Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Autophagy inhibition improves chemosensitivity in BRAF(V600E) brain tumors.

UNLABELLED Autophagy inhibition is a potential therapeutic strategy in cancer, but it is unknown which tumors will benefit. The BRAF(V600E) mutation has been identified as important in pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors and is known to affect autophagy in other tumor types. We evaluated CNS tumor cells with BRAF(V600E) and found that mutant (but not wild-type) cells display high rates of induced autophagy, are sensitive to pharmacologic and genetic autophagy inhibition, and display synergy when the clinically used autophagy inhibitor chloroquine was combined with the RAF inhibitor vemurafenib or standard chemotherapeutics. Importantly, we also demonstrate that chloroquine can improve vemurafenib sensitivity in a resistant ex vivo primary culture and provide the first demonstration in a patient harboring the V600E mutation treated with vemurafenib that the addition of chloroquine can improve clinical outcomes. These findings suggest that CNS tumors with BRAF(V600E) are autophagy-dependent and should be targeted with autophagy inhibition in combination with other therapeutic strategies. SIGNIFICANCE Autophagy inhibition may improve cancer therapy, but it is unclear which tumors will benefit. We found that BRAF mutations cause brain tumor cells to depend on autophagy and display selective chemosensitization with autophagy inhibition. We present a pediatric case in which deliberate autophagy inhibition halted tumor growth and overcame acquired BRAF-inhibition resistance.
Physical Mechanisms for the Association of El Niño and West African Rainfall with Atlantic Major Hurricane Activity

Abstract Physical mechanisms responsible for the contemporaneous association, shown in earlier studies, of North Atlantic basin major hurricane (MH) activity with western Sahelian monsoon rainfall and an equatorial eastern Pacific sea surface temperature index of El Nino are examined, using correlations with 200- and 700-mb level wind data for the period 1968–92. The use of partial correlations isolates some of the relationships associated with the various parameters. The results support previous suggestions that the upper- and lower-level winds over the region in the basin between ∼10° and 20°N where most MHs begin developing are critical determinants of the MH activity in each hurricane season. In particular, interannual fluctuations in the winds that produce changes in the magnitude of vertical shear are one of the most important factors, with reduced shear being associated with increased activity and stronger shear with decreased activity. The results show that most of these critical wind fluctuations.
The role of specific visual subfields in collisions with oncoming cars during simulated driving in patients with advanced glaucoma

Background/aims To assess the role of specific visual subfields in collisions with oncoming cars during simulated driving in patients with advanced glaucoma. Methods Normal subjects and patients with glaucoma with mean deviation <–12 dB in both eyes (Humphrey Field Analyzer 24-2 SITA-S program) used a driving simulator (DS; Honda Motor, Tokyo). Two scenarios in which oncoming cars turned right crossing the driver's path were chosen. We compared the binocular integrated visual field (IVF) in the patients who were involved in collisions and those who were not. We performed a multivariate logistic regression analysis; the dependent parameter was collision involvement, and the independent parameters were age, visual acuity and mean sensitivity of the IVF subfields. Results The study included 43 normal subjects and 100 patients with advanced glaucoma. And, 5 of the 100 patients with advanced glaucoma experienced simulator sickness during the main test and were thus excluded. In total, 95 patients with advanced glaucoma and 43 normal subjects completed the main test of DS. Advanced glaucoma patients had significantly more collisions than normal patients in one or both DS scenarios (p<0.001). The patients with advanced glaucoma who were involved in collisions were older (p=0.050) and had worse visual acuity in the better eye (p<0.001) and had lower mean IVF sensitivity in the inferior hemifield, both 0°–12° and 13°–24° in comparison with who were not involved in collisions (p=0.012 and p=0.034). A logistic regression analysis revealed that collision involvement was significantly associated with decreased inferior IVF mean sensitivity from 13° to 24° (p=0.041), in addition to older age and lower visual acuity (p=0.018 and p<0.001). Conclusions Our data suggest that the inferior hemifield was associated with the incidence of motor vehicle collisions with oncoming cars in patients with advanced glaucoma.
GPU Implementation of the Branch and Bound Method for Knapsack Problems

In this paper, we propose an efficient implementation of the branch and bound method for knapsack problems on a CPU-GPU system via CUDA. Branch and bound computations can be carried out either on the CPU or on a GPU according to the size of the branch and bound list. A better management of GPUs memories, less GPU-CPU communications and better synchronization between GPU threads are proposed in this new implementation in order to increase efficiency. Indeed, a series of computational results is displayed and analyzed showing a substantial speedup on a Tesla C2050 GPU.
AWARE VERTICAL PARTITIONING OF DATABASE ( TAVPD ) FOR RESPONSIVE OLTP APPLICATIONS IN CLOUD DATA STORES

Online transaction Processing (OLTP) applications a re business applications which are characterized by high-frequency short lived data transactions. In cl oud domain, applications are expected to be highly responsive and low cost with optimized levels of c nsistency. Cloud data stores rely on an appropria te data partitioning scheme to achieve promising level s of responsiveness and scalability. This work pres ents a novel, transaction aware, static, vertical data p artitioning scheme based on denormalization which performs well for OLTP applications in cloud domain . The scheme is implemented and tested on contemporary cloud data stores i.e Amazon SimpleDB and Hadoop HBase. Our work also proposes a mathematical specification model for TAVPD based da ta partitioning and suggests appropriate evaluation factors for a data partitioning scheme in cloud dat ab se.
3D beamforming designs for Single User MISO systems

In this paper, we study a transmit beamforming technique for multiple input single output downlink single-user systems with three dimensional antennas where a transmit antenna gain is determined in three dimensional coordinates. In general, the transmit antenna gain is controlled by adjusting the boresight of antennas in directional antennas. To derive the optimal tilting angles for the directional antenna systems, we provide the probability density functions (PDF) of the three dimensional user distribution. Furthermore, based on the PDF, the analysis for the average rates of passive and active antenna systems is presented. Simulation results verify the accuracy of the performance analysis.
Monitoring landslide displacements by using ground-based synthetic aperture radar interferometry: Application to the Ruinon landslide in the italian Alps

[1] Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are collected by a ground-based radar system forming the synthetic aperture by the sliding of the antennas on a linear rail. Coherent SAR processing converts the raw data into a complex image. The phase of each image pixel contains information on the target-sensor distance and can be exploited as a ranging tool. The interferometric technique, based on the comparison between paired and coherent SAR images taken at different times, permits the quantitative extraction of this information, thus allowing the monitoring of the morphological changes. The portable device used in this application was developed by the Joint Research Center, Ispra, Italy, specifically for measurements in the field. It is known as Linear SAR, and it is able to provide 17 GHz measurements with a 2.8 m synthetic aperture. A measurement campaign, lasting about 1 week, was performed between July and August 2000 for monitoring superficial displacements at the Ruinon landslide, a 30 million m3 rockslide in the Italian Alps. Two sequences of interferograms are presented and discussed. The interpretation of the sequences has allowed us to derive multitemporal deformation maps of the test area, thus showing the entire displacement field of those landslide sectors characterized by higher radar reflectivity and coherence. Displacement rates up to 1.2 mm h−1 have been measured with a pixel resolution of 5 m and a measurement precision of 0.75 mm. The results have been validated by using ground truth data obtained through automatic extensometers and topographic measurements. Discrepancies are limited to a few millimeters.
RhoA Phosphorylation Induces Rac1 Release from Guanine Dissociation Inhibitor α and Stimulation of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Migration

ABSTRACT Although overactivation of RhoA is recognized as a common component of vascular disorders, the molecular mechanisms regulating RhoA activity in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are still unclear. We have previously shown that in VSMC, RhoA is phosphorylated on Ser188 by nitric oxide (NO)-stimulated cGMP-dependent kinase (PKG), which leads to RhoA-Rho kinase pathway inhibition. In this study, we showed that expression of phosphoresistant RhoA mutants prevented the stimulation of VSMC migration and adhesion induced by NO-PKG pathway activation. In contrast, under basal conditions, phosphomimetic RhoA mutants stimulated VSMC adhesion and migration through a signaling pathway requiring Rac1 and the Rho exchange factor Vav3. RhoA phosphorylation or phosphomimetic RhoA mutants induced Rac1 activation but did not activate Vav3. Indeed, phosphorylated RhoA or phosphomimetic mutants trapped guanine dissociation inhibitor α (GDIα), leading to the release of Rac1 and its translocation to the membrane, where it was then activated by the basal Vav3 nucleotide exchange activity. In vivo, RhoA phosphorylation induced by PKG activation in the aortas of rats treated with sildenafil induced dissociation of Rac1 from GDIα and activation of the Rac1 signaling pathway. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of RhoA represents a novel potent and physiological GDIα displacement factor that leads to Rac1 activation and regulation of Rac1-dependent VSMC functions.
Induction of DAP12 phosphorylation, calcium mobilization, and cytokine secretion by Ly49H

The ability of several Ly49 family members to inhibit natural killer (NK) cell functions through recruitment of SHP‐1 phosphatase has been reported. In contrast, the mechanisms underlying the activating signal generated by Ly49D are poorly understood. A homodimeric phosphoprotein (pp16) that physically and functionally associates with Ly49D has been described. In this study, a rabbit anti‐mouse pp16 antiserum was generated and used to demonstrate that pp16 corresponds to the recently described DAP12 molecule. In addition, we show that a second Ly49 family member that lacks an immunoreceptor tyrosine‐based inhibitory motif and contains a charged residue in the transmembrane domain, Ly49H, also associates with DAP12. Furthermore, we show that engagement of the Ly49H/DAP12 complex results in phosphorylation of DAP12, intracellular calcium mobilization, and tumor necrosis factor secretion in transfected cells. These results thus provide evidence that Ly49H is an activating receptor that associates with DAP12, previously described as a pp16 component of the Ly49D receptor complex. J. Leukoc. Biol. 66: 165–171; 1999.
Penalty Decomposition Methods for $L0$-Norm Minimization

In this paper we consider general l0-norm minimization problems, that is, the problems with l0-norm appearing in either objective function or constraint. In particular, we first reformulate the l0-norm constrained problem as an equivalent rank minimization problem and then apply the penalty decomposition (PD) method proposed in [33] to solve the latter problem. By utilizing the special structures, we then transform all matrix operations of this method to vector operations and obtain a PD method that only involves vector operations. Under some suitable assumptions, we establish that any accumulation point of the sequence generated by the PD method satisfies a first-order optimality condition that is generally stronger than one natural optimality condition. We further extend the PD method to solve the problem with the l0-norm appearing in objective function. Finally, we test the performance of our PD methods by applying them to compressed sensing, sparse logistic regression and sparse inverse covariance selection. The computational results demonstrate that our methods generally outperform the existing methods in terms of solution quality and/or speed.
The Stance Leads the Dance: The Emergence of Role in a Joint Supra-Postural Task

Successfully meeting a shared goal usually requires co-actors to adopt complementary roles. However, in many cases, who adopts what role is not explicitly predetermined, but instead emerges as a consequence of the differences in the individual abilities and constraints imposed upon each actor. Perhaps the most basic of roles are leader and follower. Here, we investigated the emergence of “leader-follower” dynamics in inter-personal coordination using a joint supra-postural task paradigm (Ramenzoni et al., 2011; Athreya et al., 2014). Pairs of actors were tasked with holding two objects in alignment (each actor manually controlled one of the objects) as they faced different demands for stance (stable vs. difficult) and control (which actor controlled the larger or smaller object). Our results indicate that when actors were in identical stances, neither led the inter-personal (between actors) coordination by any systematic fashion. Alternatively, when asymmetries in postural demands were introduced, the actor with the more difficult stance led the coordination (as determined using cross-recurrence quantification analysis). Moreover, changes in individual stance difficulty resulted in similar changes in the structure of both intra-personal (individual) and inter-personal (dyadic) coordination, suggesting a scale invariance of the task dynamics. Implications for the study of interpersonal coordination are discussed.
Performance evaluation of joint beamforming and power control CDMA system with RAKE combining

We propose an algorithm for forward link beamforming jointly with power control and RAKE combining, which the total transmit power is minimized and effective signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) at each mobile is grater than the target SINR at the same time. In the algorithm, the beamforming weight vectors are determined by the virtual uplink SINR maximization criterion, and the multipath combining weight vectors are selected by minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criterion. The virtual uplink SINR maximization beamforming schemes can reduce the total transmit power compared to the maximal ratio transmission (MRT) schemes through system level simulation. It is observed that diversity gain is obtained by mobile equipped with the multipath combiner.
Proposed guidelines on screening for risk of type 1 diabetes.

These guidelines represent the recommendations of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS) on the assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with the disease, and are based on the consensus reached at a symposium held at the fourth meeting of the IDS (Fiuggi, Italy, November 1999). Assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes in relatives was initially based on detection of circulating islet cell antibodies (ICAs) supplemented by measurement of insulin autoantibodies (IAAs), and evaluation of β-cell function by determination of the first-phase insulin response (FPIR) in the intravenous glucose tolerance test. Other islet autoantigens, including GAD and the protein tyrosine phosphatase IA-2/ICA512, have subsequently been identified, and the role of autoantibodies to these antigens in assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes in first-degree relatives has been investigated in a number of large prospective studies. In addition, the genetic susceptibility to type 1 diabetes, particularly that conferred by genes in the HLA class II region, has been …
Changing stress while stressing change: The role of interprofessional education in mediating stress in the introduction of a transformative technology

The introduction of a transformative technology into practice settings can affect the functioning of interprofessional teams, placing stress on interprofessional relationships, thus slowing adoption and change. This study explored the potential of an interprofessional education (IPE) approach to mediate this stress and facilitate the adoption of a transformative technology- Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT). Oncologists, physicists, and therapists in radiation medicine who attended an interprofessional IGRT Education Course were interviewed about perceived benefits and stressors to IPE and to interprofessional practice (IPP) in the IGRT context. A modified grounded theory approach was used to conduct 14 interviews, with 200 minutes of interview time recorded. In introducing IGRT, participants noted interprofessional stress in understanding and adopting new technology. IPE offered common terminology, appreciation for others' knowledge, and a holistic framework for practice. Outcomes were thought to foster collaboration, efficiency, and improved professional role definition. Time constraints and power relations were noted to be residual stressors exacerbated by IPE, but were thought to be transient. IPE can thus be of benefit in the implementation of transformative technologies such as IGRT, through mediation of interprofessional stress inherent in change. Interprofessional knowledge, collaboration, and efficiency in practice facilitate the development and adoption of a new practice model.
Identification of non linear system modeled in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space using a new criterion

This paper proposes a new algorithm to estimate the required number of parameters in the models developed in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS). The proposed method considers models with growing complexities and calculates for each a given matrix, such that these matrices tend to singularity. The required number of parameters is given by verifying a criterion on the determinants of these matrices.
Semipermeable membrane dressings can be used with the nicotine transdermal system and do not interfere with nicotine absorption.

OBJECTIVE Adverse skin reactions as a local side effect of nicotine patches sometimes interfere with smoking cessation therapy. We studied the effects of semipermeable membrane dressings (SMD) used under nicotine patches (NP) on nicotine absorption, as assessed according to the urinary cotinine levels, and skin symptoms. METHODS First, the urinary cotinine levels were compared in eight nonsmokers that applied NP over SMD and NP without SMD (Study 1). The urinary cotinine levels were measured using a highly sensitive competitive enzyme immunoassay. Second, 28 subjects undergoing NP therapy for diagnosed nicotine dependence were randomly assigned into two groups in a crossover design to receive NP over SMD and NP without SMD. The urinary cotinine levels and skin symptoms were compared between the two treatment groups. During the follow-up period of 48 weeks, the smoking cessation rate was evaluated (Study 2). RESULTS No statistical differences were observed in the urinary cotinine levels between the NP over SMD and NP without SMD groups. In Study 2, the skin symptoms improved with the use of SMD in 42.8% (6/14) of the patients and worsened in 28.5% (4/14) of the patients. No serious skin disorders were reported. The subjects followed in Study 2 exhibited smoking cessation rates of 92.8%, 78.5% and 64.2% at 12, 24 and 48 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSION The use of NP over SMD is a safe and effective alternative application to NP treatment for preventing the skin symptoms caused by NP without interfering with nicotine absorption.
ICA-based technique for radiating sources estimation: application to airport surveillance

As aerial traffic becomes greater, it is more difficult to locate and recognise aircraft in the neighbourhood of civil airports. The technique proposed here resorts to a particular device, monopulse radar, and to a recent tool called the independent component analysis (ICA) to separate messages falling in the same radar beam. The algorithms used to compute the ICA use fourthorder cumulants of the observed signals.
Clinical, neuropathologic, and genetic studies of a large spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) kindred

Article abstract-We report the clinical, neuropathologic, and genetic studies of a large kindred (family M-ADCA1) with autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), ascertained in 41 members, with clinical data available in twenty-two. The mean age of onset was 36.3 +\- 6.2 years (ages, 26 to 52), the mean duration of the disease was 15.8 +\- 6.5 years (range, 10 to 28 years), and the mean age at death was 54.1 +\- 9.5 years (ages, 39 to 72). Premonitory signs and symptoms appeared earlier than the usual onset symptoms in many of the clinically unaffected patients who inherited the mutated SCA1 gene. Anticipation was present when we compared the seventh and eighth generations. A more severe course of the disease occurred in offspring of affected males. Neuropathologic examination, performed on three patients, showed the usual findings of SCA1; Golgi and immunocytochemistry studies suggested primary damage of the Purkinje cells. We analyzed the CAG-repeat mutation responsible for the SCA1 phenotype in a total of 41 family members. There was expansion in 19 subjects (10 clinically affected, seven with early signs and symptoms, and two asymptomatic individuals), and all showed heterozygosity, with one allele between 41 and 59 repeats (SCA1 mutation) and the other in the range of 6 to 39 repeats (normal range). The clinical analysis of "at risk" patients with the SCA1 mutation showed that minor signs and symptoms begin before full clinical diagnosis, and these premonitory manifestations can herald full development of SCA1 by years. NEUROLOGY 1995;45: 24-30
Dealing with Data: Science Librarians' Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions

As long as empirical research has existed, researchers have been doing “data management” in one form or another. However, funding agency mandates for doing formal data management are relatively recent, and academic libraries’ involvement has been concentrated mainly in the last few years. The National Science Foundation implemented a new mandate in January 2011, requiring researchers to include a data management plan with their proposals for funding. This has prompted many academic libraries to work more actively than before in data management, and science librarians in particular are uniquely poised to step into new roles to meet researchers’ data management needs. This study, a survey of science librarians at institutions affiliated with the Association of Research Libraries, investigates science librarians’ awareness of and involvement in institutional repositories, data repositories, and data management support services at their institutions. The study also explores the roles and responsibilities, both new and traditional, that science librarians have assumed related to data management, and the skills that science librarians believe are necessary to meet the demands of data management work. The results reveal themes of both uncertainty and optimism—uncertainty about the roles of librarians, libraries, and other campus entities; uncertainty about the skills that will be required; but also optimism about applying “traditional” librarian skills to this emerging field of academic librarianship.