Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time-space lower bounds for two-pass learning

A line of recent works showed that for a large class of learning problems, any learning algorithm requires either super-linear memory size or a super-polynomial number of samples [11, 7, 12, 9, 2, 5]. For example, any algorithm for learning parities of size n requires either a memory of size Ω(n2) or an exponential number of samples [11]. All these works modeled the learner as a one-pass branching program, allowing only one pass over the stream of samples. In this work, we prove the first memory-samples lower bounds (with a super-linear lower bound on the memory size and super-polynomial lower bound on the number of samples) when the learner is allowed two passes over the stream of samples. For example, we prove that any two-pass algorithm for learning parities of size n requires either a memory of size Ω(n1.5) or at least 2Ω([EQUATION]) samples. More generally, a matrix M : A x X → {-1, 1} corresponds to the following learning problem: An unknown element x ∈ X is chosen uniformly at random. A learner tries to learn x from a stream of samples, (a1, b1), (a2, b2) . , where for every i, ai ∈ A is chosen uniformly at random and bi = M(ai, x). Assume that k, l, r are such that any submatrix of M of at least 2-k · |A| rows and at least 2-l · |X| columns, has a bias of at most 2-r. We show that any two-pass learning algorithm for the learning problem corresponding to M requires either a memory of size at least Ω(k · min[EQUATION]), or at least 2Ω(min[EQUATION]) samples.
Motion reproduction system using multi DoF haptic forceps robots for ligation task

Master-slave surgical robots have been studied and developed to support surgeons. Robotic functions such as motion scaling and hand shaking correction can extend the ability of surgeons. However, some problems are remaining in robotic surgery. Operation time which can become the burden to surgeons is still long. Surgeons must assess the situation, decide the next task correctly, and achieve tasks precisely in long operation. By conducting a part of surgical tasks by automatic motion of surgical robots, the burden to surgeons can be reduced. However, surgical tasks require skill of surgeons. Therefore, human skill must be incorporated in robotic motion. In this paper, a teleoperation system to conduct a ligation task by both the teleoperation and the automatic motion is presented. The teleoperation system is composed of haptic forceps robots implementing the motion reproduction system which is a method to preserve and reproduce human motion by a master-slave system. A ligation task is achieved by the bilateral teleoperation and the reproduced motion in the experiment. The saved motion and the reproduced motion are evaluated to validate the usefulness of the teleoperation system implementing the motion reproduction system.
Downregulation of thymosin β4 in neural progenitor grafts promotes spinal cord regeneration

Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) is an actin-binding peptide whose expression in developing brain correlates with migration and neurite extension of neurons. Here, we studied the effects of the downregulation of Tβ4 expression on growth and differentiation of murine neural progenitor cells (NPCs), using an antisense lentiviral vector. In differentiation-promoting medium, we found twice the number of neurons derived from the Tβ4-antisense-transduced NPCs, which showed enhanced neurite outgrowth accompanied by increased expression of the adhesion complex N-cadherin–β-catenin and increased ERK activation. Importantly, when the Tβ4-antisense-transduced NPCs were transplanted in vivo into a mouse model of spinal cord injury, they promoted a significantly greater functional recovery. Locomotory recovery correlated with increased expression of the regeneration-promoting cell adhesion molecule L1 by the grafted Tβ4-antisense-transduced NPCs. This resulted in an increased number of regenerating axons and in sprouting of serotonergic fibers surrounding and contacting the Tβ4-antisense-transduced NPCs grafted into the lesion site. In conclusion, our data identify a new role for Tβ4 in neuronal differentiation of NPCs by regulating fate determination and process outgrowth. Moreover, NPCs with reduced Tβ4 levels generate an L1-enriched environment in the lesioned spinal cord that favors growth and sprouting of spared host axons and enhances the endogenous tissue-repair processes.
Image Recoloring Based on Object Color Distributions

We present a method to perform automatic image recoloring based on the distribution of colors associated with objects present in an image. For example, when recoloring an image containing a sky object, our method incorporates the observation that objects of class ‘sky’ have a color distribution with three dominant modes for blue (daytime), yellow/red (dusk/dawn), and dark (nighttime). Our work leverages recent deep-learning methods that can perform reasonably accurate object-level segmentation. By using the images in datasets used to train deep-learning object segmentation methods, we are able to model the color distribution of each object class in the dataset. Given a new input image and its associated semantic segmentation (i.e., object mask), we perform color transfer to map the input image color histogram to a set of target color histograms that were constructed based on the learned color distribution of the objects in the image. We show that our framework is able to produce compelling color variations that are often more interesting and unique than results produced by existing methods.
Validation Study of Two-microphone Acoustic Reflectometry for Determination of Breathing Tube Placement in 200 Adult Patients

Background Acoustic reflectometry allows the construction of a one-dimensional image of a cavity, such as the airway or the esophagus. The reflectometric area–distance profile consists of a constant cross-sectional area segment (length of endotracheal tube), followed either by a rapid increase in the area beyond the carina (tracheal intubation) or by an immediate decrease in the area (esophageal intubation). Methods Two hundred adult patients were induced and intubated, without restrictions on anesthetic agents or airway adjunct devices. A two-microphone acoustic reflectometer was used to determine whether the breathing tube was placed in the trachea or esophagus. A blinded reflectometer operator, seated a distance away from the patient, interpreted the acoustic area–distance profile alone to decide where the tube was placed. Capnography was used as the gold standard. Results Of 200 tracheal intubations confirmed by capnography, the reflectometer operator correctly identified 198 (99% correct tracheal intubation identification rate). In two patients there were false-negative results, i.e., patients with a tracheal intubation were interpreted as having an esophageal intubation. A total of 14 esophageal intubations resulted, all correctly identified by reflectometry, for a 100% esophageal intubation identification rate. Conclusions Acoustic reflectometry is a rapid, noninvasive method by which to determine whether breathing tube placement is correct (tracheal) or incorrect (esophageal). Reflectometry determination of tube placement may be useful in airway emergencies, particularly in cases where visualization of the glottic area is not possible and capnography may fail, as in patients with cardiac arrest.
Cardiac Tumors

with cardiac tumor [1, 4, 5] . However, a significant number of patients are asymptomatic and the cardiac tumor is incidentally diagnosed on routine echocardiogram or other imaging modalities [4, 5] . Most cardiac tumors are benign, with cardiac myxoma being the most common [5] . Although the pathology is benign, in view of its embolic phenomenon, it has a tendency to cause disabling symptoms [6] . For this reason, surgical removal is also used to treat myxomatous tumors [2] . The overall prognosis for patients with cardiac tumor depends upon histology [5] , chemotherapy, particularly in nonresected patients [7] and resection with adequate tumor margin [8, 9] . Radiation is only relevant for the treatment of pulmonary artery sarcomas [10] . Diagnostic technology, investigations and treatment options for cardiac tumor have improved tremendously since the initial report of cardiac tumor by King [11] in 1845 and the first reported surgical removal of cardiac myxoma by Clarence Crafoord in 1954 [12] . Improved surgical techniques with cardiac autotransplantation [13] and multimodality treatment in advanced centers [14] is likely to improve the prognosis of a disease which, not so long ago, had a dismal prognosis. In this issue of Cardiology , Anvari et al. [1] have reported a 10-year experience of nonmyxoma cardiac tumor at their institution. Although the reported series is small (5 cases of primary and 8 cases of secondary tumors), it is in agreement with other reports showing sarcoma to be the most common primary malignant tumor [2, 3] . About 75% of primary cardiac tumors are benign. Of the 25% that are malignant, approximately 75% are sarcomas. Secondary tumors are 40–100 times more common than primary tumors and are likely more prevalent than has been reported in the literature. The MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center in Houston have a heart tumor program with a database of over 300 cardiac tumors including 190 cardiac sarcomas. In the study by Anvari et al. [1] , breast cancer was the most common cause of secondary cardiac neoplasm. In other series that have been reported, lung cancer is by far the most common cause of secondary cardiac tumor [4] . Other common tumors metastasing to the heart are renal-cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma and breast cancer [4] . As shown in this study, dyspnea and chest pain appear to be the most frequent presenting symptoms in patients Received: September 2, 2014 Accepted: September 3, 2014 Published online: October 17, 2014
Evaluation of Postnatal Sedation in Full-Term Infants

Prolonged sedation in infants leads to a high incidence of physical dependence. We inquired: (1) “How long does it take to develop physical dependence to sedation in previously naïve full-term infants without known history of neurologic impairment? ” and (2) “What is the relationship between length of sedation to length of weaning and hospital stay? ”. The retrospective study included full-term patients over a period of one year that were <1 year of age and received opioids and benzodiazepines >72 hours. Quantification of fentanyl, morphine, and midazolam were compared among three time periods: <5 days, 5–30 days, and >30 days using t-test or one-way analysis of variance. Identified full-term infants were categorized into surgical (14/44) or medical (10/44) groups, while those with neurological involvement (20/44) were excluded. Physical dependence in full-term infants occurred following sedation ≥5 days. Infants with surgical disease received escalating doses of morphine and midazolam when administered >30 days. A positive association between length of sedation and weaning period was found for both respiratory (p < 0.01) and surgical disease (p = 0.012) groups, while length of sedation is related to hospital stay for the respiratory (p < 0.01) but not the surgical disease group (p = 0.1). Future pharmacological directions should lead to standardized sedation protocols and evaluate patient neurocognitive outcomes.
Introduction of partner referral and treatment for control of sexually transmitted diseases in a poor Haitian community.

Focus group discussions were held with women attending slum-based antenatal clinics and with male partners of pregnant women separately to evaluate knowledge and attitudes regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and acceptability of a proposed antenatal STD screening and treatment programme, including partner management. Subsequently, antenatal women found to have a STD were asked to refer their partner(s) for STD treatment. The institution's routine procedure of internal referral to the curative center was evaluated for loss to follow-up. Focus group participants described common STD syndromes, knew that a pregnant woman could transmit a STD to her child, and knew that all sex partners needed to be treated for STDs. Discussion participants disagreed on the possibility of asymptomatic STDs and mentioned other ways of contracting STDs beside sexual transmission. The response to the proposed programme was positive. Of 331 male partners named by antenatal women who were found to have at least one STD, 101 (30%) presented at the clinic through index referral, and an additional 38 (11.5%) presented because of health worker referral. Of the 59 men sent to the curative center for care, only 26 (44%) received treatment. The study demonstrated that in Haiti, partners of antenatal STD patients can be treated without apparent adverse effects. However, internal referrals to separate treatment centres should be avoided. Following this study, education efforts have emphasized the curable nature of STDs, the threat of vertical transmission, and frequent asymptomatic presentation of STDs to promote prevention and treat more partners of STD patients.
Still Something to Discover: Novel Insights into Escherichia coli Phage Diversity and Taxonomy

The aim of this study was to gain further insight into the diversity of Escherichia coli phages followed by enhanced work on taxonomic issues in that field. Therefore, we present the genomic characterization and taxonomic classification of 50 bacteriophages against E. coli isolated from various sources, such as manure or sewage. All phages were examined for their host range on a set of different E. coli strains, originating, e.g., from human diagnostic laboratories or poultry farms. Transmission electron microscopy revealed a diversity of morphotypes (70% Myo-, 22% Sipho-, and 8% Podoviruses), and genome sequencing resulted in genomes sizes from ~44 to ~370 kb. Annotation and comparison with databases showed similarities in particular to T4- and T5-like phages, but also to less-known groups. Though various phages against E. coli are already described in literature and databases, we still isolated phages that showed no or only few similarities to other phages, namely phages Goslar, PTXU04, and KWBSE43-6. Genome-based phylogeny and classification of the newly isolated phages using VICTOR resulted in the proposal of new genera and led to an enhanced taxonomic classification of E. coli phages.
Laser thermal processing of amorphous silicon gates to reduce poly-depletion in CMOS devices

One major challenge in advanced CMOS technology is to have adequate dopant activation at the polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) gate/gate oxide interface to minimize the poly-Si depletion effect. In this paper, laser thermal processing (LTP) was employed to fabricate single or dual-layer poly-Si-gated MOS capacitors with ultrathin gate oxides. Capacitance-voltage data show that the carrier concentration at the poly-Si gate/gate oxide interface increases substantially when the devices are subjected to LTP prior to a rapid thermal anneal (RTA). Thus, LTP readily reduces the poly-depletion thickness in MOS devices. For p/sup +/-gated capacitors, this is achieved with boron penetration that is equivalent to the control sample with 1000/spl deg/C, 5 s RTA (without LTP). In addition, results from secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate that the concentration of dopants near the critical gate/gate oxide interface increases significantly after a post-LTP anneal, in good agreement with the electrical data. Time-dependent dielectric breakdown studies show that the gate oxide reliability is not degraded even after LTP at high fluences.
Kinetic, Affinity, and Diversity Limits of Human Polyclonal Antibody Responses against Tetanus Toxoid

Due to technical limitations, little knowledge exists on the composition of Ag-specific polyclonal Ab responses. Hence, we here present a molecular analysis of two representative human Ab repertoires isolated by using a novel single-cell cloning approach. The observed genetic diversity among tetanus toxoid-specific plasma cells indicate that human polyclonal repertoires are limited to the order of 100 B cell clones and hypermutated variants thereof. Affinity and kinetic binding constants are log-normally distributed, and median values are close to the proposed affinity ceilings for positive selection. Abs varied a million-fold in affinity but were restricted in their off-rates with an upper limit of 2 × 10−3 s−1. Identification of Abs of high affinity without hypermutations in combination with a modest effect of hypermutations on observed affinity increases indicate that Abs selected from the naive repertoire are not only of low affinity but cover a relatively large span in affinity, reaching into the subnanomolar range.
Host immune response evasion strategies in Ornithodoros erraticus and O. moubata and their relationship to the development of an antiargasid vaccine

We analysed in mice why the salivary gland extract (SGE‐2) from Ornithodoros erraticus and O. moubata induce a protective response with Freund's adjuvants (FAs) in swine while the saliva, in natural conditions, does not. Such protection has been ascribed to the fact that administration of SGE‐2 plus FAs permits the recognition of certain salivary components that under natural conditions are not immunogenic. The present findings confirm this hypothesis since in mice, which are unable to recognize the above components, the SGE‐2‐FAs do not induce any protection. We rule out the possibility that the cause of this could lie in the absence of prostaglandin E2 in the SGE‐2 (vs saliva) since it is not present in either fluid. Neither could it be due to a change in antibody isotype since those induced by parasites bites and by the SGE‐2‐FAs are the same (IgG2a > IgG1 > IgG2b; not IgG3, IgM, IgE). No IgG2a were seen when the SGE‐2 were administered alone or with alum or ricin. It is therefore suggested that first responses would be Th1 and the second ones Th2, although no IgE is seen in the latter responses either. The parasites do not require complement to feed; by contrast, they block its activation and skin cellular infiltrates, such as those elicited by IL‐8, MCP‐1 and C5a, do not affect them, regardless of the presence or not of antitick antibodies.
PKC-mediated Endothelin-1 expression in endothelial cell promotes Macrophage activation in atherogenesis.

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease trigged by endothelial dysfunction and exaggerated by macrophage infiltration. Although endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays an important role in vascular inflammation and reactive oxygen species production, the individual effect of ET-1 in atherogenesis remain unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS ET-1 expression was increased in mouse atherosclerotic plaques and HUVECs administrated by OX-LDL stimulation. Moreover, the immunofluorescence co-staining showed upregulated ET-1 expression in endothelial cells. RT-PCR demonstrated that ET-1 overexpression promoted adhesion molecules and chemokines secretion in HUVECs. Following this intervention, the migration of macrophages and the pro-inflammatory cytokines were increased. More importantly, the endothelial dysfunction regulated by ET-1 and subsequently the effect on macrophage activation were mediated by ETA receptor and largely reversed by PKC inhibitor. Eight-week-old male ApoE-/- mice and eET-1/ApoE-/- mice were fed with high-fat diet for 12 weeks. eET-1/ApoE-/- significantly increased atherosclerotic lesions in the whole aorta and aortic sinus, which accompanied by induction of inflammatory cytokines and macrophages infiltration. CONCLUSION ET-1 accelerates atherogenesis by promoting adhesion molecules and chemokines, as well as subsequent macrophage activation. Collected, these evidences suggest that ET-1 might be a potential target for the treatment of atherogenesis.
Drug Discovery for Chagas Disease: Impact of Different Host Cell Lines on Assay Performance and Hit Compound Selection

Cell-based screening has become the major compound interrogation strategy in Chagas disease drug discovery. Several different cell lines have been deployed as host cells in screening assays. However, host cell characteristics and host-parasite interactions may play an important role when assessing anti-T. cruzi compound activity, ultimately impacting on hit discovery. To verify this hypothesis, four distinct mammalian cell lines (U2OS, THP-1, Vero and L6) were used as T. cruzi host cells in High Content Screening assays. Rates of infection varied greatly between different host cells. Susceptibility to benznidazole also varied, depending on the host cell and parasite strain. A library of 1,280 compounds was screened against the four different cell lines infected with T. cruzi, resulting in the selection of a total of 82 distinct compounds as hits. From these, only two hits were common to all four cell lines assays (2.4%) and 51 were exclusively selected from a single assay (62.2%). Infected U2OS cells were the most sensitive assay, as 55 compounds in total were identified as hits; infected THP-1 yielded the lowest hit rates, with only 16 hit compounds. Of the selected hits, compound FPL64176 presented selective anti-T. cruzi activity and could serve as a starting point for the discovery of new anti-chagasic drugs.
Long-term retrospective observational cohort study on the survival rate of stepped screw titanium implants followed up to 20 years.

PURPOSE The aim of this long-term retrospective study was twofold: (1) to evaluate the survival and success rates of stepped screw titanium implants with a sandblasted and acid-etched surface, and (2) to assess the influence of hypothetical predictors of implant failure on the survival rate. MATERIALS AND METHODS From 75 possible candidates, 67 patients contributing 346 Frialit-2 (DPS Frialit-2 implant system, Friatech) implants placed between 1997 and 2005 were retrospectively evaluated. The inclusion criteria consisted of implants placed in either native or augmented bone, rehabilitated with an implant-supported prosthesis, and radiographically documented at the time of prosthetic loading (T0). At the follow-up recall performed between January and October 2018 (T1), clinical and radiologic examinations were conducted to evaluate the survival and success rates. The influence of specific variables on the survival rate was subsequently investigated, including gender and smoking habits, location and size of the implants, and bone augmentation procedures. Cox regression and shared frailty models were used, with the patient representing the statistical unit. RESULTS A survival rate of 91.62% over a median observation time of 189 months with a range of 11 to 20 years was observed. A total of 14 out of 29 implants failed before delivery of the provisional prosthesis. Overall, the median marginal bone loss was 1.25 mm, with an annual increase of 0.12 mm. Different from the other variables, the results of the multivariate model indicated that smoking was strongly correlated with implant failure (P = .002). CONCLUSION Considering the limitations of this study, stepped screw titanium implants with a sandblasted and acid-etched surface provided a good survival rate. Smoking might be considered a relevant risk factor for implant failure.