Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Annexin A2 Enhances Complement Activation by Inhibiting Factor H

Factor H is a circulating protein that regulates activation of the alternative pathway (AP) of complement. Mutations and genetic variations of factor H are associated with several AP-mediated diseases, highlighting the critical role of factor H in AP regulation. AP-mediated inflammation is typically triggered by illness or tissue injury, however, and tissue injury can trigger AP activation in individuals with fully functional factor H. This suggests that factor H function is affected by local conditions within tissues. We hypothesized that inducible proteins impair the ability of factor H to locally control the AP, thereby increasing AP activation. We used purified murine factor H to immunoprecipitate binding partners from mouse kidneys. Using immunoaffinity liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, we identified annexin A2 as a factor H binding partner. Further experiments showed that annexin A2 reduces the binding of factor H to cell surfaces. Recombinant annexin A2 impaired complement regulation by factor H and increased complement activation on renal cell surfaces in vitro and in vivo. In a murine model of acute pneumococcal otitis media, the administration of annexin A2 increased AP-mediated bacterial opsonization and clearance. In conclusion, the local production of annexin A2 within tissues suppresses regulation of the AP by factor H. Annexin A2 can contribute to AP-mediated tissue inflammation by locally impairing factor H function, but it can also improve complement-mediated bacterial clearance.
Electrophysiologic recurrent laryngeal nerve monitoring during thyroid and parathyroid surgery: International standards guideline statement

Intraoperative neural monitoring (IONM) during thyroid and parathyroid surgery has gained widespread acceptance as an adjunct to the gold standard of visual nerve identification. Despite the increasing use of IONM, review of the literature and clinical experience confirms there is little uniformity in application of and results from nerve monitoring across different centers. We provide a review of the literature and cumulative experience of the multidisciplinary International Neural Monitoring Study Group with IONM spanning nearly 15 years. The study group focused its initial work on formulation of standards in IONM as it relates to important areas: 1) standards of equipment setup/endotracheal tube placement and 2) standards of loss of signal evaluation/intraoperative problem‐solving algorithm. The use of standardized methods and reporting will provide greater uniformity in application of IONM. In addition, this report clarifies the limitations of IONM and helps identify areas where additional research is necessary. This guideline is, at its forefront, quality driven; it is intended to improve the quality of neural monitoring, to translate the best available evidence into clinical practice to promote best practices. We hope this work will minimize inappropriate variations in monitoring rather than to dictate practice options. Laryngoscope, 121:S1–S16, 2011
Rapid Gene Concatenation for Genetic Rescue of Multigene Mutants in Candida albicans

Our understanding of new genes is often built upon the knowledge of well-characterized genes. One avenue toward revealing such connections involves creation of strains with mutations in two or more defined genes to permit genetic interaction analysis. Strain manipulations can yield unexpected mutations at loci outside the defined targeted genes. In this report, we describe a method for rapid validation of multigene mutants, thus allowing an appraisal of the contribution of the defined targeted genes to the strain’s phenotype. ABSTRACT The biological function of a gene is often probed through its interactions with other genes. This general approach has been especially useful to build knowledge about poorly understood genes upon the bedrock of well-characterized genes. Genetic interaction analysis requires the construction of strains with mutations in two or more genes. Single-gene mutants of microbial pathogens are generally validated through introduction of a wild-type copy of the affected gene to create a complemented or reconstituted strain, followed by testing for restoration of a wild-type phenotype. This practice, formalized as one of Falkow’s “molecular Koch’s postulates” ensures that the phenotype of the mutant depends upon the known mutation. However, multigene mutants are seldom validated because of the labor required to assemble multiple genomic segments into a vector that can be introduced into the mutant strain. We present here an approach, concatemer assembly for rescue of mutant abilities (CARMA), that circumvents this impediment through an in vivo recombinational assembly strategy that does not require cloning at all. Our results show that CARMA allows genetic rescue of two double-gene mutant strains of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans. IMPORTANCE Our understanding of new genes is often built upon the knowledge of well-characterized genes. One avenue toward revealing such connections involves creation of strains with mutations in two or more defined genes to permit genetic interaction analysis. Strain manipulations can yield unexpected mutations at loci outside the defined targeted genes. In this report, we describe a method for rapid validation of multigene mutants, thus allowing an appraisal of the contribution of the defined targeted genes to the strain’s phenotype.
"It's simply integral to what I do": enquiries into how the web is weaved into everyday life

This paper presents findings from a field study of 24 individuals who kept diaries of their web use, across device and location, for a period of four days. Our focus was on how the web was used for non-work purposes, with a view to understanding how this is intertwined with everyday life. While our initial aim was to update existing frameworks of 'web activities', such as those described by Sellen et al. [25] and Kellar et al. [14], our data lead us to suggest that the notion of 'web activity' is only partially useful for an analytic understanding of what it is that people do when they go online. Instead, our analysis leads us to present five modes of web use, which can be used to frame and enrich interpretations of 'activity'. These are respite, orienting, opportunistic use, purposeful use and lean-back internet. We then consider two properties of the web that enable it to be tailored to these different modes, persistence and temporality, and close by suggesting ways of drawing upon these qualities in order to inform design.
DATA MINING IN IDENTIFYING PREMIUM AND REGULAR GASOLINE USING SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINES AS NOVEL APPROACH FOR ARSON AND FUEL SPILL INVESTIGATION

In this work, a novel data mining model based on Support Vector Machines (SVM) for the identification of gasoline types has been investigated and developed. Detection and correct identification of gasoline types during Arson and Fuel Spill Investigation are very important in forensic science. As the number of arson and spillage becomes a common place, it becomes more important to have an accurate means of detecting and classifyin gg asoline found at such sites of incidence. However, currently only a very few number of classification models have been explored in this germane field of forensic science, particularly as relates to gasoline identification. Thus, we have developed Support Vector Machines (SVM) based identification model for identifyin gg asoline types. The model was constructed usin gg as chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) spectral data obtained from gasoline sold in Canada over one calendar year. Prediction accuracy of the model was evaluated and compared with earlier used methods on the same datasets. Empirical results from simulation showed that SVM based model produced accurate and promising results better than the best among the other earlier implemented Artificial Neural Network and Principal Component Analysis methods on the same datasets.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Neglected Issue in the Developing World

Background. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neglected illness in a developing country. Objectives. The objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalence and pattern of ADHD among children in a Nigeria. Methods. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information from the parents of children (and older children) who attended children outpatients' clinic during the study period. The DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were used. Results. Two hundred and seventy-three (273) out of 282 questionnaires were filled completely, giving a response rate of 96.8%. Nine (9) children fulfilled the stated criteria for ADHD giving a prevalence rate of 3.2%. There is no association between gender and ADHD (P = 0.784). Conclusions. The prevalence of ADHD in our setting is 3.2%, which is similar to that obtained elsewhere in the world.
Some OFF bipolar cell types make contact with both rods and cones in macaque and mouse retinas

This study compared the types of OFF bipolar cells found in the macaque retina with those found in the mouse retina and determined whether these OFF bipolar cells make direct contacts with both rods and cones by serial section transmission electron microscopy. We performed scatter plots and cluster analysis of the morphological variables of their axon terminals such as the stratification level, the arbor thickness, the arbor area, and the number of ribbons. Five OFF bipolar cell types, including the recently discovered DB3b type, were identified in the macaque retina. The macaque OFF bipolar cell types FMB, DB1, DB2, DB3a, and DB3b corresponded to the mouse OFF bipolar cell types 2, 1, 4, 3a, and 3b, respectively. In addition to contacting rod bipolar cells, ~7% of rods in the macaque retina made basal contacts exclusively with one cell type, DB3b, whereas 18% of rods in the mouse retina made basal contacts with one or two of types, 3a, 3b, and 4. Approximately 3% of mouse rods were divergently connected to two OFF bipolar cells of different types, but macaque rods were solely connected to one OFF bipolar cell. Rod-rod gap junctions were localized at rod cell bodies and axons in the outer nuclear layer in both macaque and mouse retinas. The direct rod-OFF bipolar connection system is slightly more developed in the mouse retina than in the macaque retina, possibly as a fine-tuned adaptation to nocturnal conditions. This one-step direct synaptic pathway from rods to OFF bipolar cells may enhance the response speed to OFF light stimuli compared with more indirect pathways via rod-cone gap junctions (a two-step pathway) and via rod bipolar and AII amacrine cells (a three-step pathway).
Cre-ativity in the liver: Transgenic approaches to targeting hepatic nonparenchymal cells

Rapid evolution in transgenic (Tg) mouse technology now permits cell‐specific and temporal control of fluorescent cell‐labeling and gene inactivation. Here, we discuss the principal strategies that have been utilized to target, label, and manipulate hepatic nonparenchymal cells, with emphasis on the utility of constitutive and inducible Cre‐lox systems. We summarize key findings of studies employing Tg technology to target hepatic stellate cells, myofibroblasts, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, and macrophages to illustrate the power of these approaches in identifying cell‐specific molecular mechanisms critical to the pathophysiology of liver disease. Increasing adoption of Tg techniques will help to answer fundamental questions regarding the pathogenesis of hepatic diseases and provide the mechanistic rationale to allow identification of novel drug targets, ultimately translating into effective therapies for patients with liver disease. (Hepatology 2015;61:2091–2099)
Torque-based control of whirling motion in a rotating electric machine under mechanical resonance

The major objectives of the paper are to clarify the influence of a whirling motion on the electrical characteristics of a rotating electric machine and to propose a method to control the whirling motion under mechanical resonance. First, it is shown that the hysteretic jump phenomena exist in the rotating speed and the power consumption of the motor due to the whirling motion around the natural frequency. The jump of the rotating speed means that a continuous change of output power in a generator can not be achieved under mechanical resonance. The jump of the power consumption gives a large fluctuation to other rotating electric machines connected to the same power source. Second, we propose a torque-based control method that can suppress the whirling motion by controlling a torque. The control input is determined based on a stability condition for a time-varying system that is represented by a second-order vector differential equation with time-varying coefficient matrices. Stability of the system can be checked by the qualitative characteristics of its coefficient matrices. Finally, the effectiveness of our control method is discussed by both a simulation and an experiment.
Optimal Evaluation of Feature Selection in Intrusion Detection Modeling

As a kind of data pre-process method, feature selection is an essential step in intrusion detection modeling. The method can improve the efficiency and accuracy of intrusion detection engine. Additionally, good features can provide excellent class separability. However, in the past researches on feature selection, the criteria and way about how to select the features in the raw data are seldom referred to. This paper shows us which type of features can aid us to achieve a better experimental result. In comparison to various types of intrusion attacks, the classical clustering algorithm, K-means is proposed to evaluate the features selected and prove the viewpoint based on KDD Cup 1999 DataSet. The knowledge of feature selection can be achieved by this means. With the usage of the statistics of network traffic, the better evaluation index, e.g. detection rate and false positive rate, are achieved than any other type of features. Finally, the paper provides the evaluation results of feature selection and we can regard them as knowledge for our future implementation
A method for MREIT-based source imaging: simulation studies

This paper aims to provide a method for using magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) to visualize local conductivity changes associated with evoked neuronal activities in the brain. MREIT is an MRI-based technique for conductivity mapping by probing the magnetic flux density induced by an externally injected current through surface electrodes. Since local conductivity changes resulting from evoked neural activities are very small (less than a few %), a major challenge is to acquire exogenous magnetic flux density data exceeding a certain noise level. Noting that the signal-to-noise ratio is proportional to the square root of the number of averages, it is important to reduce the data acquisition time to get more averages within a given total data collection time. The proposed method uses a sub-sampled k-space data set in the phase-encoding direction to significantly reduce the data acquisition time. Since the sub-sampled data violates the Nyquist criteria, we only get a nonlinearly wrapped version of the exogenous magnetic flux density data, which is insufficient for conductivity imaging. Taking advantage of the sparseness of the conductivity change, the proposed method detects local conductivity changes by estimating the time-change of the Laplacian of the nonlinearly wrapped data.
Making available Clinical Decision Support in Service-Oriented Architectures

Computer-based clinical decision support (CDS) has great potential for cost savings and for increasing patient safety and quality of care. The cost of owning and particularly maintaining CDS systems is significant. Therefore, it makes good economic sense to share a CDS service installation among a larger set of client systems. The emerging paradigm of serviceoriented architectures (SOAs) embraces the idea of sharing and interaction between loosely coupled, co-operative services. Canada has based its planned architecture for realizing the electronic medical record (EMR) on the SOA paradigm. While CDS components are currently not in the set of services to be constructed for Canada’s health information infrastructure, they seems to be growing interest in adding them in the future, after the more essential services have been implemented. In this paper, we discuss the status of clinical decision support systems today and some challenges of making them available in SOA-based infrastructures. We report on design choices and solutions we have selected during the construction of the EGADSS (Electronic Guideline and Decision Support System) component. Our design decisions are based on domainspecific challenges such as knowledge, data and workflow interoperability as well as on technical considerations about construction high quality services for SOA-based infrastructures. EGADSS has been released under open-source license and is freely available.
A Method for Measuring the Difficulty of Music Scores

While the difficulty of the music can be classified by a variety of standard, conventional methods are classified by the subjective judgment based on the experience of many musicians or conductors. Music score is difficult to evaluate as there is no quantitative criterion to determine the degree of difficulty. In this paper, we propose a new classification method for determining the degree of difficulty of the music. In order to determine the degree of difficulty, we convert the score, which is expressed as a traditional music score, into electronic music sheet. Moreover, we calculate information about the elements needed to play sheet music by distance of notes, tempo, and quantifying the ease of interpretation. Calculating a degree of difficulty of the entire music via the numerical data, we suggest the difficulty evaluation of the score, and show the difficulty of music through experiments.                          음악 연주를 위하여 다양한 음악 정보를 표현 하고 있는 악보의 선택은 아주 중요한 일이다. 악기 연주를 학습하는 학생은 자신의 수준에 맞는 악보를 선택하고 연주하기 위하여 선생님의 경험에 의한 주관적인 판단으로 추천하는 악보를 선택하는 경우가 대부분이다. 그러나 이러한 경험에 의한 악보의 추천은 새로 작성되는 많은 음악 악보들을 판단하기는 힘들뿐 아니라 주관적인 판단으로 인하여 정확한 학생의 수준에 맞는 악보를 추천하는 것은 어려운 문제다. 악보의 난이도를 정확히 파악하기 위해서는 악보의 구조를 파악해야 한다[1][2]. 악보를 제공하는 많은 웹사이트들은 자체적으로 분류된 악보들을 제공하지만, 악보를 분류하는 명확한 기준이 마련되어 있지 않거나 연주자의 주관적인 해석에 의한 분류가 대부분이다. “Sheet Music Plus”는 자체적으로 SMP Level Guidelines을 통하여 악보를 대략적인 음의 위치(position), 음계(scales), 화음(chords), 리듬(Rhythms)을 기준으로 10개의 난이도로 분류하고 있다[3]. 음악 연주나 이해의 급수평가 제도를 제공하고 있는 영국 “ABRSM”는 음계와 화음, 연주기법 등을 기준으로 8단계의 등급으로 나누고 있으며, 미국 “NYSSMA”의 경우는 음계와 옥타브, 음표, 연주속도 등을 기준으로 하여 6단계 연주 등급 기준이 있으며 이에 맞추어 악보의 난이도를 주관적으로 분류하고 있다[4][5]. 이와 같이, 악보에 대한 다른 분류의 기준으로 인하여 악보의 난이도는 서로 다를 수 있으며, 정확한 난이도를 파악을 어렵게 한다. 또한 자동화된 난이도 분류 방법이 없어 많은 악보들의 난이도 분류를 위해서는 더 많은 시간이 소요된다. 기존에는 음악에 대한 다양한 연구들은 악보자체의 난이도를 평가하는 것이 아닌, 음악의 선율, 주파수, 음악 자체의 내용과 평가 등을 이용하여 장르를 구분하거나, 음악의 분위기 등을 파악하고 분류된 음악을 추천하는 연구가 대부분이다[6-9]. 최근 연구에서는 악보를 통한 음악 교습을 위하여 피아노 연주 시 고려될 수 7개의 분류 항목을 가진 악보 분석 방법이 제시하였다[10]. 이 분석 방법에서는 악보의 분석하기 위하여 연주에 필요한 분류 항목을 도출하였으나, 각 항목을 특정 기준보다 어려운 비율에 의하여 상대적인 평가를 하고 있으며, 항목별 비교를 통하여 3개의
From Non Word to New Word: Automatically Identifying Neologisms in French Newspapers

In this paper we present a statistical machine learning approach to formal neologism detection going some way beyond the use of exclusion lists. We explore the impact of three groups of features: form related, morpho-lexical and thematic features. The latter type of features has not yet been used in this kind of application and represents a way to access the semantic context of new words. The results suggest that form related features are helpful at the overall classification task, while morpho-lexical and thematic features better single out true neologisms.
Evolution and functional cross‐talk of protein post‐translational modifications

Protein post‐translational modifications (PTMs) allow the cell to regulate protein activity and play a crucial role in the response to changes in external conditions or internal states. Advances in mass spectrometry now enable proteome wide characterization of PTMs and have revealed a broad functional role for a range of different types of modifications. Here we review advances in the study of the evolution and function of PTMs that were spurred by these technological improvements. We provide an overview of studies focusing on the origin and evolution of regulatory enzymes as well as the evolutionary dynamics of modification sites. Finally, we discuss different mechanisms of altering protein activity via post‐translational regulation and progress made in the large‐scale functional characterization of PTM function.
Evaluation of a social web-based telehealth system

Increasing healthcare costs and demographic changes necessitate healthcare interventions that foster independent care. Existing telehealth systems are focused on treating diseases instead of preventing them, suffer from high initial costs, lack extensibility, and do not address the social and psychological needs of patients. We developed Healthcare4Life, an online telehealth system for seniors. In this paper, we report the results of a 6-week user study involving 43 seniors (aged 60 and above). Results indicate that seniors are ready to take charge of their health via a web-based telehealth system, provided there are suitable health applications for them to use. The social networking features require a sufficiently large user base to be useful. The results also suggest that web-based telehealth solutions can positively change the attitude of seniors towards managing their own healthcare.