Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in human carcinogenesis

A wide array of chronic inflammatory conditions predispose susceptible cells to neoplastic transformation. In general, the longer the inflammation persists, the higher the risk of cancer. A mutated cell is a sine qua non for carcinogenesis. Inflammatory processes may induce DNA mutations in cells via oxidative/nitrosative stress. This condition occurs when the generation of free radicals and active intermediates in a system exceeds the system's ability to neutralize and eliminate them. Inflammatory cells and cancer cells themselves produce free radicals and soluble mediators such as metabolites of arachidonic acid, cytokines and chemokines, which act by further producing reactive species. These, in turn, strongly recruit inflammatory cells in a vicious circle. Reactive intermediates of oxygen and nitrogen may directly oxidize DNA, or may interfere with mechanisms of DNA repair. These reactive substances may also rapidly react with proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, and the derivative products may induce a high perturbation in the intracellular and intercellular homeostasis, until DNA mutation. The main substances that link inflammation to cancer via oxidative/nitrosative stress are prostaglandins and cytokines. The effectors are represented by an imbalance between pro‐oxidant and antioxidant enzyme activities (lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione‐peroxidase), hydroperoxides and lipoperoxides, aldehydes and peroxinitrite. This review focalizes some of these intricate events by discussing the relationships occurring among oxidative/nitrosative/metabolic stress, inflammation and cancer. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evolutive Content-based Search System - Semantic Search System based on Case-based-Reasoning and Ontology Enrichment

The exponential growth of the data available on the Web requires more efficient search tools to find relevant information. In the context of the Semantic Web, ontologies improve the exploitation of Web resources by adding a consensual knowledge. However, the automation of ontology building is a hard problem. The exploitation of the users’ search feedback can aid to address that problem. In order to apply this solution, we present a semantic search system based on case-based-reasoning (CBR) and ontologies that automatically enriches the ontologies by using previous queries. In this paper we expose the contribution of CBR and ontologies in Semantic Web search. Some experiments on the system are presented, and the obtained results show an improvement on the precision of the Web search and ontology enrichment.
CD26-mediated signaling for T cell activation occurs in lipid rafts through its association with CD45RO

CD26 is a T cell activation antigen that contains dipeptidyl peptidase IV activity and is known to bind adenosine deaminase. The mechanism by which CD26 costimulation potentiates T cell receptor-mediated T cell activation, leading to subsequent exertion of T cell effector function, is still not clearly defined. In this article, we demonstrate that CD26 localizes into lipid rafts, and targeting of CD26 to rafts is necessary for signaling events through CD26. Importantly, aggregation of CD26 by anti-CD26 mAb crosslinking also causes coaggregation of CD45 into rafts. Moreover, we show that CD26 directly binds to the cytoplasmic domain of CD45. Our results therefore indicate a mechanism whereby CD26 engagement promotes aggregation of lipid rafts and facilitates colocalization of CD45 to T cell receptor signaling molecules p56Lck, ZAP-70, and TCRζ, thereby enhancing protein tyrosine phosphorylation of various signaling molecules and subsequent interleukin-2 production.
Design of singularity-robust and task-priority primitive controllers for cooperative manipulation using dual quaternion representation

This paper revises and extends the problem of robust singularity and joint limits avoidance to the cooperative task-space using unit dual quaternion framework — ensuring singularity-free coupled representation of the cooperative space. The research is paramount to cooperative control applications within flexible manufacturing systems and poorly structured environments where robustness and reactiveness play a significant role. Singularity-robust techniques are proposed to control cooperative task primitives while dynamically avoiding kinematic singularities for redundant and non-redundant cooperative task trajectories. A task self-motion, which uses the nullspace of the cooperative task, is also exploited to avoid joint limits or singularities and to define task-priority controllers. Simulated and experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed singularity-robust and task-priority primitive controllers and the usefulness of singularity-robust solutions and joint limits avoidance in the cooperative task-space.
Practices and attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine in inflammatory bowel disease: a survey of gastroenterologists

Abstract Background: Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly prevalent among patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We sought to characterize the practices and attitudes of IBD physician providers toward CAM. Methods: A web-based survey was sent to non-trainee physician members of the American Gastroenterological Association with an interest in IBD. The survey included multiple-choice and Likert scale questions which queried physician perceptions of CAM and their willingness to discuss CAM with patients. Results: The vast majority of respondents (80%) considered themselves IBD subspecialists with 75% holding academic appointments. Nearly a third reported initiating conversations on CAM in the majority of their patient interactions, while 90% perceived that a majority of their patients were reluctant to bring up the topic of CAM. Nearly three quarters (72%) of respondents felt comfortable discussing CAM, while those that did not most frequently cited lack of knowledge as the reason. More than half (55%) stated they had no systematic approach to discussing CAM. Most gastroenterologists (65%) reported no formal training in CAM. Most gastroenterologists had recommended use of probiotics, and nearly half had recommended acupuncture. A vast majority believed that there was adjunctive role for CAM in treatment of IBD. Conclusions: Academic IBD specialists were receptive to the use of CAM, and most felt that it had a role in the treatment of IBD, without necessarily compromising conventional therapy. Formal educational initiatives and societal recommendations on the use of CAM may facilitate a more systematic approach to its use in daily practice.
Hardware/Software Codesign of a Low-Cost Rate Control Scheme for H.264/AVC

This paper presents a low-complexity rate control (RC) framework for H.264/advanced video coding (AVC) encoders on embedded systems. We consider not only the rate-distortion performance but also its implementation complexity using an efficient hardware/software codesign. The proposed cost-effective macroblock level RC module works in hardware, and the frame-level RC is executed on the system CPU as software. It is less complex than the RC module adopted by H.264/AVC JM reference software, making it more suitable for embedded systems. Experiment results show that the proposed RC outperforms H.264/AVC JM, and the hardware implementation cost is low for an H.264/AVC video encoder.
What is the role of narrowband UVB in the treatment of psoriasis?

Take as our patient, the chronic plaque/guttate sufferer who has failed (for a variety of acceptable reasons) to respond to conventional topical therapy and is considered suitable, even keen, for outpatient phototherapy (broadband or TL-01 narrowband) or photochemotherapy (PUVA). Here I suggest we leave to one side the issue of remuneration and consider only the patient’s short and long-term interests. Which of these forms of therapy should we choose and why? It is worth recording the reason narrowband TL-01 (Tube Lamp 01) source was developed initially as an experimental lamp in the early 1980s. Study of the most effective wavelengths required to treat psoriasis demonstrated that the shorter, more erythemogenic and carcinogenic waveband component of traditional broadband sources (TL-12, FS60, UV6) had no therapeutic effect. So, why not do without it? It was this question that encouraged Dutch workers to approach Philips to manufacture and market the novel phosphor TL-01 lamp (1). Following the normal clinical therapeutic research sequence, an initial run of open TL-01 studies (mostly European in origin) has been superseded by the higher quality of evidence produced through randomised controlled, blinded methodology. Although this phase has some way to go, with significant gaps in our knowledge still to be clarified, it is fair to point out that the same situation surprisingly also applies to our knowledge of the long established broadband UVB sources.
Simplified analysis of a PWM-controlled parallel resonant inverter for electronic ballast applications

In this paper, the fundamental approximation, combined with a time-varying phasor transformation is applied to obtain the envelope model of an LCp resonant inverter, controlled by the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique. The resulting model removes the high frequency component while keeping the useful information contained in the waveform envelopes. The method provides large and small-signal Spice compatible models in a straightforward manner. The inverter is controlled at constant switching frequency by the duty cycle parameter. The explicit form of the small-signal transfer function from the duty cycle, D, to the output variable is obtained by neglecting the effect of the parallel capacitor Cp. The proposed PWM control exhibits a wide bandwidth suitable for applications such as control of gaseous discharges. Experimental results are given using a 400 W high pressure sodium lamp as load.
Supervised adaptive downsampling for P300-based brain computer interface

To realize Brain Computer Interface, a recording electroencephalogram (EEG) and determining whether or not P300 is evoked by the presented stimulus have become increasingly important. Using the machine learning method for this classification is effective, but constructing feature vectors with all data points might result in very high-dimensional data. Because such redundant features are undesirable from the viewpoint of computation and classification performance, EEG has been downsampled in several studies. In the present study, we propose a new downsampling method aiming at the improvement of P300 classification accuracy. In particular, each single trial EEG is segmented at non-uniform intervals and then averaged in each segment. The segmentation is decided in such a way that the degree of separating two classes from training data is increased by applying a time series segmentation algorithm. Our experiment using the BCI Competition III P300 Speller paradigm data set demonstrated that our method resulted in higher accuracy than traditional downsampling methods.
Analysis of perception and adaptation to climate change in the Nile basin of Ethiopia

This study employed the Hickman probit model to analyse the twostep process of adaptation to climate change, which initially requires farmer’s perception that climate is changing and then responding to changes through adaptation. The analysis of perception of farmers to climate change revealed that age of the household head; wealth, information on climate change, social capital and agro ecological settings have significant impact on the perception of farmers to climate change. Moreover, the analysis of factors affecting adaptation to climate change indicates that education of the head of the household, household size, gender of the head of the household being male, livestock ownership and extension on crop and livestock production, availability of credit and temperature have positive and significant impact on adaptation to climate change. Additionally, the main barriers to adaptation identified include lack of information on adaptation methods and financial constraints to using the methods.
Thresholds for the detection of inharmonicity in complex tones.

Thresholds were measured for the detection of inharmonicity in complex tones. Subjects were required to distinguish a complex tone whose partials were all at exact harmonic frequencies from a similar complex tone with one of the partials slightly mistuned. The mistuning which allowed 71% correct identification in a two-alternative forced-choice task was estimated for each partial in turn. In experiment I the fundamental frequency was either 100, 200, or 400 Hz, and the complex tones contained the first 12 harmonics at equal levels of 60 dB SPL per component. The stimulus duration was 410 ms. For each fundamental the thresholds were roughly constant when expressed in Hz, having a mean value of about 4 Hz (range 2.4-7.3 Hz). In experiment II the fundamental frequency was fixed at 200 Hz, and thresholds for inharmonicity were measured for stimulus durations of 50, 110, 410, and 1610 ms. For harmonics above the fifth the thresholds increased from less than 1 Hz to about 40 Hz as duration was decreased from 1610-50 ms. For the lower harmonics (up to the fourth) threshold changed much less with duration, and for the three shorter durations thresholds for each duration were roughly a constant proportion of the harmonic frequency. The results suggest that inharmonicity is detected in different ways for high and low harmonics. For low harmonics the inharmonic partial appears to "stand out" from the complex tone as a whole. For high harmonics the mistuning is detected as a kind of "beat" or "roughness," presumably reflecting a sensitivity to the changing relative phase of the mistuned harmonic relative to the other harmonics. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A quantitative study of the growth of connective tissue: investigations on implanted polyester-polyurethane sponges.

A total of 57 male, 3-month old rats each received 6 implants in the subcutis of the back, each implant consisting of a PVC tube with two polyester-polyurethane sponges. After 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12 and 16 weeks, the tubes were removed and the sponges were subjected to morphological, morphometric, chemical (DNA and collagen) autoradiographical and radiochemical examination.On the basis of the test results, it was established that in the particular form of induced tissue growth chosen three phases can bs distinguished: in the first phase which lasts till the end of the first week after implantation, an exudative inflammation arises. This is measurable by the high percental proportion of neutrophile granulocytes and the 3H-thymidine indices of the proliferating cells. The second phase, which lasts from the 2nd to the 4th week, was defined as the reparative phase. After the 4th week, we had a model of a chronic proliferative inflammation. At this time, and continuing until the end of the test period, the label.
AGE FACTOR IN EPILEPSY. A SUMMARY AND SYNTHESIS.

THE brain is usually considered to be a structure. One does not intuitively recognize that structure depends on biochemical processes and that the development of structure and its maintenance are biochemical. Significant alterations occur when, and only when, biochemical processes are altered. The slowly changing, geometrically stable portions of the total biochemical system provide the optical and mechanical properties to which the term structure is attached. Function is the term applied to the changeable, highly unstable portions of the biochemical system. Viewed from a molecular level, structure and function differ only in the spacing of atoms, the arrangement of charges .
Lipoabdominoplastia: redução das complicações em cirurgias abdominais

INTRODUCAO: As deformidades esteticas e funcionais do abdome sempre representaram um grande desafio na Cirurgia Plastica. Em busca de solucoes para estes problemas, foi desenvolvida a abdominoplastia, que ao longo dos anos vem apresentando modificacoes e aperfeicoamentos, buscando melhores resultados esteticos e funcionais, com menores indices de complicacoes. A lipoabdominoplastia, desenvolvida em 2000 por Saldanha e publicada em 2001, quando esse termo foi utilizado pela primeira vez na literatura mundial, representa uma opcao segura para a associacao da lipoaspiracao a abdominoplastia. A tecnica e baseada na preservacao dos vasos perfurantes abdominais, ramos das epigastricas profundas superiores e inferiores. METODO: Foi comparada a incidencia de complicacoes nas abdominoplastias classicas e a lipoabdominoplastias realizadas no periodo de janeiro de 1979 a 30 de junho de 2010, na Clinica Saldanha, em Santos - SP. DISCUSSAO: O descolamento seletivo entre as bordas dos musculos reto abdominais, preconizado pela tecnica, promove diminuicao da area de descolamento do retalho e preserva os vasos perfurantes da parede abdominal, responsaveis por 80% do suprimento sanguineo da regiao e, consequentemente, diminui o sangramento e os riscos de hematoma, de isquemia e necrose do retalho. CONCLUSAO: Associando a abdominoplastia com a lipoaspiracao e preconizando um descolamento seletivo com preservacao dos vasos perfurantes, e possivel obter melhores resultados esteticos favoraveis, alem de menor morbidade pos-operatoria e reducao da taxa de revisoes cirurgicas.
Comment on “Abiotic Pyrite Formation Produces a Large Fe Isotope Fractionation”

Guilbaud et al. (Reports, 24 June 2011, p. 1548) suggest that the geologic record of Fe isotope fractionation can be explained by abiological precipitation of pyrite. We argue that a detailed understanding of the depositional setting, mineralogy, and geologic history of Precambrian sedimentary rocks indicates that the Fe isotope record dominantly reflects biological fractionations and Fe redox processes.
CBR-based collaborative interface agents: architectural issues

Abstract: Case based reasoning (CBR) methodology is increasingly used for the development of collaborative interface agents. Almost all-existing CBR based collaborative interface agents are implemented according to the thin client model where the CBR engine is executed on a central server to whom the distant clients (agents) are connected. Such an architecture suffers from a number of well known drawbacks such as poor response time, low dependability, but also poor privacy protection features. To overcome drawbacks of the above-mentioned architecture, some distributed alternatives have been proposed in the CBR literature. However we are not aware of any work that presents a methodological comparison study of possible distributed CBR application architectures. This paper aims at filling this gap.
Collaborative learning in multicultural classrooms: a case study of Dutch senior secondary vocational education

This research presents a descriptive study regarding collaborative learning in a multicultural classroom at a vocational education school in The Netherlands. The study bridges two domains of research: research on culturally diverse learning environments – which has mostly concerned primary and general secondary education – and studies on collaborative learning. It analyzes current practices and perceptions of both teachers and students applying collaborative learning in a culturally diverse, competence-based learning environment. The results suggest that in a multicultural classroom, students, on the one hand, are mostly focused on their individual performance, resulting in poor collaboration among classmates. On the other hand, teachers seem unaware of their own role in affecting students’ behavior and the influence of the cultural backgrounds of students on collaborative learning processes.
PWM Converter Power Density Barriers

Power density of power electronic converters in different applications has roughly doubled every 10 years since 1970. Behind this trajectory was the continuous advancement of power semiconductor device technology allowing an increase of converter switching frequencies by a factor of 10 every decade. However, today's cooling concepts, and passive components and wire bond interconnection technologies could be major barriers for a continuation of this trend. For identifying and quantifying such technological barriers this paper investigates the volume of the cooling system and of the main passive components for the basic forms of power electronics energy conversion in dependency of the switching frequency and determines switching frequencies minimizing the total volume. The analysis is for 5 kW rated output power, high performance air cooling, advanced power semiconductors, and single systems in all cases. A power density limit of 28 kW/dm3@300 kHz is calculated for an isolated DC-DC converter considering only transformer, output inductor and heat sink volume. For single-phase AC-DC conversion a general limit of 35 kW/dm3 results from the DC link capacitor required for buffering the power fluctuating with twice the mains frequency. For a three-phase unity power factor PWM rectifier the limit is 45 kW/dm3@810 kHz just taking into account EMI filter and cooling system. For the sparse matrix converter the limiting components are the input EMI filter and the common mode output inductor; the power density limit is 71 kW/dm3@50 kHz when not considering the cooling system. The calculated power density limits highlight the major importance of broadening the scope of research in power electronics from traditional areas like converter topologies, and modulation and control concepts to cooling systems, high frequency electromagnetics, interconnection technology, multi-functional integration, packaging and multi-domain modeling and simulation to ensure further advancement of the field along the power density trajectory.
Gastrointestinal mucosal injury in experimental models of shock, trauma, and sepsis

Background and MethodsThe mucosa of the GI tract serves as an important barrier limiting the systemic absorption of luminal microbes and microbial products. Two methods commonly used to assess the integrity of the GI mucosal barrier are assessment of the extent of microbial translocation and measurement of mucosal permeability to hydrophilic probes. ResultsStudies using these methods have provided convincing evidence that the barrier function of the intestinal mucosa is deranged in numerous animal models of shock, trauma, and sepsis. ConclusionsAlthough the mechanisms underlying mucosal injury under these circumstances remain incompletely understood, current evidence suggests that mucosal damage in shock, trauma, and sepsis is likely due to various combinations of intracellular hypoxia due to ischemia, tissue injury caused by reactive oxygen metabolites, the deleterious effects of various lipid mediators (e.g., platelet-activating factor) and/or cytokines (e.g., tumor necrosis factor), and deficient utilization or supply of key nutritional substrates (e.g., glutamine).
Competitività orizzontale e verticale nel ciclismo professionistico: alcune riflessioni sul circuito pro tour

1. La recente evoluzione delle forme organizzative del ciclismo professionistico - 2. Il Pro Tour: aspetti organizzativi, strategie ed obiettivi della lega chiusa - 3. Competitivita verticale e orizzontale all’interno del Pro Tour: alcune evidenze - Conclusioni