Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiogenin variants in Parkinson disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Several studies have suggested an increased frequency of variants in the gene encoding angiogenin (ANG) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Interestingly, a few ALS patients carrying ANG variants also showed signs of Parkinson disease (PD). Furthermore, relatives of ALS patients have an increased risk to develop PD, and the prevalence of concomitant motor neuron disease in PD is higher than expected based on chance occurrence. We therefore investigated whether ANG variants could predispose to both ALS and PD.
Cognitive and Cultural Views of Emotions

Introduction HCI’s historical and intellectual roots lie in cognitive science and the central underlying philosophical claim of cognitivism, that the mind can be understood and modeled in computational terms. This perspective has underwritten an extensive empirical and theoretical program exploring the operation of the human cognitive system from a representational and information-processing perspective, couched in terms of symbol manipulation, storage and processing.
Making the fast case common and the uncommon case simple in unbounded transactional memory

Hardware transactional memory has great potential to simplify the creation ofcorrect and efficient multithreaded programs, allowing programmers to exploitmore effectively the soon-to-be-ubiquitous multi-core designs. Several recentproposals have extended the original bounded transactional memory to unboundedtransactional memory, a crucial step toward transactions becoming ageneral-purpose primitive. Unfortunately, supporting the concurrent executionof an unbounded number of unbounded transactions is challenging, and as aresult, many proposed implementations are complex. This paper explores a different approach. First, we introduce thepermissions-only cache to extend the bound at which transactions overflow toallow the fast, bounded case to be used as frequently as possible. Second, wepropose OneTM to simplify the implementation of unbounded transactional memoryby bounding the concurrency of transactions that overflow the cache. Thesemechanisms work synergistically to provide a simple and fast unboundedtransactional memory system. The permissions-only cache efficiently maintains the coherencepermissions-but not data-for blocks read or written transactionally thathave been evicted from the processor's caches. By holding coherencepermissions for these blocks, the regular cache coherence protocol can be usedto detect transactional conflicts using only a few bits of on-chip storage peroverflowed cache block.OneTM allows only one overflowed transaction at a time, relying on thepermissions-only cache to ensure that overflow is infrequent. We present twoimplementations. In OneTM-Serialized, an overflowed transaction simply stallsall other threads in the application. In OneTM-Concurrent, non-overflowedtransactions and non-transactional code can execute concurrently with theoverflowed transaction, providing more concurrency while retaining OneTM's coresimplifying assumption.
Class Φ2 DC-DC converter with PWM on-off control

This paper presents a very high frequency dc-dc converter based on class Φ2 inverter and PWM on-off control is selected as the control strategy. Class Φ2 resonant inverter can provide a lower switch voltage stress than class E inverter. Besides, a two-stage resonant gate driver is also introduced, which provides low gating losses and is suited for very high frequency applications. In addition, PWM on-off control is used to modulate the converter at a fixed frequency so that there is only designed frequency content at output voltage. The prototype dc-dc converter operating at 30MHz provides 107W and closed-loop peak efficiency is 70% during input voltage range of 35V-47V when output voltage is regulated at 73V.
Anesthetic effect of propofol combined with remifentanil or sevoflurane anesthesia on patients undergoing radical gastrectomy

Anesthetic effect of propofol combined with remifentanil or sevoflurane intravenous anesthesia on patients undergoing radical gastrectomy was evaluated. The clinical data of 516 cancer patients who received radical gastrectomy in the First Bethune Hospital of Jilin University between January 2011 and December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. In total 203 patients with propofol combined with remifentanil anesthesia were used as group A, and 313 patients with propofol combined with sevoflurane anesthesia as group B. The changes of respiration and circulation were analyzed at the time of entering the operating room (t0), the beginning of the operation (t1), 10 min after the beginning of the operation (t2) and 10 min after operation (t3). The onset time of anesthesia, the total time of operation, the time of waking up after operation and the time of leaving the operating room were analyzed. The effects of sedation and amnesia were evaluated, and the occurrence of adverse reactions were recorded. The inhibition of circulation and respiration was more obvious at t1 and t2 in group A when compared to group B (P<0.05), and the respiration and circulation in group B was more stable than that in group A (P<0.001). Patients' sedation scores in group A were lower than those in group B, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); there were 56 (27.59%) patients and 30 (9.58%) patients with postoperative pain in group A and group B, respectively (P<0.001). The application of propofol combined with sevoflurane in the anesthesia of patients undergoing radical gastrectomy can make the respiration and circulation more stable, and reduce the incidence of postoperative pain and adverse reactions.
eHealth Supported Diabetes Management

Electronic healthcare (eHealth) is a technology that can be used to support patients and healthcare professionals in the management of diabetes care. In this thesis we assess two eHealth applications that can be used in the management of diabetes. In the first part a diabetes patient portal was evaluated. The main barrier to portal use was unawareness. Furthermore, not all patients with a login were actual users, those who stopped using it had more trouble understanding portal content and found the portal not very useful. Different people have different wishes for improvements. A uniform patient portal is not fit for all and different types of patients need different types of portals. In the second part the effects of a prompt in the medical record was evaluated. This prompt alerts the healthcare professional if a patient with diabetes is not treated in the correct treatment setting according to a national agreement (LTA) between primary and secondary care. We found that over 50% of patients with type 2 diabetes were not treated in the setting stipulated by the LTA and alerting the health care professional does not change this situation. However, the alert led to a small improvement in quality of care. The content of the LTA needs to be discussed with the health care professionals and a more extensive agreement procedure is necessary to improve diabetes care.
Reactive Routing Overhead in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

This paper presents an analytical model for quantifying the reactive routing overhead in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs). The overhead is characterized as a function of network mobility and traffic load. Also, a numerical model for determining the optimal cached route Time-To-Live is derived to minimize the overhead depending on network mobility and traffic load. The final result shows the minimum communication bandwidth in bits necessary to facilitate reactive routing. This paper provides a valuable insight into the fundamental limits of routing performance in MANETs in response to mobility.
Studies on Phytochemical Evaluation and Antibacterial Properties of Two Varieties of Kolanut (Cola nitida) in Nigeria

Kola nut is a native stimulant which is commonly chewed in many West African cultures, indivi- dually or in a group setting. It is often used ceremonially and to honour guest. Phytochemical analysis and antibacterial screening of red and white Cola nitida (kola nut) extracts were eva- luated using qualitative and quantitative method. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) was used to evaluate the phenolic content. Antibacterial screening was done using agar well diffusion method against odontopathogens; (Lactobacillus sp., Corynebacterium haemolyticum, Proteus vulgans, Ba- cillus lentus, Streptococcus anginosus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) obtained from stock cultures. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponin, tannins, glyco- side, steroids, volatile oil and balsams. Higher content of alkaloids, saponin and glycoside was ob- tained in the aqueous extract than the methanol for both red and white kola nut. The results of TLC analysis revealed the presence of quercetin and coumarin in red kola and keamferol and coumarin in white kola respectively. The result of antibacterial activity of red C. nitida showed a zone of inhibition of 18 mm and 23 mm at 60 mg/ml for aqueous extract on Proteus vulgans and Streptococcus anginosus. Similarly white kola inhibited the growth of S. anginosus at 90 mg/ml with a zone of 18 mm. Methanol extract of red kola inhibited the growth of P. vulgans and S. angi- nosus at 60 mg/ml with a zone of 16 mm and 20 mm respectively. Acetone and ethyl acetate ex- tracts of both red and white kola nut did not show any activity against the tested organism at all concentrations. The results obtained indicate that C. nitida which posses promising chemothera- peutic and antibacterial potentials respectively that could be useful against odontopathogens. The study may serve as baseline for further studies.
Knowledge and Attitudes about HIV/AIDS in Illegal Residents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To study the knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to human immunodeficiency virus infection / acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in illegal residents, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Materials and Methods: A questionnaire study was conducted among the illegal residents from four regions in Saudi Arabia: Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, and Jazan. Results: The survey enrolled 5,000 participants, 79%male (39.6% from Jeddah; 20% from Riyadh; and 20% from Jazan), aged between 15 and 45 years. Of the total, 1288 (25.8%) had not heard about HIV/AIDS. Knowledge of HIV transmission was poor in 90% of the respondents. Of the total, 737 had read about HIV/AIDS materials and 649 participants had been previously tested for HIV. The majority of participants (85%) held a negative attitude toward people living with HIV/AIDS. Those who were knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS expressed more a positive attitude. One-fifth (968, majority were men; single 55%, married 45%) had engaged in non-marital sexual activity. The largest proportion of the individuals who had engaged in non-marital sex were single (54.9%) followed by the married ones (40.4%). Men cited pleasure as the main reason for such activity (84.6%), whereas women (73.4%) cited financial gain. Of the respondents, 53.9 and 32.1% believed that TV and schools were the best media through which information with regard to HIV/AIDS could be imparted. Conclusions: Knowledge of HIV/AIDS, its mode of transmission, and prevention measures was poor. Educational programs specifically targeted toward this group were required.
Embedding XQuery in Toy ?

This paper addresses the problem of integrating a fragment of XQuery, a language for querying XML documents, into the functionallogic language T OY. The queries are evaluated by an interpreter, and the declarative nature of the proposal allows us to prove correctness and completeness with respect to the semantics of the subset of XQuery considered. The different fragments of XML that can be produced by XQuery expressions are obtained using the non-deterministic features of functional-logic languages. As an application of this proposal we show how the typical generate and test techniques of logic languages can be used for generating test-cases for XQuery expressions.
Short Literature Review for a General Player Model Based on Behavlets

We present the first in a series of three academic essays which deal with the question of how to build a generalized player model. We begin with a proposition: a general model of players requires parameters for the subjective experience of play, including at least: player psychology, game structure, and actions of play. Based on this proposition, we pose three linked research questions, which make incomplete progress toward a generalised player model: RQ1 what is a necessary and sufficient foundation to a general player model? ; RQ2 can such a foundation improve performance of a computational intelligence-based player model? ; and RQ3 can such a player model improve efficacy of adaptive artificial intelligence in games? We set out the arguments behind these research questions in each of the three essays, presented as three preprints. The first essay, in this preprint, reviews the literature for the core foundations for a general player model. We then propose a plan for future work to systematically extend the review and thus provide an empirical answer to RQ1 above. This work will directly support the proposed approach to address RQ2 and RQ3 above. This review was developed to support our 'Behavlets' approach to player modelling; therefore if citing this work, please use the relevant citation: Cowley B, Charles D. Behavlets: a Method for Practical Player Modelling using Psychology-Based Player Traits and Domain Specific Features. User Modelling and User-Adapted Interaction. 2016 Feb 8; online (Special Issue on Personality in Personalized Systems):1-50.
Distributed Clustering and Routing for Delay Tolerant Mobile Networks

Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) has been introduced to mobile wireless technology because there is a major concern on the intermittent connectivity among the mobile nodes. There are many technologies like Delay Tolerant Sensor Networks, Mobile network and peer to peer mobile ad-hoc [3][4][5] networks. DTN is basically a communication system which will exist temporarily so cannot be used to establish the reliable connections for data delivery. In such networks, we can route based on the node capabilities. So the key idea will be to effectively maintain, update and utilize the nodal contact probabilities. In this architecture every nodes will play the similar roles in the route.
Mirror movements in parkinsonism: evaluation of a new clinical sign

Background: Mirror movements (MM) are not widely appreciated in parkinsonism and no report has evaluated this clinical sign in detail. Objectives: To define the parkinsonian clinical features associated with MM in patients with early, asymmetric parkinsonism. Methods: Twenty seven patients with early Parkinson’s disease were evaluated using a standardised videotaping protocol. MM were scored from blinded video assessment using a clinical scale that rates the amplitude, distribution, and proportion of mirroring in the less affected limb. Parkinsonian features were combined into axial and lateralised scores using related items of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale. Results: MM were present in 24 of 27 patients. There was a significant linear correlation between the degree of asymmetry of motor deficits and MM on the less affected side. The effect of asymmetry was greater when the proportional rather than the absolute motor difference between sides was largest. Asymmetry in leg rigidity was the most important examination feature in the prediction of contralateral foot mirroring. Conclusions: MM are a clinical feature of the unaffected or less affected side in mild asymmetric parkinsonism. Their presence may be a useful clinical finding in early parkinsonism.
Fitting Circular Arcs to Measured Data

Algorithms for fitting circular arcs and straight line segments to measured data are presented. Algebraic as well as geometric methods are discussed leading to efficient techniques for arc and line fitting. A thorough empirical analysis reveals that the best circle fit is via algebraic minimization followed by distance minimization, whereas the best line fit is obtained by a simple geometric method of direction vector averaging. An automatic fitter is also presented that determines whether a line or a circle fit is optimal, computes the appropriate entities, and clips the geometry to obtain the best NURBS circle or line fit.
Revisiting the relationship between hand preference and lateral eye movement

The study examines the relationship between hand preference and conjugate lateral eye movements. The sample comprised of 224 persons. The hand preference was assessed using a handedness inventory. Conjugate lateral eye movements were elicited in response to verbal and spatial questions among left-, mixed- and right-handers. The left- and mixed-handers exhibit significantly greater number of conjugate lateral eye movements than the right-handers. On the verbal task, right-handers exhibit rightward conjugate lateral eye movements, and left- and mixed-handers exhibit leftward conjugate lateral eye movements. On the spatial questions, right-handers exhibit leftward conjugate lateral eye movements and left- and mixed-handers also exhibit leftward conjugate lateral eye movements. While right-handers show normal lateralization pattern, the left- and mixed-handers show right brain dominance irrespective of the nature of questions.
Dimerization and Release of Molecular Chaperone Inhibition Facilitate Activation of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2 Kinase in Response to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress*

Phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor-2 (eIF2) by pancreatic eIF2 kinase (PEK), induces a program of translational expression in response to accumulation of malfolded protein in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This study addresses the mechanisms activating PEK, also designated PERK or EIF2AK3. We describe the characterization of two regions in the ER luminal portion of the transmembrane PEK that carry out distinct functions in the regulation of this eIF2 kinase. The first region mediates oligomerization between PEK polypeptides, and deletion of this portion of PEK blocked induction of eIF2 kinase activity. The second characterized region of PEK facilitates interaction with ER chaperones. In the absence of stress, PEK associates with ER chaperones GRP78 (BiP) and GRP94, and this binding is released in response to ER stress. ER luminal sequences flanking the transmembrane domain are required for GRP78 interaction, and deletion of this portion of PEK led to its activation even in the absence of ER stress. These results suggest that this ER chaperone serves as a repressor of PEK activity, and release of ER chaperones from PEK when misfolded proteins accumulate in the ER induces gene expression required to enhance the protein folding capacity of the ER.
Genetic analysis of epidermin biosynthetic genes and epidermin-negative mutants of Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Epidermin is produced by Staphylococcus epidermidis Tü3298 which harbors the 54-kb plasmid, pTü32. The plasmid contains not only the epidermin structural gene epiA, but also a flanking DNA region which is necessary for epidermin biosynthesis. The DNA sequence of this region revealed, in addition to epiA, five additional open reading frames, epiB, C, D, Q and P [Schnell, N. , Engelke, G. , Augustin J., Rosenstein, R. , Ungermann, V. , Götz, F. & Entian, K. -D. (1992) Eur. J. Biochem. 204, 57-68]. We isolated a number of stable mutants from strain Tü3298 which are unable to produce biologically active epidermin. Complementation studies using the newly constructed staphylococcal plasmid vectors pT181mcs and pCU1 led to their classification as epiA, epiB, epiC or epiD mutants. Furthermore, evidence is presented that epiB lacks its own promoter and is co-transcribed from the epiA promoter. There is evidence that epiC and D possess their own promoters. Although epiQ and epiP mutants were not isolated, it could be shown by heterologous gene expression in S. carnosus and S. xylosus that the corresponding DNA region is involved in epidermin biosynthesis. We can not exclude the possibility that, in addition to the four open reading frames, epiA, B, C, D, and the DNA region comprising epiQ and P, host-encoded functions are necessary for epidermin production. Thus, the genetic information for epidermin biosynthesis in S. carnosus and S. xylosus is located on an 8-kb DNA fragment of pTü32. A further characterization of the two epiA mutants revealed that in both mutants, the preepidermin nucleotide sequence was changed. In one mutant, the mutation led to a substitution of Ser3 by Asn; in the other of Gly10 by Glu.
Important role of membrane-associated CD14 in the induction of IFN-beta and subsequent nitric oxide production by murine macrophages in response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide.

The surface antigen CD14 is known to play a central role in the recognition of lipopolysaccharide by macrophages. We characterized a mutant cell line, J7.DEF. 3, derived from a murine macrophage-like cell line, J774.1, to be defective in the ability to express the membrane-associated form of CD14 (mCD14) but not in the ability to release the soluble form of CD14 (sCD14), and used these parent and mutant cells to investigate the role of CD14 in lipopolysaccharide signaling. In response to lipopolysaccharide stimulation, mutant cells produced slightly less tumor necrosis factor than parent cells, and produced much less (negligible level) nitric oxide than parent cells. Production of both tumor necrosis factor and nitric oxide by parent cells upon lipopolysaccharide stimulation was suppressed by anti-CD14 serum. Expression of interferon-beta mRNA by stimulation with lipopolysaccharide, detected in parent cells, was barely detectable in mutant cells and in enzymatically mCD14-eliminated parent cells. Lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in parent cells was suppressed by anti-(murine interferon-beta), and its production in the mutant cells appeared and increased dose dependently on exogenously supplied murine interferon-beta in the presence of lipopolysaccharide. These results provide new insight into the lipopolysaccharide signaling pathway, indicating that the lipopolysaccharide signal for interferon-beta production is transduced through a mCD14-dependent pathway and that the endogenously generated interferon-beta is an essential cofactor leading to nitric oxide production. Nuclear translocation of a transcription factor, nuclear factor kappaB, was observed in both parent and mutant cells following stimulation with a low dose of lipopolysaccharide, and mitogen-activated protein kinases were also activated in both types of cell, although a higher dose of lipopolysaccharide was required by the mutant cells than by the parent cells. These results indicate that these signaling factors may participate in the mCD14-independent lipopolysaccharide signaling pathway rather than in the mCD14-dependent interferon-beta-producing pathway.
Fokus!MBT: a multi-paradigmatic test modeling environment

UML modeling environments for doing model-based testing are often not very comfortable to use and burden some knowledge about the internals of UML to the users, respectively test engineers. Test engineers, however, are seldom experts in UML, thus, the gain of efficiency model-based testing approaches entail, is reduced by a too generic tooling. The tool Fokus! MBT, developed by the competence center MOTION of Fraunhofer FOKUS, is a multi-paradigmatic test modeling environment based on the UML Testing Profile, an OMG-adopted industry-driven notation for model-based testing. Fokus! MBT simplifies the creation and authoring of test models with methodology-specific support. It is built on top of Eclipse Papyrus, a powerful open source UML modeling environment, which, in turn, relies on the Eclipse Modeling Framework and the Graphical Modeling Framework. This paper provides deep insights into the basic concepts and technical realization of Fokus! MBT as well as into the lessons we have learned during development and application.