Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and characterization of acellular porcine pulmonary valve scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Currently available replacement heart valves all have limitations. This study aimed to produce and characterize an acellular, biocompatible porcine pulmonary root conduit for reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract e.g., during Ross procedure. A process for the decellularization of porcine pulmonary roots was developed incorporating trypsin treatment of the adventitial surface of the scraped pulmonary artery and sequential treatment with hypotonic Tris buffer (HTB; 10 mM Tris pH 8.0, 0.1% (w/v) EDTA, and 10 KIU aprotinin), 0.1% (w/v) sodium dodecyl sulfate in HTB, two cycles of DNase and RNase, and sterilization with 0.1% (v/v) peracetic acid. Histology confirmed an absence of cells and retention of the gross histoarchitecture. Immunohistochemistry further confirmed cell removal and partial retention of the extracellular matrix, but a loss of collagen type IV. DNA levels were reduced by more than 96% throughout all regions of the acellular tissue and no functional genes were detected using polymerase chain reaction. Total collagen levels were retained but there was a significant loss of glycosaminoglycans following decellularization. The biomechanical, hydrodynamic, and leaflet kinematics properties were minimally affected by the process. Both immunohistochemical labeling and antibody absorption assay confirmed a lack of α-gal epitopes in the acellular porcine pulmonary roots and in vitro biocompatibility studies indicated that acellular leaflets and pulmonary arteries were not cytotoxic. Overall the acellular porcine pulmonary roots have excellent potential for development of a tissue substitute for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction e.g., during the Ross procedure.
BEN, a surface glycoprotein of the immunoglobulin superfamily, is expressed in a variety of developing systems.

We have previously identified a 95- to 100-kDa cell surface glycoprotein, which we named BEN (for bursal epithelium and neurons), that is widely expressed during chicken embryonic development. In the central nervous system, it is restricted to subsets of neurons including the motoneurons and the inferior olivary nucleus neurons (which provide the cerebellum with the climbing fibers) where its expression occurs during the phase of axonogenesis and synaptogenesis. In the present work, we show that BEN expression extends to a variety of tissues originating from the three embryonic germ layers. We have found that BEN immunopurified from neural, epithelial, and hemopoietic tissues is differently glycosylated and may or may not carry the HNK-1 epitope. We then cloned a full-length cDNA encoding this protein. Analysis of its sequence reveals that BEN is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. Two molecules with an identical cDNA sequence were recently reported: DM-GRASP [Burns, F. R. , Von Kannen, S. , Guy, L. , Raper, J. A. , Kamholz, J. & Chang, S. (1991) Neuron 7, 209-220] and SC1 [Tanaka, H. , Matsui, T. , Agata, A. , Tomura, M. , Kubota, I. , Mcfarland, K. C. , Kohr, B. , Lee, A. , Phillips, H. S. & Shelton, D. L. (1991) Neuron 7, 535-545]. Their pattern of expression and structural properties are consistent with those reported for BEN. Therefore BEN, DM-GRASP, and SC1 are likely to be the same molecule of the immunoglobulin superfamily.
Hemodynamic Response to Intravenous Adenosine and Its Effect on Fractional Flow Reserve Assessment: Results of the Adenosine for the Functional Evaluation of Coronary Stenosis Severity (AFFECTS) Study

Background—We studied the hemodynamic response to intravenous adenosine on calculation of fractional flow reserve (FFR). Intravenous adenosine is widely used to achieve conditions of stable hyperemia for measurement of FFR. However, intravenous adenosine affects both systemic and coronary vascular beds differentially. Methods and Results—A total of 283 patients (310 coronary stenoses) underwent coronary angiography with FFR using intravenous adenosine 140 mcg/kg per minute via a central femoral vein. Offline analysis was performed to calculate aortic (Pa), distal intracoronary (Pd), and reservoir (Pr) pressure at baseline, peak, and stable hyperemia. Seven different hemodynamic patterns were observed according to Pa and Pd change at peak and stable hyperemia. The average time from baseline to stable hyperemia was 68.2±38.5 seconds, when both &Dgr;Pa and &Dgr;Pd were decreased (&Dgr;Pa, −10.2±10.5 mm Hg; &Dgr;Pd, −18.2±10.8 mm Hg; P<0.001 for both). The fall in Pa closely correlated with the reduction in peripheral Pr (&Dgr;Pr, −12.9±15.7 mm Hg; P<0.001; r=0.9; P<0.001). &Dgr;Pa and &Dgr;Pd were closely related under conditions of peak (r=0.75; P<0.001) and stable hyperemia (r=0.83; P<0.001). On average, 56% (10.2 mm Hg) of the reduction in Pd was because of fall in Pa. FFR lesion classification changed in 9% using an FFR threshold of ⩽0.80 and 5.2% with FFR threshold <0.75 when comparing Pd/Pa at peak and stable hyperemia. Conclusions—Intravenous adenosine results in variable changes in systemic blood pressure, which can lead to alterations in FFR lesion classification. Attention is required to ensure FFR is measured under conditions of stable hyperemia, although the FFR value at this point may be numerically higher.
Superhelically Destabilized Sites in the E. coli Genome: Implications for Promoter Prediction in Prokaryotes

Stress-induced DNA duplex destabilization (SIDD) analysis exploits the known structural and energetic properties of DNA to predict which sites become susceptible to strand separation under superhelical stress. Experimental results show that this analysis is quantitatively accurate in predicting destabilized sites that occur in transcriptional regulatory regions, matrix/scaffold attachment sites and replication origins. Here we report the results of a SIDD analysis of the complete E. coli genome, performed using a new algorithm specific for long genomic DNA sequences. Our results demonstrate that less than 7% of the E. coli genome has the propensity to become highly destabilized at physiological superhelical densities. Those SIDD sites with high destabilization potential are statistically significantly associated with divergent and tandem intergenic regions, but not with convergent intergenic or coding regions. More than 80% of the intergenic regions containing experimentally characterized promoters are found to overlap these SIDD sites. Strong SIDD sites are highly enriched in the 5’ upstream regions of genes regulating stress responses in E. coli, suggesting a possible functional role in their regulation. We discuss the possibility of using SIDD properties for promoter prediction, and potential roles of predicted SIDD sites in transcriptional regulation.
Variable Progress Toward Ecological Speciation in Parapatry: Stickleback Across Eight Lake-Stream Transitions

Divergent selection between contrasting habitats can sometimes drive adaptive divergence and the evolution of reproductive isolation in the face of initially high gene flow. “Progress” along this ecological speciation pathway can range from minimal divergence to full speciation. We examine this variation for threespine stickleback fish that evolved independently across eight lake-stream habitat transitions. By quantifying stickleback diets, we show that lake-stream transitions usually coincide with limnetic-benthic ecotones. By measuring genetically based phenotypes, we show that these ecotones often generate adaptive divergence in foraging morphology. By analyzing neutral genetic markers (microsatellites), we show that adaptive divergence is often associated with the presence of two populations maintaining at least partial reproductive isolation in parapatry. Coalescent-based simulations further suggest that these populations have diverged with gene flow within a few thousand generations, although we cannot rule out the possibility of phases of allopatric divergence. Finally, we find striking variation among the eight lake-stream transitions in progress toward ecological speciation. This variation allows us to hypothesize that progress is generally promoted by strong divergent selection and limited dispersal across the habitat transitions. Our study thus makes a case for ecological speciation in a parapatric context, while also highlighting variation in the outcome.
Immunotherapy in asthma

Background. Although allergen immunotherapy is effective for allergic rhinitis, its role in treating asthma is unclear. Methods. We examined the efficacy of immunotherapy for asthma exacerbated by seasonal ragweed exposure. During an observation phase, adults with asthma who were sensitive to ragweed kept daily diaries and recorded peak expiratory flow rates between July and October. Those who reported seasonal asthma symptoms and medication use as well as decreased peak expiratory flow were randomly assigned to receive placebo or ragweed-extract immunotherapy in doses that increased weekly for an additional two years. Results. During the observation phase, the mean (SE) peak expiratory flow rate measured in the morning during the three weeks representing the height of the pollination season was 454 (20) litres per minute in the immunotherapy group and 444 (16) litres per minute in the placebo group. Of the 77 patients who began the treatment phase, 64 completed one year of the study treatment and 53 completed two years. During the two treatment years, the mean peak expiratory flow rate was higher in the immunotherapy group (489 (16) litres per minute vs. 453 (17) in the placebo group (p= 0.06) during the first year, and 480 (12) litres per minute vs. 461 (13) in the placebo group (p = 0.03) during the second). Medication use was higher in the immunotherapy group than in the placebo group during observation and lower during the first treatment year (p = 0.01) but did not differ in the two groups during the second year (p=0.7). Asthma symptom scores were similar in the two groups (p = 0.08 in year 1 and p = 0.3 in year 2). The immunotherapy group had reduced hayfever symptoms, skin test sensitivity to ragweed, and sensitivity to bronchial challenges and increased IgG antibodies to ragweed as compared with the placebo group; there was no longer a seasonal increase in IgE antibodies to ragweed allergen in the immunotherapy group after two years of treatment. Reduced medication costs were counterbalanced by the costs of immunotherapy. Conclusions. Although immunotherapy for adults with asthma exacerbated by seasonal ragweed exposure had positive effects on objective measures of asthma and allergy, the clinical effects were limited and many were not sustained for two years.
Cost-aware and Time-Varying Request Rate-based Dynamic Cache Provisioning over CCDN

Today’s Internet users depend on Cloud-based Content Delivery Network (CCDN) providers to efficiently use resources and minimize content delivery latency. However, time-varying request rates make incoming requests unpredictable, resulting in higher miss rates in CCDNs. Thus, dynamically allocating cache instances to mitigate request rate spikes is necessary to maintain Quality of Service (QoS). Therefore, by utilizing the Request Count Window (RCW) cache and a dynamic instantiation mechanism, this article aims to efficiently manage a changing request window and store objects according to a caching policy. To improve cache performance, we propose a new dynamic selective caching policy that caches only the most frequently requested objects over the past L requests. To further enhance dynamic cache provisioning and reduce the duration of resource allocation, a variable time slot mechanism based on the current request rate is introduced. Finally, we present a cost model that accounts for caching and delivery costs due to missed occurrences. The proposed method is extensively compared with the Least Recently Used (LRU) caching policy and the RCW cache with selective caching based on Kth request cache insertion policies. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the LRU, selective caching on the values 1 and 2 of K by 22.04%, 12.11%, and 9.31%, and by 29.50%, 16.71%, and 3.03% in terms of the average total cost using permanent cache sizes of 2 and 5, respectively.
Pathogenesis of cerebral white matter injury of prematurity

Cerebral white matter injury, characterised by loss of premyelinating oligodendrocytes (pre-OLs), is the most common form of injury to the preterm brain and is associated with a high risk of neurodevelopmental impairment. The unique cerebrovascular anatomy and physiology of the premature baby underlies the exquisite sensitivity of white matter to the abnormal milieu of preterm extrauterine life, in particular ischaemia and inflammation. These two upstream mechanisms can coexist and amplify their effects, leading to activation of two principal downstream mechanisms: excitotoxicity and free radical attack. Upstream mechanisms trigger generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. The pre-OL is intrinsically vulnerable to free radical attack due to immaturity of antioxidant enzyme systems and iron accumulation. Ischaemia and inflammation trigger glutamate receptor-mediated injury leading to maturation-dependent cell death and loss of cellular processes. This review looks at recent evidence for pathogenetic mechanisms in white matter injury with emphasis on targets for prevention and treatment of injury.
Evaluation of antioxidant activities of the edible and medicinal Acacia albida organs related to phenolic compounds

This study compared phenolic contents and antioxidant activity in different organs of Acacia albida (leaves and bark) and focuses on identification of phenolic compounds of leaves by HPLC-DAD. The analysed organs exhibited differences in total polyphenol contents (100 and 59.5 mg GAE g− 1 DW). Phenolic contents of leaves were two times higher than those in bark. Ethanolic extracts exhibited good antioxidant activities with IC50 = 26 μg mL− 1 for DPPH and EC50 = 50 μg mL− 1 for FRAP. Identification by HPLC-DAD revealed the presence of nine phenolic compounds known for their high antioxidant activity. The results suggested that this species can be used as source of natural antioxidants.
MicroRNAs regulate expression of oncogenes.

Featured Article: Johnson SM, Grosshans H, Shingara J, Byrom M, Jarvis R, Cheng A, Labourier E, et al. RAS is regulated by the let-7 microRNA family. Cell 2005;120:635–47.2 Today, we fully appreciate that microRNAs (miRNAs)3 represent a paradigm shift in our understanding of gene expression and disease, but it was not always this way. miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs belonging to a novel class of regulatory molecules in plants and animals that control the expression of hundreds of target mRNA transcripts. Thousands of known miRNAs regulate gene expression by binding to imperfect complementary sites within the 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of their target protein–coding mRNAs and repressing the expression of these genes at the level of mRNA stability and translation (1). Recent progress has revealed that miRNAs are involved in the regulation of most biological functions, including development, life span, and metabolism, and their dysregulation contributes, not surprisingly, to many types of disease, notably cancer (2). For example, certain miRNAs regulate processes important for cell growth, division, differentiation, survival, and migration—all processes that go awry in cancer. In addition, several key miRNA genes known to be amplified, deleted, or misexpressed in cancer (3) act in …
Functional Diversification of Fungal Glutathione Transferases from the Ure2p Class

The glutathione-S-transferase (GST) proteins represent an extended family involved in detoxification processes. They are divided into various classes with high diversity in various organisms. The Ure2p class is especially expanded in saprophytic fungi compared to other fungi. This class is subdivided into two subclasses named Ure2pA and Ure2pB, which have rapidly diversified among fungal phyla. We have focused our analysis on Basidiomycetes and used Phanerochaete chrysosporium as a model to correlate the sequence diversity with the functional diversity of these glutathione transferases. The results show that among the nine isoforms found in P. chrysosporium, two belonging to Ure2pA subclass are exclusively expressed at the transcriptional level in presence of polycyclic aromatic compounds. Moreover, we have highlighted differential catalytic activities and substrate specificities between Ure2pA and Ure2pB isoforms. This diversity of sequence and function suggests that fungal Ure2p sequences have evolved rapidly in response to environmental constraints.
Anemia of chronic disease: A harmful disorder or an adaptive, beneficial response?

Anemia of chronic disease is a hypoproliferative anemia that develops in response to systemic illness or inflammation. [1][1] It was first described in the 1930s and was more fully characterized by Cartwright and Wintrobe in the 1950s. [2][2] Although the second most prevalent after anemia caused by
Fast User-Mode Rootkit Scanner for the Enterprise

User-mode resource hiding through API interception and filtering is a well-known technique used by malware programs to achieve stealth. Although it is not as powerful as kernel-mode techniques, it is more portable and reliable and, as a result, widely used. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a fast scanner that uses a cross-view diff approach to detect all user-mode hiding Trojans and rootkits. We also present detection results from a large-scale enterprise deployment to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool.
Sinoatrial‐Node Entrance Block

Sinus-node function was characterized in 13 patients during cardiac catheterization by the introduction of progressively premature atrial depolarizations. Curves relating the extent of sinus-node depression following these premature depolarizations and their degree of prematurity were constructed. The maximum extent of sinus-node depression following premature depolarizations and A-V-nodal and atrial refractoriness were determined. Maximum sinus-node depression could be demonstrated to be independent of sinus rate. In six patients “early” atrial premature depolarizations demonstrated entrance block into the sinus-node pacemaker. Sinoatrial (SA) node entrance block could be clearly distinguished from atrial echoes and repetitive atrial firing subsequent to stimulation during the atrial relative refractory period. Prolonged refractoriness of tissues conducting impulses between atrium and sinus node was unrelated to parameters of sinus-node automaticity (sinus rate or maximum depression following premature atrial depolarizations) or to the refractoriness of the atrium itself.
Quantization-aware Optimization Approach for CNNs Inference on CPUs

Data movements through the memory hierarchy are a fundamental bottleneck in the majority of convolutional neural network (CNN) deployments on CPUs. Loop-level optimization and hybrid bitwidth quantization are two representative optimization approaches for memory access reduction. However, they were carried out independently because of the significantly increased complexity of design space exploration. We present QAOpt, a quantization-aware optimization approach that can reduce the high complexity when combining both for CNN deployments on CPUs. We develop a bitwidth-sensitive quantization strategy that can perform the trade-off between model accuracy and data movements when deploying both loop-level optimization and mixed precision quantization. Also, we provide a quantization-aware pruning process that can reduce the design space for high efficiency. Evaluation results demonstrate that our work can achieve better energy efficiency under acceptable accuracy loss.
Pre-trained Online Contrastive Learning for Insurance Fraud Detection

Medical insurance fraud has always been a crucial challenge in the field of healthcare industry. Existing fraud detection models mostly focus on offline learning scenes. However, fraud patterns are constantly evolving, making it difficult for models trained on past data to detect newly emerging fraud patterns, posing a severe challenge in medical fraud detection. Moreover, current incremental learning models are mostly designed to address catastrophic forgetting, but often exhibit suboptimal performance in fraud detection. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an innovative online learning method for medical insurance fraud detection, named POCL. This method combines contrastive learning pre-training with online updating strategies. In the pre-training stage, we leverage contrastive learning pre-training to learn on historical data, enabling deep feature learning and obtaining rich risk representations. In the online learning stage, we adopt a Temporal Memory Aware Synapses online updating strategy, allowing the model to perform incremental learning and optimization based on continuously emerging new data. This ensures timely adaptation to fraud patterns and reduces forgetting of past knowledge. Our model undergoes extensive experiments and evaluations on real-world insurance fraud datasets. The results demonstrate our model has significant advantages in accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art baseline methods, while also exhibiting lower running time and space consumption. Our sources are released at https://github.com/finint/POCL.
Overexpression of Type I Topoisomerases Sensitizes Yeast Cells to DNA Damage*

DNA topoisomerases play essential roles in many DNA metabolic processes. It has been suggested that topoisomerases play an essential role in DNA repair. Topoisomerases can introduce DNA damage upon exposure to drugs that stabilize the covalent protein-DNA intermediate of the topoisomerase reaction. Lesions in DNA are also able to trap topoisomerase-DNA intermediates, suggesting that topoisomerases have the potential to either assist in DNA repair by locating sites of damage or exacerbating DNA damage by generation of additional damage at the site of a lesion. We have shown that overexpression of yeast topoisomerase I (TOP1) conferred hypersensitivity to methyl methanesulfonate and other DNA-damaging agents, whereas expression of a catalytically inactive enzyme did not. Overexpression of topoisomerase II did not change the sensitivity of cells to these DNA-damaging agents. Yeast cells lackingTOP1 were not more resistant to DNA damage than cells expressing wild type levels of the enzyme. Yeast topoisomerase I covalent complexes can be trapped efficiently on UV-damaged DNA. We suggest that TOP1 does not participate in the repair of DNA damage in yeast cells. However, the enzyme has the potential of exacerbating DNA damage by forming covalent DNA-protein complexes at sites of DNA damage.
Bootstrap Markov chain Monte Carlo and optimal solutions for the Law of Categorical Judgment (Corrected)

A novel procedure is described for accelerating the convergence of Markov chain Monte Carlo computations. The algorithm uses an adaptive bootstrap technique to generate candidate steps in the Markov Chain. It is efficient for symmetric, convex probability distributions, similar to multivariate Gaussians, and it can be used for Bayesian estimation or for obtaining maximum likelihood solutions with confidence limits. As a test case, the Law of Categorical Judgment (Corrected) was fitted with the algorithm to data sets from simulated rating scale experiments. The correct parameters were recovered from practical-sized data sets simulated for Full Signal Detection Theory and its special cases of standard Signal Detection Theory and Complementary Signal Detection Theory.