Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment, by Transcription-Mediated Amplification, of Virologic Response in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Treated with Peginterferon α-2a

ABSTRACT Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) is an isothermal, autocatalytic target amplification method which has the potential to detect less than 50 hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA copies/ml (10 IU/ml). The TMA assay was used to assess the presence of residual HCV RNA in plasma from patients treated with polyethylene glycol-modified interferon α-2a (peginterferon α-2a) who showed a virologic relapse after the end of therapy. Stored end-of-treatment and end-of-follow-up plasma samples from 177 of 267 patients treated with peginterferon α-2a (S. Zeuzem et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 343:1666–1672, 2000) were available for retesting by TMA. Plasma samples from patients in the same study who exhibited virologic relapse after treatment with standard interferon α-2a served as controls. Virologic response during the trial was defined as HCV RNA that was undetectable using a PCR-based test system with a sensitivity of 50 IU/mL (Cobas Amplicor HCV version 2.0) and was compared with TMA-based retesting results (VERSANT HCV RNA Qualitative Assay). Residual HCV RNA was detected in 4 of 60 cases (7%) by the TMA technology in end-of-treatment plasma samples from patients who relapsed after receiving peginterferon α-2a and in 6 of 18 patients (33%) following therapy with standard interferon α-2a. For peginterferon α-2a-treated patients with sustained virologic response, HCV RNA was detectable by TMA in end-of-treatment samples in 3 of 78 cases but in none of the end-of-follow-up samples. For all end-of-treatment and end-of-follow-up plasma samples of virologic nonresponders, a complete concordance between the PCR-based assay and TMA was observed. In conclusion, in patients with virologic relapse after the end of therapy, according to PCR, who were treated with peginterferon α-2a or standard interferon α-2a, residual HCV RNA was detectable in end-of-treatment samples by the TMA-based assay in 7 or 33% of cases, respectively. The lower rate of residual HCV RNA detection by TMA for patients treated with peginterferon α-2a than that for patients treated with standard interferon α-2a may be due to the maintained antiviral pressure of the long-acting peginterferon α-2a at the end-of-treatment visit.
Reducing false-positives in multi-sensor dataset of landmines via sensor fusion regularization

In a post-war scenario, humanitarian demining is an important and dangerous task that consists in basically 4 phases: Scanning the terrain, detecting potential landmines, distinguishing what is a real landmine from other objects and removing the landmine. Scanning the terrain is usually done in small areas by using the human arm or a robotic arm before touching the object; detecting potential landmines is usually achieved by thresholding the sensor signal, removing the landmines are often achieved by blowing in place method. The biggest challenge is to distinguish the landmines from other objects, this step is normally achieved by touching the object with a pressure probe, but this approach is dangerous and time consuming, specially because the number of false-positives in such a detection is often very high, and one false-negative would be enough to cause a death or a bad injury. Thus, this paper focus on optimizing machine learning techniques to reduce the false positives of such detected objects.
Großporige Hämofiltration bei septischen Patienten im akuten Nierenversagen

Zirkulierende inflammatorische Mediatoren spielen eine zentrale Rolle in der Induktion und Unterhaltung eines septischen Multiorganversagens (MOV). Tritt im Rahmen eines septischen MOV ein akutes Nierenversagen auf, so wird der Einsatz einer Nierenersatztherapie notwendig. Kontinuierliche Nierenersatztherapieverfahren (CRRT) haben sich hier bewahrt. Der Einsatz von CRRT zur adjuvanten Therapie des septischen MOV ist in den neunziger Jahren aufgekommen. Grundlage bildet die Hypothese, dass durch die Reduktion von Spitzenpegeln pro- and anti-inflammatorischer Mediatoren im Blutplasma die Homoostase der Immunabwehr wiederhergestellt werden kann. Kommerziell erhaltlichen Hamofilter weisen aufgrund ihrer Konstruktion nur eine geringe Clearanceleistung fur inflammatorische Mediatoren auf. In Kooperation mit der Industrie (Gambro, Medical Research, Hechingen, Germany) entwickelten wir einen neuartigen, grosporigen Hamofilter fur den klinischen Einsatz. Der Hamofilter wurde konzipiert, um Molekule in einer Grose von bis zu 60 kD aus dem Blut septischer Patienten zu eliminieren. In einer ersten Pilotstudie wurde der Hamofilter auf seine klinische Verwendbarkeit untersucht. Untersucht wurde die hamodynamische Vertraglichkeit, der Verlust an Bluteiweisen und Gerinnungsfaktoren sowie die Effektivitat der Mediatorelimination am Beispiel von Interleukin-6 (IL-6) und Tumornekrosefaktor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Wir konnten zeigen, dass die grosporige Hamofiltrationstherapie ein sicheres und effizientes Nierenersatzverfahren darstellt. Es erwies sich als hamodynamisch vertraglich. Der kumulative Eiweisverlust lag bei 8 g/Tag. Signifikante Verluste an essentiellen Gerinnungsfaktoren wurden nicht beobachtet. Es zeigte sich zudem eine signifikante Filtration von im Blut zirkulierendem IL-6. Die Clearancekapazitat fur TNF-alpha war jedoch gering. In Folgestudien konnten wir zeigen, dass die grosporige Hamofiltration immunmodulatorische Eigenschaften ausubt. Sowohl die Phagozytose-Aktivitat zirkulierender polymorphkerniger Leukozyten und Monozyten, als auch die Proliferationseigenschaften von T-Lymphozyten wurden gunstig beeinflusst. Um den Verlust an Bluteiweisen durch den grosporigen Hamofilter zu reduzieren, wurden verschiedene Nierenersatzstrategien experimentiert. Der diffusive Stofftransport scheint dem konvektiven Verfahren hinsichtlich der Mediatorelimination, bei deutlich gunstigerem Effekt auf den Proteinhaushalt, gleichwertig zu sein. In wieweit die grosporige Hamofiltration den Krankheitsverlauf septischer Patienten beeinflussen kann, ist Gegenstand aktueller Studien.
Mining for energy efficiency in cement plants a teamwork approach

A team approach to identifying and implementing energy efficiency measures was used at a cement plant in California in order to identify and facilitate implementation of energy efficiency measures. A team of corporate, plant, utility, and energy efficiency experts was assembled to conduct a concentrated energy scoping study to identify efficiency opportunities. Much of the team has stayed involved over the subsequent years to help facilitate implementation of efficiency projects and maximize utility incentives, which offset a significant percentage of project costs. The cement manufacturing process is highly energy intensive. Energy can account for up to 40% of production costs. While solid fuels make up the largest amount of energy use, high electricity prices make electrical power the largest portion of actual energy costs. Energy efficiency initiatives cut these costs by reducing consumption and, in some cases, improve operational output. In the scoping study which was performed in 2007, the team identified eleven separate energy efficiency project ideas with 13,000 MWh of electrical savings opportunities. In the subsequent 3 years, a broad range of projects have been implemented, savings verified, and incentives earned from utility programs.
Immunohistochemical Expression of CD56 and ALDH1 in Common Salivary Gland Tumors

Introduction: Natural killer (NK) cells, of which CD56 is a specific marker, play an important role in host defense against tumors. Cancer stem cells, of which aldehyde dehydrogenase isoform 1 (ALDH1) is an immunohistochemical marker, are a group of tumorigenic cells which are involved in migration and tumor recurrences. We aimed to evaluate the expression of ALDH1 and CD56 in common salivary gland tumors, as well as their relationship with each other and with a number of clinicopathologic factors. Materials and Methods: Forty-five paraffin blocks of salivary gland tumors (pleomorphic adenoma, mucoepidermoid carcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma, 15 samples each) were selected. Malignant tumors were classified into two groups: low-grade (including mucoepidermoid carcinoma grade I) and high-grade (including mucoepidermoid carcinoma grade III and adenoid cystic carcinoma). Immunohistochemical staining for ALDH1 and CD56 markers was performed. Data were analyzed using SPSS (20) and the Chi-square test. Results: CD56 expression was significantly higher in benign and high-grade malignant tumors (P=0.01). ALDH1 overexpressed in all three salivary tumors, but not to statistically significant degree (P=0.54). There was no statistically significant correlation between ALDH1 and CD56 expression with demographic factors (age, gender, or location of tumor; P>0.05). Conclusion: It appears that the number of NK cells and their function change in different types of salivary gland tumors (benign/malignant) and stroma. NK cells are important components of the anti-tumor system; therefore immune dysfunction is associated with tumor progression in tumors of the salivary gland. ALDH1 overexpression suggests its role in tumorogenesis, but ALDH1 is not involved in the morphogenesis of salivary gland tumors.
Formation of Platelet-leukocyte Aggregates in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Objectives:Formation of platelet-leukocyte aggregates (PLAs) is increased in several inflammatory and thrombotic conditions. This may result from and enhance platelet and neutrophil activation and could contribute to the inflammatory process in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We investigated platelet-leukocyte aggregation in patients with IBD and its relation to treatment, disease activity and platelet and neutrophil activation. Methods:PLAs, platelet activation (P-selectin expression) and neutrophil activation (L-selectin expression) were assessed 30 and 180 minutes after drawing blood into EDTA/citrate-theophylline-adenosine and dipyridamole, a novel anticoagulant, using fluorescent antibodies to CD45 (for leukocytes), CD42a (for platelets), CD62P (P-selectin) and CD62L (L-selectin) and flow cytometry. Platelet activation was also measured using the ADVIA 120 hematology analyser. Results:Samples from 67 patients with IBD measured within 30 minutes had a higher platelet count (P < 0.001), more platelets expressing P-selectin (P = 0.01), and more PLAs (P < 0.01) than from 20 healthy controls and more PLAs (P < 0.05) than from 9 controls with inflammatory arthropathies. IBD patients on thiopurines had fewer PLAs than those not taking them (P < 0.05); corticosteroids and aminosalicylates had no such effects. Incubation for 180 minutes increased the number of platelets expressing P-selectin (P < 0.0001), and the number of PLAs (P < 0.0001). The PLAs correlated with the number of platelets expressing P-selectin before (r = + 0.40, P < 0.001) and after (r = + 0.66, P < 0.0001) incubation. Conclusions:The number of PLAs is higher in patients with IBD than in healthy and inflammatory controls, but their numbers are lowered by thiopurines. Increased PLA formation may in part be due to increased platelet activation and could be pathogenic in IBD.
BEGUM AND KARRAY : VISUAL ATTENTION FOR ROBOTIC COGNITION : A

The goal of the cognitive robotics research is to design robots with human-like cognition (albeit reduced complexity) in perception, reasoning, action planning, and decision making. Such a venture of cognitive robotics has developed robots with redundant number of sensors and actuators in order to perceive the world and act up on it in a human-like fashion. A major challenge to deal with these robots is managing the enormous amount of information continuously arriving through multiple sensors. The primates master this information management skill through their custom-built attention mechanism. Mimicking the attention behavior of the primates, therefore, has gained tremendous popularity in robotic research in the recent years (Bar-Cohen et al., Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robots, 2003, and B. Webb et al., Biorobotics, 2003). The difficulties of redundant information management, however, is the most severe in case of visual perception of the robots. Even a moderate size image of the natural scene generally contains enough visual information to easily overload the on-line decision making process of an autonomous robot. Modeling primates-like visual attention mechanism for the robot, therefore, is becoming more popular among the robotic researchers. A visual attention model enables the robot to selectively (and autonomously) choose a “behaviorally relevant” segment of visual information for further processing while relative exclusion of the others. This paper sheds light on the ongoing journey of robotics research to achieve a visual attention model which will serve as a component of cognition of the modern-day robots.
Data-Oblivious Algorithms for Privacy-Preserving Access to Cloud Storage

of “ Data-Oblivious Algorithms for Privacy-Preserving Access to Cloud Storage ” by Olga Ohrimenko, Ph.D., Brown University, May 2014 Cloud storage has emerged as the next generation of data storage where users can remotely store their data and leave its management to a third party, e.g., Amazon S3, Google Drive or Microsoft Azure. However, the fact that users no longer have physical possession of their data raises new challenges in terms of data privacy. Storing the data in encrypted form is a key component in maintaining privacy against the storage provider. However, encryption alone is not enough since information may be leaked through the pattern in which users access the data. In this thesis, we describe algorithms that allow data-oblivious access to remotely stored data. That is, access patterns of such algorithms depend only on the size of the outsourced data and algorithm input, but not their content. Hence, such algorithms reveal nothing about the data they are processing. We start by describing a general method that obliviously simulates user requests to outsourced data of size n and adds O(log n) overhead in the average case, succeeding with very high probability. This method assumes a private workspace of size O(n ) on the user side, for any given fixed positive constant , and does not maintain a state between data requests. We then show how to deamortize our method to achieve O(log n) overhead in the worst case. Our deamortization technique is general and can be applied to several existing oblivious simulations. The next oblivious simulation technique presented in this thesis improves over the O(log n) solution and demonstrates an interplay between system parameters such as latency, bandwidth, and the size of the user’s private memory. We show that if a user exchanges messages of size O(n log n) with the storage provider, for some constant c ≥ 2, and has access to private memory of the same size, then our method can achieve O(1) access overhead in the worst case with very high probability. Finally, we study application-specific access patterns and look at how to make them oblivious without using the general oblivious simulation methods mentioned above. In particular, we show how one can access and perform a computation in an oblivious fashion on an externally stored graph. We also show that a number of classic graph drawing algorithms can be efficiently implemented in this framework while maintaining user privacy.
Authentizität und Integrität von Teilnehmerdaten in sozialen Netzwerken ohne zentrale Organisationseinheit

Soziale Netzwerke decken ein breites Spektrum an Anwendungsfallen ab und bieten somit eine Vielzahl an Funktionen, bei denen die Teilnehmer mit ihrem sozialen Umfeld interagieren und mit anderen Informationen teilen konnen. Die dabei aufkommenden Informationen uber die Teilnehmer mussen teilweise erfasst und gespeichert werden, um die Funktionalitat und die Gebrauchstauglichkeit des sozialen Netzwerkes zu sichern und Missbrauch vorzubeugen. Dies jedoch hat den Nachteil, dass die entstandenen Daten und somit eine Reihe von Aktivitaten der Teilnehmer durch den Anbieter eines sozialen Netzwerkes beobachtet werden konnen. Um die Privatsphare der Teilnehmer zu schutzen oder auch um eine bessere Skalierbarkeit der sozialen Netzwerke zu erreichen, konzentrieren sich aktuelle Forschungsarbeiten auf die Dezentralisierung sozialer Netzwerke. Dies fuhrt zu neuen Herausforderungen, da die Aufgaben der zentralen Organisationseinheit auf mehrere Komponenten ver- teilt werden mussen. Eine dieser Aufgaben ist es, die Authentizitat und Integritat der Daten fur die Teilnehmer sicher zustellen. Die Vernachlassigung dieser beiden Schutzziele kann zu Missbrauch und verschiedenen Angriffen auf ein soziales Netzwerk und dessen Teilnehmer fuhren. Um an diese Problemstellung heranzugehen, soll innerhalb dieser Arbeit geklart werden, wann und welche Mechanismen fur die Erfullung der beiden Schutzziele in sozialen Netzwerken ohne zentrale Organisationseinheit geeignet sind. Hierfur werden die Angriffe zur Verletzung dieser beiden Schutzziele in soziale Netzwerken und der darunter liegenden Infrastruktur betrachtet. Des Weiteren wird geklart, welchen Einfluss die Dezentralisierung auf die die Teilnehmerdaten hat und was die relevanten Kriterien fur authentische Teilnehmerdaten sind.
Using Discrete-Event Simulation to Forecast the Volume of Hospital Emergency Services to be delivered at the Regional Level

This paper describes a discrete-event simulation model to estimate the volume of services to be provided by emergency departments located in one sub-region of Lower Silesia, the southernmost province in Poland. Forecasts of the predicted categories of services to be delivered in the following year in emergency departments in the region are formulated based on the simulated demand level. The process of input data analysis is described in detail, and basic assumptions for the simulation model are formulated. The results provide some insights into the relation between sub-regional demographic trends and population needs in relation to hospital emergency arrivals.
Potassium accumulation, partitioning, and remobilization in high-yield spring maize in Northeast China

Abstract Potassium (K) plays an important role in maize yield, but K accumulation characteristics in high yielding maize is still not well documented. A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the K accumulation characteristics of high yield (HY)（>15 t ha−1）spring maize compared with medium yield (MY)（10–15 t ha−1), and low yield (LY)（<10 t ha−1). The maximum K accumulation stage in maize appeared between V6 and V12 stage (LY, MY, and HY was 125.46, 138.05, and 146.22 kg ha−1, respectively). Most of the K (94.27–97.13%) was accumulated during vegetative stages. HY exhibited a significantly higher K accumulation than either MY or LY. For different organs, the K remobilization amount of leaf was the highest, and the remobilization amount of stalk was the lowest, the K remobilization amount of leaf and stalk showed as HY < MY < LY, same as the total K remobilization amount, but the K remobilization amount of sheath and husk plus cob showed the opposite order. These results indicated that sufficient nutrient supply for maize can not only accumulate more K but also delay leaf senescence and maintain high photosynthetic activity, resulting in reduced K remobilization from vegetative organs, and reduced K loss in whole plant.
Designing Low Parametric Sensitivity FWL Realizations of LTI Controllers/Filters within the Implicit State-Space Framework

The problem of Finite Word Length (FWL) implementation of Linear Time Invariant (LTI) filters or controllers is considered in this paper. A specialized implicit state-space representation enabling a macroscopic description of the algorithm to be implemented is exhibited. It constitutes a unifying framework to encompass various implementation form, such as q, δ, the observer-based and other realizations. This paper formalizes especially the problem consisting to analyze the parametric sensitivity of such realizations, and then to optimize them in order to limit deteriorations along the process of FWL implementation. The sensitivity of some structured realizations with respect to the coefficients involved and the computation effort are compared on an example.
High-Resolution Millimeter-Wave Digitally Controlled Oscillators With Reconfigurable Passive Resonators

Two new millimeter-wave digitally controlled oscillators (DCOs) that achieve a tuning range >10% and fine frequency resolution 1 MHz simultaneously are described. Switched metal capacitors distributed across a passive resonator tune the oscillation frequency. To obtain sub-MHz frequency resolution, tuning step attenuation techniques exploiting an inductor and a transformer are proposed. Two 60-GHz implementations, a fine-resolution inductor-based DCO (L-DCO) and a transformer-coupled DCO (T-DCO), are demonstrated in 90-nm CMOS. The phase noise of both DCOs is lower than -90.5 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset across 56-62 GHz. The T-DCO achieves a fine frequency tuning step of 2.5 MHz, whereas the L-DCO tuning step is over one order of magnitude finer at 160 kHz. The L-DCO and T-DCO consume 10 and 12 mA, respectively, from a 1.2-V supply. The size of each DCO core is 0.4 ×0.4 mm2.
Sentiment Spillover: Evidence from Two Environmental Disasters

This paper studies the spillover effects of sentiment facilitated by social connection following the outbreak of two environmental disasters. Utilizing individual-level survey data from Gallup and county-level social connectivity data from Facebook, the paper finds that residents who are residing in more socially connected counties report significantly lower level of sentiment on the month of the event, and the effect persists through the next month. The findings are robust to alternative hypotheses, such as possible ties other than social connection and differing set of observable characterisitcs that alters underlying distribution of respondents’ sentiments in different regions.
[Relationship between estrogen receptor and Graves' disease].

OBJECTIVE To study the relation of expression of estrogen receptor (ER) in thyroid tissues with Graves' disease (GD). METHODS ER was detected in the tissues of 40 patients with GD and 15 patients with normal thyroid by immunohistochemical method. Gene expression of ER was studied in frozen slides of 26 GD thyroids and 10 normal thyroids by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) together with image analysis system. RESULTS In immunohistochemical detection, the positive rate of ER in GD group was 70% (28/40), but 13.3% (2/15) in the control group (P < 0.01). The positive degree of ER in female with GD was higher than that in male with GD (P < 0.05). The positive rate of ER in the female GD group below 35 years was 85.0% (17/20) and 50% (5/10) in the female GD group above 35 years (P < 0.05). In FISH, the optical density (A) value of the female GD group was 30.14 +/- 10.74, and in the male GD group 21.06 +/- 7.71, but in the control group it was 16.91 +/- 5.30 (P < 0.01). The A value of the female GD group below 35 years was 33.85 +/- 10.10, and 23.24 +/- 7.48 in the female GD group above 35 years (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The increasing of ER content is related to the development of GD. Estrogen may be a promoting factor for GD. The sex and age differences in GD development are associated with the effects of estrogen and ER.
The incidence of gastroschisis: Is also increasing in Spain, particularly among babies of young mothers

EDITOR—Kilby drew attention to the increasing incidence of gastroschisis in the United Kingdom, particularly among babies of young mothers.1 This has also been shown by Donaldson and by Mastroiacovo et al (previous letter). 2 In the Spanish collaborative study of congenital malformations (ECEMC), an ongoing case-control study and surveillance system,3–5 we …