Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Griffipavixanthone from Garcinia oblongifolia Champ Induces Cell Apoptosis in Human Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer H520 Cells in Vitro

Griffipavixanthone (GPX) is a dimeric xanthone which was isolated in a systematic investigation of Garcinia oblongifolia Champ. In this study, we investigate the effect of GPX on cell proliferation and apoptosis on human Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells in vitro and determine the mechanisms of its action. GPX inhibited the growth of H520 cells in dose- and time-dependent manners, with IC50 values of 3.03 ± 0.21 μM at 48 h. The morphologic characteristics of apoptosis and apoptotic bodies were observed by fluorescence microscope and transmission electron microscope. In addition, Annexin V/PI double staining assay revealed that cells in early stage of apoptosis were significantly increased upon GPX treatment dose-dependently. Rh123 staining assay indicated that GPX reduced the mitochondrial membrane potential. DCFH-DA staining revealed that intracellular ROS increased with GPX treatment. Moreover, GPX cleaved and activated caspase-3. In summary, this study showed that GPX inhibited H520 cell proliferation in dose- and time-dependent manner. Further mechanistic study indicated that GPX induced cell apoptosis through mitochondrial apoptotic pathway accompanying with ROS production. Our results demonstrate the potential application of GPX as an anti-non-small cell lung cancer agent.
Pose based activity recognition using Multiple Kernel learning

We describe a method for activity recognition based on distribution of human poses in a video. Pose estimation has shown to be sensitive to the priors given to the inference method; we use a collection of distinctive kinematic tree priors to model the variety of pose variations present in a video. Feature histograms are computed from vector quantized descriptors derived from the pose estimates. A learned Multiple Kernel SVM classifier is used to combine the various histograms to give activity classifications. We report results on a publicly available human gesture dataset.
Impact of ischaemic preconditioning on experimental steatotic livers following hepatic ischaemia-reperfusion injury: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND Steatotic livers are vulnerable to the deleterious effects of ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) that occur after hepatic surgery. Ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) has been shown to abrogate the effects of IRI in patients undergoing hepatic surgery. Experimental studies have suggested that IPC may be beneficial in steatotic livers subjected to IRI. OBJECTIVE The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of IPC on steatotic livers following hepatic IRI in experimental models. METHODS An electronic search of the OVID Medline and EMBASE databases was performed to identify studies that reported clinically relevant outcomes in animal models of hepatic steatosis subjected to IPC and IRI. RESULTS A total of 1093 articles were identified, of which 18 met the inclusion criteria. There was considerable heterogeneity in the type of animal model, and duration and type of IRI. Increased macrovesicular steatosis (> 30%) was associated with a poor outcome following IRI. Ischaemic preconditioning was found to be beneficial in > 30% steatotic livers and provided for decreased histological damage, improved liver function findings and increased survival. CONCLUSIONS Experimental evidence supports the use of IPC in steatotic livers undergoing IRI. These findings may be applicable to patients undergoing liver surgery. However, clinical studies are required to validate the efficacy of IPC in this setting.
Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Progression and Change in Plaque Composition Over Time: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study Using Serial CT Angiography

These authors studied temporal changes in plaque size and composition using CTA. Their subjects were 109 patients who underwent baseline and follow-up CTA of the extracranial internal carotid arteries during an average 5-year period. When plaque volumes increased (69%) these did so at a rate of 1.2% per year. Composition changes included decreasing lipids (1.8%) and fibrous tissues (1.5%) as well as increasing calcifications (3.3%); thus, serial temporal changes in plaques may be assessed by CTA. Plaque burden is a heterogeneous and slow process. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Serial in vivo imaging of atherosclerosis is important for understanding plaque progression and is potentially useful in predicting cardiovascular events and monitoring treatment efficacy. This prospective study aims to quantify temporal changes in carotid atherosclerotic plaque volume and plaque composition using MDCTA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 109 patients with TIA or ischemic stroke, serial MDCTA of the carotid arteries was performed after 5.3 ± 0.7 years. The carotid bifurcation was semiautomatically registered for paired baseline follow-up datasets. Outer vessel wall and lumen boundaries were defined using semiautomated segmentation tools. Plaque component volumes were measured using HU thresholds. Annual changes in plaque volume and plaque component proportions were calculated. RESULTS: One-hundred-ninety-three carotid arteries were analyzed. Plaque volume decreased in 31% and increased in 69% of vessels (range −5.6–10.1%/year). Overall, plaque volume increased 1.2% per year (95% CI, 0.8–1.6, P ≤ .001). Plaque composition changed significantly from BL (fibrous 66.4%, lipid 28.8%, calcifications 4.8%): fibrous tissue decreased by 1.5%, lipid decreased by 1.8%, and calcification increased by 3.3% (P < .001). Intraobserver reproducibility of all volume and proportion measurements was good (ICC 0.78–1.00) and interobserver reproducibility was moderate (ICC 0.76–0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Changes in carotid plaque burden and plaque composition can be quantified by using serial MDCTA. Plaque burden development is a heterogeneous and slow process.
Analysis and Comparison of Recent MLP Features for LVCSR Systems

MLP based front-ends have evolved in different ways in recent years beyond the seminal TANDEM-PLP features. This paper aims at providing a fair comparison of these recent progresses including the use of different long/short temporal inputs (PLP,MRASTA,wLP-TRAPS,DCT-TRAPS) and the use of complex architectures (bottleneck, hierarchy, multistream) that go beyond the conventional three layer MLP. Furthermore, the paper identifies which of these actually provide advantages over the conventional TANDEM-PLP . The investigation is carried on an LVCSR task for recognition of Mandarin Broadcast speech and results are analyzed in terms of Character Error Rate and phonetic confusions. Results reveal that as stand alone features, multistream front-ends can outperform by 10% conventional MFCC while TANDEM-PLP only improve by 1% . On the other hand, when used in concatenation with MFCC features, hierarchical/bottleneck front-ends reduce the character error rate by +18% relative compared to +14% relative from TANDEM-PLP. The various input long-term representations recently developed provide comparable performances.
Development of a 3-D Process Technology for Wafer-Level Packaging of MEMS Devices

This paper presents a simple and low-cost 3-D process technology for the wafer-level packaging (WLP) of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices. A small-sized WLP (1.0 × 1.0 × 0.35 mm) with a hermetically sealed cavity for the moving parts of MEMS devices was fabricated by using specially designed processes. The WLP was developed using three key techniques: through-wafer interconnection, wafer bonding, and bilateral face-MEMS fabrication. The expense and complexity of processes such as silicon deep reactive ion etching and electroplating that arise from bilateral processing for through-wafer interconnection were overcome by using bulk micromachining technology. The fabricated WLP chips with a bonding area of 0.314 mm2 showed an average shear strength of 9.74 kg/mm2 and a leak rate less than 7 × 10-10 mbar.cc/sec. In addition, the chips had less than 0.1 dB insertion loss before and after reliability testing. This newly developed 3-D process technology is a good candidate for WLP MEMS fabrication because it is simple and cost-effective.
Consequences of Consumer Sales Taxes in Light of Strategic Suppliers

Taxes levied on retail sales are a ubiquitous form of taxation, both in the US and abroad. While considerable study has examined the economic effects of such sales taxes vis-a-vis consumer demand, surprisingly little attention has been focused on the effects up the supply chain. In this paper, we consider a parsimonious model of retail products sold in a variety of consumer markets (each of which may face different tax rates) when retailers rely on strategic suppliers for inputs in the products they sell. We find that when suppliers have and use pricing power, the imposition of sales taxes at the retail level has reverberations on supply markets – sales taxes undercut consumer demand which also makes retailers more price-sensitive, and suppliers respond to this by cutting prevailing input prices. Not only does this "soften the blow" of sales taxes on retail profit in the market (tax jurisdiction) in question, it also boosts retail profit in other markets since the retailer is able to parlay the lower input prices into greater margins therein. Besides reversing several conventional views of economic consequences of sales taxes, the results may also provide key implications for tax policy when firms operate in and care about multiple tax jurisdictions.
Optimization of a medium voltage power distribution network's reliability indices

This paper investigates the impact of the installation of cable fault indicators in combination with pagers in the underground part of a medium voltage power distribution network, on this network's reliability indices. For this purpose, a brief description of the examined network, as well as a description of the methodology which determines the network data, is given first. Information about the devices installed and their function follows. An analysis concerning principally the SAIDI reliability index and the average fault repair times for an eight-year period (four years before and four years after the first installation of the devices) is performed for the examined network, as well as a financial analysis of the investment. According to the results, the conclusion finally derived is that the devices installed have definitely improved the reliability of the examined network, while the corresponding investment is economically justified.
Functional Anatomy of the Female Pelvic Floor

Abstract: The anatomic structures in the female that prevent incontinence and genital organ prolapse on increases in abdominal pressure during daily activities include sphincteric and supportive systems. In the urethra, the action of the vesical neck and urethral sphincteric mechanisms maintains urethral closure pressure above bladder pressure. Decreases in the number of striated muscle fibers of the sphincter occur with age and parity. A supportive hammock under the urethra and vesical neck provides a firm backstop against which the urethra is compressed during increases in abdominal pressure to maintain urethral closure pressures above the rapidly increasing bladder pressure. This supporting layer consists of the anterior vaginal wall and the connective tissue that attaches it to the pelvic bones through the pubovaginal portion of the levator ani muscle, and the uterosacral and cardinal ligaments comprising the tendinous arch of the pelvic fascia. At rest the levator ani maintains closure of the urogenital hiatus. They are additionally recruited to maintain hiatal closure in the face of inertial loads related to visceral accelerations as well as abdominal pressurization in daily activities involving recruitment of the abdominal wall musculature and diaphragm. Vaginal birth is associated with an increased risk of levator ani defects, as well as genital organ prolapse and urinary incontinence. Computer models indicate that vaginal birth places the levator ani under tissue stretch ratios of up to 3.3 and the pudendal nerve under strains of up to 33%, respectively. Research is needed to better identify the pathomechanics of these conditions.
Heart Rate Variability Exhibits Complication-Dependent Changes Postsurgery

“Surgical stress response” is tissue damage postsurgery, leading to a systemic response (inflammation, sympathetic upregulation, and release of vasoactive chemicals), which is typically measured by C-reactive protein (CRP). We assessed arterial stiffness and heart rate variability (HRV)—additional parameters reflecting autonomic and vascular functions—in this response and their potential associations with postoperative complications. In 47 participants undergoing abdominal surgery, CRP, arterial stiffness, and HRV were measured pre- and postoperatively (days 1 and 2). C-reactive protein was significantly higher postoperatively in participants experiencing complications but not preoperatively. Compared to participants without complications, those with complications had increased HRV and pnn50 (time domain) and tendency toward increasing low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (frequency domain) on postoperative day 2. Therefore, time and frequency domain HRV parameters show perioperative changes in relation to complication development. These findings suggest the applicability of this noninvasive technology to a variety of abdominal operations. Larger studies need to confirm these findings.
Démonstration combinatoire de la formule de Harer –

Résumé. On donne une démonstration combinatoire directe de la formule de Harer–Zagier sur les nombresεg(m) de manières d’obtenir une surface de Riemann de genre g par identification par paires des côtés d’un 2m-gone. Cette formule est la clé combinatoire nécessaire pour le calcul de la caractéristique d’Euler de l’espace de modules des courbes de genre g. La méthode ici développée reprend l’approche combinatoire imaginée par Harer et Zagier et évite d’utiliser l’intégration sur un ensemble gaussien de matrices aléatoires. Notre technique de démonstration repose sur l’énumération des arborescences et des circuits eulériens.  2001 Académie des sciences/Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS
Benchmarking technical and cost factors in forest felling and processing operations in different global regions during the period 2013–2014

ABSTRACT In a global bioeconomy, benchmarking costs is essential in the evaluation of current forest harvesting systems and addressing decisions on the most efficient supply chains for available forest resources. Benchmarking cost rates in forestry is challenging, due to a lack of harmonized terminology and difficulties in collecting information on comparable forest technologies. This study provides a first-time series of cost factors to be used when modeling and evaluating the cost competitiveness of forest felling and processing operations on a global scale. It is based on an expert survey using a standardized method of data collection. This benchmarking identifies and updates the knowledge of technical and socio-economic factors capable of influencing the cost rates of forest felling and processing operations across different regions. This study is expected to act as a reference for larger investigations, and for regular updates, with the aim to provide current data that can be used by forest practitioners and decision makers for improving their cost efficiency and for designing future supply systems more effectively.
MLP Exploitation with Seamless Preload

cache misses in a wide instruction window. Exploitation of MLP, however, can be limited due to long-latency operations in producing the base address of a cache miss load. When the parent instruction is also a cache miss load, a serialization of the two loads must be enforced to satisfy the load-load data dependence. In this paper, we describe a special Preload that is issued in place of the dependent load without waiting for the parent load, thus effectively overlapping the two loads. The Preload provides necessary information for the memory controller to calculate the correct memory address upon the availability of the parent's data to eliminate any interconnect delay between the two loads. Performance evaluations based on SPEC2000 and Olden applications show that significant speedups ranging 2-50% with an average of 16% are achievable by using the aggressive MLP exploitation method.
Barley Seedling Extracts Inhibit RANKL-Induced Differentiation, Fusion, and Maturation of Osteoclasts in the Early-to-Late Stages of Osteoclastogenesis

The number of patients with osteoporosis is increasing worldwide, and a decrease in bone mass is a main risk factor for fracture. The prevention of bone loss is critical for improving the quality of life for patients. However, the long-term use of antiosteoporotic agents is limited due to their side effects. Barley has been traditionally ingested for thousands of years as a safe, natural food with pharmaceutical properties, and its seedling can enhance the biological activity of the medicinal components found in food. This study aimed to clarify the antiresorptive activity of barley seedling and its mode of action. Barley seedling extracts (BSE) dose-dependently inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation with alteration of IκB degradation, c-Fos, and NFATc1 molecules in the early-to-middle stages of osteoclastogenesis. In the late phase of osteoclastogenesis, BSE also prevented DC-STAMP and cathepsin K, which are required for cell fusion and bone degradation, such as osteoclast function. In conclusion, barley seedling from natural foods may provide long-term safety and be useful for the prevention or treatment of osteoclast-mediated bone metabolic diseases, including osteoporosis.
Inhibition of RAS in diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a progressive proteinuric renal disorder in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is a common cause of end-stage kidney disease worldwide, particularly in developed countries. Therapeutic targeting of the renin–angiotensin system (RAS) is the most validated clinical strategy for slowing disease progression. DKD is paradoxically a low systematic renin state with an increased intrarenal RAS activity implicated in its pathogenesis. Angiotensin II (AngII), the main peptide of RAS, is not only a vasoactive peptide but functions as a growth factor, activating interstitial fibroblasts and mesangial and tubular cells, while promoting the synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins. AngII also promotes podocyte injury through increased calcium influx and the generation of reactive oxygen species. Blockade of the RAS using either angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, or angiotensin receptor blockers can attenuate progressive glomerulosclerosis in animal models, and slows disease progression in humans with DKD. In this review, we summarize the role of intrarenal RAS activation in the pathogenesis and progression of DKD and the rationale for RAS inhibition in this population.
A dose-response study of OROS methylphenidate in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

OBJECTIVE OROS methylphenidate HCL (MPH) is a recently developed long-acting stimulant medication used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study was conducted to examine dosage effects on ADHD symptoms and stimulant side effects and to explore potential moderating effects of ADHD subtype. METHODS Children with ADHD combined type (ADHD-CT) or predominantly inattentive type (ADHD-PI; n = 47), ages 5 to 16 years, underwent a placebo-controlled, crossover trial using forced titration with weekly switches at 3 dosage levels. Parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms were used to evaluate efficacy. In addition, vital signs and standardized measures of stimulant side effects were obtained weekly. RESULTS Parent ratings were more sensitive to treatment effects than teacher ratings. ADHD symptoms and Clinical Global Impressions Severity Index ratings at each dose condition differed significantly from placebo and baseline ratings, which did not differ from one another. For those with ADHD-CT, there was a clear linear dose-response relationship, with clinically significant reductions in ADHD Rating Scale-IV scores occurring in two thirds to three fourths of the subjects during either 36- or 54-mg dose conditions. Children with ADHD-PI, conversely, were more likely to respond optimally to lower doses and derived less benefit from higher doses, with 60% displaying significant improvement on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV at 36 mg or lower. Mild stimulant side effects were reported during placebo and at all dosage levels. With the exception of insomnia and decreased appetite, which were more common at higher doses, parent report of side effects was not related to dose. In addition, younger and smaller children were more likely to display sleep difficulties and decreased appetite at the higher dose levels Although pulse rate increased slightly with increasing dose, there were no dose effects on blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS In children with ADHD-CT, the most common subtype of ADHD, increasing doses of stimulant medication were associated with increased improvement of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. In children with ADHD-PI, symptom improvement occurred at lower doses and less benefit was derived from higher doses. In both ADHD subtypes, higher doses were associated with parent ratings of increased insomnia and decreased appetite.
Biomechanical analysis of distalization of mandibular molars by placing a mini-plate: A finite element study

Objective The objective of this study was to analyze the patterns of tooth movements when distalization of mandibular molars using a mini-plate took place. A finite element analysis was applied to analyze patterns of tooth movements. Methods The model of the mandible and teeth were used to build a finite element analysis model, and a mini-plate was inserted in the mandibular ramus. Two different orthodontic forces were established for displacement of mandibular molars. Orthodontic forces were applied at the level of the bracket and at the level of the cemento-enamel junction in the mandibular canine respectively. Results orthodontic forces at the level of the cemento-enamel junction resulted in a greater biomechanical bodily movement in distalization of the mandibular molars compared to when the orthodontic forces were applied at the level of the bracket. Applying orthodontic forces to the cemento-enamel junction also resulted in unwanted greater extrusive movements in distalization of the mandibular molars compared to the bracket level. Conclusions With considering the mode of orthodontic teeth movement, applying different vertical orthodontic forces for distalization of mandibular molars can lead to more effective distalization of teeth.
Matrix sparsification and nested dissection over arbitrary fields

The generalized nested dissection method, developed by Lipton et al. [1979], is a seminal method for solving a linear system Ax=b where A is a symmetric positive definite matrix. The method runs extremely fast whenever A is a well-separable matrix (such as matrices whose underlying support is planar or avoids a fixed minor). In this work, we extend the nested dissection method to apply to any nonsingular well-separable matrix over any field. The running times we obtain essentially match those of the nested dissection method. An important tool is a novel method for matrix sparsification that preserves determinants and minors, and that guarantees that constant powers of the sparsified matrix remain sparse.
Parallelization of Tree-Recursive Algorithms on a SIMD Machine *

The set of tree-recursive algorithms is large, including constraint satisfaction using backtracking, iterative-deepening search such as IDA*, depth-first branch-and-bound, twoplayer game minimax search, and many divide-and-conquer algorithms. We describe a structured method for implementing such algorithms on SIMD machines, and identify measures for determining if a tree-recursive application is amenable or ill-suited for SIMD parallelization. Using these ideas, we evaluate results from four testbeds.