Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple roles of NF1 in the melanocyte lineage

NF1 is a tumour suppressor gene, germline mutations of which lead to neurofibromatosis type 1 syndrome. Patients develop benign tumours from several types of cells including neural crest‐derived cells. NF1 somatic mutations also occur in 15% of sporadic melanoma, a cancer originating from melanocytes. Evidence now suggests the involvement of NF1 mutations in melanoma resistance to targeted therapies. Although NF1 is ubiquitously expressed, genetic links between NF1 and genes involved in melanocyte biology have been described, implying the lineage‐specific mechanisms. In this review, we summarize and discuss the latest advances related to the roles of NF1 in melanocyte biology and in cutaneous melanoma.
The Role of Musical Experience in Hemispheric Lateralization of Global and Local Auditory Processing

The global precedence effect is a phenomenon in which global aspects of visual and auditory stimuli are processed before local aspects. Individuals with musical experience perform better on all aspects of auditory tasks compared with individuals with less musical experience. The hemispheric lateralization of this auditory processing is less well-defined. The present study aimed to replicate the global precedence effect with auditory stimuli and to explore the lateralization of global and local auditory processing in individuals with differing levels of musical experience. A total of 38 college students completed an auditory-directed attention task while electroencephalography was recorded. Individuals with low musical experience responded significantly faster and more accurately in global trials than in local trials regardless of condition, and significantly faster and more accurately when pitches traveled in the same direction (compatible condition) than when pitches traveled in two different directions (incompatible condition) consistent with a global precedence effect. In contrast, individuals with high musical experience showed less of a global precedence effect with regards to accuracy, but not in terms of reaction time, suggesting an increased ability to overcome global bias. Further, a difference in P300 latency between hemispheres was observed. These findings provide a preliminary neurological framework for auditory processing of individuals with differing degrees of musical experience.
Evaluation of the Sealing Ability of Three Obturation Techniques Using a Glucose Leakage Test

The aim of this study was to evaluate the sealing ability of three different canal filling techniques. Sixty-four roots of extracted human maxillary anterior teeth were prepared using ProTaper® rotary instruments. The specimens were then randomly divided into 3 experimental groups (n = 16) and 2 control groups (n = 8). The root canals were filled using cold lateral compaction (CLC group), continuous wave condensation technique using the Elements Obturation Unit® (EOU group), and ProTaper obturators (PT group). For the negative control group, 8 roots were filled using lateral compaction as in the CLC group, and the teeth were covered twice with a layer of nail varnish (NCG group). Another 8 roots were filled using lateral compaction, but without sealer, and these were used as the positive control (PCG group). A glucose leakage model was used for quantitative evaluation of microleakage for 24 hours and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 weeks. No significant difference in the cumulative amount of leakage was found between the three experimental groups at all observation times. The lateral condensation of cold gutta-percha can guarantee a similar seal of canal fillings as can be achieved by using thermal methods, in the round canals.
Role of TGF-β activated kinase-1 inhibitor on the interaction between macrophages and mesangial cells on the condition of high glucose

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the effect of TGF-β activated kinase-1(TAK1) inhibitor 5Z-7-oxozeaenol on the interaction between macrophages and mesangial cells exposed to high glucose. Methods The macrophages and mesangial cells were cultured separately or co-cultured and divided into seven groups: inhibitor control group, mannitol control group, normal control group, high glucose group and inhibitor groups. The expression of p-TAK1, TAK1 binding protein (TAB1), transcription factor NF - κ B (NF-κB p65) of macrophages were analyzed by Western blotting. The intracellular localization of NF-κB p65 was analyzed by immunofluorescence. The levels of inflammation cytokines and extracellular matrix were determined by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay. Migration of macrophages was observed by microscope. Results Compared with control group, the expression of p-TAK1, TAB1, NF-κB p65 were significantly higher in high glucose group (P < 0.05). Both in co-culture group and single culture group, the levels of inflammation cytokines and extracellular matrix (P < 0.05) in high glucose group were higher than that in control group. Exposed to high glucose, the levels of inflammation cytokines and extracellular matrix in co-cultured group were higher than that in single culture group (P < 0.05). 5Z-7-oxozeaenol can decrease those cytokines secretion, comparing with high glucose group (P < 0.05). The number of macrophages migration were decreased by 5Z-7-oxozeaenol (P < 0.05). Conclusion Exposed to high glucose, macrophages and mesangial cells can interact with each other to promote the secretion of inflammation cytokines and extracellular matrix. TAK1 inhibitor can reduce the secretion of inflammation cytokines and extracellular matrix components by intervening NF-κB p65 nuclear transfer and inhibiting macrophage migration.
Thank You For Being A Friend: An Attacker View on Online-Social-Network-Based Sybil Defenses

Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become a rewarding target for attackers. One particularly popular attack is the Sybil attack, in which the adversary creates many fake accounts called Sybils in order to, for instance, distribute spam or manipulate voting results. A first generation of defense systems tried to detect these Sybils by analyzing changes in the structure of the OSN graph---unfortunately with limited success. Based on these efforts a second generation of solutions enriches the graph-structural approaches with higher-level user features in order to detect Sybil nodes more efficiently. In this work we provide an in-depth analysis of these defenses. We describe their common design and working principles, analyze their vulnerabilities, and design simple yet effective attack strategies that an adversary could launch to circumvent these systems. In our evaluation we reveal that an miscreant can exploit the credulity of OSN users and follow a targeted attack strategy to successfully avoid detection by all existing approaches.
Mediation analysis of systemic inflammation on the association between periodontitis and glycaemic status

AIM This cross-sectional study investigated the associations between periodontitis, systemic inflammation and glycaemic status. MATERIALS AND METHODS The participants were divided into three groups: normoglycaemia, impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and diabetes. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations between periodontitis severity and glycaemic status, adjusting for potential confounders. Mediation analysis of four systemic inflammatory biomarkers, C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), was performed. RESULTS This study comprised 2,036 participants, aged 39-66 years. Severe periodontitis was associated with IFG and diabetes with odds ratios of 1.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-2.4, p = .023) and 2.4 (95% CI: 1.3-4.5, p = .006), respectively. The CRP, WBC and PLR were associated with both periodontitis severity and glycaemic status (p < .05). In contrast, the NLR was associated with periodontitis severity (p < .05) but not glycaemic status (p > .05). The CRP, WBC and PLR mediated 8%, 13% and 6%, respectively, of the association between severe periodontitis and diabetes. Similar proportions mediated were observed for the periodontitis-IFG association. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support the role of systemic inflammation as mediators of the associations between periodontitis and IFG or diabetes.
Global and multi-focal changes in cerebral blood flow during subthalamic nucleus stimulation in Parkinson’s disease

Electrical stimulation of subthalamic nuclei (STN) is a widely used therapy in Parkinson’s disease (PD). While deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the STN alters the neurophysiological activity in basal ganglia, the therapeutic mechanism has not been established. A positron emission tomography (PET) study of cerebral blood flow (CBF) during speech production in PD subjects treated with STN-DBS found significant increases in global (whole-brain) CBF.1 That study utilized a series of whole-slice regions of interest to obtain global CBF values. The present study examined this effect using a voxel-based principal component analysis (PCA) combined with Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis (FLDA) to classify STN-DBS on versus STN-DBS off whole-brain images. The approach yielded wide-spread CBF changes that classified STN-DBS status with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity approaching 90%. The PCA component of the analysis supported the observation of a global CBF change during STN-DBS. The FLDA component demonstrated wide-spread multi-focal CBF changes. Further, CBF measurements related to a number of subject characteristics when STN-DBS was off, but not when it was on, suggesting that the normal relationship between CBF and behavior may be disrupted by this form of neuromodulation.
SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLY(BUTYL METHACRYLATE) GRAFTED SODIUM SALT OF PARTIALLY CARBOXYMETHYLATED GUAR GUM

An unreported graft copolymer of polybutyl methacrylate (PBMA) with sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated guar gum (Na-PCMGG, DS = 0.497) was synthesized using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as a redox initiator. The reaction variables including concentrations of initiator, nitric acid, monomer and amount of the backbone, as well as time and temperature, were varied to establish the optimal reaction conditions. The influence of these reaction variables on the grafting yields was discussed. The kinetic scheme of free radical graft copolymerization was also proposed and the experimental results were found to agree very well with it. The reactivity of butyl methacrylate towards graft copolymerization has been compared with that reported in literature and a plausible explanation has been furnished. The graft copolymer sample was characterized by the FT-IR, SEM and TGA techniques. The synthesized graft copolymer, Na-PCMGG-g-PBMA, may find application as a tablet matrix for the release of a model drug.
A Study of Nanocrystalline CdTe Type (II) Quantum Dot Based Hetero Structures

The electrical properties of nanocrystalline CdTe type II quantum dots based hetero structures deposited on conductive glass were investigated. They present interesting peculiarities. Low frequency (20 Hz ≤ f ≤ 200 kHz) dielectric properties of type II CdTe quantum dots blended with single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs, polyglycol functionalized) were investigated at room temperature. Negative capacitance was observed at low frequencies under forward DC biases. This phenomenon was found to result from the combinational contributions from the Maxwell-Wagner interfacial relaxation and the dipolar relaxation related to de- trapped carriers which give rise to inductive effect under an applied electric field. By using frequency dependent capacitance spectroscopy, the tunnelling effects of holes and electrons were investigated. In capacitance curves measured at low frequency, peaks were observed; these peaks could be attributed to the resonant tunnelling of charge carries into discrete energy levels of nanocrystalline CdTe and exhibit quantum confinement and Coulomb blockade effects. A clear (positive/negative) shift in capacitance-voltage(C-V) and conductance-voltage (G-V) suggests (electron/hole) trapping in nanocrystalline quantum dots.
The diagnostic utility of patient-report and speech-language pathologists’ ratings for detecting the early onset of bulbar symptoms due to ALS

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to determine the diagnostic utility of clinician speech ratings and patient self-report for detecting early bulbar changes associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), compared to instrumentation-based speech measures. Methods: Thirty-six individuals with ALS and 17 healthy control participants were included. Patients’ awareness of early bulbar motor involvement was assessed using self-reported scores on the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R). Clinicians’ detection of early bulbar motor involvement was assessed through perceptual speech ratings by two experienced speech-language pathologists. Participants with ALS were grouped as ‘bulbar pre-symptomatic’ or ‘bulbar symptomatic’ based on self-report and clinician ratings, and compared to healthy controls on six instrumentation-based speech measures. ROC analysis was used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of perceptual and instrumentation-based measures for detecting bulbar changes in pre-symptomatic individuals. Results: Early bulbar changes that were documented using instrumentation-based measures were undetected by both patients and clinicians. ROC analyses indicated that instrumentation-based measures outperformed clinicians’ scaled severity ratings, and that percent pause time was the best measure for differentiating healthy controls from bulbar pre-symptomatic individuals with ALS. Conclusions: Findings suggested that instrumentation-based measures of speech may be necessary for early detection of bulbar changes due to ALS.
Foxp1 Negatively Regulates T Follicular Helper Cell Differentiation and Germinal Center Responses by Controlling Cell Migration and CTLA-4

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells play an essential role in the formation of germinal centers (GC) and generation of high-affinity Abs. The homing of activated CD4+ T cells into B cell follicles and the involvement of key costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules are critical in controlling both the initiation and the magnitude of GC responses. Meanwhile, studies have shown that a high number of single clone B cells leads to intraclonal competition, which inhibits the generation of high-affinity Abs. Our previous work has shown that transcription factor Foxp1 is a critical negative regulator of Tfh cell differentiation. In this study, we report that the deletion of Foxp1 leads to a high proportion of activated CD4+ T cells homing into B cell follicles with faster kinetics, resulting in earlier GC formation. In addition, we show that Foxp1-deficient Tfh cells restore the generation of high-affinity Abs when cotransferred with high numbers of single clone B cells. We find that Foxp1 regulates the expression levels of cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated Ag-4 (CTLA-4) in activated CD4+ T cells and that Ctla4 is a direct Foxp1 target. Finally, we demonstrate that CTLA-4 expression on conventional CD4+ T cells plays a cell-intrinsic role in Tfh cell differentiation in vivo, and CTLA-4 blockade helps abolish the intraclonal competition of B cells in generating high-affinity Abs.
Clinical outcomes with reservoir‐based polymer‐free amphilimus‐eluting stents in real‐world patients according to diabetes mellitus and complexity: The INVESTIG8 registry

Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) remain at higher risk of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention despite the use of contemporary drug‐eluting stents. The Cre8 amphilimus‐eluting stent (AES) has shown promising results in DM patients. Whether this holds true irrespective of patient's clinical and angiographic complexity is unknown.
Zoonotic origin and transmission of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus in the UAE

Since the emergence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV) in 2012, there have been a number of clusters of human‐to‐human transmission. These cases of human‐to‐human transmission involve close contact and have occurred primarily in healthcare settings, and they are suspected to result from repeated zoonotic introductions. In this study, we sequenced whole MERS‐CoV genomes directly from respiratory samples collected from 23 confirmed MERS cases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These samples included cases from three nosocomial and three household clusters. The sequences were analysed for changes and relatedness with regard to the collected epidemiological data and other available MERS‐CoV genomic data. Sequence analysis supports the epidemiological data within the clusters, and further, suggests that these clusters emerged independently. To understand how and when these clusters emerged, respiratory samples were taken from dromedary camels, a known host of MERS‐CoV, in the same geographic regions as the human clusters. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus genomes from six virus‐positive animals were sequenced, and these genomes were nearly identical to those found in human patients from corresponding regions. These data demonstrate a genetic link for each of these clusters to a camel and support the hypothesis that human MERS‐CoV diversity results from multiple zoonotic introductions.
STRUCTURAL AND MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ZNF2-TEO2-B2O3- SM2O3 GLASSES

Rare earth samarium doped zinc borate glass system based on 30 ZnF2 - 20 TeO2 - (50-x) B2O3 - x Sm2O3, (where x = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 mol%) were prepared. The density of each glass was measured and the molar volume was calculated. Makishima and Mackenzie (M-M) models gave reasonable estimation for different constants of elasticity (Young's modulus (E), Bulk modulus (K), Shear modulus (S), Poisson's ratio (ϑ)). Vickers (Hv) indentation tests were performed on the series of glass samples. These connections were used to relate the conventional Hardness (H). Fracture toughness (KIC), Dissociation energy (Gi) and Packing density (Vt) were also investigated. The relationship between Machinability and Brittleness of glass materials were studied. Exposition of the M-M model proved to be good for the constants of elasticity of ZnF2- TeO2-B2O3-Sm2O3 glasses.
COPING SKILLS OF IRANIAN FAMILY CAREGIVERS' IN CARETAKING OF PATIENTS UNDERGOING HAEMODIALYSIS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY.

BACKGROUND Coping skills enable caregivers to establish and maintain supportive relationships with the haemodialysis patients they care for. These skills are very important in terms of social support, promotion of mental health and social and family relations. The aim of this study is to investigate the coping skills of Iranian family caregivers as they take care of patients undergoing haemodialysis. METHODS Twenty participants were selected for the study through purposive sampling. The data gathering techniques used for the research were in-depth and unstructured interviews. The researchers used an inductive thematic analysis approach to analyse the data generated from the interviews. RESULTS Four main themes emerged from the data: help-seeking skills, self-nurturing skills, time management skills and stress management skills. CONCLUSION The focus of attention was on the stress management coping skills of the caregivers of haemodialysis patients together with their ability to cope with complex problems. Healthcare providers, by taking into account these skills and strategies of empowerment, can help other caregivers of haemodialysis patients cope with their heavy care conditions and better define their purposes in caretaking.
Two-Stage Data Distribution for Distributed Surveillance Video Processing with Hybrid Storage Architecture

Distributed computing framework such asHadoop is now a prominent solution for the efficient big dataprocessing. However, the current data placement strategiesin these frameworks lack in consideration of the types ofstorage devices and the features of surveillance video tasks.So using the current distributed computing framework forlarge-scale video processing in the cloud computing clusterwith hybrid storage architecture will lead to the low utilizationof the high-performance devices and the skew of the videotask completion time. In this paper, we propose a novel Two-Stage Data Distribution Approach (TSDDA) for optimizingthe data placement in the cloud computing platform. Ourapproach adopts an accurate Processing Time Prediction Model(PTPM) to estimate the processing time of the video task byincorporating the several important video task features, theheterogeneous I/O capabilities and processing abilities in thehybrid cluster. In our approach, an initial data placementalgorithm is used to place the data needed by the videoprocessing jobs on the appropriate processing nodes in theprocess of the initial data loading, and then a dynamic datamigration algorithm is further used to migrate the video datafrom HDD to SSD for further improving the SSD’s utilizationand the processing efficiency during the process of the jobexecution. Finally, we conduct the extensive experiments, andthe experimental results verify the accuracy of PTPM and showthat the proposed TSDDA outperforms the current method
Cross-centre replication of suppressed burrowing behaviour as an ethologically relevant pain outcome measure in the rat: a prospective multicentre study

Abstract Burrowing, an ethologically relevant rodent behaviour, has been proposed as a novel outcome measure to assess the global impact of pain in rats. In a prospective multicentre study using male rats (Wistar, Sprague-Dawley), replication of suppressed burrowing behaviour in the complete Freund adjuvant (CFA)-induced model of inflammatory pain (unilateral, 1 mg/mL in 100 µL) was evaluated in 11 studies across 8 centres. Following a standard protocol, data from participating centres were collected centrally and analysed with a restricted maximum likelihood-based mixed model for repeated measures. The total population (TP—all animals allocated to treatment; n = 249) and a selected population (SP—TP animals burrowing over 500 g at baseline; n = 200) were analysed separately, assessing the effect of excluding “poor” burrowers. Mean baseline burrowing across studies was 1113 g (95% confidence interval: 1041-1185 g) for TP and 1329 g (1271-1387 g) for SP. Burrowing was significantly suppressed in the majority of studies 24 hours (7 studies/population) and 48 hours (7 TP, 6 SP) after CFA injections. Across all centres, significantly suppressed burrowing peaked 24 hours after CFA injections, with a burrowing deficit of −374 g (−479 to −269 g) for TP and −498 g (−609 to −386 g) for SP. This unique multicentre approach first provided high-quality evidence evaluating suppressed burrowing as robust and reproducible, supporting its use as tool to infer the global effect of pain on rodents. Second, our approach provided important informative value for the use of multicentre studies in the future.
SFC Provisioning over NFV Enabled Clouds

This paper deals with virtualised Network Function Placement and chaining over cloud and NFV environments. We propose a polynomial-time algorithm for joint VNF chain placement that is based on a recursive optimization approach. The key idea is to benefit from the robustness of the recursion paradigm that was used to solve many optimization problems. We demonstrate the potential of our solution by comparing it to previous work. We conduct performance evaluation first through extensive simulations and then using a real cloud testbed. The obtained results show that our proposed algorithm achieves better performance in terms of resource usage, execution time, acceptance rate and revenue of the cloud provider.