Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of two novel benzoylphenylurea sulfur analogues and evidence that the microtubule-associated protein tau is predictive of their activity in pancreatic cancer

In this work, we evaluated two lead compounds, referred to as SG410 and SG430, obtained from a screen of sulfur benzoylphenylurea analogues, against in vitro and in vivo models of pancreas cancer. Both drugs showed a similar mechanism of action profile, with SG410 being more potent as an inhibitor of tubulin assembly. We determined the best in vivo administration schedule and tested SG410 and SG430 in nine cases of a novel platform of direct pancreas cancer xenografts. Both compounds had antiproliferative activity in vitro in the low nanomolar range, but only SG410 showed significant activity in vivo. Administration of SG410 resulted in significant tumor growth delay in five of nine groups tested. In a direct comparison in three of the cases, SG410 was at least as efficacious as docetaxel. We also sought markers that would be predictive of the efficacy of these agents, and we found such a marker in microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT). This protein enhances the assembly and stability of microtubules. In both the cell lines and the direct human xenografts, MAPT mRNA and protein levels correlated well. There was also a statistically significant inverse correlation between MAPT expression and sensitivity to the tested agents. In summary, the novel sulfur benzoylphenylurea SG410 showed activity inversely related to MAPT expression in a preclinical model of pancreatic cancer comparable with that observed with docetaxel, another microtubule-targeting agent. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(5):1509–16]
TravelDiff: Visual comparison analytics for massive movement patterns derived from Twitter

Geo-tagged microblog data covers billions of movement patterns on a global and local scale. Understanding these patterns could guide urban and traffic planning or help coping with disaster situations. We present a visual analytics system to investigate travel trajectories of people reconstructed from microblog messages. To analyze seasonal changes and events and to validate movement patterns against other data sources, we contribute highly interactive visual comparison methods that normalize and contrast trajectories as well as density maps within a single view. We also compute an adaptive hierarchical graph from the trajectories to abstract individual movements into higher-level structures. Specific challenges that we tackle are, among others, the spatio-temporal sparsity of the data, the volume of data varying by region, and a diverse mix of means of transportation. The applicability of our approach is presented in three case studies.
An approximate Bayesian approach for mapping paired-end DNA reads to a reference genome

Summary: Many high-throughput sequencing experiments produce paired DNA reads. Paired-end DNA reads provide extra positional information that is useful in reliable mapping of short reads to a reference genome, as well as in downstream analyses of structural variations. Given the importance of paired-end alignments, it is surprising that there have been no previous publications focusing on this topic. In this article, we present a new probabilistic framework to predict the alignment of paired-end reads to a reference genome. Using both simulated and real data, we compare the performance of our method with six other read-mapping tools that provide a paired-end option. We show that our method provides a good combination of accuracy, error rate and computation time, especially in more challenging and practical cases, such as when the reference genome is incomplete or unavailable for the sample, or when there are large variations between the reference genome and the source of the reads. An open-source implementation of our method is available as part of Last, a multi-purpose alignment program freely available at http://last.cbrc.jp. Contact: martin@cbrc.jp Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Constraint-Based Symmetry Detection in General Game Playing

Symmetry detection is a promising approach for reducing the search tree of games. In General Game Playing (GGP), where any game is compactly represented by a set of rules in the Game Description Language (GDL), the state-of-the-art methods for symmetry detection rely on a rule graph associated with the GDL description of the game. Though such rule-based symmetry detection methods can be applied to various tree search algorithms, they cover only a limited number of symmetries which are apparent in the GDL description. In this paper, we develop an alternative approach to symmetry detection in stochastic games that exploits constraint programming techniques. The minimax optimization problem in a GDL game is cast as a stochastic constraint satisfaction problem (SCSP), which can be viewed as a sequence of one-stage SCSPs. Minimax symmetries are inferred according to the microstructure complement of these one-stage constraint networks. Based on a theoretical analysis of this approach, we experimentally show on various games that the recent stochastic constraint solver MAC-UCB, coupled with constraint-based symmetry detection, significantly outperforms the standard Monte Carlo Tree Search algorithms, coupled with rule-based symmetry detection. This constraint-driven approach is also validated by the excellent results obtained by our player during the last GGP competition.
Direct observation of plasticity and quantitative hardness measurements in single crystal cyclotrimethylene trinitramine by nanoindentation

Investigation of deformation beginning with elasticity and continuing through the elastic–plastic transition to incipient cracking has been conducted for (210), (021) and (001) oriented single crystals of the explosive cyclotrimethylene trinitramine, commonly known as “RDX”. Nanoindentation was performed with a conical tip over a range of loads. The resulting load–depth data exhibited distinct, reproducible, orientation-dependent load excursions demonstrating elastic–plastic transitions. Indent impressions were imaged by atomic force microscopy revealing deformation features consistent with slip on six planes. Impressions on the (210) and (001) planes showed deformation pile-up features associated with the zone axes of slip planes. Slip traces were evident on the (210) plane indicating slip on four planes and suggesting cross-slip. Height data, for impressions formed by progressively increasing loads, indicated one additional slip system consistent with (010) slip. All of the orientations exhibited cracking thresholds at very low loads. The reduced elastic moduli were anisotropic and the hardness values were isotropic indicating limited plasticity. Maximum shear stresses estimated from a Hertzian model, at load excursions, were within 1/15 to 1/10 of published shear moduli, indicating deformation initiated near the theoretical yield strength, presumably by homogeneous nucleation of dislocations. The material strength parameters and deformation pathways inferred from this work are compared to previous microhardness investigations in which the ambiguity of results can be attributed to the effects of cracking and simultaneous slip on multiple systems. A mechanistic explanation for the hindered plasticity, and cracking, observed for RDX is offered in terms of compatibility conditions.
Exercise-induced regional dysfunction with subcritical coronary stenosis.

The hypothesis was tested that regional myocardial contractile dysfunction can detect subtle regional coronary blood flow maldistribution induced by exercise. In seven dogs, left ventricular pressure (micromanometer), regional systolic wall thickening (WTh, sonomicrometry), and myocardial blood flow (MBF, microspheres) were measured when mild degrees of coronary artery stenosis were produced during treadmill exercise. During exercise without coronary stenosis, WTh increased by 21 +/- 12% (SD), and transmural MBF increased uniformly. In each dog, two levels of coronary stenosis were produced during exercise by adjusting the coronary hydraulic cuff: (1) St-Ex I, where WTh during exercise failed to increase significantly (average change 0 +/- 7%), and (2) St-Ex II, where WTh during exercise decreased moderately from the resting control value (average -20 +/- 8%). In the potentially ischemic zone coronary hyperemia occurred with each run: resting subendocardial MBF was 1.09 +/- 0.30 mg/g/min, and it was 3.04 +/- 0.83 during control exercise, 2.48 +/- 0.75 during St-Ex I, and 1.55 +/- 0.59 ml/g/min during St-Ex II (p less than .01 compared with control exercise and control area). The subendocardial-subepicardial blood flow ratio fell from 1.32 +/- 0.27 during control exercise to 1.07 +/- 0.20 (p less than .05) during St-Ex I, and to 0.64 +/- 0.15 (p less than .01) with St-Ex II. Changes in the subendocardial electrogram and reactive hyperemia occurred more consistently during St-Ex II than St-Ex I. Thus, failure of regional function to increase during exercise detected slight maldistribution of regional MBF, whereas reduction of regional function during exercise of 10% or more below the resting value was a reliable marker of a regional flow defect and was always associated with other evidence of ischemia. Therefore, regional dysfunction during exercise can detect subcritical but functionally significant coronary stenosis, which may allow regional wall motion to be used for detecting coronary artery disease at a relatively early stage.
Flocking Behavior

Flocking is the phenomenon in which self-propelled individuals, using only limited environmental information and simple rules, organize into an ordered motion. This ordering even occurs at two dimensions where ordering is not possible equilibrium systems. This paper will explain the biological and physical motivation for studying flocking, and the computational, theoretical, and experimental efforts undertaken to explore this phenomenon.
Light‐Metal Foams—History of Innovation and Technological Challenges

The history of metallic foams and the key innovations that have led to the variety of processing methods known today are reviewed. It is evident that the idea of foaming metals is very old and that most of the techniques used today have been proposed already in the 1950s. The most important milestones in the development of foaming technologies and the some of the attempts to commercialize metal foams are reviewed.
Science mapping with asymmetrical paradigmatic proximity

We propose a series of methods to represent the evolution of a field of science at different levels: namely micro, meso and macro levels. We use a previously introduced asymmetric measure of paradigmatic proximity between terms that enable us to extract structure from a large publications database. We apply our set of methods on a case study from the Complex Systems Community through the mapping of more than 400 Complex Systems Science concepts indexed from a database as large as several millions of journal papers. We will first recapitulate the main properties of our asymmetric proximity measure. Then we show how salient paradigmatic fields can be embedded into a 2-dimensional visualization into which the terms are plotted according to their relative specificity and generality index. This meso-level helps us producing macroscopic maps of the field of science studied featuring the former paradigmatic fields.
Differences in Sensitivity Between Magnetic Motor‐Evoked Potentials and Somatosensory‐Evoked Potentials in Experimental Spinal Cord Lesions

Study Design Graded posterior spinal cord compression and partial sectioning of the spinal cord were performed, and magnetically induced descending spinal cord potentials were recorded. Objectives To compare the sensitivity of transcranial magnetic motor‐evoked potentials in the spinal cord and other spinal cord evoked potentials to spinal cord lesions. Summary of Background Data Somatosensory‐evoked potentials have been the standard technique for monitoring spinal cord function during spinal surgery. These potentials, however, do not necessarily reflect descending motor tract function. Transcranial electric or magnetic stimulation for motor‐evoked potentials is a more direct measure of motor tract function. However, more research on magnetic motor‐evoked potentials is needed. Methods Fifteen adult cats were used. Graded posterior spinal cord compression was performed at L2 in 10 cats, and partial sectioning of the spinal cord was performed at L2 in five cats. The location sequence of lesioning was dorsal column section, dorsal 1/2 section, dorsal 2/3 section, and total spinal cord section. Magnetic motor‐evoked potentials were recorded by epidural catheter electrodes placed above, at, and below the lesion. Electric motor‐evoked potentials and spinal and cortical somatosensory‐evoked potentials were recorded serially for a comparison of their sensitivity to spinal cord dysfunction. Results In posterior spinal cord compression, N1 amplitude of magnetic motor‐evoked potentials at and below the lesion decreased after 1 minute of compression with a 70 g weight, and N1 and N2 amplitude disappeared after 1 minute of compression with a 100‐ to 120‐g weight. Electric motor‐evoked potentials changed at amplitudes comparable with those shown by magnetic motor‐evoked potentials. Spinal somatosensory‐evoked potentials showed the most sensitive changes to spinal cord posterior compression and disappeared after 1 minute of compression with 80 g. Cortical somatosensory‐evoked potentials in five cats were not sensitive enough for spinal cord posterior compression injury and did not disappear even after 1 minute of compression with 120 g. In magnetic motor‐evoked potentials, after dorsal hemisectioning of the spinal cord only N3 disappeared; N1 and N2 disappeared after ventral spinal cord sectioning. In spinal somatosensory‐evoked potentials, amplitudes decreased after dorsal column sectioning, and all negative peaks disappeared after dorsal hemisectioning of the spinal cord. Conclusions Posterior compression injuries are diagnosed more easily with spinal somatosensory‐evoked potentials. Motor‐evoked potentials were slightly less sensitive, but they were significantly more useful in diagnosing posterior compression injuries than were cortical somatosensory‐evoked potentials.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is increased in serum, but not in cerebrospinal fluid in HIV associated CNS diseases

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent angiogenic and mitogenic peptide, which also induces several mediators that may play a role in HIV induced CNS damage. VEGF levels were determined in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples from patients with (n = 8) and without (n = 19) directly HIV associated CNS disorders and HIV negative control patients (n = 18). VEGF serum but not CSF levels were significantly increased in HIV infected patients with (381.1 (78.9) pg/ml) HIV associated CNS diseases compared with those without (120.8 (13.1) pg/ml) and HIV negative control patients (133.1(14.8) pg/ml). Serum samples from patients with untreated HIV associated encephalopathy (HIVE, n = 3) contained the highest VEGF levels (583.9 (71.5) pg/ml). In two patients VEGF serum levels were reduced during antiretroviral therapy. However, regardless of effective viral suppression, patients with HIVE still had higher levels compared with HIV infected patients without HIVE. A relevant increase of serum VEGF was not observed in patients without HIVE though high HI viral load. We conclude that HIVE is associated with increased serum VEGF levels. Further studies are warranted to elucidate the role of VEGF in HIVE.
Audio games: new perspectives on game audio

This paper discusses the design of audio games, a quite new computer game category that originates from games for players with visual impairments as well as from mainstream music games. In the TiM project (Tactile Interactive Multimedia), SITREC develops three sound-based games that point out new directions for game audio design. The TiM games demonstrate different ways in which games can be designed around an auditory experience. Several unique features of audio games are presented emphasising unexplored potentials for interactivity and future development areas are suggested.SITREC proposes an approach to the design of auditory interfaces that takes three listening modes into consideration: casual listening, semantic listening and reduced listening. A semiotic model is presented that illustrates this view on sound object design and ways in which sounds can be combined. The discourse focuses on issues of continuous display, musicality and clarity, and introduces the notion of "spatialised game soundtracks," as opposed to separated background music and game effect sounds.The main challenge when developing auditory interfaces is to balance functionality and aesthetics. Other important issues are the inclusion of meta-level information in order to achieve a high level of complexity and to provide elements of open-endedness. This refers to planning the overall gameplay, as well as to designing individual sound objects and combining them into complex, interactive soundscapes.
Community assembly and invasion: An experimental test of neutral versus niche processes

A species-addition experiment showed that prairie grasslands have a structured, nonneutral assembly process in which resident species inhibit, via resource consumption, the establishment and growth of species with similar resource use patterns and in which the success of invaders decreases as diversity increases. In our experiment, species in each of four functional guilds were introduced, as seed, into 147 prairie–grassland plots that previously had been established and maintained to have different compositions and diversities. Established species most strongly inhibited introduced species from their own functional guild. Introduced species attained lower abundances when functionally similar species were abundant and when established species left lower levels of resources unconsumed, which occurred at lower species richness. Residents of the C4 grass functional guild, the dominant guild in nearby native grasslands, reduced the major limiting resource, soil nitrate, to the lowest levels in midsummer and exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect on introduced species. This simple mechanism of greater competitive inhibition of invaders that are similar to established abundant species could, in theory, explain many of the patterns observed in plant communities.
Study of the Population Dynamics of Listeria Monocytogenes and Pseudomonas Fluorescens in Buffalo Mozzarella by Means of Challenge Testing

Campania’s buffalo mozzarella is a greatly appreciated cheese in Italy and worldwide. From a microbiological standpoint, it is a highly perishable food and potentially at risk of contamination by pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes). The present paper reports the results of a challenge test carried out to assess the population dynamics of L. monocytogenes, alone and in presence of Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens), in buffalo mozzarella. For this purpose buffalo mozzarella samples were contaminated with L. monocytogenes alone or combined with P. fluorescens. In samples where L. monocytogenes was inoculated alone, the bacterial load remained unchanged. On the contrary, in samples contaminated with L. monocytogenes and P. fluorescens, the growth of L. monocytogenes increased.
Intrinsic-Extrinsic Factors in Sport Motivation

Participants were 83 students (36 men and 47 women). 10 intrinsic-extrinsic factors involved in sport motivation were obtained. The factors were generated from items obtained from the participants rather than items from the experimenter. This was done to avoid the possible influence of preconceptions on the part of the experimenter regarding what the final dimensions may be. Obtained motivational factors were Social Reinforcement, Fringe Benefits, Fame and Fortune, External Forces, Proving Oneself, Social Benefits, Mental Enrichment, Expression of Self, Sense of Accomplishment, and Self-enhancement. Each factor was referred to an intrinsic-extrinsic dimension to describe its relative position on that dimension. The order of the factors as listed indicates increasing intrinsic motivation, i.e., the first four factors were rated in the extrinsic range, whereas the remaining six were rated to be in the intrinsic range. Next, the participants rated the extent to which each of the various factors was involved in their decision to participate in sport activities. The pattern of use of the motivational factors was the same for both sexes except that men indicated greater use of the Fringe Benefits factor. Overall, the more intrinsic a sport motivation factor was rated, the more likely it was to be rated as a factor in actual sport participation.
High aspect ratio UV photolithography for electroplated structures

This paper describes single and two layer processes to realize thick resist moulds (40 and 80 µm) with a good reproducibility. The patterning of a thick AZ 4562 photoresist layer is performed with standard photolithography equipment. Different problems related to thick photoresist patterning (edge bead, resist cracking, .) are discussed and solutions are proposed. Side walls are characterized after nickel electrodeposition and mould dissolution in acetone. Results, process limitations and applications are presented.
Radiometric Compensation for Cooperative Distributed Multi-Projection System Through 2-DOF Distributed Control

This paper proposes a novel radiometric compensation technique for cooperative projection system based-on distributed optimization. To achieve high scalability and robustness, we assume cooperative projection environments such that 1. each projector does not have information about other projectors as well as target images, 2. the camera does not have information about the projectors either, while having the target images, and 3. only a broadcast communication from the camera to the projectors is allowed to suppress the data transfer bandwidth. To this end, we first investigate a distributed optimization based feedback mechanism that is suitable for the required decentralized information processing environment. Next, we show that this mechanism works well for still image projection, however not necessary for moving images due to the lack of dynamic responsiveness. To overcome this issue, we propose to implement an additional feedforward mechanism. Such a 2 Degree Of Freedom (2-DOF) control structure is well-known in control engineering community as a typical method to enhance not only disturbance rejection but also reference tracking capability, simultaneously. We theoretically guarantee and experimentally demonstrate that this 2-DOF structure yields the moving image projection accuracy that is overwhelming the best achievable performance only by the distributed optimization mechanisms.
[Expression of periodontal ligament-associated protein-1 in normal periodontal tissues and cells in rat].

OBJECTIVE To examine the expression of periodontal ligament-associated protein-1 (PLAP-1) in the periodontal tissues and periodontal ligament cells (PDLC). METHODS The PLAP-1 expression in normal periodontal tissue was examined by immunohistochemistry. The protein expression and mRNA transcription of PLAP-1 in PDLC were investigated by immunocytochemistry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS PLAP-1 was expressed in periodontium but not in cementum, alveolar bone and gingival tissues. PLAP-1 expression was observed in cell plasma, but not in nuclei. There was a 350 bp electrophoresis band representing PLAP-1 mRNA. CONCLUSIONS PLAP-1 may play a role in physiology of periodontal tissues and cells in normal adult rats.