Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pancreatic cancer DNMT1 expression and sensitivity to DNMT1 inhibitors

DNA methyltransferase I (DNMT1) is the major methyltransferase responsible for methylating DNA and is overexpressed in many cancers. DNMT1 is also a therapeutic target for chemotherapy and chemoprevention. We hypothesized that loss of DNMT1 copy number could result in reduced DNMT1 levels and greater sensitivity to DNMT1 inhibitors. We examined DNMT1 expression in pancreatic cancers by immunohistochemistry and western blotting. We also examined DNMT1 copy number in 20 pancreatic cancer cell lines using Affymetrix SNP arrays and correlated copy number with DNMT1 expression. We tested 8 pancreatic cancer cell lines with DNMT1 inhibitors and measured growth inhibition. We identified overexpression of DNMT1 relative to normal pancreatic duct in 78.7% of pancreatic cancers (37/47) by immunohistochemistry and in 16/20 pancreatic cancer cell lines by western blot. Pancreatic cancer cell lines with loss of DNMT1 alleles tended to have lower DNMT1 expression (3 of 9 cell lines) compared to those without DNMT1 copy number loss (1 of 11). 5-aza-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC) treatment (1-10uM) depleted DNMT1 in 7 of 8 pancreatic cancer cell lines. Three of four pancreatic cancers cell lines with low/normal DNMT1 expression were sensitive to growth inhibition by low dose 5-Aza-dC (1uM), whereas only 1 of 4 cell lines with high DNMT1 expression had growth inhibition, and this occurred without evidence of DNMT1 depletion suggesting a different mechanism for growth inhibition in this cell line. Loss of DNMT1 alleles may reduce DNMT1 levels in some pancreatic cancers. Pancreatic cancers with low DNMT1 expression tend to be more sensitive to low-dose 5-azadeoxycytidine.
Corneal Clarity and Visual Outcomes after Small-Incision Lenticule Extraction and Comparison to Femtosecond Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis

Purpose. To evaluate corneal clarity and visual outcomes after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and compare them to femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK). Materials and Methods. Fifty-eight myopic eyes of 33 patients who underwent SMILE were compared to 58 eyes of 33 patients treated with FS-LASIK. All procedures were performed using VisuMax® femtosecond laser and MEL 80® excimer laser (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Germany). Pentacam™ (Oculus, Germany) was used for pre- and 3-month postoperative corneal densitometry (CD) analysis. CD was evaluated at 3 optically relevant, concentric radial zones (0–2 mm, 2–6 mm, and 0–6 mm annulus) around the corneal apex and at 3 different anatomical corneal layers (anterior, central, and posterior). Associations of postoperative CD values with the lenticule thickness and ablation depth were examined. Preoperative and postoperative corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) values were also compared. Results. After SMILE, the total CD (all corneal layers) at 0–6 mm annulus showed no significant change compared to preoperative values (P = 0.259). After FS-LASIK, the total CD was significantly reduced (P = 0.033). Three-month postoperative CD showed no significant differences between the 2 groups for all examined annuli (0–2 mm: P = 0.569; 2–6 mm: P = 0.055; and 0–6 mm: P = 0.686). Total CD after SMILE at 0–6 mm annulus displayed a weak negative association with the lenticule thickness (P = 0.079, R2 = 0.0532) and after FS-LASIK displayed a weak negative association with the ablation depth (P = 0.731, R2 = 0.0015). Postoperative CDVA was similar for both groups (P = 0.517). Conclusion. Quantification of corneal clarity using the Scheimpflug CD showed similar results before and 3 months after SMILE. Compared to FS-LASIK, no significant differences of corneal clarity and CDVA were found 3 months postoperatively.
Types of allergic reaction

The term 'allergy' (von Pirquet, 1906) can be summarized as the 'acquired, specific, altered capacity to react*. Each component of the definition has not only immunological, but also well-defined clinical implications. 'Acquired' means that there must have been prior adequate antigenic or allergenic exposure for immunological stimulation. In practice, this means that unnecessary exposure should be minimized to prevent hypersensitivity. in contrast where appropriate, to deliberate exposure for the production of immunity. The most effective applications of the concept of'allergy' as defined above and of its 'acquired' nature depend upon full knowledge of potential environmental allergens and how these can be avoided or modified, and upon the use of all available methods for the study of their immunoiogical and clinical effects. Identification of the population most at risk requires better understanding of the genetics of allergic sensitization, of how the allergic state arises and the qualitities of allergenic agents. 'Specificity' of allergic reactions describes the physico-chemical relationship between allergenic determinants and the corresponding antibodies. The presence of identical and in some instances of similar determinants in apparently different materials is the basis for cross-reactivity. 'Altered capacity to react' describes the different response elicited by an agent after antibodies have been produced against it. This reaction may be decreased, as for example, to a toxin or infective agent, described as 'immunity' or it may be of an increased nature, described as hypersensitivity. The essential qualities of this altered capacity to react are its accelerated and amplilied nature and the smallness of immunological dosage capable of eliciting it. We shall be dealing mainly in this workshop with problems of hypersensitivity. The form of the altered capacity to react, that is the type of allergic reaction, is determined by the nature of the immunoglobulin antibody or cell-mediated hypersensitivity which is produced. Consequently, different antigens acting through the same class of immunoglobulin produce similar pathological manifestations and depending upon the organ involved, similar clinical manifestations. In the induction of hypersensitivity, however, it is usual for more than one type of allergy to be produced, Correspondence: Professor J. Pepys, Department of Clinical Immunology, Cardiothoracic Institute, Brompton Hospital, London SW3.
Cognitive performance in treatment-naïve active alcoholics.

BACKGROUND Most studies reporting cognitive deficits in chronic alcoholics have relied on treatment samples (predominantly men) from inpatient or outpatient treatment facilities. However, the majority of chronic alcoholics have never been in treatment and there is increasing evidence that treated and non-treatment-seeking alcoholic samples come from different populations with regard to alcohol use and other factors related to the severity of disease. Accordingly, in the present study, we assessed a broad range of cognitive functions in 55 treatment-naïve alcohol-dependent (TNAD) individuals and 55 nonalcoholic controls (NAC) matched for age and education. In addition, a goal of the present study was to assess potential differential effects of alcohol dependence on cognitive performance in TNAD men and women. METHODS Comprehensive neuropsychological assessment was conducted on TNAD and NAC. The following 9 performance domains, each consisting of multiple measures, were examined: attention, auditory working memory, verbal processing, abstraction/cognitive flexibility, psychomotor function, immediate memory, delayed memory, reaction time, and spatial processing. RESULTS Analysis revealed no cognitive deficits in TNAD, relative to NAC, in any of the 9 cognitive domains. TNAD performed better than NAC in the attention domain. In addition, while men performed better than women in the spatial domain, there were no TNAD versus NAC group by gender interactions for any domain. CONCLUSIONS Our results extend findings that TNAD show minimal behavioral effects of chronic heavy alcohol use and are consistent with the contention that TNAD are relatively cognitively intact. Differences between our findings and those often reported for alcoholics recruited from treatment settings may be understood in terms of differences in alcohol use, along with genetic, psychiatric, and nutritional factors. In addition, the lack of differential effects of alcohol dependence on male and female cognitive performance in our study suggests that TNAD men and women do not differ in the severity of cerebral consequences of alcohol dependence.
Depth segmentation and occluded scene reconstruction using ego-motion

This paper introduces a signal processing strategy for depth segmentation and scene reconstruction that incorporates occlusion as a natural component. The work aims to maximize the use of connectivity in the temporal domain as much as possible under the condition that the scene is static and that the camera motion is known. An object behind the foreground is reconstructed using the fact that different parts of the object have been seen in different images in the sequence. One of the main ideas in this paper is the use of a spatio- temporal certainty volume c(x) with the same dimension as the input spatio-temporal volume s(x), and then use c(x) as a 'blackboard' for rejecting already segmented image structures. The segmentation starts with searching for image structures in the foreground, eliminate their occluding influence, and then proceed. Normalized convolution, which is a Weighted Least Mean Square technique for filtering data with varying spatial reliability, is used for all filtering. High spatial resolution near object borders is achieved and only neighboring structures with similar depth supports each other.
[Gene sequence analysis of SARS-associated coronavirus by nested RT-PCR].

OBJECTIVE To explore an effective means for the detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)- associated coronavirus. METHODS The RNAs of the virus contained in the sputum samples from established SARS patients were extracted and reversely transcripted, followed by nested PCR using the reversely transcripted cDNA as the template. The PCR products were cloned then into the pMD18-T vectors, followed by sequence analysis. RESULTS Specific fragments were amplified from the sputum samples of SARS patients, which were confirmed by DNA cloning and sequencing to belong to SARS-associated coronavirus. The Result of Blast shows only the difference in one nucleic acid from the TOR2 strain of SARS-associated coronavirus. CONCLUSION Sequence analysis has confirmed the existence of SARS-associated coronavirus in the sputum samples of SARS patients, and nested RT-PCR is a quick, easy, and convenient way for the detection of the virus.
Regulation of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Inducible Nitric-Oxide Synthase Expression through the Nuclear Factor-κB Pathway and Interferon-β/Tyrosine Kinase 2/Janus Tyrosine Kinase 2-Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-1 Signaling Cascades by 2-Naphthylethyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahyd

The effects of 2-naphthylethyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline (THI 53), on nitric oxide (NO) production and inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) protein induction by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were investigated in RAW 264.7 cells and mice. In cells, THI 53 concentration dependently reduced NO production and iNOS protein induction by LPS. In addition, THI 53 inhibited NO production and iNOS protein induction in LPS-treated mice. LPS-mediated iNOS protein induction was inhibited significantly by the specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor α-cyano-(3-hydroxy-4-nitro)cinnamonitrile (AG126) as well as by THI 53. In addition, a c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitor anthra[1,9-cd]pyrazole-6 (2H)-one) (SP600125) but not an extracellular regulated kinase inhibitor [2-(2-amino-3-methoxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (PD98029)] or a p38 inhibitor [4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-methylsulfinylphenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)1H-imidazole (SB230580)] reduced the iNOS protein level induced by LPS. Moreover, a Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitor α-cyano-(3,4-dihydroxy)-N-benzylcinnamide (AG490) dose-dependently prevented LPS-mediated iNOS protein induction. LPS activated phosphorylations of tyrosine kinases, especially tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription-1 (STAT-1); these were reduced by THI 53. LPS also phosphorylated the JNK pathway; however, this phosphorylation was unaffected by THI 53. Interestingly, a JNK inhibitor (SP600125) and another tyrosine kinase inhibitor (genistein) significantly inhibited STAT-1 phosphorylation, suggesting that the LPS-activated JNK pathway and a tyrosine kinase pathway (especially Tyk2) may link to the STAT-1 pathway, which is involved in iNOS induction. However, THI 53 regulates LPS-mediated iNOS protein induction by affecting the Tyk2/JAK2-STAT-1 pathway, not the JNK pathway. The inhibition by THI 53 of LPS-induced NO production was recovered by a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor (Na3VO4), which supports the possibility that THI 53 inhibits the LPS-induced inflammatory response through regulation of tyrosine kinase pathways. THI 53 also inhibited LPS-mediated interferon (IFN)-β production and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. Thus, THI 53 may regulate LPS-mediated inflammatory response through both the NF-κB and IFN-β/Tyk2/JAK2-STAT-1 pathways.
A genetic programming based learning system to derive multipole and local expansions for the fast multipole method

This paper introduces an automatic learning algorithm based on genetic programming to derive local and multipole expansions required by the Fast Multipole Method FMM. FMM is a well-known approximation method widely used in the field of computational physics, which was first developed to approximately evaluate the product of particular N×N dense matrices with a vector in O(Nlog N) operations, while direct multiplication requires O(N2) operations. Soon after its invention, the FMM algorithm was applied successfully in many scientific fields such as simulation of physical systems Electromagnetic, Stellar clusters, Turbulence, Computer Graphics and Vision Light scattering and Molecular dynamics. However, FMM relies on the analytical expansions of the underlying kernel function defining the interactions between particles, which are not obvious to derive. This is a major factor that severely limits the application of the FMM to many interesting problems. Thus, the proposed automatic technique in this article can be regarded as a very useful tool helping practitioners to apply FMM to their own problems. Here, we have implemented a prototype system and tested it on various types of kernels. The preliminary results are very promising, and so we hope that the proposed method can be applied successfully to other problems in different application domains.
Micro Adaptive, Non-invasive Knowledge Assessment in Educational Games

Most existing educational games cannot compete with their non-educational counterparts in terms of visual and narrative quality, gameplay, or adaptability. Amongst the most advanced approaches is ELEKTRA, a European project that developed a framework for intelligent educational personalization, enabling games to adapt learning and gaming activities to individual learning progress and pedagogical strategies. In this context, a crucial aspect is an individualized assessment of knowledge and learning progress. The ELEKTRA methodology enables an integrated and individualized assessment by monitoring and interpreting the learnerpsilas behavior within the game in a non-invasive way. The present paper summarizes the theoretical background from the perspective of cognitive science.
An Optimized Design of Reversible Sequential Digital Circuits

In the today's era, reversible logics are the promising technology for the designing of low power digital logic system having major application in the field of nanotechnology, quantum computation, DNA and other low power digital circuits. Reversible logics provide zero power dissipation (Ideally) in the digital operations. There are numbers of circuit designed by the reversible logics and sequential circuits have their own importance in the digital systems. In this paper authors provides a optimized approach and optimized design for the sequential circuit (counter as an example) by using the MUX gate (a reversible gate) which provides the better results against the previous designs discussed in the literature. The proposed design has lower quantum cost, garbage output, constant input and total number of logical calculations performing by the design.
Peer-to-Peer Media Streaming: Insights and New Developments

Internet media content delivery started to emerge roughly a decade ago, and it has subsequently had a major impact on network traffic and usage. Although traditional client-server systems were used initially for delivering media content, researchers and practitioners soon realized that peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, due to their self-scaling properties, had the potential to improve scalability compared with traditional client-server architectures. Consequently, various P2P media streaming systems have been deployed successfully, and corresponding theoretical investigations have been performed on such systems. The rapid developments in this field raise the need for up-to-date literature surveys to summarize them. In recent years, numerous technological discoveries have been achieved. The focus of this report is to survey and discuss these new findings, which include new technological developments, as well as new understandings of these developments and of the existing P2P streaming techniques, through both novel modeling methodologies and measurement-based studies.
Clifford structures and spinor bundles

It is shown that every bundle ! M of complex, irreducible and faithful modules over the Cliiord bundle of an even-dimensional Riemannian space (M; g) with local model (V; h) is associated with a cpin (\Cliiord") structure on M, this being an extension of the SO(h)-bundle of orthonormal frames on M to the Cliiord group Cpin(h) = (C Spin(h))=Z 2. An explicit construction is given of the total space of the Cpin(h)-bundle deening such a structure. A canonical line bundle on a cpin man-ifold, associated with the spinor norm homomorphism, is identiied with a subbundle of Hom(;). The cpin structure restricts to a spin structure ii this line bundle is trivial.
Predictive validity of DSM-IV oppositional defiant and conduct disorders in clinically referred preschoolers.

BACKGROUND Diagnostic validity of oppositional defiant and conduct disorders (ODD and CD) for preschoolers has been questioned based on concerns regarding the ability to differentiate normative, transient disruptive behavior from clinical symptoms. Data on concurrent validity have accumulated, but predictive validity is limited. Predictive validity is critical to refuting the hypothesis that diagnosing ODD and CD in young children leads to pathologizing normal behavior. ODD and CD have emerged as gateway disorders to many forms of adult psychopathology. Establishing how early we can identify symptoms and disorders that herald poor prognosis is one of the most important goals for research on etiology and prevention. METHODS Subjects were 3-5-year-old consecutive referrals to a child psychiatry clinic (n=123) and demographically matched children from a pediatric clinic (n=100). A diagnostic interview was used to assess DSM-IV ODD and CD in a prospective follow-up design from preschool to school age. Stability of ODD and CD diagnoses and level of impairment were tested as a function of preschool diagnosis. RESULTS Over 80% of preschoolers diagnosed with ODD and approximately 60% of preschoolers diagnosed with CD met criteria for the same disorder during follow-up. Impairment over time varied significantly as a function of stability of diagnosis across three years. CONCLUSIONS These results provide the first evidence of the predictive validity of DSM-IV ODD and CD in clinically referred preschool children. The findings challenge the assumption that symptoms of disruptive behavior disorders that occur during the preschool period tend to be transient.
Double projective cylindrical texture mapping on FPGA

Image-based modeling and rendering (IBMR) techniques have been used to construct three-dimensional virtual scenes applied for VR applications by warping several two-dimensional images with depth information. In this paper, a novel approach of IBMR with depth information called double projective cylindrical texture mapping method (DPCM) is presented and implemented on an FPGA hardware platform. By the approach, based on a virtual double projective cylindrical camera model, the rendered scene is firstly projected onto the surface of a cylinder with perspective projection for the top and bottom view and parallel projection for the side view. Both color and depth images are captured after projection. Using the double projective cylindrical reference images (DPCI) as the source, a two-pass rendering process is conducted to generate new views of the 3D object and scene through a horizontal and vertical pre-warping followed by standard texture mapping. By taking the parallelism and reconfigurability of FPGA hardware, the algorithm is optimized for the architecture of circuit and well designed for memory management. Experimental results show that both improved rendering speed and good image quality could be achieved on the hardware platform.
Breast Cancer and DNA Repair Capacity: Association With Use of Multivitamin and Calcium Supplements.

CONTEXT Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women, with over 1 million new cases diagnosed every year worldwide. Over recent decades, considerable interest has emerged regarding whether vitamins and/or other supplements can lower the risk of BC. However, previous epidemiologic studies that investigated the association between intake of multivitamin and supplements of single vitamins and minerals and BC risk have reported conflicting results. Whether vitamins can actually reduce BC risk is still controversial. OBJECTIVE This study examined whether multivitamin and calcium use was associated with BC incidence and DNA repair capacity (DRC). DESIGN The research team designed an observational, case-control study. SETTING All work was performed at the Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences under the direct supervision of principal investigator Dr Jaime Matta. PARTICIPANTS Participants were 836 women recruited primarily from the private practices of oncologists, gynecologists, and surgeons in Puerto Rico. INTERVENTIONS A total of 312 individuals in the breast cancer (BC) group and 524 individuals in the control group were compared for their multivitamin and calcium intake, DRC levels, and other covariates. OUTCOME MEASURES Odds ratios (OR), adjusted using both crude analysis and multiple logistic regression, were used as measures of association between BC and DRC and other selected variables. RESULTS The BC group had 30% reduced odds of taking multivitamins and calcium as compared to controls: (1) OR = 0.7 (95% CI, 0.4-1.0; P = .073) for multivitamins and (2) OR = 0.7 (95% CI, 0.4-1.2; P = .167) for calcium. Women with low DRC had 50% lower odds of taking calcium and 30% lower odds of currently taking vitamins OR = 0.5 (95% CI, 0.4-0.7; P = .001) for calcium and (2) OR = 0.7 (95% CI, 0.5-0.9.1; P = .047) for vitamins. CONCLUSIONS Although this study is a case-control study in which the risk of BC could not be assessed, results suggest that vitamin supplementation could be an independent protective factor for BC. Calcium intake appears to affect DRC in a positive way, because it was associated with a high DRC level, which in turn is associated with low odds for BC.