Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethanol-responsive genes (Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp) located in the alcohol-QTL region of chromosome 9 are associated with alcohol preference in mice.

BACKGROUND Previously, our group identified cytotoxic and regulatory T-cell molecule (Crtam), zinc finger and BTB domain containing 16 (Zbtb16), and myelin-associated oligodendrocytic basic protein (Mobp) as ethanol-responsive genes in the mouse brain by gene expression profiling. In this study, we used a genetic co-segregation analysis to assess the association of Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp with the alcohol preference (AP) phenotype in the alcohol-preferring C57BL/6J (B6) and alcohol avoiding DBA/2J (D2) strains of mice. METHODS Semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to confirm previous microarray analysis results that Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp brain mRNA levels in the B6 and D2 strains are altered by ethanol treatment. The association of the 3 genes with AP was assessed in a F(2) population (n = 427) derived from the reciprocal crosses involving the B6 and D2 strains. Each F(2) individual was assessed for their AP using the 2 bottle choice test and genotyped for Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that differ between B6 and D2 mice. RESULTS Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis confirmed that Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp are ethanol-responsive genes. The SNP analyses show that alleles of the 3 genes co-segregate with the AP phenotype in F(2) mice, where individuals homozygous for the B6 allele have higher AP than those homozygous for the D2 allele. Also, the Crtam-Zbtb16 loci that are tightly linked and the Mobp locus act in an additive fashion in determining the relative AP phenotype. CONCLUSION Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that Crtam, Zbtb16, and Mobp may be involved in AP in mice. The nature of this association remains to be established and may reflect a direct effect of these genes or an indirect effect caused by linked genes on mouse chromosome 9.
Association of MEFV Gene Mutations With Rheumatoid Factor Levels in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Purpose Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease primarily affecting the joints. Arthritis disorders are associated with mutations of the Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene. This gene has already been identified as being responsible for familial Mediterranean fever. The aim of this study was to explore the frequency and clinical significance of MEFV gene mutations in a cohort of Turkish patients with RA. Methods The study included 101 patients with RA and 110 healthy controls. Genomic DNA was isolated and genotyped using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism for the 5 MEFV gene mutations (M694V, M680I, V726A, E148Q, and P369S). Results Carrier rates of MEFV gene mutations were 31 (30.7%) of 101 and 26 (23.6%) of 110 in the RA and healthy control groups, respectively (P > 0.05; odds ratio, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.77–2.65). Whereas deformed joint count was relatively higher in the mutation carrier group than those of the noncarrier group, the rheumatoid factor levels were significantly higher in the carrier group of patients with RA (P = 0.001). Conclusions The results of this study suggest that MEFV gene mutations are not positively associated with a predisposition to develop RA but might increase the severity of RA. Further research is needed to determine the actual pathogenic role of MEFV mutations in this disease.
Accuracy of IgG serology and other tests in confirming Helicobacter pylori eradication.

BACKGROUND In this study we assessed the accuracy of IgG serology and other tests in confirming Helicobacter pylori eradication. METHODS The outcome of anti-H. pylori therapy was established by at least two of the following tests: rapid urease test (RUT), culture, 14C urea breath test (non-capsule or capsule UBT), and IgG serology (Orion Diagnostica Pyloriset New EIA-G). RESULTS Successful H. pylori eradication was confirmed in 698 of 794 patients (88%). The percentage decrease in IgG antibody titre was related to the patients' pre-treatment IgG titre and time interval after treatment. A decrease in IgG titres of 40% or more confirmed H. pylori eradication with 100% specificity, whereas the sensitivity was 82%, 90%, 98%, and 98% 3, 4, 5, and 6 months after therapy, respectively. The 40% cut-off confirmed eradication 3 to 6 months after therapy in 328 of 339 patients (97%) with pre-treatment IgG titres of >700, in 36 of 45 patients (80%) with pre-treatment titres of 300-700, and in 5 of 12 patients (42%) with pretreatment titres of <300. The sensitivity and specificity of the other tests 2 months after treatment were as follows: RUT, 84% and 100%; culture, 88% and 100%; non-capsule UBT, 100% and 89%; and capsule UBT, 100% and 97%. CONCLUSION A decrease in IgG antibody titre of 40% or more 3 to 6 months after therapy and the capsule 14C UBT at the 2-month follow-up were both highly accurate in confirming H. pylori eradication.
Improving the Gain of Visual Perceptual Behaviour on Topic Modeling for Text Recommendation

Internet information services have been greatly improved profiting from the growing performance of interest mining technology. Visual perceptual behaviours, a new hotspot of mining user's interests, have resulted in great gains in some typical Internet information services, e.g., information retrieval and recommendation. It is validated that combining the subjective visual perceptual behaviours with the objective contents can significantly improve these services' performance. However, the existing methods usually treat the contents and visual perceptual behaviours as two independent parts in the calculating process. The gain of visual perceptual behaviours has not been fully exploited. In this paper, we mainly aim at improving the gain of visual perceptual behaviour for text recommendation, by integrating the objective contents with subjective visual perceptual behaviours. We investigate the correlation between user's reading interests and records of real-time interaction on texts, and then design a real-time visual perceptual behaviour based method for text recommendation, which is able to: (1) build a joint interest model, called ViP-LDA (Visual Perceptual LDA), by integrating the user's visual perceptual behaviours into topic model; (2) make more accurate text recommendation based on ViP-LDA with feedback adjustment. Several experiments on a real data set are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
History of GaN: High-Power RF Gallium Nitride (GaN) from Infancy to Manufacturable Process and Beyond

In the early 1990s, gallium nitride (GaN) was deemed an excellent, next generation, semiconductor material for high power/high frequency transistors based on the material parameters of bandgap, electron mobility, and saturated electron velocity (Figure 1). The lack of bulk GaN source material led to the need for GaN growth on mismatched substrates such as Si, SiC and sapphire, but fundamental material development controlled the pace of maturation of GaN technology for both electronic and optoelectronic applications [1]. The development of GaN for RF electronics was significantly aided by the intense development that occurred in the race to first production of blue and, eventually, white light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Ultimately, advancements in the growth of device-grade aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN)/GaN
Software Engineering: Challenges and their Solution in Mobile App Development

Mobile app development is increasing rapidly due to the popularity of smartphones. With billions of apps downloads, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store succeeded to overcome mobile devices. Throughout last 10 years, the amount of smartphones and mobile applications has been perpetually growing. Android and iOS are two mobile platforms that cowl most smartphones within the world in 2017. However, this success challenges app developers to publish high-quality apps to stay attracting and satisfying end-users. Developing a mobile app involves ? rst to select the platforms the app can run, so to develop speci? c solutions (i.e., native apps). During application development a developer come across multiple challenges. In this paper, we have tried to find out challenges faced by developer during their development life cycle with their possible solution.
Escalonamento de tarefas com localidade de dados em grids

Sistemas computacionais conhecidos como Data Grids fornecem uma infraestrutura computacional distribuida para processamento e armazenamento de dados, com varias aplicacoes envolvendo computacao em larga escala. Devido ao uso de um grande volume de dados, e necessario nao apenas um escalonamento eficiente de tarefas, mas tambem uma distribuicao inteligente de replicas dos dados para se atingir o melhor desempenho. Esses dois problemas ja foram extensivamente estudados de forma independente na literatura, mas estamos concentrados em um formulacao integrada em um problema estatico, de forma a otimizar uma unica funcao objetivo. Primeiramente, mostramos que este problema nao pode admitir um algoritmo aproximado. Porem, considerando uma versao restrita do problema, apresentamos um algoritmo aproximado original com fator de aproximacao constante. Tambem fazemos um estudo de algoritmos aproximados para problemas relacionados disponiveis na literatura. Sob um aspecto mais pratico, introduzimos duas heuristicas originais para o problema. A primeira e baseada no agrupamento de maquinas proximas em clusters, enquanto a segunda procura identificar grupos de dados frequentemente acessados em conjunto. Comparamos esses algoritmos com duas abordagens adaptadas da literatura, atraves de simulacoes computacionais em um grande conjunto de instâncias baseadas em grids reais. Mostramos que nossa primeira heuristica costuma obter melhores solucoes que as outras com boa eficiencia de tempo, enquanto a segunda heuristica e ainda mais rapida e ainda obtem solucoes competitivas. Abstract
An improved fuzzy system for representing web pages in clustering tasks

AN IMPROVED FUZZY SYSTEM FOR REPRESENTING WEB PAGES IN CLUSTERING TAKS (UN SISTEMA BORROSO MEJORADO PARA LA REPRESENTACION DE PAGINAS WEB EN PROBLEMAS DE CLUSTERING) RESUMEN: Mantener la informacion organizada es un factor clave para facilitar el acceso a la misma. Aunque la informacion que necesitamos a veces este disponible en la Web, esta informacion no es util si no somos capaces de acceder a ella. Con este objetivo, es cada vez mas habitual el uso de tecnicas automaticas para agrupar documentos. En esta tesis estamos interesados en el clustering de documentos, que consiste basicamente en agrupar dichos documentos en base a la similitud de sus contenidos. A este respecto, la representacion de los documentos juega un papel fundamental en el clustering de paginas web y constituye el foco principal de la investigacion llevada a cabo en esta tesis. El lenguaje HTML es la alternativa mas comun para escribir paginas web. Este lenguaje contiene informacion explicita (etiquetas, en este caso) sobre su representacion visual, la tipografia del texto o incluso su estructura, entre otras cosas. Es tambien un formato muy comun en Internet. El objetivo principal de esta tesis es realizar un estudio en profundidad con la intencion de aprovechar al maximo un modelo borroso de representacion de documentos HTML para problemas de clustering. Nuestro estudio se centra en la idea de descubrir si alguna parte del sistema puede ser explotada de una manera diferente que nos permita mejorar los resultados de clustering. Comenzamos nuestro trabajo analizando las partes del sistema que son susceptibles de mejora y estudiamos diferentes alternativas para realizar dichas mejoras. Por lo tanto, no proponemos un modelo de representacion de documentos partiendo de cero, sino que lo construimos tratando de entender, en cada paso, sus diferentes aspectos. Para la evaluacion de nuestros resultados y la comparacion de las diferentes propuestas de representacion, utilizamos distintas colecciones de paginas web de referencia que fueron creadas previamente para ser utilizadas como gold standards. El clustering se realiza por medio de algoritmos del estado del arte y nuestras propuestas son validadas en entornos de clustering plano y jerarquico. Finalmente, tambien tratamos de comprobar la utilidad de nuestras aproximaciones para la representacion de paginas web escritas en dos idiomas, Ingles y Espanol.
Flex circuit depaneling in thin film polymer using dry etching technology

In support of improved performance and panel throughput, new work is presented on the development of a plasma-based process for flexible substrate depaneling. The technique complements the standard laser skiving procedure that makes use of a pulse overlap to create line-shaped geometries. For high-density packaging application, fine line cutting with arbitrary contour shaping is required. In this study, cut width of approximately 15 μm in a 20 μm polymer film was achieved by using plasma etching. With properly laser debonding process, the flexible substrate can be separated from a rigid carrier. The dry etching process is presented in this article along with a comparison to laser-based approaches.
Cell membrane integrity and lysis in Lactococcus lactis: the detection of a population of permeable cells in post‐logarithmic phase cultures

A method was developed that enabled an analysis of the proportion of permeable cells in a culture of Lactococcus lactis. This used the fluorescence of propidium iodide (PI) when in contact with DNA and the impermeability of the intact cell membrane to this compound. A permeability index was suggested that expresses the PI‐induced fluorescence of a cell suspension as a percentage of the value obtained from wholly permeabilized cells after treatment with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. This method was applied to the determination of cell permeability in death phase cultures. A large proportion of unlysed cells was freely permeable to PI, a finding that may have some significance for the investigation of the role of cell lysis in cheese maturation. This method is suggested as a useful addition to the techniques available for the study of cell damage in a variety of fields, and for the screening of cheese starter bacteria.
An advanced model of consumer attitudes toward advertising on the mobile internet

Advertising on the mobile internet is considered as an influential new marketing channel in the new future. So far technological limitations inhibit its optimised usage in Europe and the US, whereas in Japan constant access to the internet via mobile devices is already a reality. This paper therefore discusses the relevance of advertising on the mobile internet as a marketing tool and investigates antecedents of Japanese consumer attitudes toward this new advertising channel. The analysis is based on a Japanese consumer survey. The results indicate that informativeness and credibility of the advertising message have the greatest impact on consumers' attitude towards advertising on the mobile internet.
BPA, an Energy Balance Disruptor

Bisphenol A (BPA) is used extensively in the world and is present in a diverse range of manufactured articles including dental resins, polycarbonate plastics, and the inner coating of food cans. It is a high volume chemical, with global production at 3.6 × 109 kg per year. BPA was identified as a high priority for assessment of human health risk because it was considered to present greatest potential for human exposure. Most studies of the health effects of BPA have focused on endocrine disruption leading to reproductive toxicity, but it displays additional side effects, including liver damage, disrupted pancreatic β-cell function, thyroid hormone disruption, and obesity-promoting effects. In this article, we reviewed specifically on the effects of BPA in energy balance.
Eprosartan, an Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonist, Does Not Affect the Pharmacodynamics of Glyburide in Patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

The potential for eprosartan, a nonbiphenyl tetrazole angiotensin II receptor antagonist, to affect the 24‐hour plasma glucose profiles in type II diabetic patients treated with glyburide was investigated in this randomized, placebo‐controlled, double‐blind (eprosartan—placebo phase only), two‐period, period‐balanced, crossover study. All patients received a stable oral dose (3.75–10 mg/day) of glyburide for at least 30 days before the first dose of double‐blind study medication was administered. Patients were randomized to receive either 200‐mg oral doses of eprosartan twice daily or matching oral placebo doses concomitantly with glyburide for 7 days during each treatment period. After a minimum washout period of 14 days, patients were crossed over to the alternate treatment. Serial samples to measure glucose concentrations in plasma were collected over a 24‐hour period on the day before administration of eprosartan or placebo and again on day 7. Mean glucose concentrations were comparable between treatment groups before administration of eprosartan or placebo. The point estimate (90% confidence interval) for the ratio of the average mean 24‐hour plasma glucose concentrations of eprosartan + glyburide to placebo + glyburide after 7 days of administration was 0.96 (0.90, 1.01). Eprosartan did not significantly alter the 24‐hour plasma glucose profile in patients with type II diabetes mellitus who were previously stabilized on glyburide.
Constitutive Phosphorylation Mutation in Fas-associated Death Domain (FADD) Results in Early Cell Cycle Defects*

Fas-associated death domain (FADD) is an adaptor molecule for the death receptor subfamily of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, but it is also required for cell proliferation. Cell cycle-specific regulation of FADD phosphorylation plays an important role in FADD proliferative function since mice with a mutant form of FADD mimicking constitutive phosphorylation at serine 191 (FADD-D) exhibit defective T cell proliferation. Here we characterized these mice in detail and found that T cell development in 2-4-week-old mice is relatively normal, although mature FADD-D T cells manifest defective G0 and G1 to S transition with abnormalities in regulation of p130, p27 degradation, retinoblastoma protein phosphorylation, and CDK2 kinase activity. These downstream defects are further associated with the failure to up-regulate the forkhead box M1 cell cycle transcription factor, FoxM1. FADD-D protein is also mislocalized during cell cycle progression. Thus, regulation of FADD phosphorylation is crucial for proper cell cycle entry.
Robust digital deadbeat control design technique for 3 phase VSI with disturbance observer

A novel technique for an optimized deadbeat controller, having higher convergence rate for certain disturbances and capability to maintain the system stability, rapid response and extinction of errors, is presented in this paper. This control law is stimulated with integral control for tracking the reference signals. Moreover, the deadbeat controller is proposed with a state estimator and a disturbance observer for estimating the next sampling interval and to maintain the robustness along with rapid dynamic as well as static response in case of load uncertainty or unpredicted disturbance. The proposed technique is found relatively more effective than the conventional controller and previously designed deadbeat controllers due to its properly designed parameters, as discussed through simulation and by loop experiments in real time hardware assessments.
Treatment of advanced breast cancer with two doxorubicin‐containing regimens

The Georgetown University Hospital experience in the treatment of advanced breast cancer using either a combination of doxorubicin (adriamycin) and vincristine (AV) or adriamycin and mitomycin-C (AM) is presented. Of 74 previously treated patients with advanced breast cancer, 50 patients were given AV and 24 patients were given AM. Both groups were comparable in regard to number of disease sites, age, prior radiation therapy, disease-free interval after mastectomy, duration of treatment, and estrogen-receptor status. The response rates were 32% and 25% with AV and AM combinations, respectively. Achievement of response was not related to menopausal or estrogen-receptor status. Median time to disease progression was 7.0 and 9.6 months for AV and AM, respectively. Median survivals were not statistically different (9.7 months for AV and 11.1 months for AM). Life-table analysis for responders versus nonresponders within each regimen and between responders in either regimen revealed no statistical differences. Duration of response for each regimen was also equivalent. Toxicity was mild and similar to previous reports using these drugs. However, myelosuppression was significantly greater for premenopausal than postmenopausal patients in the AV group. The possible reasons for this are discussed. Both AM and AV are well-tolerated regimens which provide equivalent but limited response rates, duration of response, and median survival in previously treated women with advanced breast cancer.
Semi-automatic annotation tool for sign languages

The goal of this work is to automatically annotate manual and some non-manual features of sign language in video. To achieve this we examine two techniques one using depth camera Microsoft Kinect 2.0 and second using simple RGB mono camera. In this work, we describe strength and weaknesses of both approaches. Finally, we propose the semi-automatic web-based annotation tool based on second technique, which uses hand and face movement detection algorithms. Furthermore, proposed algorithm could be used not only for annotating clean training data, but also for automatic sign language recognition, as it is works in real time and quite robust to variability in intensity and background. Results are presented in our corpus1 with free access.
Chronic idiopathic jaundice with unidentified pigment in liver cells.

In 1954 Dubin and Johnson 1 reported 12 cases of idiopathic jaundice with an unidentified pigment in the centrilobular liver cells. Clinically, these patients could have been classified as cases of "familial hyperbilirubinemia" or chronic hepatitis. However, with the unusual liver biopsy finding of a previously undescribed pigment, a new clinical entity was suggested. Since the original description, four additional cases have been recorded. 2-5 It is our purpose to record an additional case of this entity. Clinically, in addition to mild recurring icterus of unexplainable cause, these cases are characterized by (1) vague abdominal discomfort, (2) dark urine which is positive for bilirubin, (3) hepatomegaly, (4) poor visualization of the gall bladder by oral dye methods, (5) one-minute bilirubin values which are elevated to at least 50% of the total bilirubin and an otherwise benign course with a good prognosis for life. The diagnosis of these cases can only
Achtergronden van inkomensverschillen in drie agrarische sectoren

Onderzoek naar de achtergronden van inkomensongelijkheid bij drie agrarische sectoren, te weten: de melkveehouderij, de akkerbouw en de glastuinbouw. In de literatuurstudie komen doelstellingen, bedrijfsstijlen en de kwaliteit van beslissingen als mogelijke achtergronden van verschillen in inkomens aan de orde. De bevindingen van de literatuurstudie worden in beperkte mate getoetst met praktijkgegevens. Voor een gedetailleerder beeld over de oorzaken van inkomensverschillen bij homogene groepen ondernemers in agrarische sectoren is nader onderzoek noodzakelijk.