Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evolution of Cross-Neutralizing Antibody Specificities to the CD4-BS and the Carbohydrate Cloak of the HIV Env in an HIV-1-Infected Subject

Broadly neutralizing antibodies are considered an important part of a successful HIV vaccine. A better understanding of the factors underlying their development during infection and of the epitopes they target is needed to elicit similar antibody responses by vaccination. We and others reported that, on average, it takes 2 to 3 years for cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies to become detectable in the sera of HIV-1-infected subjects and that they target a limited number of epitopes on the HIV Envelope. Here we investigated the emergence and evolution of the earliest cross-reactive neutralizing antibody specificities in one HIV-1-infected individual, AC053. We defined two distinct epitopes on Env that are targeted by the broadly neutralizing antibody responses developed by AC053. The first specificity became evident at 3 years post infection and targeted the CD4-binding site of Env. Antibodies responsible for that specificity neutralized most, but not all, viruses susceptible to neutralization by the plasma antibodies of AC053. The second specificity became apparent approximately a year later. It was due to PG9-like antibodies, which were able to neutralize those viruses not susceptible to the anti-CD4-BS antibodies in AC053. These findings improve our understanding of the co-development of broadly neutralizing antibodies that target more than one epitope during natural HIV-1-infection in selected HIV+ subjects. They support the hypothesis that developing broadly neutralizing antibody responses targeting distinct epitopes by immunization could be feasible.
Pharmacodynamics of gonadotrophin releasing hormone ( Receptal ® ) and prostaglandine ( Estrumate ® ) on ovarian activity , hematological picture and some steroid hormones of cows during summer season

Treatment of infertility and induction of estrous cycle in cows is usually based on progestagens, prostaglandin and gonadotropin releasing hormone or its analogues. gonadotropin-releasing hormone from hypothalamus a polypeptide hormone was found to regulate the secretion of luteinizing and follicle stimulating hormones. The present study aimed to study the pharmacodynamics of GnRH and PGF2ɑ (OvSynch protocol) treatment on cattle fertility and some biochemical and hormonal status during summer season. Fifteen cross breed cows (Baladi X Abundance), 9 primiparous and 6 pleuriparous cows, their ages (4.84±1.91) years, not exhibiting estrus signs for duration of 108±45.52 days, were treated with OvSynch protocol (GnRh-PGF2ɑ-GnRh). Cows were injected with 2.5ml Receptal (GnRH) I/M. Seven days later, 2ml Estrumate (PGF2ɑ)was injected I/M. , followed 48 hours later with injection of 2 dose of GnRH (2.5ml Receptal), I/M . ,then timed artificial insemination (T.A.I.). Blood samples were collected from jugular vein along the experimental period. Complete blood picture, Serum progesterone and estradiol-17β were assayed . The response to treatments were determined using rectal palpation and ultrasonography(US ). The results revealed that no marked changes were occurred in blood parameters(RBCs, MCV, HCT , HB, WBCs, LY%& GR%), after treating with the drugs, ReceptalEstrumateReceptal (OvSynch protocol) . But it is clear that, these fluctuations in blood parameters lie within the normal blood value range of cattle. A high estradiol level (35.9±3.62pg/ml) was recorded at day (10) at fixed TAI and lowest one (21.03±0.79pg/ml) was detected at day (73). A higher P4 value (17.05±5.23ng/ml) was recorded at day (12) and a significantly lowest one (0.29±0.05ng/ml) was recorded at day (73). The ovulation rate was 72%, while the pregnancy rate was 40% in cows treated with GPG protocol. It is concluded that the hormones used in OvSynch protocol (GnRH, PGF2ɑ &GnRh), stimulated the ovarian activity of cows and can overcome summer infertility and the hormones used had no adverse effect on hematological parameters and/or metabolic status of treated animals. [Abdel Mohsen M. Hammam ; Mahmoud M. Hussein; Ahmed Abou-El Fadel Hussein; Mona S. Zaki Amal H. Ali and Hany A. Amer. Pharmacodynamics of gonadotrophin releasing hormone (Receptal) and prostaglandine (Estrumate) on ovarian activity, hematological picture and some steroid hormones of cows during summer season Life Sci J 2012;9(4):2349-2355]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 348
State of the art of social representations theory in Asia: An empirical meta-theoretical analysis

Part of a larger research project aimed at performing the meta-theoretical analysis of the worldwide literature published on social representations theory (SRT), this article explores the state of art of the theory in the geocultural context of Asia, spatially and temporally, as well as from a conceptual, disciplinary, theoretical, empirical and thematic point of view. The Grid for MetaTheoretical Analysis was used on 194 sources, extracted from the So.Re. Com “A.S. de Rosa”@-library. Multi-step strategies of data analyses offer a diversified picture of findings: (a) descriptive statistics and geomapping with Tableau Desktop the bibliometric impact country by country; (b) structural multidimensional view of significant intersections between “meta-data” performing hierarchical clustering on the top of the multiple correspondence analysis. The three clusters detected reveal a shift from a more generic and applied tradition of research on SRT in 2002–2011 to a more theoretically oriented empirical research trend starting from 2011, identifying the scientific production anchored into different Asian regions (Indonesia, China and Israel) and mainly differentiated by the methodology employed. Results revealed that SRT was adopted due to its epistemological and empirical compatibilities with the purpose of creating an original Asian social psychology, interested in indigenous social phenomena specific to cultural backgrounds.
No further increase in asthma, hay fever and atopic sensitisation in adolescents living in Switzerland

Prevalence rates of childhood asthma and allergy have been on the increase for several decades. The present study investigated whether this trend continued during the 1990s in adolescents living in Switzerland. Between 1992 and 2000, the change in prevalence of specific immunoglobulin E to aeroallergens, asthma symptoms and hay fever symptoms assessed by parents' and students' answers to the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questions was investigated using three cross-sectional surveys. In total 1,324 (74.9%), 1,668 (80.6%) and 1,250 (73.9%) adolescents participated. Prevalence rates of asthma and current asthmatic symptoms remained constant, irrespective of whether the assessment was based on parental questionnaires or the student's self-completed written or video questionnaires (students' report of current wheeze 8.8, 7.3, and 8.3%). Similarly, no further increase was observed for reported hay fever rates and allergic sensitisation rates (positive multiscreen allergy test, SX1-test: 34.6, 38.9, and 35.6%, respectively). Although time trends in the occurrence of a series of known risk factors were recorded, none of these factors had a significant impact on asthma and allergy prevalence over time. No further increase in asthma and allergy rates occurred during the 1990s in adolescents living in Switzerland. However, to adequately assess the trend a longer period of observation is needed.
A Critical Analysis of Inflation-Hedging Capacity of Packaging Stocks in Nigeria

This paper investigates the extent to which stocks of packaging firms listed in Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) are a hedge against the actual inflation in Nigeria over the period 2000â€“2011. Actual inflation is computed as the estimates of the consumer price index.The study used real rate of return on equity and regression analysis to find the stocks that provide positive real return and offer inflation-hedging potentials respectively. The findings revealed that in terms of real return based on shareholdersâ€™ funds and total return to equity, all the firms were not susceptible to adverse effect of inflation but when based on dividend yield all the firms offered no significant hedge against inflation.
Effect of erythromycin on Haemophilus influenzae endotoxin-induced release of IL-6, IL-8 and sICAM-1 by cultured human bronchial epithelial cells.

Although several studies have demonstrated that low-dose, long-term erythromycin treatment is effective in the management of patients with chronic lower respiratory tract infections, such as chronic bronchitis, bronchiolitis and bronchiectasis, the mechanisms underlying the action of erythromycin are not clear. We have cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC) as explant cultures from surgical tissue, and have investigated the effect of erythromycin on H. influenzae endotoxin (HIE)-induced release of inflammatory mediators in these cultures. Confluent epithelial cell cultures were incubated with 100 micrograms.mL-1 HIE +/- 0.1-10 micrograms.mL-1 erythromycin and were investigated for interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) released into the culture medium after 24 h. HIE significantly increased the release of IL-6 from 3.9 +/- 1.5 pg.micrograms-1 cellular protein (in control untreated cultures) to 12.1 +/- 1.5 pg.micrograms-1 cellular protein, and IL-8 from 83.7 +/- 8.2 pg.micrograms-1 cellular protein (in control cultures) to 225.7 +/- 44.8 pg.micrograms-1 cellular protein. Similarly, HIE led to a significantly greater release of sICAM-1 from 0.04 +/- 0.01 ng.microgram-1 cellular protein, in control cultures, to 3.8 +/- 0.9 ng.microgram-1 cellular protein. Incubation of the epithelial cultures in the presence of 0.1-10 micrograms.mL-1 erythromycin significantly blocked the HIE-induced release of IL-6, IL-8, and sICAM-1, at all concentrations of erythromycin investigated. Erythromycin also attenuated neutrophil chemotaxis and adhesion to human endothelial cells, mediated by incubation with conditioned medium obtained from HIE-exposed epithelial cell cultures, in vitro. These results suggest that H. influenzae-induced release of inflammatory mediators from airway epithelial cells could contribute to chronic airway inflammation, and that this effect may be modulated by treatment with erythromycin.
Anti-tuberculosis activity of selected medicinal plants against multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively-drug resistant (XDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has further complicated the problem of tuberculosis (TB) control. Medicinal plants offer a hope for developing alternate medicines for the treatment of TB. The present study was done to evaluate in vitro anti-tubercular activity of five medicinal plants viz., Acalypha indica, Adhatoda vasica, Allium cepa, Allium sativum and Aloe vera. METHODS Aqueous extracts of leaves of A. indica, A. vasica, bulbs of A. cepa, cloves of A. sativum and pure gel of A. vera leaves, were tested in vitro for their activity against two MDR isolates (DKU-156 and JAL-1236), reference susceptible strain M. tuberculosis H37Rv as well as rapid grower mycobacterial pathogen M. fortuitum (TMC-1529) using Lowenstein Jensen (L-J) medium and colorimetric BacT/ ALERT 3D system. Activity in L-J medium was evaluated by percentage inhibition which was calculated by mean reduction in number of colonies on extract containing as compared to extract free controls. RESULTS Extracts of all the five plants A. indica, A. vasica, A. cepa, A. sativum and A. vera exhibited anti-tuberculosis activity in L-J medium, the proportion of inhibition of these plants extract in respect mentioned above is 95, 32, 37, 72, 32 per cent, respectively for MDR isolate DKU-156 and 68, 86, 79, 72, 85 per cent, respectively for another MDR isolate JAL-1236, while for sensitive M. tuberculosis H37Rv, inhibition was found to be 68, 70, 35, 63 and 41 per cent, at 4 per cent v/v concentration in L-J medium. There was no inhibition against rapid grower M. fortuitum (TMC-1529). In BacT/ALERT also, extracts of these plants showed significant inhibition against M. tuberculosis. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION Our findings showed that all these plants exhibited activity against MDR isolates of M. tuberculosis. While the anti-TB activity of A. vera, A. vasica and A. sativum against MDR isolates confirm earlier results, activity of the extracts of A. indica and A. cepa is reported for the first time. Further studies aimed at isolation and identification of active substances from the extracts which exhibited promising activities, need to be carried out.
Birth Weight and Adult IQ, but Not Anxious-Depressive Psychopathology, Are Associated with Cortical Surface Area: A Study in Twins

Background Previous research suggests that low birth weight (BW) induces reduced brain cortical surface area (SA) which would persist until at least early adulthood. Moreover, low BW has been linked to psychiatric disorders such as depression and psychological distress, and to altered neurocognitive profiles. Aims We present novel findings obtained by analysing high-resolution structural MRI scans of 48 twins; specifically, we aimed: i) to test the BW-SA association in a middle-aged adult sample; and ii) to assess whether either depression/anxiety disorders or intellectual quotient (IQ) influence the BW-SA link, using a monozygotic (MZ) twin design to separate environmental and genetic effects. Results Both lower BW and decreased IQ were associated with smaller total and regional cortical SA in adulthood. Within a twin pair, lower BW was related to smaller total cortical and regional SA. In contrast, MZ twin differences in SA were not related to differences in either IQ or depression/anxiety disorders. Conclusion The present study supports findings indicating that i) BW has a long-lasting effect on cortical SA, where some familial and environmental influences alter both foetal growth and brain morphology; ii) uniquely environmental factors affecting BW also alter SA; iii) higher IQ correlates with larger SA; and iv) these effects are not modified by internalizing psychopathology.
Implied Trinomial Trees of the Volatility Smile

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Unsolicited Short Message Service marketing: A preliminary investigation into individual acceptance, perceptions of content, and privacy concerns

In an attempt to reach potential clients, many companies make use of targeted and sometimes unsolicited Short Message Service (SMS) marketing campaigns. With global perception of privacy principles and legislation increasing, a company engaging in such activities may unknowingly create a negative perception and/or sentiment, thereby actively discouraging potential consumers to transact with them. In this paper we report on the results of a preliminary research effort that investigated individual perceptions, acceptance and concerns about mobile marketing in the South African context. Making use of simple descriptive analysis techniques, we describe and highlight emerging themes identified from data collected in an online survey questionnaire. Despite a small sample of n=44, and for various reasons, the results demonstrate a lack of consumer awareness of the law, is suggestive of a largely negative attitude towards mobile marketing campaigns, and highlights their continued efforts to control and manage privacy. There against the results suggest that users may neglect their own privacy if the content is crafted correctly. In an environment where it appears that little is being done to enforce/comply with the provisions of legislation, local companies may also be aware of the extent to which they can manipulate the law even if it increases non-acceptance of mobile marketing. As such, ample scope for further research is created.
Instruction Splitting for Efficient Code Compression

The size of embedded software is rising at a rapid pace. It is often challenging and time consuming to fit an amount of required software functionality within a given hardware resource budget. Code compression is a means to alleviate the problem. In this paper we introduce a novel and efficient hardware-supported approach. Our scheme reduces the size of the generated decoding table by splitting instructions into portions of varying size (called patterns) before Huffman coding compression is applied. It improves the final compression ratio (including all overhead that incurs) by more than 20% compared to known schemes based on Huffman coding. We achieve allover compression ratios as low as 44%. Thereby, our scheme is orthogonal to approaches that take particularities of a certain instruction set architectures into account. We have conducted evaluations using a representative set of applications and have applied it to two major embedded processors, namely ARM and MIPS.
Modeling of Compressive Strength for Self-Consolidating High-Strength Concrete Incorporating Palm Oil Fuel Ash

Modeling is a very useful method for the performance prediction of concrete. Most of the models available in literature are related to the compressive strength because it is a major mechanical property used in concrete design. Many attempts were taken to develop suitable mathematical models for the prediction of compressive strength of different concretes, but not for self-consolidating high-strength concrete (SCHSC) containing palm oil fuel ash (POFA). The present study has used artificial neural networks (ANN) to predict the compressive strength of SCHSC incorporating POFA. The ANN model has been developed and validated in this research using the mix proportioning and experimental strength data of 20 different SCHSC mixes. Seventy percent (70%) of the data were used to carry out the training of the ANN model. The remaining 30% of the data were used for testing the model. The training of the ANN model was stopped when the root mean square error (RMSE) and the percentage of good patterns was 0.001 and ≈100%, respectively. The predicted compressive strength values obtained from the trained ANN model were much closer to the experimental values of compressive strength. The coefficient of determination (R2) for the relationship between the predicted and experimental compressive strengths was 0.9486, which shows the higher degree of accuracy of the network pattern. Furthermore, the predicted compressive strength was found very close to the experimental compressive strength during the testing process of the ANN model. The absolute and percentage relative errors in the testing process were significantly low with a mean value of 1.74 MPa and 3.13%, respectively, which indicated that the compressive strength of SCHSC including POFA can be efficiently predicted by the ANN.
Recent experiments in the EAST and HT-7 superconducting tokamaks

First divertor plasma configuration in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) was obtained in the second campaign after the last IAEA meeting. To achieve long pulse diverted plasma discharges, new capabilities including the fully actively water cooled in-vessel components, current drive and heating systems, diagnostics and real-time plasma control algorithm were developed. Pre-programmed shape and feedback control of plasma position and current (RZIP) produced a variety of shaped plasma configurations, covering most of the configurations foreseen at the design stage of the machine. Control algorithm based on real-time equilibrium reconstruction and iso-flux control for the last closed magnetic flux surface (RTEFIT/ISOFLUX) has also been realized. A number of operational issues, such as plasma initiation and ramp up under constraints of superconducting coils were successfully investigated. First LHCD experiments demonstrated long pulse discharges longer than 20 s and nearly full non-inductive current drive. The physical engineering capability on the superconducting magnetic system was assessed by simulating discharges. Since the last IAEA meeting, experiments in HT-7 have been focusing on long pulse operation to support the EAST experiments on both physics and technical aspects. Long pulse discharges up to 400 s have now been achieved in HT-7. Investigation of sawtooth activities in ohmic and LHCD plasmas supports the turbulence model instead of the fast reconnection of the m = 1 magnetic island. Coexistence of electron mode and ion mode in high density ohmic plasmas has been observed by 2D ECE imaging (ECEI) in HT-7. The spectral characteristics of geodesic acoustic mode at the plasma boundary have been investigated by Langmuir probe arrays.
The IT Products-Services Stack and Vendor Quality

This research examines how the portfolio of IT vendor offerings relates to consumer perceptions of vendor quality. Specifically, we examine how the degree of hardware, software, and services technologies—which we refer to collectively as the IT products-services stack—are related to vendor quality ratings. We test our model using over 28,000 IT vendor ratings given by top IT executives between 2004 and 2006. The findings suggest that mean satisfaction and value ratings are such that hardware > software > services and the variance (quality consistency) of satisfaction and value ratings are such that hardware/software < services. Further, vendors with more focused offerings (in terms of percentage of hardware, software, and services) are found to be of higher quality than vendors with more diverse offerings.