Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Particle/Matrix Interface and Its Role in Creep Inhibition in Alumina/Silicon Carbide Nanocomposites

This study focuses on interfacial bonding between intergranular silicon carbide particles and an alumina matrix, to determine the creep inhibition mechanism of alumina/ silicon carbide nanocomposites. It is revealed that the silicon carbide/alumina interface possesses much stronger bonding than the alumina/alumina interface through three approaches: investigation of fracture toughness and fracture mode and consideration of internal thermal stresses acting at grain boundaries, estimation of equilibrium thickness of intergranular glassy films by force balance, and direct observation of grain boundaries by TEM. The rigid bonding of alumina/silicon carbide interfaces causes inhibition of vacancy nucleation and annihilation at the interfaces, causing remarkably improved creep resistance of the nanocomposite.
trans Palmitoleic acid arises endogenously from dietary vaccenic acid.

BACKGROUND trans Palmitoleic acid (t-16:1n-7, or 16:1 t9 in the δ nomenclature usually applied to trans fatty acids and used herein) arouses great scientific interest because it has been suggested to serve as a biomarker for lower risks of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. OBJECTIVE Although 16:1 t9 has been assumed to derive from dietary sources, we examined the hypothesis that 16:1 t9 might also be endogenously produced from its metabolic precursor vaccenic acid (t-18:1n-7 or 18:1 t11). DESIGN We reevaluated fatty acid data obtained from one human intervention study and one cellular model in both of which 18:1 t11 was supplemented. Both studies have already been published, but to our knowledge, 16:1 t9 has not yet been considered. This reanalysis of the datasets was reasonable because a new methodology for identifying 16:1 cis and trans isomers allowed us to address the subject presented in this article. RESULTS Data showed that the systemic or intracellular increase in 16:1 t9 was strongly correlated with the increase in 18:1 t11 after the dietary intake or cellular uptake of 18:1 t11. The conversion rate in humans was, on average, 17%. CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that endogenous 16:1 t9 is not, as has been assumed, exclusively diet derived but may also be produced by the partial β oxidation of dietary 18:1 t11.
Towards Federated Queries for Web of Things Devices

In the emerging Web of Things (WoT), a vast majority of devices do not consume nor produce RDF, notably because of their inherent constraints that prevent them from manipulating textual RDF syntax. However, it would be relevant to query against these sources irrespective of the (lightweight) formats they use, combined with other Linked Data. In fact the data these WoT devices expose contain crucial real-time information, and being able to tap directly into this information could enable smarter industrial applications. In this paper, we are interested in querying indiierently SPARQL endpoints, RDF documents, and non-RDF document exposed by WoT devices in a exible and extensible way. The core of this solution is an extension of SPARQL-LD. The SPARQL SERVICE clause is extended and can be used to query also non-RDF sources for which we know some RDF lifting mechanism.
Exponential synchronization of partial-state coupled linear systems via contraction analysis

In this paper, the contraction theory is used to analyze the synchronization for a collection of partial-state linearly coupled linear systems. First, the synchronization problem of the linear systems is transformed by defining proper error variables such that a stability problem of error systems is to be investigated. Then, the contraction analysis is performed with respect to the error system dynamics. It turns out that the error system dynamics is contracting, which in turn proves that the original systems reach synchronization exponentially fast. In addition, a brief comparison between Lyapunov method and contraction analysis is also provided. Finally, two examples are presented in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical result.
Associations between Rs4244285 and Rs762551 gene polymorphisms and age-related macular degeneration

ABSTRACT Background: Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in elderly individuals in developed countries. The etiology and pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration have not been elucidated yet. Knowing that the main pathological change of age-related macular degeneration is formation of drusen containing about 40% of lipids, there have been attempts to find associations between age-related macular degeneration and genes controlling lipid metabolism. Purpose: To determine the frequency of CYP2C19 (G681A) Rs4244285 and CYP1A2 (-163C>A) Rs762551 genotypes in patients with age-related macular degeneration. Methods: The study enrolled 150 patients with early age-related macular degeneration and 296 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. The genotyping of Rs4244285 and Rs762551 was carried out by using the real-time polymerase chain reaction method. Results: The CYP1A2 (-163C>A) Rs762551 C/C genotype was more frequently detected in patients with age-related macular degeneration than in the control group (32.7% vs. 21.6%, p = 0.011) and was associated with an increased risk of developing early age-related macular degeneration (OR = 1.759, 95% CI: 1.133–2.729; p = 0.012). The CYP1A2 (-163C>A) Rs762551 C/A genotype was more frequently documented in the control group compared with patients with age-related macular degeneration (46.3% vs. 30.7%, p = 0.002) and was associated with a decreased risk of having age-related macular degeneration (OR = 0.580. 95% CI: 0.362–0.929, p = 0.023) in the co-dominant model. Conclusion: The study showed that the CYP1A2 (-163C>A) Rs762551 C/C genotype was associated with an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration.
Secure Storage with Replication and Transparent Deduplication

We seek to answer the following question: To what extent can we deduplicate replicated storage? To answer this question, we design ReDup, a secure storage system that provides users with strong integrity, reliability, and transparency guarantees about data that is outsourced at cloud storage providers. Users store multiple replicas of their data at different storage servers, and the data at each storage server is deduplicated across users. Remote data integrity mechanisms are used to check the integrity of replicas. We consider a strong adversarial model, in which collusions are allowed between storage servers and also between storage servers and dishonest users of the system. A cloud storage provider (CSP) could store less replicas than agreed upon by contract, unbeknownst to honest users. ReDup defends against such adversaries by making replica generation to be time consuming so that a dishonest CSP cannot generate replicas on the fly when challenged by the users. In addition, ReDup employs transparent deduplication, which means that users get a proof attesting the deduplication level used for their files at each replica server, and thus are able to benefit from the storage savings provided by deduplication. The proof is obtained by aggregating individual proofs from replica servers, and has a constant size regardless of the number of replica servers. Our solution scales better than state of the art and is provably secure under standard assumptions.
Thyroid and obesity: an intriguing relationship.

Obesity is one of the most important health risks of our time. The prevalence of obesity has increased worldwide since the mid 1970s. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, obesity affected 32.2% of adults in 2003–2004 and reached a peak in subjects in the fifth decade of life (1). Obesity is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, dyslipidemia, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, all-cause mortality, and cancer (1). Thus, severe obesity is an important cause of premature mortality among middle-aged adults (2). Moreover, obesity, especially central obesity, is linked to many endocrine abnormalities (3), including thyroid dysfunction (4). This is not surprising because T3 regulates energy metabolism and thermogenesis and plays a critical role in glucose and lipid metabolism, food intake, and the oxidation of fatty acids (4).
Pattern of risks of rheumatoid arthritis among patients using statins: A cohort study with the clinical practice research datalink

We examined the association between statin use and the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with special focus on describing the patterns of risks of RA during statin exposure in a large population-based cohort in the United Kingdom. In the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, patients aged ≥40 years with at least one prescription of statins (1995–2009) were selected, and matched by age (+/-5 years), sex, practice and date of first prescription of statins to non-users. The follow-up period of statin use was divided into periods of current, recent and past exposure, with patients moving between these three exposure categories over time. Time-dependent Cox models were used to derive hazard ratios (HRs) of RA, adjusted for disease history and previous drug use. The study population included 1,023,240 patients, of whom 511,620 were statin users. No associations were found between RA and current (HRadj,1.06;99%CI:0.88–1.27) or past statin users (HRadj,1.18;99%CI:0.88–1.57). However, in patients who currently used statins, hazard rates were increased shortly after the first prescription of statins and then gradually decreased to baseline level. The risk of developing RA was increased in recent statin users, as compared to non-users (HRadj,1.39;99%CI:1.01–1.90). The risk of RA is substantially increased in the first year after the start of statins and then diminishes to baseline level. These findings may suggest that statins might accelerate disease onset in patients susceptible to develop RA, but in other patients, statins are probably safe and well tolerated, even after prolonged use. Alternatively, we cannot rule out that confounding by cardiovascular risk factors and ascertainment bias may have influenced the findings.
Modeling Oyster Populations II. Adult Size and Reproductive Effort

A time-dependent model of energy flow in post-settlement oyster populations is used to examine the factors that influence adult size and reproductive effort in a particular habitat, Galveston Bay, Texas, and in habitats that extend from Laguna Madre,. Texas to Chesapeake Bay. The simulated populations show that adult size and reproductive effort are detennined by the allocation of net production to somatic or reproductive tissue development and the rate of food acquisition, both of which are · temperature dependent. For similar food conditions, increased temperature reduces the allocation of net production to somatic tissue and increases the rate of food acquisition. This temperature effect, however, is mediated by changes in food supply. Within the Gulf of Mexico, oyster size declines from north to south because increased temperature deer.eases the allocation of net production to somatic growth. An increase in food supply generally results in increased size as more energy is used in somatic growth; however, at low latitudes, as food supply increases, adult size decreases because the allocation of more net production to reproduction outweighs the -effect of increased rates of food acquisition. Variations in temperature and food supply affect reproductive effort more than adult size because the rate of energy flow through the oyster is higher in wanner months when most net production is allocated to reproduction and small changes in temperature substantially change the spawning season. The wide range of reproductive effort expected from small changes in temperature and food supply suggest that comparisons of adult size and reproductive effort between oyster populations can only be made within the context of a complete environmental analysis of food supply and associated physical parameters and an energy flow model.
On the feasibility of “breadcrumb” trails within OpenFlow switches

Several network protocols require the ability to dynamically deploy, along a network path, stateful data, nicknamed “breadcrumbs”, used to forward packets on the reverse direction. This is the case of either classical reverse path forwarding schemes, as well as more recent information centric networking approaches. Perhaps surprisingly, this paper shows that such capability is already somewhat at reach in current OpenFlow switch architectures: its support requires only very marginal modification of the existing OpenFlow hardware. We support our claim with a concrete hardware proof-of-concept implementation, and we show, with the help of both traditional reverse path schemes and original approaches, how such functionality can be programmed via a platform-agnostic abstraction.
Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Antibodies in the Cerebrospinal Fluid: Evidence of Early Treatment Impact on Central Nervous System Reservoir?

Background Despite effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) likely persists in the central nervous system (CNS) in treated individuals. We examined anti-HIV antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood as markers of persistence. Methods Human immunodeficiency virus antibodies were measured in paired CSF and serum before and after long-term treatment of chronic (n = 10) and early infection (n = 12), along with untreated early infection (n = 10). Results Treatment of chronic infection resulted in small reductions of anti-HIV antibodies in CSF and serum despite >10 years of suppressive ART. In untreated early infection, anti-HIV antibodies emerged in blood by day 30, whereas CSF antibodies reached similar levels 2 weeks later. Compared with long-term treatment of chronic infection, early ART initiation reduced CSF antibodies by 43-fold (P > .0001) and blood antibodies by 7-fold (P = .0003). Two individuals receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis and then ART early after infection failed to develop antibodies in CSF or blood, whereas CSF antibodies were markedly reduced in the Berlin patient. Conclusions To the extent that differential CSF and blood antibodies indicate HIV persistence, these data suggest a relative delay in establishment of the CNS compared with the systemic HIV reservoir that provides an opportunity for early treatment to have a greater impact on the magnitude of long-term CNS infection.
MicroRNA 744-3p promotes MMP-9-mediated metastasis by simultaneously suppressing PDCD4 and PTEN in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

MicroRNA controls cancer invasion by governing the expression of gene regulating migration and invasion. Here, we reported a novel regulatory pathway controlled by miR-744-3p, which enhanced expression of matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). We profiled the differential micoRNA expression pattern in LSCC cell lines and normal epithelial cultures derived from the head and neck mucosa using microRNA microarray. MiR-7-1-3p, miR-196a/b and miR-744-3p were expressed differentially in the LSCC cell lines. Subsequent validation using real-time PCR revealed that high miR-744-3p level was positively correlated with regional lymph node metastasis of LSCC. Real-time cellular kinetic analysis showed that suppressing miR-744-3p could inhibit migration and invasion of LSCC cell lines and reduce the number of lung metastatic nodules in nude mice modules. In silico analysis revealed that miR-744-3p targeted 2 distinct signaling cascades which eventually upregulated MMP-9 expression in LSCC. First, miR-744-3p could suppress programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4), a direct suppressor of NF-κB (p65). PDCD4 could also prevent AKT activation and suppress MMP-9 expression. Further, suppressing miR-744-3p expression could restore phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression. PTEN could inhibit AKT activation and inhibit MMP-9 expression in LSCC cells. The results revealed that suppressing miR-744-3p was effective to inhibit LSCC metastasis by inactivating AKT/mTOR and NF-κB (p65) signaling cascade. Targeting miR-744-3p could be a valuable therapeutic intervention to suppress the aggressiveness of LSCC.
Performance evaluation of IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc network in vehicle to vehicle communication

The next generation wireless communication for Telematics/ITS (Intelligent Traffic Service), supporting the 'vehicle to vehicle (v2v)' and the 'vehicle to infrastructure (v2i)' communication. Since major Telematics/ITS services related to driver's safety, it is essential that the wireless communication guarantees its reliability. However, the performance of the existing IEEE 802.11 WLAN has not been verified in vehicular environments. Especially, Ad-hoc mode for the v2v communication has not even been considered as a mandatory function so far. Therefore, it is required to analyze its performance in vehicular environments and figure out the problems for the future modifications. In this paper, we analyze the performance of the IEEE 802.11 Ad-hoc network for v2v communication under a vehicular environment, focusing on the fairness which very crucial to the safety related services, and the effect of mobility. Some suggestions for future researches are followed.
Severe Alterations in Lipid Composition of Frontal Cortex Lipid Rafts from Parkinson’s Disease and Incidental Parkinson’s Disease

Lipid rafts are cholesterol- and sphingomyelin-enriched microdomains that provide a highly saturated and viscous physico-chemical microenvironment to promote protein-lipid and protein-protein interactions. We purified lipid rafts from human frontal cortex from normal, early motor stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and incidental Parkinson’s disease (iPD) subjects and analyzed their lipid composition. We observed that lipid rafts from PD and iPD cortices exhibit dramatic reductions in their contents of n-3 and n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially docosahexaenoic acid (22:6-n3) and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6). Also, saturated fatty acids (16:0 and 18:0) were significantly higher than in control brains. Paralleling these findings, unsaturation and peroxidability indices were considerably reduced in PD and iPD lipid rafts. Lipid classes were also affected in PD and iPD lipid rafts. Thus, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylinositol were increased in PD and iPD, whereas cerebrosides and sulfatides and plasmalogen levels were considerably diminished. Our data pinpoint a dramatic increase in lipid raft order due to the aberrant biochemical structure in PD and iPD and indicate that these abnormalities of lipid rafts in the frontal cortex occur at early stages of PD pathology. The findings correlate with abnormal lipid raft signaling and cognitive decline observed during the development of these neurodegenerative disorders.
Low-molecular-weight fucoidan regulates myogenic differentiation through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in C 2 C 12 cells

Low-molecular-weight fucoidan (LMWF) has been broadly studied in recent years due to its numerous biological properties. Nevertheless, there have been no reports about the effects of LMWF on myogenic differentiation (MyoD). The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the impact of LMWF on myogenesis in C2C12 cells. The ultimate aim was to establish whether LMWF regulates myogenesis similar to heparin as a partial regulator of myogenesis. LMWF was prepared at a minimal size by ultra-filtration compared with crude fucoidan. We treated C2C12 cells with LMWF and/or heparin during MyoD. The data from the present study are the first to suggest that LMWF suppresses the expression of the myogenic regulatory factors and the myocyte enhancer factors as well as the morphological changes that occur during differentiation. Additionally, the expression of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family was significantly inhibited by LMWF when compared with controls. The LMWF-treated group showed significantly decreased expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) enzymes compared with control cells. Heparin was used as a positive control because it has been reported to activate MyoD. Taken together, these results suggest that LMWF might regulate MyoD through the MAPK pathway and by regulating ROS activity in C2C12 cells.
CD200R/CD200 Inhibits Osteoclastogenesis: New Mechanism of Osteoclast Control by Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Human

Bone homeostasis is maintained by the balance between bone-forming osteoblasts and bone-degrading osteoclasts. Osteoblasts have a mesenchymal origin whereas osteoclasts belong to the myeloid lineage. Osteoclast and osteoblast communication occurs through soluble factors secretion, cell-bone interaction and cell–cell contact, which modulate their activities. CD200 is an immunoglobulin superfamilly member expressed on various types of cells including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). CD200 receptor (CD200R) is expressed on myeloid cells such as monocytes/macrophages. We assume that CD200 could be a new molecule involved in the control of osteoclastogenesis and could play a role in MSC–osteoclast communication in humans. In this study, we demonstrated that soluble CD200 inhibited the differentiation of osteoclast precursors as well as their maturation in bone-resorbing cells in vitro. Soluble CD200 did not modify the monocyte phenotype but inhibited the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) signaling pathway as well as the gene expression of osteoclast markers such as osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR) and nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1). Moreover, MSCs inhibited osteoclast formation, which depended on cell–cell contact and was associated with CD200 expression on the MSC surface. Our results clearly demonstrate that MSCs, through the expression of CD200, play a major role in the regulation of bone resorption and bone physiology and that the CD200-CD200R couple could be a new target to control bone diseases.
New functionalised carbon based nanomaterials for biomedical imaging applications

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Annotation of Scientific Summaries for Information Retrieval

We present a methodology combining surface NLP and Machine Learning techniques for ranking asbtracts and generating summaries based on annotated corpora. The corpora were annotated with meta-semantic tags indicating the category of information a sentence is bearing (objective, findings, newthing, hypothesis, conclusion, future work, related work). The annotated corpus is fed into an automatic summarizer for query-oriented abstract ranking and multi- abstract summarization. To adapt the summarizer to these two tasks, two novel weighting functions were devised in order to take into account the distribution of the tags in the corpus. Results, although still preliminary, are encouraging us to pursue this line of work and find better ways of building IR systems that can take into account semantic annotations in a corpus.