Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing Potential Nanoparticle Release During Nanocomposite Shredding Using Direct-Reading Instruments

This study was conducted to determine if engineered nanoparticles are released into the air when nanocomposite parts are shredded for recycling. Test plaques made from polypropylene resin reinforced with either montmorillonite nanoclay or talc and from the same resin with no reinforcing material were shredded by a granulator inside a test apparatus. As the plaques were shredded, an ultrafine condensation particle counter; a diffusion charger; a photometer; an electrical mobility analyzer; and an optical particle counter measured number, lung-deposited surface area, and mass concentrations and size distributions by number in real-time. Overall, the particle levels produced were both stable and lower than found in some occupational environments. Although the lowest particle concentrations were observed when the talc-filled plaques were shredded, fewer nanoparticles were generated from the nanocomposite plaques than when the plain resin plaques were shredded. For example, the average particle number concentrations measured using the ultrafine condensation particle counter were 1300 particles/cm3 for the talc-reinforced resin, 4280 particles/cm3 for the nanoclay-reinforced resin, and 12,600 particles/cm3 for the plain resin. Similarly, the average alveolar-deposited particle surface area concentrations measured using the diffusion charger were 4.0 μm2/cm3 for the talc-reinforced resin, 8.5 μm2/cm3 for the nanoclay-reinforced resin, and 26 μm2/cm3 for the plain resin. For all three materials, count median diameters were near 10 nm during tests, which is smaller than should be found from the reinforcing materials. These findings suggest that recycling of nanoclay-reinforced plastics does not have a strong potential to generate more airborne nanoparticles than recycling of conventional plastics.
Immunization with plasmid DNA encoding hepatitis C virus envelope E2 antigenic domains induces antibodies whose immune reactivity is linked to the injection mode

Plasmids expressing different domains of the hepatis C virus (HCV) envelope E2 glycoprotein from a genotype 1a isolate were constructed to compare the immunogenic potential of E2 in nucleic acid-based immunizations. One plasmid, pCIE2t, expressed a C-terminally truncated form of E2, while others, pS2.SE2A to pS2.SE2E, encoded the adjacent 60-amino-acid (aa) sequences of E2 (inserts A to E) expressed as a fusion with the hepatitis B virus surface antigen. BALB/c mice were given injections of the plasmids intramuscularly (i.m.) or intraepidermally (i.e.) via a gene gun (biolistic introduction), and induced humoral immune responses were evaluated. The i.e. injections resulted in higher seroconversion rates and antibody titers, up to 100-fold, than did the i.m. injections (P = 0.01 to 0.04). Three restricted immunogenic domains, E2A (aa 384 to 443), E2C (aa 504 to 555), and E2E (aa 609 to 674), that yielded antibody titers ranging from 1:59 to > 1:43,700 could be identified. Subtype 1a- and 1b-derived E2 antigens and synthetic peptides were used in Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analyses, which revealed that the cross-reactivity of the plasmid-induced antibodies was linked both to the type of antigen expressed and to the injection mode. Induced anti-E2 antibodies could immunoprecipitate noncovalent E1E2 complexes believed to exist on the surface of HCV virions. This study allowed us to identify restricted immunogenic domains within E2 and demonstrated that different routes of injection of HCV E2 plasmids can result in quantitatively and qualitatively different humoral immune responses.
HTLV-1 Rex: the courier of viral messages making use of the host vehicle

The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus causing an aggressive T-cell malignancy, adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Although HTLV-1 has a compact RNA genome, it has evolved elaborate mechanisms to maximize its coding potential. The structural proteins Gag, Pro, and Pol are encoded in the unspliced form of viral mRNA, whereas the Env protein is encoded in singly spliced viral mRNA. Regulatory and accessory proteins, such as Tax, Rex, p30II, p12, and p13, are translated only from fully spliced mRNA. For effective viral replication, translation from all forms of HTLV-1 transcripts has to be achieved in concert, although unspliced mRNA are extremely unstable in mammalian cells. It has been well recognized that HTLV-1 Rex enhances the stability of unspliced and singly spliced HTLV-1 mRNA by promoting nuclear export and thereby removing them from the splicing site. Rex specifically binds to the highly structured Rex responsive element (RxRE) located at the 3′ end of all HTLV-1 mRNA. Rex then binds to the cellular nuclear exporter, CRM1, via its nuclear export signal domain and the Rex–viral transcript complex is selectively exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm for effective translation of the viral proteins. Yet, the mechanisms by which Rex inhibits the cellular splicing machinery and utilizes the cellular pathways beneficial to viral survival in the host cell have not been fully explored. Furthermore, physiological impacts of Rex against homeostasis of the host cell via interactions with numerous cellular proteins have been largely left uninvestigated. In this review, we focus on the biological importance of HTLV-1 Rex in the HTLV-1 life cycle by following the historical path in the literature concerning this viral post-transcriptional regulator from its discovery to this day. In addition, for future studies, we discuss recently discovered aspects of HTLV-1 Rex as a post-transcriptional regulator and its use in host cellular pathways.
Video Super-Resolution via Deep Draft-Ensemble Learning

We propose a new direction for fast video super-resolution (VideoSR) via a SR draft ensemble, which is defined as the set of high-resolution patch candidates before final image deconvolution. Our method contains two main components -- i.e., SR draft ensemble generation and its optimal reconstruction. The first component is to renovate traditional feedforward reconstruction pipeline and greatly enhance its ability to compute different super resolution results considering large motion variation and possible errors arising in this process. Then we combine SR drafts through the nonlinear process in a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). We analyze why this framework is proposed and explain its unique advantages compared to previous iterative methods to update different modules in passes. Promising experimental results are shown on natural video sequences.
Continual on-line monitoring of Czech spoken broadcast programs

In the paper we describe the development of the first practical system that performs automatic on-line monitoring of Czech broadcast stations. It is based on our own speech recognition server that operates with 300K word lexicon and 2.3 RT factor. For true on-line service, several servers are connected to the platform that controls acoustic stream segmentation, distribution of data to the servers, collection of results and production of the final transcription. We show practical results achieved on different types of broadcast programs, such as news (21 % WER), parliament debates (21 % WER) and talk-shows (34 %).
Context-Sensitive Convolution Tree Kernel for Pronoun Resolution

This paper proposes a context-sensitive convolution tree kernel for pronoun resolution. It resolves two critical problems in previous researches in two ways. First, given a parse tree and a pair of an anaphor and an antecedent candidate, it implements a dynamic-expansion scheme to automatically determine a proper tree span for pronoun resolution by taking predicateand antecedent competitor-related information into consideration. Second, it applies a context-sensitive convolution tree kernel, which enumerates both context-free and context-sensitive sub-trees by considering their ancestor node paths as their contexts. Evaluation on the ACE 2003 corpus shows that our dynamic-expansion tree span scheme can well cover necessary structured information in the parse tree for pronoun resolution and the context-sensitive tree kernel much outperforms previous tree kernels.
Adding growth factors or interleukin-3 to erythropoietin has limited effects on anemia of transfusion-dependent patients with myelodysplastic syndromes unresponsive to erythropoietin alone.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Recombinant erythropoietin (r-EPO) induces erythroid responses in patients affected by myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). However, the response rate declines to 10-15% in MDS with substantial transfusion needs. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that the addition of growth factors (G-CSF, GM-CSF) or interleukin-3 (IL-3) may potentiate the effect of r-EPO on dysplastic erythropoiesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the combination of r-EPO with G-CSF, GM-CSF or IL-3 on the anemia of heavily transfusion-dependent MDS patients, previously unresponsive to r-EPO alone. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty patients with transfusion-dependent MDS, already treated without significant erythroid response with r-EPO alone, were scheduled to receive, for at least 8 weeks, r-EPO subcutaneously at the dose of 300 U/kg t.i. w. in combination with G-CSF (300 microcg s.c. t.i.w., 27 patients), or GM-CSF (300 microcg s.c. t.i.w., 23 patients), or IL-3 (5 microcg/kg s.c. t.i.w., 10 patients), after a two-week pre-phase during which G-CSF, GM-CSF and IL-3 were administered daily at the same dose, as single drugs. RESULTS Ten patients were not evaluable for erythroid response because of relevant side effects related to GM-CSF or IL-3 administration. Overall, among 50 patients who completed the study, there were 3 erythroid responses (as determined by complete abolition of red-cell transfusions): 1 (4%) in the G-CSF + r-EPO and 2 (10.5%) in the GM-CSF + r-EPO treated groups. No patient responded to the combination of r-EPO + IL-3. All responders had inappropriate serum levels of endogenous EPO and a relatively short disease duration. Both responders to GM-CSF + r-EPO developed acute myeloid leukemia 2-9 months after the start of the combined therapy. A third elderly patient, treated with the same association, developed marrow hypoplasia. A significant increase in leukocyte count occurred in 96% of patients who received r-EPO + G-CSF, 78.9% of those treated with r-EPO + GM-CSF and 66% of subjects receiving r-EPO + IL-3. A significant increase in platelet count was observed in a single patient receiving r-EPO and GM-CSF, while a slight decrease in platelet count with respect to baseline levels occurred in about 20% of patients. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that the combination of r-EPO with G-CSF, GM-CSF or IL-3, at least at the doses and schedules employed in the present study, has limited efficacy on the anemia of heavily transfusion-dependent MDS patients previously unresponsive to r-EPO alone. However, in this setting of patients, the combination of G-CSF or GM-CSF + r-EPO may occasionally be effective in subjects with low circulating levels of serum EPO and short disease duration.
Ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the detection of N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylglutamate in cerebral tissue extracts.

An ion-pairing high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylglutamate using a C-18 column and a UV detection at 210 nm wavelength, by means of a diode array detector, is presented. A buffer containing 2.8 mM tetrabutylammonium hydroxide, 25 mM KH(2)PO(4), 1.25% methanol, pH 7. 00, is utilized for the isocratic separation of these N-acetylated amino acids, at a flow rate of 1 ml/min and a column temperature of 23 degrees C. The suitability of this chromatographic separation (without additional chromatographic steps prior to HPLC assay) to monitor variations both of N-acetylaspartate and of N-acetylglutamate in perchloric acid brain extracts from rats subjected to the impact acceleration model of diffuse brain injury is also reported. According to the data presented, this HPLC method allows the separation of the two N-acetylated amino acids considered from the many possible interfering compounds, commonly present in extracts of cerebral tissue, which have high extinction coefficients at 210 nm wavelength. Values of N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylglutamate determined by this method showed that cerebral trauma negatively affects both compounds, according to the severity of trauma itself.
Electrophoretic Deposition and Characterization of TiO2/Nb2O5 Composite Thin Films for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

In this study, Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) technique was used to fabricate TiO2/Nb2O5 composite thin films on FTO coated glass for application as photoelectrodes in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC). A TiO2/Nb2O5 ratio of 1:1 was used in a 2-propanol suspension solution with a solid loading of 0.25g/L. Optical investigations showed that the film with thickness of 5.5 m deposited at 35.0 V for 90.0 s had the highest transmittance of 55.0 % at a wavelength () of 1,300 nm. The optical band gap energy (Eg) was 3.884 eV and was found to be dependent on the annealing time. The solar cell fabricated from this film had an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.66 V, fill factor (FF) of 57.0%, short current density (JSC) of 5.25 mA/cm2 and photo conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.0%. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis indicate that the DSSC device with thinner photoelectrodes have more efficient electron transport in the photoanode compared to thicker photoelectrodes to achieve higher conversion efficiencies.
Distributed Q-learning for energy harvesting Heterogeneous Networks

We consider a two-tier urban Heterogeneous Network where small cells powered with renewable energy are deployed in order to provide capacity extension and to offload macro base stations. We use reinforcement learning techniques to concoct an algorithm that autonomously learns energy inflow and traffic demand patterns. This algorithm is based on a decentralized multi-agent Q-learning technique that, by interacting with the environment, obtains optimal policies aimed at improving the system performance in terms of drop rate, throughput and energy efficiency. Simulation results show that our solution effectively adapts to changing environmental conditions and meets most of our performance objectives. At the end of the paper we identify areas for improvement.
The diagnostic value of tumor markers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for the peripheral pulmonary carcinoma

To investigate the value of Ubiquitin specific peptidase 8 (USP8), Chitinase 3‐like 1 (YKL40), Heat shock protein 90a (HSP90α), glutathione S‐transferase P1 (GSTP1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron specific enolase (NSE) and cytokeratin fragment antiogen 21‐1 (CYFRA21‐1) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum for diagnosis in patients with peripheral lung cancer.
A novel dysferlin mutant pseudoexon bypassed with antisense oligonucleotides

Mutations in dysferlin (DYSF), a Ca2+‐sensitive ferlin family protein important for membrane repair, vesicle trafficking, and T‐tubule function, cause Miyoshi myopathy, limb‐girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B, and distal myopathy. More than 330 pathogenic DYSF mutations have been identified within exons or near exon–intron junctions. In ~17% of patients who lack normal DYSF, only a single disease‐causing mutation has been identified. We studied one family with one known mutant allele to identify both the second underlying genetic defect and potential therapeutic approaches.
The pavements cost due to traffic overloads

ABSTRACT The traffic on roads is characterised by a large number of different vehicle types; these vehicles are considered in the pavement design by converting their effects through the use of truck factors. The truck factors transform the damage applied by the various axle types and loads to a standard axle. However, there is a considerable number of vehicles that travel with axle loads above the maximum legal limit. These axles/vehicles cause significant damage to the pavements, which increases the pavement construction and rehabilitation cost. This paper investigates the impact of overloaded vehicles using a vehicle weight database by examining the truck factors for different vehicle categories. The study concluded that overloaded vehicles increase pavement damage and life cycle costs by about 30% compared to the cost of the same vehicles with legal loads.
Microsatellite Instability Testing in Colorectal Carcinoma: Choice of Markers Affects Sensitivity of Detection of Mismatch Repair–Deficient Tumors

Purpose: Microsatellite instability (MSI) is found in 10% to 15% of sporadic colorectal tumors and is usually caused by defects in DNA mismatch repair (MMR). In 1997, a panel of microsatellite markers including mononucleotide and dinucleotide repeats was recommended by a National Cancer Institute workshop on MSI. We investigated the relationship between instability of these markers and MMR protein expression in a cohort of sporadic colorectal cancer patients. Experimental Design: Paraffin sections of normal and tumor tissue from 262 colorectal cancer patients were examined for MSI status by PCR amplification and for MMR protein expression using antibodies against hMLH1, hPMS2, hMSH2, and hMSH6. Results: Twenty-six (10%) of the patients studied had tumors with a high level of MSI (MSI-H). The frequencies of MSI were the same in African-American and Caucasian patients. Each of the MSI-H tumors had mutations in both mononucleotide and dinucleotide repeats and had loss of MMR protein expression, as did two tumors that had low levels of MSI (MSI-L). These two MSI-L tumors exhibited mutations in mononucleotide repeats only, whereas eight of the other nine MSI-L tumors had mutations in just a single dinucleotide repeat. There was not a statistically significant difference in outcomes between patients whose tumors were MMR-positive or MMR-negative, although there was a slight trend toward improved survival among those with MMR-deficient tumors. Conclusions: The choice of microsatellite markers is important for MSI testing. Examination of mononucleotide repeats is sufficient for detection of tumors with MMR defects, whereas instability only in dinucleotides is characteristic of MSI-L/MMR-positive tumors.
The Relevance Sample-Feature Machine: A Sparse Bayesian Learning Approach to Joint Feature-Sample Selection

This paper introduces a novel sparse Bayesian machine-learning algorithm for embedded feature selection in classification tasks. Our proposed algorithm, called the relevance sample feature machine (RSFM), is able to simultaneously choose the relevance samples and also the relevance features for regression or classification problems. We propose a separable model in feature and sample domains. Adopting a Bayesian approach and using Gaussian priors, the learned model by RSFM is sparse in both sample and feature domains. The proposed algorithm is an extension of the standard RVM algorithm, which only opts for sparsity in the sample domain. Experimental comparisons on synthetic as well as benchmark data sets show that RSFM is successful in both feature selection (eliminating the irrelevant features) and accurate classification. The main advantages of our proposed algorithm are: less system complexity, better generalization and avoiding overfitting, and less computational cost during the testing stage.
Accounting for seasonality in a soil moisture change detection algorithm for ASAR Wide Swath time series

A change detection algorithm is applied on a three year time series of ASAR Wide Swath images in VV polarization over Calabria, Italy, in order to derive information on temporal soil moisture dynamics. The algorithm, adapted from an algorithm originally developed for ERS scatterometer, was validated using a simple hydrological model incorporating meteorological and pedological data. Strong positive correlations between modelled soil moisture and ASAR soil moisture were observed over arable land, while the correlation became much weaker over more vegetated areas. In a second phase, an attempt was made to incorporate seasonality in the different model parameters. It was observed that seasonally changing surface properties mainly affected the multitemporal incidence angle normalization. When applying a seasonal angular normalization, correlation coefficients between modelled soil moisture and retrieved soil moisture increased overall. Attempts to account for seasonality in the other model parameters did not result in an improved performance.
Chronic pancreatitis

Purpose of review We review selected important clinical observations in chronic pancreatitis reported in 2013. Recent findings Early diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis remains difficult, although newer techniques utilizing endoscopic ultrasonography-elastography and MRI hold promise. Patients with chronic pancreatitis are at risk of nutritional deficiencies. Osteoporosis, osteopenia, and bone fracture are particularly common in these patients, and require active intervention and treatment. Diabetes caused by chronic pancreatitis, type 3c diabetes, has specific characteristics and requires careful management. Antioxidants and neuromodulators may decrease pain in some patients with chronic pancreatitis. Endoscopic treatment is effective and can be utilized in patients with painful chronic pancreatitis, although randomized trials demonstrate that surgical therapy is somewhat more durable and effective. Although surgery has typically been a last resort, some advocate early surgical intervention but the optimal time remains unknown. Summary Early diagnosis of pancreatitis may be improved by newer techniques associated with endoscopic ultrasonography imaging. Treatment of nutritional deficiencies and diabetes is an important aspect of treating chronic pancreatitis. Pain relief with adjunct means of pain modulation should be tried before starting narcotics for pain control. Endoscopic therapy is appropriate for treating chronic pancreatitis and its local complications and surgical intervention can be considered early in carefully selected individuals.
Radical Surgical Resection Combined With Lymphadenectomy-Directed Antimicrobial Therapy Yielding Cure of Severe Axillary Hidradenitis

BackgroundThe current gold standard therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is surgical resection. However, despite complete resection, the reoperation rate is reported as high as 54% due to wound infections and disease recurrences. Our hypothesis is that this high recurrence rate is related to retained disease and infected tissue not included in soft tissue resection, namely the lymph nodes. Therefore, performing a superficial lymphadenectomy with nodal microbacterial analysis would remove all infected tissue, eradicate the disease, and allow more specific targeted antibiotic therapy. MethodsFrom 2004 to 2009, 11 patients underwent 15 wide en bloc resections including superficial lymphadenectomy with flap reconstruction for axillary HS. A retrospective review was performed with the following outcomes assessed: culture results, hospital stay, and recurrences of HS. ResultsPatients were followed up for an average of 4.3 years. During this time, there were no wound complications or disease recurrences. Positive bacterial cultures occurred in 12 of 14 nodes with results that differed from the soft tissue purulence. This led to a 75% change in antibiotic regimen. Superficial abscess cultures were uniformly covered, whereas only 3 of 12 nodal cultures where sensitive to our empiric antibiotic coverage. No patients developed lymphedema or any loss of function in the involved upper extremity. ConclusionsAxillary HS has traditionally been a challenge due to the morbidity of care and high recurrence. Our data show that an en bloc resection with a superficial lymphadenectomy and subsequent antimicrobial therapy based on both the soft tissue and the lymph nodes can provide a definitive cure.