Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of heparan sulfate domain organization in endostatin inhibition of endothelial cell function

The anti‐angiogenic activity of endostatin (ES) depends on interactions with heparan sulfate (HS). In the present study, intact HS chains of ≥15 kDa bound quantitatively to ES whereas N‐sulfated HS decasaccharides, with affinity for several fibroblast growth factor (FGF) species, failed to bind. Instead, ES‐binding oligosaccharides composed of mixed N‐sulfated and N‐acetylated disaccharide units were isolated from pig intestinal HS. A 10/12mer ES‐binding epitope was identified, with two N‐sulfated regions separated by at least one N‐acetylated glucosamine unit (SAS‐domain). Cleavage at the N‐acetylation site disrupted ES binding. These findings point to interaction between discontinuous sulfated domains in HS and arginine clusters at the ES surface. The inhibitory effect of ES on vascular endothelial growth factor‐induced endothelial cell migration was blocked by the ES‐binding SAS‐domains and by heparin oligosaccharides (12mers) similar in length to the ES‐binding SAS‐domains, but not by 6mers capable of FGF binding. We propose that SAS‐domains modulate the biological activities of ES and other protein ligands with extended HS‐binding sites. The results provide a rational explanation for the preferential interaction of ES with certain HS proteoglycan species.
Decidability and incompleteness results for first-order temporal logics of linear time

ABSTRACT The question of axiomatizability of first-order temporal logics is studied w.r. t. different semantics and several restrictions on the language. The validity problem for logics admitting flexible interpretations of the predicate symbols or allowing at least binary predicate symbols is shown to be Π1 1-complete. In contrast, it is decidable for temporal logics with rigid monadic predicate symbols but without function symbols and identity.
Genetic Time Travel

At its core, genetics is a historical discipline. Mutations are passed on from generation to generation and accumulate as a result of chance as well as of selection within and between populations and species. However, until recently, geneticists were confined to the study of present-day genetic variation and could only indirectly make inferences about the historical processes that resulted in the variation in present-day gene pools. This “time trap” has now been overcome thanks to the ability to analyze DNA extracted from ancient remains, and this is about to revolutionize several aspects of genetics.
The Prognostic Inflammatory and Nutritional Index in traumatized patients receiving enteral nutrition support.

This study examines the value of the Prognostic Inflammatory and Nutritional Index (PINI), first proposed by Ingenbleek and Carpentier in 1985,1 as a clinical assessment tool in critically ill traumatized patients. The PINI combines measurements of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), α1-acid glycoprotein (AAG), prealbumin (PA), and albumin (ALB) concentrations to produce a single score. The hypothesis is that this assessment system will be more complete because it takes into account changes in inflammatory response markers and, therefore, may be superior to other predictive indices.This study included 15 critically ill trauma patients receiving enteral nutrition support. Patients were placed on a nutritionally complete formula providing 1.4 g of protein/kg per day and 32 kcal/kg per day 8 ± 3 days after injury and were maintained on this diet for 19 ± 8 days. The PINI decreased significantly (p < .05) from 186 ± 202 at baseline to 116 ± 86 on day 4 and 27 ± 40 on day 14. Nitrogen balance increased significant.
[Study on distribution of safflor yellow A in tissues of mice].

AIM To study the distributive character of safflor yellow A in mice. METHODS A RP-HPLC method for the determination of safflor yellow A in tissues was established and applied to determine safflor yellow A in biological samples. RESULTS After iv injection of Safflor yellow A in mice, the AUC of safflor yellow A was hightest in plasma, followed by kidney, liver, lung, heart, spleen. But it was not found in the brain. CONCLUSION The distribution of safflor yellow A in the body is abroad and the speed of its process is swift.
Quantum point contact model of filamentary conduction in resistive switching memories

The quantum point contact (QPC) model, originally developed to model the conduction after soft and hard breakdown events in thin-oxide MOS devices, is applied to resistive random access memories (RRAM). The QPC model is based on the idea that the conducting filament (CF) behaves as a quantum wire and it is shown to adequately describe the conduction in the low-resistance state (LRS) and in the high-resistance state (HRS). These two regimes show linear and nonlinear current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, respectively. In the LRS, the CF shows metallic conduction properties and the signature of conductance quantization. In the HRS, the conduction is linear at low and high enough voltages, and it is strongly nonlinear in the transition between these two linear regimes. After showing that the model is adequate for both the LRS and the HRS, the QPC picture is used to provide a compact model for the whole dynamic switching cycle of CF-based RRAM devices and memristors.
Epidemiology and control and curable sexually transmitted diseases: opportunities and problems.

BACKGROUND Despite the availability of safe and effective treatment, infection with bacterial sexually transmitted diseases persists at a high prevalence in many populations. GOAL To review the difficulties of parameter estimation when a cure is readily available and to explore the impact of different treatment and screening strategies that might maximize the benefits of using available treatments. STUDY DESIGN A standard deterministic model for the spread of a bacterial sexually transmitted disease that causes symptomatic and asymptomatic infections, in which the population is stratified according to sex and sexual activity, is further stratified into two host groups to enable the modeling of different treatment and screening strategies. RESULTS In the presence of a core group, if an infection has a high transmission probability, then screening for asymptomatic infections has a short-lived benefit. Repeated screening is slightly better if it is not restricted to a fraction of the at-risk population, but targeting of high-risk groups should be effective. Screening to treat asymptomatic infections in men could be beneficial if a substantial fraction of cases remain asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS After the initial gains achieved through treating symptomatic infections, further reductions in the prevalence of infections can be achieved by finding asymptomatic infections. However, these gains are difficult to achieve, especially in the case of gonorrhea. Because men are likely to have an asymptomatic chlamydial infection, screening of men for chlamydia should be worthwhile.
DETERMINATION OF SERUM MALONDIALDEHYDE LEVELS IN SHEEP NATURALLY INFECTED WITH DICROCOELIUM DENDRITICUM

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of serum malondialdehyde levels in sheep naturally infected with Dicrocoelium dendriticum. Serum malondialdehyde activity was measured in 20 sheep that were naturally infected with D.dendriticum. These sheep were selected to examination of bile ducts and gall bladder after slaughtering. Scores were obtained for the positives and 17 D.dendriticum negative healthy controls. The difference between malondialdehyde levels of sheep infected with D.dendriticum and control group was statistically significant (P<0.001). In conclusion that malondialdehyde levels clearly increase in sheep infected with D.dendriticum.
Two Faces of Attractiveness

Psychological research shows clearly that average faces are attractive. Faces generally become more attractive when they are blended (morphed) with other faces (Langlois & Roggman, 1990) or when they are distorted toward the population average (Rhodes & Tremewan, 1996), and natural variations in averageness strongly predict attractiveness (Halberstadt, 2006; Light, Hollander, & Kayra-Stuart, 1981; Rhodes, Sumich, & Byatt, 1999). Rarely has a psychological phenomenon been demonstrated to be so robust; indeed, to our knowledge, no published study has indicated that averaging produced a face that was less attractive than the original faces from which it was generated.
Ontology-Based Social Media Analysis for Urban Planning

This paper reports a social media analysis studyproposed by the Beijing Municipal Institute of Urban Planningand Design. The purpose is to explore techniques that can help theurban planning administrations to improve the social sensing andsocial perception abilities under the evolving data and technologyenvironments. A framework integrating a comprehensive set oftext mining algorithms is presented to conduct topic modeling, text clustering, event evolution detection, sentiment analysis, opinion mining, and information extraction on user-generatedcontents in Chinese social media. A domain ontology of Beijingurban planning is constructed to facilitate the text mining processes. Evaluations on two large, real-world datasets composed ofmicroblogs and WeChat articles about the residential communityand school education in Beijing demonstrate the effectiveness ofour framework. The study illustrates the power of combiningmachine learning with knowledge-based, semantic approaches inanalyzing social media for the domain of interest.
Terrain generation using an Interactive Genetic Algorithm

This paper introduces the Auto Terrain Generation System (ATGS), which is based on an Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) that enables non-specialist users to rapidly generate terrains. The motivation for using an IGA is discussed, existing terrain generation techniques are described and a new approach, based on a fractal terrain engine, is outlined. Graphics engines allow terrains to be specified with over 800 floating point parameters, which can overwhelm non-specialist users. These parameters also create a vast search space for auto-terrain generation systems that can complicate procedural techniques. ATGS addresses these issues via interaction with the user, which is implemented in ATGS by a web based user interface that allows users to rapidly indicate terrain preferences. These user preferences are used by a genetic algorithm to explore a multi-dimensional parameter space that satisfies the user's intuition and aesthetics. Proof of concept experiments are outlined, results are presented and future research work is projected.
Visualization of Nuclei in Aspergillus oryzae with EGFP and Analysis of the Number of Nuclei in Each Conidium by FACS

Aspergillus oryzae has been reported to form conidia with multinuclei. In order to analyze nuclei in living cells, we developed an expression system of the A. nidulans histone H2B protein tagged by EGFP (H2B::EGFP). In both A. oryzae niaD300 and A. nidulans FGSC89 transformants expressing H2B::EGFP, fluorescence was detected in nuclear regions of hyphae and conidia. While a conidium contained only one fluorescent spot in the A. nidulans transformant, approximately 66% of conidia had two, 24% had one, and 10% had three or more in the A. oryzae transformant. The conidia expressing H2B::EGFP were put through FACS(fluorescence-activated cell sorting) analysis and two sharp peaks, corresponding to one and two nuclei in each conidium, were noted in the A. oryzae transformant. In addition, the A. oryzae uninucleate conidia that were successfully isolated by FACS reproduced conidia with almost the same number distribution of nuclei as that of the original. Conidia of five A. oryzae strains used in sake brewing were scored for the number of nuclei, showing that a varied number of nuclei existed in each conidium and some strains had a small number of uninucleate conidia.
Comparison of MRI and CT for detection of acute intracerebral hemorrhage.

CONTEXT Noncontrast computed tomography (CT) is the standard brain imaging study for the initial evaluation of patients with acute stroke symptoms. Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as an alternative to CT in the emergency stroke setting. However, the accuracy of MRI relative to CT for the detection of hyperacute intracerebral hemorrhage has not been demonstrated. OBJECTIVE To compare the accuracy of MRI and CT for detection of acute intracerebral hemorrhage in patients presenting with acute focal stroke symptoms. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS A prospective, multicenter study was performed at 2 stroke centers (UCLA Medical Center and Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, Md), between October 2000 and February 2003. Patients presenting with focal stroke symptoms within 6 hours of onset underwent brain MRI followed by noncontrast CT. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Acute intracerebral hemorrhage and any intracerebral hemorrhage diagnosed on gradient recalled echo (GRE) MRI and CT scans by a consensus of 4 blinded readers. RESULTS The study was stopped early, after 200 patients were enrolled, when it became apparent at the time of an unplanned interim analysis that MRI was detecting cases of hemorrhagic transformation not detected by CT. For the diagnosis of any hemorrhage, MRI was positive in 71 patients with CT positive in 29 (P<.001). For the diagnosis of acute hemorrhage, MRI and CT were equivalent (96% concordance). Acute hemorrhage was diagnosed in 25 patients on both MRI and CT. In 4 other patients, acute hemorrhage was present on MRI but not on the corresponding CT--each of these 4 cases was interpreted as hemorrhagic transformation of an ischemic infarct. In 3 patients, regions interpreted as acute hemorrhage on CT were interpreted as chronic hemorrhage on MRI. In 1 patient, subarachnoid hemorrhage was diagnosed on CT but not on MRI. In 49 patients, chronic hemorrhage, most often microbleeds, was visualized on MRI but not on CT. CONCLUSION MRI may be as accurate as CT for the detection of acute hemorrhage in patients presenting with acute focal stroke symptoms and is more accurate than CT for the detection of chronic intracerebral hemorrhage.
Speed and Profile of the Arterial Peripheral Chemoreceptors as Measured by Ventilatory Changes in Preterm Infants

ABSTRACT: To measure the response time of the peripheral chemoreceptors, we studied 13 preterm infants [birth weight 1602 ± 230 g (mean ± SEM); gestational age 31 ± 1 wk; postnatal age 15 ± 1 d] during inhalation of 21% O2 (15 ± 5 s) followed by 100% O2 (1 min). We used a flow-through system to measure ventilation and gas analyzers to measure alveolar gases. Hypoventilation was observed at 3.6 ± 0.6 s and was maximal at 6.8 ± 1 s after O2 began. This maximal response was always associated with an apnea (>3 s). Alveolar Po2 increased from 13.5 ± 0.1 kPa (101 ± 0.8 torr) (control) to 28.0 1.2 kPa (210 ± 9 torr) (1st O2 breath), to 42.0 ± 2.4 kPa (315 ± 18 torr) (1st hypoventilation), to 45.9 ± 4.1 kPa (344 ± 31 torr) (breath preceding maximal response), and to 53.6 ± 4.1 kPa (402 ± 31 torr) (at maximal response). Minute ventilation was 0.192 ± 0.011 (control), 0.188 ± 0.011 (1st O2 breath), 0.088 ± 0.016 (1st hypoventilation; p < 0.0001), 0.122 ± 0.016 (breath preceding maximal response; p < 0.0002), and 0.044 ± 0.011 L/min/kg at maximal response (p < 0.0001). This decrease in ventilation was due to a decrease in frequency with no appreciable change in tidal volume. The initial period of hypoventilation (19 ± 4 s) was followed by a breathing interval (10 ± 2 s) and a second period of hypoventilation (14 ± 3 s) before continuous breathing resumed. These findings suggest that the peripheral chemoreceptors in these infants have a high baseline activity and a fast response time.
The symbiotic defect of Rhizobium meliloti exopolysaccharide mutants is suppressed by lpsZ+, a gene involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis

exo mutants of Rhizobium meliloti SU47, which fail to secrete acidic extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), induce Fix- nodules on alfalfa. However, mutants of R. meliloti Rm41 carrying the same exo lesions induce normal Fix+ nodules. We show that such induction is due to a gene from strain Rm41, which we call lpsZ+, that is missing in strain SU47. lpsZ+ does not restore EPS production but instead alters the composition and structure of lipopolysaccharide. In both SU47 and Rm41, either lpsZ+ or exo+ is sufficient for normal nodulation. This suggests that in R. meliloti EPS and lipopolysaccharide can perform the same function in nodule development.
GANosaic: Mosaic Creation with Generative Texture Manifolds

This paper presents a novel framework for generating texture mosaics with convolutional neural networks. Our method is called GANosaic and performs optimization in the latent noise space of a generative texture model, which allows the transformation of a content image into a mosaic exhibiting the visual properties of the underlying texture manifold. To represent that manifold, we use a state-of-the-art generative adversarial method for texture synthesis, which can learn expressive texture representations from data and produce mosaic images with very high resolution. This fully convolutional model generates smooth (without any visible borders) mosaic images which morph and blend different textures locally. In addition, we develop a new type of differentiable statistical regularization appropriate for optimization over the prior noise space of the PSGAN model.
Flexibilidade na utilização de Diesel ou Biodiesel: uma abordagem via Opções Reais

RESUMO: Este trabalho abordara o desenvolvimento do Biodiesel como combustivel de fontes renovaveis na matriz energetica brasileira. Em especial sera abordada a flexibilidade de utilizacao entre o Diesel tradicional de origem petrolifera e o Biodiesel de origem vegetal. Assim, nosso objetivo e avaliar a flexibilidade existente entre o Diesel mineral e o Biodiesel. Para tanto, utilizaremos uma abordagem via opcoes reais, no qual a escolha do combustivel para abastecimento e modelada como uma sequencia de opcoes europeias. Estas “Switch Input Real Options” geram valor ao projeto e minimizam riscos associados a falta de oferta de energia, outro problema recorrente em nossa realidade.Por fim, sera comentado o potencial de ganho no agregado para um pais como o Brasil, com um modal de transportes predominantemente rodoviario e dependente do Diesel.
Frequency and determinants of drug administration errors in the intensive care unit*

Objective The study aimed to identify both the frequency and the determinants of drug administration errors in the intensive care unit. Design Administration errors were detected by using the disguised-observation technique (observation of medication administrations by nurses, without revealing the aim of this observation to the nurses). Setting Two Dutch hospitals. Patients The drug administrations to patients in the intensive care units of two Dutch hospitals were observed during five consecutive days. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results A total of 233 medications for 24 patients were observed to be administered (whether ordered or not) or were observed to be omitted. When wrong time errors were included, 104 administrations with at least one error were observed (frequency, 44.6%), and when they were excluded, 77 administrations with at least one error were observed (frequency, 33.0%). When we included wrong time errors, day of the week (Monday, odds ratio [OR] 2.69, confidence interval [CI] 1.42–5.10), time of day (6–10 pm, OR 0.28, CI 0.10–0.78), and drug class (gastrointestinal, OR 2.94, CI 1.48–5.85; blood, OR 0.12, CI 0.03–0.54; and cardiovascular, OR 0.38, CI, 0.16–0.90) were associated with the occurrence of errors. When we excluded wrong time errors, day of the week (Monday, OR 3.14, CI 1.66–5.94), drug class (gastrointestinal, OR 3.47, CI 1.76–6.82; blood, OR 0.21, CI 0.05–0.91; and respiratory, OR 0.22, CI 0.08–0.60), and route of administration (oral by gastric tube, OR 5.60, CI 1.70–18.49) were associated with the occurrence of errors. In the hospital without full-time specialized intensive care physicians (which also lacks pharmacy-provided protocols for the preparation of parenteral drugs), more administration errors occurred, both when we included (OR 5.45, CI 3.04–9.78) and excluded wrong time errors (OR 4.22, CI 2.36–7.54). Conclusions Efforts to reduce drug administration errors in the intensive care unit should be aimed at the risk factors we identified in this study. Especially, focusing on system differences between the two intensive care units (e.g., presence or absence of full-time specialized intensive care physicians, presence or absence of protocols for the preparation of all parenteral drugs) may help reduce suboptimal drug administration.
Towards a Game-theoretic Framework for Intelligent Cybersecurity Alert Allocation ?

In recent years, there have been a number of successful cyber attacks on enterprise networks by malicious actors. These attacks generate alerts which must be investigated by cyber analysts to determine if they are an attack. Unfortunately, there are magnitude more alerts than cyber analysts a trend expected to continue into the future creating a need to find optimal assignments of the incoming alerts to analysts in the presence of a strategic adversary. We address this challenge with the four following contributions: (1) a cyber allocation game (CAG) model for the cyber network protection domain, (2) an NP-hardness proof for computing the optimal strategy for the defender, (3) techniques to find the optimal allocation of experts to alerts in CAG in the general case and key special cases, and (4) heuristics to achieve significant scale-up in CAGs with minimal loss in solution quality.
Developmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (Aroclor 1254) reduces circulating thyroid hormone concentrations and causes hearing deficits in rats.

Developmental hypothyroidism causes growth deficits, motor dysfunction, and hearing disorders in humans and animals. Therefore, environmental toxicants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), may secondarily affect these endpoints via thyrotoxicity. In this study, Long-Evans rats were given Aroclor 1254 (po), at 0, 1, 4, or 8 mg/kg from Gestation Day 6 through Postnatal Day (PND) 21. We evaluated the offspring at various age intervals for circulating thyroid hormone concentrations [thyroid-stimulating hormone, and free and total triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxin (T4)], body weight, eye opening, survival, motor activity development, auditory startle response, and auditory thresholds. Circulating T4 concentrations were sharply reduced in a dose-dependent fashion in PCB-exposed groups at PND 1, 7, 14, 21, and 30 but recovered to control levels by PND 45. Moderate reductions in T3 concentrations were apparent in the 4 and 8 mg/kg groups on PND 21 and 30. Deficits in body weight gain and early eye opening were apparent in the treated pups; by weaning, pup mortality was 20% in the 4 mg/kg group and 50% at the highest dose. Motor activity was also transiently reduced in 15 day old offspring from the 8 mg/kg group. At this dose, animals showed reduced auditory startle amplitudes at PND 24, but not when tested as adults. Importantly, Aroclor 1254 caused permanent auditory deficits (20-30 dB threshold shift) at the lowest frequency tested (1 kHz) in both the 4 and 8 mg/kg groups, whereas auditory thresholds were not significantly affected at higher frequencies (4, 16, 32, or 40 kHz). These data indicate that while some effects of Aroclor 1254 exposure are dissimilar to drug-induced hypothyroidism (e.g., age of eye opening), effects on hormone levels and body weight are comparable. Detection of auditory deficits in PCB-treated animals is a novel finding and may reflect the effects of thyroid hormone disruption on the development of the cochlea.