Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeted Expression of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Class II Molecules Demonstrates that Dendritic Cells Can Induce Negative but Not Positive Selection of Thymocytes In Vivo

It is well established that lymphoid dendritic cells (DC) play an important role in the immune system. Beside their role as potent inducers of primary T cell responses, DC seem to play a crucial part as major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II+ “interdigitating cells” in the thymus during thymocyte development. Thymic DC have been implicated in tolerance induction and also by some authors in inducing major histocompatibility complex restriction of thymocytes. Most of our knowledge about thymic DC was obtained using highly invasive and manipulatory experimental protocols such as thymus reaggregation cultures, suspension cultures, thymus grafting, and bone marrow reconstitution experiments. The DC used in those studies had to go through extensive isolation procedures or were cultured with recombinant growth factors. Since the functions of DC after these in vitro manipulations have been reported to be not identical to those of DC in vivo, we intended to establish a system that would allow us to investigate DC function avoiding artificial interferences due to handling. Here we present a transgenic mouse model in which we targeted gene expression specifically to DC. Using the CD11c promoter we expressed MHC class II I-E molecules specifically on DC of all tissues, but not on other cell types. We report that I-E expression on thymic DC is sufficient to negatively select I-E reactive CD4+ T cells, and to a less complete extent, CD8+ T cells. In contrast, if only DC expressed I-E in a class II–deficient background, positive selection of CD4+ T cells could not be observed. Thus negative, but not positive, selection events can be induced by DC in vivo.
Improving Outpatient Diabetes Care

More than 20% of patients in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have diabetes; therefore, disseminating “best practices” in outpatient diabetes care is paramount. The authors’ goal was to identify such practices and the factors associated with their development. First, a national VHA diabetes registry with 2008 data identified clinical performance based on the percentage of patients with an A1c >9%. Facilities (n = 140) and community-based outpatient clinics (n = 582) were included and stratified into high, mid, and low performers. Semistructured telephone interviews (31) and site visits (5) were conducted. Low performers cited lack of teamwork between physicians and nurses and inadequate time to prepare. Better performing sites reported supportive clinical teams sharing work, time for non-face-to-face care, and innovative practices to address local needs. A knowledge management model informed our process. Notable differences between performance levels exist. “Best practices” will be disseminated across the VHA as the VHA Patient-Centered Medical Home model is implemented.
Translation and globalization

Translation and Globalization is essential reading for anyone with an interest in translation, or a concern for the future of our world's languages and cultures. This is a critical exploration of the ways in which radical changes to the world economy have affected contemporary translation. The Internet, new technology, machine translation and the emergence of a worldwide, multi-million dollar translation industry have dramatically altered the complex relationship between translators, language and power. In this book, Michael Cronin looks at the changing geography of translation practice and offers new ways of understanding the role of the translator in globalized societies and economies. Drawing on examples and case-studies from Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the author argues that translation is central to debates about language and cultural identity, and shows why consideration of the role of translation and translators is a necessary part of safeguarding and promoting linguistic and cultural diversity.
Data Quality Influences Observed Links Between Functional Connectivity and Behavior

A growing field of research explores links between behavioral measures and functional connectivity (FC) assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Recent studies suggest that measurement of these relationships may be corrupted by head motion artifact. Using data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), we find that a surprising number of behavioral, demographic, and physiological measures (23 of 122), including fluid intelligence, reading ability, weight, and psychiatric diagnostic scales, correlate with head motion. We demonstrate that "trait" (across-subject) and "state" (across-day, within-subject) effects of motion on FC are remarkably similar in HCP data, suggesting that state effects of motion could potentially mimic trait correlates of behavior. Thus, head motion is a likely source of systematic errors (bias) in the measurement of FC:behavior relationships. Next, we show that data cleaning strategies reduce the influence of head motion and substantially alter previously reported FC:behavior relationship. Our results suggest that spurious relationships mediated by head motion may be widespread in studies linking FC to behavior.
Fracture Mechanics of Concrete : Concepts , Models ' and Determination of Material Properties Report by ACI Committee 446 , fractUre Mechanics

organized by Northwestern University in collaboration with the NSF Science and Technology Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials (ACBM) and the ACI Committee 446 on Fracture Mechanics under the auspices of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) and the American Concrete Institute (AC! ) and sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) FRACTURE MECHANICS OF CONCRETE· STRUCTURES
The Spike-and-Slab RBM and Extensions to Discrete and Sparse Data Distributions

The spike-and-slab restricted Boltzmann machine (ssRBM) is defined to have both a real-valued “slab” variable and a binary “spike” variable associated with each unit in the hidden layer. The model uses its slab variables to model the conditional covariance of the observation-thought to be important in capturing the statistical properties of natural images. In this paper, we present the canonical ssRBM framework together with some extensions. These extensions highlight the flexibility of the spike-and-slab RBM as a platform for exploring more sophisticated probabilistic models of high dimensional data in general and natural image data in particular. Here, we introduce the subspace-ssRBM focused on the task of learning invariant features. We highlight the behaviour of the ssRBM and its extensions through experiments with the MNIST digit recognition task and the CIFAR-10 object classification task.
Lrig2-Deficient Mice Are Protected against PDGFB-Induced Glioma

Background The leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains (LRIG) proteins constitute an integral membrane protein family that has three members: LRIG1, LRIG2, and LRIG3. LRIG1 negatively regulates growth factor signaling, but little is known regarding the functions of LRIG2 and LRIG3. In oligodendroglial brain tumors, high expression of LRIG2 correlates with poor patient survival. Lrig1 and Lrig3 knockout mice are viable, but there have been no reports on Lrig2-deficient mice to date. Methodology/Principal Findings Lrig2-deficient mice were generated by the ablation of Lrig2 exon 12 (Lrig2E12). The Lrig2E12-/- mice showed a transiently reduced growth rate and an increased spontaneous mortality rate; 20-25% of these mice died before 130 days of age, with the majority of the deaths occurring before 50 days. Ntv-a transgenic mice with different Lrig2 genotypes were transduced by intracranial injection with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) B-encoding replication-competent avian retrovirus (RCAS)-producing DF-1 cells. All injected Lrig2E12+/+ mice developed Lrig2 expressing oligodendroglial brain tumors of lower grade (82%) or glioblastoma-like tumors of higher grade (18%). Lrig2E12-/- mice, in contrast, only developed lower grade tumors (77%) or had no detectable tumors (23%). Lrig2E12-/- mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) showed altered induction-kinetics of immediate-early genes Fos and Egr2 in response to PDGF-BB stimulation. However, Lrig2E12-/- MEFs showed no changes in Pdgfrα or Pdgfrβ levels or in levels of PDGF-BB-induced phosphorylation of Pdgfrα, Pdgfrβ, Akt, or extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2). Overexpression of LRIG1, but not of LRIG2, downregulated PDGFRα levels in HEK-293T cells. Conclusions The phenotype of Lrig2E12-/- mice showed that Lrig2 was a promoter of PDGFB-induced glioma, and Lrig2 appeared to have important molecular and developmental functions that were distinct from those of Lrig1 and Lrig3.
Fractals and Intrinsic Time - a Challenge to Econometricians

A fractal approach is used to analyze financial time series, applying different degrees of time resolution, and the results are interrelated. Some fractal properties of foreign exchange (FX) data are found. In particular, the mean size of absolute values of price changes follows a "fractal" scaling law (a power law) as a function of the analysis time interval ranging from a few minutes up to a year. In an autocorrelation study of intraday data, the absolute values of price changes are seen to behave like the fractional noise of Mandelbrot and Van Ness rather than those of a GARCH process. Intraday FX data exhibit strong seasonal and autoregressive heteroskedasticity. This can be modeled with the help of new time scales, one of which is termed intrinsic time. These time scales are successfully applied to a forecasting model with a fractal structure for both the FX and interbank interest rates, which present similar market structures as the Foreign Exchange. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how the analysis of high-frequency data and the finding of fractal properties lead to the hypothesis of a heterogeneous market, where different market participants analyze past events and news with different time horizons. This hypothesis is further supported by the success of trading models with different dealing frequencies and risk profiles. Intrinsic time is proposed for modeling the frame of reference of each component of a heterogeneous market.
Classification and Virtual Screening of Androgen Receptor Antagonists

Computational tools, such as quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR), are highly useful as screening support for prioritization of substances of very high concern (SVHC). From the practical point of view, QSAR models should be effective to pick out more active rather than inactive compounds, expressed as sensitivity in classification works. This research investigates the classification of a big data set of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs)-androgen receptor (AR) antagonists, mainly aiming to improve the external sensitivity and to screen for potential AR binders. The kNN, lazy IB1, and ADTree methods and the consensus approach were used to build different models, which improve the sensitivity on external chemicals from 57.1% (literature) to 76.4%. Additionally, the models' predictive abilities were further validated on a blind collected data set (sensitivity: 85.7%). Then the proposed classifiers were used: (i) to distinguish a set of AR binders into antagonists and agonists; (ii) to screen a combined estrogen receptor binder database to find out possible chemicals that can bind to both AR and ER; and (iii) to virtually screen our in-house environmental chemical database. The in silico screening results suggest: (i) that some compounds can affect the normal endocrine system through a complex mechanism binding both to ER and AR; (ii) new EDCs, which are nonER binders, but can in silico bind to AR, are recognized; and (iii) about 20% of compounds in a big data set of environmental chemicals are predicted as new AR antagonists. The priority should be given to them to experimentally test the binding activities with AR.
Induced Security and the Expressive Writing Paradigm: An Attachment Theory Perspective on Therapeutic Efficacy

Title of Document: INDUCED SECURTIY AND THE EXPRESSIVE WRITING PARADIGM: AN ATTACHMENT THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY. Helena (Mimi) Martin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Directed By: Dr. Robert W. Lent, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education. Research has shown that attachment-related events such as a romantic relationship break-up can activate and/or make more salient the cognitions, affect, and behaviors associated with attachment style. Research has also shown that security primes, which seek to increase the degree of attachment security, can help to mitigate the degree to which insecure attachment style negatively affects key processes and outcomes. The current study tested the impact of attachment style and/or security primes on a single-session expressive writing task. Participants were roughly 150 undergraduates (the actual sample size varied somewhat by the hypotheses) who had recently experienced a romantic relationship break-up were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions: (a) an expressive writing only task in which participants were asked to delve into their deepest thoughts and feeling related to the break-up, (b) a writing + prime task in which participants were exposed to a security prime prior to the expressive writing task, (c) a control writing task. The goals of this study were, first, to investigate whether or not the writing samples would reflect participants’ attachment styles and, second, to examine the extent to which attachment style or the security prime would affect the results of the expressive writing interventions. Results revealed that attachment style and the security prime did not generally affect the degree to which the expressive writing task promoted psychological and physical health functioning. However, supplementary analysis suggested that attachment style and the security prime did affect some indices of psychological or physical health functioning in a subsample of participants whose expartner had reportedly initiated the break-up. Additionally, results reveal that participants’ attachment style was reflected in the content of the writing samples. INDUCED SECURTIY AND THE EXPRESSIVE WRITING PARADIGM: AN ATTACHMENT THEORY PERSPECTIVE ON THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY.
Noninvasive diagnosis of oral neoplasia based on fluorescence spectroscopy and native tissue autofluorescence.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical potential of fluorescence spectroscopy (a noninvasive technique for assessing the chemical and morphologic composition of tissue) for in vivo detection of oral cavity neoplasia. DESIGN A fluorescence spectroscopy system recorded spectra from oral cavity sites in 8 healthy volunteers and in 15 patients with premalignant or malignant oral cavity lesions at 337-, 365-, and 410-nm excitation wavelengths in the emission range of 350 to 700 nm. Fluorescence peak intensities and spectral line shapes were compared and diagnostic algorithms were developed to distinguish normal sites from abnormal sites. SETTING The head and neck cancer clinic at a tertiary referral center in Houston, Tex. RESULTS Differences were found in spectra from normal, dysplastic, and malignant oral mucosa. The fluorescence intensity of normal mucosa was greater than that of abnormal areas. In addition, the ratio of red region (635-nm) to blue region (455-490-nm) intensities was greater in abnormal areas. Diagnostic discrimination was achieved when test site spectra were compared with spectra from a normal site in the same patient. One diagnostic algorithm based on spectra at 337 nm gave a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 100%. CONCLUSIONS Consistent differences exist between the fluorescence spectra of abnormal and normal oral mucosa. Therefore, fluorescence spectroscopy has the potential to improve the noninvasive diagnosis of oral cavity neoplasia. Further studies will better define the role of this technique in the detection of premalignant and early oral cancer lesions.
Childhood behavior disorders and injuries among children and youth: a population-based study.

CONTEXT While an association between pediatric behavioral disorders and injuries is generally acknowledged, no studies have measured the risk for injury in the context of a large, population-based study that is free of cohort biases. OBJECTIVES To examine the association between childhood behavior disorders ([CBDs] as indicated by prescription for methylphenidate [MPH]) and a variety of injury outcomes, and to evaluate the risk for injury among these children after controlling for known demographic correlates. DESIGN Population-based database analysis of all children in British Columbia (BC) under the age of 19 as of December 31, 1996; comparison of those who had been prescribed MPH and therefore placed in the CBD group (n = 16, 806) and those who were not (n = 1,010,067). Demographic information collected was as follows: age, sex, measures of socioeconomic status, and region of residence. OUTCOME MEASURES Common types of childhood injury in BC: International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision N-codes (fractures, open wounds, poisoning/toxic effect, concussion, intracranial, burns) and E-codes (falls, postoperative complications, motor vehicle accidents, struck by object, adverse effects of drugs, suffocation, drowning). DATA SOURCE BC Linked Health Data Set and the BC Triplicate Prescription Program. RESULTS After controlling for known demographic correlates, odds for injury was greater among those treated with MPH and presumed to have a behavioral disorder, when injury was characterized either by type (1.67; 99% confidence interval: 1.54-1.81) or cause (1.52; 99% confidence interval: 1.40-1.66) of injury. This increased risk extended to unexpected categories of injury such as postoperative complications and adverse effects of drugs. CONCLUSIONS Children with CBDs have >1.5 times the odds of sustaining injuries of a variety of types from a variety of causes, even after controlling for known demographic correlates, than those without behavioral disorders. The risks for these children extend beyond those that might be directly associated with impulsivity and overactivity. Injury prevention strategies aimed at this group of children and youth would be beneficial. Policy-makers should account for increased risk of a wide variety of injuries in this group of children and youth.
Articulatory feature encoding and sensorimotor training for tactually supplemented speech reception by the hearing-impaired

This thesis builds on previous efforts to develop tactile speech-reception aids for the hearingimpaired. Whereas conventional hearing aids mainly amplify acoustic signals, tactile speech aids convert acoustic information into a form perceptible via the sense of touch. By facilitating visual speechreading and providing sensory feedback for vocal control, tactile speech aids may substantially enhance speech communication abilities in the absence of useful hearing. Research for this thesis consisted of several lines of work. First, tactual detection and temporal order discrimination by congenitally deaf adults were examined, in order to assess the practicability of encoding acoustic speech information as temporal relationships among tactual stimuli. Temporal resolution among most congenitally deaf subjects was deemed adequate for reception of tactually-encoded speech cues. Tactual offset-order discrimination thresholds substantially exceeded those measured for onset-order, underscoring fundamental differences between stimulus masking dynamics in the somatosensory and auditory systems. Next, a tactual speech transduction scheme was designed with the aim of extending the amount of articulatory information conveyed by an earlier vocoder-type tactile speech display strategy. The novel transduction scheme derives relative amplitude cues from three frequency-filtered speech bands, preserving the cross-channel timing information required for consonant voicing discriminations, while retaining low-frequency modulations that distinguish voiced and aperiodic signal components. Additionally, a sensorimotor training approach ("directed babbling") was developed with the goal of facilitating tactile speech acquisition through frequent vocal imitation of visuo-tactile speech stimuli and attention to tactual feedback from one's own vocalizations. A final study evaluated the utility of the tactile speech display in resolving ambiguities among visually presented consonants, following either standard or enhanced sensorimotor training. Profoundly deaf and normal-hearing participants trained to exploit tactually-presented acoustic information in conjunction with visual speechreading to facilitate consonant identification in the absence of semantic context. Results indicate that the present transduction scheme can enhance reception of consonant manner and voicing information and facilitate identification of syllableinitial and syllable-final consonants. The sensorimotor training strategy proved selectively advantageous for subjects demonstrating more gradual tactual speech acquisition. Simple, low-cost tactile devices may prove suitable for widespread distribution in developing countries, where hearing aids and cochlear implants remain unaffordable for most severely and profoundly deaf individuals. They have the potential to enhance verbal communication with minimal need for clinical intervention. Thesis Supervisor: Louis D. Braida, Ph.D. Title: Henry Ellis Warren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Health Sciences & Technology
Overview of Vehicle-to-Vehicle Radio Channel Measurements for Collision Avoidance Applications

In this paper we present an overview of a vehicle-to-vehicle radio channel measurement campaign at 5.6GHz. The selected measurement scenarios are based on important safety-related applications. We explain why these scenarios are interesting from the aspect of radio propagation. Further we describe the power-delay profile and the Doppler spectral density of two situations especially suitable for collision avoidance applications: A traffic congestion situation where one car is overtaking another one, and a general line-of-sight obstruction between the transmitter and the receiver car. The evaluations show that in these situations the radio channel is highly influenced by the rich scattering environment. Most important scatterers are traffic signs, trucks, and bridges, whereas other cars do not significantly contribute to the multipath propagation.