Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNAs in osteosarcoma: From biological players to clinical contributors, a review

Osteosarcoma is a primary malignant bone tumour with high morbidity that occurs mainly in children and adolescents. While the molecular basis of osteosarcoma has received considerable attention, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying pre- and postoperative metastasis formation and the development of chemoresistance remain unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of 22-nucleotide noncoding RNAs, have emerged as critical components of gene-regulatory networks controlling numerous important pathophysiological processes, including the initiation and progression of cancers. Studies on miRNAs have opened new avenues for both the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This review discusses the roles of miRNAs in osteosarcoma and their potential applications for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of this malignancy. As a rapidly evolving field of basic and biomedical science, miRNA research will have a revolutionary impact on the management of osteosarcoma.
Lutein epoxide cycle, more than just a forest tale

Two xanthophyll cycles have been described in higher plants: the ubiquitous violaxanthin (V) cycle and the taxonomically restricted lutein epoxide (Lx) cycle. Both involve the light induced de-epoxidation of an epoxidated xanthophyll (V or Lx) and the epoxidation back in the dark. Evolutionary trends and function of the Lx cycle are still not clear. Up to nowadays, significant amounts of Lx have been found in several unrelated taxa, but it is a character almost exclusive from woody plants (except in the case of the parasitic plant Cuscuta reflexa). We have found an exception to this pattern in Cucumis sativus L. , which showed high concentrations of Lx. Since Lx cycle was operative in leaves and cotyledons of this species and Lx concentration were much higher in cotyledons than in leaves, we speculate a role for the early stages of development. To date, this species is the first herbaceous non-parasitic species with operative Lx cycle. Since this species can be much more easily and rapidly grown and investigated than woody plants, these data can open new horizons and new lines of investigation for Lx cycle.
HIV‐1 incidence and HIV‐1 ‐associated mortality in a rural Ugandan population cohort

ObjectiveTo determine the incidence of HIV-1 infection and HIV-1-associated mortality in a rural Ugandan population. DesignA prospective cohort study. MethodsA cohort consisting of the population (de jure census 9820) of a cluster of 15 villages in Masaka District, south-west Uganda was enrolled between 1989 and 1990 through a demographic and medical survey. The HIV-1 seroprevalence rate was 4.8% for all ages combined and 8.2% for those aged 13 years of more. The survey was repeated after 1 year. ResultsThe 1-year HIV-1 incidence rate among adults was 1% |9.2 per 1000 person-years of observation; 95% confidence interval (Cl), 5.5–12.9). A total of 84 deaths were observed. In adults, half of all deaths (31 out of 60) were in HIV-1-seropositive individuals. The age-adjusted overall mortality rate ratio for HIV-positive adults compared with HIV-negatives was 20.8 (95% Cl, 12.0–35.7). In the 13–44 age group the corresponding rate ratios for men, women and both sexes combined were 16.3, 108.9 and 58.7, respectively. The HIV-attributable mortality fractions, i.e., the proportion of deaths that would have been avoided in the absence of HIV, were 44, 50 and 89% for adult men, adult women and adults aged 25–34 years (both sexes combined), respectively. The 1-year progression to death among HIV-1-seropositive adults was 10.3%. ConclusionThese results demonstrate the profound impact that the HIV-1 epidemic has on adult mortality in a rural area of Uganda where the HIV-1 prevalence and incidence rates in adults are 8 and 1%, respectively.
Ady 2 p is essential for the acetate permease activity in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

#FD and SP contributed equally to this work. Abstract To identify new genes involved in acetate uptake in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an analysis of the gene expression profiles of cells shifted from glucose to acetic acid was performed. The gene expression reprogramming of yeast adapting to a poor non-fermentable carbon source was observed, including dramatic metabolic changes, global activation of translation machinery, mitochondria biogenesis and the induction of known or putative transporters. Among them, the gene ADY2/YCR010c was identified as a new key element for acetate transport, being homologous to the Yarrowia lipolytica GPR1 gene, which has a role in acetic acid sensitivity. Disruption of ADY2 in S. cerevisiae abolished the active transport of acetate. Microarray analyses of ady2 strains showed that this gene is not a critical regulator of acetate response and that its role is directly connected to acetate transport. Ady2p is predicted to be a membrane protein and is a valuable acetate transporter candidate.
Genetic Parameters for Litter Size in Pigs Using a Random Regression Model

Dispersion parameters for the number of piglets born alive were estimated using a repeatability and random regression model. Six sow breeds/lines were included in the analysis: Swedish Landrace, Large White and both crossbred lines between them, German Landrace and their cross with Large White. Fixed part of the model included sow genotype, mating season as month-year interaction, parity and weaning to conception interval as class effects. The age at farrowing was modelled as a quadratic regression nested within parity. The previous lactation length was fitted as a linear regression. Random regressions for parity on Legendre polynomials were included for direct additive genetic, permanent environmental, and common litter environmental effects. Orthogonal Legendre polynomials from the linear to the cubic power were fitted. In the repeatability model estimate of heritability was 0.07, permanent environmental effect as ratio was 0.04, and common litter environmental effect as ratio was 0.01. Estimates of genetic parameters with the random regression model were generally higher than in the repeatability model, except for the common litter environmental effect. Estimates of heritability ranged from 0.06 to 0.10. Permanent environmental effect as a ratio increased along a trajectory from 0.03 to 0.11. Magnitudes of common litter effect were small (around 0.01). The eigenvalues of covariance functions showed that between 7 and 8 % of genetic variability was explained by individual genetic curves of sows. This proportion was mainly covered by linear and quadratic coefficients. Results suggest that the random regression model could be used for genetic analysis of litter size.
A Web-Based Personalized Mobility Service for Smartphone Applications

Nowadays, most of the basic web services use instant location information for providing suitable content to smartphone users. However, more intelligent smartphone applications such as context-based search and advertising, early warning systems and city-wide sensing applications may require additional information about smartphone users such as their mobility profiles. To meet more personalized demand of these applications we propose TRACK ME: A new web-based framework for smartphone applications with personalized lightweight mobility service as well as location tracking and mobility profile construction. We showed that our personalized mobility service supports different smartphone applications and it is lightweight enough to provide fast access to the mobility profiles of smartphone users. We illustrate the benefits of our mobility service on two smartphone applications: location prediction and air pollution exposure risk estimation.
An enhanced multi-server authentication protocol using password and smart-card: cryptanalysis and design

At the present time, application of online communication systems are rapidly increasing and most of the clients depend on a set of servers to fulfill their daily needs. In order to access these servers, a client user needs to register to each server with different login credentials. To circumvent this situation, the concept of multi-server authentication has been adopted, where a user can access all the servers using a single login credential. In this paper, a two-factor multi-server authentication protocol, which is proposed by Leu and Hsieh, is analyzed and observed that the forgery attack and the off-line password-guessing attack can be made on it. Further, the off-line password-guessing attack and other security threats are found in similar kind of multi-server authentication protocol, which is designed by Li et al. This paper mainly focuses on enhancing the securities of the previously mentioned protocols and thus proposed a new protocol. We have employed formal and informal security analysis to analyze the proposed protocol. The performance of our protocol is also compared with the related protocols. It can also be noted that the designed protocol accomplishes mutual authentication, session key verification, and identity and password change phases. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Targeting AKT with the allosteric AKT inhibitor MK-2206 in non-small cell lung cancer cells with acquired resistance to cetuximab

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a central regulator of tumor progression in human cancers. Cetuximab is an anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody that has been approved for use in oncology. Despite clinical success the majority of patients do not respond to cetuximab and those who initially respond frequently acquire resistance. To understand how tumor cells acquire resistance to cetuximab we developed a model of resistance using the non-small cell lung cancer line NCI-H226. We found that cetuximab-resistant (CtxR) clones manifested strong activation of EGFR, PI3K/AKT and MAPK. To investigate the role of AKT signaling in cetuximab resistance we analyzed the activation of the AKT pathway effector molecules using a human AKT phospho-antibody array. Strong activation was observed in CtxR clones for several key AKT substrates including c-jun, GSK3β, eIF4E, rpS6, IKKα, IRS-1 and Raf1. Inhibition of AKT signaling by siAKT1/2 or by the allosteric AKT inhibitor MK-2206 resulted in robust inhibition of cell proliferation in all CtxR clones. Moreover, the combinational treatment of cetuximab and MK-2206 resulted in further decreases in proliferation than either drug alone. This combinatorial treatment resulted in decreased activity of both AKT and MAPK thus highlighting the importance of simultaneous pathway inhibition to maximally affect the growth of CtxR cells. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that AKT activation is an important pathway in acquired resistance to cetuximab and suggests that combinatorial therapy directed at both the AKT and EGFR/MAPK pathways may be beneficial in this setting.
Sperm transport in the reproductive tract of the female rabbit: II. The sustained phase of transport.

The location of spermatozoa in the reproductive tract of the female rabbit was determined at 1.5, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16 h post coitum (p.c.). The posterior vagina, cervix, uterus, 5 regions of the oviduct and the ovarian surface were examined, the latter for evidence of sperm passage to the peritoneal cavity. The viability of spermatozoa recovered from the tract was assessed by counting the proportion of motile sperm and immotile cells with visibly disrupted head membranes. Sperm transport in the female rabbit proceeds by a sequential buildup of cells in ascending regions of the tract. The cervix may not be the principal site of sperm storage in the rabbit, since the viability of spermatozoa in the endocervical lumen is lower than in either the vagina or uterus. The tubal isthmus rather than the uterotubal junction, is the most important region restricting sperm ascent to the site of fertilization. Although a few sperm accumulate in the isthmus by 1.5 h p.c. , there is no migration of sperm beyond the isthmus until 6 h p.c. and throughout sperm transport, more than 95% of the isthmic sperm population remain within 2 cm of the uterotubal junction. The majority of sperm reaching the site of fertilization ascend during the periovulation period and in many cases, after the arrival of the ova. The final ascent of spermatozoa to the site of fertilization appears to involve the en masse migration of a limited number of cells from the lower isthmus to the upper oviduct and peritoneal cavity. This transtubal migration occurs as a single event or as a series of events of limited duration which have ended by the time fertilization is completed.
Test cases for plagiarism detection software

HTW Berlin Treskowallee 8 10318 Berlin weberwu@htw-berlin.de http://www.f4. htw-berlin.de/~weberwu Abstract There are numerous plagiarism detection software systems that claim to discover plagiarism of all sorts, given a digital text. This paper first discusses a typology of plagiarism, which makes clear that plagiarism is more than just an exact copy. Then a collection of 42 test cases in German are presented that were developed at the HTW Berlin for testing plagiarism detection software. The test cases have been used in three tests, in 2004, 2007, and 2008 and are available online. The test suite will be extended to include English-language test cases in 2010.
The Properties of Cell Water Relative to the Temperature Compensation of Circadian Rhythms

One of the more intriguing aspects of circadian physiology is the phenomenon of temperature compensation. Circadian clocks are characterized by the fact that the period of the rhythm is remarkably stable, with the temperature coefficient (Qio) approximating 1. This unusual Qio is observed at almost all phylogenetic levels of circadian organization, to the point that it is considered a major criterion for identifying a biological rhythm as &dquo;circadian. &dquo; The necessity for temperature compensation becomes obvious when one considers the utility of circadian clocks for measuring the lapse of time: A clock that continually speeds up or slows down in response to environmental temperature changes will be of little use as a chronometer (Pittendrigh, 1960). The presence of temperature compensation in circadian systems can be used to argue that the biochemical reactions generating circadian rhythms are novel. That is, either the reactions must not behave like other biochemical reactions (which often have Qio’s near 2) or the circadian rhythm generating mechanism must be dependent upon at least two biochemical processes that have opposite temperature coefficients (one greater than 1 and one less than 1). However, in a recent article (Drost-Hansen and Singleton, 1989), a point is brought up about the special properties of cellular water that raises the possibility that the phenomenon of temperature compensation is a result of the cellular compartment in which the rhythmgenerating reactions occur. According to Drost-Hansen and Singleton (1989), cellular water can be broadly classed as either &dquo;bulk water,&dquo; which is what we think of when we think of the water that fills our glass, or &dquo;vicinal water,&dquo; the water that is associated with a surface. Given the large amount of surface area within the cell, it is not surprising that a great deal of cellular water is surface-associated. The crucial point in the article for the consideration of circadian rhythms is that the properties of bulk water and vicinal water differ greatly. In the case of bulk water, when the temperature is increased there is a decrease in viscosity and density, as well as an increase in conductivity and the ability to potentiate the rate of chemical reactions. Most importantly, these changes are gradual; a graph of viscosity
On WiMAX Performance with Multiple Antenna Transmission

In this paper we aim to investigate the performance of employing several transmit and receive antennas in WiMAX in order to improve the system performance. WiMAX is a wireless technology that provides broadband data at rates over 3 bits/second/Hz. In this paper we will consider multiple antenna techniques that do not require channel knowledge, i.e space-time block coding (STBC), receiver diversity and cyclic delay diversity. The performance results show that STBC and cyclic delay diversity is superior but to an expense in complexity.
SCADA/HMI Development for a Multi Stage Desalination Plant

The desalination plant is a project that needs to control and monitor the operation sequence This paper describes the construction of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) and the corresponding Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for a multi-stage flash Brine Recirculation (BR) desalination plant. It consists of eight main cycles: the sea water cycle, the brine recirculation cycle, the brine heater cycle, the distillation cycle, the brine blow down cycle, the steam cycle, the condensate cycle and the pressure reduction cycle with a large number of inputs and outputs signals. The relay matrix is used to minimize the number of signals connected to the S7-3000(PLC) Siemens controller and connect it with (WINCC) software to show the application running under control. To maintain healthy system in case of main server failure we must create a redundant server connected with the main server by Ethernet and connected with the main control loop by Multi Point Interface (MPI). In this paper the SCADA/HMI main control loop is MPI because it is faster than Ethernet connection while MPI the control speed is 185kbps but the control speed in Ethernet is only 10/100kbps.
Emergent BYOD security challenges and mitigation strategy

There is limited research and literature on the topic of ‘Bring-your-own-device’ (BYOD) in organizations. BYOD is a new business trend where employees are using their own devices for work purposes. This phenomenon has introduced new security challenges to the business environment. Traditionally, organizational security risks have been addressed by adapting various established Information Security (IS) strategies. This research paper aims to identify how these strategies can be implemented by organizations to address the emergent BYOD risks.
Phytochemical characterization of several hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) species sampled from the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey

Background: We evaluated the total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity as well as antioxidant activity of five Crataegus species (A1, A2, Y1, Y2, Y4 accessions of Crataegus aronia var. aronia; B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, Y5 accessions of C. aronia var. dentata; B10 accession of C. aronia var. minuta; Y3 accession of Crataegus orientalis var. orientalis and A3 accession of Crataegus monogyna subsp. azarella). Materials and Methods: Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of fruits were determined by β-carotene bleaching and Folin–Ciocalteu assays. Antioxidant capacity was determined by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. Results: C. monogyna subsp. azarella had the highest total phenol, antioxidant activity and antioxidant capacity of 55.2 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight (DW), 81.9% and 31.2%, respectively. C. aronia var. aronia was found to have the lowest total phenolic content (35.7 mg GAE/g DW). The antioxidant activities of fruit extracts increased in the order of C. orientalis var. orientalis < C. aronia var. minuta < C. aronia var. dentata < C. aronia var. aronia < C. monogyna subsp. azarella according to β-carotene/linoleic acid assay. In recent years, C. aronia var. dentata has gained importance as a commercial species in this region. B3 and B7 accessions had fruit weight more than 14 g, and considerable total phenol content, antioxidant activity and antioxidant capacity. Conclusion: This investigation shows the potential value of hawthorn fruit species as a good source of natural antioxidants and that consumption of hawthorn fruit or its products may contribute substantial amounts of antioxidants to the diet.
Improved performance bounds for the infinite-dimensional Witsenhausen problem

There is a growing concern regarding the design of decentralized control systems. Witsenhausen's counterexample is a well-known problem which has remained open in this context, and emphasizes the necessity of communication between blocks in a distributed control system. In this paper, we study an infinite vector model of this problem and a new bound for the cost function is derived. It is shown that this bound improves upon previously known bounds obtained by dirty paper coding in some SNR regimes. Consequently, a system can be designed to sense the SNR level and then select the best scheme between these two sub-optimal strategies.
Emergence of Resistance of Candida albicans to Clotrimazole in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Children: In Vitro and Clinical Correlations

ABSTRACT Oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC) is a common opportunistic infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients and other immunocompromised hosts. Clotrimazole troches are widely used in the treatment of mucosal candidiasis. However, little is known about the potential contribution of clotrimazole resistance to the development of refractory mucosal candidiasis. We therefore investigated the potential emergence of resistance to clotrimazole in a prospectively monitored HIV-infected pediatric population receiving this azole. Adapting the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards M27-A reference method for broth antifungal susceptibility testing of yeasts to clotrimazole, we compared MICs in macrodilution and microdilution assays. We further analyzed the correlation between these in vitro findings and the clinical response to antifungal therapy. One isolate from each of 87 HIV-infected children was studied by the macrodilution and microdilution methods. Two inoculum sizes were tested by the macrodilution method (103 and 104 CFU/ml) in order to assess the effect of inoculum size on clotrimazole MICs. The same isolates also were tested using a noncolorimetric microdilution method. Clotrimazole concentrations ranged from 0.03 to 16 μg/ml. Readings were performed after incubation for 24 and 48 h at 35°C. For 62 (71.2%) of 87 clinical isolates, the MICs were low (≤0.06 μg/ml). The MIC for 90% of the strains tested was 0.5 μg/ml, and the highest MIC was 8 μg/ml. There was no significant difference between MICs at the two inoculum sizes. There was 89% agreement (±1 tube) between the microdilution method at 24 h and the macrodilution method at 48 h. If the MIC of clotrimazole for an isolate of C. albicans was ≥0.5 μg/ml, there was a significant risk (P < 0.001) of cross-resistance to other azoles: fluconazole, ≥64 μg/ml (relative risk [RR] = 8.9); itraconazole, ≥1 μg/ml (RR = 10). Resistance to clotrimazole was highly associated with clinically overt failure of antifungal azole therapy. Six (40%) of 15 patients for whom the clotrimazole MIC was ≥0.5 μg/ml required amphotericin B for refractory mucosal candidiasis versus 4 (5.5%) of 72 for whom the MIC was <0.5 μg/ml (P = 0.001; 95% confidence interval = 2.3 to 22; RR = 7.2). These findings suggest that an interpretive breakpoint of 0.5 μg/ml may be useful in defining clotrimazole resistance in C. albicans. The clinical laboratory's ability to determine MICs of clotrimazole may help to distinguish microbiologic resistance from the other causes of refractory OPC, possibly reducing the usage of systemic antifungal agents. We conclude that resistance to clotrimazole develops in isolates of C. albicans from HIV-infected children, that cross-resistance to other azoles may develop concomitantly, and that this resistance correlates with refractory mucosal candidiasis.