Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cell-derived microparticles generated in patients during cardiopulmonary bypass are highly procoagulant.

BACKGROUND Microparticles from platelets and other cells have been extensively studied and characterized in vitro. Although the level of platelet-derived microparticles is elevated in a variety of diseases, including cardiac surgery, virtually nothing is known about their functions in vivo. The aim of the present study was to investigate the procoagulant properties of microparticles generated in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS In 6 patients at the end of cardiopulmonary bypass, 14.8 x 10(9)/L (median; range, 9.7 to 27.4 x 10(9)/L) platelet-derived microparticles were present in pericardial blood, whereas blood obtained from the systemic circulation contained 1.6 x 10(9)/L (median; range, 0.4 to 8.9 x 10(9)/L) of such microparticles, as determined by flow cytometry. Microparticles stained positively for phosphatidylserine as determined with labeled annexin V. In contrast to systemic blood, pericardial blood contained not only microparticles of platelet origin but also microparticles that originated from erythrocytes, monocytes, or granulocytes, and other hitherto unknown cellular sources. Plasma prepared from pericardial blood and to a lesser extent plasma from systemic blood obtained at the same time, stimulated formation of thrombin in vitro. This activity of pericardial plasma was lost after removal of its microparticles by high-speed centrifugation, whereas the corresponding microparticle pellet was strongly procoagulant. The generation of thrombin in vitro involved a tissue factor/factor VII-dependent and factor XII-independent pathway. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to demonstrate that microparticles generated in vivo can stimulate coagulation.
Structure of an archaeal PCNA1–PCNA2–FEN1 complex: elucidating PCNA subunit and client enzyme specificity

The archaeal/eukaryotic proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) toroidal clamp interacts with a host of DNA modifying enzymes, providing a stable anchorage and enhancing their respective processivities. Given the broad range of enzymes with which PCNA has been shown to interact, relatively little is known about the mode of assembly of functionally meaningful combinations of enzymes on the PCNA clamp. We have determined the X-ray crystal structure of the Sulfolobus solfataricus PCNA1–PCNA2 heterodimer, bound to a single copy of the flap endonuclease FEN1 at 2.9 Å resolution. We demonstrate the specificity of interaction of the PCNA subunits to form the PCNA1–PCNA2–PCNA3 heterotrimer, as well as providing a rationale for the specific interaction of the C-terminal PIP-box motif of FEN1 for the PCNA1 subunit. The structure explains the specificity of the individual archaeal PCNA subunits for selected repair enzyme ‘clients’, and provides insights into the co-ordinated assembly of sequential enzymatic steps in PCNA-scaffolded DNA repair cascades.
O Iowa Gambling Task. Uma revisão crítica

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a widely used task in the assessment of the decision-making ability. In this article, we conduct a literature review by comparing IGT versions, different performance assessment measures, and changes to procedures including feedback, spatial randomization of decks, number of trials, number of cards per deck, instructions, payment, and rewards and punishments. On basis of this analysis, we conclude that different versions of the task, changes in application procedures and different measures used to assess the task have an impact on performance, thereby affecting comparison among studies and generalization of results. Finally, we offer suggestions to define adequate procedures.
Analysis of portfolio with public and private banking stocks in India — A study from 2011 to 2016

Portfolio Management is considered to be one of the biggest task for fund managers. Managing the portfolio with appropriate stocks at right time is always aimed for. Banking industry is significant in a country's economic growth. Banking stocks are majorly observed among the investors. The paper aims to understand the performance of banking stocks in India. The paper also focuses to compare private and public banking stocks. Two portfolios each consisting of five public banking stocks and private banking stocks are created. Risk and return is calculated using standard deviation and mean respectively for individual stocks. Further the above calculation is extended for portfolio. Returns on stocks and portfolio at optimistic and pessimistic conditions are also evaluated. Capital Market Line (CML) is drawn to plot stocks graphically. Alpha values for both the portfolios are found out to understand the performance.
Same-Origin Policy: Evaluation in Modern Browsers

The term Same-Origin Policy (SOP) is used to denote a complex set of rules which governs the interaction of different Web Origins within a web application. A subset of these SOP rules controls the interaction between the host document and an embedded document, and this subset is the target of our research (SOP-DOM). In contrast to other important concepts like Web Origins (RFC 6454) or the Document Object Model (DOM), there is no formal specification of the SOP-DOM. In an empirical study, we ran 544 different test cases on each of the 10 major web browsers. We show that in addition to Web Origins, access rights granted by SOPDOM depend on at least three attributes: the type of the embedding element (EE), the sandbox, and CORS attributes. We also show that due to the lack of a formal specification, different browser behaviors could be detected in approximately 23% of our test cases. The issues discovered in Internet Explorer and Edge are also acknowledged by Microsoft (MSRC Case 32703). We discuss our findings in terms of read, write, and execute rights in different access control models.
Utility of Ground Beetle Species in Field Tests of Potential Nontarget Effects of Bt Crops

Abstract Characteristics of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), including their distribution, diet breadth, and importance as generalist predators, make them candidates for evaluating potential unintended effects of transgenic crops. The abundance and composition of carabids collected from pitfall traps placed in hybrid dent corn were used to determine which species are consistently present and abundant in Iowa carabid communities and to test for population differences in these species caused by transgenic (Bacillus thuringiensis [Bt]) or insecticide-based pest management. Power analyses were also used to evaluate the adequacy of the experimental design. Carabid collections indicate Harpalus pensylvanicus DeGeer is the best choice to sample based on its apparent ubiquity and abundance in Iowa and other corn-producing states. However, population levels were time-dependent, and composition of carabid communities differed between locations. Considering the numerical dominance of a few species per field, the two to four most abundant species might be used to effectively represent local carabid communities. H. pensylvanicus populations were impacted by insecticide use, but no effects of Bt were found. Power analyses indicated that with the experimental design and replication employed, only large effects were detectable; based on the variation between plots, increased replication is needed to make detection of either moderate (30–50%) or small (<30%) effects likely. The recent release of transgenic corn with coleopteran toxicity highlights the importance of these results when evaluating potential unintended effects of these crops on ground beetles. One species not previously recorded in Iowa, Lebia pulchella Dejean, also was collected.
Queen bee generation method in hive and its application in sensor networks

This paper reports a scheme to select the gateway node in WSN. The scheme is inspired by the queen bee selection method in a hive. The queen bee is the leader of a hive, and the dynamics of the hive is controlled by the queen bee. The selection process of queen bee in hive is presented and modelled here first. Motivated by this natural process, we present here a technique to select the gateway node in WSN which outperforms over the existing protocols. A set of rules are synthesized to develop such method.
So 'Prison Works', Does It? The Criminal Careers of 130 Men Released from Prison under Home Secretary, Michael Howard

A 1992 study, The Dynamics of Recidivism, was cited by the Home Secretary of the Conservative government during the 1990s to support the political doctrine that 'prison works'. This claim drew on qualitative data from pre- and post-prison interviews of 130 male offenders to uphold a narrow rational choice perspective that emphasised the perceived 'costs' of imprisonment to the offender. A ten-year reconviction study was carried out as a follow-up to the 1992 study. The subsequent criminal careers of the majority of the sample contradict an assumption that imprisonment has a deterrent impact. In the light of these findings, and an analysis of the differential impacts of subjective and social factors in the experiences of these ex-prisoners, this article reviews the limitations of 'rational choice theory' as a basis for understanding recidivism and desistance from crime.
Gas-Sensing Characterization of TiO2-ZnO Based Thin Film

In this work, we investigate gas sensing characteristics of a new composite material, ZnO doped TiO2. TiO2/ZnO layers have been deposited by ion-assisted e-beam evaporation with different doping concentrations. Structural and morphological characterization has been carried out by means of SEM, XRD and EDX in order to correlate structural properties with gas sensing behavior. Gas-sensing characterizations toward acetone, ammonia, ethanol, CO, and NO2 highlight interesting behavior for the layers tested. Low ZnO concentration (1%) increase responses toward acetone and ethanol while response toward CO, NO2, and ammonia are still low. However, high ZnO concentration (5-10%) decreases acetone and ethanol responses while CO, NO, and ammonia is almost diminished. In addition, ZnO:TiO2 exhibit good response at medium operating temperature of 300degC.
Breathing retraining for dysfunctional breathing in asthma: a randomised controlled trial

Background: Functional breathing disorders may complicate asthma and impair quality of life. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of physiotherapy based breathing retraining for patients treated for asthma in the community who have symptoms suggestive of dysfunctional breathing. Methods: 33 adult patients aged 17–65 with diagnosed and currently treated asthma and Nijmegen questionnaire scores ⩾23 were recruited to a randomised controlled trial comparing short physiotherapy breathing retraining and an asthma nurse education control. The main outcome measures were asthma specific health status (Asthma Quality of Life questionnaire) and Nijmegen questionnaire scores Results: Of the 33 who entered the study, data were available on 31 after 1 month and 28 at 6 months. The median (interquartile range) changes in overall asthma quality of life score at 1 month were 0.6 (0.05–1.12) and 0.09 (−0.25–0.26) for the breathing retraining and education groups, respectively (p=0.018), 0.42 (0.11–1.17) and 0.09 (−0.58–0.5) for the symptoms domain (p=0.042), 0.52 (0.09–1.25) and 0 (−0.45–0.45) for the activities domain (p=0.007), and 0.50 (0–1.50) and −0.25 (−0.75–0.75) for the environment domain (p=0.018). Only the change in the activities domain remained significant at 6 months (0.83 (−0.10–1.71) and −0.05 (−0.74–0.34), p=0.018), although trends to improvement were seen in the overall score (p=0.065), the symptoms domain (p=0.059), and the environment domain (p=0.065). There was a correlation between changes in quality of life scores and Nijmegen questionnaire scores at 1 month and at 6 months. The number needed to treat to produce a clinically important improvement in health status was 1.96 and 3.57 at 1 and 6 months. Conclusion: Over half the patients treated for asthma in the community who have symptoms suggestive of dysfunctional breathing show a clinically relevant improvement in quality of life following a brief physiotherapy intervention. This improvement is maintained in over 25% 6 months after the intervention.
How Evaluation Research Can Help Reform and Improve the Child Welfare System

Abstract The child welfare system in the United States is in crisis. Despite funding and staffing increasing, and despite legislative changes and reforms, the system still cannot meet the mandate to protect children from harm and assist caregivers and families. This paper argues that one of the key factors limiting the effectiveness of the child welfare system is that the system does not carefully and properly evaluate the interventions and programs that are used to protect children and assist families. The paper reviews the available data from evaluation research on child welfare interventions, speculates on why there is so little evaluation of child welfare interventions, and proposes a tentative solution to the paucity of research and the child welfare system crisis.
Martyngały a rynki finansowe

2. Rozważmy najprostszą sytuację gry w „orła i reszkę”. Gracze A i B grają rzucając symetryczną monetą. W pojedynczej kolejce gracz wygrywa 1 zł z prawdopodobieństwem 1/2 i przegrywa 1 zł z prawdopodobieństwem 1/2. Zasadniczo gra kończy się, gdy jeden z graczy zostanie zrujnowany. Gracze mogą jednak umówić się inaczej (np. wycofywać się z gry w dogodnym dla siebie momencie). Wyniki poszczególnych kolejek są niezależne, zatem wygrane pierwszego gracza w kolejnych partiach są niezależnymi zmiennymi losowymi ξ1, . , ξn, . , przy czym P (ξi = 1) = 1/2 = P (ξi = −1). Korzystając z metod rachunku prawdopodobieństwa można zbadać tę grę (znaleźć szansę wygrania ustalonej kwoty, szansę przegrania całego kapitału czyli ruiny, szansę wygrania k zł nim przegramy n zł itp.). Wygrana gracza A po n grach jest równa sumie wygranych w pojedynczych kolejkach:
Time Series Prediction by Perturbed Fuzzy Model

This paper presents a fuzzy system approach to the prediction of nonlinear time series and dynamical systems based on a fuzzy model that includes its derivative information. The underlying mechanism governing the time series, expressed as a set of IF–THEN rules, is discovered by a modified structure of fuzzy system in order to capture the temporal series and its temporal derivative information. The task of predicting the future is carried out by a fuzzy predictor on the basis of the extracted rules and by the Taylor ODE solver method. We have applied the approach to the benchmark Mackey-Glass chaotic time series.
Activity-Dependent Transfer of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor to Postsynaptic Neurons

Neurotrophins such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are thought to be transferred from post- to presynaptic neurons and to be involved in the formation and plasticity of neural circuits. However, direct evidence for a transneuronal transfer of BDNF and its relation to neuronal activity remains elusive. We simultaneously injected complementary DNAs of green fluorescent protein (GFP)–tagged BDNF and red fluorescence protein into the nucleus of single neurons and visualized expression, localization, and transport of BDNF in living neurons. Fluorescent puncta representing BDNF moved in axons in the anterograde direction, though some moved retrogradely, and transferred to postsynaptic neurons in an activity-dependent manner.
The Prague Bulletin of Mathematical Linguistics NUMBER ? ? ? NOVEMBER 2009 1 – 21 CzEng 0 . 9 Large Parallel Treebank with Rich Annotation

We describe our ongoing efforts in collecting a Czech-English parallel corpus CzEng. The paper provides full details on the current version 0.9 and focuses on its new features: (1) data from new sources were added, most importantly a few hundred electronically available books, technical documentation and also some parallel web pages, (2) the full corpus has been automatically annotated up to the tectogrammatical layer (surface and deep syntactic analysis), (3) sentence segmentation has been refined, and (4) several heuristic filters to improve corpus quality were implemented. In total, we provide a sentence-aligned automatic parallel treebank of about 8.0 million sentences, 93 million English and 82 million Czech words. CzEng 0.9 is freely available for non-commercial research purposes.
Effect of vildagliptin on hsCRP and arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor vildagliptin on high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and arterial stiffness (AS) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). DESIGN: Sixty-four drug-naive diabetic patients, with inadequate glycemic control, participated in this randomized, open-label study. Half of the patients received metformin 1700 mg/d and the other half of them received metformin 1700 mg/d plus vildagliptin 100 mg/d. AS was measured by carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV). Body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), hsCRP, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipid profile, albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), fasting insulin, C-peptide, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-β) were also assessed at baseline and after 6 months. RESULTS: Vildagliptin in combination with metformin had a beneficial influence on hsCRP, HbA1c, C-peptide and HOMA-β index (p <0.05) but had no effect on cfPWV, BP, BW, BMI, lipid profile, ACR and HOMA-IR compared with metformin alone (p=NS). CONCLUSIONS: We have found that the addition of vildagliptin to metformin for a period of six months decreased hsCRP, improved glycemic control and β-cell function but had no effect on AS in drug-naive patients with T2DM.
Altered Plasma Versus Vascular Biopterins in Human Atherosclerosis Reveal Relationships Between Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase Coupling, Endothelial Function, and Inflammation

Background— Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is a key regulator of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity and coupling. However, the extent to which vascular and/or systemic BH4 levels are altered in human atherosclerosis and the importance of BH4 bioavailability in determining endothelial function and oxidative stress remain unclear. We sought to define the relationships between plasma and vascular biopterin levels in patients with coronary artery disease and to determine how BH4 levels affect endothelial function, eNOS coupling, and vascular superoxide production. Methods and Results— Samples of saphenous veins and internal mammary arteries were collected from 219 patients with coronary artery disease undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. We determined plasma and vascular levels of biopterins, vasomotor responses to acetylcholine, and vascular superoxide production in the presence and absence of the eNOS inhibitor NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester. High vascular BH4 was associated with greater vasorelaxations to acetylcholine (P<0.05), whereas high plasma BH4 was associated with lower vasorelaxations in response to acetylcholine (P<0.05). Furthermore, an inverse association was observed between plasma and vascular biopterins (P<0.05 for both saphenous veins and internal mammary arteries). High vascular (but not plasma) BH4 was associated with reduced total and NG-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester–inhibitable superoxide, suggesting improved eNOS coupling. Finally, plasma but not vascular biopterin levels were correlated with plasma C-reactive protein levels (P<0.001). Conclusions— An inverse association exists between plasma and vascular biopterins in patients with coronary artery disease. Vascular but not plasma BH4 is an important determinant of eNOS coupling, endothelium-dependent vasodilation, and superoxide production in human vessels, whereas plasma biopterins are a marker of systemic inflammation.
3D Printing of Organs-On-Chips

Organ-on-a-chip engineering aims to create artificial living organs that mimic the complex and physiological responses of real organs, in order to test drugs by precisely manipulating the cells and their microenvironments. To achieve this, the artificial organs should to be microfabricated with an extracellular matrix (ECM) and various types of cells, and should recapitulate morphogenesis, cell differentiation, and functions according to the native organ. A promising strategy is 3D printing, which precisely controls the spatial distribution and layer-by-layer assembly of cells, ECMs, and other biomaterials. Owing to this unique advantage, integration of 3D printing into organ-on-a-chip engineering can facilitate the creation of micro-organs with heterogeneity, a desired 3D cellular arrangement, tissue-specific functions, or even cyclic movement within a microfluidic device. Moreover, fully 3D-printed organs-on-chips more easily incorporate other mechanical and electrical components with the chips, and can be commercialized via automated massive production. Herein, we discuss the recent advances and the potential of 3D cell-printing technology in engineering organs-on-chips, and provides the future perspectives of this technology to establish the highly reliable and useful drug-screening platforms.
Side Effects and Placebo Amplification

Summary A sample of placebo-controlled tricyclic antidepressant studies was examined retrospectively to determine whether there was any difference in the relative efficacy of the tricyclic when it was compared against an inert placebo as against an active (atropine) placebo with anticholinergic side effects. Fewer studies showed a significant difference between atropine placebo and drug than between inert placebo and drug. The possibilities that atropine has a specific antidepressant effect or that side effects amplify placebo responses are considered.
The Price of Local Power Control in Wireless Scheduling

We consider the problem of scheduling wireless links in the physical model, where we seek an assignment of power levels and a partition of the given set of links into the minimum number of subsets satisfying the signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (SINR) constraints. Specifically, we are interested in the efficiency of local power assignment schemes, or oblivious power schemes, in approximating wireless scheduling. Oblivious power schemes are motivated by networking scenarios when power levels must be decided in advance, and not as part of the scheduling computation. We first show that the known algorithms fail to obtain sub-logarithmic bounds; that is, their approximation ratio are $\tilde\Omega(\log \max(\Delta,n))$, where $n$ is the number of links, $\Delta$ is the ratio of the maximum and minimum link lengths, and $\tilde\Omega$ hides doubly-logarithmic factors. We then present the first $O(\log{\log\Delta})$-approximation algorithm, which is known to be best possible (in terms of $\Delta$) for oblivious power schemes. We achieve this by representing interference by a conflict graph, which allows the application of graph-theoretic results for a variety of related problems, including the weighted capacity problem. We explore further the contours of approximability, and find the choice of power assignment matters; that not all metric spaces are equal; and that the presence of weak links makes the problem harder. Combined, our result resolve the price of oblivious power for wireless scheduling, or the value of allowing unfettered power control.