Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biomarkers for diet and cancer prevention research: potentials and challenges

AbstractAs cancer incidence is projected to increase for decades there is a need for effective preventive strategies. Fortunately, evidence continues to mount that altering dietary habits is an effective and cost-efficient approach for reducing cancer risk and for modifying the biological behavior of tumors. Predictive, validated and sensitive biomarkers, including those that reliably evaluate “intake” or exposure to a specific food or bioactive component, that assess one or more specific biological “effects” that are linked to cancer, and that effectively predict individual “susceptibility” as a function of nutrient-nutrient interactions and genetics, are fundamental to evaluating who will benefit most from dietary interventions. These biomarkers must be readily accessible, easily and reliably assayed, and predictive of a key process(es) involved in cancer. The response to a food is determined not only by the effective concentration of the bioactive food component(s) reaching the target tissue, but also by the amount of the target requiring modification. Thus, this threshold response to foods and their components will vary from individual to individual. The key to understanding a personalized response is a greater knowledge of nutrigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
17β‐Estradiol activates ICI 182,780‐sensitive estrogen receptors and cyclic GMP‐dependent thioredoxin expression for neuroprotection

Clinical studies suggest that estrogen may improve cognition in Alzheimer's patients. Basic experiments demonstrate that 17β‐estradiol protects against neurodegeneration in both cell and animal models. In the present study, a human SH‐SY5Y cell model was used to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the receptor‐mediated neuroprotection of physiological concentrations of 17β‐estradiol. 17β‐Estradiol (<10 nM) concomitantly increased neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS1) expression and cell viability. 17β‐Estradiol‐induced neuroprotection was blocked by the receptor antagonist ICI 182,780, also prevented by inhibitors of NOS1 (7‐nitroindazole), guanylyl cyclase (LY 83,583), and cGMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKG) (Rp‐8‐pCPT‐cGMPs). In addition to the expression of NOS1 and MnSOD, 17β‐estradiol increased the expression of the redox protein thioredoxin (Trx), which was blocked by the inhibition of either cGMP formation or PKG activity. The expression of heme oxygenase 2 and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor was not altered. Estrogen receptor‐enhanced cell viability against oxidative stress may be linked to Trx expression because the Trx reductase inhibitor, 5,5′‐dithio‐bis(2‐nitrobenzoic acid) significantly reduced the cytoprotective effect of 17β‐estradiol. Furthermore, Trx (1 μM) inhibited lipid peroxidation, proapoptotic caspase‐3, and cell death during oxidative stress caused by serum deprivation. We conclude that cGMP‐dependent expression of Trx–the redox protein with potent antioxidative and antiapoptotic properties–may play a pivotal role in estrogen‐induced neuroprotection.
Inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in Fish and Meat Systems by Use of Oregano and Cranberry Phytochemical Synergies

ABSTRACT Optimized phenolics from oregano and cranberry extracts were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes in laboratory media and in beef and fish. The antimicrobial activity increased when oregano and cranberry extracts were mixed at a ratio of 75% oregano and 25% cranberry (wt/wt) with 0.1 mg of phenolic per disk or ml, and the efficacy was further enhanced by lactic acid. The inhibition by phytochemical and lactic acid synergies was most effective when beef and fish slices were stored at 4°C.
3D models over the centuries: From old floor plans to 3D representation

This paper presents a set of algorithms dedicated to the 3D modeling of historical buildings from a collection of old architecture plans, including floor plans, elevations and cutoffs. Image processing algorithms help to detect and localize main structures of the building from the floor plans (thick and thin walls, openings). The extrusion of the walls allow us to build a first 3D model. We compute height informations and add textures to the model by analyzing the elevation images from the same collection of documents. We applied this pipeline to XVIIIth century plans of the Château de Versailles, and show results for two different parts of the Château.
Energy capapacity of voltage dependent capacitor for the calculation of MOSFET's switching losses

Energy capacity of a voltage-dependent capacitor is investigated and defined. An equation for the calculation of energy capacity of the MOSFET's parasitic capacitance is formulated. The defined energy capacity of a voltage-dependent capacitor can be used to calculate switching losses of resonant switches by simply calculating the energy flow into or out of the MOSFET. Computer simulations are used to verify the validity of the formulas. The discrepancy between energy capacity of the MOSFET's parasitic capacitance calculated from the formulated equation and that calculated from the results of computer simulation are negligible. Computer simulation is also used to validate the proposed switching-loss calculation technique.
Profilin Promotes Barbed-end Actin Filament Assembly without Lowering the Critical Concentration*

The mechanism of profilin-promoted actin polymerization has been systematically reinvestigated. Rates of barbed-end elongation onto Spectrin·4.1·Actin seeds were measured by right angle light scattering to avoid confounding effects of pyrenyl-actin, and KINSIM was used to analyze elongation progress curves. Without thymosin-β4, both actin and Profilin·Actin (P·A) are competent in barbed-end polymerization, and kinetic simulations yielded the same bimolecular rate constant (∼10 × 106 m −1 s−1) for actin monomer or Profilin·Actin. When measured in the absence of profilin, actin assembly curves over a 0.7–4 μmthymosin-β4 concentration range fit a simple monomer sequestering model (1 μm K D for Thymosin-β4·Actin). The corresponding constant for thymosin-β4·pyrenyl-Actin, however, was significantly higher (∼9–10 μm), suggesting that the fluorophore markedly weakens binding to thymosin-β4. With solutions of actin (2 μm) and thymosin-β4 (2 or 4 μm), the barbed-end assembly rate rose with increasing profilin concentration (0.7–2 μm). Actin assembly in presence of thymosin-β4 and profilin fit a simple thermodynamic energy cycle, thereby disproving an earlier claim (D. Pantaloni and M.-F. Carlier (1993)Cell 75, 1007–1014) that profilin promotes nonequilibrium filament assembly by accelerating hydrolysis of filament-bound ATP. Our findings indicate that profilin serves as a polymerization catalyst that captures actin monomers from Thymosin-β4·Actin and ushers actin as a Profilin·Actin complex onto growing barbed filament ends.
Prevention of SIV Infection in Macaques by (R)-9-(2-Phosphonylmethoxypropyl)adenine

The efficacy of pre- and postexposure treatment with the antiviral compound (R)-9-(2-phosphonylmethoxypropyl)adenine (PMPA) was tested against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in macaques as a model for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). PMPA was administered subcutaneously once daily beginning either 48 hours before, 4 hours after, or 24 hours after virus inoculation. Treatment continued for 4 weeks and the virologic, immunologic, and clinical status of the macaques was monitored for up to 56 weeks. PMPA prevented SIV infection in all macaques without toxicity, whereas all control macaques became infected. These results suggest a potential role for PMPA prophylaxis against early HIV infection in cases of known exposure.
[Construction of human Egr-1 promoter and its response to ionizing radiation in tumor cells].

AIM To construct human Egr-1 promoter luciferase reporter system and study its activity induced by ionizing radiation. METHODS Egr-1 promoter was obtained by human genomic PCR and cloned into pGL3-basic vector. After transfection of recombinant plasmid into human tumor cells, the Egr-1 promoter activity induced by ionizing radiation was detected by luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS The luciferase reporter system of Egr-1 promoter was successfully constructed. The activity of Egr-1 promoter was substantially increased after different doses of IR and reached to the peak at the time point of 48 h after IR. CONCLUSION The Egr-1 promoter was constructed in this study showed IR inducible activity in tumor cells, laying foundation for the research of radiation. mediated gene therapy.
Tasa diaria de evapotranspiración para una macrófita empleando variables meteorológicas

La evapotranspiración (ET) es, generalmente, la principal variable de salida del ciclo hidrológico; siendo de importancia su cuantificación para el gerenciamiento del recurso hídrico. En este trabajo se presenta una metodología para estimar indirectamente la tasa diaria de ET de una macrófita bajo condiciones de clima templado húmedo. Paralelamente, se implementó un experimento con tanques enterrados donde se obtuvo una tasa de ET media diaria de 5.2 mm día-1. Dado que la tasa de ET es función de características climáticas, de suelo y de la vegetación; y que de éstos usualmente se registran rutinariamente las primeras, se estudia la tasa de ET en función de 12 variables meteorológicas medidas in situ (entre ellas radiación solar, temperaturas, humedad relativa, velocidad del viento y presión atmosférica). Se implementaron modelos de regresión lineal simple y múltiple para evaluar el grado de correlación entre las tasas de ET medidas experimentalmente y las variables meteorológicas. El análisis de las regresiones indica que la radiación solar recibida es la variable individual que mejor explica el proceso de ET (R2 = 0.54), mientras que cuando se considera mayor número de variables, además de la radiación, intervienen variables relacionadas con la temperatura del aire (temperatura mínima, temperatura del punto de rocío y temperatura máxima) incrementando apreciablemente el coeficiente de determinación (R2 = 0.72). La introducción de un número de variables mayor a cuatro no produce mejoras sustanciales en los resultados
For Matrix Recovery, Rank Restricted Isometry Property and Robust Uniform Boundedness Property Imply Rank Robust Null Space Property

Compressed sensing refers to the recovery of high-dimensional but low-complexity objects from a small number of measurements. The recovery of sparse vectors and the recovery of low-rank matrices are the main applications of compressed sensing theory. In vector recovery, the restricted isometry property (RIP) and the robust null space property (RNSP) are the two widely used sufficient conditions for achieving compressed sensing. Until recently, RIP and RNSP were viewed as two separate sufficient conditions. However, in a recent paper [1], the present authors have shown that in fact the RIP implies the RNSP, thus establishing the fact that RNSP is a weaker sufficient condition than RIP.In matrix recovery, there are three different sufficient con¬ditions for achieving low-rank matrix reconstruction, namely; Rank Restricted Isometry Property (RRIP), Rank Robust Null Space Property (RRNSP), and Robust Uniform Boundedness Property (RUBP). In this paper, using the result of [1], it is shown that actually both RRIP and RUBP imply the RRNSP, so that RRNSP is the weakest sufficient condition for matrix recovery. In contrast with the situation for vector recovery, until now there are no deterministic methods for designing a measurement operator for matrix recovery. The present results open the door towards such a possibility.
Uloga medija u formiranju glazbenih preferencija mladih

Tema rada je uloga medija u formiranju glazbenih preferencija mladih. U radu se daje uvid u teorijska polazista o medijima i glazbi, a zatim se govori o povezanosti glazbe sa životom mladih i formiranju glazbenih preferencija. U prakticnom djelu rada daje se uvid u rezultate provedenog istraživanja o ulozi medija u formiranju glazbenih preferencija mladih. Cilj istraživanja bio je dobiti uvid u ulogu medija u formiranju glazbenih preferencija te utvrditi moguce razlike između glazbenih preferencija iz 2003. i 2013. godine. Istraživanje je provedeno metodom analize sadržaja na uzorku od 200 jedinica. Svaku jedinicu predstavljala je pjesma koja je tekstualna i auditivna. Rezultati su obrađeni postupkom deskripcije, a svaka jedinica prosla je dvostruku analizu. Najprije je uzorak analiziran kroz dimenziju žanra, a zatim kroz tekstualnu dimenziju. Rezultati su prikazani deskriptivno i graficki, a odnose se na obje analizirane dimenzije cime se omogucilo komparativno istraživanje dimenzija. Osim toga, glazbene preferencije iz 2003. godine uspoređene su s glazbenim preferencijama iz 2013. godine. Kvantitativna analiza podataka pokazala je da se 2003. najvise preferirao hip-hop žanr, a 2013. godine preferira se pop žanr. Od tema zastupljenih u pjesmama, u obje godine najvise se preferiraju ljubavni tekstovi pjesama (45,5%), dok se najmanje preferiraju tekstovi s opisima međuljudskih odnosa. Nadalje, 2003. uvelike su se preferirali seksualizirani tekstovi te tekstovi ispunjeni rizicnim ponasanjima, dok 2013. njihova popularnost opada. Za razliku od toga, pozitivne pjesme bilježe rast broja preferencija. U rezultatima se ogleda uloga koju mediji imaju u formiranju glazbenih preferencija, a zasnovana je na nametanju određenih trendova.
Accreditation of Emergency Department at a Teaching Hospital in Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010

Problem statement: Considering the importance of emergency departments in healthcare system and the high mortality rate of patients refe rred to these departments, it is crucial to provide quality services in emergency departments. Accredit ation is a systematic process for improving quality of care and it enables managers to assess and evalu ate the healthcare system. Accreditation of an organization provides an obvious commitment for improving quality of safety, quality of patient care, ensuring safety surveillance and continuous activit ies for reducing dangers which threaten patients an d staff. Therefore, given the vital role as well as a nd the perpetual and indispensable service provided by the emergency departments, it is necessary to re-ev aluate the manner of service provision in these departments according to the standards and criteria of accreditation, so that an observance of these criteria will lead to improvement of emergency medi cine in Iran. Thus, the present study was undertaken with the purpose of accreditation of eme rgency department of a teaching hospital of Tehran University of Medical Sciences according to the sta ndards of Iranian Deputy of Health and the JCI. Approach: This is a descriptive-analytic study with a cross- sectional structure. Our study population consisted of 50 individuals of the healthcare staff (physicians and nurses) working in morning and evening work shifts of the emergency department in the teac hing hospital. Data collection tools consisted of s tandard questionnaires of the Deputy of Health (9 series) a nd questionnaires developed by authors based on the standards of the Joint Commission International (JC I) regarding patient satisfaction with services pro vided in emergency departments. In order to determine the reliability and validity of the data collection to ols, professors and experts reviewed the questionnaire o f quality and patient safety in accordance with sta ndards of quality patient safety from the standards of pat ient satisfaction prepared by the JCI. Subsequently , the questionnaires were used in the emergency department of a teaching Hospital with approval of the head of department. Moreover, they said questionnaire was critiqued for its content and then reviewed conceptu ally. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed with a Cronbach's α of 95%. Results: According to the relevant standards and the checklists provided by t he Deputy of Health for influencing factors (such a s human resources, ethical issues and observance of r eligious measures, structural issues, medical equip ment and medications, provision of other medical service s, nonmedical equipment), our evaluation of the emergency department in teaching Hospital yielded a score of 1626 points (86.81% of the maximum score) for the department. Conclusion: The above findings the emergency department in thi s hospital requires certain plans for improving the status quo. Therefo re, the current deficiencies must be addressed with a comprehensive plan so that accreditation by the JCI may become feasible.
Quantum Conversion and Image Detection by a Bacteriorhodopsin-Based Artificial Photoreceptor

A thin film (50 to 500 angstroms thick) comprising fragments of bacteriorhodopsin (bR)-containing purple membrane was formed on an SnO2 conductive electrode by the Langmuir-Blodgett method. The film was put into contact with a thin, aqueous electrolyte gel to construct an electrochemical sandwich-type photocell with a junction structure SnO2/bR/electrolyte/Au electrode. Under visible light irradiation, the bR-based photocell produced an efficient rectified photocurrent that proved to have unique differential responsivity to light intensity, which is characteristic of in vivo biological photoreceptors. An artificial photoreceptor comprising a pixel network of the bR photocell was fabricated in an attempt to study image-detecting and processing abilities of bR.
A combined multiresolution approach for faint source extraction from inrared astronomical raw images sequence

Faint sources detection is one of the major issues during the reconstruction of an astronomical science image from a raw data sequence. This problem is a consequence of the detection limit of the infrared instruments as well as the number of cosmic ray impacts (glitches) that leads to the false detection. Astronomical images contain many objects with isotropic structures (e.g. point sources) but also plenty of anisotropic information (e.g. filamentary structures). The wavelet transform is usually applied to separate all these signal constituents in each pixel, then a map is built to represent the information of the associated noise before applying a source detection algorithm. Wavelets are well adapted to point singularities (discontinuities), however, they have a problem with orientation selectivity. Therefore, they do not represent anisotropic structures (e.g. smooth curves) effectively. This paper presents a combined approach conlourlet-wavelet for faint source extraction from infrared raw- images sequences. While the contourlet representation provides oriented support for efficient approximation of anisotropic structures, isotropic geometry is effectively captured by separable wavelets. This novel approach has been tested on real and simulated infrared images, stemming from the infrared space observatory database
Athens Institute for Education and Research ATINER ATINER ' s Conference Paper Series TRA 2017-2275

Vehicle Manufacturer Recognition (VMR) has recently become a key feature to be used when license plate numbers cannot be detected or fake plate numbers are used in traffic control and management applications. One of the clearest indicators of a vehicle manufacturer is its vehicle logo. In this way, most of the vision-based VMR approaches are based on vehicle logo classification. In this work, we contribute to this topic by presenting an experimental comparison of different Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) applied to vehicle logo recognition. A data set containing 26.289 logo images, corresponding to 30 car manufacturers and one non-logo class, is used to validate the proposed approach. The ability of the CNN to learn features robust to rotations is analyzed by artificially increasing the data set up to 446.913 adding rotated samples. The proposed methodology is also compared with a baseline classifier based on Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). Experiments show an average accuracy of 99.87% in the validation set, which clearly demonstrate the potential of our CNN-based logo classifier to deal with VMR.
Anaplastic neoplasm in a patient with hairy cell leukemia

A 63‐year‐old white man had a history of recurrent pneumonia, pancytopenia, and splenomegaly when the diagnosis of hairy cell leukemia was made on bone marrow biopsy examination. Splenectomy confirmed that diagnosis and his pancytopenia moderately improved. Three years following the diagnosis, the patient developed an upper abdominal mass involving the stomach wall that was found to be an anaplastic “large cell” neoplasm. Palliative radiotherapy was started, but the patient died 2 months later. Cytochemical studies of the anaplastic gastric neoplasm revealed cytoplasmic tartrate resistant acid phosphatase activity. Electron microscopy showed no epithelial differentiation. These observations suggest that the gastric neoplasm represented an evolution of hairy cell leukemia into a more aggressive tumor analogous to the transformation that occurs in other B‐cell neoplasms.
Influence of Aspect Ratios on the Creep Behaviour of Articular Cartilage in Indentation

Indentation tests are commonly used to determine the mechanical behaviour of articular cartilage with varying properties, thickness, and geometry. This investigation evaluated the effect of changing geometric parameters on the properties determined from creep indentation tests. Finite element analyses simulated the indentation behaviour of two models, an excised cylindrical specimen of cartilage with either normal and repair qualities and an osteochondral defect represented as a cylindrical region of repair cartilage integrated with a surrounding layer of normal tissue. For each model, the ratios of indenter radius to cartilage height and cartilage radius to indenter radius were varied. The vertical displacement of the cartilage under the indenter obtained through finite element analysis was fitted to a numerical algorithm to determine the aggregate modulus, permeability, and Poisson's ratio. Indentation behaviours of cartilage specimens for either model with were not affected by for values of 2 and 5. Aggregate modulus was not greatly affected by the geometric changes studied. Permeability was affected by changes in the ratio of specimen to indenter radii for These findings suggest that experimental configurations of excised cylindrical specimens, also representing osteochondral defects with no or unknown degree of integration, where the cartilage layer has should not have r/a values on the order of 2 for confidence in the mechanical properties determined. Indentation of osteochondral defects where the repair cartilage is fully integrated to the surrounding cartilage can be performed with confidence for all cases tested.