Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The convergence consensus of multi-agent systems controlled via doubly stochastic quadratic operators

This paper proposed doubly stochastic quadratic operators (DSQOs) for a consensus problem in multi-agent systems. The proposed scheme uses new nonlinear class model of family of quadratic stochastic operators (QSOs) for convergence consensus. The nonlinear model of QSOs plays an important role for reaching consensus. The nonlinear protocols for DSQOs are based on majorization theory. The paper investigates how the multi-agent systems converge to the optimal values (center) by using DSQOs. The proposed nonlinear model of DSQOs will be compared with the linear model of DeGroot and the nonlinear model of QSOs. Furthermore, we will show that the convergence of DSQOs is superior than DeGroot linear model and low-complex than QSOs nonlinear model.
Administration of loperamide and addition of wheat bran to the diets of weaner pigs decrease the incidence of diarrhoea and enhance their gut maturation

The influence of fibre inclusion and transit time regulation on the performance, health status, microbial activity and population, physico-chemical characteristics of the hindgut digesta and intestinal morphology in early weaned pigs were examined. For these experiments, wheat bran (WB) was used as fibre source and loperamide as a drug (LOP) to increase the digesta transit time. In Expt 1, a total of 128 early weaned pigs were randomly distributed in a 2 × 2 factorial combination of WB inclusion (0 v. 40 g/kg) and LOP administration (0 v. 0·07 mg/kg body weight) during 13 d. For Expt 2, a total of twenty-four piglets were allotted to three dietary treatments for 15 d with the same basal diet (control diet) as Expt 1; a diet with 80 g/kg of WB and the combination of WB and LOP. In Expt 1, LOP improved the average daily feed intake and average daily gain of the animals (P = 0·001 and 0·007, respectively). The same result was obtained when WB was combined with LOP. The WB–LOP group also showed a higher concentration of SCFA (P = 0·013), acetic acid (P = 0·004) and propionic acid (P = 0·093). On the other hand, WB inclusion reduced the organic matter and crude protein digestibility (P = 0·001) and tended to decrease the enterobacteria population (P = 0·089). In Expt 2, WB increased the butyric acid concentration (P = 0·086). We concluded that the inclusion of WB to modify the intestinal microbiota activity combined with LOP may be beneficial to animal health and performance.
Partner Reports of HIV Viral Suppression Predict Sexual Behavior in Serodiscordant Male Couples

To the Editors: Biomedical prevention strategies, specifically the achievement of an undetectable viral load, can prevent transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM). Moreover, among MSM, viral load information is used in the negotiation of condomless anal intercourse (CAI), and studies find that MSM are more likely to engage in CAI if they believe their partners are virally suppressed. To date, research on the association between viral load and CAI has focused exclusively on a single partner (ie, the HIV-negative or HIV-positive partner) without attending to the dyadic nature of sexual relationships and potentially contributing to pseudounilaterality—a bias that results from continually studying only 1 side of a 2-way interaction. The probability of HIV transmission is low when a partner is virally suppressed and clear of genital tract inflammation. Yet viral-sorting practices (ie, considering a partner’s viral load when making decisions about sexual behaviors) rely on subjective beliefs about viral suppression, and recent data show that MSM are likely to overestimate that their primary partner is virally suppressed. Thus, a better understanding of partner perceptions of viral suppression and sexual risk behavior has important implications for HIV prevention and clinical practice. In this study, we fill a key gap in the literature by examining the relative importance of both partners’ self-reports of viral suppression—and confirmatory viral load blood test results—on intradyadic (ie, within-couple) sexual risk behavior.
Chagas’ disease: lessons from routine donation testing

summary American Trypanosomiasis, or Chagas’ disease, is a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. It is endemic in a large area of the American continent, extending from Mexico to Argentina. Imported Chagas’ disease is now appearing as a new threat to non‐endemic countries, mostly because of a steady increase of foreign residents from Latin America. Chagas’ disease becomes chronic in the vast majority of infected individuals. This finding gives rise to problems for blood transfusion services. In non‐endemic countries, transfusion is the most likely infection route. Strategies to reduce transmission by transfusion include blood donor selection and deferral, blood donation testing, leukoreduction, filters and pathogen inactivation systems. Policies in endemic and non‐endemic areas are quite different: in endemic countries, universal screening of blood donations for T. cruzi antibody detection is mandatory. However, in non‐endemic countries, there are two different approaches: one is the deferral of people at risk of Chagas’ disease and the second approach is to accept the blood donation if specific laboratory assay results are negative. This second approach is being introduced in countries where there is a substantial Latin American population, such as United States, Spain and France. The assays used for the detection of T. cruzi are mostly immunologic, made with T. cruzi antigen homogenates or with recombinant antigens. Complementary assays, such as indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) or immunoblot, can help ascertain antibody specificity.
Exploiting geographic opportunistic routing for soft QoS provisioning in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we exploit the geographic opportunistic routing (GOR) for QoS provisioning with both end-to-end reliability and delay constraints in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Recent work exploits multipath routing to guarantee both reliability and delay QoS constraints in WSNs. However, the multipath routing approach suffers from a significant energy cost. We also find that existing GOR protocol may not be suitable for QoS provisioning in WSNs, due to the large computation delay at each hop. To improve the efficiency of QoS routing in WSNs, we study the problem of efficient GOR for multiconstrained QoS provisioning in WSNs, which can be formulated as a multiobjective multiconstraint optimization problem. We look in depth at the properties of the multiple objectives. Based on the analysis and observations, we then propose a heuristic efficient GOR (EGOR) algorithm for QoS provisioning in WSNs. We evaluate EGOR by comparing it with the multipath routing approach through ns-2 simulation and evaluate its time complexity through measurement on the MicaZ node. Evaluation results demonstrate that EGOR can significantly improve both the end-to-end energy efficiency and latency for multiconstrainted QoS provisioning in WSNs, and that EGOR is characterized by its low time complexity.
Principal noiseless color component extraction by linear color composition with optimal coefficients

In this paper, we propose a principal color component extraction method that is simply performed by linear color composition (transformation) of R, G, B colors, but its composite coefficients are calculated so as to obtain a noisy-texture-less principal component of RGB color images. Our method is related to principal component analysis (PCA) and edge preserving smoothing by total variation (TV) minimization. The resultant image becomes a principal color component image with the minimum total variation. We show this problem can be formulated as TV minimization on a spherical manifold for a whitened data matrix. Although this spherical constraint is non-convex, it can be solved by using alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). As its application, we show the results of text character extraction from ancient wooden tablets, and how our method extracts faint ink characters while reducing wood grain textures. Our method is unsupervised but has performance equivalent to a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) method with user-assisted information.
2D materials advances: from large scale synthesis and controlled heterostructures to improved characterization techniques, defects and applications

The rise of two-dimensional (2D) materials research took place following the isolation of graphene in 2004. These new 2D materials include transition metal dichalcogenides, mono-elemental 2D sheets, and several carbide- and nitride-based materials. The number of publications related to these emerging materials has been drastically increasing over the last five years. Thus, through this comprehensive review, we aim to discuss the most recent groundbreaking discoveries as well as emerging opportunities and remaining challenges. This review starts out by delving into the improved methods of producing these new 2D materials via controlled exfoliation, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, and wet chemical means. We look into recent studies of doping as well as the optical properties of 2D materials and their heterostructures. Recent advances towards applications of these materials in 2D electronics are also reviewed, and include the tunnel MOSFET and ways to reduce the contact resistance for fabricating high-quality devices. Finally, several unique and innovative applications recently explored are discussed as well as perspectives of this exciting and fast moving field.
MiR-384 inhibits human colorectal cancer metastasis by targeting KRAS and CDC42

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide. Metastatic progression is a primary factor contributing to lethality of CRC patients. However, the molecular mechanisms forming early local invasion and distant metastatic colonies are still unclear and the present therapeutic approaches for CRC are unsatisfactory. Therefore, novel therapies targeting metastatic invasion that could prevent tumor spreading and recurrence are urgently needed. Our study showed that the decrease of miR-384 was found in 83.0% (83/100) CRC patients. And low-leveled expression of miR-384 was closely correlated with the invasive depth, lymph node and distant metastasis of CRC. Overexpression of miR-384 could inhibit the invasive and migrating abilities of CRC cells in vitro and the metastatic potential in vivo. Luciferase assays showed that miR-384 repressed the expression of Kirsten Ras (KRAS) and Cell division cycle 42 (CDC42) by directly targeting their 3’-untranslated regions. There is functional and mechanistic relationship between miRNA-384 and KRAS, CDC42 in the invasion and metastasis of CRC. And our findings suggest that miR-384could be a potent therapeutic target for CRC. Restoration of miR-384 expression might provide novel therapeutic approach to the reduction of CRC metastasis.
Spanning from the West to East: An Updated Review on Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Atherosclerotic Disease

Ischemic stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, incurring significant cost. Intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) accounts for 10-15% of ischemic stroke in Western societies, but is an underlying pathology in up to 54% of ischemic strokes in Asian populations. ICAD has largely been treated with medical management, although a few studies have examined outcomes following endovascular treatment. Our objective was to summarize the major trials that have been performed thus far in regard to the endovascular treatment of ICAD and to provide direction for future management of this disease process. Systematic review of the literature from 1966 to 2015, was conducted in regard to intracranial angioplasty and stenting. Studies were analyzed from PubMed, American Heart Association and Society of Neurointerventional Surgery databases. SAMMPRIS and VISSIT are the only randomized controlled trials from which Western guidelines of intracranial stenting have been derived, which have displayed the superiority of medical management. However, pooled reviews of smaller studies and other nonrandomized trials have shown better outcomes with endovascular therapy in select patient subsets, such as intracranial vertebrobasilar stenosis or in the presence of robust collaterals. Suboptimal cases, including longer lesions, bifurcations and significant tortuosity tend to fair better with medical management. Medical management has been shown to be more efficacious with less adverse outcomes than endovascular therapy. However, the majority of studies on endovascular management included a diverse patient population without ideal selection criteria, resulting in higher adverse outcomes. Population analyses and selective utilization of endovascular therapy have shown that the treatment may be superior to other management in select patients.
A New Fiji-Based Algorithm That Systematically Quantifies Nine Synaptic Parameters Provides Insights into Drosophila NMJ Morphometry

The morphology of synapses is of central interest in neuroscience because of the intimate relation with synaptic efficacy. Two decades of gene manipulation studies in different animal models have revealed a repertoire of molecules that contribute to synapse development. However, since such studies often assessed only one, or at best a few, morphological features at a given synapse, it remained unaddressed how different structural aspects relate to one another. Furthermore, such focused and sometimes only qualitative approaches likely left many of the more subtle players unnoticed. Here, we present the image analysis algorithm ‘Drosophila_NMJ_Morphometrics’, available as a Fiji-compatible macro, for quantitative, accurate and objective synapse morphometry of the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a well-established glutamatergic model synapse. We developed this methodology for semi-automated multiparametric analyses of NMJ terminals immunolabeled for the commonly used markers Dlg1 and Brp and showed that it also works for Hrp, Csp and Syt. We demonstrate that gender, genetic background and identity of abdominal body segment consistently and significantly contribute to variability in our data, suggesting that controlling for these parameters is important to minimize variability in quantitative analyses. Correlation and principal component analyses (PCA) were performed to investigate which morphometric parameters are inter-dependent and which ones are regulated rather independently. Based on nine acquired parameters, we identified five morphometric groups: NMJ size, geometry, muscle size, number of NMJ islands and number of active zones. Based on our finding that the parameters of the first two principal components hardly correlated with each other, we suggest that different molecular processes underlie these two morphometric groups. Our study sets the stage for systems morphometry approaches at the well-studied Drosophila NMJ.
Interethnic DNA methylation difference and its implications in pharmacoepigenetics.

AIM This is the first systematic study to examine the population differentiation effect of DNA methylation on the treatment response and drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion in multiple tissue types and cancer types. MATERIALS & METHODS We analyzed the whole methylome and transcriptome data of primary tumor tissues of four cancer types (breast, colon, head & neck and uterine corpus) and lymphoblastoid cell lines for African and European ancestry populations. RESULTS Ethnicity-associated CpG sites exhibited similar methylation patterns in the two studied populations, but the patterns differed between tumor tissues and lymphoblastoid cell lines. Ethnicity-associated CpG sites may have triggered gene expression, influenced drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and showed tumor-specific patterns of methylation and gene regulation. CONCLUSION Ethnicity should be carefully accounted for in future pharmacoepigenetics research.
Amino acids in Tobamovirus coat protein controlling pepper L(1a) gene-mediated resistance.

In pepper plants (genus Capsicum), the resistance against Tobamovirus spp. is conferred by L gene alleles. The recently identified L variant L(1a) can recognize coat proteins (CPs) of Tobacco mild green mosaic virus Japanese strain (TMGMV-J) and Paprika mild mottle virus Japanese strain (PaMMV-J), but not of Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), as the elicitor to induce resistance at 24 °C. Interestingly, L(1a) gene-mediated resistance against TMGMV-J, but not PaMMV-J, is retained at 30 °C. This observation led us to speculate that L(1a) can discriminate between CPs of TMGMV-J and PaMMV-J. In this study, we aimed to determine the region(s) in CP by which L(1a) distinguishes TMGMV-J from PaMMV-J. By using chimeric CPs consisting of TMGMV-J and PaMMV-J, we found that the chimeric TMGMV-J CP, whose residues in the β-sheet domain were replaced by those of PaMMV-J, lost its ability to induce L(1a) gene-mediated resistance at 30 °C. In contrast, the chimeric PaMMV-J CP with the β-sheet domain replaced by TMGMV-J CP was able to induce L(1a) gene-mediated resistance at 30 °C. Furthermore, viral particles were not detected in the leaves inoculated with either chimeric virus. These observations indicated that the amino acids within the β-sheet domain were involved in both the induction of L(1a) gene-mediated resistance and virion formation. Further analyses using chimeric CPs of TMGMV-J and PMMoV indicated that amino acids within the β-sheet domain alone were not sufficient for the induction of L(1a) gene-mediated resistance by TMGMV-J CP. These results suggest that multiple regions in Tobamovirus CP are implicated in the induction of L(1a) gene-mediated resistance.
Ovarian function's role during cancer cachexia progression in the female mouse.

Cachexia is a debilitating condition that occurs with chronic disease, including cancer; our research has shown that some regulation of cancer cachexia progression is affected by sex differences. The ApcMin/+ mouse is genetically predisposed to develop intestinal tumors; IL-6 signaling and hypogonadism are associated with cachexia severity in the male. This relationship in the female warrants further investigation, as we have shown that the ability of IL-6 to induce cachexia differs between the sexes. Since ovarian reproductive function relies on a complex system of endocrine signaling to affect whole body homeostasis, we examined the relationship between ovarian reproductive function and progression of cancer cachexia in the female ApcMin/+ mouse. Our study of ovarian reproductive function in female ApcMin/+ mice showed disease-related cessation of estrous cycling (acyclicity) in 38% of mice. Acyclicity, including morphological and functional losses and enhanced muscle inflammatory gene expression, was associated with severe cachexia. Interestingly, ovariectomy rescued body weight and muscle mass and function but increased muscle sensitivity to systemic IL-6 overexpression. In conclusion, our results provide evidence for a relationship between ovarian reproductive function and cachexia progression in female ApcMin/+ mice.
Contrast Enhancement of Microscopy Images Using Image Phase Information

Contrast enhancement is an important preprocessing step for the analysis of microscopy images. The main aim of contrast enhancement techniques is to increase the visibility of the cell structures and organelles by modifying the spatial characteristics of the image. In this paper, phase information-based contrast enhancement framework is proposed to overcome the limitations of existing image enhancement techniques. Inspired by the groundbreaking design of the phase contrast microscopy (PCM), the proposed image enhancement framework transforms the changes in image phase into the variations of magnitude to enhance the structural details of the image and to improve visibility. In addition, the concept of selective variation (SV) technique is introduced and enhancement parameters are optimized using SV. The experimental studies that were carried out on microscopy images show that the proposed scheme outperforms the baseline enhancement frameworks. The contrast enhanced images produced by the proposed method have comparable cellular texture structure as PCM images.
Initial performance evaluation of spatial modulation OFDM in LTE-based systems

In this paper, we explore the spatial modulation (SM) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SM-OFDM) transmission to achieve good performance in Long Term Evolution (LTE) based systems. For assessment purposes, the performance results of SM-OFDM systems are compared with the popular Alamouti-coded OFDM systems and vertical Bell Labs layered space-time (V-BLAST) OFDM systems. Simulation results show that SM-OFDM systems achieve better performance than other systems at low spectral efficiencies. However, at high spectral efficiencies, the performance of SM depends on a trade-off between the spatial constellation size and signal constellation size. Furthermore, the results also show that SM provides a flexible transceiver configuration, especially for an unbalanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel.
Vonoprazan, a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker, as a component of first-line and second-line triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication: a phase III, randomised, double-blind study

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of vonoprazan, a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker, as a component of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy. Design A randomised, double-blind, multicentre, parallel-group study was conducted to verify the non-inferiority of vonoprazan 20 mg to lansoprazole 30 mg as part of first-line triple therapy (with amoxicillin 750 mg and clarithromycin 200 or 400 mg) in H pylori-positive patients with gastric or duodenal ulcer history. The first 50 patients failing first-line therapy with good compliance also received second-line vonoprazan-based triple therapy (with amoxicillin 750 mg and metronidazole 250 mg) as an open-label treatment. Results Of the 650 subjects randomly allocated to either first-line triple therapy, 641 subjects completed first-line therapy and 50 subjects completed second-line therapy. The first-line eradication rate (primary end point) was 92.6% (95% CI 89.2% to 95.2%) with vonoprazan versus 75.9% (95% CI 70.9% to 80.5%) with lansoprazole, with the difference being 16.7% (95% CI 11.2% to 22.1%) in favour of vonoprazan, thus confirming the non-inferiority of vonoprazan (p<0.0001). The second-line eradication rate (secondary end point) was also high (98.0%; 95% CI 89.4% to 99.9%) in those who received second-line therapy (n=50). Both first-line triple therapies were well tolerated with no notable differences. Second-line triple therapy was also well tolerated. Conclusion Vonoprazan is effective as part of first-line triple therapy and as part of second-line triple therapy in H pylori-positive patients with a history of gastric or duodenal ulcer. Trial registration number NCT01505127.