Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tacalcitol Ointment for Long-Term Control of Chronic Plaque Psoriasis in Dermatological Practice

Background: Various studies have shown the benefit of topical vitamin D3 analogues in the treatment of mild to moderate plaque psoriasis. Objective: Assessment of the efficacy, tolerability and safety of tacalcitol ointment in the long-term treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis in daily dermatological practice. Design and Methods: In this open, multicentre, clinical phase IV study with a pre/post comparison design, 157 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis were included. Patients showing chronic plaque psoriasis, covering 7–20% of their body area, were treated with tacalcitol ointment (4 µg/g, Curatoderm®) once daily and were assessed at baseline and monthly during the 6-month treatment period. The efficacy parameter psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) and total body surface involvement were assessed at each visit. Laboratory parameters were assessed at the beginning and at the end of the study. Adverse events were recorded at each visit. Results: The mean PASI score decreased by 67%, and a marked reduction in sum scores of erythema, infiltration and desquamation was detected. The body area affected declined by 33% from 13.3 to 8.8%. There were no changes in laboratory parameters, and no case of hypercalcaemia was observed. No serious adverse events occurred during the study period. The recorded local side-effects were usually transient and mainly mild. Conclusion: Tacalcitol ointment is safe, well tolerated and provides a further option for patients with psoriasis up to 20% body surface affected. Tacalcitol treatment can be recommended as effective therapy for long-term control of chronic plaque psoriasis in dermatological practice.
Human Identification Using Foot Features Prof

The goal of this paper is to investigate a new technique for human identification using foot features. This work can be mainly decomposed into image preprocessing, feature extraction and pattern recognition by Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Foot images are rarely of perfect quality. To obtain good minutiae extraction in foot with varying quality, we conducted preprocessing in form of image enhancement and binarization . To extract features from human foot based on shape geometry of foot boundaries by extracting 16 geometric features from a human foot image. The foot center has been determined, and then the distances between the center point and outer points are measured with different angles . The angles are from 30 ̊ to 360 ̊ by increment with 30 ̊ gradual. The 13th feature that can be extracted is the length of a foot which is defined as the distance between the top point of the foot and the bottom point. The 14th, 15th and 16th are three major features the width of the foot. The first width is passing through center point, therefore, the second widths of foot is measured from the upper part above the center point and third width from the region the center point under the center point at the bottom of the foot. Euclidean distance is used in the proposed system. Artificial Neural network used for recognition. MATLAB version 8.1(R2013a) and windows 7 with 32 bit is used to build the application and performed on pc of core i3 processor, and our test system on 40 persons, results were satisfactory up to more 92.5%.
Day‐to‐day Variation of Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes: Role of Gender and Menstrual Cycle

The aim of the present study was to compare the day‐to‐day variations of the insulin sensitivity in male and female Type 1 diabetic patients and to assess the insulin sensitivity in the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. Ten male and 20 female Type 1 diabetic patients participated in the study. The insulin sensitivity was assessed by the insulin (0.4 mU kg−1min−1)‐glucose/(4.5 mg kg−1min−1)‐infusion test (IGIT). In 5 of the female patients, a simultaneous i.v. influsion of somatostatin (100 μgh−1) was given (SIGIT). Each patient was studied twice, with 2 weeks separating the two tests. The day‐to‐day variations of the insulin sensitivity were almost identical in the male and female patients, the coefficients of variation being 13% in both groups. In 15 of the female patients, ovulation occurred. In these women, the mean blood‐glucose levels between 120 and 240 min after the onset of the IGIT/SIGIT were 9.8 ± 1.1 mmol l−1 in the follicular phase and 10.3 ± 1.0 mmol l−1 in the luteal phase, n.s. (95% confidence interval for the difference (luteal‐follicular) −0.8–1.9 mmol l−1). Although the present study cannot exclude minor changes of insulin sensitivity during the menstrual cycle, our results suggest that the changes of the metabolic control during the menstrual cycle, experienced by many women with Type 1 diabetes, are largely attributable to mechanisms other than variations of insulin sensitivity.
Log-likelihood method to select initial values of multichannel non-negative matrix factorization

A multichannel extension of non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) associates the spatial property of the sources with each of the NMF bases. An initial-value selection method based on log-likelihood for multichannel non-negative matrix factorization (MNMF) is introduced to reduce the variation of the source separation performance. Experimental results showed selecting initial values that provide high log-likelihood would improve the source separation performance of MNMF depending on the sources.
Effects of acute ethanol administration on LPS-induced expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase in rat alveolar macrophages.

BACKGROUND Activation of alveolar macrophages acts as a primary defense mechanism of lung with immunologic and inflammatory processes. Incidence of respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been reported to be higher in alcoholics than that in nonalcoholics. Both cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) are induced by inflammatory stimuli such as LPS and cytokines and are involved in host defense. COX-2 and iNOS have been reported to play important roles in pathophysiology of ARDS. The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether acute ethanol administration to rats affects on COX-2 and iNOS expression in isolated alveolar macrophages. METHODS Ethanol (4.5 g per kg body weight as a 20% solution) was intraperitoneally injected to male Wistar rats. At 2.5 hrs after the injection, alveolar macrophages were collected from rats by bronchoalveolar lavage and were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 mug/ml). Expression of COX-2 and iNOS and activation of MAPKs was evaluated by Western blotting. RESULTS In alveolar macrophages isolated from ethanol-treated rats, LPS-stimulated production of both prostaglandin E2 and nitrite was significantly lower than that in macrophages isolated from vehicle-treated control rats. LPS-induced expression of both COX-2 and iNOS was significantly lower in macrophages from ethanol-treated rats than that in macrophages from the control rats, while expression of beta-actin was not different in these groups. LPS increased phosphorylation of both extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). The levels of phosphorylated ERK and p38 were significantly lower in macrophages from ethanol-treated rats compared with those from the control rats. Treatment of macrophages with ethanol (100 - 400 mM) in vitro significantly inhibited expression of COX-2 in a concentration-dependent manner, while only a high concentration (400 mM) of ethanol significantly inhibited expression of iNOS. Ethanol also inhibited COX-2 expression in the presence of Tiron. Expression of COX-2 and iNOS was significantly inhibited by U0126 but not by SB203580. CONCLUSION In rat alveolar macrophages, LPS-induced expression of COX-2 and iNOS is mediated by ERK MAPK but not by p38 MAPK. Acute ethanol administration to rats attenuates induction of both COX-2 and iNOS in alveolar macrophages by inhibiting phosphorylation of ERK.
Hybrid sliding mode control for two cells converter

This paper deals with the switching design for two cells converter. With a systematic manner and a geometric analysis, we developed a novel switching surfaces using the sliding mode control theory. The limit cycle of the converter is taken in consideration in the control design phase. The proposed control scheme combines the performances of PWM control techniques (optimal steady state) and the advantages of the direct control strategies (control of the transitory state). This is validated through simulation under fast variations of the input voltage.
Des codes correcteurs pour sécuriser l'information numérique. (Error-correcting codes to secure digital information)

Les codes correcteurs d'erreurs sont utilises pour reconstituer les donnees numeriques, qui sont sujettes a des alterations lors de leur stockage et de leur transport. Il s'agit la de l'utilisation principale des codes correcteurs mais ils peuvent encore etre employes en cryptographie. Ils sont dans ce contexte un outil permettant, entre autres choses, de chiffrer des donnees et d'authentifier des personnes. Ces differents aspects sont traites dans ce document. Pour commencer, nous etudions la classe de codes cycliques possedant un ensemble de definition de la forme {1, 2^i+1, 2^j+1}, ou i et j designent des entiers positifs distincts. Nous concentrons notre attention sur la caracterisation des codes trois-correcteurs appartenant a cette classe ainsi que sur la distribution de poids de ces codes. Nous ameliorons l'algorithme de Schaub, qui donne une minoration de la distance minimale des codes cycliques. Nous mettons en oeuvre cet algorithme pour calculer l'immunite spectrale de fonctions booleennes. Cette quantite est reliee a la distance minimale de codes cycliques et est importante pour garantir la securite dans certains cryptosystemes de chiffrement a flot. Dans un second temps, nous proposons une solution pour accelerer le calcul des racines de polynomes dans des corps finis de caracteristique deux. Ce calcul est la phase la plus lente du dechiffrement des cryptosystemes de type McEliece bases sur les codes de Goppa binaires classiques. Nous fournissons une analyse de la complexite de l'algorithme sous-jacent baptise BTZ. Nous achevons nos travaux par une etude des protocoles d'authentification a bas cout, derives du protocole HB, en adoptant une approche basee sur le probleme du decodage par syndrome, plutot que par l'approche standard, fondee sur le probleme LPN.
PARP12, an Interferon-stimulated Gene Involved in the Control of Protein Translation and Inflammation*

Background: The individual role of members of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase family is unclear. Results: PARP12 displays a dual subcellular localization and effector function, controlling both protein translation and NF-κB signaling. Conclusion: PARP12 mediates two important effector mechanisms linked to the establishment of an anti-viral state. Significance: ADP-ribosylation may play an important role in the innate control of microbial infections. Transcriptome analyses have recently identified PARP12, a member of a large family of ADP-ribosyl transferases, as an interferon-induced gene (ISG), whose function remains incompletely characterized. We demonstrate herein that PARP12 is a genuine ISG, whose expressed protein displays at least two distinct subcellular locations and related functions. Upon ectopic expression or exposure to oxidative stress, PARP12 is recruited to stress-granules (SGs), known sites of mRNA translational arrest. Accordingly, PARP12 was found to block mRNA translation, possibly upon association to the translational machinery. Both the N-terminal domain (containing an RNA-binding domain characterized by the presence of five CCCH-type Zn-fingers) and integrity of the catalytic domain are required for this suppressive function. In contrast, stimulation with LPS leads to the localization of PARP12 to p62/SQSTM1 (an adaptor protein involved in innate signaling and autophagy) containing structures, unrelated to SGs. Deletion of the N-terminal domain promotes the association of the protein to p62/SQSTM1, suggesting that the RNA-binding domain is responsible for the subcellular localization of PARP12. Association to p62/SQSTM1 was found to correlate with increased NF-κB signaling, suggesting a role for PARP12 in inflammation. Collectively, these observations suggest that PARP12 can alternate between two distinct subcellular compartments associated to two distinct cellular functions. The present work therefore identifies PARP12 as an ISG with a potential role in cellular defenses against viral infections.
(R)-3-Amidinophenylalanine-Derived Inhibitors of Factor Xa with a Novel Active-Site Binding Mode

Abstract A putative nonsubstrate like binding mode of (R)-3- amidinophenylalanine derivatives to factor Xa, as derived from modeling experiments based on Xray analysis of their complexes with trypsin, was used to design a new generation of inhibitors. However, the resulting inhibitory potencies were not at all consistent with the working assumption, although with an adamantylureido derivative of (R)-3-amidinophenylalanine phenetyl amide a highly selective nanomolar inhibition of factor Xa was achieved. The Xray analysis of the complex of this ligand with factor Xa revealed an unexpected new binding mode, of which the most important feature is the interaction of the Cterminal aryl moiety with a hydrophobic subregion of the S1 subsite, while the adamantyl group occupies the hydrophobic S3/S4 subsites of the enzyme.
Avian pox in crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans) in southern Australia

Poxviral infection was identified in a crimson rosella presented to the Australian Wildlife Health Centre (Victoria) in 2002, and from a second crimson rosella in 2008. Both cases were characterized by proliferative lesions on non-feathered skin. Routine histopathology identified intra-lesional epidermal changes consistent with those caused by poxvirus. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of poxvirus in inclusions in the first case, and genetic analysis of DNA extracted from both cases found an identical viral genome that differs from all other known poxviruses. We conclude that this infection in crimson rosellas is caused by a previously unrecognized avian poxvirus endemic to this region of Australia, and with low virulence.
Subjectively reported sleep quality and excessive daytime somnolence in Parkinson's disease with and without dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease

We compared subjective sleep quality and excessive daytime somnolence (EDS) in controls, Parkinson's disease with (PDD) and without dementia (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated whether sleep dysfunction and EDS associate with motor phenotype in PD, PDD and DLB.
Will the 1-bit GNSS receiver prevail?

In the context of satellite-based positioning, the problem of range-estimation with low resolution analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) is considered. While ADC with coarse output resolution degrades the positioning performance of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, it's simplicity allows to realize sampling at high spatial and temporal rates in an energy and hardware efficient way. Therefore, here the achievable range-estimation accuracy of GNSS receive systems with 1-bit ADC resolution, multiple antennas and high receive bandwidths is analyzed. For different scenarios, including multi-path propagation and the presence of broadband interference, we investigate the scaling behavior of the estimation performance when increasing the number of receive antennas or the sampling rate. Results for all considered scenarios show that if a moderately higher number of antennas or a moderately faster temporal rate is used, 1-bit GNSS receive systems have the potential to outperform ideal receivers with infinite ADC resolution. This insight emphasizes that a receiver architecture with 1-bit ADC has the potential to play an important role for future low-cost receivers as well as for sophisticated energy efficient high-performance GNSS systems.
Solution structure of an EGF module pair from the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1.

The solution structure of the 96-residue C-terminal fragment of the merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1) from Plasmodium falciparum has been determined using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic measurements on uniformly13C/15N-labelled protein, efficiently expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Komagataella (Pichia) pastoris. The structure has two domains with epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like folds with a novel domain interface for the EGF domain pair interactions, formed from a cluster of hydrophobic residues. This gives the protein a U-shaped overall structure with the N-terminal proteolytic processing site close to the C-terminal glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol (GPI) membrane anchor site, which is consistent with the involvement of a membrane-bound proteinase in the processing of MSP-1 during erythrocyte invasion. This structure, which is the first protozoan EGF example to be determined, contrasts with the elongated structures seen for EGF-module pairs having shared Ca2+-ligation sites at their interface, as found, for example, in fibrillin-1. Recognition surfaces for antibodies that inhibit processing and invasion, and antibodies that block the binding of these inhibitory antibodies, have been mapped on the three-dimensional structure by considering specific MSP-1 mutants.
Realize the Realized Stock Index Volatility * Ho-Chuan ( River )

This paper constructs estimates of daily stock index volatilities and correlation using high-frequency (one-minute) intraday stock indices. The key feature of these ‘realized’ volatilities and correlations is that they are not only model-free but also approximately measurement-error-free. In fact, they can be treated as observed rather than latent, so that direct modeling and forecasting of the realized volatilities can be performed using conventional time series approaches. Some interesting results appear in the analysis. Despite the fact that the unstandardized returns are skewed to the right and have fatter tails than normal, the distributions of the raw returns scaled by the realized standard deviations appear to be approximately Gaussian. The unconditional distributions of the realized variances and covariances are leptokurtic as well as highly right-skewed, but the realized correlation tends to be approximately normally distributed. There is no evidence in support of asymmetric volatility effects commonly found in previous findings. However, we find strong evidence to support the fact that there exists high contemporaneous correlation between realized volatilities and high comovement between realized correlation and volatilities.
Acute effects of small changes in crank length on gross efficiency and pedalling technique during submaximal cycling

ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study was to assess the acute effects of small changes in crank length (assumable by competitive cyclists) on metabolic cost and pedalling technique during submaximal cycling. Twelve amateur road cyclists performed three sets of submaximal pedalling (150, 200 and 250 W) at a constant cadence (91.3 ± 0.8 rpm) in a randomised order with three commonly used crank lengths, preferred (172.5–175 mm), +5 mm and −5 mm. Energy cost of pedalling, kinetic and kinematic variables were simultaneously registered. Changes in crank length had no significant effect on heart rate (144 ± 13, 145 ± 12 and 145 ± 13 bpm, respectively) and gross efficiency (GE) (20.4 ± 2.1, 20.1 ± 2.2 and 20.3 ± 2.4%, respectively). A longer crank induced a significant (P < 0.05) reduction of positive impulse proportion (PIP) (0.9–1.9%) due to a greater maximum (1.0–2.3 N · m) and minimum torque (1.0–2.2 N · m). At the same time, the maximum flexion and range of motion of the hip and knee joints were significantly increased (1.8–3.4° and P < 0.05), whereas the ankle joint was not affected. In conclusion, the biomechanical changes due to a longer crank did not alter the metabolic cost of pedalling, although they could have long-term adverse effects. Therefore, in case of doubt between two lengths, the shorter one might be recommended.
Protective Function of von Hippel-Lindau Protein against Impaired Protein Processing in Renal Carcinoma Cells

ABSTRACT The absence of functional von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene leads to the development of neoplasias characteristic of VHL disease, including renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Here, we compared the sensitivity of RCC cells lacking VHL gene function with that of RCC cells expressing the wild-type VHL gene (wtVHL) after exposure to various stresses. While the response to most treatments was not affected by the VHL gene status, glucose deprivation was found to be much more cytotoxic for RCC cells lacking VHL gene function than for wtVHL-expressing cells. The heightened sensitivity of VHL-deficient cells was not attributed to dissimilar energy requirements or to differences in glucose uptake, but more likely reflects a lesser ability of VHL-deficient cells to handle abnormally processed proteins arising from impaired glycosylation. In support of this hypothesis, other treatments which act through different mechanisms to interfere with protein processing (i.e., tunicamycin, brefeldin A, and azetidine) were also found to be much more toxic for VHL-deficient cells. Furthermore, ubiquitination of cellular proteins was elevated in VHL-deficient cells, particularly after glucose deprivation, supporting a role for the VHL gene in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis. Accordingly, the rate of elimination of abnormal proteins was lower in cells lacking a functional VHL gene than in wtVHL-expressing cells. Thus, pVHL appears to participate in the elimination of misprocessed proteins, such as those arising in the cell due to the unavailability of glucose or to other stresses.
Investigation on Performance of Distributed Autonomous Sensors on Embedded Platforms

A node is an intersection point that can generate, receive, store or transmit data along distributed network routes and allows us to analyze the data at a particular point. In a network node, each sensor has several parts such as transceiver with an internal or connection to an external antenna, micro controller, electronic circuits for interfacing sensors and energy source. The scaling of single node cluster has a limitation of CPU computational powers, maximum memory and number of processes that can run on a single machine. In order to overcome these limitations multi node clusters are needed. To process huge amount of data at the same timeframe, multi node clusters are used. To monitor environment and physical conditions such as temperature, ambient light etc. and to cooperatively pass their data through network to a main location a distributed autonomous sensor called Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are used. WSN is a low-cost technology which is built of nodes from few to several hundred or thousands where each node is connected to single or several sensors. It acts like a bridge between virtual and real world. Besides, using a single platform for WSN, the proposed work send and receive the data on different platforms like FRDM-KL25Z, and Arduino Uno using WSN Multiple Nodes. A novel methodology is developed to create a node, transmit the data from the sensor through the created node, calculation of time to transmit and receive data through the nodes and comparing the network latencies.
OFDM frequency offset estimator using PN sequences and its improvement

We propose two new frequency synchronization methods for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. They have a large estimation range and acceptable precision in the Rayleigh channel. One of the methods does not waste system bandwidth because the training sequence is superimposed on the data of the OFDM symbol. The performance of the two methods is better than that of the method proposed by F. Tufvesson et al. (see Proc. IEEE Vehicular Technology Conf. VTC 1999-Fall, p.2203-7, 1999).