Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immunological Effects of Oenothein B, an Ellagitannin Dimer, on Dendritic Cells

Oenothein B is a unique macrocyclic ellagitannin dimer that has been found in various medicinal plants belonging to Onagraceae, Lythraceae, and Myrtaceae, with diverse biological activities. The immunological effects of tannins in terms of cytokine-release from macrophages and monocytes have been discussed, while the effects on other immunocompetent cells have been the subject of minimal investigation. We evaluated the immunomodulatory effects induced by tannin treatment in human dendritic cells (DCs), which play a critical role in the initial immune response, by measuring the changes in cytokine production, cell differentiation, and cell viability. Oenothein B showed significant down-regulation of the expression of cell surface molecules, CD1a and CD83, suggesting the inhibition of DC differentiation and/or maturation. The suppressive effect on DCs was associated with the induction of apoptosis without the activation of caspase-3/7, 8, and 9, and this was supported by the morphological features indicating significant nuclear condensation. Oenothein B also markedly suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-6, in a dose-dependent manner. These data may, in part, be able to explain the traditional use of tannin-containing medicinal plants for the treatment of a variety of inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
A Simple Havel-Hakimi Type Algorithm to Realize Graphical Degree Sequences of Directed Graphs

One of the simplest ways to decide whether a given finite sequence of positive integers can arise as the degree sequence of a simple graph is the greedy algorithm of Havel and Hakimi. This note extends their approach to directed graphs. It also studies cases of some simple forbidden edge-sets. Finally, it proves a result which is useful to design an MCMC algorithm to find random realizations of prescribed directed degree sequences.
Furazolidone- and Nitrofurantoin-ResistantHelicobacter pylori: Prevalence and Role of Genes Involved in Metronidazole Resistance

ABSTRACT The prevalence of furazolidone, nitrofurantoin, and metronidazole resistance among Helicobacter pylori strains was assessed with 431 clinical isolates. Fifty-two percent were metronidazole resistant, compared to 2% (7 of 431) with resistance to furazolidone and nitrofurantoin. All seven furazolidone- and nitrofurantoin-resistant isolates were also metronidazole resistant.rdxA, frxA, and fdxB knockouts did not result in furazolidone or nitrofurantoin resistance. These data suggest that furazolidone and nitrofurantoin may be good alternatives to metronidazole for treating H. pylori infection.
Demographic Variables and Its Effect on Emotional Intelligence: A Study on Indian Service Sector Employees

In past few decades, emotional intelligence (EI) has gained much popularity worldwide. Intelligence quotient alone is not enough in today's age for achieving success and hence for developing a person's ability, the fields of psychology and neurosciences have highlighted the importance of EI, which is a person's response toward feelings and emotions. In this study, relationship of various demographic variables with EI, as measured by Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form, has been highlighted. The study has been conducted on a sample of 424 employees belonging to the Indian service sector. The results showed that demographic variables have an impact over EI. Organizations can take a cue from the study and adhere to diversity management practices to ensure financial gains and growth.
Criticality of Low-Energy Protons in Single-Event Effects Testing of Highly-Scaled Technologies

We report low-energy proton and low-energy alpha particle SEE data on a 32 nm SOI CMOS SRAM that demonstrates the criticality of using low-energy protons for SEE testing of highly-scaled technologies. Low-energy protons produced a significantly higher fraction of multi-bit upsets relative to single-bit upsets when compared to similar alpha particle data. This difference highlights the importance of performing hardness assurance testing with protons that include energy distribution components below 2 MeV. The importance of low-energy protons to system-level single-event performance is based on the technology under investigation as well as the target radiation environment.
Cervical esophageal perforation during EUS: a national survey.

BACKGROUND EUS is considered to be as safe a procedure as EGD. However, the longer, rigid tip of the echoendoscopes raises concern about cervical esophageal perforation during intubation. Our aim was to determine the rate of this complication. METHODS Members of the American Endosonography Club were surveyed by questionnaire to determine the number of EUS examinations performed and the number of cervical esophageal perforations encountered up to June 1999. Each questionnaire was coded to avoid duplicate reporting. RESULTS Questionnaires were mailed to 203 members; 86 (42.4%) responded. Cervical esophageal perforation occurred in 16 of 43,852 reported upper EUS procedures at a frequency of 0.03%. Fifteen (94%) patients were elderly. A history of difficult intubation with prior endoscopic procedures was present in 7 (44%) patients. Three patients had large cervical osteophytes. In 9 (56%) patients, the procedure was done by an endosonographer with less than 1 year of experience. Two patients required surgery. One patient died as a result of the perforation and the other 13 (81%) patients were managed successfully with conservative treatment. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of cervical perforation during upper EUS may be higher than during EGD. Advanced patient age, difficult intubation during prior upper endoscopy, operator inexperience, and the presence of large cervical osteophytes may contribute to cervical perforation during upper EUS examination.
Fruit ripening in Vitis vinifera: spatiotemporal relationships among turgor, sugar accumulation, and anthocyanin biosynthesis

This study reports the first observations indicating the spatiotemporal relationships among genetic and physiological aspects of ripening in the berry of Vitis vinifera. At the onset of ripening in the red flesh variety Alicante Bouschet, colour development began in the flesh at the stylar end of the fruit and progressed toward the pedicel end flesh and into the skin. Tissue solute potential and cell turgor also decreased first in the flesh. The decrease in flesh solute potential was due to accumulation of sugars, glucose and fructose, an accumulation that is integral to ripening. Expression of the anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes VvMybA and VvUFGT was linearly related to the decrease in solute potential. Expression of VvMybA, and to a lesser extent VvUFGT, was correspondingly low in green tissue, higher in the red, stylar end flesh of berries beginning to ripen, and greatest in red berries. In contrast, expression of the abscisic acid biosynthesis-related genes VvNCED1 and VvNCED2 was not correlated with the other spatiotemporal aspects of the onset of ripening. These results, together with earlier work showing that sugar accumulation and acid loss also begin in the stylar flesh in other varieties, indicate that ripening in the grape berry originates in the stylar end flesh.
Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Versus Medical Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Obese Patients

AbstractThe aim of the study is to compare Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery versus medical treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in obese patients.Bariatric surgery can achieve remission of T2DM in obese patients. RYGB surgery has been performed as one of the most common surgical treatment options for obese patients with T2DM, but the efficacy of RYGB surgery comparing with medical treatment alone has not been conclusively determined.A systematic literature search identified randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating RYGB surgery versus medical treatment for T2DM in obese patients was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Database, and Cochrane Clinical Trials Registry. This systematic review and meta-analysis were performed according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The primary outcome was T2DM remission. Additional analyses comprised hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, serum lipid level, blood pressure, medication use, and adverse events. Random-effects meta-analyses were calculated and presented as weighted odds ratio (OR) or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Six RCTs concerning 410 total obese T2DM patients were included. Follow-up ranged from 12 to 60 months. RYGB surgery was associated with a higher T2DM remission rate (OR: 76.37, 95% CI: 20.70–281.73, P < 0.001) and serum level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD: 0.24 mmol/L, 95% CI 0.18–0.30 mmol/L, P < 0.001) than medical treatment alone. HbA1c (MD: –1.25%, 95% CI: –1.88% to –0.63%, P < 0.001), BMI (MD: –6.54 kg/m2, 95% CI: –9.28 to –3.80 kg/m2, P < 0.001), waist circumference (MD: –15.60 cm, 95% CI: –18.21 to –13.00 cm, P < 0.001), triglyceride (MD: –0.87 mmol/L, 95% CI: –1.17 to –0.57 mmol/L, P < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD: –0.32 mmol/L, 95% CI: –0.62 to –0.02 mmol/L, P = 0.04), systolic blood pressure (MD: –2.83 mm Hg, 95% CI: –4.88 to –0.78 mm Hg, P < 0.01) were lower after RYGB surgery. However, FPG (MD: –1.58 mmol/L, 95% CI: –3.58 to 0.41 mmol/L, P = 0.12), total cholesterol (MD: –0.40 mmol/L, 95% CI: –0.92 to 0.12 mmol/L, P = 0.13), and diastolic blood pressure (MD: 0.28 mm Hg, 95% CI: –1.89 to 2.45 mm Hg, P = 0.80) were not significantly different between the 2 treatment groups. The medicine use and quality of life were solely improved in the surgical group. Nutritional deficiencies and anemia were noted more frequently in the RYGB group.RYGB surgery is superior to medical treatment for short- to medium-term remission of T2DM, improvement of metabolic condition, and cardiovascular risk factors. Further RCTs should address the safety and long-term benefits of RYGB surgery on obese patients with T2DM.
The Miocene mammal Necrolestes demonstrates the survival of a Mesozoic nontherian lineage into the late Cenozoic of South America

The early Miocene mammal Necrolestes patagonensis from Patagonia, Argentina, was described in 1891 as the only known extinct placental “insectivore” from South America (SA). Since then, and despite the discovery of additional well-preserved material, the systematic status of Necrolestes has remained in flux, with earlier studies leaning toward placental affinities and more recent ones endorsing either therian or specifically metatherian relationships. We have further prepared the best-preserved specimens of Necrolestes and compared them with newly discovered nontribosphenic Mesozoic mammals from Argentina; based on this, we conclude that Necrolestes is related neither to marsupials nor placentals but is a late-surviving member of the recently recognized nontherian clade Meridiolestida, which is currently known only from SA. This conclusion is supported by a morphological phylogenetic analysis that includes a broad sampling of therian and nontherian taxa and that places Necrolestes within Meridiolestida. Thus, Necrolestes is a remnant of the highly endemic Mesozoic fauna of nontribosphenic mammals in SA and extends the known record of meridiolestidans by almost 45 million years. Together with other likely relictual mammals from earlier in the Cenozoic of SA and Antarctica, Necrolestes demonstrates the ecological diversity of mammals and the mosaic pattern of fauna replacement in SA during the Cenozoic. In contrast to northern continents, the Cenozoic faunal history of SA was characterized by a long period of interaction between endemic mammalian lineages of Mesozoic origin and metatherian and eutherian lineages that probably dispersed to SA during the latest Cretaceous or earliest Paleocene.
A Low Phase Noise, Wideband and Compact CMOS PLL for Use in a Heterodyne 802.15.3c Transceiver

A low phase noise, wideband, mm-wave, integer-N PLL that is capable of supporting an 802.15. 3c heterodyne transceiver is reported. The PLL can generate 6 equally spaced tones from 43.2 GHz to 51.84 GHz, which is suitable for a heterodyne architecture with FLO=(4/5)×FTRX. Phase noise is measured directly at the FLO frequency and is better than -97.5 dBc/Hz@1 MHz across the entire band. The reported frequency synthesizer is smaller, exhibits less phase noise, and consumes less power than prior art. In addition, the FLO tone corresponds to the fundamental of the VCO as opposed to a higher harmonic.
A-DRM: Architecture-aware Distributed Resource Management of Virtualized Clusters

Virtualization technologies has been widely adopted by large-scale cloud computing platforms. These virtualized systems employ distributed resource management (DRM) to achieve high resource utilization and energy savings by dynamically migrating and consolidating virtual machines. DRM schemes usually use operating-system-level metrics, such as CPU utilization, memory capacity demand and I/O utilization, to detect and balance resource contention. However, they are oblivious to microarchitecture-level resource interference (e.g., memory bandwidth contention between different VMs running on a host), which is currently not exposed to the operating system. We observe that the lack of visibility into microarchitecture-level resource interference significantly impacts the performance of virtualized systems. Motivated by this observation, we propose a novel architecture-aware DRM scheme (ADRM), that takes into account microarchitecture-level resource interference when making migration decisions in a virtualized cluster. ADRM makes use of three core techniques: 1) a profiler to monitor the microarchitecture-level resource usage behavior online for each physical host, 2) a memory bandwidth interference model to assess the interference degree among virtual machines on a host, and 3) a cost-benefit analysis to determine a candidate virtual machine and a host for migration. Real system experiments on thirty randomly selected combinations of applications from the CPU2006, PARSEC, STREAM, NAS Parallel Benchmark suites in a four-host virtualized cluster show that ADRM can improve performance by up to 26.55%, with an average of 9.67%, compared to traditional DRM schemes that lack visibility into microarchitecture-level resource utilization and contention.
Do Competitive Markets Stimulate Innovation?: An Empirical Analysis Based on Japanese Manufacturing Industry Data

Going all the way back to Schumpeter (1934), economists have long discussed whether market competition stimulates innovation. To reconcile conflicting earlier empirical evidence, Aghion and Griffith (2005) developed a model showing that competition can have both a positive and a negative effect on innovation, depending on the degree of competition in the market. Following Aghion and Griffith's work, this paper empirically examines the effect of market competition - measured either by the Herfindahl Index or the Lerner Index - on productivity growth and R&D intensity using micro data for Japan's manufacturing sector. We found evidence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between competition and innovation when we use the Herfindahl Index as a measure of competition in the market. Especially for the period since 2000, the data lend strong support for the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped curve. In addition, we examined the effect of new entrants on the innovative activity of incumbents. The results of our estimation using a regulation index as our measure of entry barriers suggest that the effect on incumbents' TFP growth depends on their technology level. When incumbents' technology level is close to the technology frontier in their industry, competition from new entrants induces these firms to make efforts to increase their productivity in order to escape from competition. On the other hand, such competition discourages innovation in firms far from the industrial technology frontier.
A high-resolution human contact network for infectious disease transmission

The most frequent infectious diseases in humans—and those with the highest potential for rapid pandemic spread—are usually transmitted via droplets during close proximity interactions (CPIs). Despite the importance of this transmission route, very little is known about the dynamic patterns of CPIs. Using wireless sensor network technology, we obtained high-resolution data of CPIs during a typical day at an American high school, permitting the reconstruction of the social network relevant for infectious disease transmission. At 94% coverage, we collected 762,868 CPIs at a maximal distance of 3 m among 788 individuals. The data revealed a high-density network with typical small-world properties and a relatively homogeneous distribution of both interaction time and interaction partners among subjects. Computer simulations of the spread of an influenza-like disease on the weighted contact graph are in good agreement with absentee data during the most recent influenza season. Analysis of targeted immunization strategies suggested that contact network data are required to design strategies that are significantly more effective than random immunization. Immunization strategies based on contact network data were most effective at high vaccination coverage.
Stimulation of Glucose Uptake in Muscle Cells by Prolonged Treatment with Scriptide, a Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor

Glucose incorporation is regulated mainly by GLUT4 in skeletal muscles. Here we report that treatment of L6 myotubes with scriptide, a hydroxamic acid-based histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake. The effect appeared only after 24 hr, resulting in 2.4-fold glucose uptake at treatment day 6. Scriptide acted synergistically with insulin, indicating it stimulated a distinct pathway from the insulin signaling pathway. It was not observed in undifferentiated myoblasts or 3T3-L1 adipocytes, suggesting a muscle-specific effect of scriptide. A five-carbon chain and hydroxamic acid, essential for histone deacetylase inhibition, were indispensable for this effect, and trichostatin A stimulated glucose uptake as well. Scriptide increased the cellular content of GLUT4, and induced GLUT4 translocation, but GLUT4 mRNA level did not change, indicating scriptide functions posttranslationally. Our results indicated a novel function for HDAC inhibitors of increasing GLUT4 content and its translocation in muscle cells, resulting in stimulation of glucose uptake.
Assessment of nursing perceptions of three insulin protocols for blood glucose control in critically ill patients.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate nurses' perception regarding three different blood glucose control protocols for critically ill patients. METHODS As part of a randomized trial comparing three blood glucose control protocols in critically ill patients (Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol, Leuven Protocol, and conventional treatment), all nurses participating in the study were asked to fill in a questionnaire to assess their perceptions of efficacy, complexity, feasibility, and safety (as to the occurrence of hypoglycemic episodes), an to indicate which protocol they would like to see adopted as the standard one in the Intensive Care Unit they worked. RESULTS Sixty nurses answered the questionnaires. Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol was considered the most efficient protocol to maintain blood glucose levels within the target range by 58% of the nurses, compared to 22% for Leuven Protocol (p<0.001) and 40% for conventional treatment (p=0.04). Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol was considered easier to use than Leuven Protocol (p<0.001) and as easy as conventional treatment (p=0.78). Out of the nurses, 37% considered Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol more feasible than Leuven Protocol and conventional treatment. A total of 51% of nurses chose Leuven Protocol as the protocol more often associated with hypoglycemia, while 27% chose Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol and 8% conventional treatment. Finally, 56% of the nurses selected Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol as the protocol they would like to see adopted as the standard one in the Intensive Care Unit they were based, as compared to 22% that selected Leuven Protocol and 15% that selected conventional treatment. CONCLUSION Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol was considered more efficacious, easier to use and safer than Leuven Protocol by nurses. The complexity and feasibility of Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol were considered similar to conventional treatment. Most nurses chose of Computer-Assisted Insulin Protocol as the protocol they would like to see adopted in their Intensive Care Units.
Maximum Entropy Based Lexical Reordering Model for Hierarchical Phrase-based Machine Translation

The hierarchical phrase-based (HPB) model on the basis of a synchronous context-free grammar (SCFG) is prominent in solving global reorderings. However, the HPB model is inadequate to supervise the reordering process so that sometimes positions of different lexicons are switched due to the incorrect SCFG rules. In this paper, we consider the order of two lexicons as a classification problem and propose a novel lexical reordering model based on a maximum entropy classifier. Our model employs the word alignment and translation during the decoding process. Experimental results on the Chinese-to-English task showed that our method outperformed the baseline system in BLEU score significantly. Moreover, the translation results further proved the effectiveness of our approach.
Supportive leadership and well-being: The role of team value congruence

Leadership theories have suggested that supportive leadership (i.e., showing concern for employees and their needs) is important to the leader-member process. Indeed, research has identified that employees who perceive leaders as supportive are likely to report higher levels of well-being. Responding to limited value congruence research, the present study investigated the degree that employee-organisation value alignment might influence the relationship between supportive leadership and well-being. a state government agency participated in the cross-sectional survey. Results indicated that higher levels of perceived supportive leadership predicted higher levels of well-being. Further, analyses revealed main effects of person and organisation team values on job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Lastly, some support was found suggesting a role of value congruence in the supportive leadership-well-being relationship. Overall, results highlight the complexity of relationships that potentially exist between leadership styles, person-organisation value congruence, and employee well-being.