Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Whole Blood DNA Aberrant Methylation in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma Shows Association with the Course of the Disease: A Pilot Study

Pancreatic tumors are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage in the progression of the disease, thus reducing the survival chances of the patients. Non-invasive early detection would greatly enhance therapy and survival rates. Toward this aim, we investigated in a pilot study the power of methylation changes in whole blood as predictive markers for the detection of pancreatic tumors. We investigated methylation levels at selected CpG sites in the CpG rich regions at the promoter regions of p16, RARbeta, TNFRSF10C, APC, ACIN1, DAPK1, 3OST2, BCL2 and CD44 in the blood of 30 pancreatic tumor patients and in the blood of 49 matching controls. In addition, we studied LINE-1 and Alu repeats using degenerate amplification approach as a surrogate marker for genome-wide methylation. The site-specific methylation measurements at selected CpG sites were done by the SIRPH method. Our results show that in the patient’s blood, tumor suppressor genes were slightly but significantly higher methylated at several CpG sites, while repeats were slightly less methylated compared to control blood. This was found to be significantly associated with higher risk for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Additionally, high methylation levels at TNFRSCF10C were associated with positive perineural spread of tumor cells, while higher methylation levels of TNFRSF10C and ACIN1 were significantly associated with shorter survival. This pilot study shows that methylation changes in blood could provide a promising method for early detection of pancreatic tumors. However, larger studies must be carried out to explore the clinical usefulness of a whole blood methylation based test for non-invasive early detection of pancreatic tumors.
Lessons Learned in the Design and Delivery of an Introductory Programming MOOC

This paper describes the design and delivery of a highly successful MOOC that uses MATLAB to teach introductory computer programming to a wide audience. The decisions behind the curriculum and assessment strategy are detailed, and the results are evaluated based on three sessions of the course that saw 80,000 active students, two million lecture views and 100,000 auto-graded programming assignment sets during the three sessions delivered in 2015.
Detection of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic diabetic subjects: the DIAD study.

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence and clinical predictors of silent myocardial ischemia in asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes and to test the effectiveness of current American Diabetes Association screening guidelines. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In the Detection of Ischemia in Asymptomatic Diabetics (DIAD) study, 1,123 patients with type 2 diabetes, aged 50-75 years, with no known or suspected coronary artery disease, were randomly assigned to either stress testing and 5-year clinical follow-up or to follow-up only. The prevalence of ischemia in 522 patients randomized to stress testing was assessed by adenosine technetium-99m sestamibi single-photon emission-computed tomography myocardial perfusion imaging. RESULTS A total of 113 patients (22%) had silent ischemia, including 83 with regional myocardial perfusion abnormalities and 30 with normal perfusion but other abnormalities (i.e., adenosine-induced ST-segment depression, ventricular dilation, or rest ventricular dysfunction). Moderate or large perfusion defects were present in 33 patients. The strongest predictors for abnormal tests were abnormal Valsalva (odds ratio [OR] 5.6), male sex (2.5), and diabetes duration (5.2). Other traditional cardiac risk factors or inflammatory and prothrombotic markers were not predictive. Ischemic adenosine-induced ST-segment depression with normal perfusion (n = 21) was associated with women (OR 3.4). Selecting only patients who met American Diabetes Association guidelines would have failed to identify 41% of patients with silent ischemia. CONCLUSIONS Silent myocardial ischemia occurs in greater than one in five asymptomatic patients with type 2 diabetes. Traditional and emerging cardiac risk factors were not associated with abnormal stress tests, although cardiac autonomic dysfunction was a strong predictor of ischemia.
Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Ratio Is Improved When Using a Digital, Nonmydriatic Fundus Camera Onsite in a Diabetes Outpatient Clinic

Objective. To evaluate the effect of onsite screening with a nonmydriatic, digital fundus camera for diabetic retinopathy (DR) at a diabetes outpatient clinic. Research Design and Methods. This cross-sectional study included 502 patients, 112 with type 1 and 390 with type 2 diabetes. Patients attended screenings for microvascular complications, including diabetic nephropathy (DN), diabetic polyneuropathy (DP), and DR. Single-field retinal imaging with a digital, nonmydriatic fundus camera was used to assess DR. Prevalence and incidence of microvascular complications were analyzed and the ratio of newly diagnosed to preexisting complications for all entities was calculated in order to differentiate natural progress from missed DRs. Results. For both types of diabetes, prevalence of DR was 25.0% (n = 126) and incidence 6.4% (n = 32) (T1DM versus T2DM: prevalence: 35.7% versus 22.1%, incidence 5.4% versus 6.7%). 25.4% of all DRs were newly diagnosed. Furthermore, the ratio of newly diagnosed to preexisting DR was higher than those for DN (p = 0.12) and DP (p = 0.03) representing at least 13 patients with missed DR. Conclusions. The results indicate that implementing nonmydriatic, digital fundus imaging in a diabetes outpatient clinic can contribute to improved early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy.
Return of results in the genomic medicine projects of the eMERGE network

The electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) (Phase I) network was established in 2007 to further genomic discovery using biorepositories linked to the electronic health record (EHR). In Phase II, which began in 2011, genomic discovery efforts continue and in addition the network is investigating best practices for implementing genomic medicine, in particular, the return of genomic results in the EHR for use by physicians at point-of-care. To develop strategies for addressing the challenges of implementing genomic medicine in the clinical setting, the eMERGE network is conducting studies that return clinically-relevant genomic results to research participants and their health care providers. These genomic medicine pilot studies include returning individual genetic variants associated with disease susceptibility or drug response, as well as genetic risk scores for common “complex” disorders. Additionally, as part of a network-wide pharmacogenomics-related project, targeted resequencing of 84 pharmacogenes is being performed and select genotypes of pharmacogenetic relevance are being placed in the EHR to guide individualized drug therapy. Individual sites within the eMERGE network are exploring mechanisms to address incidental findings generated by resequencing of the 84 pharmacogenes. In this paper, we describe studies being conducted within the eMERGE network to develop best practices for integrating genomic findings into the EHR, and the challenges associated with such work.
Enhanced frequency reuse schemes for interference management in LTE femtocell networks

Femtocells are low power access points that can be deployed by the consumer indoors to alleviate cellular coverage problems, offload traffic from the cellular network and boost user data rates. To enable the widespread of femtocells coexisting with macrocells, smart interference management schemes are required. Interference management by frequency allocation is still a big challenge in hybrid macro/femto cellular networks. Arbitrary frequency allocation schemes may have detrimental effects on the overall system spectral efficiency and coverage. In this paper, we propose soft and partial frequency reuse schemes for interference management in LTE femtocell networks. We analyze the system performance with various frequency allocation schemes via different metrics such as throughput, quality of service (QoS) and fairness. Simulation results show that the pro-posed soft frequency reuse (SFR) scheme with an optimized interior region radius provides an acceptable tradeoff compared to other allocation schemes.
Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing and Signaling

It is well established that oxidative stress is an important cause of cell damage associated with the initiation and progression of many diseases. Consequently, all air-living organisms contain antioxidant enzymes that limit oxidative stress by detoxifying reactive oxygen species, including hydrogen peroxide. However, in eukaryotes, hydrogen peroxide also has important roles as a signaling molecule in the regulation of a variety of biological processes. Here, we will discuss the molecular mechanisms by which hydrogen peroxide is sensed and the increasing evidence that antioxidant enzymes play multiple, key roles as sensors and regulators of signal transduction in response to hydrogen peroxide.
A Cluster Based Collaborative Cache Approach for MANETs

The main contribution of this work is to propose a distributed and collaborative cache solution in which the decisions to cache objects are performed in a collaborative way. In our solution, objects are classified in private and shared objects. Private objects are managed as in an individual cache system whereas the management of shared objects are performed collectively and are stored in a shared area. The simulation results have shown that our solution can expressively reduce the server load by increasing cache diversity and the probability of cache hits. Also, our solution provides significant savings in terms of battery power and congestion on the routes towards the sink node.
A baseband technique for automated LO leakage suppression achieving < −80dBm in wideband passive mixer-first receivers

A baseband technique is presented to detect and suppress LO leakage in wideband passive mixer-first receivers. Using a variable shunting resistance on the RF port, the LO leakage signal is modulated, down-converted and detected from baseband outputs. Current DACs injecting to the baseband port are up-converted and can be adjusted to cancel LO leakage. Suppression of LO on the RF port <; -80dBm is shown with a fully automated algorithm without the aid of RF spectrum monitoring.
Functional Spectroscopy Mapping of Pain Processing Cortical Areas During Non-painful Peripheral Electrical Stimulation of the Accessory Spinal Nerve

Peripheral electrical stimulation (PES), which encompasses several techniques with heterogeneous physiological responses, has shown in some cases remarkable outcomes for pain treatment and clinical rehabilitation. However, results are still mixed, mainly because there is a lack of understanding regarding its neural mechanisms of action. In this study, we aimed to assess its effects by measuring cortical activation as indexed by functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). fNIRS is a functional optical imaging method to evaluate hemodynamic changes in oxygenated (HbO) and de-oxygenated (HbR) blood hemoglobin concentrations in cortical capillary networks that can be related to cortical activity. We hypothesized that non-painful PES of accessory spinal nerve (ASN) can promote cortical activation of sensorimotor cortex (SMC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) pain processing cortical areas. Fifteen healthy volunteers received both active and sham ASN electrical stimulation in a crossover study. The hemodynamic cortical response to unilateral right ASN burst electrical stimulation with 10 Hz was measured by a 40-channel fNIRS system. The effect of ASN electrical stimulation over HbO concentration in cortical areas of interest (CAI) was observed through the activation of right-DLPFC (p = 0.025) and left-SMC (p = 0.042) in the active group but not in sham group. Regarding left-DLPFC (p = 0.610) and right-SMC (p = 0.174) there was no statistical difference between groups. As in non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) top-down modulation, bottom-up electrical stimulation to the ASN seems to activate the same critical cortical areas on pain pathways related to sensory-discriminative and affective-motivational pain dimensions. These results provide additional mechanistic evidence to develop and optimize the use of peripheral nerve electrical stimulation as a neuromodulatory tool (NCT 03295370— www.clinicaltrials.gov).
REVISITING COUNTRY AND INSTITUTION INDICATORS FROM CITATION DISTRIBUTIONS : PROFILE PERFORMANCE MEASURES

This communication presents some aspects of an on-going research on a class of indicators of scientific visibility. Relying on a new usage of classic citation distribution studies, the "activity index in citation classes" (AIC) describes the "relative citation profile" or distribution of actors' articles among quantile classes of citations defined by the world reference. AIC exists in multiple variants reproducing various types of fieldnormalization, as well as direct or cumulative (AICC) presentation. The profiles of AIC can be summarized by empirical indexes, or parameters of simple laws, which are good candidates for indicators of overall citation performance. As profile performance indicators derived from AICC and classical "relative impact" (RI) indicators basically reflect the same information, their comparison is appealing. Empirical profiles obtained for national or institutional actors also raise the question of homogeneity of scientific literature: the high tail (excellence) and especially the low tail of the profile can show large deviations to the medium range of profile reflecting the general performance.
ε-ISA : AN INCREMENTAL LOWER BOUND APPROACH FOR EFFICIENTLY FINDING APPROXIMATE NEAREST NEIGHBOR OF COMPLEX VAGUE QUERIES

In our context, a complex vague query means a multifeature nearest neighbor query. Answering such queries requires the system to search on some feature spaces individually and then combine the searching results to find the final answers. The feature spaces are commonly multidimensional spaces and may consist of a vast amount of data. Therefore searching costs, including IO-cost and CPU-cost, are prohibitively expensive for complex vague queries. For only such a single-feature space, to alleviate the costs, problem of answering nearest neighbor and approximate nearest neighbor queries has been proposed and quite well-addressed in the literature. A data object P is called a (1+ε)approximate nearest neighbor of a given query object Q with ε>0 if for all other data objects P’: dist(P, Q) (1+ε)dist(P’, Q), in which dist(X, Y) represents the distance between objects X and Y. In this paper, however, we introduce an approach for finding (1+ε)approximate nearest neighbor(s) of complex vague queries, which must deal with the problem on multiple feature spaces. This approach is based on a novel, efficient and general algorithm called ISA-Incremental hyper-Sphere Approach, which has just recently been introduced for solving nearest neighbor problem in the Vague Query System (VQS). To the best of our knowledge, the work presented in this paper is one of a few vanguard solutions for dealing with problem of answering approximate multi-feature nearest neighbor queries. The experimental results with both uniformly distributed and real data sets will prove the efficiency of the proposed approach.
KOLMOGOROV COMPLEXITY AND ALGORITHMIC RANDOMNESS

This paper aims to provide a minimal introduction to algorithmic randomness. In particular, we cover the equivalent 1-randomness and MartinLöf randomness. After a brief review of relevant concepts in computability, we develop the basic theory of Kolmogorov complexity, including the KC theorem and more general notion of information content measures. We then build two natural definitions of randomness for infinite strings (or reals) and, using the preceding results, prove their equivalence. Finally, we cover an interesting consequence of this equivalence, namely, that almost all reals are 1-random.
Handling Mutual Exclusion in UML Class Diagrams

UML is a standard modelling language that is able to specify a wide range of object-oriented concepts. However, there are some aspects that UML does not fully discuss. For example, UML has no mechanism to prevent the specification, for semantic reasons, of undesirable relationships. With the fast evolution of the requirements of our nowadays applications we cannot simply rely on omitting what we do not want to happen. We explicitly have to specify unwanted concepts. We are referring to the concept of mutually excluding classes. Moreover, the lack of formalisation compromises the precision of the specification of the concepts. By using formal description techniques, such as Object-Z, we can reason about the requirements and identify ambiguities and inconsistencies earlier in the development process. Particularly, the formal specification can be used through the software evolution. In general, we can say that formalising helps obtaining a more reliable system. Our aim is to specify precisely mutually excluding classes.
The estimation of technical and economic efficiency of using the supercapacitors in the hoisting applications

The paper is devoted to the estimation of technical and economic efficiency of using the supercapacitors in the frequency-controlled electric drives, which are used in hoisting applications. In the article the frequency-controlled electric drive of passenger elevator is described in detail. The simulation results, energy consumption, calculation of economic efficiency and payback period of using electric drive with supercapacitors for these mechanisms are shown.
0 51 20 90 v 2 9 J an 2 00 6 Braneworld dynamics with vacuum polarization

We investigate the cosmological dynamics of a brane Universe when quantum corrections from vacuum polarization are taken into account. New vacuum de Sitter points existing on Randall-Sundrum brane are described. We show also that quantum correction can destroy the DGP de Sitter solution on induced gravity brane. † Electronic mail: lesha@sai.msu.ru ‡ Electronic mail: tpv@xray.sai.msu.ru Investigations of quantum effects in a strong gravitational field and their applications in cosmology have a long story. Since the beginning of 70-th many interesting results modifying the standard Friedmann cosmology due to vacuum polarization and particle production have been obtained. In particular, a vacuum de Sitter solution and an inflationary regime driven solely by vacuum polarization without any matter [1] was described even earlier than a common scalar field inflationary scenario. A detailed analysis of cosmology with vacuum polarization (we will consider only this effect in the present paper) have been done in [2]. After some period of stagnation, this problem begins to attract a considerable attention last several years, mainly due to development of modified gravity models. The form of extra terms in cosmological equations of motion caused by vacuum polarization does not depend on a particular theory of gravity, however, peculiarities of a background metric in these theories could result
On Compton Scattering Scenarios for Blazar Flares

The synchrotron reflection scenario recently proposed to explain γ-ray flares observed from blazar jets is studied. Our analysis takes into account the angular distribution of the beamed radiation, the finite extent of the scattering region, and light-travel-time effects. We compare energy densities and powers for synchrotron, synchrotron self-Compton, reflected synchrotron (RSy), and external Compton scattering processes. If the width of the scattering layer is much larger than ΓR′B, where Γ and R′B denote the bulk Lorentz factor and the comoving frame radius of the plasma blob, respectively, then the ratio of the RSy and synchrotron energy densities is ~4Γ3nBLRσTR′B, where nBLR is the mean particle density in the broad line region (BLR). Our results imply that Thomson-thick scattering regions of narrow extent must be present for the synchrotron reflection mechanism to operate effectively. This process seems unlikely to cause flares in lineless BL Lac sources, where X-ray and TeV flares are common and the BLR is thought to be weak or absent. We sketch time profiles of flares for various scenarios.
The pair production spectrum from photon-photon annihilation.

We present the rst completely analytical computa- tionofthefulldifferential-pairproductionratefromcompact radiation elds, exact to 2nd order QED, and use this result to investigate the validity of previously known approximations. Sect. 2, we give a short overview of the kinematics which are used in Sect. 3 to calculate the pair injection spectrum. In Sect. 4, we compare our results to well-known approximations and specify the limitations of the various approximations. Our anal- ysis is easily generalized to non-isotropic radiation elds. The derivation presented here is widely analogous to the derivation of the pair annihilation spectrum, given by Svensson (1982).
Biomaterials and host versus graft response: A short review

Biomaterials and biotechnology are increasing becoming an important area in modern medicine. The main aim in this area is the development of materials, which are biocompatible to normal tissue. Tissue-implant interactions with molecular, biological and cellular characteristics at the implant-tissue interface are important for the use and development of implants. Implantation may cause an inflammatory and immune response in tissue, foreign body reaction, systemic toxicity and imminent infection. Tissue-implant interactions determine the implant life-period. The aims of the study are to consider the biological response to implants. Biomaterials and host reactions to implants and their mechanisms are also briefly discussed.
Convex polyhedral abstractions, specialisation and property-based predicate splitting in Horn clause verification

We present an approach to constrained Horn clause (CHC) verification combining three techniques: abstract interpretation over a domain of convex polyhedra, specialisation of the constraints in CHCs using abstract interpretation of query-answer transformed clauses, and refinement by splitting predicates. The purpose of the work is to investigate how analysis and transformation tools developed for constraint logic programs (CLP) can be applied to the Horn clause verification problem. Abstract interpretation over convex polyhedra is capable of deriving sophisticated invariants and when used in conjunction with specialisation for propagating constraints it can frequently solve challenging verification problems. This is a contribution in itself, but refinement is needed when it fails, and the question of how to refine convex polyhedral analyses has not been studied much. We present a refinement technique based on interpolants derived from a counterexample trace; these are used to drive a property-based specialisation that splits predicates, leading in turn to more precise convex polyhedral analyses. The process of specialisation, analysis and splitting can be repeated, in a manner similar to the CEGAR and iterative specialisation approaches.
The emergence of humans: The coevolution of intelligence and longevity with intergenerational transfers

Two striking differences between humans and our closest living relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas, are the size of our brains (larger by a factor of three or four) and our life span (longer by a factor of about two). Our thesis is that these two distinctive features of humans are products of coevolutionary selection. The large human brain is an investment with initial costs and later rewards, which coevolved with increased energy allocations to survival. Not only does this theory help explain life history variation among primates and its extreme evolution in humans; it also provides new insight into the evolution of longevity in other biological systems. We introduce and apply a general formal demographic model for constrained growth and evolutionary tradeoffs in the presence of life-cycle transfers between age groups in a population.