Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thrombogenicity of the Injured Vessel Wall – Role of Antithrombin and Heparin

Summary The thrombogenicity of the vessel wall after endothelial denudation is partly explained by an impaired inhibition of thrombin on the subendothelium. We have previously reported that thrombin coagulant activity can be detected on the vessel wall after balloon injury in vivo. The glycosaminoglycans of the subendothelium differ from those of the endothelium and have a lower catalyzing effect on antithrombin III, but inhibition of thrombin can still be augmented by addition of antithrombin III to the injured vessel surface. In this study the effect of antithrombin III and heparin on thrombin coagulant activity on the vessel wall was studied after in vivo balloon injury of the rabbit aorta using biochemical and immunohistochemical methods and thrombin was analysed after excision of the vessel. Continuous treatment with heparin, lasting until sacrifice of the animal, or treatment with antithrombin III resulted in significant reduction of thrombin coagulant activity on the injured aorta. Heparin given only in conjunction with the injury did not prevent thrombin coagulant activity or deposition of fibrin on the surface. The capacity of the injured vessel wall to inhibit thrombin in vitro was improved on aortic segments obtained from animals receiving antithrombin III but not from those given heparin. It is concluded that treatment with antithrombin III interferes with thrombin appearance on the vessel wall after injury and thereby reduces the risk for thrombosis.
Speech Enhancement Through an Optimized Subspace Division Technique

The speech enhancement techniques are often employed to improve the quality and intelligibility of the noisy speech signals. This paper discusses a novel technique for speech enhancement which is based on Singular Value Decomposition. This implementation utilizes a Genetic Algorithm based optimization method for reducing the effects of environmental noises from the singular vectors as well as the singular values of a noise-corrupted speech. The presented article also reviews the existing algorithms for subspace division and carries out extensive sets of experiments to clearly show the efficiency of the proposed method in comparison with the other superior speech enhancement approaches.
Susceptibilities of Campylobacter jejuni Isolates from Germany to Ciprofloxacin, Moxifloxacin, Erythromycin, Clindamycin, and Tetracycline

ABSTRACT To elucidate Campylobacter jejuni resistance to antibiotics in Germany, MICs of ciprofloxacin, moxifloxacin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline were determined (using agar dilution) for 144 clinical isolates. The data indicate a considerable ciprofloxacin resistance (45.1%) without a clonal relationship of the strains and a greater in vitro activity of moxifloxacin, erythromycin, and clindamycin.
Construction of a Dual Chain Pseudotetrameric Chicken Avidin by Combining Two Circularly Permuted Avidins*

Two distinct circularly permuted forms of chicken avidin were designed with the aim of constructing a fusion avidin containing two biotin-binding sites in one polypeptide. The old N and C termini of wild-type avidin were connected to each other via a glycine/serine-rich linker, and the new termini were introduced into two different loops. This enabled the creation of the desired fusion construct using a short linker peptide between the two different circularly permuted subunits. The circularly permuted avidins (circularly permuted avidin 5 → 4 and circularly permuted avidin 6 → 5) and their fusion, pseudotetrameric dual chain avidin, were biologically active, i.e. showed biotin binding, and also displayed structural characteristics similar to those of wild-type avidin. Dual chain avidin facilitates the development of dual affinity avidins by allowing adjustment of the ligand-binding properties in half of the binding sites independent of the other half. In addition, the subunit fusion strategy described in this study can be used, where applicable, to modify oligomeric proteins in general.
Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere

The global contiguity of life on the Earth today is a result of the high flux of carbon and oxygen from oxygenic photosynthesis over the planetary surface and its use in aerobic respiration. Life’s ability to directly use redox couples from components of the planetary lithosphere in a pre-oxygenic photosynthetic world can be investigated by studying the distribution of organisms that use energy sources normally bound within rocks, such as iron. Microbiological data from Iceland and the deep oceans show the kinetic limitations of living directly off igneous rocks in the lithosphere. Using energy directly extracted from rocks the lithosphere will support about six orders of magnitude less productivity than the present-day Earth, and it would be highly localized. Paradoxically, the biologically extreme conditions of the interior of a planet and the inimical conditions of outer space, between which life is trapped, are the locations from which volcanism and impact events, respectively, originate. These processes facilitate the release of redox couples from the planetary lithosphere and might enable it to achieve planetary-scale productivity approximately one to two orders of magnitude lower than that produced by oxygenic photosynthesis. The significance of the detection of extra-terrestrial life is that it will allow us to test these observations elsewhere and establish an understanding of universal relationships between lithospheres and life. These data also show that the search for extra-terrestrial life must be accomplished by ‘following the kinetics’, which is different from following the water or energy.
Alteration of wing size through over-expression of scribbler isoforms

scribbler was identified as a genetic modifier of the Drosophila tumor suppressor gene Merlin. Loss of Merlin results in hyperplasia in a number of different epithelial tissues including the wing and eye imaginal discs, however loss of scribbler does not. The lack of an overt proliferation sbb phenotype has complicated the mechanistic link between sbb and Merlin. Scribbler encodes two novel transcriptional repressors which function in numerous processes including axon guidance and pattern formation within the wing. While the two sbb isoforms have some redundant functions over-expression of two sbb isoforms within the wing show distinct and opposite effects. Over-expression of the smaller SbbA isoform results in a larger wing, while over-expression of larger SbbB isoform results in a smaller wing with defects in venation. Co-expression of sbb isoforms ameliorates the effects of expression of either isoform alone, suggesting that a balance between the express of each scribbler isoform is required to ensure proper size of the wing.
A retention signal necessary and sufficient for Golgi localization maps to the cytoplasmic tail of a Bunyaviridae (Uukuniemi virus) membrane glycoprotein

Members of the Bunyaviridae family mature by a budding process in the Golgi complex. The site of maturation is thought to be largely determined by the accumulation of the two spike glycoproteins, G1 and G2, in this organelle. Here we show that the signal for localizing the Uukuniemi virus (a phlebovirus) spike protein complex to the Golgi complex resides in the cytoplasmic tail of G1. We constructed chimeric proteins in which the ectodomain, transmembrane domain (TMD), and cytoplasmic tail (CT) of Uukuniemi virus G1 were exchanged with the corresponding domains of either vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV G), chicken lysozyme, or CD4, all proteins readily transported to the plasma membrane. The chimeras were expressed in HeLa or BHK-21 cells by using either the T7 RNA polymerase-driven vaccinia virus system or the Semliki Forest virus system. The fate of the chimeric proteins was monitored by indirect immunofluorescence, and their localizations were compared by double labeling with markers specific for the Golgi complex. The results showed that the ectodomain and TMD (including the 10 flanking residues on either side of the membrane) of G1 played no apparent role in targeting chimeric proteins to the Golgi complex. Instead, all chimeras containing the CT of G1 were efficiently targeted to the Golgi complex and colocalized with mannosidase II, a Golgi-specific enzyme. Conversely, replacing the CT of G1 with that from VSV G resulted in the efficient transport of the chimeric protein to the cell surface. Progressive deletions of the G1 tail suggested that the Golgi retention signal maps to a region encompassing approximately residues 10 to 50, counting from the proposed border between the TMD and the tail. Both G1 and G2 were found to be acylated, as shown by incorporation of [3H]palmitate into the viral proteins. By mutational analyses of CD4-G1 chimeras, the sites for palmitylation were mapped to two closely spaced cysteine residues in the G1 tail. Changing either or both of these cysteines to alanine had no effect on the targeting of the chimeric protein to the Golgi complex.
IS-IS Extensions Supporting IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging

802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) has been standardized by the IEEE as the next step in the evolution of the various spanning tree and registration protocols. 802.1aq allows for true shortest path forwarding in a mesh Ethernet network context utilizing multiple equal cost paths. This permits it to support much larger Layer 2 topologies, with faster convergence, and vastly improved use of the mesh topology. Combined with this is single point provisioning for logical connectivity membership, which includes point-to-point, point-to- multipoint, and multipoint-to-multipoint variations. This memo documents the IS-IS changes required to support this IEEE protocol and provides some context and examples. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
Lithium and suicide in mood disorders: Updated meta‐review of the scientific literature

Suicide and suicidal behaviour are increased in mood disorders, particularly bipolar disorders. Observational studies and small randomized controlled trials (RCTs) support the idea that taking lithium is associated with a reduction in these rates. This paper aims to review the best evidence for the effect of lithium on rates of suicide and self harm.
Histogram Clustering and Hybrid Classifier for Handwritten Arabic Characters Recognition

Segmentation of the handwritten Arabic characters is still one of the most difficult problems to develop a reliable Arabic OCR. This paper presents a complete Arabic OCR system that uses histogram clustering method for the segmentation of the Arabic word. This method gives the ability to process different user styles, and manages the variability of pen strokes. Also, a new algorithm for separating overlapped characters was proposed to support the proposed technique for segmentation. The feature extraction process was based on a combination between the PCA network and characters geometric features. A classifier for hundred of Arabic character images was designed using a decision tree induction algorithm, and MLP network. A segmentation correctness of 96% was achieved while the recognition rate of the whole system was 91.5%.
Current status and clinical impact of pediatric endoscopy in Korea.

BACKGROUND/AIMS In pediatrics, endoscopic examination has become a common procedure for evaluation of gastrointestinal presentations. However, there are limited data on pediatric endoscopy in Korea. The aim of this study was to analyze the current status and clinical impacts of endoscopic examination in children and adolescents. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of outpatients who visited the tertiary hospital. Patients under 18 years of age who underwent endoscopy were included. Endoscopic findings were classified as specific and normal based on gross findings. Specific endoscopic findings were reflux esophagitis, peptic ulcers, and Mallory-Weiss tear. Other findings included acute gastritis classified according to the updated Sydney system. RESULTS In 722 of 330,350 patients (0.2%), endoscopic examination (554 esophagogastroduodenoscopies [EGDs], 121 colonos-copies, 47 sigmoidoscopies) was performed between January 2008 and January 2013. In EGD, abdominal pain was the most frequent presentation (64.1%). The most common diagnosis was gastritis (53.2%), followed by reflux esophagitis. The frequency of peptic ulcer disease was 12.8%. Frequent symptoms leading to colonoscopic examination were abdominal pain, diarrhea, and hematochezia. In colonoscopy, a negative result was more likely in children younger than 7 years old. After the procedure, the diagnostic yield of EGD and colonoscopy was 88.1% and 45.8%, respectively, and the rate of change in management was 67.1%. CONCLUSIONS In pediatrics, endoscopic examination was useful for the choice of therapeutic strategy and it would be a standard method for evaluation of gastrointestinal presentation.
A 4GHz clock distribution architecture using subharmonically injection-locked coupled oscillators with clock skew calibration in 16nm CMOS

We propose a new approach to an on-chip clock distribution scheme. It is based on distributed multi-GHz LC-tank oscillators generating local clocks. The oscillators are mutually coupled to align their frequencies and are further subharmonically injection-locked to a much lower frequency reference to align their phases. The final phase calibration is via adjusting their self-resonant frequencies. We demonstrate the scheme with two 4GHz digitally controlled oscillators (DCO) separated by 650um on a 16nm CMOS die, mutually coupled via a differential transmission line and injection-locked to a 125MHz reference. The proposed architecture achieves a sub-ps calibrated skew with 87fs rms jitter while consuming 4.3mW, resulting in −258dB clock FOM (jitter2 × power).
Optimal Scheduling for Electric Vehicle Charging under Variable Maximum Charging Power

The large-scale integration of electric vehicles (EVs) into power systems is expected to lead to challenges in the operation of the charging infrastructure. In this paper, we deal with the problem of an aggregator coordinating charging schedules of EVs with the objective of minimizing the total charging cost. In particular, unlike most previous studies, which assumed constant maximum charging power, we assume that the maximum charging power can vary according to the current state of charge (SOC). Under this assumption, we propose two charging schemes, namely non-preemptive and preemptive charging. The difference between these two is whether interruptions during the charging process are allowed or not. We formulate the EV charging-scheduling problem for each scheme and propose a formulation that can prevent frequent interruptions. Our numerical simulations compare different charging schemes and demonstrate that preemptive charging with limited interruptions is an attractive alternative in terms of both cost and practicality. We also show that the proposed formulations can be applied in practice to solve large-scale charging-scheduling problems.
Simple , Fast and Scalable Parallel Algorithms for Shared Memory ( Thesis Proposal )

To ease the transition into the multicore/manycore era, shared-memory programming must be made more natural and accessible to the community. Furthermore, shared-memory algorithms need to be fast and scalable in order to quickly process large data. In this proposed thesis we will study techniques for simplifying parallel programming and allowing users to easily write efficient and scalable algorithms. Our work will consist of (1) designing a benchmark suite which allows for head-to-head comparisons of parallel languages and architectures for given problems, (2) developing methods for writing deterministic parallel programs to simplify programming and debugging, (3) developing a useful primitive for reducing memory contention on shared-memory multicore machines, (4) building a simple framework for implementing efficient large-scale shared-memory graph algorithms and (5) designing efficient and scalable string processing algorithms. We describe how each portion of our work fits into our overall goal of simplifying the task of writing fast and scalable parallel programs.
Motion planning for hybrid UAVs in dense urban environments

Many hybrid UAVs capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and fixed-wing flight are being introduced for their maneuverability, efficiency and high cruise speed. The benefits of these systems can be exploited effectively using task planning frameworks tailored to their unique properties. To address this need, we present a motion planning strategy for these hybrid UAVs in cluttered urban settings. After dividing the flight into three phases of takeoff, cruise and landing, we solve each of the ensuing motion planning problems using Stable Sparse RRT motion planner. We employ a Dubin's vehicle based model because it offers a balanced trade-off between computational simplicity and accurate simulation of real-world behavior. Simulation experiments conducted in a dense urban setting (downtown Chicago) show the efficacy of our approach.
Aging in place : From theory to practice

The rapid aging of many Western societies has compelled policymakers and professionals to develop concepts, programs, and services to meet the complex and diverse needs of their elderly populations, in particular the segment of older persons who are frail, chronically ill, and functionally disabled. Aging-in-place has become a key and guiding strategy in addressing and meeting the needs of older people. This paper discusses the multifaceted aspects of aging-in-place and presents an ecological approach to understanding the interaction between the individual and her or his environment and its impact on agingin-place. Community care and its components are discussed, examples of programs that reflect aging-in-place and community care are presented, and problems of fragmentation between services are highlighted. The paper concludes with challenges that societies have to confront in order to enable their aging populations to age-in-place.
COMPARISON OF TEACHER EFFICACY AMONG TRADITIONALLY AND ALTERNATIVELY CERTIFIED AGRICULTURE TEACHERS

The shortage of qualified teachers in agricultural education has led to the hiring of uncertified teachers to fill vacancies. Many states have resorted to alternative certification routes to fill the need for teachers. In Florida, alternatively certified teachers represent over half of all new teachers in agricultural education. This situation has created uncertainty about the status of agricultural education in Florida and provided the motivation for this study. The purpose of this study was to describe traditionally and alternatively certified Florida agriculture teachers, compare their perceptions of teacher efficacy, and examine the relationship between teaching experience and teacher efficacy. Data analysis found that traditionally and alternatively certified teachers differed in age, education level, agricultural occupational experience, and gender and ethnic proportions. Comparison of teachers’ self-efficacy found no notable difference between the two groups. Results also showed a low positive association existed between agriculture teaching experience and teacher efficacy. Suggestions for future research include the need for replication of the study with other beginning teachers, increased recruitment of underrepresented populations into teacher preparation programs, and investigation of the curriculum and teaching practices of traditionally and alternatively certified teachers as they may impact teachers’ perceptions of efficacy and student achievement.
New, heuristic, percolation criterion for continuum systems.

A heuristic criterion is introduced and applied for derivation of percolation thresholds in continuum systems. The criterion is comprehensive in the sense that it applies to systems with diverse bonding criteria as well as to systems with a correlated distribution of sites. Its usefulness is manifested by the excellent quantitative agreement between the values obtained and available Monte Carlo data
Cryptographic Primitives Can Be Fragile

We show that a well-known coin-flipping protocol is breakable in the sense that one of the parties can pre-determine the result of the coin-flip. The way in which the protocol fails is illustrative of subtle ways in which a protocol designer may combine secure cryptographic primitives such as one-way functions and encryption in a way that produces an insecurecryptographic protocol.
Interactions between colour and luminance contrast in the perception of motion

It has been demonstrated widely that at isoluminance moving chromatic stimuli arc seen to be stationary or moving more slowly than their luminance counterparts. We have examined the effect on perceived velocity of adding luminance contrast to an isoluminant chromatic stimulus. We show that mount; luminance contrast ‘captures’ colour so that a combined colour and luminance stimulus is seen moving as a unified percept. However, in the presence of colour contrast, significantly higher levels of luminance contrast are required to achieve a veridical velocity than for monochromatic stimuli with only luminance contrast. We show that this interactive effect between colour and luminance contrast cannot be fully explained by a threshold masking of luminance by colour contrast. The effect suggests that a breakdown in the veridical perception of velocity should be expected for colours with a wide range of associated luminance contrasts and not just for those at the point of isoluminance.
Causes of Misdiagnosis and Mistreatment of Spinal Tuberculosis With Radiotherapy in Nonendemic Areas: A Pitfall in Diagnosis and Treatment: Hazards of Radiotherapy on the Tuberculous Lesion

Study Design. Report of initially misdiagnosed and mistreated cases. Objectives. To report a previously undescribed misdiagnosis and subsequent mistreatment with radiation for tuberculosis of the spine and to promote awareness for tuberculosis in nonendemic areas. Summary of Background Data. It is not seldom that radiation therapy is provided for suspected malignant spinal lesions without histologic confirmation. Literature is not available on harmful effects of radiation therapy for tuberculosis of the spine. Methods. Clinical case analysis for initial misdiagnosis and mistreatment, analysis of subsequent clinical course. Results. Two patients received radiotherapy on spinal lesions of suspected malignant origin. In both patients, the lesions were of tuberculous origin and the lesions increased during radiotherapy. In Case 2, the paraplegia did not heal. Conclusion. In cases of a spinal lesion of unknown origin, tuberculosis should always be considered. Adequate biopsy for cultures and histology is mandatory. Radiotherapy locally aggravates tuberculous spinal lesions.
Languages that Capture Complexity Classes

We present a series of operators of apparently increasing power which when added to first-order logic produce a series of languages in which exactly the properties checkable in a certain complexity class may be expressed. We thus give alternate characterizations of most important complexity classes. We also introduce reductions appropriate for our setting: first-order translations, and a restricted, quantifier free version of these called projection translations. We show that projection translations are a uniform version of Valiant’s projections, and that the usual complete problems remain complete via these very restrictive reductions.