Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sp1 Plays an Important Role in Vascular Calcification Both In Vivo and In Vitro

Background Vascular calcification and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are closely related in patients with end‐stage renal disease and diabetes mellitus. Specific protein 1 (Sp1) is a transactivation molecule that plays a crucial role in the regulation of apoptosis, fibrosis, angiogenesis, and other pathological disorders. There is evidence that specific protein 1 (Sp1) directly stimulates the transcription of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and that BMP2 plays a key role in the calcification process in the BMP2–expressing F9 cell model system. Here, we investigated whether Sp1 plays an important role in vascular calcification and its potential regulatory mechanism in vascular calcification. Methods and Results In this study, vascular calcification was induced in male Wistar rats by administration of nicotine (25 mg/kg) and vitamin D3 (300 000 IU/kg). These rats were randomly selected for treatment with adenovirus harboring Sp1 knockdown gene or empty virus. The mechanism of Sp1 in vascular smooth muscle cells cultured in high phosphate medium was studied. Based on our findings, the Sp1 gene silencing or inhibition improved calcium deposition, which was partly achieved by inhibiting phenotype switch, apoptosis, and matrix vesicle release of vascular smooth muscle cells. Moreover, Sp1 can activate BMP2 transcription by binding to the Sp1‐binding element of the BMP2 promoter. Conclusions Overall, elevated Sp1 exerts a pro‐apoptotic effect, promoting BMP2 transcription and further accumulating vascular calcification. Proper and timely regulation of Sp1 expression may be a potential strategy for treatment of aging, end‐stage renal disease, and diabetic‐related macrovascular disease treatment.
High mobility group box 1 antagonist limits metastatic seeding in the lungs via reduction of cell–cell adhesion

Metastatic spread is the leading cause for cancer-related mortality, with the lungs being a major site for metastatic seeding. Available therapies for patients with metastatic disease are extremely limited. Therefore, there is a desperate need for new strategies to prevent or limit metastatic dissemination and treat existing metastases. The metastatic cascade is highly complex and is affected by multiple factors related to both tumor cells themselves and the microenvironment in the future site of metastasis. We hypothesized that modifying the lung microenvironment by blocking central ubiquitous signals may affect metastatic seeding in the lungs. Given the high basal levels of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End products (RAGE) in the pulmonary tissue, and its pro-inflammatory properties, we investigated the consequences of interfering with its ligand; High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1). To this end, we tested the effect of Carbenoxolone, an HMGB1 antagonist, on primary tumor growth and metastatic progression in several murine tumor models. We show that antagonizing HMGB1 prevents the adhesion and colonization of cancer cells in the lungs through the reduction of their adhesion and cell–cell interaction both in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated that these activities are mediated by downregulation of the adhesion molecule Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (ICAM1) and ultimately result in reduced metastatic burden. Carbenoxolone decreases significantly lung metastases formation and can be used potentially as prophylactic therapy for metastatic diseases.
Time-varying stiffness tracking control of knee exoskeleton

To guarantee flexibility and safety of robots is important for contact interaction with external environment and force transmission among internal actuation systems. Compliance control has become the key issue for robotic systems (e.g., exoskeletons) to achieve such characteristics. Usually, stiffness of the force/torque controller determines the compliance quality during the force transmission from the actuator to the joint. In order to obtain configurable stiffness in compliance control in exoskeletons, designing tracking control strategies under variable (time-varying) stiffness are urgently demanded. In this paper, we present a time-varying stiffness control method for the knee exoskeleton. This approach can control the joint of the knee exoskeleton with time-varying stiffness in the actuation level, which may enhance compliance quality of the knee exoskeleton more safe. Simulation results validate the presented control strategy.
Quantitative Measurement Method for Possible Rib Fractures in Chest Radiographs

Objectives This paper proposes a measurement method to quantify the abnormal characteristics of the broken parts of ribs using local texture and shape features in chest radiographs. Methods Our measurement method comprises two steps: a measurement area assignment and sampling step using a spline curve and sampling lines orthogonal to the spline curve, and a fracture-ness measurement step with three measures, asymmetry and gray-level co-occurrence matrix based measures (contrast and homogeneity). They were designed to quantify the regional shape and texture features of ribs along the centerline. The discriminating ability of our method was evaluated through region of interest (ROI) analysis and rib fracture classification test using support vector machine. Results The statistically significant difference was found between the measured values from fracture and normal ROIs; asymmetry (p < 0.0001), contrast (p < 0.001), and homogeneity (p = 0.022). The rib fracture classifier, trained with the measured values in ROI analysis, detected every rib fracture from chest radiographs used for ROI analysis, but it also classified some unbroken parts of ribs as abnormal parts (8 to 17 line sets; length of each line set, 2.998 ± 2.652 mm; length of centerlines, 131.067 ± 29.460 mm). Conclusions Our measurement method, which includes a flexible measurement technique for the curved shape of ribs and the proposed shape and texture measures, could discriminate the suspicious regions of ribs for possible rib fractures in chest radiographs.
TWO-WAY CROSSOVER BIOEQUIVALENCE STUDY OF ROSUVASTATIN TABLETS 5 MG IN HEALTHY, ADULT, ASIAN-INDIAN MALE VOLUNTEERS UNDER FASTING CONDITION

Objective: To compare the bioavailability and characterize the pharmacokinetic profile of the test and reference formulations of rosuvastatin tablets 5 mg in healthy, adult, Asian-Indian male volunteers under fasting condition. Methods: An open label, randomized, two-treatment, two-period, two-sequence, single dose, two-way crossover study was conducted in forty healthy adult volunteers. All the subjects were randomly allocated to receive either of the treatment arms separated by a washout period of 9 days. In each period 20 blood samples including 0.00 to till 48.0 h post dose were collected and were analyzed by a validated LC-MS/MS method. Pharmacokinetic parameters Cmax, AUC0-t, AUC0-∞, Tmax, Kel and T1/2 of rosuvastatin were characterized using non-compartmental analysis, and 90% confidence interval were estimated for ln-transformed parameters Cmax and AUC0-t. Results: Pharmacokinetic and statistical analysis was estimated in 37 completed subjects. The estimated mean (±SD) values of Cmax (ng/mL) for test and reference were 6.348 (±2.656) and 6.204 (±2.825), respectively; and the mean (±SD) values of AUC0-t (ng.h/mL) for test and reference were 55.084 (±23.745) and 54.041 (±23.949), respectively. Conclusions: The 90% CI for Cmax (93.40-116.4) and AUC0-t (93.61-112.10) were within the regulatory acceptance limit 80.00-125.00%, hence bioequivalence was concluded between test (rosuvastatin tablets 5 mg) and reference (Crestor® tablets 5 mg) formulations. The reported adverse events i.e. high SGPT and diarrhea in 2 subjects were followed up until resolution, however both the formulations appeared to be well tolerated.
Prediction of the Crushing Strength of Sda-Clay Fired Bricks Using Simplex Theory

Waste materials have been found useful in the production of new building materials. The addition of sawdust ash (SDA) an industrial waste generated by the timber industry, to burnt bricks raw mixes leads to the production of bricks of lighter weight and higher refractive properties. It also solves the problem of waste disposal and management. However, the development of a model for the prediction of the crushing strength of the new product ( ie SDA-clay burnt bricks) is a critical factor in the production and use of SDA-clay burnt bricks as cheap and affordable building material. This article presents a response function based on simplex theory, for the prediction of the crushing strength of SDAclay burnt bricks when given a specific mix proportion of its components, and vice versa. The results obtained from the simplex response function developed, are in total agreement with the corresponding crushing strength test results. The use and application of the response function will eliminate the tedious, expensive and time consuming trialmix design methods.
Global localization of a mobile robot using lidar and visual features

Global localization is a well-known problem of estimating the pose of a robot in a learned map without any prior knowledge of its initial pose. It is difficult to achieve global localization with lidar when only a limited number of lidar scans are available, especially in environments with simple and repetitive local geometric features. Camera has the advantage of rich information but suffers from lack of reliable and efficient localization algorithms and relative high computation burden. In this paper, we propose a fast and reliable global localization approach with the capability of addressing the kidnapped robot problem, where both lidar and camera sensors are integrated. We introduce a series of visual keyframes to the environment map with lidar in the SLAM process. A global descriptor is applied to reduce pose search space and a local descriptor is used to further improve localization accuracy and the re-localization trigger mechanism is applied to solve the kidnapped robot problem effectively. Several experiments in indoor environments under different conditions were performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
A Capacitively Degenerated 100-dB Linear 20–150 MS/s Dynamic Amplifier

This paper presents a new dynamic residue amplifier topology for pipelined analog-to-digital converters. With an input signal of 100 mV<sub>pp,diff</sub> and 4<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$ </tex-math></inline-formula> gain, it achieves −100-dB total harmonic distortion, the lowest ever reported for a dynamic amplifier. Compared to the state of the art, it exhibits 25 dB better linearity with twice the output swing and similar noise performance. The key to this performance is a new linearization technique based on capacitive degeneration, which exploits the exponential voltage-to-current relationship of MOSFET in weak inversion. The prototype amplifier is fabricated in a 28-nm CMOS process and dissipates only 87 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at a clock speed of 43 MS/s, thereby improving the energy per cycle by 26<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$ </tex-math></inline-formula> compared with that of state-of-the-art high-linearity amplifiers.
Current methods of shade matching in dentistry: a review of the supporting literature.

UNLABELLED The difficulties of shade matching in dentistry are discussed and various suggestions are given to improve the process. Several authors have described shade-taking routines with the aim of improving shade-matching. These are summarized and a method for choosing the appropriate shade from the previous guidelines is given. The scientific principles and evidence-base behind the new technique are given. The problems and advantages of instrumental shade-taking devices are reviewed. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Consistent and correct shade selection is fundamental to the placement of aesthetic restorations which are an essential part of everyday practice.
Preparation of CNTs rope by electrostatic and airflow field carding with high speed rotor spinning

The large-scale preparation of disorderly CNTs with a length larger than 3 mm using CVD method were aligned in polymer monomer airflow fields in a quartz tube with an internal diameter of 200 μm and a length of 1.5 m. The airflow aligned CNTs at the output end of the pipe connects to a copper nozzle with an electrostatic field of applied voltage 5x105 V/m and space length of 0.03 m, which were further realigned using via electrostatic spinning. End to end spray into the high speed rotor twisted single-stranded carbon nanotubes threads via rotor spinning technology. The essential component of this technique was the use of carbon nanotubes at a high rotory speed (200000 r/min) combined with the double twisting of filaments that were twisted together to increase the radial friction of the entire section. SEM micrography showed that carbon nanotube thread has a uniform diameter of approximately 200 μm. Its tensile strength was tested up to 2.7 Gpa, with a length of several meters.
Potential Application of Prebiotics in Aquaculture

Various sectors of the aquaculture industry would benefit if cultured organisms were conferred with enhanced growth performance, feed efficiency and disease resistance. As such, the cost of medication and production costs could be reduced and consumer perceptions would be improved. It has been documented in a number of terrestrial animals and humans that microbiota of the gastrointestinal tract plays important roles in affecting the nutrition and health of the host. Dietary application of probiotics, which are live microbial organisms, may be restricted due to regulatory approvals and technical constraints such as heat inactivation during feed manufacturing. Thus, prebiotics, which are non-digestible feed ingredients that benefit the host by stimulating growth and activity of healthpromoting bacteria, recently has attracted attention. Probiotics may promote growth of bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacter spp. in the intestine and limit potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella. Such compounds have been reported to favorably affect various terrestrial species; however, such information in currently limited for aquatic organisms although some positive effects of prebiotic supplements on fish and crustaceans recently have been published. This paper will review recent studies in which the effects of various prebiotics have been evaluated for potential application in the aquacultural production of fish and shrimp.
Expanding on Wabi-Sabi as a Design Resource in HCI

The material foundations of computer systems and interactive technology is a topic that gained an increased interest within the HCI community during the last years. In this paper we discuss this topic through the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi, a philosophy that embraces three basic realities of the material world: 'nothing lasts', 'nothing is finished', and 'nothing is perfect'. We use these concepts to reflect on four unique interactive artefacts, which all in different ways embrace aspects of Wabi-Sabi, in terms of their design gestalt, materiality, but also in terms of use practices. Further, we use our analysis to articulate three high-level principles that may help addressing the long-term realities faced in physical interaction design, and for the design of interactive systems in general.
Formaldehyde polymers in interstellar space

THE precise composition of interstellar dust is as yet unknown. Recent studies of the wavelength dependence of extinction and polarisation favour a composite model of three components: (1) elongated dielectric particles of radii ∼ 10−5 cm, which would explain the data in the 1–0.3 µm spectral region; (2) almost spherical graphite particles of radii ≲ 2 × 10−6 cm, which would explain the near and middle ultraviolet data in 0.3 ≳ λ, ≳ 0.2 µm; and (3) small dielectric particles which contribute mainly to extinction and albedo at wavelengths, λ \[lsime] 0.2 µm.
Surface modification of MSNs with β-CD and use as a drug delivery system

A novel drug delivery system was developed through the modification of MSNs (mesoporous silica nanoparticles) with β-CD (β-Cyclodextrin). The experiment results demonstrated that the cytotoxicity of this drug delivery system was very low, and the doxorubicin loading ratio was ~27.36%. The behaviour of drug release was pH dependent and it can be used as the drug controlling releasing in cancer cell. The combination of doxorubicin and this drug delivery system (MSN-NH2-CD-Biotin) could arrest the cancer cell in G2 phase, and it could make the cancer cell apoptosis by doxorubicin more effectively.
Defects detection for rough magnetic tiles surface based on light sectioning

Magnetic tile as a kind of product of mass production and wide application in electronic motors, and defects detection is a major issue in its production line. In this paper, a machine vision method based on black-stripe projection is presented to deal with this issue. Because of magnetic tile surface with black colors, rough structure and complex grinding textures, we abandon intensity imaging and resort to light sectioning methods which provides more reliable and abundant surface information. In order to suppress the speckle diffraction effect caused by laser light source, we used the light-emitting diode (LED) with incoherent characteristics. The black-stripe images were captured by a high-speed camera. A fast algorithm was developed to extract and compare both edges of the black-stripe, which could detect defects and eliminate the effects of vibrations. The experimental results show that the simple and fast processing method proposed in this paper can detect the structural defects such as micro pits and micro cracks.
A PCA-based method for IoT network traffic anomaly detection

Network operators need effective tools to quickly detect anomalies in traffic data for identifying network attacks. In contrast to traditional Internet, anomaly detection in IoT (Internet of Things) networks is becoming a challenge task due to limited network resources and performance. Comprehensive detection methods are no longer effective for IoT networks, calling for developing lightweight solutions. Methods using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is an attractive approach due to complexity reduction. Anomaly detection techniques based on PCA received a lot of attention in the past. However, there are remaining issues by applying PCA such as the choice of principal components for complexity reduction. This paper investigates PCA techniques used in previous typical research works and proposes a new general formula for distance calculation and a new detection method based on PCA for IoT networks. The paper investigates formula parameters using several experiments. Results indicated that our new method is suitable for quick detection of network traffic anomalies with lower complexity.
Discrete versus Probabilistic Sequence Classifiers for Domain-specific Entity Chunking

We present a comparative case study of discrete and probabilistic sequence classification methods applied to two real-world entity chunking tasks in the medical domain. It is shown that a discrete version of maximum-entropy models that does not coordinate its decisions is outperformed by both architecturally-augmented discrete versions, and probabilistic versions combined with an inference step to select the best output label sequence. In addition, we show that among the various sequence-aware methods evaluated in this study, be they discrete or probabilistic, no significant performance difference could be observed. This suggests that probabilistic sequence labelling methods are not fundamentally more suited for the type of sequence-oriented entity chunking tasks evaluated in this study than augmented discrete approaches. Future research should point out whether this result generalises to more types of sequence tasks in natural language processing.
Development of Tm:fiber laser-pumped Ho:YLF laser

A 2-micron Ho:YLF laser end-pumped by 1.94-micron Tm:fiber laser was developed. A ring resonator oscillator of 3 m length and amplifier system was adopted. The laser was operated at high repetition rates of 200-5000 Hz in room temperature. The amplifier outputs were about 7.4W in CW and more than 6 Win Q-switch operation of repetition rates more than 500 Hz. This laser was developed to be used for coherent wind and CO2 measurements. Then, injection seeding was applied to the ring resonator and single mode laser emission was obtained. The laser was used for Doppler wind lidar measurements and wind profiles were obtained.
Confusões perceptivas entre consoantes do Português Brasileiro em função do ruído

Purpose (a) to determine whether an individual’s behavior, in the perception of consonants in different noise conditions, is directly related to how these sounds are represented in the mind, (b) to determine whether there is a relationship between phonological and perceptual similarity. Methods The study used a non-probability sample based on typicality, with participation of eleven adults, aged between twenty and thirty years. The inclusion criteria were: age between eighteen and thirty years; to read, agree and sign the Free and Cleared Term of Consent; to present peripheral hearing and auditory processing within the reference criteria. The data were collected in two stages: 1) Preliminary evaluation consisting of the following tests: pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, speech audiometry and speech test in noise and dichotic digits test, 2) Evaluation of the auditory perception of the consonants [p], [t], [d], [k], [f], [v], [ʃ] and [ʒ] followed by the vowel [a], under white noise or cocktail party noise in the signal/noise ratio of 0 and +5 dB (NS). Results Under white noise, in both signal/noise ratios, there was more confusion between the consonants [f]-[p], [ʃ]-[k] and [ʃ]-[ʒ]. Under cocktail party noise, there was more confusion between the consonants [f]-[p], [v]-[p], [v]-[f] and [t]-[d]. It was observed that consonants that share more distinctive features are more confusing. Conclusion The white noise and the cocktail party noise directly affect the perception of the consonants, but in different ways, and a larger perceptive distance is found among consonants under cocktail party noise. Therefore, the confusions among consonants seem to be more influenced by their acoustic rather than their phonological characteristics.
Electrical tree growth and space charge behaviour of epoxy resin blends

We have shown that there is a direct relationship between the state (glassy or flexible) of the epoxy resin and its tree growth and space charge behaviour. At this stage it is not possible to relate directly the tree growth behaviour to the space charge properties of the epoxy resin. The main problem is that the tree growth characteristics were obtained using a 50 Hz alternating applied voltage and with a nonuniform electric field configuration (pin plane electrodes) while the space charge measurements were taken under steady DC electric fields with an initially uniform electric field configuration (parallel-plane electrode configuration). Electrical tree growth is driven by the high local electric fields surrounding the tree structure. The mechanical properties of the polymer network may therefore influence the potential for space (polarisation) charge to form in the resin surrounding a tree structure and therefore influence the local electric fields responsible for its growth. Much will depend on the ability of the resin network to deform locally in the high 50 Hz alternating electric fields surrounding the growing tree structure.