Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stochastic iterative projection methods for large linear systems

Abstract We suggest a randomized version of the projection methods belonging to the class of a “row-action” methods which work well both for systems with quadratic nonsingular matrices and for overdetermined systems. These methods belong to a type known as Projection on Convex Sets methods. Here we present a method beyond the conventional Markov chain based Neumann–Ulam scheme. The main idea is in a random choice of blocks of rows in the projection method so that in average, the convergence is improved compared to the conventional periodic choice of the rows. We suggest an acceleration of the row projection method by using the Johnson–Lindenstrauss (J–L) theorem to find, among the randomly chosen rows, in a sense an optimal row. We extend this randomized method for solving linear systems coupled with systems of linear inequalities. Applied to finite-difference approximations of boundary value problems, the method appears to be an extremely efficient Random Walk algorithm whose convergence is exponential, and the cost does not depend on the dimension of the matrix. In addition, the algorithm calculates the solution in all grid points, and is easily parallelizable.
Acetaminophen Injection: A Review of Clinical Information Including Forms Not Available in the United States

ABSTRACT Acetaminophen injection is an antipyretic and analgesic agent recently marketed in the United States as Ofirmev. A recent review published in the Journal of Pain & Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy focused on the labeled uses of acetaminophen injection in the United States. A variety of studies were excluded that may be of interest to clinicians. This addendum provides these citations and further insight into the strategy used to develop the review. Acetaminophen injection represents another agent for multimodal pain management.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha inhibits collagen alpha 1(I) gene expression in rat hepatic stellate cells through a G protein.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibits collagen gene expression in cultured fibroblasts. By binding to cell surface receptors, TNF-alpha promotes signals within the cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role played by G proteins in TNF-alpha-induced inhibition of collagen gene expression. METHODS Effect of TNF-alpha on collagen alpha 1(I) messenger RNA (mRNA) level was measured in cultured hepatic stellate cells in basal condition and after inhibiting or activating G proteins or the major intracellular signal transduction pathways. RESULTS TNF-alpha significantly decreased the level of alpha 1(I) collagen mRNA. Treatment of cells with pertussis toxin inhibited this effect, whereas blocking adenylate cyclase or protein kinase A had no effect. Likewise, blocking phospholipase A2, phospholipase C1 calcium channels, calmodulin, or protein kinase C did not eliminate the inhibitory effect of TNF-alpha on collagen mRNA. On the other hand, C2-ceramide and sphingomyelinase reproduced the effect of TNF-alpha on collagen gene expression, and TNF-alpha did not increase the effect of sphingomyelinase. CONCLUSIONS TNF-alpha-induced inhibition of alpha 1(I) collagen gene expression in a hepatic stellate cell line may be mediated by a pertussis toxin-sensitive G protein. TNF-alpha may inhibit this gene by using sphingomyelin/ceramide as an intracellular signal transduction pathway.
Human Chromosome 7: DNA Sequence and Biology

DNA sequence and annotation of the entire human chromosome 7, encompassing nearly 158 million nucleotides of DNA and 1917 gene structures, are presented. To generate a higher order description, additional structural features such as imprinted genes, fragile sites, and segmental duplications were integrated at the level of the DNA sequence with medical genetic data, including 440 chromosome rearrangement breakpoints associated with disease. This approach enabled the discovery of candidate genes for developmental diseases including autism.
Assembly of vesicular stomatitis virus nucleocapsids in vivo: a kinetic analysis

Pulse-chase labeling and cell fractionation were used to examine the pathways taken by the three nucleocapsid polypeptide species of vesicular stomatitis virus into nucleocapsids and then into virions. An improved method of polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis resolved nucleocapsid polypeptides N and NS from cellular actin, facilitating accurate quantitation of the viral polypeptides. Contrary to previous belief, the rate of NS synthesis was found to be a constant fraction of total virus protein synthesis throughout infection, indicating a consistent mechanism of virus protein synthesis regulation. In the kinetic studies, each polypeptide species displayed the following characteristic behavior. (i) Structural polypeptide N was the only species that entered a metabolically active soluble pool before assembly into nucleocapsids. The size of this pool increased with time after infection, causing an increasing delay in the appearance of pulse-labeled N molecules in nucleocapsids. (ii) Throughout infection, the entire complement of L molecules entered nucleocapsids immediately after their synthesis, without diversion through a soluble pool. (iii) Although 75% of newly synthesized molecules of the transcriptase-associated protein NS entered a soluble pool, they never emerged from the compartment. At all times after infection, about 25% of the NS molecules bypassed the soluble pool and entered nucleocapsids directly after their synthesis, as if in concert with L. These results indicate that VSV nucleocapsid assembly in vivo is a stepwise process, comprising an initial condensation of N with the viral RNA, followed by attachment of L and NS, analogous to the stepwise assembly of Sendai virus nucleocapsids. (D. W. Kingsbury, C.-H. Hsu, and K. G. Murti. Virology 91:86-94, 1978). About half of the intracellular nucleocapsids were recovered in a form that sedimented at anomalously low centrifugal forces, reflecting an association with large cellular organelles. This attachment was mediated mainly by electrostatic forces, since these "bound" nucleocapsids were released by elevated salt concentrations. The kinetic behavior of nucleocapsid polypeptides was the same in both fractions, providing no evidence for a division of nucleocapsid functions between cellular compartments.
Treatment of pancreatic fistula with the somatostatin analogue SMS 201‐995

Somatostatin inhibits exocrine pancreatic and has been used for treatment of pancreatic f i ~ t u l a ~ - ~ . The short ti, <3min in man6, and the risk of a rebound effect when treatment is interrupted7, require the peptide to be continuously infused intravenously. This may be circumvented by using the stable somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995 (Sandostatin), a fragment of somatostatin with full biological effect but with resistance to the degrading enzymes*. In man, this analogue, which can be administered subcutaneously, has been demonstrated to exert the biological actions of somatostatin', including the inhibition of exocrine pancreatic se~retion','~. We describe here the use of SMS 201-995 for treating a patient with a postoperative pancreatic fistula.
Non-Operative Treatment of Subacromial Impingement Syndrome*

We performed a retrospective study of 616 patients (636 shoulders) who had subacromial impingement syndrome to assess the results of non-operative treatment. The diagnosis was made on the basis of a positive impingement sign and the absence of other abnormalities of the shoulder, such as full-thickness tears of the rotator cuff, osteoarthrosis of the acromioclavicular joint, instability of the glenohumeral joint, or adhesive capsulitis. All patients were managed with anti-inflammatory medication and a specific, supervised physical-therapy regimen consisting of isotonic exercises for strengthening of the rotator cuff. The average duration of follow-up was twenty-seven months (range, six to eighty-one months). Over-all, 413 patients (67 per cent) had a satisfactory result. One hundred and seventy-two patients (28 per cent) had no improvement and went on to have an arthroscopic subacromial decompression. Thirty-one patients (5 per cent) had an unsatisfactory result but declined additional treatment. Seventy-four (18 per cent) of the 413 patients who had a successful result had a recurrence of the symptoms during the follow-up period; the symptoms resolved with rest or after resumption of the exercise program. The patients were stratified according to age, the duration of symptoms, and acromial morphology. Patients who were twenty years old or less and those who were forty-one to sixty years old fared better than those who were twenty-one to forty years old. Patients who were more than sixty years old had the poorest results. Sixty-seven (78 per cent) of the eighty-six patients in whom the symptoms had been present for less than four weeks had a satisfactory result, compared with 144 (63 per cent) of the 228 who had had the symptoms for one to six months and with 202 (67 per cent) of the 302 who had had the symptoms for more than six months. Thirty-two (91 per cent) of the thirty-five patients who had a type-I acromion had a successful result, compared with 173 (68 per cent) of the 256 who had a type-II acromion and with 208 (64 per cent) of the 325 who had a type-III acromion. Shoulder dominance, gender, and concomitant tenderness of the acromioclavicular joint did not affect the result significantly (p = 0.084, 0.555, and 0.365, respectively).
Generation and Characterization of a Recombinant Human CCR5-specific Antibody

We describe the isolation of a CCR5-specific antibody, ST6, from an antibody phage display library generated from an immune rabbit. ST6 was previously shown to efficiently prevent the surface expression of CCR5 when expressed intracellularly (Steinberger, P., Andris-Widhopf, J., Buhler, B., Torbett, B. E., and Barbas, C. F., III (2000) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.97, 805–810). Because ST6 has therapeutic potential in human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 disease, its humanization was desired to minimize the potential for immunogenicity. ST6 was humanized using a phage display-based approach. Like the parental rabbit clone, the humanized version ST6/34 efficiently prevented the surface expression of CCR5. The conserved linear peptide epitope bound by these antibodies was mapped using phage display. Both ST6 as well as the humanized anti-CCR5 antibody ST6/34 were produced as complete IgG antibodies and shown to bind to cell surface CCR5.
Experimental Assessment of the Adaptive Stokes Space-Based Polarization Demultiplexing for Optical Metro and Access Networks

We experimentally analyze an adaptive polarization-demultiplexing (PolDemux) technique based on the representation of the state of polarization of the signal in the Stokes space. The performance and convergence speed of the Stokes PolDemux are compared with the constant modulus algorithm, for dual polarization QPSK and 16QAM modulation formats in a system with a maximum polarization rotation of 6 kHz. Moreover, the applicability of the adaptive Stokes algorithm is tested in an ultradense wavelength-division multiplexing scenario over 80 km of standard single-mode fiber. The BER results show a very small power penalty confirming the suitability of the adaptive Stokes method in systems where the accumulated chromatic and polarization-mode dispersion are small, such as high capacity optical metro and access networks scenarios.
A survey of different search techniques for big data

With an exponential increase in the amount of data generated in various fields like genomics, meteorology, biology, environmental research and many others, it is a major challenge for businesses to find and analyse patterns within such large data. These patterns help the companies in making strategic decisions for business expansion, retention of customers and foresee trends of the future. It helps to rectify any flaw in their system of operation. It has aided organizations to increase innovation, retain customers, and increase in operational efficiency. Hence, we look at a few of the searching techniques for Big Data which can be employed for the above stated areas.
Subjective Well-being Status among Institutionalized and Non-institutionalized Senior Citizens

Abstract A differential study was carried out on 140 respondents belonging to 60 years and above age group living in old age homes (n=65) and with family (n=75) and the sample was randomly selected from Hubli-Dharwad city, Karnataka with an objective to compare the level of subjective well-being among institutionalized and non-institutionalized senior citizens and to know the factors influencing subjective well-being among both senior citizens. Results of the study revealed that institutionalized senior citizens had more of well-being and non-institutionalized had more of overall subjective well-being and ill-being status. Among institutionalized, education (along with gender and age) and age (socio-economic status, financial support and family type) significantly influenced the well-being and ill-being respectively. Education (along with age, socio-economic status and financial support) and gender (along with age, socio-economic status and financial support) significantly influenced the illbeing status of non-institutionalized senior citizens. It was interesting to note that none of the variables significantly influenced the well-being status.
Inactivation of the Lateral But Not Medial Dorsal Striatum Eliminates the Excitatory Impact of Pavlovian Stimuli on Instrumental Responding

Conditioned stimuli are important guides for behavioral actions. This experiment determined the role of the dorsal striatum in conditioned-stimulus modulation of instrumental responding using the pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT) paradigm. Rats received pavlovian training wherein two different auditory stimuli predicted the delivery of two food rewards. Next, rats were trained to perform two instrumental actions earning the same two rewards. Finally, the impact of pavlovian stimuli on instrumental performance was assessed in extinction: the stimuli were periodically presented while rats were free to perform the lever-press response. Before testing, medial or lateral dorsal striatum was infused with saline or bacolfen/muscimol, to temporarily inactivate the region. Under saline, outcome-selective PIT was observed: presentation of a stimulus paired with the same outcome as the instrumental action elevated responding, whereas presentation of a stimulus paired with a different outcome did not. Inactivation of the dorsolateral striatum dramatically reduced this effect. Inactivation of the dorsomedial striatum left intact the ability of reward-related stimuli to invigorate responding; however, the selectivity of the stimulus effect was lost (i.e., both stimuli excited responding). These results indicate that subregions of the dorsal striatum play distinct roles in stimulus modulation of instrumental performance with the lateral region being vital for reward-related stimuli to excite responding and the medial region being involved in the integration of stimulus-reward associations with specific response-outcome associations to produce selective responding. These findings identify new roles for the dorsal striatum in mediating the incentive effects of reward-predictive stimuli on behavioral actions made to obtain reward.
Estudo de fidedignidade do avaliador em provas de compreensão leitora e oral

RESUMO A fidedignidade do avaliador refere-se ao grau em que diferentes avaliadores empregam os mesmos criterios na correcao de testes. Neste estudo, investiga-se a fidedignidade do avaliador de uma prova de compreensao leitora e outra de compreensao oral. A Prova de Compreensao Leitora (PCL) e composta por 15 textos, divididos em duas aplicacoes (Forma A e Forma B), e contendo questoes abertas (respondidas oralmente). A Prova de Compreensao Oral (PCO) e formada por oito questoes orais a uma narrativa ouvida (gravacao). A amostra foi composta por 218 criancas do 2o ao 5o ano de escolas publicas de Sao Paulo (73 na Forma A; 56 na Forma B; 89 na PCO) e nove avaliadores (tres para cada prova). A concordância foi calculada por meio do Fleiss de Kappa. A maioria dos itens apresentou niveis de concordância adequados, atestando para a homogeneidade na correcao das duas Provas. Palavras-chave: fidedignidade; compreensao da leitura; compreensao verbal; texto.
Potential migration release of volatile compounds from plastic containers destined for food use in microwave ovens

Several commercially available plastic containers of polycarbonate, polypropylene-copolymer, polypropylene-20% talcum, polypropylene random and styrene-acrylonitrile designed for heating food in microwave ovens were studied. The analytical procedure based on a purge & trap (P&T) GC-MS was optimized. It consisted of heating the materials at 100°C in a P&T system coupled in line with GC-MS equipment. The compounds released from the materials were then identified through their mass spectra. Variables such as the time of purge using helium as the carrier gas in the system, sample temperature, the type of solid trap, the desorption temperature and the time as well as chromatographic separation of all the compounds released from the plastic were optimized. Compounds such as methylbenzene, ethylbenzene, 1-octene, xylene, styrene and 1,4-dichlorobenzene were found in all the containers. Quantitative analysis and potential migrations are reported and discussed.
Cloning, characterization, and expression of the human TIN-ag-RP gene encoding a novel putative extracellular matrix protein.

The human gene encoding a novel tubulointerstitial nephritis antigen (TIN-ag)-related protein (TIN-ag-RP) was isolated, and its genomic organization was determined. BLAST searches revealed the highest degree of homology to several mammalian TIN-ag orthologues, and a weak homology to cathepsin B-like proteases. The 12 kb gene was mapped by fluorescence in situ hybridization to chromosome 1p34.2-3, a locus neither related to that of the human TIN-ag (6p11.2-12) nor to that of cathepsin B (8p22-23.1). The TIN-ag-RP is encoded in ten exons with introns ranging from 83 bp to 4 kb. In addition, the gene contained one exon in the 5'UTR, but none in the 3'UTR. Five of the 10 splice sites of the TIN-ag-RP gene were fully conserved when compared to a related gene of C. elegans, whereas only one splice site was identical to those found in cathepsin B genes. Furthermore, human TIN-ag-RP tagged with the T7-epitope, was expressed in HeLa cells, and was found to be localized in vesicular compartments as well as secreted into the medium suggesting the involvement of the endosomal trafficking pathway. Based on the high degree of homology of the amino acid sequences and genomic organization between TIN-ag-RP and TIN-ag, we suggest that both molecules may form a distinct group or family of TIN-ag-like proteins.
Genetic Studies of Human Lupus in Families

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex multigenic disease in which the contributing genetic systems are being rapidly identified. Most of the currently recognized genes have been discovered from case-control association studies, but, increasingly, family linkage studies are being employed to confirm previous genetic associations, to examine their relative contributions, and to identify new susceptibility loci. Most of the loci identified thus far appear to contribute only modest effects on susceptibility overall but rather influence more strongly disease expression and/or severity. MHC class II alleles, for example, seem to show only weak linkage to SLE itself but instead mediate specific T cell driven pathogenic autoantibodies which produce many of the clinical disease features, similar to their effects in many other autoimmune diseases. On the other hand, complete and partial hereditary deficiencies of early complement components are more lupus-specific. Homozygous complement deficiencies, while powerful risk factors, are rare causes of lupus and heterozygous deficiencies exert only modest effects on susceptibility. Other genes, such as low-binding IgG Fc receptor alleles (FcγIIa and FcγIIIa), appear to promote nephritis by modifying the efficiency of immune complex clearance. A variety of cytokine genes appear also to promote severity, including those for TNFα, IL-10, IL1 receptor antagonist, and perhaps others (IL-6, IL-4 and TNFα receptor). Family studies and recent genome-wide scans in lupus and other autoimmune diseases support the likelihood that some susceptibility loci, as yet unidentified, predispose to several or many autoimmune diseases. Only thorough the identification and elucidation of function of these many genes is the pathogenic picture of lupus likely to be complete.
Gestión de la convivencia

El documento que se presenta a continuacion surge de la investigacion desarrollada sobre la evaluacion del impacto del Diplomado en Formacion para Gestores Sociales de Convivencia en el departamento del Atlantico, programa desarrollado en convenio por la Corporacion Universidad de la Costa, CUC, y la Secreta- ria del Interior de la Gobernacion del Atlantico. Como producto de este trabajo se logra identificar la necesidad de ofrecer unas herramientas basicas que permitan fundamentar los contenidos desarrollados en el diplomado, los cuales no pretenden ser un sustituto de la bibliografia de cada docente, sino aportar con unos elementos basicos que contribuyan a la comprension de definiciones especificas y conceptualizacion propia de las tematicas que dan fundamento a la convivencia, como son los Derechos Humanos, los Valores, la Cultura, entre otros. Por lo tanto, el proposito es dar soporte a los procesos de multiplicacion que realizan los Gestores de Convivencia, razon por la cual al final de cada tema se agregan una serie de talleres, dinamicas de grupo y juegos que faciliten el ejercicio de la formacion en el ambito familiar y comunitario y que oriente la creatividad para construir nuevas actividades para la apropiacion de las tematicas no solo en el ambito del conocimiento y la informacion, sino en lo vivencial, que promuevan los procesos y permitan desarrollar nuevas actitudes, practicas sociales y posibilidades para la construccion de una sociedad que viabilice el derecho de vivir en paz.
Changing role of the systems analyst

The role of the systems analyst in the development of information systems has been changing. The reasons for this are numerous, and this paper attempts to identify these, and to project the future role of the analyst. The past, current, and future roles will be presented from the aspects of: scope of the systems analyst in the life cycle; the users; technology for constructing and analyzing requirements of information systems; and qualifications and roles of the systems analyst.