Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intercellular signaling and the polarization of body axes during Drosophila oogenesis.

The anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes of the Diosophila egg and embryo are established during oogen­ esis as the egg is being formed. The mechanisms under­ lying this process involve intercellular signaling events, including bidirectional communication between germline and somatic cells, and local cell-cell interactions in the soma. On the molecular level, these interactions ap­ pear to be mediated by a small number of intercellular signaling systems, including the Epidermal growth fac­ tor receptor [Egfr] and Notch systems, that are used mul­ tiple times during oogenesis to trigger different develop­ mental switches. The precisely regulated interplay be­ tween these various signaling systems forms a network of interdependencies that leads to the establishment of both the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral polarity in the egg chamber and embryo. Because both the Egfr and Notch signaling systems are widely conserved, the mechanisms involved in the regulation of these pro­ cesses in Drosophila oogenesis may serve as a paradigm for understanding intercellular signaling events in other organisms.
Probing Solvent Accessibility of Transthyretin Amyloid by Solution NMR Spectroscopy*

The human plasma protein transthyretin (TTR) may form fibrillar protein deposits that are associated with both inherited and idiopathic amyloidosis. The present study utilizes solution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, in combination with hydrogen/deuterium exchange, to determine residue-specific solvent protection factors within the fibrillar structure of the clinically relevant variant, TTRY114C. This novel approach suggests a fibril core comprised of the six β-strands, A-B-E-F-G-H, which retains a native-like conformation. Strands C and D are dislocated from their native edge region and become solvent-exposed, leaving a new interface involving strands A and B open for intermolecular interactions. Our results further support a native-like intermolecular association between strands F-F′ and H-H′ with a prolongation of these β-strands and, interestingly, with a possible shift in β-strand register of the subunit assembly. This finding may explain previous observations of a monomeric intermediate preceding fibril formation. A structural model based on our results is presented.
First trimester prediction of small‐ and large‐for‐gestation neonates by an integrated model incorporating ultrasound parameters, biochemical indices and maternal characteristics

Objective. To identify maternal/pregnancy characteristics, first trimester ultrasound parameters and biochemical indices which are significant independent predictors of small‐for‐gestational age (SGA) and large‐for‐gestational age (LGA) neonates. Design. Retrospective cross‐sectional study. Setting. Two fetal Medicine Units. Population. 4 702 singleton pregnancies presenting for screening for chromosomal abnormalities by nuchal translucency and maternal serum biochemistry at 11–14 weeks. Methods. Reference ranges for birthweight applied to our population were constructed by the Royston and Wright method. Multiple logistic regression was applied to develop first trimester prediction models for SGA and LGA. Main outcome measures. Birth of SGA or LGA neonate. Results. Maternal height, parity, smoking, assisted conception, delta crown–rump length, delta nuchal translucency, free beta human chorionic gonadotrophin and pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A were significant independent predictors of SGA. Maternal weight and height, smoking, delta crown–rump length and delta nuchal translucency were significant independent predictors of LGA. Models for SGA (AUC=0.7296, CI: 0.69–0.76, p<0.0001) and LGA (AUC=0.6901, CI: 0.65–0.72, p<0.0001) were derived, applicable to routine obstetric population at low risk for these conditions. For 20% screen positive rate the modeling achieves sensitivities of about 55% for SGA and 48% for LGA neonates. Conclusion. Prediction for birthweight deviations is feasible using data available at the routine 11–14 weeks’ examination. Delta CRL and delta nuchal translucency were significant independent predictors for both SGA and LGA.
A simultaneous parameter adaptation scheme for genetic algorithms with application to phased array synthesis

Genetic algorithms are commonly used to solve many optimization and synthesis problems. An important issue facing the user is the selection of genetic algorithm parameters, such as mutation rate, mutation range, and number of crossovers. This paper demonstrates a real-valued genetic algorithm that simultaneously adapts several such parameters during the optimization process. This adaptive algorithm is shown to outperform its static counterparts when used to synthesize the phased array weights to satisfy specified far-field sidelobe constraints, and can perform amplitude-only, phase-only, and complex weight synthesis. When compared to conventional static parameter implementations, computation time is saved in two ways: 1) The algorithm converges faster and 2) the need to tune parameters by hand (generally done by repeatedly running the code with different parameter choices) is greatly reduced. By requiring less iteration to solve a given problem, this approach may benefit electromagnetic optimization problems with expensive cost functions, since genetic algorithms generally require many function evaluations to converge. The adaptive process also provides insight into the qualitative importance of parameters, and dynamically adjusting the mutation range is found to be especially beneficial.
The reaction of the intrarenal sympathetic nervous system to renal transplantation.

In six autogeneic and three allogeneic canine renal transplants kidney function tests were performed before and after transplantation. The dogs with allografts were given immunodepressive treatment. Both the normal kidneys of the dogs and the transplants were examined histologically and by the histochemical fluorescence method for biogenic monoamines. In no transplant was there evidence of regeneration of the adrenergic nervous system. No significant change in GFR and FF following the transplantation was recorded in the autografts and in two of the allografts in which graft reaction was absent or minimal. In the third allograft GFR and FF were low and the graft reaction fairly advanced. The tubular function of the autografts responded normally to mannitol diuresis. The findings suggest that (i) renal transplantation results in permanent sympathetic denervation of the graft, (ii) normal renal hemodynamic and tubular functions can be maintained after sympathetic denervation, (iii) other mechanisms than dire.
MaxSAT, Hard and Soft Constraints

MaxSAT solving is becoming a competitive generic approach for solving combinatorial optimization problems, partly due to the development of new solving techniques that have been recently incorporated into modern MaxSAT solvers, and to the challenge problems posed at the MaxSAT Evaluations. In this chapter we present the most relevant results on both approximate and exact MaxSAT solving, and survey in more detail the techniques that have proven to be useful in branch and bound MaxSAT and Weighted MaxSAT solvers. Among such techniques, we pay special attention to the definition of good quality lower bounds, powerful inference rules, clever variable selection heuristics and suitable data structures. Moreover, we discuss the advantages of dealing with hard and soft constraints in the Partial MaxSAT formalims, and present a summary of the MaxSAT Evaluations that have been organized so far as affiliated events of the International Conference on Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing.
Demography of pediatric primary care in Europe: delivery of care and training.

OBJECTIVE The Union of National European Pediatric Societies and Associations recognized the lack of information regarding demography of delivery of care and training for the doctors who care for children in Europe. Therefore, the Union of National European Pediatric Societies and Associations studied factors and explanations for the variation between countries regarding pediatric primary care (PPC) and community pediatrics (CP) as well as the extent of formal training provided for those who take care of children at the community level. METHODS An explanatory letter and a questionnaire with 12 questions regarding delivery of PPC and CP and training was mailed to the president of each of 41 national pediatric societies in Europe. Statistical data about population, country's income, and infant mortality rate (IMR) were also obtained from World Health Organization data. Statistical analysis using multivariate and linear regression was conducted to ascertain which variables were associated with IMR. Descriptive statistics regarding demography and training are also reported. RESULTS In 1999, a total of 167 444 pediatricians served a population of 158 million children who were younger than 15 years and living in the 34 reporting European countries. The median number of children per pediatrician was 2094; this varied from 401 to 15 150. A pediatric system for PPC existed in 12 countries; 6 countries had a general practitioner system, and a combined system was reported from 16 countries. Pediatricians did not work at the primary care level at all in 3 countries. In 14 of 34 countries, pediatricians worked in various aspects of community medicine, such as developmental pediatrics, well-infant care, school physicians, and so forth. IMR was lower in countries with a higher income per capita. In addition, a pediatric system of primary care had a protective effect when looking at IMR as the outcome. In 75% of the countries, some form of training in pediatric care for pediatricians was reported; the corresponding data for general practitioners was 60%. Community-based teaching programs were offered to pediatricians and general practitioners in a minority of countries only. CONCLUSIONS At the end of the century, Europe showed a considerable variation in both delivery of PPC and training for doctors who care for children. This study identified 3 different health care delivery systems for PPC, as well as 2 types of pediatricians who work in community-based settings. Formal training in PPC or CP for both pediatricians and general practitioners varied from established curricula to no teaching at all. Economic and sociopolitical issues, professional power, and geographical and historical factors may explain the differences in pediatric care among European countries.
Prognostic value of pretreatment bone scans in breast carcinoma.

One hundred consecutive patients who had 991 Tc pyrophosphate bone scans prior to treatment for cancer of the breast between 1972 and 1976 were studied retrospectively to determine the contribution of the scans to staging, treatment, and prognosis. Patients were staged by the AJC-UICC 1973 TNM system using all information exclusive of that from bone scans. Bone scans were initially categorized as normal (60) and abnormal (40). The bone scans were reviewed without knowledge of the Initial report; the consistency between the original and review interpretations was 78%. No correlation was found between abnormal bone scans and clinical status of the axillary nodes, but bone scans were significantly more often abnormal in locally advanced tumor (13 and T4) and in the presence of distant metastasis (Ml) (by studies other than bone scan) than in their absence. The patients were followed during an average period of 22 months. In clinical stages I and II, abnormal bone scans did predict a higher occurrence of distant metastasis (6 of 17, 35%) than normal ones (11 of 48, 24%) and predicted more frequent skeletal metastases: 5 of 27 (19%) vs. 6 of 65 (9%). A poor 4-year actuarial survival was found in abnormal bone scans (48%) compared with normal ones (58%) among the patients with clinically undisseminated breast carcinoma (stage I-Ill). Reader variations and subjective aspects of interpretation clearly can influence the evaluation of bone scans as a clinical tool.
Ethical Dilemmas and Dimensions in Penetration Testing

Penetration testers are required to attack systems to evaluate their security, but without engaging in unethical behaviour while doing so. Despite work on hacker values and studies into security practice, there is little literature devoted to the ethical pressures associated with penetration testing. This paper presents several ethical dilemmas and dimensions associated with penetration testing; these shed light on the ethical positions taken by Penetration testers, and help identify potential fallacies and biases associated with each position.
A study of idiopathic torsion dystonia in a non‐Jewish family

A gene (DYT1) for idiopathic torsion dystonia (ITD) was mapped to chromosome 9q34 in non-Jewish and Jewish families; the dystonia in these families usually began in childhood, with the limb muscles affected first. The role of the DYT1 gene in adult-onset and cervical- or cranial-onset ITD is unknown. We examined 53 individuals from four generations of a non-Jewish North American family with adult-onset ITD. There were seven affected family members, with a mean age at onset of 28.4 years (range, 7 to 50 years). In six of the seven, the neck was affected first. All seven developed cervical dystonia, and dysarthria or dysphonia occurred in five. Linkage data excluded the region containing the DYT1 locus, indicating that DYT1 was not responsible for ITD in this family. This study provides evidence that a gene other than DYT1 is responsible for some cases of adult cervical-onset dystonia.
Back-and-Forth Methodology for Objective Voice Quality Assessment: From/to Expert Knowledge to/from Automatic Classification of Dysphonia

This paper addresses voice disorder assessment. It proposes an original back-and-forth methodology involving an automatic classification system as well as knowledge of the human experts (machine learning experts, phoneticians, and pathologists). The goal of this methodology is to bring a better understanding of acoustic phenomena related to dysphonia. The automatic system was validated on a dysphonic corpus (80 female voices), rated according to the GRBAS perceptual scale by an expert jury. Firstly, focused on the frequency domain, the classification system showed the interest of 0–3000 Hz frequency band for the classification task based on the GRBAS scale. Later, an automatic phonemic analysis underlined the significance of consonants and more surprisingly of unvoiced consonants for the same classification task. Submitted to the human experts, these observations led to a manual analysis of unvoiced plosives, which highlighted a lengthening of VOT according to the dysphonia severity validated by a preliminary statistical analysis.
Three-Dimensional Cell Rotation With Fluidic Flow-Controlled Cell Manipulating Device

Three-dimensional positioning and orientation of a biological cell under a microscope is an essential step for cell injection and biopsy. The conventional manual cell manipulation and orientation relies on trial and error, with inherent disadvantages such as low efficiency, poor success rate, and inconsistent output. In this paper, we present a system capable of recognizing and adjusting the orientation of a Zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo in real time with the use of multiple motion control devices. In addition, a custom-made embryo feeding channel and manipulating device was employed to perform cell manipulations in batches. Experimental results demonstrate the system's capability for fast embryo orientation (13 s/cell) with a 97.5% success rate of rotating a cell to a desired orientation about both y- and z-axis of the cell and a low in-plane rotation angle error of 0.5°.
Homer Proteins in Ca2+ Entry

The Homer family of proteins consists of three adaptor proteins, Homer1, Homer2 and Homer3, each with various isoforms. Homer1 family presents an EVH1 domain, a coiled coil domain and two leucine zipper domains. Homer proteins regulate a number of Ca2+‐handling proteins, including transient receptor potential channels and other Ca2+‐permeable channels, ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors, shank scaffolding proteins or endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release channels. This review article focuses on the association of Homer 1 proteins with Ca2+‐handling proteins and their role on intracellular Ca2+‐homeostasis. © 2013 IUBMB Life, 65(6):–, 2013
Differential Water Thermodynamics Determine PI3K-Beta/Delta Selectivity for Solvent-Exposed Ligand Modifications

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) are involved in important cellular functions and represent desirable targets for drug discovery efforts, especially related to oncology; however, the four PI3K subtypes (α, β, γ, and δ) have highly similar binding sites, making the design of selective inhibitors challenging. A series of inhibitors with selectivity toward the β subtype over δ resulted in compound 3(S), which has entered a phase I/Ib clinical trial for patients with advanced PTEN-deficient cancer. Interestingly, X-ray crystallography revealed that the modifications making inhibitor 3(S) and related compounds selective toward the β-isoform do not interact directly with either PI3Kβ or PI3Kδ, thereby confounding rationalization of the SAR. Here, we apply explicit solvent molecular dynamics and solvent thermodynamic analysis using WaterMap in an effort to understand the unusual affinity and selectivity trends. We find that differences in solvent energetics and water networks, which are modulated upon binding of different ligands, explain the experimental affinity and selectivity trends. This study highlights the critical role of water molecules in molecular recognition and the importance of considering water networks in drug discovery efforts to rationalize and improve selectivity.
Adrenoleukodystrophy: a forgotten diagnosis in children with primary Addison's disease

The X linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a peroxisomal disease caused by defects of the ABCD1 gene on chromosome Xq28 leading to accumulation of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFA), progressive demyelination and adrenal insufficiency. An 8-year-old boy was referred to our paediatric endocrinology clinic due to fatigue and hyperpigmentation with onset at 2-years old. Blood tests revealed mineralocorticoid insufficiency. Serum adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol concentrations were compatible with adrenal insufficiency. Adrenal antibodies were negative. The elevated plasmatic concentration of VLCFA and the genotype analysis with sequencing of ABCD1 gene established the diagnosis of X-ALD. Brain MRI showed demyelination of white matter in the peritrigonal regions. Steroid replacement was started with good response. He initiated restriction of VLCFA by reducing the intake of fatty foods. The authors highlight the importance of suspecting of X-ALD in the aetiology of primary adrenal insufficiency as the first sign of the disease.
Effects of multiple doses of isoprinosine on Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes

Isoprinosine was given at daily doses of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 g kg-1 of body weight to jirds that were infected for 3 months with Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes. The effects of the different drug doses on metacestodes were studied by transmission electron microscopy and biochemical methods. At lower doses, increases in uric acid and adenosine deaminase activity were noted. At 4 g kg-1 of body weight, marked ultrastructural damage with metabolic perturbations was observed.
EyeAR: Empiric Evaluation of a Refocusable Augmented Reality System

We present the evaluation of EyeAR, a display with refocusable content based on user's eyes measurements. We carried out a user study to validate the prototype to verify that participants cannot distinguish between real and virtual objects. Participants looked at three pillars (one of which was virtual) placed at different distances from the user. They had to guess which pillar was the virtual one while freely refocusing. The results partially confirmed that our prototype creates virtual objects that are indistinguishable from real objects.
Multimodal human emotion/expression recognition

Recognizing human facial expression and emotion by computer is an interesting and challenging problem. Many have investigated emotional contents in speech alone, or recognition of human facial expressions solely from images. However, relatively little has been done in combining these two modalities for recognizing human emotions. L.C. De Silva et al. (1997) studied human subjects' ability to recognize emotions from viewing video clips of facial expressions and listening to the corresponding emotional speech stimuli. They found that humans recognize some emotions better by audio information, and other emotions better by video. They also proposed an algorithm to integrate both kinds of inputs to mimic human's recognition process. While attempting to implement the algorithm, we encountered difficulties which led us to a different approach. We found these two modalities to be complimentary. By using both, we show it is possible to achieve higher recognition rates than either modality alone.
Performance and Reliability Study of Single-Layer and Dual-Layer Platinum Nanocrystal Flash Memory Devices Under NAND Operation

Memory window (MW) and the retention of single-layer (SL) and dual-layer (DL) platinum (Pt) nanocrystal (NC) devices are extensively studied before and after program/erase (P/E) cycling. DL devices show better charge storage capability and reliability over the SL devices. Up to 50% improvement in the stored charge is estimated in the DL device over SL when P/E is performed at equal field. Excellent high temperature and postcycling retention capabilities of SL and DL devices are shown. The impact of the interlayer film (ILF) thickness on the retention of the DL structure is reported. While SL devices show poor P/E cycling endurance, DL cycling is shown to meet the minimum requirements of the multilevel cell (MLC) operation.
Characterization of carbonaceous aerosols in the Nagoya urban area. 2. Behavior and origin of particulate n-alkanes.

Measurements of concentrations, size distributions, and vapor-to-particle partitioning for n-alkanes in ambient aerosol were made in the Nagoya urban area. The average concentration of total particulate n-alkanes in the winter was roughly 5 times higher to that in the summer. The distribution profiles of particular n-alkanes in the summer showed a saw-tooth pattern (odd>even) in the range CZ 7 -C 35 . Ont the other hand, in the winter a nearly Gaussian distribution with a maximum around C 22 overlapped with the saw-tooth pattern. It was found that a major cause of the seasonal changes in the lower n-alkanes of the distribution profiles is not a change in fossil fuel emissions, but rather vapor-to-particle partitioning
Differential diagnosis of tumors and tumor-like lesions of liver in infancy and childhood.

INTRODUCTION TUMORS of the liver in infants and children are rare. When encountered by the clinician and pathologist, they provide problems in diagnosis as well as management. There are few sources of information regarding the general problem of liver tumors in infants and children and their surgical treatment. * The literature deals primarily with case reports or at most with reviews of specific tumors. An unusual opportunity for the study of this group of tumors was afforded incidental to the compilation of material from widely separate sources in preparation of the fascicle on tumors of the liver and intrahepatic bile ducts for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS The tumors are found in the main in patients under 2 years of age, and an abdominal mass noted either by the parents or physician constitutes the commonest initial finding. The mass is usually noted on the right side of the