nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
RAC1 GTPase promotes the survival of breast cancer cells in response to hyper fractionated radiation treatment
Venue: Oncogene

Radiation therapy is a staple approach for cancer treatment, whereas radioresistance of cancer cells remains a substantial clinical problem. In response to ionizing radiation (IR) induced DNA damage, cancer cells can sustain/activate pro survival signaling pathways, leading to apoptotic resistance and induction of cell cycle checkpoint/DNA repair. Previous studies show that Rac1 GTPase is overexpressed/hyperactivated in breast cancer cells and is associated with poor prognosis. Studies from our laboratory reveal that Rac1 activity is necessary for G2/M checkpoint activation and cell survival in response to IR exposure of breast and pancreatic cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of Rac1 on the survival of breast cancer cells treated with hyper fractionated radiation (HFR) which is used clinically for cancer treatment. Results in this report indicate that Rac1 protein expression is increased in the breast cancer cells that survived HFR compared with parental cells. Furthermore, this increase of Rac1 is associated with enhanced activities of extracellular signal regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and nuclear factor kB (NF kB) signaling pathways and increased levels of anti apoptotic protein Bcl xL and Mcl 1, which are downstream targets of ERK1/2 and NF kB signaling pathways. Using Rac1 specific inhibitor and dominant negative mutant N17Rac1, here we demonstrate that Rac1 inhibition decreases the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and inhibitory kBa (IkBa) as well as the levels of Bcl xL and Mcl 1 protein in the HFR selected breast cancer cells. Moreover, inhibition of Rac1 using either small molecule inhibitor or dominant negative N17Rac1 abrogates clonogenic survival of HFR selected breast cancer cells and decreases the level of intact poly(ADP ribose) polymerase, which is indicative of apoptosis induction. Collectively, results in this report suggest that Rac1 signaling is essential for the survival of breast cancer cells subjected to HFR and implicate Rac1 in radioresistance of breast cancer cells. These studies also provide the basis to explore Rac1 as a therapeutic target for radioresistant breast cancer cells.
MicroRNA 224 promotes the sensitivity of osteosarcoma cells to cisplatin by targeting Rac1
Venue: Journal of cellular and molecular medicine

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumour in children and adolescents. Accumulating evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in the development of almost all types of cancer. Here, we investigated the role of miR 224 in the development and progression of osteosarcoma. We demonstrated that miR 224 was down regulated in osteosarcoma cell lines and tissues. Lower miR 224 levels were correlated with shorter survivalin osteosarcoma patients. Furthermore, overexpression of miR 224 suppressed osteosarcoma cell proliferation, migration and invasion and contributed to the increased sensitivity of MG 63 cells to cisplatin. We identified Rac1 as a direct target gene of miR 224 in osteosarcoma. Rac1 expression was up regulated in the osteosarcoma cell lines and tissues, and there was an inverse correlation between Rac1 and miR 224 expression in osteosarcoma tissues. Furthermore, rescuing Rac1 expression decreased the sensitivity of miR 224 overexpressing MG 63 cells to cisplatin. We also demonstrated that ectopic expression of Rac1 promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of miR 224 overexpressing MG 63 cells. These data suggest that miR 224 plays a tumour suppressor role in the development of osteosarcoma and is related to the sensitivity of osteosarcoma to cisplatin.
Threshold effects of inflation on economic growth in selected African regional economic communities: Evidence from a dynamic panel threshold modeling

The objective of this study is to estimate inflation threshold and examine its impact on the inflation growth nexus in selected African regional economic communities. While a number of empirical studies exist in this area for developing countries, they bundle up countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America which do not have the same inflation experiences. This study therefore focuses on Africa. However, since African regional groupings themselves have different inflation experiences, non linearity in the relationship between inflation and growth is explored within each grouping separately. The study uses dynamic panel threshold modeling recently suggested by Kremer et al. (2013) which extends the non dynamic panel threshold model of Hansen (1999) and the cross sectional threshold model of Caner and Hansen (2004) The results indicate that the estimated inflation threshold is different across the regional economic communities. Nonlinearity in inflation growth nexus seems to hold in CEMAC, COMESA and SADC while it is questioned in WAEMU and WAMZ. For CEMAC, COMESA and SADC, the findings indicate that inflation above the threshold is harmful to growth. Some correlations are established in this study but further analysis is needed to suggest a policy
Color texture representation using circular processing based Hue LBP for histo pathology image analysis
Venue: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP)

Texture is considered one of most significant information sources in histo pathology image analysis. To take advantage of information on color texture in digital histo pathology, this work analyzes inherent characteristics of the hue component in the cylindrical color space, and introduces an effective color texture descriptor based on the LBP paradigm. Unlike existing LBP variants designed for linear data, the proposed descriptor, namely Hue LBP, addresses the angular and periodic nature of hue and shows that color variation in the hue channel can be quantified by an angular variable in the range of [0,180] By introducing the concept of color similarity as a metric to measure color variation, we obtain a histogram to describe local color texture patterns. Experimentation on histo pathology image classification suggests that the proposed Hue LBP is discriminative as it is capable of describing texture information conveyed by the hue components.
Integrated Dual Production Mode Modeling and Multiobjective Optimization of an Industrial Continuous Catalytic Naphtha Reforming Process

Catalytic naphtha reforming is a key process both in refineries and in the production of aromatic compounds. However, the characteristics of dual production modes render the process model difficult to adapt to changing production needs. Because catalytic naphtha reforming has a complicated reaction mechanism along with multiple operation variables and objectives, its optimization is challenging. We herein report the modeling and optimization steps employed to resolve these issues. A detailed continuous catalytic regenerative (CCR) reforming process model was established, integrating the reaction kinetic model, reactor model, heater model, compressor model, and separator model. On the basis of the CCR model, multiobjective optimizations were performed, and a hierarchical structure of stochastic algorithm was proposed, thus reducing computation costs during model calculations. Three multiobjective optimization problems were solved using the proposed algorithm, with these cases being based on refinery produc.
Climate driven regime shift of a temperate marine ecosystem
Venue: Science

No turning back? Ecosystems over time have endured much disturbance, yet they tend to remain intact, a characteristic we call resilience. Though many systems have been lost and destroyed, for systems that remain physically intact, there is debate as to whether changing temperatures will result in shifts or collapses. Wernburg et al. show that extreme warming of a temperate kelp forest off Australia resulted not only in its collapse, but also in a shift in community composition that brought about an increase in herbivorous tropical fishes that prevent the reestablishment of kelp. Thus, many systems may not be resilient to the rapid climate change that we face. Science, this issue p. 169 Rapid warming tropicalizes a temperate kelp forest. Ecosystem reconfigurations arising from climate driven changes in species distributions are expected to have profound ecological, social, and economic implications. Here we reveal a rapid climate driven regime shift of Australian temperate reef communities, which lost their defining kelp forests and became dominated by persistent seaweed turfs. After decades of ocean warming, extreme marine heat waves forced a 100 kilometer range contraction of extensive kelp forests and saw temperate species replaced by seaweeds, invertebrates, corals, and fishes characteristic of subtropical and tropical waters. This community wide tropicalization fundamentally altered key ecological processes, suppressing the recovery of kelp forests.
Climate driven changes to ocean circulation and their inferred impacts on marine dispersal patterns

The dispersal and distribution patterns of many marine organisms are driven by oceanographic conditions, which are influenced by global climate. Climate driven oceanographic changes are thus likely to result in biogeographical changes. We assess how recent and predicted oceanographic changes affect the dispersal capacities and distributions of ecologically important (especially habitat forming) marine organisms.  We include studies from tropical, temperate and sub polar regions to draw globally relevant conclusions.  We review biogeographical, biological and oceanographic studies to critically evaluate emerging trends in biogeographical responses to climate driven oceanographic changes, and predict how future changes will affect marine ecosystems.  Many oceanic dispersal pathways are being altered by climate change. These changes will affect marine ecosystems by differentially affecting the replenishment potential and connectivity of key habitat forming species. In particular, the length of propagule pre competency periods, propagule behaviour and the geographical distance between areas of suitable habitat will be critical in determining how oceanographic changes affect the pattern and success of dispersal events, including the likelihood of species experiencing poleward range shifts in response to a warming climate.  Future climate driven oceanographic changes are likely to strengthen or weaken different oceanic dispersal pathways, which will either increase or decrease the potential for dispersal and connectivity in various marine taxa according to the interaction between the local oceanographic, geographical and taxon specific biological factors. A key focus for future work should be the development of fine scale near shore ocean circulation models that can be used to assess the dispersal response of key marine taxa under various marine climate change scenarios.
Performance analysis of optical interconnects' architectures for data center networks
Venue: Cluster Computing

Electrical interconnects in Data Center Networks (DCNs) suffer from various problems which include high energy consumption, high latency, fixed throughput of links and limited reconfigurability. Introducing optical interconnects in DCNs help to reduce these problems to a large extent. Optical interconnects are the technology of the future. To implement optical switching in DCNs various optical components are used which include wavelength selective switch, tunable wavelength converter, arrayed waveguide grating, semiconductor optical amplifier based switch, wavelength division multiplexers and demultiplexers. All these optical components vary the shape, attenuate the optical signal and introduce time delay in bits. A comprehensive study of various architectures for optical interconnects in data center networks (DCN) is carried out. Performance of various architectures is investigated in terms of jitter, bit error rate (BER) receiver sensitivity and eye diagram opening. It is also investigated how different optical components used in optical interconnects in DCNs are effecting the signal degradation in different architectures. The paper concludes with the categorization of the signal degradation types in optical interconnects in DCNs and ways to reduce them. This enables the design of low BER optical interconnects in DCNs.
Committee Opinion No. 666: Optimizing Postpartum Care.
Venue: Obstetrics and gynecology

In the weeks after birth, postpartum care often is fragmented among maternal and pediatric health care providers, and communication between inpatient and outpatient settings is inconsistent. To optimize postpartum care, anticipatory guidance should begin during pregnancy. During antenatal care, it is recommended that the patient and her obstetrician gynecologist or other obstetric care provider formulate a postpartum care plan and identify the health care professionals who will comprise the postpartum care team for the woman and her infant. Ideally, during the postpartum period, a single health care practice assumes responsibility for coordinating the woman's care. At discharge from maternity care, the woman should receive contact information for her postpartum care team and written instructions regarding the timing of follow up postpartum care. It is recommended that all women undergo a comprehensive postpartum visit within the first 6 weeks after birth. This visit should include a full assessment of physical, social, and psychological well being. Systems should be implemented to ensure each woman can receive her desired form of contraception during the comprehensive postpartum visit, if not done earlier. At the conclusion of the postpartum visit, the woman and her obstetrician gynecologist or other obstetric care provider should determine who will assume primary responsibility for her ongoing care. If responsibility is transferred to another primary care provider, the obstetrician gynecologist or other obstetric care provider is responsible for ensuring that there is communication with the primary care provider so that he or she can understand the implications of any pregnancy complications for the woman's future health and maintain continuity of care.
A cross sectional mixed study of the opportunity to improve maternal postpartum care in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services in the Kaya health district of Burkina Faso
Venue: International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics

To propose a rationale to improve maternal postpartum care in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) services.
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Innovative Postpartum Care Model for Mother Baby Dyads
Venue: PloS one

To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and maternal satisfaction of a newly established integrative postpartum community based clinic providing comprehensive support for mothers during the first month after discharge from the hospital. Our primary interests were breastfeeding rates, readmission and patient satisfaction.  A randomized controlled trial was conducted in Ottawa, Canada, where 472 mothers were randomized via a 1:2 ratio to either receive standard of care (n 157) or to attend the postpartum breastfeeding clinic (n 315) Outcome data were captured through questionnaires completed by the participants at 2, 4, 12 and 24 weeks postpartum. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were conducted to determine the effect of the intervention on exclusive breastfeeding at 12 weeks (primary outcome) Secondary outcomes included breastfeeding rate at 2, 4 and 24 weeks, breastfeeding self efficacy scale, readmission rate, and satisfaction score.  More mothers in the intervention group (n 195, 66.1% were exclusively breastfeeding at 12 weeks compared to mothers in the control group (n 81, 60.5% however no statistically significant difference was observed (OR 1.28; 95% CI:0.84 1.95) The rate of emergency room visits at 2 weeks for the intervention group was 11.4% compared to the standard of care group (15.2% (OR 0.69; 95% CI: 0.39 1.23) The intervention group was significantly more satisfied with the overall care they received for breastfeeding compared to the control group (OR 1.96; 95% CI: 3.50 6.88)  This new model of care did not significantly increase exclusive breastfeeding at 12 weeks. However, there were clinically meaningful improvements in the rate of postnatal problems and satisfaction that support this new service delivery model for postpartum care. A community based multidisciplinary postpartum clinic is feasible to implement and can provide appropriate and highly satisfactory care to mother baby dyads. This model of care may be more beneficial in a population that is not already predisposed to breastfeed.
Academic success is about self efficacy rather than frequency of use of the learning management system

Previous studies have investigated the association between the frequency of student learning management system (LMS) use (logins, discussion board use, resources used, etc. and academic achievement. These studies indicate that low LMS use by students is likely to result in less academic success. However, these models fail to take into account self beliefs that may also increase the explanatory value of learning analytics from the LMS. This study surveyed 310 students (M 22.10 years, SD 6.30 years) undertaking a first year health psychology subject. Results show the central role of self efficacy in predicting student performance. Online activity was not predictive of performance, suggesting the primacy of psychological factors more so than online engagement in determining outcome. Of the motivational factors, amotivation was the single significant predictor of academic achievement. Proposed future research directions include the need to evaluate whether these results are sustained over time.
Guidelines and best practices for using Docker in support of HLA federations

Containerization is the process of creating, packaging, distributing, deploying, and executing applications as self contained units in a lightweight and standardized process execution environment known as a container. A container provides a standard format and interface to its container runtime environment and is portable across runtime environments. Because containers are, in principle, lightweight, they are very suitable to serve as the vehicle for the provision of packaged (micro)services. Docker is an open source product supporting the creation, management and deployment of containers. Docker has, since its public release in 2013, developed to the point where now it is a compelling solution for any distributed application simulations built on the High Level Architecture included. This paper provides an overview of Docker and how it can be used in support of deploying and running HLA federations. Much of Docker can be used as is to provide real benefit in support of the management of HLA federations. However, there are use cases that require special consideration for how Docker is used, how federates are built, and how federations are composed. Antycip Simulation; Aptima; et al. MAK Technologies; NATO Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG) Pitch Technologies
Near field communication sensors and cloud based smart restaurant management system
Venue: 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF IoT)

In this paper, we introduce an efficient and user friendly Smart Restaurant Management System. This system will solve key problems faced by restaurants today through the use of technologies such as Mobile and Web applications, Internet of Things (IoT) Near Field Communications (NFC) sensors, and cloud computing. Restaurants have many inefficiencies due to human limitations that can be resolved through automation and device to device communication. This Smart Restaurant Management System accomplishes this by providing two interfaces for the two types of users in restaurants; an Android mobile application for customers and a web application for restaurant staff members. The Android mobile application allows customers to have a seamless dining experience with features such as finding available parking spaces easier through internet connected infrared proximity sensors in the parking lot, finding available tables at the restaurant easier through NFC sensors, ordering dishes through an interactive menu, and being able to pay the bill from their NFC equipped phones. The web application provides staff members benefits such as collecting data and statistics on the restaurant's performance in real time and automating the order placement system for waiters and cooks via IoT technology.
Stereotaxic administrations of allogeneic human Vg9Vd2 T cells efficiently control the development of human glioblastoma brain tumors
Venue: Oncoimmunology

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents the most frequent and deadliest primary brain tumor. Aggressive treatment still fails to eliminate deep brain infiltrative and highly resistant tumor cells. Human Vg9Vd2 T cells, the major peripheral blood gd T cell subset, react against a wide array of tumor cells and represent attractive immune effector T cells for the design of antitumor therapies. This study aims at providing a preclinical rationale for immunotherapies in GBM based on stereotaxic administration of allogeneic human Vg9Vd2 T cells. The feasibility and the antitumor efficacy of stereotaxic Vg9Vd2 T cell injections have been investigated in orthotopic GBM mice model using selected heterogeneous and invasive primary human GBM cells. Allogeneic human Vg9Vd2 T cells survive and patrol for several days within the brain parenchyma following adoptive transfer and can successfully eliminate infiltrative GBM primary cells. These striking observations pave the way for optimized stereotaxic antitumor immunotherapies targeting human allogeneic Vg9Vd2 T cells in GBM patients.
Role of the MHC restriction during maturation of antigen specific human T cells in the thymus
Venue: European journal of immunology

In the thymus, a T cell repertoire able to confer protection against infectious and noninfectious agents in a peptide dependent, self MHC restricted manner is selected. Direct detection of Ag specific thymocytes, and analysis of the impact of the expression of the MHC restricting allele on their frequency or function has never been studied in humans because of the extremely low precursor frequency. Here, we used a tetramer based enrichment protocol to analyze the ex vivo frequency and activation phenotype of human thymocytes specific for self, viral and tumor antigens presented by HLA A*0201 (A2) in individuals expressing or not this allele. Ag specific thymocytes were quantified within both CD4CD8 double or single positive compartments in every donor. Our data indicate that the maturation efficiency of Ag specific thymocytes is poorly affected by HLA A2 expression, in terms of frequencies. Nevertheless, A2 restricted T cell lines from A2+ donors reacted to A2+ cell lines in a highly peptide specific fashion, whereas their alloreactive counterparts showed off target activity. This first ex vivo analysis of human antigen specific thymocytes at different stages of human T cell development should open new perspectives in the understanding of the human thymic selection process.