Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eicosapentaenoic acid and chemoprevention of FAP

In this issue of Gut , West et al 1 report positive results of a chemoprevention trial in British subjects with familial adenonomatous polyposis (FAP) ( see page 918 ). There is a long history of use of natural products in FAP and other adenoma prevention trials.2 4 In most cases the rationale seems predicated on notions of likely safety and acceptability, as well as hoped-for efficacy. Moreover, since FAP is an uncommon disease, the greater significance of any positive FAP trial seems to be in the potential for carrying over the experience gained from a relatively easy-to-conduct FAP trial to the testing of the same agent(s) in the much larger population of subjects with non-familial polyps. Put another way, if an agent such as fish oil can actually regress adenomas in FAP, then it may well hold promise in sporadic adenoma patients. There are both opportunities and challenges in conducting chemoprevention trials in FAP. First, while FAP is a great human model for human ‘adenomagenesis’ and colorectal carcinogenesis, it must be borne in mind that regression of adenomas is not the same as prevention of adenomas. In FAP, sulindac was shown to regress existing adenomas but not to prevent initial ones.5 6 Thus, the stage of disease may matter. Second, the limited sample sizes and duration of treatment in FAP trials may fail to demonstrate other problems. The experience with COX2 inhibitors7 8 is instrumental here. Because several trials showed …
Effort Estimation Approach for Integrated Medical Warehouses

ABSTRACT Medical warehouses are architectural construct of an information system that provides users with current and historical decision support information. But medical warehouse projects suffers from overestimation of resources because of improper estimation approaches which do not suit well on poorly defined architecture of medical warehouses. In this paper, we have first proposed a framework for an integrated medical warehouse that covers the different aspects of health care management. Then we proposed an effort estimation approach based on this framework which is designed to be used at the very early stage of requirement analysis. The data from the three different set of data warehousing projects are studied and the linear regression approach is used to finalize the model. Final effort is estimated using the project size and the different adjustment factors. For analytical estimation of project size and its complexity, extended function point analysis is used and identified object are categorized and their complexity weight age is determined. The proposed approach is validated by studying three different set of projects having different level of complexity. First set contains eight business data warehousing projects completed in different domains. Second set contains medical OLAP projects and third set has clinical data marts. A set of questionnaire is used to estimate the complexity of the project, which has to be filled by the developers after completing the initial requirement analysis. The proposed effort estimation model shows a great improvement as compared to the earlier models used in effort estimation of medical warehousing projects.
SIAMESE Cooperates With the CDH1-like Protein CCS52A1 to Establish Endoreplication in Arabidopsis thaliana Trichomes

Endoreplication, also known as endoreduplication, is a phyogenetically widespread modified version of the cell cycle in which DNA replication is not followed by cell division. The SIAMESE (SIM) gene of Arabidopsis thaliana encodes the founding member of a novel class of plant-specific cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors and is a key regulator of endoreplication during the development of trichomes (shoot epidermal hairs). Here, we have identified mutations in the CCS52A1 gene as genetic modifiers of the multicellular trichome phenotype of sim mutants. Loss-of-function ccs52A1 mutations dramatically enhance the multicellularity of sim mutants trichomes in double mutants, whereas overexpression of CCS52A1 completely suppresses the sim mutant phenotype. CCS52A1 encodes a CDH1/FZR-like protein, a class of proteins that function as activators of the anaphase-promoting complex. Unicellular ccs52A1 trichomes become multicellular upon overexpression of B-type cyclin, consistent with repression of the accumulation of mitotic cyclins in the developing trichome by CCS52A1. As these M-phase-specific cyclins are known to accumulate in sim mutant trichomes, our data suggest that CCS52A1 and SIM cooperate in repressing accumulation of mitotic cyclins to establish the trichome endocycle. Comparison with endoreplication pathways in Drosophila and mammals indicates that while these organisms all use similar components to initiate endoreplication, the components are deployed differently in each organism.
Cs 229r: Algorithms for Big Data 2 Algorithms 2.1 Reading N Items (streaming)

In terms of exact numbers, hard drives support somewhere around 140MB/sec of sequential reads/writes, but only 120I/O’s/sec when doing reads/writes on random 4KB chunks. This is because the disk must physically spin to the read/write location. RAM supports somewhere around 5-10GB/sec of reads/writes, with much less penalty for random access. SSDs/Flash is somewhere in the middle, but with the issue that each index can only be written to a limited number of times.
[A new Topo to targeted management of Angelman syndrome?].

m/s n° 6-7, vol. 28, juin-juillet 2012 DOI : 10.1051/medsci/2012286005 7. Kossatz U, Dietrich N, Zender L, et al. Skp2-dependent degradation of p27kip1 is essential for cell cycle progression. Genes Dev 2004 ; 18 : 2602-7. 8. Cuadrado M, Gutierrez-Martinez P, Swat A, et al. p27Kip1 stabilization is essential for the maintenance of cell cycle arrest in response to DNA damage. Cancer Res 2009 ; 69 : 8726-32. 9. See WL, Miller JP, Squatrito M, et al. Defective DNA double-strand break repair underlies enhanced tumorigenesis and chromosomal instability in p27-deficient mice with growth factor-induced oligodendrogliomas. Oncogene 2010 ; 29 : 1720-31. 10. Serres MP, Kossatz U, Chi Y, et al. p27(Kip1) controls cytokinesis via the regulation of citron kinase activation. J Clin Invest 2012 ; 122 : 844-58. 11. Skop AR, Liu H, Yates J 3rd, et al. Dissection of the mammalian midbody proteome reveals conserved cytokinesis mechanisms. Science 2004 ; 305 : 61-6. 2. Besson A. p27Kip1, suppresseur de tumeur. et oncogène ? Med Sci (Paris) 2007 ; 23 : 1089-91. 3. Pippa R, Espinosa L, Gundem G, et al. p27(Kip1) represses transcription by direct interaction with p130/E2F4 at the promoters of target genes. Oncogene 2011 ; 19 décembre. doi: 10.1038/ onc.2011. 582. 4. Besson A, Hwang HC, Donovan SL, et al. Discovery of an oncogenic activity in p27Kip1 that causes stem cell expansion and a multiple tumor phenotype. Genes Dev 2007 ; 21 : 1731-46. 5. Besson A, Gurian-West M, Chen X, et al. A pathway in quiescent cells that controls p27Kip1 stability, subcellular localization and tumor suppression. Genes Dev 2006 ; 20 : 47-64. 6. Nakayama K, Nagahama H, Minamishima YA, et al. Skp2-mediated degradation of p27 regulates progression into mitosis. Dev Cell 2004 ; 6 : 661-72. de chacune de ces protéines dans la cytocinèse et, plus particulièrement, dans l’interaction entre p27 et citronK ou RhoA. ◊ A new function for p27KIP1 in mitosis
Medical Treatment of Acromegaly: Comorbidities and Their Reversibility by Somatostatin Analogs

Relief of symptoms can be achieved following surgery for growth hormone (GH)-secreting adenomas, as well as after pharmacological therapy with somatostatin analogs. Recently, long-acting somatostatin analog depot formulations, octreotide LAR and lanreotide SR have become available. Somatostatin analogs control GH/insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 excess, induce tumor shrinkage in a high proportion of patients, improve symptoms of acromegaly with relatively limited side effects and are successfully administered in patients not suitable for surgery. Furthermore, preoperative somatostatin analogs have been suggested to improve outcome for tumors with limited invasiveness, while surgical tumor debulking in cases that are, at least partially, somatostatin resistant, increases the achievement of normal IGF-1 levels by postoperative somatostatin analog treatment. Effective control of hypertension, as well as diabetes, is mandatory in order to reduce the increased vascular morbidity/mortality. Control of GH/IGF-1 excess generally improves glucose metabolism. Somatostatin analogs improve insulin sensitivity, exerting, however, a concomitant direct inhibitory effect on insulin secretion, with a net balance leaning towards a deterioration in glucose homeostasis. As a result, oral insulin secretagogues (and/or insulin) should probably be preferred to insulin sensitizers in acromegalic patients developing diabetes while on somatostatin analogs. Nevertheless, glucose tolerance remains normal in most of the nondiabetic acromegalic patients, while diabetic acromegalic patients on insulin are at risk for hypoglycemia during initiation of somatostatin analog therapy. Although successful management of acromegaly has been associated with improvement in morphological and functional parameters of cardiomyopathy, limited and conflicting information is available regarding the effect on blood pressure control. Contradictory results have also been reported regarding sleep hypopnea or apnea in treated acromegalic patients. As acromegalic skeletal abnormalities are rather irreversible, apneic episodes may persist after normalization of hormonal levels. Aggressive therapy, including surgery, pharmacological treatment and, in some cases, pituitary irradiation, aiming at normalization of IGF-1 levels, is required for arthropathy management. Some improvement in pain, crepitus and range of motion has been observed after treatment with somatostatin analogs. Information on the impact of disease control, either by surgery or somatostatin analog treatment, on gonadal function is limited. Finally, the link between the hormonal/biochemical and the psychiatric/psychological features of acromegaly, as well as a potential basis for positive effects of somatostatin analog therapy remain unclear.
A maize gene controlling silk browning in response to wounding.

ROWNING is a common degradative phenomenon of injured cIr senescent ' vegetable tissue (SZENT-GYORGYI 1969). It is due to enzymatic oxidation of polyphenolics resulting in quinones which form brown colored complexes with protein. When fresh corn silks (stigmas) were ground in an aqueous solution and allowed to stand, it was observed that the brei normally turned brown. Occasionally, ground silks from certain inbreds were found which did not turn brown hut remained yellow-green (i.e., no change in color). Later, it was learned that the browning or nonbrowning phenotypes could be determined on the plant by cutting back fresh silks, as in preparation for controlled pollination, and observing the cut ends after about 15 minutes. In this instance, cut ends become brown in the browning phenotype and remain unchanged in the ncnbrowning. The distinction between browning and nonbrowning types is also evident with senescent silks of mature ears. In this case, senescent silks from the browning type appear very dark brown while nonbrowning are tan in color. This study was conducted to determine the inheritance and chemical basis of the browning and nonbrowning response to wounding of corn silks. We will show that the browning response is controlled by a single dominant locus which permits, primarily, the synthesis of dihydroxyl flavoaes by the silks and that when the silks are injured these flavones are enzymatically oxidized resulting in brown pigment formation. The nonbrowning type will he shown to be due to a recessive allele which when homozygous blocks the synthesis of the dihydroxyl flavones. Absence of the flavone substrates precludes brown pigment formation in response to wounding. MATERIALS AND METHODS Inbred lines T61 and NC232, the browning type, were crossed with the nonbrowning inbreds, Kys and NC236, respectively. The resulting F,'s were backcrossed to each of the parents. Field grown backcross progenies were scored for the browning and nonbrowning phenotype by cutting back fresh silks and observing the cut silk ends approximately 15 min later.
Resistance of Bacillus Endospores to Extreme Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Environments

SUMMARY Endospores of Bacillus spp. , especially Bacillus subtilis, have served as experimental models for exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying the incredible longevity of spores and their resistance to environmental insults. In this review we summarize the molecular laboratory model of spore resistance mechanisms and attempt to use the model as a basis for exploration of the resistance of spores to environmental extremes both on Earth and during postulated interplanetary transfer through space as a result of natural impact processes.
Working-class lesbian parents’ emotional engagement with their children’s education: Intersections of class and sexuality

This article examines intersections of class and sexuality in lesbian parents’ educational practices, specifically their emotional engagements with their children’s education. This research draws on Bourdieu’s (1986b) concept of capitals and current research that utilizes the concept of ‘emotional capital’, in theorizing mothers’ emotional investments in their children’s education. Studies of working-class lesbians’ experiences of marginalization within education relevant to this investigation are also consulted. Based on qualitative data, this article examines ways in which working-class lesbian parents’ negative experiences of school are used as emotional resources in three key ways; to protect their children from bullying, to teach their children life skills and to promote values of equality and acceptance. I suggest that in utilizing the concept of ‘emotional capital’, this work begins to make sense of the subjective and material realities of educational involvement for working-class lesbian parents.
Case Control Polysomnographic Studies of Sleep Disorders in Parkinson's Disease

Background The relationship between a number of primary sleep disorders and Parkinson's disease (PD) is still debated. There are limited case control polysomnographic studies in PD and most of these study sample sizes are small. Methodology/Findings We conducted one of the largest case-control studies involving overnight polysomnographic evaluation, with prospective recruitment of unselected Parkinson's disease patients and healthy controls from an Asian population. The cases were recruited from the specialized movement disorder outpatient clinics in a tertiary referral center, and controls from the same geographical locations. All subjects underwent an overnight polysomnographic study and a multiple sleep latency test. A total of 124 subjects including 56 patients and 68 controls frequency-matched for age and sex were included. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients had significantly shorter total sleep time than controls (p = 0.01), lower sleep efficiency (p = 0.001) and increased REM latency (p = 0.007). In patients, multivariate analysis showed that reduced total sleep time was significantly associated with increased age (p = 0.001) and increased levodopa dose (p = 0.032). The mean Insomnia Severity Index was higher in PD patients (9.0±7.1) compared to controls (3.3±3.9, p<0.001). The mean Epworth Sleepiness Scale score was higher in PD patients (9.3±5.9 vs. 5.7±4.8, p<0.001). Nocturnal arousals, obstructive sleep apnea, periodic leg movements and objective abnormal sleepiness were not increased in our patients. Conclusions/Significance Our case-control polysomnographic study, the first-ever performed in an Asian population, revealed altered sleep architecture and reduced sleep in PD patients compared to controls. Reduced total sleep time was associated with increased age and levodopa dose. However, nocturnal arousals, primary sleep disorders and abnormal sleepiness were not increased in our PD patients suggesting that ethnic/genetic differences may be a factor in the pathophysiology of these conditions.
PowerRed : A Flexible Modeling Framework for Power Efficiency Exploration in GPUs

The tremendous increase in the complexity (memory and computations) of graphics models have been supported by a similar increase in the computational resources available in graphics processing units (GPUs). The inherently high parallelism of such systems has led to a significant increase in power dissipation, thereby necessitating expensive cooling solutions. In addition, general purpose processing on such specialized architectures poses new problems yet opens avenues for power optimizations at the architectural level. In this paper, we present a modular architectural power estimation framework that will help GPU designers with early power efficiency exploration. The framework employs a combination of analytical and empirical basic blocks for power estimation. In addition, we associate an area model to the different units within a GPU to estimate power across the interconnects. We explore two cases of optimizations to demonstrate the utility of the framework. The results show that simple bus encoding reduces the power of a medium/high activity texture cache global bus interconnect by 1530% while exploring the trade-offs between power savings, data activity, and interconnect length. We also showcase the power benefits (around 13%) of optimally sizing repeaters and spacing between them on the same global bus.
LEAKAGE AND VARIATION AWARE THERMAL MANAGEMENT OF NANOMETER SCALE ICS

For sub-100 nm CMOS technologies, leakage power forms a significant component of the total power dissipation, especially due to within-die and die-to-die variations in process (P), temperature (T) and supply voltage (V). Since leakage power and operating temperature are electrothermally coupled to each other, increasing power dissipation and thermal problems are becoming key concerns not only from a thermal management point of view but also because most reliability mechanisms are highly temperature sensitive. This paper provides an overview of a novel methodology for making temperature and reliability aware power/performance/cooling-cost tradeoffs in leakage dominant nanometer scale high-performance ICs. First, a framework to accurately estimate subthreshold leakage under both within-die and die-to-die parameter variations is outlined. It is shown that die-to-die temperature variations can significantly increase leakage power, mainly because of electrothermal couplings between power and temperature. Next, a recently developed self-consistent electrothermal methodology to accurately estimate the junction temperature is presented and is shown to be significant for thermal management of leakage and variation dominant CMOS technologies. The methodology is then applied to provide a reliability and thermally aware design space that can be used to optimize and compare various designs.
Utveckling av basgruppsarbete för studenter och handledare i kliniska studier

Within the concept of PBL (Problem Based Learning,) which is the idea of pedagogy in The Faculty of Health Sciences in Linköping, integration of theory and practise is seen as prerequisite for the learning process. A project involving tutorial groups has been carried out in The Nursing Programme with the aim of integrating theoretical and clinical studies. These tutorial groups were made up of students and their clinical preceptors and a teacher from the programme acted as tutor. The aim of the project was to integrate theoretical and clinical studies at a higher education level in the practical part of the training. The tutorial group met once a week for a period of seven weeks. The work of the tutorial group had as its starting-point the result of an assessment made by one of the students, and the subsequent work was based on the problem- solving process. The resources of the clinic and the patient yielded useful information. Evaluation of group activities showed that all of the students as well as the preceptors reached the conclusion that tutorial groups should be included in clinical studies. Integrated tutorial groups create during clinical studies a basis for critical reflection regarding nursing care. The coming together of clinically active nurses, students and teachers creates the conditions for activity at a higher education level and leads to greater understanding of the various professional skill aeras.
Association of DNA Polymerase μ (pol μ) with Ku and Ligase IV: Role for pol μ in End-Joining Double-Strand Break Repair

ABSTRACT Mammalian DNA polymerase μ (pol μ) is related to terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, but its biological role is not yet clear. We show here that after exposure of cells to ionizing radiation (IR), levels of pol μ protein increase. pol μ also forms discrete nuclear foci after IR, and these foci are largely coincident with IR-induced foci of γH2AX, a previously characterized marker of sites of DNA double-strand breaks. pol μ is thus part of the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks. pol μ also associates in cell extracts with the nonhomologous end-joining repair factor Ku and requires both Ku and another end-joining factor, XRCC4-ligase IV, to form a stable complex on DNA in vitro. pol μ in turn facilitates both stable recruitment of XRCC4-ligase IV to Ku-bound DNA and ligase IV-dependent end joining. In contrast, the related mammalian DNA polymerase β does not form a complex with Ku and XRCC4-ligase IV and is less effective than pol μ in facilitating joining mediated by these factors. Our data thus support an important role for pol μ in the end-joining pathway for repair of double-strand breaks.
On Monocular Visual Odometry for Indoor Ground Vehicles

In this work, a Visual Odometry system estimating camera position and orientation based solely on image meausurements is proposed. The system is built on the fundamentals of Structure from Motion theory, requiring only a single calibrated camera to estimate positional information. Experiments were conducted on publicly available datasets with associated Ground Truth, in which a consumer grade web camera was employed as the system's sensor on realistic indoor scenarios. The proposed system resulted in absolute localization error rates ranging from 2.10% to 3.39% of the travelled distance at processing rates of up to 5Hz, performing better than wheel odometry in certain situations and being equip arable to similar approaches present in the robotics literature.