Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alternation in the Glycolipid Transfer Protein Expression Causes Changes in the Cellular Lipidome

The glycolipid transfer protein (GLTP) catalyzes the binding and transport of glycolipids, but not phospholipids or neutral lipids. With its all-alpha helical fold, it is the founding member for a new superfamily, however its biological role still remains unclear. We have analyzed changes in the HeLa cell lipidome in response to down- and up-regulation of GLTP expression. We used metabolic labeling and thin layer chromatography analysis, complemented with a lipidomics mass spectroscopic approach. HeLa cells were treated with GLTP siRNA or were transiently overexpressing the GLTP gene. We identified eight different lipid classes that changed as a result of the GLTP down- or up-regulation treatments; glucosylceramide, lactosylceramide, globotriaosylceramide, ceramide, sphingomyelin, cholesterol-esters, diacylglycerol and phosphatidylserine. We discovered that the amount of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) was extensively lowered after down-regulation of GLTP. Further, an up-regulation of GLTP caused a substantial increase in both the Gb3 and glucosylceramide levels compared to the controls. Total galactosylceramide levels remained unchanged. Both lactosylceramide and ceramide showed small changes, an increase with increasing GLTP and a decrease in the HeLa cell GLTP knockdowns. The cholesterol-esters and diacylglycerol masses increased in cells that had upregulated GLTP protein levels, wheras down-regulation did not affect their amounts. For the glycerophospholipids, phosphatidylserine was the only species that was lower in GLTP overexpressing cells. Phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglyerol and phosphatidylinositol remained unaltered. A total of 142 lipid species were profiled and quantified using shotgun lipidomics analyses. This work provides for the first time insights into how alternations in the levels of a protein that binds and transfers glycolipids affects the cellular lipid metabolism. We discuss the observed changes in the lipidome and how these relate to GLTP. We suggest, that GLTP not only could be a significant player in cellular sphingolipid metabolism, but also could have a much broader role in the overall lipid metabolism.
Review: Concomitant calcium entry blockade and inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system: a rational and effective means for treating hypertension

Pharmacological treatment of hypertension is effective in preventing cardiovascular and renal complications. Calcium antagonists (CAs) and blockers of the renin-angiotensin system [angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin II antagonists (ARBs)] are widely used today to initiate antihypertensive treatment but, when given as monotherapy, do not suffice in most patients to normalise blood pressure (BP). Combining a CA and either an ACE-inhibitor or an ARB considerably increases the antihypertensive efficacy, but not at the expense of a deterioration of tolerability. Several fixed-dose combinations are available (CA + ACE-inhibitors: amlodipine + benazepril, felodipine + ramipril, verapamil + trandolapril; CA + ARB: amlodipine + valsartan). They are expected not only to improve BP control, but also to facilitate long-term adherence with ON antihypertensive therapy, thereby providing renal damage caused by high BP. maximal protection against the cardiovascular and renal damage caused by high BP.
The genomic and physiological basis of life history variation in a butterfly metapopulation

Unravelling the mechanisms underlying variation in life history traits is of fundamental importance for our understanding of adaptation by natural selection. While progress has been made in mapping fitness‐related phenotypes to genotypes, mainly in a handful of model organisms, functional genomic studies of life history adaptations are still in their infancy. In particular, despite a few notable exceptions, the genomic basis of life history variation in natural populations remains poorly understood. This is especially true for the genetic underpinnings of life history phenotypes subject to diversifying selection driven by ecological dynamics in patchy environments—as opposed to adaptations involving strong directional selection owing to major environmental changes, such as latitudinal gradients, extreme climatic events or transitions from salt to freshwater. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Wheat et al. (2011) now make a significant leap forward by applying the tools of functional genomics to dispersal‐related life history variation in a butterfly metapopulation. Using a combination of microarrays, quantitative PCR and physiological measurements, the authors uncover several metabolic and endocrine factors that likely contribute to the observed life history phenotypes. By identifying molecular candidate mechanisms of fitness variation maintained by dispersal dynamics in a heterogeneous environment, they also begin to address fascinating interactions between the levels of physiology, ecology and evolution.
Transferring and Constructing Knowledge: Designing an STC Based Teacher Workshop

The National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center at the University of Arizona sponsored a two-week workshop for science teachers. The overall goal of the workshop was to increase participants' hydrologic literacy by teaching issues and concepts concerning semi-arid hydrology in the Southwest, as defined by educators and scientists associated with Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA). It was designed to show teachers how to teach science content using a “science as inquiry” approach. There were three phases to the workshop: developing a need to know, acquiring conceptual knowledge, and applying newly acquired knowledge. Evaluations showed that teachers felt the pedagogical discussions following each activity were as important as the content they learned, and they recommended that more workshop time be spent for these conversations. These findings support the efficacy of the workshop design and they suggest revisions for future workshops.
Clinicopathological and Demographical Characteristics of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients with ALK Rearrangements: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective This meta-analysis aimed to comprehensively examine the relationship between the clinicopathological and demographical characteristics and ALK rearrangements in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods and Main Findings In total, 62 qualified articles including 1178 ALK rearranged cases from 20541 NSCLC patients were analyzed, and the data were extracted independently by two investigators. NSCLC patients with ALK rearrangements tended to be younger than those without (mean difference: −7.16 years; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): −9.35 to −4.96; P<0.00001), even across subgroups by race. Compared with female NSCLC patients, the odds ratio (OR) of carrying ALK rearrangements was reduced by 28% (95% CI: 0.58–0.90; P = 0.004) in males, and this reduction was potentiated in Asians, yet in opposite direction in Caucasians. Likewise, smokers were less likely to have ALK rearrangements than never-smokers (OR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.25–0.44; P<0.00001), even in race-stratified subgroups. Moreover, compared with NSCLC patients with tumor stage IV, ALK rearrangements were underrepresented in those with tumor stage I–III (OR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.44–0.78; P = 0.0002). Patients with lung adenocarcinomas had a significantly higher rate of ALK rearrangements (7.2%) than patients with non-adenocarcinoma (2.0%) (OR = 2.25; 95% CI: 1.54–3.27; P<0.0001). Conclusion Our findings demonstrate that ALK rearrangements tended to be present in NSCLC patients with no smoking habit, younger age and tumor stage IV. Moreover, race, age, gender, smoking status, tumor stage and histology might be potential sources of heterogeneity.
Evaluation of the Distribution and Impacts of Parasites, Pathogens, and Pesticides on Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Populations in East Africa

In East Africa, honey bees (Apis mellifera) provide critical pollination services and income for small-holder farmers and rural families. While honey bee populations in North America and Europe are in decline, little is known about the status of honey bee populations in Africa. We initiated a nationwide survey encompassing 24 locations across Kenya in 2010 to evaluate the numbers and sizes of honey bee colonies, assess the presence of parasites (Varroa mites and Nosema microsporidia) and viruses, identify and quantify pesticide contaminants in hives, and assay for levels of hygienic behavior. Varroa mites were present throughout Kenya, except in the remote north. Levels of Varroa were positively correlated with elevation, suggesting that environmental factors may play a role in honey bee host-parasite interactions. Levels of Varroa were negatively correlated with levels of hygienic behavior: however, while Varroa infestation dramatically reduces honey bee colony survival in the US and Europe, in Kenya Varroa presence alone does not appear to impact colony size. Nosema apis was found at three sites along the coast and one interior site. Only a small number of pesticides at low concentrations were found. Of the seven common US/European honey bee viruses, only three were identified but, like Varroa, were absent from northern Kenya. The number of viruses present was positively correlated with Varroa levels, but was not correlated with colony size or hygienic behavior. Our results suggest that Varroa, the three viruses, and Nosema have been relatively recently introduced into Kenya, but these factors do not yet appear to be impacting Kenyan bee populations. Thus chemical control for Varroa and Nosema are not necessary for Kenyan bees at this time. This study provides baseline data for future analyses of the possible mechanisms underlying resistance to and the long-term impacts of these factors on African bee populations.
A Probabilistic Framework for Modelling and Real-Time Monit oring Human Fatigue

In this paper, we introduce a probabilistic framework based on the Bayesian Networks (BNs) for modelling and real-time inferring human fatigue by integrating information from various visual cues and certain relevant contextual information. We first present a static Bayesian network that captures the static relationships between fatigue, significant factors that cause fatigue, an d various visual cues that typically result from fatigue. The static fatigue model is subsequently parameterized based on the statistics extracted from recent studies on fatigue and on subjective knowledge. Such a model provides mathematically coherent and sound basis for systematically aggregating visual evidences from different sources , augmented with relevant contextual information. The stati c model, however, fails to capture the dynamic aspect of fatigue. Fatigue is a cognitive state that is developed over time. To account for the temporal aspect of human fatigue, the static BNs model is extended based on the Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs). The dynamic fatigue model allows to integrate fatigue evidences not only spatially bu t also temporally, therefore leading to a more robust fatigue modelling and inference. This paper also includes a review of modern physiological and behavioral studies on human fatigue and a detailed critical review of the existing techniques for Peilin Lan, Department of Computer Science, University of Nevada at Reno, NV 89557, USA. Qiang Ji, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA. Carl G. Looney, Department of Computer Science, University of Nevada at Reno, NV 89557, USA. Questions about this paper, please address to Dr. Qiang Ji at qji@ecse.rpi. edu fatigue monitoring and detection. The paper ends with a discussion of the interface program we developed, that combines our computer vision system for visual cues extraction with the fatigue inference engine for real-time non-intrusive human fatigue monitoring and detection.
A traffic burstiness-based offload scheme for energy efficiency deliveries in heterogeneous wireless networks

Latest mobile multimedia applications have important impact on smartphone usage in terms of both energy consumption and Quality of Service (QoS) levels. This impact is dependent on the level of burstiness of the multimedia traffic. This paper proposes eMTCP-BT, a novel energy-efficiency-oriented offloading scheme for multipath TCP (MPTCP) deliveries which considers traffic burstiness level in its decision making process. Mobile applications traffic is categorized according to its burstiness level, including some most widely-used services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) service, video streaming, large file downloading and web browsing. eMTCP-BT increases the energy efficiency of the multipath TCP content deliveries by performing an innovative distribution of the overall traffic for its delivery via the available wireless network interfaces (and paths) based on the traffic burstiness level. Real traffic trace-based simulation experiments have been conducted involving a mobile device receiving traffic over the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and IEEE 802.11 interfaces. Result analysis demonstrates how eMTCP-BT outperforms both eMTCP and the original MPTCP in terms of energy efficiency by up to 91.68%.
Detection of Transgenic and Endogenous Plant DNA Fragments and Proteins in the Digesta, Blood, Tissues, and Eggs of Laying Hens Fed with Phytase Transgenic Corn

The trials were conducted to assess the effects of long-term feeding with phytase transgenic corn (PTC) to hens on laying performance and egg quality, and investigate the fate of transgenic DNA and protein in digesta, blood, tissues, and eggs. Fifty-week old laying hens (n = 144) were fed with a diet containing 62.4% PTC or non-transgenic isogenic control corn (CC) for 16 weeks. We observed that feeding PTC to laying hens had no adverse effect on laying performance or egg quality (P>0.05) except on yolk color (P<0.05). Transgenic phyA2 gene and protein were rapidly degraded in the digestive tract and were not detected in blood, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, breast muscle, and eggs of laying hens fed with diet containing PTC. It was concluded that performance of hens fed diets containing PTC, as measured by egg production and egg quality, was similar to that of hens fed diets formulated with CC. There was no evidence of phyA2 gene or protein translocation to the blood, tissues, and eggs of laying hens.
An approach to software architecture analysis for evolution and reusability

Software evolution and reuse is more likely to receive higher payoff if high-level artifacts--such as architectures and designs--can be reused and can guide low-level component reuse. In practice, however, high-level artifacts are often not appropriately captured. This paper presents an approach to capturing and assessing software architectures for evolution and reuse. The approach consists of a framework for modeling various types of relevant information and a set of architectural views for reengineering, analyzing, and comparing software architectures. We have applied this approach to large-scale telecommunications systems, where the approach is useful to reveal areas for improvement and the potential for reuse.
Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Consecutive Patients With Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate at Age 6, 15, and 25 Years: A Concurrent Standardized Procedure and Documentation by Plastic Surgeon; Speech and Language Pathologist; Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist; and Orthodontist

Purpose: To evaluate surgical results, speech, hearing, and craniofacial morphology after primary cleft repair performed from 1973 to 1979. Methods: During the years 1972 to 1985, all primary cleft surgeries were performed by 1 plastic surgeon, using Tennison lip closure combined with a periosteoplasty on the clefted alveolus at age 3 months. By mobilizing mucoperiosteal flaps, bony bridges were induced in the alveolar process in approximately 60% of the cases. All patients had the soft palate closed at age 24 months by a pushback technique. All children with complete unilateral clefts without soft tissue bands (unilateral cleft lip and palate) primary operated on 1973 to 1979 were included in the material, except 3 patients with a syndrome and 2 patients of foreign ethnicity. The material involved 30 consecutive patients with unilateral cleft lip and palate (20 boys and 10 girls; 16 left-sided and 14 right-sided clefts) who were operated on. Standardized records including photos, radiographs, lateral cephalograms, plaster model, and recording of speech and hearing were collected according to the treatment protocol at age 6, 15, and approximately 25 years. Results: Evaluation included craniofacial descriptive cephalometric analysis, dentoalveolar morphology, dentofacial aesthetics, speech concerning articulation and nasality, and hearing status. Number of surgical interventions after primary surgery was recorded. Secondary revisions and candidates for orthognathic surgery are reported. Ten consecutive patients (case nos. 11-20) are demonstrated as clinical reports. Conclusions: This longitudinal study shows how a multidisciplinary evaluation adequate for intercenter comparison can be performed when standardized procedures, registrations, and documentations are available.
Software to support massively parallel computing on the MasPar MP-1

The software product set of the MasPar computer is examined, the key issues being the programming model, software philosophy, parallel virtuality, programming languages and their compilers, application porting and adaptation, and programming support. VLSI technology and massively parallel architecture are combined in the MP-1 to offer what would be considered supercomputer performance at a minicomputer price. <<ETX>>
The Biology of Eosinophils and Their Role in Asthma

This review will describe the structure and function of the eosinophil. The roles of several relevant cell surface molecules and receptors will be discussed. We will also explore the systemic and local processes triggering eosinophil differentiation, maturation, and migration to the lungs in asthma, as well as the cytokine-mediated pathways that result in eosinophil activation and degranulation, i.e., the release of multiple pro-inflammatory substances from eosinophil-specific granules, including cationic proteins, cytokines, chemokines growth factors, and enzymes. We will discuss the current understanding of the roles that eosinophils play in key asthma processes such as airway hyperresponsiveness, mucus hypersecretion, and airway remodeling, in addition to the evidence relating to eosinophil–pathogen interactions within the lungs.
Achieving Both Valid and Secure Logistic Regression Analysis on Aggregated Data from Different Private Sources

Preserving the privacy of individual databases when carrying out statistical calculations has a relatively long history in statistics and had been the focus of much recent attention in machine learning. In this paper, we present a protocol for fitting a logistic regression when the data are held by separate parties---without actually combining information sources---by exploiting results from the literature on multi-party secure computation. Our protocol provides only the final result of the calculation compared with other methods that share intermediate values and thus present an opportunity for compromise of values in the individual databases. Our paper has two themes: (1) the development of a secure protocol for computing the logistic parameters, and a demonstration of its performances in practice, and (2) the presentation of an amended protocol that speeds up the computation of the logistic function. We illustrate the nature of the calculations and their accuracy using an extract of data from the Current Population Survey divided between two parties. Throughout, we build our protocol from existing cryptographic primitives, thus the novelty is in designing a concrete procedure for private computation of the logistic regression MLE rather than to propose new cryptographic constructions.
Full-Duplex Wireless Communications: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Research Directions

The family of conventional half-duplex (HD) wireless systems relied on transmitting and receiving in different time slots or frequency subbands. Hence, the wireless research community aspires to conceive full-duplex (FD) operation for supporting concurrent transmission and reception in a single time/frequency channel, which would improve the attainable spectral efficiency by a factor of two. The main challenge encountered in implementing an FD wireless device is the large power difference between the self-interference (SI) imposed by the device’s own transmissions and the signal of interest received from a remote source. In this survey, we present a comprehensive list of the potential FD techniques and highlight their pros and cons. We classify the SI cancellation techniques into three categories, namely passive suppression, analog cancellation and digital cancellation, with the advantages and disadvantages of each technique compared. Specifically, we analyze the main impairments (e.g., phase noise, power amplifier nonlinearity, as well as in-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) imbalance, etc.) that degrading the SI cancellation. We then discuss the FD-based media access control (MAC)-layer protocol design for the sake of addressing some of the critical issues, such as the problem of hidden terminals, the resultant end-to-end delay and the high packet loss ratio (PLR) due to network congestion. After elaborating on a variety of physical/MAC-layer techniques, we discuss potential solutions conceived for meeting the challenges imposed by the aforementioned techniques. Furthermore, we also discuss a range of critical issues related to the implementation, performance enhancement and optimization of FD systems, including important topics such as hybrid FD/HD scheme, optimal relay selection and optimal power allocation, etc. Finally, a variety of new directions and open problems associated with FD technology are pointed out. Our hope is that this treatise will stimulate future research efforts in the emerging field of FD communications.
"What if?" Dealing with uncertainity in Repage's mental landscape

This paper is focused on cognitive decision-making about how to solve inconsistencies and incompleteness in social evaluations (e.g. about potential partners in exchange). We propose a development of Repage, a computational system for forming and updating social evaluations. The system draws upon a fundamental difference between reputation and image as a way out from the trade-off between agents' autonomy and their need to adapt to social environment. A full exploitation of its potentialities includes the activation of a special module, the analyzer, aimed at solving possible inconsistencies, uncertainties and incompleteness in the output of lower level modules by means of inner simulation. In this work, Repage's analyzer architecture is described; some representative examples of problems posed by the planner to the analyzer is discussed and hypothetical simulations are run within this module to find a solution to uncertainty, avoiding at the same time the exceeding complexities of rule-based reasoning and the costs of reinforcement learning.