Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ADCC-Mediated CD56DIM NK Cell Responses Are Associated with Early HBsAg Clearance in Acute HBV Infection

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) affects up to 400 million people worldwide and accounts for approximately one million deaths per year from liver pathologies. Current treatment regimens are effective in suppressing viremia but usually have to be taken indefinitely, warranting research into new therapeutic approaches. Acute HBV infection in adults almost universally results in resolution of viremia, with the exception of immunocompromised persons, suggesting that the immune response can functionally cure or even eradicate HBV infection. Methods: Because immunophenotypic and functional studies have implicated a role for Natural Killer (NK) cells in HBV clearance during acute infection, we hypothesized that a distinct NK-cell profile exists in acute HBV infection that could provide information for the mechanism of HBV clearance. Using multivariate flow cytometry, we evaluated the expression of key activating and inhibitory receptors on NK cells, and their ability to respond to classic target cell lines. Results: Multivariate analysis revealed selective perturbation of the CD56,dim NK-cell subset during acute infection, displaying low levels of NKp46+, NKp30+, CD160+ and CD161+ cells. Intriguingly, the CD56,dim NK-cell profile predicted time to HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) clearance from the blood, and distinct NK-cell profiles predicted early (NKp30, CD94, CD161) and late clearance (KIR3DL1, CD158a, perforin, NKp46). Finally, functional analysis demonstrated that early and late clearance tracked with elevated degranulation (CD107a) or IFNγ production, respectively, in response to ADCC-mediated activation. Conclusion: The cytolytic CD56,dim NK-cell subset is selectively activated in acute HBV infection and displays distinct phenotypic and functional profiles associated with efficient and early control of HBV, implicating antibody-mediated cytolytic NK-cell responses in the early control and functional cure of HBV infection.
Improved Integration Time Estimation of Endogenous Retroviruses with Phylogenetic Data

Background Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are genetic fossils of ancient retroviral integrations that remain in the genome of many organisms. Most loci are rendered non-functional by mutations, but several intact retroviral genes are known in mammalian genomes. Some have been adopted by the host species, while the beneficial roles of others remain unclear. Besides the obvious possible immunogenic impact from transcribing intact viral genes, endogenous retroviruses have also become an interesting and useful tool to study phylogenetic relationships. The determination of the integration time of these viruses has been based upon the assumption that both 5′ and 3′ Long Terminal Repeats (LTRs) sequences are identical at the time of integration, but evolve separately afterwards. Similar approaches have been using either a constant evolutionary rate or a range of rates for these viral loci, and only single species data. Here we show the advantages of using different approaches. Results We show that there are strong advantages in using multiple species data and state-of-the-art phylogenetic analysis. We incorporate both simple phylogenetic information and Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) methods to date the integrations of these viruses based on a relaxed molecular clock approach over a Bayesian phylogeny model and applied them to several selected ERV sequences in primates. These methods treat each ERV locus as having a distinct evolutionary rate for each LTR, and make use of consensual speciation time intervals between primates to calibrate the relaxed molecular clocks. Conclusions The use of a fixed rate produces results that vary considerably with ERV family and the actual evolutionary rate of the sequence, and should be avoided whenever multi-species phylogenetic data are available. For genome-wide studies, the simple phylogenetic approach constitutes a better alternative, while still being computationally feasible.
On the existence of the tt-mitotic hypersimple set which is not btt-mitotic

Let us adduce some definitions: If a recursively enumerable (r.e.) set A is a disjoint union of two sets B and C, then we say that B, C is an r.e. splitting of A The r.e. set A is tt-mitotic (btt-mitotic) if there is an r.e. splitting (B, C) of A such that the sets B and C both belong to the same tt — (btt -) degree of unsolvability, as the set A. In this paper the existence of the tt-mitotic hypersimple set, which is not btt-mitotic is proved.
Text detection and localization in natural scene images using MSER and fast guided filter

Textual matter present in a natural scene image provides indispensable information about it. The semantics and information present in the natural scene images can be perceived by extracting the text regions in them. Detection and localization of text from natural scene images is a challenging task for analysis of images due to various font size, font type, and illumination. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach for text detection and localization based on text confidence score using three attributes namely stroke width dissimilarity, color dissimilarity and occupy rate convex area to discern text and non-text constituents. The aim of this paper is to achieve fast detection and localization of text regions in low resolution and blurred images. To accomplish this, the possible candidate regions are extracted using edge smoothing by fast guided filter followed by MSER. The text confidence score on these constituents is calculated using the Bayesian framework with the help of above mentioned three attributes. Experimental results on benchmark ICDAR 2013 testing dataset shows the efficacy of our method in the form of precision, recall, and f-measure.
Antioxidant Defenses Predict Long-Term Survival in a Passerine Bird

Background Normal and pathological processes entail the production of oxidative substances that can damage biological molecules and harm physiological functions. Organisms have evolved complex mechanisms of antioxidant defense, and any imbalance between oxidative challenge and antioxidant protection can depress fitness components and accelerate senescence. While the role of oxidative stress in pathogenesis and aging has been studied intensively in humans and model animal species under laboratory conditions, there is a dearth of knowledge on its role in shaping life-histories of animals under natural selection regimes. Yet, given the pervasive nature and likely fitness consequences of oxidative damage, it can be expected that the need to secure efficient antioxidant protection is powerful in molding the evolutionary ecology of animals. Here, we test whether overall antioxidant defense varies with age and predicts long-term survival, using a wild population of a migratory passerine bird, the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), as a model. Methodology/Principal Findings Plasma antioxidant capacity (AOC) of breeding individuals was measured using standard protocols and annual survival was monitored over five years (2006–2010) on a large sample of selection episodes. AOC did not covary with age in longitudinal analyses after discounting the effect of selection. AOC positively predicted annual survival independently of sex. Individuals were highly consistent in their relative levels of AOC, implying the existence of additive genetic variance and/or environmental (including early maternal) components consistently acting through their lives. Conclusions Using longitudinal data we showed that high levels of antioxidant protection positively predict long-term survival in a wild animal population. Present results are therefore novel in disclosing a role for antioxidant protection in determining survival under natural conditions, strongly demanding for more longitudinal eco-physiological studies of life-histories in relation to oxidative stress in wild populations.
Estimation of the accuracy of the SNPP VIIRS SD BRDF degradation factor determined by the solar diffuser stability monitor

To radiometrically calibrate its reflective solar bands, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite observes a sunlit onboard solar diffuser (SD). The degradation factor of the SD bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is determined by an onboard solar diffuser stability monitor (SDSM). We improve the accuracy of the measured SD BRDF degradation factor in four ways. First, we remove the bias in the previously computed relative product of the SD screen transmittance and the BRDF at t 0 (when the BRDF degradation just started) τ R/SD, eff BRDF(t0). The bias is introduced by the angular dependence of the SD BRDF degradation factor. Second, to computeτ R/SD, eff BRDF(t0), we use both the yaw maneuver and a small portion (~ 3 months) of regular on-orbit data. Third, we average the computed degradation factors over a large angular range of an orbit, reducing the impact of the solar power and detector gain noise. And fourth, we center the average of computed degradation factor at a fixed angle relative to the SD surface normal vector to remove the variation due to the dependence of the degradation factor on solar radiation energy incident angle. We fit the degradation factor to a smooth function of time and use the fitting residuals to estimate the accuracy of the degradation factors measured by the SDSM on a per orbit basis.
Design of Solid-Gas Interfaces for Enhanced Thermal Transfer

Abstract : Using the molecular dynamics simulation and related analysis we investigated the thermal accommodation coefficient (TAC) and the momentum accommodation coefficient (MAC) to quantify the solid-gas energy and momentum exchange efficiencies. We determined the effects of individual interfacial parameters including, (i) solid-gas interaction strength, (ii) gas-solid atomic mass ratio, (iii) solid elastic stiffness, and (iv) temperature, on TAC and MAC at solid surfaces in contact with monoatomic and diatomic gases. We demonstrated that the TAC and MAC can be significantly enhanced by proper surface modifications. Specifically, for metal surfaces modified with organic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), both TAC and MAC are close to its theoretical maximum and are essentially independent from the details of the SAM-gas interactions characteristics. Our work provided clear guidelines for solid surface modification enabling efficient energy exchange at the solid-gas interface and generated an extensive database for the TAC andMAC which can be utilized in the design of gas cooling systems critical in thermal management of a wide range of a wide range of active electrical and mechanical components used in the Air Force hardware.
Expression and Trans-Specific Polymorphism of Self-Incompatibility RNases in Coffea (Rubiaceae)

Self-incompatibility (SI) is widespread in the angiosperms, but identifying the biochemical components of SI mechanisms has proven to be difficult in most lineages. Coffea (coffee; Rubiaceae) is a genus of old-world tropical understory trees in which the vast majority of diploid species utilize a mechanism of gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI). The S-RNase GSI system was one of the first SI mechanisms to be biochemically characterized, and likely represents the ancestral Eudicot condition as evidenced by its functional characterization in both asterid (Solanaceae, Plantaginaceae) and rosid (Rosaceae) lineages. The S-RNase GSI mechanism employs the activity of class III RNase T2 proteins to terminate the growth of “self” pollen tubes. Here, we investigate the mechanism of Coffea GSI and specifically examine the potential for homology to S-RNase GSI by sequencing class III RNase T2 genes in populations of 14 African and Madagascan Coffea species and the closely related self-compatible species Psilanthus ebracteolatus. Phylogenetic analyses of these sequences aligned to a diverse sample of plant RNase T2 genes show that the Coffea genome contains at least three class III RNase T2 genes. Patterns of tissue-specific gene expression identify one of these RNase T2 genes as the putative Coffea S-RNase gene. We show that populations of SI Coffea are remarkably polymorphic for putative S-RNase alleles, and exhibit a persistent pattern of trans-specific polymorphism characteristic of all S-RNase genes previously isolated from GSI Eudicot lineages. We thus conclude that Coffea GSI is most likely homologous to the classic Eudicot S-RNase system, which was retained since the divergence of the Rubiaceae lineage from an ancient SI Eudicot ancestor, nearly 90 million years ago.
Facilitation of TRPV4 by TRPV1 is required for itch transmission in some sensory neuron populations

Sensory neurons use a pair of TRP channels to respond to some itch-inducing chemicals. An itchy pair of channels Chronic itching is a serious condition and is often resistant to antihistamines. Kim and colleagues explored the channels in sensory neurons that mediate the response to itch-inducing stimuli, in particular the inflammatory mediator histamine and the antimalarial drug chloroquine, both of which activate distinct G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) at the cell surface. Although TRPV1 and TRPA1, two members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of calcium channels, have been implicated in histamine- and chloroquine-induced itching, the authors found that a third member of this family, TRPV4, was also important. Sensory neurons with both TRPV4 and TRPV1 responded to both histamine and chloroquine. Additionally, TRPV4 interacted with TRPV1, enhancing TRPV4 activity. Their data decode itch perception and suggest that targeting TRPV1 or TRPV4 may be beneficial in treating intractable chronic itch. The transient receptor potential channels (TRPs) respond to chemical irritants and temperature. TRPV1 responds to the itch-inducing endogenous signal histamine, and TRPA1 responds to the itch-inducing chemical chloroquine. We showed that, in sensory neurons, TRPV4 is important for both chloroquine- and histamine-induced itch and that TRPV1 has a role in chloroquine-induced itch. Chloroquine-induced scratching was reduced in mice in which TRPV1 was knocked down or pharmacologically inhibited. Both TRPV4 and TRPV1 were present in some sensory neurons. Pharmacological blockade of either TRPV4 or TRPV1 significantly attenuated the Ca2+ response of sensory neurons exposed to histamine or chloroquine. Knockout of Trpv1 impaired Ca2+ responses and reduced scratching behavior evoked by a TRPV4 agonist, whereas knockout of Trpv4 did not alter TRPV1-mediated capsaicin responses. Electrophysiological analysis of human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells coexpressing TRPV4 and TRPV1 revealed that the presence of both channels enhanced the activation kinetics of TRPV4 but not of TRPV1. Biochemical and biophysical studies suggested a close proximity between TRPV4 and TRPV1 in dorsal root ganglion neurons and in cultured cells. Thus, our studies identified TRPV4 as a channel that contributes to both histamine- and chloroquine-induced itch and indicated that the function of TRPV4 in itch signaling involves TRPV1-mediated facilitation. TRP facilitation through the formation of heteromeric complexes could be a prevalent mechanism by which the vast array of somatosensory information is encoded in sensory neurons.
Effects of Increased Nitrogen Deposition and Precipitation on Seed and Seedling Production of Potentilla tanacetifolia in a Temperate Steppe Ecosystem

Background The responses of plant seeds and seedlings to changing atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation regimes determine plant population dynamics and community composition under global change. Methodology/Principal Findings In a temperate steppe in northern China, seeds of P. tanacetifolia were collected from a field-based experiment with N addition and increased precipitation to measure changes in their traits (production, mass, germination). Seedlings germinated from those seeds were grown in a greenhouse to examine the effects of improved N and water availability in maternal and offspring environments on seedling growth. Maternal N-addition stimulated seed production, but it suppressed seed mass, germination rate and seedling biomass of P. tanacetifolia. Maternal N-addition also enhanced responses of seedlings to N and water addition in the offspring environment. Maternal increased-precipitation stimulated seed production, but it had no effect on seed mass and germination rate. Maternal increased-precipitation enhanced seedling growth when grown under similar conditions, whereas seedling responses to offspring N- and water-addition were suppressed by maternal increased-precipitation. Both offspring N-addition and increased-precipitation stimulated growth of seedlings germinated from seeds collected from the maternal control environment without either N or water addition. Our observations indicate that both maternal and offspring environments can influence seedling growth of P. tanacetifolia with consequent impacts on the future population dynamics of this species in the study area. Conclusion/Significance The findings highlight the importance of the maternal effects on seed and seedling production as well as responses of offspring to changing environmental drivers in mechanistic understanding and projecting of plant population dynamics under global change.
A split source boost switched capacitor multilevel inverter for low power applications

A split source boost switched capacitor multi-level inverter (SBSCMI) is proposed in this paper for low power applications. The SBSCMI is derived from the flying capacitor multi-level inverter and switched capacitor structure for achieving step-up dc-ac conversion. With these special composite structure, the no. of devices in the proposed SBSCMI are less as compared to conventional multilevel inverter. In this topology few switches are operated under line voltage frequency, results in reduction of switching losses. Because of switched capacitor operation, SBSCMI provides a voltage gain of 1.5 time to input voltage with a reduced switching voltage stress. The modified phase opposition and disposition sinusoidal pulse width modulation method is used as a control strategy for SBSCMI. With this control, the capacitor voltages are self-balanced and quality of output waveforms are improved significantly. The proposed SBSCMI is validated using MATLAB/simulink and the effectiveness of this topology is compared with existing topologies in aspects of power quality, device count, size of passive elements, voltage gain, switching stress and power losses.
Banana Peel as a Biosorbent in Removal of Nitrate from Water

The contamination of water by nitrate is profound. Cost-effective and safe water treatment methods are required to remove nitrate from water. Biosorption is one of the methods which meet above objectives in addition to its other advantages like cheap adsorbents which can be reused, simple process with less wastage production and overall highly efficient. The present work studies the feasibility of use of banana peel as a Biosorbent in removal of nitrate from the drinking water. The effect of different parameters like contact time, adsorbent size fraction, adsorbent dosage, nitrate concentration was studied. The removal efficiency of nearly 80% was achieved when 0.05g of banana peel powder of 106 μm size fraction was used as adsorbent to treat 100 ml of water sample of 200 mg/l nitrate concentration for a contact time of 0.5h
Functional Characterization of 22 CYP3A4 Protein Variants to Metabolize Ibrutinib In Vitro

Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) is quantitatively the most important P450 enzyme in adults. It is suggested that CYP3A4 genetic polymorphisms may influence the rate of the metabolism and elimination of CYP3A4 substrates in human beings. Ibrutinib is an anticancer drug and primarily metabolized by CYP3A4. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the effects of 22 CYP3A4 protein variants on the metabolism of ibrutinib in vitro. When compared with wild‐type CYP3A4.1, two variants (CYP3A4.17 and CYP3A4.24) had no detectable enzyme activity; five variants (CYP3A4.10, .11, .18, .23 and .33) exhibited no significant differences; another five variants (CYP3A4.3, .4, .9, .19 and .34) showed increased intrinsic clearance values, while the remaining nine variants (CYP3A4.2, .5, .14, .15, .16, .28, .29, .31 and .32) displayed decreased enzymatic activities in different degrees. As the first study of 22 CYP3A4 protein variants in ibrutinib metabolism, these comprehensive data may help in the clinical assessment of the metabolism and elimination of ibrutinib and also offer a reference to the personalized treatment of ibrutinib in clinic.
Probabilistic finite element modeling of aerospace engine components incorporating time-dependent inelastic properties for ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials

The research included in this abstract pertains to probabilistic finite-element creep analysis of a composite combustor liner. A composite combustor liner is an aerospace engine component that is subjected to very high temperatures, ranging between 1500 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. A creep analysis of this component is essential for rational design as creep (a slow time-dependent information under constant load) is prevalent at high temperatures. In a probabilistic analysis, many, if not all, of the state variables are represented by random variables with appropriate probability distributions incorporating relevant parameters. This formalism is much more realistic, as it more accurately describes the variability in properties and loadings that are inherent in the composition of aerospace materials and loadings encountered by aerospace components.
Provision of annual wellness visits with comprehensive medication management by a clinical pharmacist practitioner.

PURPOSE The effectiveness and financial benefit of pharmacist-led annual wellness visits (AWVs) in conjunction with comprehensive medication management (CMM) for older, high-risk patients were examined. METHODS Eligible patients were 65 years of age or older with three or more chronic medical conditions, taking five or more long-term prescription or nonprescription medications and receiving primary care in a retirement community clinic. The intervention involved two components, an AWV and CMM. The AWV included all Medicare-required components. All participants saw a clinical pharmacist practitioner for an AWV with CMM and additional CMM visits at three and six months. Outcomes included completion of required AWV components, prevalence of medication-related problems (MRPs), classic return on investment, patient satisfaction, and change in rate of hospitalization. RESULTS Of the 60 eligible patients contacted, 53 (88%) agreed to participate. Patients' mean ± S.D. age was 82.1 ± 5.5 years, and patients used a median of 12 medications (range, 5-27) at baseline. The pharmacist identified at least 1 MRP in 90.6% of patients at the AWV; all patients had at least 1 MRP identified over six months. A total of 278 MRPs were identified: suboptimal drug (32.7%), insufficient therapeutic monitoring (25.2%), undertreatment of chronic condition (16.9%), and suboptimal dose, frequency, or administration (15.8%). Revenue generated by the pharmacist exceeded costs by 38.1%. The rate of hospitalizations did not significantly change after the intervention. CONCLUSION Pharmacists played a beneficial role in the provision of both AWVs and CMM, facilitating the completion of wellness visits and identifying and addressing MRPs in an older, high-risk population.