Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of MicroRNA in Cardiac Excitability

Cardiomyocytes are excitable cells that can generate and propagate excitations; excitability is a fundamental characteristic of these cells, which is reflected by action potential; the changes of transmembrane potential as a function of time; and orchestrated by ion channels, transporters, and cellular proteins. The electrical excitation evoked in muscles must be transformed into mechanical contraction through the so-called excitation-contraction coupling mechanism, and the proper contraction of cardiac muscles then drives pumping of blood to the body circulation. Arrhythmias are electrical disturbances that can result in irregular heart beating with consequent insufficient pumping of blood. Arrhythmias are often lethal, constituting a major cause for cardiac death, particularly sudden cardiac death, in myocardial infarction and heart failure. Recent studies have led to discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) as a new player in the cardiac excitability by fine-tuning expression of ion channels, transporters, and cellular proteins, which determines the arrhythmogenicity in many conditions. This review article will give a comprehensive summary on the data available in the literature. The basics of cardiac excitability will first be introduced, followed by a brief introduction to the basics of miRNAs. Then, studies on regulation of cardiac excitability by miRNAs will be described and analyzed. Finally, concluding remarks will be provided.
How to select suitable hepatocellular carcinoma for liver transplantation by preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The liver transplantation (LT) criteria for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is expanding. However, most of the existing criteria are based on tumor characteristics of radiology. We aimed to build a preoperative scoring model including the neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) to select HCC patients for LT. METHODOLOGY Using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis the sensitivity and specificity were highest when NLR was 3.79, so we defined NLR > 4 as elevated. By univariate and multivariate analysis, the significant predictors including NLR were used to establish a scoring model to predict outcome of HCC patients after LT. RESULTS Of 280 HCC patients, there were 114 patients with elevated NLR. The one-, three- and five-year recurrence-free survival rates of patients with high and low NLR were 64.9%, 30.1%, 30.1% vs. 83.9%, 62.9%, 60.7% (p < 0.001). On univariate and multivariate analysis, the raised NLR (p = 0.007), total tumor size > 9 cm (p < 0.001) and vascular invasion (p < 0.001) were the significant factors in predicting outcome. By ROC analysis, the patients with a score ≥ 1 had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.745. CONCLUSION This scoring model including NLR can aid in selecting HCC candidates for LT.
The Use of RBF Based on Fisher Ratio for Eddy Current Nondestructive Detecting System

Improved radial basis function (RBF) neural network is applied on eddy current nondestructive quantitative detecting. Owning to the disadvantages of OLS in network structure optimization, authors put forward using Fisher ratio method to optimize the RBF centers, orthogonal transform and forward selection search method are used to optimize structure. The result shows that the neural structure is simplified strongly, the converge precision and class separability is improved, and this method is satisfied to detect online.
Testing the flexibility of song type bout duration in the chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs


Many songbird species with small song type repertoires repeat each type a few times before switching to the next. Thus, their singing style may constrain their ability to switch. However, the proximate causation of song type switching is poorly understood. We exposed male chaffinches to (nonoverlapping) playbacks of single renditions of their own songs rather than a series of songs, thus stimulating them with a single external auditory event. The most prominent effect of the playback was an increase in the duration of the current song type bout. If the song type played back was different to that the subject was singing at the time, bout duration increased less than if it was of the same song type. The short-term changes induced by the playback suggest that the auditory input increases the motivational level for a particular song type. In the chaffinch this results in a delayed switch rather than in song type matching as a reaction to acoustic stimulation by conspecific song. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
[Chemistry of adrenal cortex hormones].

You have done me the great honour of awarding me a share of the Nobel possess no more than a layman's knowledge of either medicine or physiology. I hope, therefore, that you will not take it amiss if, in the following remarks, I have to make use of a number of chemical formulae that possibly not all of you understand. It is in this case the only adequate language. If a chemist wishes to do research on the isolation of physiologically active materials, he is dependent upon the collaboration of physiologists who assist him by controllin g t he grading through experimentation on animals. When I began my researches on adrenal extracts with my colleague Herr J. von but there were only relatively few quantitative methods to determine the activity of the extracts. There were really only three: (1) The survival test (carried out especially on rats) 7. (3) The Everse-de Fremery test (adynamia after brief muscular stimula-Of these, the dog test was the most sensitive and should also have given relatively accurate results, but it was not at our disposal. On the other hand, Tests 1 and 3 were available in laboratories with which we were on friendly terms. However, both methods require relatively large amounts of material. Hence the grading of extracts could only be controlled biologically in the * Owing to lack of time, only a brief survey of the chemistry of these substances can be given here, for which reason I shall report almost exclusively on our own work. There are reviews in existence which discuss this field more exactly and give the contributions of various research groups, moreover in correct chronological order 1-6 .
[Polymorphisms in the genes of cytochrome oxidase P450 2D6 (CYP2D6), paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) as risk factors for Parkinson's disease].

BACKGROUND/AIM The presence of Parkinson's disease (PD) among the members of a family is a clear indication of the significance of genetics in its development. In spite of that, the majority of patients with PD shows a sporadic form of the disease induced as a result of interaction of both environmental and genetic factors. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of polymorphisms in the genes of cytohrome P450 2D6(CYP2D6), paraoxonase 1 (PON 1) and apolipoprotein E (APOE), as risk factors for PD. METHODS We examined 106 patients with PD (65 men and 41 women) and 75 ethnically matched control subjects. The mean age at onset of PD in the patients was 46.9+/-9.4 years (ranging from 30 to 70 years). Genotyping was performed using standard PCR amplification and restriction endonuclease digestion protocols described for known polymorphism in the candidate genes under study. RESULTS The genotype A/A polymorphisms 2D6* gene of CYP2D6 and genotype M/M polymorphisms L54M gene of PON1 were significantly more frequent in the patients with PD than in the control group. The patients with genotypes A/A and M/M had 3.4 and 3.2 higher risk of PD, respectively than the control group (p = 0.01). The relation between genotypes A/A gene of CYP2D6 and M/M gene of PON1 was modified by the age at onset. The genotypes were associated with early onset of PD (P = 0.001, p = 0.004). The carriers of the A and M alleles in homozygote had 2.4 and 4.2 years respectively earlier onset of PD than carriers of other genotypes with these polymorphisms. The frequency allele e4 gene of APOE was higher in the PD patients with early onset (20%) than in PD with later onset (7.4%), while the genotype epsilon3/epsilon3 was associated with PD late onset (p = 0.024). Combined genotype I (carriers of the two risk allels in homozygote and one alleles risk in heterozygote) and combined genotype II (carriers of the three alleles risk in homozygote) caused early PD. Combined genotype II was detected in 12.7% of the patients in the group of early onset, and in 2.4% of the patients with the onset after 45 years. CONCLUSION The results of our study suggest that the genotypes A/A and M/M genes of CYP2D6 and PON1, and allele epsilon4 gene are an important risk for the development of PD, causing its early onset. The cumulative effects of the risk genes cause an early onset of PD.
g 8 Image Systems Simulation

Imaging systems are designed by a team of engineers, each with a different set of skills and expertise. The team members may work in separate organizations that specialize in different imaging system components, such as optical lenses, filters, sensors, processors, or displays. They may use different analytical tools and language to characterize the imaging component that they design. Engineering teams must make decisions together about the costs and benefits of a design change. Image systems simulations can enhance communication and collaboration between people with different types of expertise. A simulation environment helps engineers to (i) communicate effectively across different realms of expertise, (ii) predict the effect that changes to individual imaging components will have upon system performance, and (iii) experiment with new designs without incurring the cost of building a physical device. Image systems simulations make it possible to both visualize and quantify how changes in system components will influence image quality. For example, one can evaluate the effects that different optical and sensor components have upon image quality, or how these changes will impact image-processing algorithms. Moreover, simulations make it possible to evaluate the performance of an imaging system under conditions that are difficult to recreate in the laboratory, including high dynamic range images, low light level images, object or camera motion, and so forth. The importance of simulations has been recognized since the early days of imaging. For example, software simulations played a key role in the design and evaluation of the imaging system used in the first Mars Landing mission in the mid-1970s [1, 2]. Members of the engineering and scientific team that worked on this mission designed a spectrophotometric stereo imaging system that would capture and transmit data from an automated rover vehicle when it landed on Mars [1]. This team not only had to imagine the atmosphere, terrain and possible objects on Mars, but also had to anticipate problems that could arise from radiation
Hardware Implementation of Elliptic Curve Point Multiplication over GF(2 m ) for ECC protocols

The Elliptic Curve Cryptography covers all relevant asymmetric cryptographic primitives like digital signatures and key agreement algorithms. In the present work, we develop a design of elliptic curve operations over binary Fields GF(2 m ). The function used for this purpose is the scalar multiplication kP which is the core operation of ECCs. Wherek is an integer and P is a point on an elliptic curve. The EC Point multiplication processor defined in affine coordinates is achieved by using a dedicated Galois Field arithmetic implemented on FPGA using VHDL language.
A Social Network Analysis of Face Tracking in News Video

In the age of data processing, news videos are rich mines of information. After all, the news are essentially created to convey information to the public. But can we go beyond what is directly presented to us and see a wider picture? Many works already focus on what we can discover and understand from the analysis of years of news broadcasting. These analysis bring monitoring and understanding of the activity of public figures, political strategies, explanation and even prediction of critical media events. Such tools can help public figures in managing their public image, as well as support the work of journalists, social scientists and other media experts. News analysis can be also seen from the lens of complex systems, gathering many types of entities, attributes and interactions over time. As many public figures intervene in different news stories, a first interesting task is to observe the social interactions between these actors. Towards this goal, we propose to use video analysis to automatise the process of constructing social networks directly from news video archives. In this paper we are introducing a system deriving multiple social networks from face detections in news video. We present preliminary results obtained from analysis of these networks monitoring of the activity of more than a hundred public figures over a decade of the NHK news archives.
Identification of a nucleic acid‐binding region within the largest subunit of Drosophila melanogaster RNA polymerase II

The largest and the second‐largest subunit of the multisubunit eukaryotic RNA polymerases are involved in interaction with the DNA template and the nascent RNA chain. Using Southwestern DNA‐binding techniques and nitrocellulose filter binding assays of bacterially expressed fusion proteins, we have identified a region of the largest, 215‐kDa, subunit of Drosophila RNA polymerase II that has the potential to bind nucleic acids nonspecifically. This nucleic acid‐binding region is located between amino acid residues 309–384 and is highly conserved within the largest subunits of eukaryotic and bacterial RNA polymerases. A homology to a region of the DNA‐binding cleft of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I involved in binding of the newly synthesized DNA duplex provides indirect evidence that the nucleic acid‐binding region of the largest subunit participates in interaction with double‐stranded nucleic acids during transcription. The nonspecific DNA‐binding behavior of the region is similar to that observed for the native enzyme in nitrocellulose filter binding assays and that of the separated largest subunit in Southwestern assays. A high content of basic amino acid residues is consistent with the electrostatic nature of nonspecific DNA binding by RNA polymerases.
Killing the Golden Goose or Just Chasing it Around the Farmyard ? : Generic Entry and the Incentives for Early-Stage Pharmaceutical Innovation †

Over the last decade, generic penetration in the U.S. pharmaceutical market has increased substantially, providing significant consumer surplus gains. What impact has this rise in generic penetration had on the rate and direction of early stage pharmaceutical innovation? We explore this question using novel data sources and an empirical framework that models the flow of early-stage pharmaceutical innovations as a function of generic penetration, scientific opportunity, firm innovative capability, and additional controls. While the overall aggregative level of drug development activity has remained fairly stable, our estimates suggest a sizable, robust, negative relationship between generic penetration and early-stage pharmaceutical research activity within therapeutic markets. A 10% increase in generic penetration decreases early-stage innovations in the same market by 7.9%. This effect is weaker, but still economically and statistically significant in top therapeutic markets where an increase in generic penetration by 10% decreases the flow of early-stage innovations by 2.1%. Our estimated effects appear to vary across therapeutic classes in sensible ways, reflecting the differing degrees of substitution between generics and branded drugs in treating different diseases. Finally, we are able to document that with increasing generic penetration, firms in our sample are shifting their R&D activity to more biologicsbased (large-molecule) products rather than chemicals-based (small-molecule) products as evidenced in their early-stage pipelines. We conclude by discussing the potential implications of our results for longrun consumer welfare, policy, and innovation.
Anti-CD 3 Monoclonal Antibody Treatment of Patients with CD 3-Negative Tumors : A Phase IA / B Study 1

Anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies induce the proliferation of human I cells in vitro and activate specific and nonspecific cytolysis by human Tcell clones and human peripheral blood lymphocytes. In vivo administra tion of anti-CD,! prevents tumor growth of a UV-induced mouse fibro sarcoma. We conducted a phase I trial to determine the toxicity and immunomodulatory properties of low doses of anti-CD3 in 36 patients with cancer. In 23 patients, anti-CD3 was given i.v. over 3 h at 1, 10, 30, and 100 meg/patient. Five other patients received anti-CD3 at 30 meg by i.v. bolus. Patients were treated every 3 days for a total of four doses. An additional eight patients received anti-CD3 daily for 14 days at 3 meg by i.v. bolus, 3-h infusion, or 24-h infusion. Dose-limiting toxicity was headache. Headache was often accompanied by signs and symptoms of meningea! irritation leading to performance of a lumbar puncture in nine patients. The opening pressure was usually elevated, and six patients had a cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytosis with an elevated protein. Increased levels of interleukin 6 were identified in the cerebrospinal fluid. The maximum tolerated dose by 3-h infusion was 30 meg. There were no objective tumor responses. There was a dose-related increase in the number of peripheral blood lymphocytes expressing the T-cell activation antigen CD69 (Leu 23), but no changes were seen in CD2S (interleukin 2 receptor) expression, and no changes were observed in the serum levels of the soluble interleukin 2 receptor. Even at these low doses of antiCD,! , 8 of 16 patients tested developed human anti-mouse antibodies.
Fast and Effective Network Intrusion Detection Technique Using Hybrid Revised Algorithms

Intrusion is an abnormal malicious behavior in the network/ host. The intrusion detection using data mining techniques are very prevalent mechanism nowadays. This thesis work implements unique and hybrid architecture for Intrusion detection using new revised algorithm combinations. The new hybrid architecture for intrusion detection is named as H-RAID. The hybrid algorithms are selected from various analysis and research. The H-RAID includes (i). Sequential pattern analysis algorithms and (ii) Multi Class semi supervised SVM (support vector machine), which is a modified SVM with semi supervised nature. The proposed work reduces the training data collection risk. The system also facilitates different type of behavior detection strategies; hence it will find the types of attacks under IDS. Unlike prior intrusion detection approaches, this does not need the entire training dataset. This hybrid framework improved the existing algorithms, so it is significantly will produce higher results than the other algorithm in training and the detection speed, and have a high enhance of the detection rates of attacking sample. Index Terms – Data mining, Intrusion Classification System, Support Vector Machine, Pattern Mining.
Classification of Flowers based on Whorl Region

In this paper we propose a new method of classifying flowers using their whorl parts. Conventionally all the existing approaches classify flowers based on entire flower region. A flower image is segmented using color information obtained by HYPE's color specifier. The Gabor response of the segmented flower image is extracted and based on the Gabor response the whorl part of the flower is identified. The texture features viz., LeungMalik filter responses, Schmid filter responses, Maximum responses, Gabor responses are extracted from the identified whorl part and combinations of these four are considered in classification of flowers. In this work we used different classifiers viz., probabilistic neural network, K-nearest neighbor and generalized regression neural network. Further the comparative study made reveal that the model based on probabilistic neural network has better performance. For experimentation we have created our own dataset of 20 classes of flowers each with 20 samples. Experimentation results reveal that classification of flowers based on whorl region is superior than classification of flowers based on entire flower region.
Lower-Bound on Blocking Probability of a Class of Crosstalk-Free Optical Cross-Connects (OXCs)

A combination of horizontal expansion and vertical stacking of optical Banyan (HVOB) is the general architecture for building Banyan-based optical cross-connects (OXCs), and the intrinsic crosstalk problem of optical signals is a major constraint in designing OXCs. In this paper, we analyze the blocking behavior of HVOB networks and develop the lower bound on blocking probability of a HVOB network that is free of first-order crosstalk in switching elements. The proposed lower-bound is significant because it provides network designers an effective tool to estimate the minimum blocking probability they can expect from a HVOB architecture regardless what kind of routing strategy to be adopted. Our lower bound can accurately depict the overall blocking behavior in terms of the minimum blocking probability in a HVOB network, as verified by extensive simulation based on a network simulator with both random routing and packing routing strategies. Surprisingly, the simulated and theoretical results show that our lower bound can be used to efficiently estimate the blocking probability of HVOB networks applying packing strategy. Thus, our analytical model can guide network designers to find the tradeoff among the number of planes (stacked copies), the number of SEs, the number of stages and blocking probability in a HVOB network applying packing strategy.
Randomized controlled trial of yoga among a multiethnic sample of breast cancer patients: effects on quality of life.

PURPOSE This study examines the impact of yoga, including physical poses, breathing, and meditation exercises, on quality of life (QOL), fatigue, distressed mood, and spiritual well-being among a multiethnic sample of breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred twenty-eight patients (42% African American, 31% Hispanic) recruited from an urban cancer center were randomly assigned (2:1 ratio) to a 12-week yoga intervention (n = 84) or a 12-week waitlist control group (n = 44). Changes in QOL (eg, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy) from before random assignment (T1) to the 3-month follow-up (T3) were examined; predictors of adherence were also assessed. Nearly half of all patients were receiving medical treatment. RESULTS Regression analyses indicated that the control group had a greater decrease in social well-being compared with the intervention group after controlling for baseline social well-being and covariates (P < .0001). Secondary analyses of 71 patients not receiving chemotherapy during the intervention period indicated favorable outcomes for the intervention group compared with the control group in overall QOL (P < .008), emotional well-being (P < .015), social well-being (P < .004), spiritual well-being (P < .009), and distressed mood (P < .031). Sixty-nine percent of intervention participants attended classes (mean number of classes attended by active class participants = 7.00 +/- 3.80), with lower adherence associated with increased fatigue (P < .001), radiotherapy (P < .0001), younger age (P < .008), and no antiestrogen therapy (P < .02). CONCLUSION Despite limited adherence, this intent-to-treat analysis suggests that yoga is associated with beneficial effects on social functioning among a medically diverse sample of breast cancer survivors. Among patients not receiving chemotherapy, yoga appears to enhance emotional well-being and mood and may serve to buffer deterioration in both overall and specific domains of QOL.