Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumor Necrosis Factor Production and Colon Cancer

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) production in B10 mice exhibiting H‐2 gene heterogeneity and in C3H/ He mice differing in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) responsiveness was investigated following stimulation with OK‐432. TNF‐producing capacity in these mice was H‐2‐restricted, while their LPS responsiveness was independent of the gene. TNF production in humans was found to be HLA‐B antigen‐restricted. An investigation was then made of the effect of endogenous TNF induction with OK‐432 on the survival rate of colorectal cancer patients. Patients in the TNF‐producing group showed a trend toward having a better prognosis as compared to those in the TNF‐nonproducing group. Cancer therapy formulated with consideration of host responsiveness to OK‐432 may afford greater therapeutic benefit and may prolong survival.
A game-theoretic approach for power control in a full-duplex femto-relay network

Transmission power control methods appear to be the most conventional practices to enhance system capacity and to mitigate the effects of cross-tier and co-tier interference of small cell networks (e.g. femtocell networks). Additionally, full duplex communications appear to be a novel solution for the increase in the spectrum efficiency and the reduction in latency for mobile stations. In this paper, we propose an algorithmic game method for power control of a femto-relay network that implements the full duplex communication between its nodes and mobile stations. Our proposed approach shows that the corresponding game sustains a Nash equilibrium by a small number of iterations that is near to the number of femto-relays in the network in the presence of self-interference. Moreover, we show the effects of self-interference on the overall system power.
Rapid Growth and Spontaneous Metastasis of Human Germinal Tumors Ectopically Transplanted into Scid (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) and Scid‐nudestreaker Mice

Xenograft acceptance, growth and spontaneous metastasis of ectopically transplanted human germinal tumors were compared among scid mice, athymic nude mice and F2 hybrids constructed from scid and nude mice, in relation to the impairments of T and B cell functions in these mice. In scid mice which are deficient in T and B cell functions, human yolk sac tumor (YST‐2) that originated from the ovary grew to enormous sizes in 100% of the animals after both subcutaneous and intraperitoneal transplantation, while only half (59.1% and 51.9%) of the subcutaneous and none of the intraperitoneal transplants were accepted in usual athymic nude mice (BALB/c‐nu/nu and CDl‐nu/nu). The YST‐2 grew rapidly in scid mice, developing 3 to 10 times larger tumors compared to nude‐streaker (AKR/J‐nustr/nustr) and usual nude mice, respectively. Furthermore, ectopically transplanted tumors spontaneously metastasized to distant organs (mostly to the lung) in scid mice (but less frequently in leaky scid mice), while metastases have never been found in nude mice. Although a xenograft of human classic (typical or pure) seminoma of the testis has never been established in nude mice, it grows slowly in one‐third (36.4%) of scid mice and very rapidly in all of scid‐nu (scid/scid; nustr/nustr) double mutant mice. Spontaneous metastases of xenografted seminomas were also observed in distant organs (lymph node, lung, liver, spleen, and kidney). The metastastic distribution of the two human germinal tumors in scid and scid‐nustr mice mimics that found in human. These results (xenograft acceptance, growth of transplanted tumors and degree of metastatic spread) were compatible with the level of T and B cell impairments indicated by FACS analysis, as well as mitogen responses, serum IgG and morphological features of the thymus.
Nonlinear Diffusion in Laplacian Pyramid Domain for Ultrasonic Speckle Reduction

A new speckle reduction method, i.e., Laplacian pyramid-based nonlinear diffusion (LPND), is proposed for medical ultrasound imaging. With this method, speckle is removed by nonlinear diffusion filtering of bandpass ultrasound images in Laplacian pyramid domain. For nonlinear diffusion in each pyramid layer, a gradient threshold is automatically determined by a variation of median absolute deviation (MAD) estimator. The performance of the proposed LPND method has been compared with that of other speckle reduction methods, including the recently proposed speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD) and nonlinear coherent diffusion (NCD). In simulation and phantom studies, an average gain of 1.55 dB and 1.34 dB in contrast-to-noise ratio was obtained compared to SRAD and NCD, respectively. The visual comparison of despeckled in vivo ultrasound images from liver and carotid artery shows that the proposed LPND method could effectively preserve edges and detailed structures while thoroughly suppressing speckle. These preliminary results indicate that the proposed speckle reduction method could improve image quality and the visibility of small structures and fine details in medical ultrasound imaging
Role of Nanotechnology in Shaping the Future of Mobile and Wireless Devices

: The devices in the future have to become more efficient, and easier to use. This paper reviews and examines the profound impact that nanotechnology would have on mobile devices in particular and future wireless devices in general. Devices of ultra-high-speed, long-range communication links, portable and power-efficient computing devices, high-density memory and logics and robust energy devices can be manufactured with the help of nanotechnology.
Proteomic Investigation to Identify Anticancer Targets of Nemopilema nomurai Jellyfish Venom in Human Hepatocarcinoma HepG2 Cells

Nemopilema nomurai is a giant jellyfish that blooms in East Asian seas. Recently, N. nomurai venom (NnV) was characterized from a toxicological and pharmacological point of view. A mild dose of NnV inhibits the growth of various kinds of cancer cells, mainly hepatic cancer cells. The present study aims to identify the potential therapeutic targets and mechanism of NnV in the growth inhibition of cancer cells. Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells were treated with NnV, and its proteome was analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI/TOF/MS). The quantity of twenty four proteins in NnV-treated HepG2 cells varied compared to non-treated control cells. Among them, the amounts of fourteen proteins decreased and ten proteins showed elevated levels. We also found that the amounts of several cancer biomarkers and oncoproteins, which usually increase in various types of cancer cells, decreased after NnV treatment. The representative proteins included proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), elongation factor 1γ (EF1γ), nucleolar and spindle-associated protein (NuSAP), and activator of 90 kDa heat shock protein ATPase homolog 1 (AHSA1). Western blotting also confirmed altered levels of PCNA, GRP78, and G6PD in NnV-treated HepG2 cells. In summary, the proteomic approach explains the mode of action of NnV as an anticancer agent. Further characterization of NnV may help to unveil novel therapeutic agents in cancer treatment.
Nitrogen Competition between Corn and Weeds in Soils under Organic and Conventional Management

Abstract Crop yields can be similar in organic and conventional systems even when weed biomass is greater in organic systems. Greater weed tolerance in organic systems may be due to differences in management-driven soil fertility properties. The goal of this experiment was to determine whether soil collected from a long-term organic cropping system with a diverse crop rotation and organic fertility inputs would support higher soil nitrogen (N) resource partitioning, as indicated by overyielding of corn–weed mixtures, than a cropping system with a less diverse crop rotation and inorganic N inputs. A replacement series greenhouse experiment was conducted using corn : smooth pigweed and corn : giant foxtail proportions of 0 : 1, 0.25 : 0.75, 0.5 : 0.5, 0.75 : 0.25, and 1 : 0 and harvested at 29, 40, or 48 d after experiment initiation (DAI). The monoculture density of corn was 4 plants pot−1 and the monoculture density of each weed species was 36 plants pot−1. Corn was consistently more competitive than both weed species at 40 and 48 DAI when soil inorganic N was limiting to growth. Corn–smooth pigweed mixtures had greater shoot biomass and shoot N content than expected based on the shoot biomass and shoot N content of monocultures (i.e., overyielding) at the onset of soil inorganic N limitation, providing some evidence for N resource partitioning. However, soil management effects on overyielding were infrequent and inconsistent among harvest dates and corn–weed mixtures, leading us to conclude that management-driven soil fertility properties did not affect corn–weed N resource partitioning during the early stages of corn growth. Nomenclature: Giant foxtail, Setaria faberi Herrm. SETFA; smooth pigweed, Amaranthus hybridus L. AMACH; corn, Zea mays L.
A Region Matching Approach Based on 3-D Scattering Center Model With Application to SAR Target Recognition

This paper proposes a region matching approach based on 3-D scattering center model with application to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR). Each of the model scattering centers is represented by a binary region obtained by segmenting its predicted image using a global threshold. Afterwards, a region-to-region matching algorithm is performed to match the individual predicted regions with the extracted target region from the test image. Three scores are designed to comprehensively evaluate the matching result, which are linearly fused as an overall similarity based on their sparabilities as for discriminating different targets. In the classification stage, a coarse-to-fine region matching is performed and the test image is decided to be the class with the maximum similarity. Experiments are conducted on the simulated data by the electromagnetic code. The results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms several template-based and model-based SAR ATR methods under the standard operating condition. The superiority of the proposed method becomes more remarkable under various extended operating conditions, including noise corruption, resolution variance, and partial occlusion.
Interannual variability in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) density at South Georgia, Southern Ocean: 1997–2013

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a key species in Southern Ocean ecosystems, maintaining very large numbers of predators, and fluctuations in their abundance can affect the overall structure and functioning of the ecosystems. The interannual variability in the abundance and biomass of krill was examined using a 17-year time-series of acoustic observations undertaken in the Western Core Box (WCB) survey area to the northwest of South Georgia, Southern Ocean. Krill targets were identified in acoustic data using a multifrequency identification window and converted to krill density using the Stochastic Distorted-Wave Born Approximation target strength model. Krill density ranged over several orders of magnitude (0–10 000 g m−2) and its distribution was highly skewed with many zero observations. Within each survey, the mean krill density was significantly correlated with the top 7% of the maximum krill densities observed. Hence, only the densest krill swarms detected in any one year drove the mean krill density estimates for the WCB in that year. WCB krill density (µ, mean density for the area) showed several years (1997/1998, 2001–2003, 2005–2007) of high values (µ > 30 g m−2) interspersed with years (1999/2000, 2004, 2009/2010) of low density (µ < 30 g m−2). This pattern showed three different periods, with fluctuations every 4–5 years. Cross correlation analyses of variability in krill density with current and lagged indices of ocean (sea surface temperature, SST and El Nino/Southern Oscillation) and atmospheric variability (Southern Annular Mode) found the highest correlation between krill density and winter SST (August SST) from the preceding year. A quadratic regression (r2 = 0.42, p < 0.05) provides a potentially valuable index for forecasting change in this ecosystem.
Construction and Cold Test of the Superferric Octupole for the LHC Luminosity Upgrade

INFN is developing the prototypes of five corrector magnets, from skew quadrupole to dodecapole, which will equip the high-luminosity interaction regions of the high luminosity-LHC (HL-LHC) at LASA lab (Milano, Italy). These magnets are based on a superferric design, which allows a relatively simple, modular, and easy to construct magnet. This activity takes place within the framework of a collaboration agreement between CERN and INFN. The first prototype, a sextupole, has been tested in 2016. We present here the results of the cold tests of the octupole, including the training performed at 4.2 K and the qualification at 2.17 K, that has been assembled and tested in 2017. We report also on the overall experience gained during constructions and tests and the improvements toward the series production. Other important results concern inductance measurements and quench studies.
The Impact of Work Load on Service Time and Patient Safety: An Econometric Analysis of Hospital Operations

Much of prior work in the area of service operations management has assumed service rates to be exogenous to the level of load on the system. Using operational data from patient transport services and cardiothoracic surgery---two vastly different health-care delivery services---we show that the processing speed of service workers is influenced by the system load. We find that workers accelerate the service rate as load increases. In particular, a 10% increase in load reduces length of stay by two days for cardiothoracic surgery patients, whereas a 20% increase in the load for patient transporters reduces the transport time by 30 seconds. Moreover, we show that such acceleration may not be sustainable. Long periods of increased load (overwork) have the effect of decreasing the service rate. In cardiothoracic surgery, an increase in overwork by 1% increases length of stay by six hours. Consistent with prior studies in the medical literature, we also find that overwork is associated with a reduction in quality of care in cardiothoracic surgery---an increase in overwork by 10% is associated with an increase in likelihood of mortality by 2%. We also find that load is associated with an early discharge of patients, which is in turn correlated with a small increase in mortality rate.
A Realizable Quantum Simulator of the Integer Factorization Problem

We study the problem of decomposing a number into its prime factors, N = xy, using a quantum simulator. First, we derive the Hamiltonian of the physical system that simulates a new arithmetic function formulated for the factorization problem that represents the energy of a quantum computer. We solve the spectrum of the quantum system showing that it obtains, for x √ N , a prediction of the prime counting function that is almost identical to Riemann’s R(x). We also introduce a physical realization of the simulator consisting in preparing a Bell state for two electrons in a Penning trap. The outcome of the simulator will be the histogram of the measured energies of the simulator. Only o(log √ N) energy measurements are required to characterize a probability distribution for the factors of N ; this is similar to Shor’s algorithm complexity for the same problem using quantum mechanics. It allows to infer the likelihood for a prime to factorize N . The relevance of this work for network communications lies on the fact that a quantum computer of this kind will jeopardize the security of the widely used cryptography systems in conventional communication networks, which relies on the classical intractability of the factorization problem. Hence, since quantum cryptography (with continuous or discrete variables) is now becoming a paradigm of secure communications, the work intends to demonstrate the urgency to migrate to quantum security.
Analyse de l’encodage des signaux de parole dans le tronc cérébral : speech auditory brainstem response

Les Speech ABR sont un outil prometteur d'exploration fonctionnelle auditive, qui pourrait a terme etre implemente en routine clinique afin de depister la surdite et d'evaluer l'efficacite des techniques de rehabilitation auditive. Dans la Partie 1, nous presentons d'abord (i) une etude parametrique quantifiant les effets de l'artefact electromagnetique, issu du couplage entre la chaine de stimulation et d'acquisition, sur le Speech ABR. Puis nous discutons (ii) les avantages de la representation temps-frequence dans l'analyse des Speech ABR, en particulier dans le cas des stimuli de haute frequence de l'ordre de 500 Hz ou plus. Enfin (iii), nous tentons de deceler les probables generateurs neurophysiologiques sous-jacents du Speech ABR, d'apres son comportement en reponse a des stimuli de differentes structures acoustiques. Dans la Partie 2, nous evaluons en premier lieu (i) la relation entre la structure temporelle d'une syllabe /ba/ et la forme temporelle du Speech ABR. Ensuite (ii), nous confrontons le comportement du Speech ABR en fonction de l'intensite de stimulation aux resultats bien connus pour les clics-ABR. Puis, nous etudions (iii) les effets de la hauteur tonale, ainsi que de la nature du stimulus (parole, analogue non-langagier et musique) sur le Speech ABR. La derniere etude de cette Partie 2 (iv) tente de faire le lien entre la qualite de perception d'un analogue non-langagier et la qualite de synchronisation du Speech ABR.
A Variant Schmidt‐Ruppin Strain of Rous Sarcoma Virus with Increased Affinity for Mammalian Cells

SR‐RSV‐D(H), a variant virus with extremely high tropism for mammalian cells, was isolated by passage of the Schmidt‐Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus of subgroup D (SR‐RSV‐D) through hamster cells. This variant virus has acquired an altered envelope glycoprotein, encoded by the env gene, that has high affinity for receptors on the surface of mammalian cells. The variant virus transforms rat cells at about 100 times the efficiency of the parental virus, SR‐RSV‐D(S), as assayed by focus formation. Addition of amphotericin B (Fungizone) to the medium at a concentration of 0.2 μg/ml completely inhibited rat cell transformation by SR‐RSV‐D(H), possibly by blocking virus penetration into the cells, whereas the drug showed no inhibitory effect on transformation of chick embryo flbroblast (CEF) cells by the variant virus or on transformation of rat cells by the parental virus. The efficiency of transformation of rat cells by the variant virus was much less than its efficiency of transformation of CEF cells. Analysis of infection of rat cells suggested that the virus can infect rat cells as efficiently as CEF cells but that rat cells were not transformed by the virus as fully as CEF cells because of inefficiency of some post‐penetrational step involved in viral gene expression. The finding that El AY cells, rat cells expressing adenovirus El A gene, were transformed by SR‐RSV‐D(H) as efficiently as CEF cells supports this conclusion and suggests that expression of the E1A gene in rat cells may overcome the defect in the transforming step(s) in rat cells.
Drone Pilot Identification by Classifying Radio-Control Signals

Analysis of interactions with remotely controlled devices has been used to detect the onset of hijacking attacks, as well as for forensics analysis, e.g., to identify the human controller. Its effectiveness is known to depend on the remote device type as well as on the properties of the remote control signal. This paper shows that the radio control signal sent to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using a typical transmitter can be captured and analyzed to identify the controlling pilot using machine learning techniques. Twenty trained pilots have been asked to fly a high-end research drone through three different trajectories. Control data have been collected and used to train multiple classifiers. Best performance has been achieved by a random forest classifier that achieved accuracy around 90% using simple time-domain features. Extensive tests have shown that the classification accuracy depends on the flight trajectory and that the pitch, roll, yaw, and thrust control signals show different levels of significance for pilot identification. This result paves the way to a number of security and forensics applications, including continuous identification of UAV pilots to mitigate the risk of hijacking.
Dynamic cortical participation during bilateral, cyclical ankle movements: Effects of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is known to increase asymmetry and variability of bilateral movements. However, the mechanisms of such abnormalities are not fully understood. Here, we aimed to investigate whether kinematic abnormalities are related to cortical participation during bilateral, cyclical ankle movements, which required i) maintenance of a specific frequency and ii) bilateral coordination of the lower limbs in an anti-phasic manner. We analyzed electroencephalographic and electromyographic signals from nine men with PD and nine aged-matched healthy men while they sat and cyclically dorsi- and plantarflexed their feet. This movement was performed at a similar cadence to normal walking under two conditions: i) self-paced and ii) externally paced by a metronome. Participants with PD exhibited reduced range of motion and more variable bilateral coordination. However, participants with and without PD did not differ in the magnitude of corticomuscular coherence between the midline cortical areas and tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles. This finding suggests that either the kinematic abnormalities were related to processes outside linear corticomuscular communication or PD-related changes in neural correlates maintained corticomuscular communication but not motor performance.
Expression of Sulfated Carbohydrate Chains Detected by Monoclonal Antibody 91.9H in Human Gastric Cancer Tissues

Expression of sulfated carbohydrate chains in intestinal metaplasia (IM) and gastric cancer tissues was immunohistochemically evaluated by using a monoclonal antibody (MAb) 91.9H. While normal gastric tissues were negative for MAb 91.9H, IM and cancer tissues were positively stained with high frequency. The incidence was 67% for IM with chronic gastritis (n = 12), 95% for IM with gastric cancer (n=21), 77% for well and moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas (n = 13), 48% for poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (n = 23), 89% for signet‐ring cell carcinoma (n = 9) and 100% for mucinous adenocarcinoma (n = 7). When poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma cases were divided into two groups, solid (n = 13) and non‐solid types (n = 10), the incidences were 8% and 100%, respectively. These data suggest that MAb 91.9H could be of practical use as a new marker for IM and gastric cancer, and may be valuable for subgrouping poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. Analyses of the core proteins for 91.9H epitope were then carried out. Comparison of immunostaining of ten poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma cases by MAb MUSE11 against MUC1 gene product with that by MAb 91.9H suggested that 91.9H epitope is not expressed on MUC1. Northern blot analysis of 10 pairs of gastric cancer and adjacent normal tissues with a MUC2 cDNA probe showed that the expression level of MUC2 mRNA was below the limit of detection. Thus, 91.9H epitope may be expressed on other proteins than MUC1 or MUC2 core proteins in gastric cancer.