Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antibodies to pre-S and X determinants arise during natural infection with ground squirrel hepatitis virus

The DNA sequence of the ground squirrel hepatitis virus (GSHV) genome predicts the existence of several proteins in addition to the major surface (S) and core antigens. These include the pre-S1 and pre-S2 proteins, initiated at sites within the open reading frame preceding and continuous with the coding region for the S gene product, and the X protein, the putative product of an independent reading frame. Using an antibody directed against a peptide predicted by codons 130 to 143 of the pre-S1 reading frame, we identified a 43-kilodalton product of the pre-S1 coding region in preparations of GSHV surface antigen purified from the sera of infected animals. In addition, by immunoprecipitation of S- and pre-S-specific in vitro translation products with ground squirrel sera obtained after GSHV infection, we determined that antibodies arise to both S and pre-S determinants. The antibody response to pre-S includes, in some cases, reactivity to pre-S1-specific domains and is not always associated with an anti-S response. Similarly, by production of the viral X gene product in vitro followed by immunoprecipitation with ground squirrel sera, we showed that antibodies to this viral gene product also arise during infection, indicating that X antigenic determinants are synthesized during viral infection and are recognized by the host immune system.
Cardiac Hemodynamics During Stimulation of the Right Atrium, Right Ventricle, and Left Ventricle in Normal and Abnormal Hearts

IN PREVIOUS REPORTS wel-3 and others4-9 have described the hemodynamic consequences of varying the rate of artificial pacing of the right ventricle in patients with complete heart block. Since the wires of a permanent pacemaker for treatment of complete heart block are implanted in the left ventricle and previous data were obtained from right ventricular pacing, it becomes important to determine whether the site of implantation of pacemakers is a critical determinant of cardiac output in man. Experimental studies in dogs by Fletcher and associates10 with electrodes implanted in the apex, the high lateral wall, and the posterior septal region of the left ventricle have shown no significant differences in cardiac output and mean arterial pressure. Lister and co-workers," however, have demonstrated in dogs that the pacemaking site significantly influences cardiac output. Since this information has been available only in dogs, we have undertaken to study in man (1) the influence of pacemaking sites on the hemodynamics of normal subjects, in patients with compensated heart disease, and in patients with heart failure, and (2) the contribution of atrial systole to the cardiovascular dynamics of the normal and the abnormal heart.
A SIMULATION OPTIMIZATION SOLUTION TO THE INVENTORY CONTINUOUS REVIEW PROBLEM WITH LOT SIZE DEPENDENT LEAD TIME

مغر اقبسم ةددحم ديروتلا ةرتف نأ ضارتفاب نوزخملا لئاسم لجل ىلثملا ةسايسلا ديدحت متي ام ةداع اهنأ ت رصانع ةدع نم نوكت ةلباق ل لثم مكحتل ليغشتلا تقو ، لإا ةرتف دادع ، نمز اظتنلاا ر ، ةلوانملا ةدم ، و ةعفدلا صحف ةدم . ةعجارم ماظن ةساردب موقن ةقرولا هذه يف يئاوشعلا عباطلا وذ رمتسملا نوزخملا دادعلإا تقوو ةعفدلا مجح ىلع ديروتلا ةرتف دمتعت امدنع . جتانآ اهريدقت نكمي ديروتلا ةرتف نأ ضرتفن امآ صحفلاو ةلوانملاو راظتنلاا لثم ةيجاتنلإا ريغ تارتفلا سكعي لماعب جاتنلإا ةرتف ةدم برضل . ةلاح يف لاادلا ت نوكي بلطلل ةماعلا دقعم يضايرلا جذومنلا ا ةيليلحتلا قرطلاب هلح بعصيو . ريوطتب انمق ،كلذل يبوساحلا جمانربلا مادختساب ةاآاحم جذومن Awesim . دمتعت ةيباسح ةقيرط عم جمانربلا اذه طبر متو ةفلكت لقلأا بلطلا ةداعإ ةطقنو ةعفدلا مجح نع ثحبلل يئزجلا دادعتلا ىلع .
Electric-field-induced phase transitions of <001>-oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals

Electric-field-induced phase transitions and piezoelectric properties of <001>-oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-32%PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single crystals have been investigated as a function of temperature. It was found that the phase transitions and piezoelectric properties for PMN-PT crystals are strongly dependent on temperature. The measurements of polarization and longitudinal strain as a function of a unipolar electric field show that the field for the induced monoclinic-tetragonal phase transition decreases linearly with temperature in the range between 23 °C and 75 °C. Raising the temperature can stabilize the tetragonal phase in <001>-oriented PMN-PT crystals. The effective longitudinal piezoelectric constant, d33, in the monoclinic phase increases with temperature. Meanwhile in the field-induced tetragonal phase, d33 is much smaller and has little change with temperature. The electric-field-induced phase transition from a cubic phase to a tetragonal phase was observed at 125 °C.
Immunogenicity and Rapid Blood Clearance of Liposomes Containing Polyethylene Glycol-Lipid Conjugates and Nucleic Acid

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is used widely in the pharmaceutical industry to improve the pharmacokinetics and reduce the immunogenicity of therapeutic and diagnostic agents. The incorporation of lipid-conjugated PEG into liposomal drug delivery systems greatly enhances the circulation times of liposomes by providing a protective, steric barrier against interactions with plasma proteins and cells. Here we report that liposome compositions containing PEG-lipid derivatives and encapsulated antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) or plasmid DNA elicit a strong immune response that results in the rapid blood clearance of subsequent doses in mice. The magnitude of this response is sufficient to induce significant morbidity and, in some instances, mortality. This effect has been observed in several strains of mice and was independent of sequence motifs, such as immunostimulatory CpG motifs. The ODN-to-lipid ratio and ODN dose was also determined to be important, with abrogation of the response occurring at a ratio between 0.04 and 0.08 (w/w). Rapid elimination of liposome-encapsulated ODN from blood depends on the presence of PEG-lipid in the membrane because the use of nonpegylated liposomes or liposomes containing rapidly exchangeable PEG-lipid also abrogated the response. These studies have important implications for the evaluation and therapeutic use of liposomal formulations of nucleic acid, as well as the potential development of liposomal vaccines.
Oral cancer in the UAE: a multicenter, retrospective study

Aim To determine the prevalence of various malignant oral lesions in the UAE and correlate cases of squamous cell carcinomas with age, gender, site, grade, clinical presentations at the time of diagnosis, and the prevalence of neck metastasis. Materials and methods A multicenter, retrospective study was conducted at four major hospitals in the UAE. The study was based on histopathology reports of biopsies of oral tissues. Results Of the 992 oral biopsy reports retrieved, 147 cases of malignant tumors were found which accounted for 14.9% of the total biopsies. Fifteen different types of malignant lesions were diagnosed, of which oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) was the most prevalent and made up 11.4% of the overall oral biopsies retrieved. The commonest presentation of cancer was ulceration (31.17%), followed by lumps and white lesions. The most common site where the lesions were diagnosed was the tongue (51.9%), followed by the cheeks and lips. OSCC accounted for 77% of all malignancies reported. Neck dissections were conducted in only 20.8% of all OSCC cases diagnosed at Mafraq and Tawam hospitals, of which 43.75% showed evidence of neck metastasis. Conclusion Oral cancer is not an uncommon disease in the UAE. This may mandate more awareness campaigning, including screening procedures for early detection of cancerous lesions and other potentially malignant oral diseases. Elective neck dissections to detect lymph node metastasis should be more routinely performed, in particular for tongue carcinomas because of the early neck involvement potential.
Neurotrophin‐4/5 is required for the early growth of regenerating axons in peripheral nerves

The requirement of the trkB ligand, neurotrophin‐4/5 (NT‐4/5), for the growth of regenerating axons in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is not well established. We studied regenerating axon growth in transected peripheral nerves of thy‐1‐YFP‐H mice that had been repaired using allografts obtained from brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) or NT‐4/5 knockout mice. Lengths of profiles of YFP+ axons measured in these grafts were compared with those measured in grafts obtained from wild‐type donors. When compared with axon profiles measured in grafts from wild‐type donors, axon profile lengths measured in grafts from homozygous (NT‐4/5−/−) or heterozygous (NT‐4/5+/−) mice were significantly shorter. In contrast, the lengths of axon profiles measured in grafts from BDNF+/− mice were not significantly different from those measured in grafts from wild‐type mice. A reduced amount of BDNF, but not NT‐4/5, is sufficient to promote the elongation of regenerating axons in the PNS. When grafts from wild‐type or NT‐4/5−/− mice were treated acutely at the time of surgical repair either with exogenous BDNF or NT‐4/5, the lengths of axon profiles measured in the grafts were significantly longer than those measured in grafts from untreated wild‐type mice. These findings are consistent with a requirement for NT‐4/5 from within the pathway used by regenerating axons for the successful growth of those axons in peripheral nerves.
On orchestrating virtual network functions

Middleboxes or network appliances like firewalls, proxies, and WAN optimizers have become an integral part of today's ISP and enterprise networks. Middlebox functionalities are usually deployed on expensive and proprietary hardware that require trained personnel for deployment and maintenance. Middleboxes contribute significantly to a network's capital and operational costs. In addition, organizations often require their traffic to pass through a specific sequence of middleboxes for compliance with security and performance policies. This makes the middlebox deployment and maintenance tasks even more complicated. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging and promising technology that is envisioned to overcome these challenges. It proposes to move packet processing from dedicated hardware middleboxes to software running on commodity servers. In NFV terminology, software middleboxes are referred to as Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). It is a challenging problem to determine the required number and placement of VNFs that optimize network operational costs and utilization, without violating service level agreements. We call this the VNF Orchestration Problem (VNF-OP) and provide an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation with implementation in CPLEX. We also provide a dynamic programming based heuristic to solve larger instances of VNF-OP. Trace driven simulations on real-world network topologies demonstrate that the heuristic can provide solutions that are within 1.3 times of the optimal solution. Our experiments suggest that a VNF based approach can provide more than 4 χ reduction in the operational cost of a network.
The Yeast Protein Kinase C Cell Integrity Pathway Mediates Tolerance to the Antifungal Drug Caspofungin through Activation of Slt2p Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling

ABSTRACT The echinocandin caspofungin is a new antifungal drug that blocks cell wall synthesis through inhibition of β-(1-3)-glucan synthesis. Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are able to tolerate rather high caspofungin concentrations, displaying high viability at low caspofungin doses. To identify yeast genes implicated in caspofungin tolerance, we performed a genome-wide microarray analysis. Strikingly, caspofungin treatment rapidly induces a set of genes from the protein kinase C (PKC) cell integrity signaling pathway, as well as those required for cell wall maintenance and architecture. The mitogen-activated protein kinase Slt2p is rapidly activated by phosphorylation, triggering signaling through the PKC pathway. Cells lacking genes such as SLT2, BCK1, and PKC1, as well as the caspofungin target gene, FKS1, display pronounced hypersensitivity, demonstrating that the PKC pathway is required for caspofungin tolerance. Notably, the cell surface integrity sensor Wsc1p, but not the sensors Wsc2-4p and Mid2p, is required for sensing caspofungin perturbations. The expression modulation of PKC target genes requires the transcription factor Rlm1p, which controls expression of several cell wall synthesis and maintenance genes. Thus, caspofungin-induced cell wall damage requires Wsc1p as a dedicated sensor to launch a protective response through the activated salvage pathway for de novo cell wall synthesis. Our results establish caspofungin as a specific activator of Slt2p stress signaling in baker's yeast.
The Occurrence of Thrombosis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Is Reflected in the Clot Lysis Profile

Background:The occurrence of thromboembolic events (TE) is an important extraintestinal manifestation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to compare fibrinolysis and clot lysis parameters between (1) patients with IBD and healthy controls and (2) patients with IBD with TE (IBD + TE) and without TE (IBD − TE). Methods:One hundred thirteen healthy controls and 202 patients with IBD, of which 84 patients with IBD + TE and 118 patients with IBD − TE, were included in this case–control study. Three clot lysis parameters (area under the curve, 50% clot lysis time, and amplitude) were determined using a clot lysis assay. Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) and thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results:PAI-1 antigen, active PAI-1, and intact thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor concentrations, as well as 50% clot lysis time and area under the curve, were significantly associated with the presence of IBD (all P < 0.05). The median time between TE and plasma collection was 5.0 (1.8–11.0) years. Comparing IBD + TE versus IBD − TE, active to total PAI-1 ratio (0.36 [0.24–0.61] versus 0.24 [0.13–0.40]), area under the curve (31 [24–49] versus 22 [13-31]), 50% clot lysis time (110 [64–132] versus 95 [70–126] minutes), and amplitude (0.295 [0.222–0.436] versus 0.241 [0.168–0.308]) were significantly higher in IBD + TE (all P <0.05) and remained higher after adjustment for age, gender, C-reactive protein, type of disease, presence of comorbidities, and disease activity. Conclusions:Patients with IBD have an altered clot lysis profile compared with healthy controls. Clot lysis parameters differ significantly between patients with IBD with and without a history of TE and should be included in the risk assessment.
Co-infections with chikungunya and dengue viruses: A serological study in Karnataka State, India

admitted cases. All these were clinically suspected cases of DENV/CHIKV and were in the acute phase. The blood samples were tested for the detection of IgM antibody against CHIKV, DENV and dual infection. Most of the samples were collected during 1 to 10 days of onset of the illness. Approximately 2–5 ml of blood was collected, serum separated and subjected to ELISA. IgM antibody capture (MAC) ELISA was performed using kit from National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. Dengue (DEN) and Chikungunya IgM Capture ELISA kit (In-house kit). The test was standardized and reported by National Institute of Virology, Pune in 1984. [6] The performance of the test was evaluated by Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore in 2002. [7]
The Cause for Heart Disease and Strokes

There has been no solution to heart disease to date. I obtained discarded veins from bypass (CABG) surgeries and subjected them to phospholipid analysis. We also obtained arterial cells from human umbilical cords and cultured them with a decreasing concentration of either cholesterol or oxidized cholesterol. Patients undergoing CABG surgery and aging swine had significantly higher levels of sphingomyelin in their arterial cells than arterial cells from human umbilical cords. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) and oxysterols further contribute to atherosclerosis by increasing the synthesis of thromboxane in platelets, a clotting factor. When we incubated arterial cells with cholesterol that had not been oxidized, even at twelve times the concentration of the oxidized cholesterols we used, there was no effect on sphingomyelin content, this shows that cholesterol itself is not the reason for heart disease, and has to be oxidized in order to cause harm. My study indicated that atherosclerosis is due to a diet that contains a high level of oxysterols. Normal levels of oxysterols in the plasma will not increase sphingomyelin levels. Removing oxidized fat from the diet should be considered as a therapeutic measure for atherosclerosis. Ancel Keys, who some consider the father of the cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis said in 1997: "There's no connection whatsoever between the cholesterol in food and cholesterol in the blood. "
Student Perceptions of a Flipped Pharmacotherapy Course

Objective. To evaluate student perception of the flipped classroom redesign of a required pharmacotherapy course. Design. Key foundational content was packaged into interactive, text-based online modules for self-paced learning prior to class. Class time was used for active and applied—but primarily case-based—learning. Assessment. For students with a strong preference for traditional lecture learning, the perception of the learning experience was negatively affected by the flipped course design. Module length and time required to complete preclass preparation were the most frequently cited impediments to learning. Students desired instructor-directed reinforcement of independently acquired knowledge to connect foundational knowledge and its application. Conclusion. This study illustrates the challenges and highlights the importance of designing courses to effectively balance time requirements and connect preclass and in-class learning activities. It underscores the crucial role of the instructor in bridging the gap between material learned as independent study and its application.
A Survey of Behavioral Finance

Behavioral finance argues that some financial phenomena can plausibly be understood using models in which some agents are not fully rational. The field has two building blocks: limits to arbitrage, which argues that it can be difficult for rational traders to undo the dislocations caused by less rational traders; and psychology, which catalogues the kinds of deviations from full rationality we might expect to see. We discuss these two topics, and then present a number of behavioral finance applications: to the aggregate stock market, to the cross-section of average returns, to individual trading behavior, and to corporate finance. We close by assessing progress in the field and speculating about its future course.
Image Annotation and Two Paths to Text Illustration

This paper describes our participation to the ImageCLEF 2016 scalable concept image annotation main task and Text Illustration teaser. Regarding image annotation, we focused on better localizing the detected features. For this, we identified the saliency of the image to collect a list of potential interesting places into the image. We also added a specific human attribute detector that boosted the results of the best performing team in 2015. For the text illustration, we proposed two complementary approaches. The first one relies on semantic signatures that give a textual description of an image. This description is further matched to the textual query. The second approach learns a common latent space, in which visual and textual features are directly comparable. We propose a robust description, as well as the use of an auxiliary dataset to improve retrieval. While the first approach only uses external data, the second one was mainly learned from the provided training dataset.
Utilizing region cardinality and dependency for object categorization in non-parametric Bayesian framework

The “bag of words” model has enjoyed much attention in the studies of object categorization. As implied by the name, the images under consideration are modeled as a bag containing multiple features. Despite its simplicity, this model has been able to achieve great performances in many state of the art object categorization datasets. Using this model, we extract patches from an image and categorize them as codewords, forming the “bag of words”, which then used for object categorization. This model tends to assume the independence between patches, which greatly reduces the complexity. However, in this paper we take out the independence assumption and model the dependencies of the local regions. We move further by taking into account the cardinality of the patches to reduce the effect of noise patches. This collection of codewords acts as the building block of latent themes shared among images and categories, which distribution is learnt using a variation of the Hierarchical Dirichlet Process. In this paper, we introduce the contribution of region cardinality in the linkage of the latent themes to improve the learning and detection performance. The result of modeling the image, as obtained from our experiment, shows that our proposed model handles the presence of noise patches robustly with a more discriminative in categorizing the objects. All experiments are executed on the Caltech-4 datasets.
Hsp90 Governs Dispersion and Drug Resistance of Fungal Biofilms

Fungal biofilms are a major cause of human mortality and are recalcitrant to most treatments due to intrinsic drug resistance. These complex communities of multiple cell types form on indwelling medical devices and their eradication often requires surgical removal of infected devices. Here we implicate the molecular chaperone Hsp90 as a key regulator of biofilm dispersion and drug resistance. We previously established that in the leading human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, Hsp90 enables the emergence and maintenance of drug resistance in planktonic conditions by stabilizing the protein phosphatase calcineurin and MAPK Mkc1. Hsp90 also regulates temperature-dependent C. albicans morphogenesis through repression of cAMP-PKA signalling. Here we demonstrate that genetic depletion of Hsp90 reduced C. albicans biofilm growth and maturation in vitro and impaired dispersal of biofilm cells. Further, compromising Hsp90 function in vitro abrogated resistance of C. albicans biofilms to the most widely deployed class of antifungal drugs, the azoles. Depletion of Hsp90 led to reduction of calcineurin and Mkc1 in planktonic but not biofilm conditions, suggesting that Hsp90 regulates drug resistance through different mechanisms in these distinct cellular states. Reduction of Hsp90 levels led to a marked decrease in matrix glucan levels, providing a compelling mechanism through which Hsp90 might regulate biofilm azole resistance. Impairment of Hsp90 function genetically or pharmacologically transformed fluconazole from ineffectual to highly effective in eradicating biofilms in a rat venous catheter infection model. Finally, inhibition of Hsp90 reduced resistance of biofilms of the most lethal mould, Aspergillus fumigatus, to the newest class of antifungals to reach the clinic, the echinocandins. Thus, we establish a novel mechanism regulating biofilm drug resistance and dispersion and that targeting Hsp90 provides a much-needed strategy for improving clinical outcome in the treatment of biofilm infections.