Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukin (Il)-4 Is a Major Regulatory Cytokine Governing Bioactive IL-12 Production by Mouse and Human Dendritic Cells

Interleukin (IL)-12 may be secreted as a bioactive T helper type 1 (Th1) cell–inducing heterodimer, as a monomer, or as an antagonistic homodimer. We analyzed the IL-12 produced by mouse splenic dendritic cells (DCs), human thymic DCs, and cultured human monocyte-derived DCs. IL-12 production required both a microbial or T cell–derived stimulus and an appropriate cytokine milieu. The different IL-12 forms were differentially regulated by the cytokines present rather than the stimulus used. IL-4 alone or together with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor or interferon γ effectively enhanced the production of the bioactive heterodimer and selectively reduced the antagonistic homodimer of IL-12. Therefore, IL-4, the major Th2-driving cytokine, provides a negative feedback causing DCs to produce the major Th1-inducing cytokine, bioactive IL-12.
Dollarization Out, Euroization In

21 Louis-Philippe Rochon is assistant professor of economics at Laurentian University, Canada. Sergio Rossi is assistant professor at the University of Fribourg and the University of Lugano, Switzerland. They thank Jean-François Ponsot for his useful comments and Dante Caprara for valuable research assistance. The usual disclaimers apply. Int’l. Journal of Political Economy, vol. 33, no. 1, Spring 2003, pp. 21–41. © 2004 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 0891–1916 / 2004 $9.50 + 0.00.
Applied Text Analytics for Comments on News-Articles

Several on-line daily newspapers offer readers the opportunity to directly comment on articles. In the Netherlands this feature is used quite often and the quality (grammatically and content-wise) is surprisingly high. The paper develops techniques to collect, store, enrich and analyze these comments. After giving a high-level overview of the Dutch ‘commentosphere’ we zoom in on extracting the discussion structure found in flat comment threads; people not only comment on the news article, they also heavily comment on other comments, resembling discussion fora. We show how techniques from information retrieval, natural language processing and machine learning can be used to extract the ‘reacts-on’ relation between comments with remarkably high precision and recall.
The distinct relationships of self-compassion and self-coldness with psychological distress and mental well-being

The purpose of the current research is to examine the strength of the relationships of selfcompassion and self-coldness with distress and well-being. The self-report measure driving selfcompassion research—the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a)—has recently been identified as comprised of two overarching factors (i.e., self-compassion and self-coldness) rather than one overarching factor of self-compassion (Brenner, Heath, Vogel, & Credé, 2017; Costa, Pinto‐Gouveia, Ferreira, & Castilho, 2016; Lopez et al., 2015). As such, the extent to which associations between self-compassion and clinically relevant outcomes found in previous studies is due to self-compassion rather than self-coldness is unknown. Study 1 featured a crosssectional design wherein participants from an adult community sample responded to measures of self-compassion and self-coldness, as well as brief measures of distress and well-being. Study 2 examined the replicability of these findings in an undergraduate sample with the inclusion of additional measures of distress. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the direct relationships of self-compassion and self-coldness with distress and well-being, as well as interactions between these two constructs. Across studies self-coldness uniquely predicted distress and well-being, and self-compassion uniquely predicted well-being. Self-compassion did not uniquely predict distress in either sample. The strengths of these relationships were similar across studies. Self-compassion moderated the relationship between self-coldness and distress in both studies and the relationship between self-coldness and well-being in Study 1 but not Study 2. The direct relationships examined were not moderated by gender, although men reported greater self-compassion and self-coldness than women.
How Much do Needlestick Injuries Cost? A Systematic Review of the Economic Evaluations of Needlestick and Sharps Injuries Among Healthcare Personnel

OBJECTIVE To provide an overview of the economic aspects of needlestick and sharps injury (NSI) management among healthcare personnel (HCP) within a Health Technology Assessment project to evaluate the impact of safety-engineered devices on health care METHODS A systematic review of economic analyses related to NSIs was performed in accordance with the PRISMA statement and by searching PubMed and Scopus databases (January 1997–February 2015). Mean costs were stratified by study approach (modeling or data driven) and type of cost (direct or indirect). Costs were evaluated using the CDC operative definition and converted to 2015 International US dollars (Int$). RESULTS A total of 14 studies were retrieved: 8 data-driven studies and 6 modeling studies. Among them, 11 studies provided direct and indirect costs and 3 studies provided only direct costs. The median of the means for aggregate (direct + indirect) costs was Int$747 (range, Int$199–Int$1,691). The medians of the means for disaggregated costs were Int$425 (range, Int$48–Int$1,516) for direct costs (9 studies) and Int$322 (range, Int$152–Int$413) for indirect costs (6 studies). When compared with data-driven studies, modeling studies had higher disaggregated and aggregated costs, but data-driven studies showed greater variability. Indirect costs were consistent between studies, mostly referring to lost productivity, while direct costs varied widely within and between studies according to source infectivity, HCP susceptibility, and post-exposure diagnostic and prophylactic protocols. Costs of treating infections were not included, and intangible costs could equal those associated with NSI medical evaluations. CONCLUSIONS NSIs generate significant direct, indirect, potential, and intangible costs, possibly increasing over time. Economic efforts directed at preventing occupational exposures and infections, including provision of safety-engineered devices, may be offset by the savings from a lower incidence of NSIs. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:635–646
A Logic For Simulating Discontinuous Systems

This paper presen DMOD a formalism for simplifying the synthesis and analysis of programs for simulating discontinuous systems. It lacks the concept of explicit state. Its programs are constraints upon event occurrences, based upon a novel view of the causality relation. Constraints can freely refer to the past and future of causing events. Simulation is regarded as inference of event occurrences from constraints. An event is said to occur when an interesting proposition becomes true. The new concept of partially instantiated events is introduced. DMOD can be regarded as a formalization of the widely used event scheduling view of the discrete-event simulation technique. However, it shows how event occurrences can be computed without devices of scheduling, unscheduling or event queues, which are intrinsic to this view. Due to partially instantiated events, DMOD can also be considered more general.
Area − T ime Efficient Hardware Implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem

The strength of ECC lies in the hardness of elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP) and the hight level security with significantly smaller keys. Thus, using smaller key sizes is a gain in term of speed, power, bandwidth, and storage. Point multiplication is the most common operation in ECC and the most used method to compute it is Montgomery Algorithm. This paper describes an area-efficient hardware implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) over GF (2). We used the Montgomery modular multiplication method for low cost implementation. Then, to accelerate the elliptic curve point multiplication, we firstly adopted projective coordinates, and then we reduced the number of multiplication block used, so we have a gain at area occupation and execution time. We detailed our optimized hardware architecture and we prove that it outperform existing ones regarding area, power, and energy consumption. Our hardware implementation, on a Xilinx virtex 5 ML 50 FPGA, used only 9670 Slices achieving maximum frequency of 221 MHz, it computed scalar multiplication in only 2.58 μs. FPGA implementations represent generally the first step to obtain faster ASIC implementations.Further, we implemented our design on an ASIC CMOS 45 nm technology, it uses 0.121 mm of area cell, it runs at a frequency of 990 MHz and consumes 39(mW).
Bioluminescent Imaging of Trypanosoma brucei Shows Preferential Testis Dissemination Which May Hamper Drug Efficacy in Sleeping Sickness

Monitoring Trypanosoma spread using real-time imaging in vivo provides a fast method to evaluate parasite distribution especially in immunoprivileged locations. Here, we generated monomorphic and pleomorphic recombinant Trypanosoma brucei expressing the Renilla luciferase. In vitro luciferase activity measurements confirmed the uptake of the coelenterazine substrate by live parasites and light emission. We further validated the use of Renilla luciferase-tagged trypanosomes for real-time bioluminescent in vivo analysis. Interestingly, a preferential testis tropism was observed with both the monomorphic and pleomorphic recombinants. This is of importance when considering trypanocidal drug development, since parasites might be protected from many drugs by the blood-testis barrier. This hypothesis was supported by our final study of the efficacy of treatment with trypanocidal drugs in T. brucei-infected mice. We showed that parasites located in the testis, as compared to those located in the abdominal cavity, were not readily cleared by the drugs.
Neurons in the White Matter of the Adult Human Neocortex

The white matter (WM) of the adult human neocortex contains the so-called “interstitial neurons”. They are most numerous in the superficial WM underlying the cortical gyri, and decrease in density toward the deep WM. They are morphologically heterogeneous. A subgroup of interstitial neurons display pyramidal-cell like morphologies, characterized by a polarized dendritic tree with a dominant apical dendrite, and covered with a variable number of dendritic spines. In addition, a large contingent of interstitial neurons can be classified as interneurons based on their neurochemical profile as well as on morphological criteria. WM- interneurons have multipolar or bipolar shapes and express GABA and a variety of other neuronal markers, such as calbindin and calretinin, the extracellular matrix protein reelin, or neuropeptide Y, somatostatin, and nitric oxide synthase. The heterogeneity of interstitial neurons may be relevant for the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia. Interstitial neurons are most prominent in human brain, and only rudimentary in the brain of non-primate mammals. These evolutionary differences have precluded adequate experimental work on this cell population, which is usually considered as a relict of the subplate, a transient compartment proper of development and without a known function in the adult brain. The primate-specific prominence of the subplate in late fetal stages points to an important role in the establishment of interstitial neurons. Neurons in the adult WM may be actively involved in coordinating inter-areal connectivity and regulation of blood flow. Further studies in primates will be needed to elucidate the developmental history, adult components and activities of this large neuronal system.
VPS35 in Dopamine Neurons Is Required for Endosome-to-Golgi Retrieval of Lamp2a, a Receptor of Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy That Is Critical for α-Synuclein Degradation and Prevention of Pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease

Vacuolar protein sorting-35 (VPS35) is essential for endosome-to-Golgi retrieval of membrane proteins. Mutations in the VPS35 gene have been identified in patients with autosomal dominant PD. However, it remains poorly understood if and how VPS35 deficiency or mutation contributes to PD pathogenesis. Here we provide evidence that links VPS35 deficiency to PD-like neuropathology. VPS35 was expressed in mouse dopamine (DA) neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and STR (striatum)—regions that are PD vulnerable. VPS35-deficient mice exhibited PD-relevant deficits including accumulation of α-synuclein in SNpc-DA neurons, loss of DA transmitter and DA neurons in SNpc and STR, and impairment of locomotor behavior. Further mechanical studies showed that VPS35-deficient DA neurons or DA neurons expressing PD-linked VPS35 mutant (D620N) had impaired endosome-to-Golgi retrieval of lysosome-associated membrane glycoprotein 2a (Lamp2a) and accelerated Lamp2a degradation. Expression of Lamp2a in VPS35-deficient DA neurons reduced α-synuclein, supporting the view for Lamp2a as a receptor of chaperone-mediated autophagy to be critical for α-synuclein degradation. These results suggest that VPS35 deficiency or mutation promotes PD pathogenesis and reveals a crucial pathway, VPS35-Lamp2a-α-synuclein, to prevent PD pathogenesis. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT VPS35 is a key component of the retromer complex that is essential for endosome-to-Golgi retrieval of membrane proteins. Mutations in the VPS35 gene have been identified in patients with PD. However, if and how VPS35 deficiency or mutation contributes to PD pathogenesis remains unclear. We demonstrated that VPS35 deficiency or mutation (D620N) in mice leads to α-synuclein accumulation and aggregation in the substantia nigra, accompanied with DA neurodegeneration. VPS35-deficient DA neurons exhibit impaired endosome-to-Golgi retrieval of Lamp2a, which may contribute to the reduced α-synuclein degradation through chaperone-mediated autophagy. These results suggest that VPS35 deficiency or mutation promotes PD pathogenesis, and reveals a crucial pathway, VPS35-Lamp2a-α-synuclein, to prevent PD pathogenesis.
Factors influencing the length of hospital stay among patients resident in Blackpool admitted with COPD: a cross-sectional study

Objectives To identify the differential effects of patient, health service, temporal and geographic factors on length of stay (LOS) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)-related admissions. Design We used stratified Cox proportional hazard model to evaluate the association between LOS and patient, health service, temporal and geographical factors. Setting Patients resident in Blackpool, North West England, admitted to the local hospital with COPD. Participants We used the Admitted Patient Care General Episode Commissioning Dataset for the period 1 April 2005–31 March 2010. We analysed records of admission spells among patients resident in Blackpool aged 40 years or older admitted with a primary diagnosis of COPD. Results There were 2410 admissions meeting the inclusion criteria over the period. These admissions were attributed to 1172 COPD patients, an average of 2.06 admissions per patient. The median LOS was 6 days (95% CI 6 to 6) while the mean was 9.8 days (95% CI 9.1 to 10.5). Patients were 22% more likely to be discharged earlier in 2009/2010 compared with 2005/2006 (adjusted HR 1.22; p=0.0100). LOS was associated with socioeconomic deprivation with those in the most deprived areas being 35% less likely to be discharged earlier compared with those from the least deprived areas (adjusted HR 0.65; p=0.0010). Conclusions LOS among COPD patients have reduced over the period of the study. Age, deprivation, Charlson index, specialty of admission and cause of exacerbations were independently associated with LOS. Though there were no significant associations between LOS and season of admission and distance from hospital, there were significant variations in LOS associated with these variables based on selected patient characteristics.
Development of a Cell Surface Display System in a Magnetotactic Bacterium, “Magnetospirillum magneticum” AMB-1

ABSTRACT Bacterial cell surface display is a widely used technology for bioadsorption and for the development of a variety of screening systems. Magnetotactic bacteria are unique species of bacteria due to the presence of magnetic nanoparticles within them. These intracellular, nanosized (50 to 100 nm) magnetic nanoparticles enable the cells to migrate and be manipulated by magnetic force. In this work, using this unique characteristic and based on whole-genomic and comprehensive proteomic analyses of these bacteria, a cell surface display system has been developed by expressing hexahistidine residues within the outer coiled loop of the membrane-specific protein (Msp1) of the “Magnetospirillum magneticum” (proposed name) AMB-1 bacterium. The optimal display site of the hexahistidine residues was successfully identified via secondary structure prediction, immunofluorescence microscopy, and heavy metal binding assay. The established AMB-1 transformant showed high immunofluorescence response, high Cd2+ binding, and high recovery efficiency in comparison to those of the negative control when manipulated by magnetic force.
Is government efficient ? An illustration from U . S . agricultural policy

The responsibility for the content lies solely with the author(s). Comments and critique by readers of this series are highly appreciated. Summary Agricultural programs are often criticized as being expensive and wasteful. However, spurred by the ideas of Nobel Prize winner Gary BECKER many studies in agricultural policy have implicitly assumed or tried to test whether, given the political constraint it faces, government is as efficient as it possibly can be. Given the importance of this Efficient Redistribution Hypothesis (ERH) in the prevailing agricultural economics literature, proper understanding of this hypothesis and how it might be tested are important. This paper illustrates the meaning and ramifications of the ERH. We critique one of the two methods commonly used to examine empirically the validity of the ERH, and we illustrate our critique with an empirical example from U.S. agricultural policy. illustrieren unsere Kritik anhand der Agrarpolitik der USA.
Development of thermotolerance in a human melanoma xenograft.

The kinetics of thermotolerance in a human malignant melanoma grown in athymic mice (BALB/c/nu/nu/BOM) was studied. Local hyperthermia was given by immersing the tumor-bearing leg of the mice into a thermostatically regulated water bath. The tumors were exposed to a priming heat dose of 42.5 degrees for 30 min and, at different fractionation intervals, to graded heat doses at 42.5 degrees. Tumor volumetric tripling time, i.e., the time from the day the first treatment was given to the day the tumor volumes had reached 3 times the initial volumes, was used as measure of response. The thermotolerance ratio, i.e., the ratio of the slopes of the dose-response curves (tumor volumetric tripling time versus heating time) for preheated tumors and single-heated tumors, was used as the measure of thermotolerance. Thermotolerance developed rapidly; the thermotolerance ratio reached a maximum of 4.9 +/- 0.3 (S.E.) at 16 hr and then decayed slowly to 1.1 +/- 0.1 at 168 hr (7 days). Implications of the present results for treatment of cancer patients with hyperthermia are discussed, and it is concluded that treatment protocols probably should not prescribe more than one hyperthermic treatment per week.
Human Neutrophils and the Release of Arachidonic Acid in 2 Phosphorylation of Cytosolic Phospholipase A

2 Kinases mediating phosphorylation and activation of cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA 2 ) in intact cells remain to be fully char-acterized. Platelet-activating factor stimulation of human neutrophils increases cPLA 2 phosphorylation. This increase is inhibited by PD 98059, a mitogen-activated protein (MAP)/extracellular signal-regulating kinase (erk) 1 inhibitor, but not by SB 203580, a p38 MAP kinase inhibitor, indicating that this action is mediated through activation of the p42 MAP kinase (erk2). However, platelet-activating factor-induced arachidonic acid release is inhibited by both PD 98059 and SB 203580. Stimulation by TNF- a increases cPLA 2 phosphorylation, which is inhibited by SB 203580, but not PD 98059, suggesting a role for p38 MAP kinase. LPS increases cPLA 2 phosphorylation and arachidonic acid release. However, neither of these actions is inhibited by either PD 98059 or SB 203580. PMA increases cPLA 2 phosphorylation. This action is inhibited by PD 98059 but not SB 203580. Finally, FMLP increases cPLA 2 phosphorylation and arachidonic acid release. Interestingly, while the FMLP-induced phosphorylation of cPLA 2 is not affected by the inhibitors of the p38 MAP kinase or erk cascades, both inhibitors signiﬁcantly decrease arachidonic acid release stimulated by FMLP. SB 203580 or PD 98059 has no inhibitory effects on the activity of coenzyme A-independent transacylase. The Journal of Immunology, 1999, 162: 2334–2340. Activity of p38 MAPK in control and cells treated with the inhibitor 203580 following stimulation by various agonists
Selecting protein fuzzy contact maps through information and structure measures

Protein contact maps are representations of the proteins three dimensional folding topology. A fuzzy generalization of contact maps (FGCM) provides to the researcher flexibility not present in standard (i.e. crisp) contact maps but it also changes the information content of the data. To aid in the rationale –rather than ad-hoc- selection of generalized contact maps parameters we introduce some universal measures of information. We discuss this in the paper and show its impact on FGCM.
Establishing Common Pattern of Traditional Chinese Medicine Fingerprint by SVM

Establishing the common pattern of the traditional Chinese medicine fingerprint signal is an important problem for the evaluation in herbal medicine field. This study deals with the application of support vector machine regression combined with discrete wavelet transform in creating the common pattern of fingerprint signal. The original signal was first decomposed to different scales by discrete wavelet transform constructed by lifting scheme, and then the decomposed signal components were approximated by different kernel function of support vector machine regression. The real-life samples is used for the experiment to train and test the support vector machine regression in achieving the common pattern, the result shows that the approach proposed in this study is a useful method in establishing the common pattern of fingerprint signal.