Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PD-1H Expression Associated With CD68 Macrophage Marker Confers an Immune-Activated Microenvironment and Favorable Overall Survival in Human Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most common type of esophageal carcinoma (EC) in China. Although the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab has been approved to treat patients with EC, its therapeutic efficacy is limited. Thus, additional immunotherapeutic targets for EC treatment are needed. Programmed Death-1 Homolog (PD-1H) is a negative checkpoint regulator that inhibits antitumor immune responses. Here, PD-1H expression in 114 patients with ESCC was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Next, 12 randomly selected tumor tissue sections were used to assess the colocalization of PD-1H protein and multiple immune markers by multiplex immunohistochemistry. Our results demonstrated that PD-1H was expressed at high frequency in ESCC tumor tissues (85.1%). PD-1H protein was predominantly expressed in CD68+ tumor-associated macrophages and expressed at low levels in CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in ESCC tumor tissues. Furthermore, based on ESCC data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), the gene expression levels of PD-1H were positively associated with the infiltration levels of immune-activated cells especially CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. In contrast, the gene expression levels of PD-1H were negatively correlated with myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Importantly, PD-1H expression in tumor sites was significantly correlated with favorable overall survival in patients with ESCC. Collectively, our findings first provided direct information on the PD-1H expression pattern and distribution in ESCC, and positive correlation of PD-1H expression with overall survival suggested PD-1H expression levels could be a significant prognostic indicator for patients with ESCC. Future studies need to explore the immunoregulatory of PD-1H in the tumor microenvironment of ESCC.
Efficacy of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors in Patients With Concurrent Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis: A Review of the Evidence

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most prevalent liver disease worldwide, and more than half of individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes concurrently present with NAFLD. There is a bidirectional pathological relationship between the two conditions, whereby NAFLD increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes contributes to and accelerates the progression of NAFLD. Furthermore, over 30% of patients with NAFLD progress to non-alcoholic liver steatohepatitis (NASH), which then increases the risk of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite its high prevalence and the potential clinical implications, the underlying pathogenesis of NAFLD has yet to be fully elucidated, and there is no consensus regarding standard diagnosis and treatment for either NALFD or NASH. As patients with both NASH and type 2 diabetes have impaired hepatic function owing to chronic inflammation and the resulting structural changes caused by hepatic fat accumulation, they face reduced options for antidiabetic treatment. SGLT-2 inhibitors inhibit glucose reabsorption in the proximal tubule, with increased excretion of glucose in urine and decreased glucose levels in plasma, and their glycemia-lowering effect is insulin-independent. Several other beneficial effects have been reported for SGLT-2 inhibitors, including reduced risks of cardiovascular and renal diseases, improved blood pressure control, body weight reduction, and reductions in liver fat content. Experimental studies in mouse models have suggested that SGLT-2 inhibitors may have beneficial modulatory effects on NAFLD/NASH. Several trials in patients with type 2 diabetes have also suggested that these drugs may be useful in treating both type 2 diabetes and NAFLD or NASH. However, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms by which SGLT-2 inhibitors affect fatty liver and steatohepatitis. In this state-of-the-art review, we explore the literature on the efficacy of SGLT-2 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes and NASH, and present arguments for and against the use of SGLT-2 inhibitors in this patient population.
tascCODA: Bayesian Tree-Aggregated Analysis of Compositional Amplicon and Single-Cell Data

Accurate generative statistical modeling of count data is of critical relevance for the analysis of biological datasets from high-throughput sequencing technologies. Important instances include the modeling of microbiome compositions from amplicon sequencing surveys and the analysis of cell type compositions derived from single-cell RNA sequencing. Microbial and cell type abundance data share remarkably similar statistical features, including their inherent compositionality and a natural hierarchical ordering of the individual components from taxonomic or cell lineage tree information, respectively. To this end, we introduce a Bayesian model for tree-aggregated amplicon and single-cell compositional data analysis (tascCODA) that seamlessly integrates hierarchical information and experimental covariate data into the generative modeling of compositional count data. By combining latent parameters based on the tree structure with spike-and-slab Lasso penalization, tascCODA can determine covariate effects across different levels of the population hierarchy in a data-driven parsimonious way. In the context of differential abundance testing, we validate tascCODA’s excellent performance on a comprehensive set of synthetic benchmark scenarios. Our analyses on human single-cell RNA-seq data from ulcerative colitis patients and amplicon data from patients with irritable bowel syndrome, respectively, identified aggregated cell type and taxon compositional changes that were more predictive and parsimonious than those proposed by other schemes. We posit that tascCODA1 constitutes a valuable addition to the growing statistical toolbox for generative modeling and analysis of compositional changes in microbial or cell population data.
SoftMark: Software Watermarking via a Binary Function Relocation

The ease of reproducibility of digital artifacts raises a growing concern in copyright infringement; in particular, for a software product. Software watermarking is one of the promising techniques to verify the owner of licensed software by embedding a digital fingerprint. Developing an ideal software watermark scheme is challenging because i) unlike digital media watermarking, software watermarking must preserve the original code semantics after inserting software watermark, and ii) it requires well-balanced properties of credibility, resiliency, capacity, imperceptibility, and efficiency. We present SoftMark, a software watermarking system that leverages a function relocation where the order of functions implicitly encodes a hidden identifier. By design, SoftMark does not introduce additional structures (i.e., codes, blocks, or subroutines), being robust in unauthorized detection, while maintaining a negligible performance overhead and reasonable capacity. With various strategies against viable attacks (i.e., static binary re-instrumentation), we tackle the limitations of previous reordering-based approaches. Our empirical results demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness by successful embedding and extraction of various watermark values.
Observed Quantile Features of Summertime Temperature Trends over China: Non-Negligible Role of Temperature Variability

Changes in temperature variability can have more serious social and ecological impacts than changes in the mean state of temperature, especially when they are concurrent with global warming. The present study examines the summertime temperatures’ trends over China from the quantile perspective. Through fully investigating the quantile trends (QTs) of the maximum (Tmax) and minimum temperature (Tmin) using the homogenized observation data and quantile regression analysis, we identify evident region-specific quantile features of summertime temperature trends. In most of northern China, the QTs in Tmax and Tmin for all percentiles generally show strong uniform warmings, which are dominated by a warm shift in mean state temperatures. In contrast, the QTs of Tmax in the Yangtze River Basin show distinguishable inter-quantile features, i.e., an increasing tendency of QTs from cooling trends in the lower percentile to warming trends in the higher percentile. Further investigations show that such robust growing QTs of Tmax across quantiles are dominated by the temperature variance. Our results highlight that more attention should be paid to the region-specific dominance of temperature variability in trends and the related causes.
A Look Back on a Function Identification Problem

A function recognition problem serves as a basis for further binary analysis and many applications. Although common challenges for function detection are well known, prior works have repeatedly claimed a noticeable result with a high precision and recall. In this paper, we aim to fill the void of what has been overlooked or misinterpreted by closely looking into the previous datasets, metrics, and evaluations with varying case studies. Our major findings are that i) a common corpus like GNU utilities is insufficient to represent the effectiveness of function identification, ii) it is difficult to claim, at least in the current form, that an ML-oriented approach is scientifically superior to deterministic ones like IDA or Ghidra, iii) the current metrics may not be reasonable enough to measure varying function detection cases, and iv) the capability of recognizing functions depends on each tool’s strategic or peculiar choice. We perform re-evaluation of existing approaches on our own dataset, demonstrating that not a single state-of-the-art tool dominates all the others. In conclusion, a function detection problem has not yet been fully addressed, and we need a better methodology and metric to make advances in the field of function identification.
Research data management practice in higher education institutions in Ethiopia

Abstract There is increasing pressure from funders, publishers, the public and other research organizations on researchers to improve their research data management. The main objective of the study was to examine the practices of research data management at higher education institutions in Ethiopia. The study was employed multi-stage sampling technique to select the actual sample unit of respondents. Eight first generation Universities and one Science and Technology University were selected based on purposive sampling technique. 390 faculty member and 119 stakeholder respondents were selected based on simple random and purposive sampling techniques. The findings revealed that majority of faculty members were used and produced spreadsheet and structured scientific and statistical research data formats. Majority of faculty members were used their personal device to hold their research data. The findings indicated that majority of faculty members were identified their needs of research data management services such as, data management template, storage facilities, research data management policy, guidelines and providing training. The level of awareness on research data management among faculty members was very low. The study concludes that proper research data management is not being practiced. Further research can be done on research data management framework at higher education institutions.
Imiquimod Boosts Interferon Response, and Decreases ACE2 and Pro-Inflammatory Response of Human Bronchial Epithelium in Asthma

Background Both anti-viral and anti-inflammatory bronchial effects are warranted to treat viral infections in asthma. We sought to investigate if imiquimod, a TLR7 agonist, exhibits such dual actions in ex vivo cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs), targets for SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Objective To investigate bronchial epithelial effects of imiquimod of potential importance for anti-viral treatment in asthmatic patients. Methods Effects of imiquimod alone were examined in HBECs from healthy (N=4) and asthmatic (N=18) donors. Mimicking SARS-CoV-2 infection, HBECs were stimulated with poly(I:C), a dsRNA analogue, or SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein 1 (SP1; receptor binding) with and without imiquimod treatment. Expression of SARS-CoV-2 receptor (ACE2), pro-inflammatory and anti-viral cytokines were analyzed by RT-qPCR, multiplex ELISA, western blot, and Nanostring and proteomic analyses. Results Imiquimod reduced ACE2 expression at baseline and after poly(I:C) stimulation. Imiquimod also reduced poly(I:C)-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-33. Furthermore, imiquimod increased IFN-β expression, an effect potentiated in presence of poly(I:C) or SP1. Multiplex mRNA analysis verified enrichment in type-I IFN signaling concomitant with suppression of cytokine signaling pathways induced by imiquimod in presence of poly(I:C). Exploratory proteomic analyses revealed potentially protective effects of imiquimod on infections. Conclusion Imiquimod triggers viral resistance mechanisms in HBECs by decreasing ACE2 and increasing IFN-β expression. Additionally, imiquimod improves viral infection tolerance by reducing viral stimulus-induced epithelial cytokines involved in severe COVID-19 infection. Our imiquimod data highlight feasibility of producing pluripotent drugs potentially suited for anti-viral treatment in asthmatic subjects.
Thermal placement algorithm based on heat conduction analogy

A thermal force-directed placement algorithm, called TFPA, based on heat conduction analogy, is proposed for MCM design. TFPA begins with the transformation of the real substrate with chips into an unbounded substrate with an infinite number of chips. Then, each chip pushes every other chip with a force based on the heat conduction analogy. Thus, each chip will move in the direction of the force until the system achieves equilibrium. TFPA generates high quality placement results and maintains a cooler and uniform thermal profile, by distributing chip powers as evenly as possible. Unlike conventional force-directed algorithms, which might have serious component overlapping problems, TFPA places chips apart and only little or even no overlap occurs. In practice, the initial placements obtained by TFPA are very close to final placements.
Bandwidth enhancement and cross‐polarization suppression in ultrawideband microstrip antenna with defected ground plane

A compact microstrip antenna is proposed with very wide bandwidth ranging from 2 to 18 GHz. Impedance bandwidth of 160% is achieved which covers S, C, X, and Ku bands. Antenna gain upto 5 dBi is achieved within the operating band with suppressed cross‐polarized radiation characteristics. The maximum cross‐polarization levels are −28 and −20 dB in E‐plane and H‐plane, respectively. Further, the ground plane of the proposed antenna is embedded with triangular and square defects. Proposed antenna with defected ground plane operates in impedance bandwidth ranging from 2 to 21 GHz and bandwidth is improved to the value of 165.22%. The antenna gain is improved upto the maximum value of 18 dBi within the band of operation. The maximum cross‐polarization levels are improved to the value of −40 and −42 dB in E‐plane and H‐plane, respectively. The measured results are in good match with simulated results for both the antennas. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:2141–2146, 2014
Effects of the Problem-Oriented Learning Model on Middle School Students’ Computational Thinking Skills in a Python Course

The rapid development of computers and technology affects modern daily life. Individuals in the digital age need to develop computational thinking (CT) skills. Existing studies have shown that programming teaching is conducive to cultivating students’ CT, and various learning models have different effects on the cultivation of CT. This study proposed a problem-oriented learning (POL) model that is closely related to programming and computational thinking. In all, 60 eighth-grade students from a middle school in China were divided into an experimental group (EG) which adopted the POL model, and a control group (CG) which adopted the lecture-and-practice (LAP) learning model. The results showed that the students who were instructed using the POL model performed better than those who were instructed using the LAP model on CT concepts, CT practices, and CT perspectives. Significant differences were found for CT concepts and CT perspectives, but not for CT practices. Findings have implications for teachers who wish to apply new learning models to facilitate students’ CT skills, and the study provides a reference case for CT training and Python programming teaching.
The Roles of Media and Technology in Adolescents Development in Ekiti State, Nigeria

2 Abstract: The adolescents are exposed to an expanding array of media that carry messages that shape their judgments and behaviour. Parents, however, need to be able to monitor what the adolescents access in the internet so as not be criminal intended. There is hardly anything you do now a day in terms of admission to university, polytechnics and bank transactions that one would not need to be connected to the internet. To this end, adolescents need to be closely monitored and be careful what they do on the internet. What they do is expected to be purposeful and meaningful.
F ACIAL R ECOGNITION S ECURE D OOR O PERATING S YSTEM U SING R ASPBERRY PI

: Nowadays, everybody is facing security issues in door operating system like unwanted entrance of unauthorize people without permission. In order to resolve these issues an high security system is implemented. Rather than monitoring the door operating system through passwords or pins, unique faces are often made used as they're one’s biometric trait. These can't be modified or stolen easily, the extent of security is often raised by using face detection. The proposed system uses face recognition for providing higher security. System uses Haar classifier for face detection, local binary pattern histogram (LBPH) algorithm for face recognition. Whenever the person comes in front of the door, it captures the face and if the captured face is registered then it unlocks the door and if the face isn't registered the door will be in the locked state. The proposed system is trained and tested against 150 images and it has acquired an accuracy rate of 95%.
Estetrol as estrogen in a combined oral contraceptive, from the first in-human study to the contraceptive efficacy

Even though the use of combined oral contraceptive (COC) has numerous health benefits, it is associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Currently, the second generation COCs [ethinylestradiol (EE) with levonorgestrel (LNG)] are considered as the safest regarding the VTE risk but the androgenicity of LNG is responsible for undesirable side effects (acne, hirsutism and mood alteration) jeopardizing compliance. In the opposite, the use of less androgenic progestins or anti-androgenic progestins such as drospirenone (DRSP) is better tolerated but doubles the risk of VTE in comparison with EE/LNG. Replacing EE by a natural estrogen has been suggested to improve the VTE risk. Estetrol (E4) is a natural estrogen only produced by the human fetal liver. In-vivo and in-vitro fundamental studies suggest that E4 is safer than EE and estradiol (E2) on important estrogenic targets such as breast tissue and synthesis of liver proteins (responsible for hemostasis impairments associated with the use of estrogens). A vast clinical program has recently been conducted in order to evaluate the use of E4 as estrogen in a COC. A dose-finding program studied different combinations of E4 with DRSP or LNG. Ovulation inhibition, bleeding pattern, and tolerance were used to select the best E4-COC for further evaluation. All the E4-COCs tested were safe and capable of blocking ovulation. However, 15 mg E4 with 3 mg DRSP was associated with the best bleeding pattern and the highest tolerance. In addition, the changes in hemostasis parameters elicited by 15 mg E4/DRSP were significantly less pronounced than those recorded with EE/ DRSP, and similar or even lower than those seen with the safe EE/LNG. This combination was therefore selected to be further evaluated in a Phase 3 program where it confirmed its excellent safety and contraceptive efficacy.
Towards lifetime optimization of hanger connection plates for steel arch bridges

Deterioration and damage in hanger connection plates of steel arch bridges, caused by wind induced vibrations, often have severe impact on the overall safety of the structure. In this paper, an approach for the shape optimization of such connection plates is presented. Herein, various lifetime oriented design criteria are discussed and some techniques for shape optimization using the p-version of finite elements are described. The actual optimization is carried out by using evolution strategies. First design studies show promising results.
Design and Realization of Electronic Map Based on MapX

According to the characteristics of design and production for digital maps, a methodology for developing popular science tour digital map is proposed in respect with the reality of popular science tour resources in Northeast. A popular science tour digital map in Northeast was made with the MapX controls, which is a popular GIS development tool designed from the VB program language. Several key technologies for the design and production of the electrical map were discussed. The development of popular science tour digital map in Northeast has practical values for tourism developments.
Wildlife predation by dogs in Madagascar

Human–wildlife conflicts are increasing in number and intensity making conflict mitigation and coexistence a top priority for wildlife conservation. Domesticated dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) can mitigate or exacerbate human–wildlife conflict leading to positive and negative impacts on both humans and wildlife. However, the human–dog–wildlife interface is not well understood, particularly in biodiversity hot spots. Madagascar is a tropical biodiversity hot spot with many rare and threatened species of high conservation concern. Here we assess wildlife predation by free‐roaming dogs in communities surrounding Andasibe–Mantadia and Ranomafana National Parks in eastern Madagascar using surveys of dog owners living adjacent to protected areas. Nearly half of survey respondents reported that their dog(s) had killed wildlife. Dogs that spent more time away from home, that traveled to the forest more frequently, that had killed domestic livestock, and that were owned for hunting were more likely to have killed wildlife. Dogs that were fed were approximately 20% less likely to have killed wildlife than dogs that were not fed. Keeping dogs restrained more often and providing food are therefore likely to reduce wildlife predation by dogs provided these are socially acceptable options. Additionally, we found spatial variation in wildlife predation by dogs both between and within our two study regions. These results can help conservation organizations develop targeted, effective interventions appropriately tailored to the local context and prioritize specific areas with higher wildlife predation by dogs.