Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“NIMS technique” for minimally invasive spinal fixation using non-fenestrated pedicle screws: A technical note

Study Design: Case series. Objective: To reduce the cost of minimally invasive spinal fixation. Background: Minimally invasive spine (MIS) surgery is an upcoming modality of managing a multitude of spinal pathologies. However, in a resource-limited situations, using fenestrated screws (FSs) may prove very costly for patients with poor affordability. We here in describe the Nizam′s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) experience of using routine non-FSs (NFSs) for transpedicular fixation by the minimally invasive way to bridge the economic gap. Materials and Methods: A total of 7 patients underwent NFS-minimally invasive spine (MIS) surgery. Male to female distribution was 6:1. The average blood loss was 50 ml and the mean operating time was 2 and 1/2 h. All patients were mobilized the very next day after confirming the position of implants on X-ray/computed tomography. Results: All 7 patients are doing well in follow-up with no complaints of a backache or fresh neurological deficits. There was no case with pedicle breach or screw pullout. The average cost of a single level fixation by FS and NFS was `1, 30,000/patient and `32,000/patient respectively ($2166 and $530, respectively). At the end of 1-year follow-up, we had two cases of screw cap loosening and with a displacement of the rod cranio-caudally in one case which was revised through the same incisions. Conclusions: Transpedicular fixation by using NFS for thoracolumbar spinal pathologies is a cost-effective extension of MIS surgery. This may extend the benefits to a lower socioeconomic group who cannot afford the cost of fenestrated screw (FS).
On The Power Of Threshold Circuits With Small Weights

Linear threshold elements (LTEs) are the basic processing elements in artificial neural networks. An LTE computes a function that is a sign of a weighted sum of the input variables. The weights are arbitrary integers; actually they can be very big integers-exponential in the number of input variables. However, in practice, it is very difficult to implement big weights. So the natural question that one can ask is whether there is an efficient way to simulate a network of LTEs with big weights by a network of LTEs with small weights. We prove the following results: 1) every LTE with big weights can be simulated by a depth-3, polynomial size network of LTEs with small weights, 2) every depth-d polynomial size network of LTEs with big weights can be simulated by a depth-(2d+1), polynomial size network of LTEs with small weights. To prove these results, we use tools from harmonic analysis of Boolean functions. Our technique is quite general, it provides insights to some other problems. For example, we were able to improve the best known results on the depth of a network of threshold elements that computes the COMPARISON, ADDITION and PRODUCT of two n-bits numbers, and the MAXIMUM and the SORTING of n n-bit numbers.
Common determinants in DNA melting and helicase-catalysed DNA unwinding by papillomavirus replication protein E1

E1 and T-antigen of the tumour viruses bovine papillomavirus (BPV-1) and Simian virus 40 (SV40) are the initiator proteins that recognize and melt their respective origins of replication in the initial phase of DNA replication. These proteins then assemble into processive hexameric helicases upon the single-stranded DNA that they create. In T-antigen, a characteristic loop and hairpin structure (the pre-sensor 1β hairpin, PS1βH) project into a central cavity generated by protein hexamerization. This channel undergoes large ATP-dependent conformational changes, and the loop/PS1βH is proposed to form a DNA binding site critical for helicase activity. Here, we show that conserved residues in BPV E1 that probably form a similar loop/hairpin structure are required for helicase activity and also origin (ori) DNA melting. We propose that DNA melting requires the cooperation of the E1 helicase domain (E1HD) and the origin binding domain (OBD) tethered to DNA. One possible mechanism is that with the DNA locked in the loop/PS1βH DNA binding site, ATP-dependent conformational changes draw the DNA inwards in a twisting motion to promote unwinding.
Healthy Lies: The Effects of Misrepresenting Player Health Data on Experience, Behavior, and Performance

Game designers use a variety of techniques that mislead players with the goal of inducing play experience. For example, designers may manipulate data displays of player health-showing they have less health than they actually do-to induce tension. While commonly used, players make decisions based on in-game data displays, raising the question of how misrepresentations impact behavior and performance, and whether this might have unintended consequences. To provide a better understanding of how data misrepresentation impacts play, we compare two versions of a game: one that displays health accurately and one that misrepresents health. Our results suggest that even subtle manipulations to data displays can have a measurable effect on behavior and performance, and these changes can help explain differences in experience. We show that data misrepresentations need to be designed carefully to avoid unintended effects. Our work provides new directions for research into the design of misrepresentation in games.
Sirt1 and cell migration

Sirt1 is a type III histone deacetylase implicated in a wide range of physiological and pathophysiological roles. Acting though a myriad of non-histone substrates, Sirt1 modulates transcriptional regulation of energy metabolism and stress response, with important consequences on cell survival and a myriad of human pathologies. Sirt1 has an apparent (albeit context- and tissue type-dependent) role in tumorigenesis, acting particularly through its deacetylation of tumor suppressor gene products such as p53 and Rb. Recent works have now revealed that cortactin, an F-actin binding protein with established roles in protrusive actin dynamics, is a Sirt1 substrate. Cortactin could be acetylated by the acetyltransferase p300, and its deacetylation by Sirt1, either directly or indirectly, retards cell migration. In conjunction with deacetylation of other oncogenic targets, Sirt1’s modulation of cell migration and invasion may be an important additional aspect of its tumorigenic activity.
A-V Differences of Free Fatty Acids and Glycerol in the Ovine Umbilical Circulation 1

Conclusions 1. Measurement of venous-arterial differences across the umbilical circulation of the sheep fetus in utero and across the maternal uterine circulation in the chronic animal preparation shows no significant passage of free fatty acids to the fetus. This is true despite relatively high maternal blood free fatty acid concentrations. There is a small venous-arterial difference of glycerol across the umbilical circulation; this is, however, sufficient to account for only a small portion of the fetal oxygen consumption due to substances other than glucose. Free fatty acids and glycerol therefore do not appear to constitute a significant part of the metabolic fuel supplied by the mother to the sheep fetus in utero. 2. The fetuses of fasted ewes show an elevation of blood free fatty acid and glycerol concentrations. Measurements of venous-arterial differences across the umbilical circulation indicate that this free fatty acid and glycerol rise is of fetal origin. 3. Fetal infusion of norepinephrine results in lipolysis in the fetus, as evidenced by elevation of fetal blood free fatty acid and glycerol concentrations.
Discovering Periodic Patterns using Supergraph in Dynamic Networks

In dynamic networks, interactions that occur periodically express especially significant meaning. However, these patterns occur infrequently, so it is difficult to detect among mass data. To identify such periodic patterns in dynamic networks, we propose single pass supergraph based periodic pattern mining SPBMiner technique that is polynomial unlike most graph mining problems. The proposed technique stores all entities in dynamic networks only once and calculates common sub-patterns only one time at each timestep. The performance study shows that SPBMiner method is time and memory efficient compare than others. The memory efficiency of our approach is total timesteps independent.
Potential application of protease isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PD100

A protease isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PD100 could act in the presence of SDS and Tween 80. This protease could be useful for degradation of protein in the presence of solvent, dehairing of cow skin and degradation of natural proteins. The immobilized protease showed 15-20% increases in temperature stability and the entrapped enzyme retained 83% of its initial activity after six cycles. With respect to properties of the enzyme and its capability for degradation of different protein sources, this protease finds potential application for waste treatment, used in detergents and leather industry. Proteases execute a large variety of functions and have important biotechnological applications. Proteases represent one of the three largest groups of industrial enzymes and find application in detergents, leather industry, food industry, pharmaceutical industry and bioremediation processes (Anwar and Saleemuddin, 1998; Gupta et al. 2002). Probably the largest application of proteases is in laundry detergents, where they help removing protein based stains from clothing (Banerjee et al. 1999). For an enzyme to be used as an detergent additive it should be stable and active in the presence of typical
Polycystic ovary syndrome and MTHFR gene C 677 T and A 1298 C polymorphisms

In this study, it was aimed to determine the allele frequencies and genotype distributions of MTHFR gene C677T and A1298C polymorphisms in a Turkish study population with polycystic ovary syndrome. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood samples of 30 patients with polycystic ovary syndrome and 28 healthy controls. PCR-RFLP technique was used to analyze MTHFR gene C677T and A1298C polymorphisms. Products of PCR-RFLP technique were assessed with UV transilluminator by being exposed to agarose gel electrophoresis. According to MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism, TT genotype was found statistically higher (p<0.05) in the control group than in the patient group, but allele frequencies were similar between the two groups. Genotype distribution of MTHFR gene A1298C polymorphism between the groups did not show any difference, but according to allele frequencies A allele frequency was statistically higher (p<0.05) in the control group than in the patient group. As a result of this study, it can be concluded that MTHFR gene C677T and A1298C polymorphisms are not involved in polycystic ovary syndrome in this Turkish study population.
Real-time communication in multi-hop networks

A scheme is developed for providing predictable interprocess communication in real-time systems with (partially connected) point-to-point interconnection networks, which provides guarantees on the maximum delivery time for messages. This scheme is based on the concept of a real-time channel, a unidirectional connection between source and destination. A real-time channel has parameters which describe the performance requirements of the source-destination communication, e.g., from a sensor station to a control site. Methods to compute guarantees for the delivery time of messages belonging to real-time channels are examined. Problems associated with allocating buffers for these messages are addressed, and a scheme which preserves delivery time guarantees is developed. <<ETX>>
Technologies for Social Justice: Lessons from Sex Workers on the Front Lines

This paper provides analysis and insight from a collaborative process with a Canadian sex worker rights organization called Stella, l'amie de Maimie, where we reflect on the use of and potential for digital technologies in service delivery. We analyze the Bad Client and Aggressor List - a reporting tool co-produced by sex workers in the community and Stella staff to reduce violence against sex workers. We analyze its current and potential future formats as an artefact for communication, in a context of sex work criminalization and the exclusion of sex workers from traditional routes for reporting violence and accessing governmental systems for justice. This paper addresses a novel aspect of HCI research that relates to digital technologies and social justice. Reflecting on the Bad Client and Aggressor List, we discuss how technologies can interact with justice-oriented service delivery and develop three implications for design.
Facilitating Tumor Functional Assessment by Spatially Relating 3D Tumor Histology and In Vivo MRI: Image Registration Approach

Background Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), together with histology, is widely used to diagnose and to monitor treatment in oncology. Spatial correspondence between these modalities provides information about the ability of MRI to characterize cancerous tissue. However, registration is complicated by deformations during pathological processing, and differences in scale and information content. Methodology/Principal Findings This study proposes a methodology for establishing an accurate 3D relation between histological sections and high resolution in vivo MRI tumor data. The key features of the methodology are: 1) standardized acquisition and processing, 2) use of an intermediate ex vivo MRI, 3) use of a reference cutting plane, 4) dense histological sampling, 5) elastic registration, and 6) use of complete 3D data sets. Five rat pancreatic tumors imaged by T2*-w MRI were used to evaluate the proposed methodology. The registration accuracy was assessed by root mean squared (RMS) distances between manually annotated landmark points in both modalities. After elastic registration the average RMS distance decreased from 1.4 to 0.7 mm. The intermediate ex vivo MRI and the reference cutting plane shared by all three 3D images (in vivo MRI, ex vivo MRI, and 3D histology data) were found to be crucial for the accurate co-registration between the 3D histological data set and in vivo MRI. The MR intensity in necrotic regions, as manually annotated in 3D histology, was significantly different from other histologically confirmed regions (i.e., viable and hemorrhagic). However, the viable and the hemorrhagic regions showed a large overlap in T2*-w MRI signal intensity. Conclusions The established 3D correspondence between tumor histology and in vivo MRI enables extraction of MRI characteristics for histologically confirmed regions. The proposed methodology allows the creation of a tumor database of spatially registered multi-spectral MR images and multi-stained 3D histology.
Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Pathophysiology, Evaluation, and Effect of Weight Loss

Obesity is becoming a global epidemic in both children and adults, and it is associated with numerous co-morbidities such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers, and sleep apnea/sleep-disordered breathing. In fact, is an independent risk factor for CVD and CVD risks have been also documented in obese children, and is associated with reduced life expectancy. A variety of adaptations/alterations in cardiac structure and function occur in the individual as adipose tissue accumulates in excess amount. As a whole, overweight/obesity predispose or is associated with numerous cardiac complications such as coronary heart disease, heart failure, and sudden death through its impact on the cardiovascular system.
Apoptosis is observed in mesothelial cells after exposure to crocidolite asbestos.

Asbestos causes protracted, dose-dependent increases in steady-state mRNA levels of the proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun, and AP-1 DNA-binding activity in normal rat pleural mesothelial (RPM) cells (1). To determine the phenotypic end points of overexpression of these early response genes by asbestos, both cell proliferation and apoptosis were examined in confluent RPM cells exposed to a range of concentrations (1.25 to 10 micrograms/cm2 dish) of crocidolite asbestos for 24 and 48 h. Quantitation of RPM cells pulsed with 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine revealed that asbestos caused dose-dependent decreases in cells undergoing DNA synthesis. Decreases in cell proliferation were accompanied by dose-related increases in apoptosis using (1) terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (i.e., ApopTag technique), (2) 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole cell staining, and (3) fluorescent-activated cell sorter after incorporation of propidium iodide. Less striking but significant dose-related increases in apoptosis were observed in RPM cells exposed to H2O2 (300 microM), and no apoptosis was seen after exposure of cells to high concentrations (10 micrograms/cm2 dish) of glass beads. Our results are unique in that they demonstrate that asbestos induces apoptosis in mesothelial cells at concentrations eliciting increased expression of the proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun.
Factors in the Pathogenesis of Pyelonephritis

While it is almost literally true that a satisfactory comprehension of the diseases of the genitourinary tract depends upon a clear appreciation of the nature and probable course of renal infection, there is no subject in which there is so little uniformity of opinion and so much confusion. The literature of the subject is stupefying both in quantity and in complexity, and anyone who has attempted to master it will, we think, be convinced of the fact that it is more likely to confound than to enlighten the reader. '8
Robot navigation in dense human crowds: Statistical models and experimental studies of human–robot cooperation

We consider the problem of navigating a mobile robot through dense human crowds. We begin by exploring a fundamental impediment to classical motion planning algorithms called the “freezing robot problem”: once the environment surpasses a certain level of dynamic complexity, the planner decides that all forward paths are unsafe, and the robot freezes in place (or performs unnecessary maneuvers) to avoid collisions. We argue that this problem can be avoided if the robot anticipates human cooperation, and accordingly we develop interacting Gaussian processes, a prediction density that captures cooperative collision avoidance, and a “multiple goal” extension that models the goal-driven nature of human decision making. We validate this model with an empirical study of robot navigation in dense human crowds (488 runs), specifically testing how cooperation models effect navigation performance. The multiple goal interacting Gaussian processes algorithm performs comparably with human teleoperators in crowd densities nearing 0.8 humans/m2, while a state-of-the-art non-cooperative planner exhibits unsafe behavior more than three times as often as the multiple goal extension, and twice as often as the basic interacting Gaussian process approach. Furthermore, a reactive planner based on the widely used dynamic window approach proves insufficient for crowd densities above 0.55 people/m2. We also show that our non-cooperative planner or our reactive planner capture the salient characteristics of nearly any dynamic navigation algorithm. Based on these experimental results and theoretical observations, we conclude that a cooperation model is critical for safe and efficient robot navigation in dense human crowds.
Semantic Vector Encoding and Similarity Search Using Fulltext Search Engines

Vector representations and vector space modeling (VSM) play a central role in modern machine learning. We propose a novel approach to ‘vector similarity searching’ over dense semantic representations of words and documents that can be deployed on top of traditional inverted-index-based fulltext engines, taking advantage of their robustness, stability, scalability and ubiquity. We show that this approach allows the indexing and querying of dense vectors in text domains. This opens up exciting avenues for major efficiency gains, along with simpler deployment, scaling and monitoring. The end result is a fast and scalable vector database with a tunable trade-off between vector search performance and quality, backed by a standard fulltext engine such as Elasticsearch. We empirically demonstrate its querying performance and quality by applying this solution to the task of semantic searching over a dense vector representation of the entire English Wikipedia.
Autophagy genes Smatg8 and Smatg4 are required for fruiting-body development, vegetative growth and ascospore germination in the filamentous ascomycete Sordaria macrospora

Autophagy is a tightly controlled degradation process involved in various developmental aspects of eukaryotes. However, its involvement in developmental processes of multicellular filamentous ascomycetes is largely unknown. Here, we analyzed the impact of the autophagic proteins SmATG8 and SmATG4 on the sexual and vegetative development of the filamentous ascomycete Sordaria macrospora. A Saccharomyces cerevisiae complementation assay demonstrated that the S. macrospora Smatg8 and Smatg4 genes can functionally replace the yeast homologs. By generating homokaryotic deletion mutants, we showed that the S. macrospora SmATG8 and SmATG4 orthologs were associated with autophagy-dependent processes. Smatg8 and Smatg4 deletions abolished fruiting-body formation and impaired vegetative growth and ascospore germination, but not hyphal fusion. We demonstrated that SmATG4 was capable of processing the SmATG8 precursor. SmATG8 was localized to autophagosomes, whereas SmATG4 was distributed throughout the cytoplasm of S. macrospora. Furthermore, we could show that Smatg8 and Smatg4 are not only required for nonselective macroautophagy, but for selective macropexophagy as well. Taken together, our results suggest that in S. macrospora, autophagy seems to be an essential and constitutively active process to sustain high energy levels for filamentous growth and multicellular development even under nonstarvation conditions.
ASEB: a web server for KAT-specific acetylation site prediction

Protein lysine acetylation plays an important role in the normal functioning of cells, including gene expression regulation, protein stability and metabolism regulation. Although large amounts of lysine acetylation sites have been identified via large-scale mass spectrometry or traditional experimental methods, the lysine (K)-acetyl-transferase (KAT) responsible for the acetylation of a given protein or lysine site remains largely unknown due to the experimental limitations of KAT substrate identification. Hence, the in silico prediction of KAT-specific acetylation sites may provide direction for further experiments. In our previous study, we developed the acetylation set enrichment based (ASEB) computer program to predict which KAT-families are responsible for the acetylation of a given protein or lysine site. In this article, we provide KAT-specific acetylation site prediction as a web service. This web server not only provides the online tool and R package for the method in our previous study, but several useful services are also included, such as the integration of protein–protein interaction information to enhance prediction accuracy. This web server can be freely accessed at http://cmbi.bjmu. edu.cn/huac.