters thereby resulting in water and subsequently soil pollution. Poisoning and toxicity in animals occur frequently through exchange and co-ordination mechanisms. When ingested, they combine with the body’s biomolecules, like proteins and enzymes to form stable biotoxic compounds, thereby mutilating their structures and hindering them from the bioreactions of their functions. This paper reviews certain heavy metals and their biotoxic effects on man and the mechanisms of their biochemical activities. Keywords: Biochemical, biotoxic, environment, heavy metals, pollution.
From verbal nonfluency to interactive fluency in Broca ’ s aphasia

Our knowledge, how the brain controls and interrelates gesture and speech, is still limited. An interesting branch of the study has been the relationship between aphasia and nonverbal behaviour. The main feature of aphasia is the impairment of communication via natural language. One of the most significant questions is, whether gestures may substitute or compensate for speech in the event of speech disturbance. Several investigators have found that aphasic speakers use more nonverbal behaviours than do normal speakers and many of these studies suggest that aphasic speakers compensate for their verbal deficit by increasing the frequency of their nonverbal behaviour (see e.g. Klippi 1996). In addition, some researchers suggest that the type of aphasia relates to the type of gestures used in communication. It is claimed that Broca’s aphasics use more simple, unelaborated nonverbal units with a high degree of referentiality, which is in accordance with their verbal output, whereas Wernicke’s aphasics have gestures that are vague and uninterpretable like their speech (see e.g. McNeill 1992). On the other hand, e.g. Glosser et al. (1986) provided evidence that aphasic speakers are impaired in their gestural communicative competence under natural conditions of communication.
Descriptive aspects of torsion-free abelian groups

OF THE DISSERTATION Descriptive aspects of torsion-free abelian groups by Samuel Gregory Coskey Dissertation Director: Simon Thomas In recent years, a major theme in descriptive set theory has been the study of the Borel complexity of naturally occurring classification problems. For example, Hjorth and Thomas have shown that the Borel complexity of the isomorphism problem for the torsion-free abelian groups of rank n increases strictly with the rank n. In this thesis, we present some new applications of the theory of countable Borel equivalence relations to various classification problems for the p-local torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank. Our main result is that when n ≥ 3, the isomorphism and quasiisomorphism problems for the p-local torsion-free abelian groups of rank n have incomparable Borel complexities. (Here two abelian groups A and B are said to be quasiisomorphic if A is abstractly commensurable with B.) We also introduce a new invariant, the divisible rank, for the class of p-local torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank; and we prove that if n ≥ 3 and 1 ≤ k ≤ n − 1, then the isomorphism problems for the plocal torsion-free abelian groups of rank n and divisible rank k have incomparable Borel complexities as k varies. Our proofs rely on the framework developed by Adams and Kechris, whereby cocycle superrigidity results from measurable group theory are applied in the purely Borel setting. In particular, we make use of the recent cocycle superrigidity theorem, due to Ioana, for free ergodic profinite actions of Kazhdan groups.
Mapping organic coatings on atmospheric particles

To date there is no direct evidence of the distribution or characteristics of organic compounds in individual particles because techniques for chemically identifying organic compounds are not sufficiently sensitive to detect molecules or functional groups with masses below 10−15 g [ Husar and Shu, 1975 ]. Here we present detailed maps of organic groups (aromatic, alkyl, ketonic carbonyl and carboxylic carbonyl groups) and inorganic ions (potassium, carbonate, calcium) in individual dry particles with diameters ranging from 0.2 to 10 μm using a new technique for aerosol characterization by soft X‐ray spectromicroscopy at atmospheric pressure. The maps show both the compounds present in individual particles and regions of different compositions within particles. The particle compositions on surfaces are enhanced in shorter chain or more oxygenated groups, providing the first observations of surface active carboxylic acids in organic coatings in atmospheric particles.
Compressive Sensing for Inverse Scattering

Compressive sensing is a new field in signal processing and applied mathematics. It allows one to simultaneously sample and compress signals which are known to have a sparse representation in a known basis or dictionary along with the subsequent recovery by linear programming (requiring polynomial (P) time) of the original signals with low or no error [1–3]. Compressive measurements or samples are non-adaptive, possibly random linear projections of the given signal. Most importantly, sparsity arises in many physical signals, hence this approach is of significant importance. The results in this area apply to biomedical imaging, astronomy, single-pixel photography, and many other disciplines.
Implementation of Hybrid Wavelet Transform for Adaptive Lossless Image Compression

In digital image processing, Image compression is a type of data compression causing reduction in image size but maintain the image quality. It reduce cost and time in image storage and transmission and thus can enhance the performance of the digital system. The main purpose is to reduce and restored the volume of data such that the real image will be perfectly rebuild from the compressed image. So, a proper selection of encoding and decoding algorithm is require for image compression. Among the algorithms, EZW is one of the best image compression algorithm and is also computationally fast. Here, a method for lossless compression of image is projected which uses the Embedded Zero trees of Wavelet Transforms in combination with Huffman coding and LZW algorithm for further compression. The objective is to calculate the optimal threshold at each specific level of decomposition for the compression of a digital image. Tables of result are shown using this proposed method for 8-decomposition level of image size 256*256 which determined Ratio of compression, Bits per pixel and PSNR for each distinct values of threshold vary from 4 to 64.
Analytic description of short-channel effects in fully-depleted double-gate and cylindrical, surrounding-gate MOSFETs

Short-channel effects in fully-depleted double-gate (DG) and cylindrical, surrounding-gate (Cyl) MOSFETs are governed by the electrostatic potential as confined by the gates, and thus by the device dimensions. The simple but powerful evanescent-mode analysis shows that the length /spl lambda/, over which the source and drain perturb the channel potential, is 1//spl pi/ of the effective device thickness in the double-gate case, and 1/4.810 of the effective diameter in the cylindrical case, in excellent agreement with PADRE device simulations. Thus for equivalent silicon and gate oxide thicknesses, evanescent-mode analysis indicates that Cyl-MOSFETs can be scaled to 35% shorter channel lengths than DG-MOSFETs.
Preliminary results of a skin prick test-based study of the prevalence and clinical impact of hypersensitivity to pollen panallergens (polcalcin and profilin).

BACKGROUND Calcium-binding proteins (polcalcins) and profilin are cross-reacting panallergens that sensitize a minority of pollen-allergic patients. Their clinical relevance remains controversial. OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical relevance of hypersensitivity to polcalcin and profilin detected by skin prick test (SPT) in a large group of pollen-allergic patients. METHODS Two hundred pollen-allergic adults (101 men, 99 women; mean age 34 years) underwent SPT with 9 pollens present in the geographical area of the study. Hypersensitivity to panallergens was detected by SPT with date palm polcalcin and profilin. Allergy to birch and/or cypress, grass and/or pellitory, and ragweed and/or mugwort were associated with 3 symptomatic periods, respectively, late February to mid-May, late April to mid-July, and mid-August to late September. RESULTS Sixteen (8%) patients reacted to date palm polcalcin; 7/7 (100%) corecognized the grass polcalcin Phl p 7 in vitro. Clinically, only 4 (25%) had symptoms in all 3 seasonal periods. Forty (20%) patients reacted to profilin; only 32 (80%) reacted to cypress, and 22 (55%) to pellitory. Only 4 (10%) patients had symptoms during all 3 seasonal periods. Six patients (3%) were cosensitized to both polcalcin and profilin. CONCLUSIONS The clinical relevance of hypersensitivity to pollen panallergens is often limited; many allergic patients have symptoms only during the central period, suggesting primary grass sensitization. Profilin-allergic patients often do not corecognize pellitory and cypress pollen. In vivo component-resolved diagnosis of seasonal respiratory allergies is a promising approach that might lead to cost reduction and a faster definition of pollen-allergic cases.
Dependencies and separation of duty constraints in GTRBAC

A Generalized Temporal Role Based Access Control (GTRBAC) model that captures an exhaustive set of temporal constraint needs for access control has recently been proposed. GTRBAC's language constructs allow one to specify various temporal constraints on role, user-role assignments and role-permission assignments. In this paper, we identify various time-constrained cardinality, control flow dependency and separation of duty constraints (SoDs). Such constraints allow specification of dynamically changing access control requirements that are typical in today's large systems. In addition to allowing specification of time, the constraints introduced here also allow expressing access control policies at a finer granularity. The inclusion of control flow dependency constraints allows defining much stricter dependency requirements that are typical in workflow types of applications.
The Caenorhabditis elegans Kinesin-3 Motor UNC-104/KIF1A Is Degraded upon Loss of Specific Binding to Cargo

UNC-104/KIF1A is a Kinesin-3 motor that transports synaptic vesicles from the cell body towards the synapse by binding to PI(4,5)P2 through its PH domain. The fate of the motor upon reaching the synapse is not known. We found that wild-type UNC-104 is degraded at synaptic regions through the ubiquitin pathway and is not retrogradely transported back to the cell body. As a possible means to regulate the motor, we tested the effect of cargo binding on UNC-104 levels. The unc-104(e1265) allele carries a point mutation (D1497N) in the PI(4,5)P2 binding pocket of the PH domain, resulting in greatly reduced preferential binding to PI(4,5)P2 in vitro and presence of very few motors on pre-synaptic vesicles in vivo. unc-104(e1265) animals have poor locomotion irrespective of in vivo PI(4,5)P2 levels due to reduced anterograde transport. Moreover, they show highly reduced levels of UNC-104 in vivo. To confirm that loss of cargo binding specificity reduces motor levels, we isolated two intragenic suppressors with compensatory mutations within the PH domain. These show partial restoration of in vitro preferential PI(4,5)P2 binding and presence of more motors on pre-synaptic vesicles in vivo. These animals show improved locomotion dependent on in vivo PI(4,5)P2 levels, increased anterograde transport, and partial restoration of UNC-104 protein levels in vivo. For further proof, we mutated a conserved residue in one suppressor background. The PH domain in this triple mutant lacked in vitro PI(4,5)P2 binding specificity, and the animals again showed locomotory defects and reduced motor levels. All allelic variants show increased UNC-104 levels upon blocking the ubiquitin pathway. These data show that inability to bind cargo can target motors for degradation. In view of the observed degradation of the motor in synaptic regions, this further suggests that UNC-104 may get degraded at synapses upon release of cargo.
Multiobjective evolutionary path planning via fuzzy tournament selection

The paper introduces a new selection algorithm that can be used for evolutionary path planning systems. This new selection algorithm combines fuzzy inference along with tournament selection to select candidate paths (CPs) to be parents based on: (1) the Euclidean distance from origin to destination, (2) the sum of the changes in the slope of a path, and (3) the average change in the slope of a path. The authors provide a detailed description of the fuzzy inference system used in the new fuzzy tournament selection algorithm (FTSA) as well as some examples of its usefulness. They use 12 instances of the FTSA to rank a population of CPs using the above criteria. Based on its path ranking capability, they show how the FTSA can obviate the need for the development of an explicit multiobjective evaluation function. Finally, they use the FTSA to enhance the performance of an existing evolutionary path planning system called GEPOA.
View-based localization in outdoor environments based on support vector learning

This paper describes a view-based localization method using support vector machines in outdoor environments. We have been developing a two-phase vision-based navigation method. In the training phase, the robot acquires image sequences along the desired route and automatically learns the route visually. In the subsequent autonomous navigation phase, the robot moves by localizing itself based on the comparison between input images and the learned route representation. Our previous localization method uses an object recognition method which is robust to changes of weather and the seasons; however it has many parameters and threshold values to be manually adjusted. This paper, therefore, applies a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to this object recognition problem. SVM is also applied to discriminating locations based on the recognition results. This two-stage SVM-based localization approach exhibits a satisfactory performance for real outdoor image data without any manual adjustment of parameters and threshold values.
Psychological coping and recurrent major adverse cardiac events following acute coronary syndrome

Background Depressed mood and stress are associated with recurrent adverse outcomes following acute coronary syndrome (ACS), but the impact of psychological coping style has not been evaluated in detail. Aims We tested the relationship between task-oriented coping and event-free survival following ACS. Method We followed 158 patients with ACS for an average of 59.8 months for major adverse cardiac outcomes. Psychological coping was assessed with the Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations. Results Compared with patients in the lower half of the distribution, those reporting higher task-oriented coping had a reduced hazard of adverse cardiac events (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.28, 95% CI 0.11–0.68, P=0.005) independently of demographic, clinical and behavioural covariates. The combination of low task-oriented coping and high depressive symptoms showed a strong association with adverse outcomes (HR = 6.25, 95% CI 1.88–20.82, P=0.003). Conclusions The tendency to cope using task-oriented strategies may promote event-free survival following ACS.
Association between IL-6-174G/C Polymorphism and the Risk of Sepsis and Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Recent studies have reported the association between IL-6-174G/C polymorphism and sepsis. However, the results are inconclusive and conflicting. To better understand the role of IL-6-174G/C polymorphism in sepsis, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis. Methodology Literature search was conducted through PubMed, Embase, Web of Knowledge databases until July 29, 2013. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed- or random-effect model based on heterogeneity test in total and subgroup analyses. Results Twenty studies on the risk of sepsis and seven studies on sepsis mortality were included. None of the results showed evidence of a significant association between IL-6-174G/C polymorphism and sepsis risk in overall analysis or subgroup analyses based on sepsis type, ethnicity, source of control and age under any genetic model (the allele comparison, the codominant, the recessive or the dominant model). Although there was a statistically significant association between IL-6-174 G/C polymorphism and sepsis-related mortality under the recessive model, the significance did not exist after Bonferroni’s correction. Conclusions Current evidence does not support a direct effect of IL-6-174 G/C polymorphism on the risk of sepsis. In addition, there was no association between IL-6-174 G/C polymorphism and sepsis mortality after Bonferroni’s correction. Further analyses of gene-environment interactions and more studies based on larger sample size and homogeneous sepsis patients are required.
Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of three Euphorbia species

Three toxic plants belonging to Euphorbia genus, namely Euphorbia biumbellata, Euphorbia terracina and Euphorbia dendroides were phytochemically screened and their total phenolic compounds (TPC) and total flavonoid compounds (TFC) were measured and antioxidant capacities were evaluated by DPPH test expressed by Vitamin C Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (VCEAC). The VCEAC values for the three medicinal plants ranged from 1.0655 g to 0.7285 g of vitamin C equivalents (VCEAC)/100 g of dry matter. The concentrations of TPC and TFC in three plants were respectively 15.13 g to 7.55g of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g of dry matter and 7.06 g to 5.8 g of quercetin equivalents (QE)/100 g of dry matter. The methanolic extracts of these plants were used to determine their antibacterial activity with the disc diffusion method. The results showed that the three plants were active with the inhibition zones obtained varying from 8 to 22 mm. The highest inhibition zones reached was 22 mm for Euphorbia biumbellata leaves against Staphylococcus aureus. Phytochemical analysis of the total extract showed the presence of biologically active compound groups such as polyphenols, flavonoids, glycosides and tannins.
Serum TIMP-2, NGAL and angiopoietin-2 as biomarkers of coronary artery stenosis

Background and Aim: Coronary artery atherosclerosis develops through the interplay of lipid metabolism, vascular endothelial activation and immune cell activation. In this study, newly discovered biomarkers for vascular inflammation and activation were tested for diagnostic strength in angiographically significant coronary artery stenosis. Methods: Serum levels of NGAL, TIMP2, IL-8, GRO alpha, angiopoietin-2, bFGF and hsCRP were measured in 70 patients undergoing coronary angiography. Severity of disease was evaluated from angiographic findings based on the modified Gensini score. Results: Serum TIMP-2, NGAL and angiopoietin-2 levels were significantly elevated in patients with coronary artery stenosis (P = 0.002, P = 0.01 and P = 0.01, respectively) and correlated significantly with the number of stenotic coronary arteries. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of TIMP-2, NGAL and angiopoietin-2 showed significantly increased areas under the curve (AUC = 0.795, 0.728, and 0.722, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that the elevated serum angiopoietin-2, old age and current smoking significantly and independently predicted the presence of coronary artery stenosis (P = 0.022, P = 0.006 and P = 0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Serum TIMP-2, NGAL and angiopoietin-2 levels may be useful in predicting the presence and severity of coronary artery stenosis.
Efficient Estimators for Generalized Additive Models

Generalized additive models are a powerful generalization of linear and logistic regression models. In this paper we show that a natural regression graph learning algorithm efficiently learns generalized additive models. Efficiency is proven in two senses: the estimator’s future prediction accuracy approaches optimality at rate inverse polynomial in the size of the training data, and its runtime is polynomial in the size of the training data. Furthermore, the guarantees are nearly linear in terms of the dimensionality (number of regressors) of the problem, and hence the algorithm does not suffer from the “curse of dimensionality. ” The algorithm is a simple generalization of Mansour and McAllester’s classification algorithm that generates decision graphs, i.e., decision trees with merges. Our analysis is also viewed as defining a natural extension of the original classification boosting theorems (Schapire, 1990) to the regression setting. Loosely speaking, we define a weak correlator to be a real-valued predictor that has a correlation coefficient with the target function that is bounded from zero. We show how to efficiently boost weak correlators to get predictions with correlation arbitrarily close to 1 (error arbitrarily close to 0). Our boosting analysis is a natural extension of the classification boosting analysis of Kearns and Mansour (1999) and Mansour and McAllester (2002).
Sepsis-related acute respiratory distress syndrome in children with cancer: the respiratory dynamics of a devastating condition

Objective To evaluate the clinical course and respiratory parameters of mechanically ventilated children with cancer suffering from sepsis-related acute respiratory distress syndrome. Methods This 2-year prospective, longitudinal, observational cohort study enrolled 29 children and adolescents. Clinical data, measurements of blood gases and ventilation parameters were collected at four different time points. Fluctuations between measurements as well as differences in estimated means were analyzed by linear mixed models in which death within 28 days from the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome was the primary endpoint. Results There were 17 deaths within 28 days of acute respiratory distress syndrome onset and another 7 between 29 - 60 days. Only 5 patients survived for more than 60 days. Nine (31%) patients died as a direct consequence of refractory hypoxemia, and the others died of multiple organ failure and catecholamine-refractory shock. In 66% of the measurements, the tidal volume required to obtain oxygen saturation equal to or above 90% was greater than 7mL/kg. The estimated means of dynamic compliance were low and were similar for survivors and non-survivors but with a negative slope between the first and final measurements, accompanied by a negative slope of the tidal volume for non-survivors. Non-survivors were significantly more hypoxemic, with PaO2/FiO2 ratios showing lower estimated means and a negative slope along the four measurements. Peak, expiratory and mean airway pressures showed positive slopes in the non-survivors, who also had more metabolic acidosis. Conclusions In most of our children with cancer, sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome progressed with deteriorating ventilation indexes and escalating organic dysfunction, making this triad nearly fatal in children.