Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resveratrol regulates human adipocyte number and function in a Sirt1-dependent manner.

BACKGROUND Caloric restriction leads to retardation of the aging processes and to longer life in many organisms. This effect of caloric restriction can be mimicked by resveratrol, a natural plant product present in grapes and red wine, which is known as a potent activator of sirtuin 1 [silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (Sirt1)]. OBJECTIVES One main effect of caloric restriction in mammals is a reduction of body fat from white adipose tissue. We sought to identify the effects of resveratrol on fat cell biology and to elucidate whether Sirt1 is involved in resveratrol-mediated changes. DESIGN Human Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome preadipocytes and adipocytes were used to study proliferation, adipogenic differentiation, glucose uptake, de novo lipogenesis, and adipokine secretion. Sirt1-deficient human preadipocytes were generated by using a lentiviral small hairpin RNA system to study the role of Sirt1 in resveratrol-mediated changes. RESULTS Resveratrol inhibited preadipocyte proliferation and adipogenic differentiation in a Sirt1-dependent manner. In human adipocytes, resveratrol stimulated basal and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. De novo lipogenesis was inhibited in parallel with a down-regulation of lipogenic gene expression. Furthermore, resveratrol down-regulated the expression and secretion of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8. Sirt1 was only partially responsible for the regulation of resveratrol-mediated changes in adipokine secretion. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our data suggest that resveratrol influences adipose tissue mass and function in a way that may positively interfere with the development of obesity-related comorbidities. Thus, our findings open up the new perspective that resveratrol-induced intracellular pathways could be a target for prevention or treatment of obesity-associated endocrine and metabolic adverse effects.
Public Key Cryptosystems Constructed Based on Random Pseudo Cyclic Codes, K(IX)SE(1)PKC, Realizing Coding Rate of Exactly 1.0

In this paper, we present a new class of public-key cryptosystems, K(IX)SE(1)PKC realizing the coding rate of exactly 1.0, based on random pseudo cyclic codes. We show that K(IX)SE(1)PKC is secure against the various attacks including the attack based on the Grobner bases calculaion (GB attack).
Applying Distributed Constraint Optimization Method to Dynamic Problem

A framework which applies distributed constraint optimization method using depth first search tree to dynamic problem is proposed. The proposed framework is considered as a basic model of multi agent system. The agents communicate with each other to solve the problem. Constraint network for the problem is built. Trees, which are similar to depth first search tree for the constraint network, are built in a bottom-up manner. The problem is solved by distributed constraint optimization algorithm using the trees. Each distributed processing is executed asynchronously and the framework follows dynamic problem.
Local Deliberation and the Favouring of Nature

The central contention of theories of deliberative democracy is that deliberative arrangements should encourage (but by no means guarantee) the support of interests that are general to all. Democratic theorists have also suggested that the natural environment will be a likely beneficiary following public deliberation, given the inherent rationality in supporting interests that will lead to the long-term survival of the planet. This paper addresses the question of general environmental interests through two case studies in Australian local government and argues there are at least three factors that affect the ability of notionally deliberative arrangements to deliver outcomes that appear favourable to the natural environment.
Functional regression analysis using an F test for longitudinal data with large numbers of repeated measures

Longitudinal data sets from certain fields of biomedical research often consist of several variables repeatedly measured on each subject yielding a large number of observations. This characteristic complicates the use of traditional longitudinal modelling strategies, which were primarily developed for studies with a relatively small number of repeated measures per subject. An innovative way to model such ‘wide’ data is to apply functional regression analysis, an emerging statistical approach in which observations of the same subject are viewed as a sample from a functional space. Shen and Faraway introduced an F test for linear models with functional responses. This paper illustrates how to apply this F test and functional regression analysis to the setting of longitudinal data. A smoking cessation study for methadone‐maintained tobacco smokers is analysed for demonstration. In estimating the treatment effects, the functional regression analysis provides meaningful clinical interpretations, and the functional F test provides consistent results supported by a mixed‐effects linear regression model. A simulation study is also conducted under the condition of the smoking data to investigate the statistical power for the F test, Wilks' likelihood ratio test, and the linear mixed‐effects model using AIC. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
MIXED ANACLITIC-INTROJECTIVE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN TREATMENT-RESISTANT INPATIENTS UNDERGOING PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

Utilizing data from the Riggs-Yale Project, 45 male and 45 female 18–29-year-old treatment-resistant inpatients undergoing intensive psychoanalytically ori-ented treatment were studied. Twenty-seven mixed-type anaclitic–introjectiveinpatients were compared with 29 “pure” anaclitic and 34 “pure” introjectiveinpatients. At intake, mixed-type inpatients were more clinically impaired (i.e.,were more symptomatic, cognitively impaired, and thought disordered) andmore vulnerable (i.e., less accurate object representations and more frequentlyused maladaptive defense mechanisms) in comparison with clearly defined ana-clitic and introjective patients. Mixed-type patients, however, improved signifi-cantly more in the course of psychoanalytically oriented treatment, in terms ofclinical functioning (i.e., symptoms, cognitive functioning) and psychologicalvulnerability (i.e., utilization of more adaptive defense mechanisms). Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition are two fundamental themes in many psy-choanalytic and nonanalytic personality theories. In “Civilization and Its Discontents,” forexample, Freud (1930/1961a) contrasted “the man who is predominantly erotic [and gives]first preference to his emotional relationships of other people” with “the narcissistic man,
Role of Phospholipase A2 in Retrograde Transport of Ricin

Ricin is a protein toxin classified as a bioterror agent, for which there are no known treatment options available after intoxication. It is composed of an enzymatically active A-chain connected by a disulfide bond to a cell binding B-chain. After internalization by endocytosis, ricin is transported retrogradely to the Golgi and ER, from where the ricin A-chain is translocated to the cytosol where it inhibits protein synthesis and thus induces cell death. We have identified cytoplasmic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) as an important factor in ricin retrograde transport. Inhibition of PLA2 protects against ricin challenge, however the toxin can still be endocytosed and transported to the Golgi. Interestingly, ricin transport from the Golgi to the ER is strongly impaired in response to PLA2 inhibition. Confocal microscopy analysis shows that ricin is still colocalized with the trans-Golgi marker TGN46 in the presence of PLA2 inhibitor, but less is colocalized with the cis-Golgi marker GM130. We propose that PLA2 inhibition results in impaired ricin transport through the Golgi stack, thus preventing it from reaching the ER. Consequently, ricin cannot be translocated to the cytosol to exert its toxic action.
Family Structure Differences in Family Functioning

This study investigated family structure differences in family functioning, evaluated whether extra-familial social capital accounted for any observed differences, and tested whether the influence of extra-familial social capital on family functioning varied by family structure. Using the first wave of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (n = 6,223), analysis revealed significantly lower family functioning levels within stable cohabiting two-biological-parent households and stable single-biological-mother households relative to stable married two-biological-parent households, even after sociodemographic controls. Higher levels of social involvement and neighborhoodcohesion were associated with increased family functioning, but did not mediate family structure differences in family functioning. The effect of neighborhood cohesion on family functioning depended on family type such that the benefits of neighborhood cohesion for family functioning were magnified at high levels of neighborhood cohesion for both married and cohabiting households but had much less influence on family functioning within single-mother households.
Multiple malignancies in a patient with bilateral retinoblastoma

Abstract A case is presented of a patient with bilateral retinoblastoma, treated at infancy with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, who subsequently developed at least four additional histologically distinct malignancies: a Ewing sarcoma of the left fibula, two extraskeletal osteosarcomas of the left lower extremity, a mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the right parotid gland and a squamous cell carcinoma of the left paranasal cavity. In addition to retinoblastoma, patients with a germline RB-1 mutation are at high risk of second primary malignancies. An additive carcinogenic effect of cytotoxic therapy in these patients has been assumed. Patients with hereditary retinoblastoma should be under life-long follow-up programmes including a regular head and neck examination for detection of new primaries, especially in the radiation field of the presenting retinoblastoma.
Identification and hybrid impedance control of human skin muscle by multi-fingered robot hand

This paper proposes an intelligent massage control system by using multi-fingered robot hand with hybrid impedance control, which is able to create the movement and the force of robot such as the human's massage. Therefore, the various massage points, such as the change of the stiffness of human skin muscle, can be controlled by using impedance control method. The hybrid impedance control is comprised of the two methods of the position-based and the force-based impedance control were applied. The position-based impedance control is used to control the lateral position of massage on the human skin muscle. On the other hand, the force-based impedance control is used to control the force of the vertical direction on human skin muscle. This paper also gives the identification of human skin muscle through robot perception of impedance to decide the parameter of impedance controller. The control strategy using impedance control to implement an adaptive control system is presented, when human condition is changed with soft and hard skin muscle. Effectiveness of massage control system by using multi- fingered robot hand with hybrid impedance control is demonstrator through actual massage experiments of pushing and rubbing motion.
Neurocognition as a Treatment Target in Schizophrenia

Recent attention has focused on the limitations of current antipsychotic medications for improving community functioning in schizophrenia. The strong relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome has led to a focus on developing pharmacological agents that improve cognition. The potential of this target led to a National Institute of Mental Health initiative known as Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS). Through a series of consensus meetings that included representatives from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and government, this initiative has developed a consensus battery of neuropsychological tests that can be used as an outcome measure in clinical trials, a pathway to drug approval that has been endorsed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a priority list of molecular targets for new drug development, and a consensus regarding the design of clinical trials.
Problem-Based Learning: Where Did it Come from, What Does it Do, and Where is it Going?

Problem-based learning, unbeknownst to many educators, has been around for two decades. A brief history of the evolution of PBL shows innovation comprised of four elements: an ill-structured problem, substantive content, student apprenticeship, and self-directed learning. Research evidence supporting its effectiveness is not numerous but tends to support that PBL is better than traditional instruction on a number of variables, including long-term information retention, conceptual understanding, and self-directed learning. PBL can be modified with integrity into elementary, middle, and high school classrooms for the gifted.
Research on bus rapid transit (BRT) and its real-time scheduling

With the fast development of the economy, the urban traffic demands increases rapidly, Bus rapid transit (BRT) system, a new type and high efficient bus operator system and a comprehensive mass transit system between the metro and regular bus systems, can alleviate traffic congestion, reduce resident traffic cost effectively, and improve transportation quality and efficiency, with its advantages becomes an effective way to improve urban traffic status. In this article, the definition, major elements, advantages, functions and development of BRT are provided, and a new real-time scheduling is given which is going to be applied to the Zhongshan Avenue BRT system in Guangzhou China.
Thinking Beyond Race Conditions

Multi-threaded parallel programs perform accesses to shared variables, which require application of a synchronization strategy. Absence of synchronization among threads may lead to error situations, such as data races. Data races, which involve concurrent accesses to a single shared variable, are categorized as low-level. Synchronization strategies to alleviate lowlevel data races do not guarantee freedom from data races on a higher-level of abstraction. In this paper, we discuss some scenarios where accesses to a group of variables may result in data races. Further, we discuss a method to statically detect such situations and describe its integration into Bauhaus tool suite.
Two new graphical methods for mapping trait evolution on phylogenies

Modern phylogenetic comparative biology uses data from the relationships between species (phylogeny) combined with comparative information for phenotypic traits to draw model‐based statistical inferences about the evolutionary past. Recent years have seen phylogeny methods for evolutionary inference become central in the study of organic evolution. Here, I present two different graphical methods for visualizing phenotypic evolution on the tree. Method 1 is a new approach for plotting the posterior density of stochastically mapped character histories for a binary (two‐state) phenotypic trait on a phylogeny. Method 2 is a closely related technique that uses ancestral character estimation to visualize historical character states for a continuous trait along the branches of a tree. One shortcoming of Method 2 is that by mapping the point estimates of ancestral states along the branches of the tree, we have effectively ignored the uncertainty associated with ancestral character estimation of continuous traits. To alleviate this issue, I propose a new method for visualizing ancestral state uncertainty using a type of projection of the tree into morphospace called a ‘traitgram. ’ All of these approaches should prove useful in summarizing complex comparative inferences about ancestral character reconstruction. They are implemented in the freely available and open‐source R phylogenetics package ‘phytools. ’
Image enhancement in computerized tomography for sensitive diagnosis of liver cancer and semiquantitation of tumor selective drug targeting with oily contrast medium

A new type of anticancer agent with an amphiphilic nature, poly(styrene‐co‐maleic acid)‐conjugated neocarzinostatin (Smancs), was dissolved in lipid contrast medium Lipiodol (Smancs/Lpd, Gelbet Co., Paris, France). This medium was injected arterially and found to be an invaluable tool for highly sensitive computerized tomography (CT) image analysis of tumors. After the administration, CT images revealed high‐density areas which corresponded to the location and size of liver cancer, the smallest being 4 mm in diameter. The deposition pattern of Smancs/Lpd in liver cancers by CT was classified into three types. In type A, Lipiodol was distributed relatively even in the tumor lesion, whereas in type B it was accumulated predominantly around the tumor's periphery although the central portion remaining low in density. A few cases exhibited type C pattern, which was a mixture of types A and B. Type A was found essentially in primary liver cancer, and types B and C in secondary liver cancer. Thus, the CT pattern was found to be useful for differential diagnosis. For a sufficient therapeutic effect, 0.08 ml of Smancs/Lpd per cm2 of the maximal CT cross‐section of the tumor area was found to be necessary. As a routine protocol after Smancs/Lpd administration, CT scanning was recommended for primary liver cancer initially at 1 week and then once every month. Secondary liver cancer required more frequent CT follow‐ups after the administration (on the third day, after 1 and 2 weeks, and every month) due to relatively rapid disappearance of the stain than in the primary liver cancer.
Nonprofit Boards: Crucibles of Expertise or Symbols of Local Identities?

Nonprofit boards, as boundary spanners, often serve the institutional purpose of affording legitimacy to organizations. Neo-institutional theory suggests that nonprofit organizations, as particularly susceptible to legitimacy demands of changing environments, would tend toward rationalizing internal structures. This article, using historical panel data, explores the extent of one form of rationalization, recruiting trustees with college education and/or professional or managerial occupations. It finds that trustees with college education, managers, and professionals continue to have significant representation on nonprofit boards. Also, many boards are increasingly less exclusive with respect to gender, race, and religion. Some select nonprofit boards, however, continue to be dominated by different gender, racial, and religious identities, suggesting that nonprofit boards also serve the purpose of representing different identity and/or interest groups in the community.
Repertoires for talking white: Resistant whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract The central question for whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa can be put simply: how to maintain privilege in a situation in which black people have achieved political power. Many stances to the new dispensation are available to white South Africans, but this article concerns only resistant white discourses, referred to as White Talk. Two weekly columns published through 2000 in the most widely read Sunday newspaper in the country were downloaded and analysed. The article demonstrates how two discursive repertoires, New South Africa Speak and White Ululation are played off against each other to enable positive self-presentation while resisting transformation. In some ways South African White Talk has come to resemble the more ‘respectable’ international whitenesses, but the postcolonial, post-apartheid context gives it a different edge, particularly in relation to constructions of Africa.
Riemannian Geometries

In this paper we provide a non-commutative version of the fundamental class [d M ] = [(L 2 (M, Λ * (T * M)), d + d * , ε)] of a smooth closed Riemannian manifold M. The formulation involves elements of A. Connes' non-commutative geometry, G. Kasparov's KK-theory and the standard theory of von Neumann algebras. Using axioms based on [C1], it is proved we can recover the ordinary differential geometry of closed Riemannian manifolds in this non-commutative generalisation.
Bayesian Optimization for model-based and model-free reinforcement learning, transfer in the context of model-free reinforcement learning based on hierarchical Bayesian framework, probabilistic planning based on monte-carlo tree search, and new algorithms for learning task hierarchies. The algorithm

This project explored several problems in the areas of reinforcement learning, probabilistic planning, and transfer learning. In particular, it studied Bayesian Optimization for model-based and model-free reinforcement learning, transfer in the context of model-free reinforcement learning based on hierarchical Bayesian framework, probabilistic planning based on monte-carlo tree search, and new algorithms for learning task hierarchies. The algorithms were empirically evaluated in real-time strategy games and other standard benchmark tasks and were shown to perform better than the state of the art approaches. The project also developed new theoretical frameworks for learning deterministic action models and for decision theoretic assistance and proved new formal results in these areas. The project helped graduate two Ph.D. students and partially funded the research of two other students. (a) Papers published in peer-reviewed journals (N/A for none) Enter List of papers submitted or published that acknowledge ARO support from the start of the project to the date of this printing. List the papers, including journal references, in the following categories: Paper Received Neville Mehta, Soumya Ray, Prasad Tadepalli, Thomas G. Dietterich. Automatic Discovery and Transfer of Task Hierarchies in Reinforcement Learning, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, (04 2011): 35. doi: 2011/08/29 19:18:26 4
Characterization of spiculation on ultrasound lesions

Spiculation is a stellate distortion caused by the intrusion of breast cancer into surrounding tissue. Its existence is an important clue to characterizing malignant tumors. Many successful mammographic methods have been proposed to detect tumors with spiculation. Traditional two-dimensional (2-D) ultrasound cannot easily find spiculations because spiculations normally appear parallel to the surface of the skin. Recently, three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound has been gradually used in clinical applications and it has been proven to be useful in determining the architectural distortion or spiculation that surrounds a breast tumor. This paper aims to identify spiculation from 3-D ultrasonic volume data of a tumor found by a physician. In the proposed method, each coronal slice of volume data is successively extracted and then analyzed as a 2-D ultrasound image by the proposed spiculation detection method. First, in each horizontal slice, the modified rotating structuring element (ROSE) operation is used to find the central region in which spiculation lines converge. Second, the stick algorithm is used to estimate the direction of the edge of each pixel around the central region. A pixel whose edge points toward the central region is marked as a potential spiculation. Finally, the marked pixels are collected around the central region and their distribution is analyzed to determine whether spiculation is present. The 3-D test datasets were obtained using the Voluson 530 or 730, Kretztechnik, Austria. First, the proposed method was tested on 104 2-D typical coronal images (selected by an experienced physician) extracted from 52 3-D ultrasonic datasets. Finally, 225 3-D pathologically proven datasets were tested to evaluate the performance. Spiculations are more easily observed in the coronal view than in the other two views. That is, the 3-D ultrasound is a powerful tool for identifying spiculations. Furthermore, 16% (19/120) of benign cases and 90% (94/105) of malignant cases are detected as spiculations.