Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and nonrandomized trials on safety and efficacy of video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE The current randomized trials comparing video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy with open lobectomy for patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been of small size. We performed the present meta-analysis of the randomized and nonrandomized comparative studies in an attempt to assess the safety and efficacy of VATS lobectomy. METHODS Electronic searches identified 21 eligible comparative studies (two randomized and 19 nonrandomized) for inclusion. Two reviewers independently appraised each study. Meta-analysis was performed by combining the results of reported incidence of morbidity and mortality, recurrence, and 5-year mortality rates. The relative risk (RR) was used as a summary statistic. RESULTS There were no significant statistical differences between VATS and open lobectomy in terms of postoperative prolonged air leak (P = .71), arrhythmia (P = .86), pneumonia (P = .09), and mortality (P = .49). VATS did not demonstrate any significant difference in locoregional recurrence (P = .24), as compared with the open lobectomy arm, but the data suggested a reduced systemic recurrence rate (P = .03) and an improved 5-year mortality rate of VATS (P = .04). There was no evidence to suggest heterogeneity of trial results. Fourteen studies reported VATS to open lobectomy conversion rate ranging from 0% to 15.7% (median = 8.1%). CONCLUSION Both randomized and nonrandomized trials suggest that VATS lobectomy is an appropriate procedure for selected patients with early-stage NSCLC when compared with open surgery.
Population differentiation of Potamogeton pectinatus in the Baltic Sea with reference to waterfowl dispersal

Forty populations of Potamogeton pectinatus L. were sampled from around the Baltic Sea basin. Analysis of 62 ISSR ‘loci’ showed that the number of clones per population is very variable but shows a tendency to decrease with latitude. Analysis of molecular variance revealed that, overall, just over half the variability is stored within populations and just under half between them (φST 0.496). In pairwise comparisons, most populations are significantly differentiated. Genetic distance between populations, as measured by φST, increases with geographical distance. Levels of population differentiation, however, are lower on the southeastern Swedish coast than elsewhere, a reduction correlated with the importance of this area as a staging post for the massive migrations of waterfowl from arctic Russia and western Siberia. Cumulative plots of φST against geographical distance along this coast suggest that, although it does not prevent significant population differentiation, bird traffic reduces it over distances of 150–200 km.
Interaction of the Movement Protein NSP and the Arabidopsis Acetyltransferase AtNSI Is Necessary for Cabbage Leaf Curl Geminivirus Infection and Pathogenicity

ABSTRACT DNA viruses can modulate the activity of cellular acetyltransferases to regulate virus gene expression and to affect cell cycle progression in order to support virus replication. A role for protein acetylation in regulating the nuclear export of the bipartite geminivirus DNA genome was recently suggested by the findings that the viral movement protein NSP, which shuttles the viral genome between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, interacts with a novel Arabidopsis acetyltransferase, AtNSI, and the increased expression of AtNSI enhances susceptibility to Cabbage leaf curl virus infection. To further investigate the interaction of NSP and AtNSI and to establish the importance of this interaction in virus infections, we used a reverse yeast two-hybrid selection and deletion analysis to identify NSP mutants that were impaired in their ability to bind AtNSI. These mutants identified a 38-amino-acid region of NSP, to which no function had so far been assigned, as being necessary for NSP-AtNSI interaction. Three NSP missense mutants were analyzed in detail and were found to be comparable to wild-type NSP in their levels of accumulation, nucleocytoplasmic shuttling, DNA binding, and cooperative interaction with the viral cell-to-cell movement protein MP. Despite this, Cabbage leaf curl virus that expressed each mutated NSP was defective in its ability to infect Arabidopsis, exhibiting lower levels of infectivity than the wild-type virus, and delayed systemic spread of the virus and attenuated disease symptoms. Our data demonstrate the importance of the interaction of NSP with AtNSI for virus infection and pathogenicity.
Mobile Genome Express (MGE): A comprehensive automatic genetic analyses pipeline with a mobile device

The development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology allows to sequence whole exomes or genome. However, data analysis is still the biggest bottleneck for its wide implementation. Most laboratories still depend on manual procedures for data handling and analyses, which translates into a delay and decreased efficiency in the delivery of NGS results to doctors and patients. Thus, there is high demand for developing an automatic and an easy-to-use NGS data analyses system. We developed comprehensive, automatic genetic analyses controller named Mobile Genome Express (MGE) that works in smartphones or other mobile devices. MGE can handle all the steps for genetic analyses, such as: sample information submission, sequencing run quality check from the sequencer, secured data transfer and results review. We sequenced an Actrometrix control DNA containing multiple proven human mutations using a targeted sequencing panel, and the whole analysis was managed by MGE, and its data reviewing program called ELECTRO. All steps were processed automatically except for the final sequencing review procedure with ELECTRO to confirm mutations. The data analysis process was completed within several hours. We confirmed the mutations that we have identified were consistent with our previous results obtained by using multi-step, manual pipelines.
Electromechanical and Electronic Integrated Harvester for Shoes Application

Energy harvesting allows making sensors or transmitters electrically autonomous. Several studies have been proposed but most cases lack electrical and mechanical parts integration and practical application purpose. Here, with the aim of supplying a Bluetooth step-counter placed in the sole of a training shoe, a complete system is presented. It consists of a magnetoinductive transducer embedded with an electronic interface for power conditioning and exploits only the energy recovered by the impact on the ground. A <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\phi$</tex-math></inline-formula> 27 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$</tex-math></inline-formula> 16 mm cylindrical device containing the transducer, the electronic interface, the step-counter electronics, and the protective shell is developed. Energy recovery derives from the magnet-free oscillation following the shoe impact. The proposed interface exploits pulse-width modulation to perform transducer output rectification and to emulate optimal load impedance while charging a storage capacitor. Numerical and experimental analysis show effective optimal resistive load emulation and energy recovery gain of 2 compared with the standard ac–dc interface. Prototypes have been manufactured and tested. Considering a sample footstep, energy recovery is 360 μJ against 400 μJ dissipated on optimal resistor. Mean energy recovery over a complete run is 644 μJ/footstep. In spite of variable excitation, energy recovery at each footstep is larger than the required and allows the step-counter transmitting the information.
A reconfigurable charge pump in 0.13 μm CMOS for agile MEMS actuation

An 8 stage reconfigurable charge pump is presented for MEMS electrostatic actuation. The circuit attains a simulated output voltage of 10.62 V from a 1.2 V supply with digitally programmable voltage levels. Reduced power consumption is achieved using a variable frequency clock. The charge pump exhibits a short rise time of 1.56 μs with a 50 MHz clock and 1 pF load. The circuit is designed in 0.13 μm CMOS technology and has a compact area of 215 μm × 300 μm.
Effect of Training on Plasma Anabolic and Catabolic Steroid Hormones and Their Response During Physical Exercise

Moderate physical exercise does not cause any changes in the plasma levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol and the anabolic hormone testosterone compared with the concentrations during a control day. In studies on army recruits, however, fit compared to unfit men tended to have smaller mean decreases in plasma testosterone and free testosterone index during the day both during a control day and during a day with submaximal marching exercise. After 4 months training, the mean plasma testosterone and free testosterone index tended to decrease less during both control and marching exercise days, and this was more evident in the well-conditioned subjects. However, very fit male athletes, who have been training for many years, and sedentary men have identical plasma testosterone levels and serum sex hormone binding globulin binding capacities (SHBG). Intense physical exercise invariably leads to an increase in plasma cortisol and a decrease in plasma testosterone compared with the concentrations during a control day. However, the percentage of free testosterone seems to increase cornpensatorily, which in many individuals keeps the absolute free testosterone level constant or even higher despite no change or slight increase in SHBG. Prolonged exhaustive physical exercise in men results in a decrease in plasma testosterone even down to normal female levels, and there is a constant increase in SHBG resulting in very low free testosterone concentrations. It is known from studies in rats that a low level of androgens results in an increase in the binding of cortisol in muscle tissue probably due to an increase in the number of cortisol receptors. This in combination with the high level of cortisol during prolonged exhaustive physical exercise may lead to a situation in which the protein catabolic events in the muscle cells supersedes the anabolic ones.
Formation of a Basic Target Plan As a Foundation of Goal-Setting in Strategic Planning for Regional Socio-Economic Development

The beginning of a new stage in the development of regional strategic planning in the Russian Federation has actualised the issues connected with scientific and methodological support for elaboration of strategies for long-term regional socio-economic development, in particular those related to regional goal-setting. This study attempts at substantiating a new approach to formation of the basic target plan for socio-economic development of a region. This plan is intended to act as an “incompressible core” of goal-setting , common to all regional strategies. The proposed plan is based on the concept of well-being as interpreted by the statistical commission of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi's commission. The plan contains a hierarchically ordered set of generally valid goals and target indicators describing the desirable level of well-being and potential for its reproduction. The proposed basic target plan can be used by the subjects of the Russian Federation in the process of elaboration of their strategies for socio-economic development. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015. v6n6s3p478
Designing a Process Variability Robust Energy-Efficient Control for Complex SoCs

The design of complex systems-on-chip (SoCs) in the upcoming complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies has become increasingly challenging due to the high levels of integration, the excessive energy consumption, the clock distribution problems and the increased process variability impact. To deal with these issues, we consider network-on-chip (NoC) architectures partitioned into several voltage-frequency domains and propose an efficient control algorithm for on-the-fly workload monitoring and management. This algorithm is able to cope with the technology-related variability and with the variable workload of the system. It dynamically controls the speed of the different voltage-frequency islands with respect to the process variability impact on each island. Within this work, a new clock synchronization scheme is also presented. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in guarantying the average speed performance of the system under different cases of the process variability effect while keeping reduced the overall system energy consumption. Moreover, this is achieved with a small area overhead. The results are validated on a MIPS R2000 processor node using the 45 nm CMOS technology from STMicroelectronics.
Dynamic Double Directional Propagation Channel Measurements at 28 GHz - Invited Paper

This paper presents results from the (to our knowledge) first dynamic double-directionally resolved measurement campaign at mm-wave frequencies for an outdoor microcellular scenario. The measurements are performed with USC's real- time channel sounder equipped with phased array antennas that can steer beams electrically in microseconds, allowing directional measurements in dynamic environments. Exploiting the phase coherency of the setup, the multi-path components can be tracked over time to investigate the temporal dependencies of the channel characteristics. We present results for time-varying path-loss, delay spread, mean angles and angular spreads observed at the transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) in the presence of moving vehicles and pedestrians. Additionally, we investigate excess losses observed due to blockage by vehicles and compare the cases when TX and RX are using fixed beams or when they are capable of adjusting beam directions dynamically.
Un modèle abstrait de composants adaptables

Depuis quelques annees, l'approche par composants dans la conception de logiciels complexes est apparue pour aider a resoudre les problemes de repartition, de deploiement et de reutilisation de code. Cette approche parait la mieux adaptee pour assurer la perennite, l'evolution, l'interoperabilite et la maintenance d'applications. Cet article presente le modele de composants adopte pour la realisation d'un atelier de developpement. L'originalite de ce modele est d'etre extensible et exportable vers d'autres modeles plus connus tels que les Web Services, CCM (CORBA Component Model) ou EJB (Entreprise Java Bean) tout en respectant nos besoins. La validite de ce modele est aussi eprouvee puisqu'il a ete utilise pour l'implantation de notre outil. Cette approche pragmatique nous a permis de concevoir un modele de composants simple et realiste.
Dendritic Cell Transmigration through Brain Microvessel Endothelium Is Regulated by MIP-1α Chemokine and Matrix Metalloproteinases1

Dendritic cells (DCs) accumulate in the CNS during inflammatory diseases, but the exact mechanism regulating their traffic into the CNS remains to be defined. We now report that MIP-1α increases the transmigration of bone marrow-derived, GFP-labeled DCs across brain microvessel endothelial cell monolayers. Furthermore, occludin, an important element of endothelial tight junctions, is reorganized when DCs migrate across brain capillary endothelial cell monolayers without causing significant changes in the barrier integrity as measured by transendothelial electrical resistance. We show that DCs produce matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) -2 and -9 and GM6001, an MMP inhibitor, decreases both baseline and MIP-1α-induced DC transmigration. These observations suggest that DC transmigration across brain endothelial cell monolayers is partly MMP dependent. The migrated DCs express higher levels of CD40, CD80, and CD86 costimulatory molecules and induce T cell proliferation, indicating that the transmigration of DCs across brain endothelial cell monolayers contributes to the maintenance of DC Ag-presenting function. The MMP dependence of DC migration across brain endothelial cell monolayers raises the possibility that MMP blockers may decrease the initiation of T cell recruitment and neuroinflammation in the CNS.
Murine Coronavirus Spike Protein Determines the Ability of the Virus To Replicate in the Liver and Cause Hepatitis

ABSTRACT Recombinant mouse hepatitis viruses (MHV) differing only in the spike gene, containing A59, MHV-4, and MHV-2 spike genes in the background of the A59 genome, were compared for their ability to replicate in the liver and induce hepatitis in weanling C57BL/6 mice infected with 500 PFU of each virus by intrahepatic injection. Penn98-1, expressing the MHV-2 spike gene, replicated to high titer in the liver, similar to MHV-2, and induced severe hepatitis with extensive hepatocellular necrosis. SA59R13, expressing the A59 spike gene, replicated to a somewhat lower titer and induced moderate to severe hepatitis with zonal necrosis, similar to MHV-A59. S4R21, expressing the MHV-4 spike gene, replicated to a minimal extent and induced few if any pathological changes, similar to MHV-4. Thus, the extent of replication and the degree of hepatitis in the liver induced by these recombinant viruses were determined largely by the spike protein.
Complexity analysis of Quantum reinforcement learning

Quantum reinforcement learning has been systematically presented in a recent paper [Dong et al, Quantum reinforcement learning, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp.1207–1220, 2008], and such results have shown that quantum reinforcement learning is an effective approach for the solutions to some complex problems. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the complexity of quantum reinforcement learning. In particular, storage complexity and exploration complexity are defined and a collection of results are presented to demonstrate such complexities by several simple examples.
Privacy in Distributed Context-Aware Systems

Context-aware systems aim to deliver a richer user experience by taking into account the current user context (location, time, activity, etc.), possibly captured without his intervention. For example, cellphones are now able to continuously update the user’s location while, at the same time, users execute an increasing amount of activities online, where their actions may be easily captured (e.g., login in a web application) without user consent. The potential advantages of these applications is huge, but we must not forget the important privacy issues that it creates. Particularly in distributed context-aware systems where the information that is captured may be sent to a distant server, people feel uncomfortable about exposing highly personal data, such as their location or current activity. This paper examines the current privacy management techniques and identifies four main groups: Privacy Policies, Data Perturbation, Anonymization and Lookup Notification. Each of these groups is analyzed highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of their application to Distributed Context-Aware Systems.
A CMOS Sub-Harmonic Architecture for Signal Down-Conversion at Ka-Band

Quadrature sub-harmonic mixing to DC or low-IF can be attractive for signal processing at Ka-band. Frequency translation is performed without the need for a local oscillator at the received signal frequency. A lower frequency reference takes advantage of the higher quality of tuning elements and avoids high frequency, power-hungry dividers in the synthesizer. Moreover DC offset and second-order inter-modulation distortion, due to poor LO-RF isolation, are mitigated by the LO running at lower frequency. This paper presents the receiver IC architecture and experiments from a quadrature demodulator realized in 65nm CMOS.
Evolution of Causes and Risk Factors for Mortality Post‐Liver Transplant: Results of the NIDDK Long‐Term Follow‐Up Study

Although mortality rates following liver transplantation (LT) are well described, there is a lack of detailed, prospective studies determining patterns of and risk factors for long‐term mortality. We analyzed the multicenter, prospectively obtained The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases LT Database of 798 transplant recipients from 1990 to 1994 (follow‐up 2003). Overall, 327 recipients died. Causes of death >1 year: 28% hepatic, 22% malignancy, 11% cardiovascular, 9% infection, 6% renal failure. Renal‐related death increased dramatically over time. Risk factors for death >1 year (univariate): male gender, age/decade, pre‐LT diabetes, post‐LT diabetes, post‐LT hypertension, post‐LT renal insufficiency, retransplantation >1 year, pre‐LT malignancy, alcoholic disease (ALD) and metabolic liver disease, with similar risks noted for death >5 years. Hepatitis C, retransplantation, post‐LT diabetes, hypertension and renal insufficiency were significant risk factors for liver‐related death. Cardiac deaths associated with age, male gender, ALD, cryptogenic disease, pre‐LT hypertension and post‐LT renal insufficiency. In summary, the leading causes of late deaths after transplant were graft failure, malignancy, cardiovascular disease and renal failure. Older age, diabetes and renal insufficiency identified patients at highest risk of poor survival overall. Diligent management of modifiable post‐LT factors including diabetes, hypertension and renal insufficiency may impact long‐term mortality.
Mammalian fertilization misread? Sperm penetration of the eutherian zona pellucida is unlikely to be a lytic event.

Spermatozoa and oocytes of many eutherian (placental) mammals, including the human, are now manipulated successfully in a variety of ways for reasons having to do particularly with human infertility and domestic animal production, as well as basic research. Even so, several evolutionarily novel features of their function and form largely defy explanation still [1]. Most obvious in the male is the absolute dependence of eutherian spermatozoa on the environment of the upper epididymis for final maturation, and on an androgenand usually a scrotal temperature-regulated system in the distal epididymis for their storage. Eutherian spermatozoa also have to undergo capacitation in the female tract before they can fertilize and, again for reasons that are unclear, the eutherian sperm head has adopted a novel design quite different from that in all other vertebrates. The equally unusual character of the minute egg is reflected in the ubiquitous cell mass of the cumulus oophorus around it and in a relatively prominent zona pellucida. By virtue of its thickness and resilience, this coat greatly outstrips the thin vestment around the eggs of other vertebrates and of invertebrates that have provided models for much of fertilization research. Finally, eutherian spermatozoa fuse with the oolemma by way of a segment of plasma membrane over the central (equatorial) region of the head, rather than by the apex of the inner acrosomal membrane (IAM), as in most other groups. What these novel gamete features mean for the mechanisms of fertilization in Eutheria is as yet uncertain. Over the last 50 years, a general picture has been gained in a few eutherian species of the way that spermatozoa approach, penetrate, and activate the egg. Even so, there is no consensus yet about the molecular events through which spermatozoa bind to the zona pellucida, fuse with the oolemma, and then induce cortical granule exocytosis and resumption of meiosis [2]. Until recently, the one central step about which there has been some agreement is the sperm’s passage through the zona pellucida. Variant modes of egg coat penetration include that of tailless crustacean spermatozoa that generate forward movement only by acrosome eversion on contacting the egg coat [3]; and some insect and teleost fish spermatozoa lack an acrosome and penetrate via a micropyle. Otherwise, this step is generally con-