Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The MHV68 M2 Protein Drives IL-10 Dependent B Cell Proliferation and Differentiation

Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV68) establishes long-term latency in memory B cells similar to the human gammaherpesvirus Epstein Barr Virus (EBV). EBV encodes an interleukin-10 (IL-10) homolog and modulates cellular IL-10 expression; however, the role of IL-10 in the establishment and/or maintenance of chronic EBV infection remains unclear. Notably, MHV68 does not encode an IL-10 homolog, but virus infection has been shown to result in elevated serum IL-10 levels in wild-type mice, and IL-10 deficiency results in decreased establishment of virus latency. Here we show that a unique MHV68 latency-associated gene product, the M2 protein, is required for the elevated serum IL-10 levels observed at 2 weeks post-infection. Furthermore, M2 protein expression in primary murine B cells drives high level IL-10 expression along with increased secretion of IL-2, IL-6, and MIP-1α. M2 expression was also shown to significantly augment LPS driven survival and proliferation of primary murine B cells. The latter was dependent on IL-10 expression as demonstrated by the failure of IL10−/− B cells to proliferate in response to M2 protein expression and rescue of M2-associated proliferation by addition of recombinant murine IL-10. M2 protein expression in primary B cells also led to upregulated surface expression of the high affinity IL-2 receptor (CD25) and the activation marker GL7, along with down-regulated surface expression of B220, MHC II, and sIgD. The cells retained CD19 and sIgG expression, suggesting differentiation to a pre-plasma memory B cell phenotype. These observations are consistent with previous analyses of M2-null MHV68 mutants that have suggested a role for the M2 protein in expansion and differentiation of MHV68 latently infected B cells—perhaps facilitating the establishment of virus latency in memory B cells. Thus, while the M2 protein is unique to MHV68, analysis of M2 function has revealed an important role for IL-10 in MHV68 pathogenesis—identifying a strategy that appears to be conserved between at least EBV and MHV68.
Large Margin Structured Convolution Operator for Thermal Infrared Object Tracking

Compared with visible object tracking, thermal infrared (TIR) object tracking can track an arbitrary target in total darkness since it cannot be influenced by illumination variations. However, there are many unwanted attributes that constrain the potentials of TIR tracking, such as the absence of visual color patterns and low resolutions. Recently, structured output support vector machine (SOSVM) and discriminative correlation filter (DCF) have been successfully applied to visible object tracking, respectively. Motivated by these, in this paper, we propose a large margin structured convolution operator (LMSCO) to achieve efficient TIR object tracking. To improve the tracking performance, we employ the spatial regularization and implicit interpolation to obtain continuous deep feature maps, including deep appearance features and deep motion features, of the TIR targets. Finally, a collaborative optimization strategy is exploited to significantly update the operators. Our approach not only inherits the advantage of the strong discriminative capability of SOSVM but also achieves accurate and robust tracking with higher-dimensional features and more dense samples. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to incorporate the advantages of DCF and SOSVM for TIR object tracking. Comprehensive evaluations on two thermal infrared tracking benchmarks, i.e. VOT-TIR2015 and VOT-TIR2016, clearly demonstrate that our LMSCO tracker achieves impressive results and outperforms most state-of-the-art trackers in terms of accuracy and robustness with sufficient frame rate.
An updated and conservative systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological evidence on psychotic experiences in children and adults: on the pathway from proneness to persistence to dimensional expression across mental disorders

Background The psychosis-proneness–persistence–impairment model of psychotic disorder incorporates notions of both phenomenological and temporal continuity (persistence) of psychotic experiences (PE), but not structural continuity. Specific testable propositions of phenomenological continuity and persistence are identified. Method Propositions are tested by systematic reviews of the epidemiology of PE, persistence of PE and disorder outcomes, and meta-analyses (including Monte Carlo permutation sampling, MCPS) of reported rates and odds ratios (ORs). Results Estimates of the incidence and prevalence of PE obtained from 61 cohorts revealed a median annual incidence of 2.5% and a prevalence of 7.2%. Meta-analysis of risk factors identified age, minority or migrant status, income, education, employment, marital status, alcohol use, cannabis use, stress, urbanicity and family history of mental illness as important predictors of PE. The mode of assessment accounted for significant variance in the observed rates. Across cohorts, the probability of persistence was very strongly related to the rate of PE at baseline. Of those who report PE, ∼20% go on to experience persistent PE whereas for ∼80%, PE remit over time. Of those with baseline PE, 7.4% develop a psychotic disorder outcome. Conclusions Compelling support is found for the phenomenological and temporal continuity between PE and psychotic disorder and for the fundamental proposition that this relationship is probabilistic. However, imprecision in epidemiological research design, measurement limitations and the epiphenomenological nature of PE invite further robust scrutiny of the continuity theory.
Presence of meniscus tear alters gene expression profile of anterior cruciate ligament tears

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears occur in isolation or in tandem with other intra‐articular injuries such as meniscus tears. The impact of injury pattern on the molecular biology of the injured ACL is unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the biological response of the ACL to injury varies based on the presence or absence of concomitant meniscus tear. We performed RNA‐seq on 28 ACL tears remnants (12 isolated, 16 combined). In total, 16,654 transcripts were differentially expressed between isolated and combined injury groups at false discovery rate of 0.05. Due to the large number of differentially expressed transcripts, we undertook an Ensembl approach to discover features that acted as hub genes that did not necessarily have large fold changes or high statistical significance, but instead had high biological significance. Our data revealed a negatively correlated module containing 5,960 transcripts (down‐regulated in combined injury) and a positively correlated module containing 2,260 transcripts (up‐regulated in combined injury). TNS1, MEF2D, NOTCH3, SOGA1, and MLXIP were highly‐connected hub genes in the negatively correlated module and SCN2A, CSMD3, LRC44, USH2A, and LRP1B were critical hub genes in the positively correlated module. Transcripts in the negatively correlated module were associated with biological adhesion, actin‐filament organization, cell junction assembly, and cell matrix adhesion. The positively correlated module transcripts were enriched for neuron migration and exocytosis regulation. These findings indicate genes and pathways reflective of healing deficiency and gain of neurogenic signaling in combined ACL and meniscus tears, suggesting their diminished repair potential. The biological response of ACL to injury could have implications for healing potential of the ligament and the long term health of the knee. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:2612–2621, 2018.
Advanced self-contained object removal for realizing real-time Diminished Reality in unconstrained environments

While Augmented Reality has always been restricted to adding artificial content to the real environment, Diminished Reality allows for removing real world content. Existing approaches however, either require complex setups or are not applicable in real-time. In this paper we present our approach for removing real-world objects from a live video stream of the user's real environment. Our approach is based on a simple setup and neither requires any pre-processing nor any information on the structure and location of the objects to be removed or on their background. Our approach is based on the identification of the objects to be removed combined with an image completion and synthesis algorithm. The performance of our approach is one to two magnitudes better than that of previous work in the area of image completion, providing real-time object cancellation on standard laptop or tablet computers.
Investigation of pulse oximeter failure rates during artificial hypoperfusion utilising a custom made multimode pulse oximetery sensor

Pulse oximetry utilises the technique of photople-thysmography (PPG) to estimate arterial oxygen saturation values (SpO2). In poorly perfused tissues, SpO2 readings may be compromised due to the poor quality of the PPG signals. In order to investigate further the threshold where pulse oximetry fails to produce accurate SpO2 values, we have developed a custom made multimode finger pulse oximetry probe that operates in conventional, reflectance and transmittance mode independently and also in a combined mode called transreflectance. Experiments on twenty healthy volunteers undergoing induced artificial hypoperfusion utilising a brachial blood pressure cuff were performed in order to investigate the possible threshold of failure to accurately estimate SpO2 values from all pulse oximetry modes. The results suggest that the transreflectance pulse oximeter endures more in estimating accurately SpO2 values when compared with the other two custom made pulse oximeters and a commercial finger pulse oximeter.
Power-Efficient Wideband Spectrum Sensing for Cognitive Radio Systems

This paper proposes a wideband spectrum sensing architecture by utilizing a one-bit quantization at the cognitive radio receiver. A window-based autocorrelation is utilized to provide the power spectral density of the quantized signal. Closed-form expressions are derived for the one-bit quantized correlation, where the critical impact of the ultralow resolution is quantified. It is shown that the introduced method can still provide enough information about the sparse spectrum even at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). A suboptimal detection algorithm is presented to sense whether individual subbands are occupied or vacant. To evaluate the detection algorithm, the probability of false alarm and probability of detection are simulated for various system parameters. The sensing performance and the accuracy of the offered expressions are justified through comparisons with respective results from computer simulations. When compared to other methods, in addition to the significant saving in power, results indicate that, with the proper parameter selection and SNR down to $-$ 12 dBs, the proposed method provides low complexity, low sensing period, and better performance for less sparsity levels even though an aggressive quantization has been applied.
Lithium prevents cell apoptosis through autophagy induction.

OBJECTIVE Bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) are widely used as an available source for cell therapy, tissue engineering, and cellular differentiation-based techniques. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a simple method through which BMSCs can be protected from cell apoptosis under tough conditions of cell differentiation. Lithium treatment is one of the simple methods in this regard. METHODS The isolated BMSCs were divided into three groups: (a) control, (b) serum deprivation and (c) LiCl. Cell proliferation and apoptosis and autophagy markers in the presence and absence of LiCl were evaluated. RESULTS LiCl has shown to increase survival rate of BMSCs under serum deprivation conditions through autophagy induction (reduced P62 and increased LC3II) and apoptosis inhibition (expression of XIAP), so that the cell survival rate, after 12 hours, was 29 %, 59 %, 83 %, 74 %, 49 % for the groups, which received 0, 1, 5, 10, 20 millimolar of LiCl, respectively, as compared to the control group. CONCLUSION LiCl leads to decreased apoptosis and increased survival rate through autophagy induction under serum deprivation conditions (Ref. 5, Ref. 37).
In vitro cholesterol uptake by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus isolates

Background. Some researchers have indicated that Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus may provide additional health benefits, reduce serum cholesterol level, for example. The aim of this study was to determine cholesterol uptake by Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus commercial yoghurt starter isolates in artificial GIT fluids. Material and methods. Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus isolates were cultured in MRS broth and in artificial GIT fluids contained cholesterol at initial concentration ca. 560 μg/mL, as well as in MRS broth with cholesterol addition. Results. All Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus showed ability to uptake of cholesterol from MRS broth and artificial GIT fluids. The isolates incubated in artificial gastric fluid removed the minimal amounts of cholesterol in comparison to the same isolates incubated in MRS broth. Only two isolates removed significantly more cholesterol from MRS broth that from duodenal fluid. The amount of removed cholesterol from artificial duodenal fluid ranged from 20 μg/mL to 78 μg/mL. All Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus isolates survived worse in artificial GIT fluids than in MRS broth. The viability of Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus in GIT fluids depended on isolate. Conclusions. These results proved that Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus shows ability to uptake cholesterol from MRS broth and artificial GIT fluids, and the degree of cholesterol uptake depends on isolate and incubation environment. The ability of Lb. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus to survive in GIT varies according to the isolates and incubation environment.
The Effects of Tai Chi Intervention on Healthy Elderly by Means of Neuroimaging and EEG: A Systematic Review

Aging is a process associated with a decline in cognitive and motor functions, which can be attributed to neurological changes in the brain. Tai Chi, a multimodal mind-body exercise, can be practiced by people across all ages. Previous research identified effects of Tai Chi practice on delaying cognitive and motor degeneration. Benefits in behavioral performance included improved fine and gross motor skills, postural control, muscle strength, and so forth. Neural plasticity remained in the aging brain implies that Tai Chi-associated benefits may not be limited to the behavioral level. Instead, neurological changes in the human brain play a significant role in corresponding to the behavioral improvement. However, previous studies mainly focused on the effects of behavioral performance, leaving neurological changes largely unknown. This systematic review summarized extant studies that used brain imaging techniques and EEG to examine the effects of Tai Chi on older adults. Eleven articles were eligible for the final review. Three neuroimaging techniques including fMRI (N = 6), EEG (N = 4), and MRI (N = 1), were employed for different study interests. Significant changes were reported on subjects' cortical thickness, functional connectivity and homogeneity of the brain, and executive network neural function after Tai Chi intervention. The findings suggested that Tai Chi intervention give rise to beneficial neurological changes in the human brain. Future research should develop valid and convincing study design by applying neuroimaging techniques to detect effects of Tai Chi intervention on the central nervous system of older adults. By integrating neuroimaging techniques into randomized controlled trials involved with Tai Chi intervention, researchers can extend the current research focus from behavioral domain to neurological level.
AF MIMO Relay Systems With Wireless Powered Relay Node and Direct Link

A two-hop amplify-and-forward multiple-input multiple-output relay system with direct link is considered in this paper. The relay node has no self-power supply and relies on harvesting the radio frequency energy transferred from the source node to forward information from source to destination. In particular, we consider the time switching (TS) protocol between wireless information and energy transfer. We study the joint optimization of the source and relay precoding matrices and the TS factor to maximize the achievable source-destination rate when a single data stream is transmitted from the source node. The optimal structure of the source and relay precoding matrices is derived, which reduces the original problem to a simpler optimization problem. The simplified problem is then solved efficiently by a two-step method. Numerical simulations show that the proposed algorithm yields a higher rate and better rate-energy tradeoff than suboptimal approaches.
Clinical evaluation of a biphasic calcium composite grafting material in the treatment of human periodontal intrabony defects: a 12-month randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcome of a novel biphasic calcium composite (BCC) biomaterial versus autogenous bone spongiosa (ABS) or open flap debridement (OFD) for the treatment of intrabony periodontal defects. METHODS Forty-five subjects with at least one intrabony defect with a probing depth (PD) >or=7 mm and a vertical radiographic bone loss >or=3 mm were enrolled in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment with BCC (n = 15), ABS (n = 15), or OFD (n = 15). Clinical parameters were recorded at baseline and 12 months after surgery and included the plaque index, gingival index, PD, clinical attachment level (CAL), and gingival recession. RESULTS In all treatment groups, significant PD reductions and CAL gains occurred during the study period (P <0.0001). At 12 months, patients treated with BCC exhibited a mean PD reduction of 3.6 +/- 0.7 mm and a mean CAL gain of 3.0 +/- 0.8 mm compared to baseline. Corresponding values for patients treated with ABS were 3.4 +/- 0.8 mm and 2.9 +/- 0.9 mm, whereas OFD sites produced values of 2.8 +/- 0.8 mm and 1.6 +/- 0.7 mm. Compared to OFD, the additional CAL gain was significantly greater in patients treated with BCC (P = 0.002) and ABS (P = 0.001). The additional PD reduction was significant for the BCC group (P = 0.011) and borderline significant for the ABS group (P = 0.059). There were no significant differences of PD and CAL changes between BCC and ABS groups. CONCLUSIONS The clinical benefits of BCC were equivalent to ABS and superior to OFD alone. BCC may be an appropriate alternative to conventional graft materials.
Simulation and Measurement of Transient Fluid Phenomena within Diesel Injection

Rail pressures of modern diesel fuel injection systems have increased significantly over recent years, greatly improving atomisation of the main fuel injection event and air utilisation of the combustion process. Continued improvement in controlling the process of introducing fuel into the cylinder has led to focussing on fluid phenomena related to transient response. High-speed microscopy has been employed to visualise the detailed fluid dynamics around the near nozzle region of an automotive diesel fuel injector, during the opening, closing and post injection events. Complementary computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations have been undertaken to elucidate the interaction of the liquid and gas phases during these highly transient events, including an assessment of close-coupled injections. Microscopic imaging shows the development of a plug flow in the initial stages of injection, with rapid transition into a primary breakup regime, transitioning to a finely atomised spray and subsequent vaporisation of the fuel. During closuring of the injector the spray collapses, with evidence of swirling breakup structures together with unstable ligaments of fuel breaking into large slow-moving droplets. This leads to sub-optimal combustion in the developing flame fronts established by the earlier, more fully-developed spray. The simulation results predict these observed phenomena, including injector surface wetting as a result of large slow-moving droplets and post-injection discharge of liquid fuel. This work suggests that post-injection discharges of fuel play a part in the mechanism of the initial formation, and subsequent accumulation of deposits on the exterior surface of the injector. For multiple injections, opening events are influenced by the dynamics of the previous injection closure; these phenomena have been investigated within the simulations.
Sorption-Desorption Behavior of Atrazine in Soils Irrigated with Reclaimed Wastewater

increase the amount and change the properties of the natural SOM. For instance, irrigation with wastewater A time-dependentsorption–desorption study ofatrazine (2-chlorofor a period of 25 yr increased the organic C level in a 4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamine-s-triazine) was performed to reveal
1 9 M ar 2 01 8 Speckle characterization in a cinematography projection configuration

Due to high exploitation costs and other environmental issues, it would be desirable to phase out large cinema projection systems based on standard xenon lamps in favor of laser based projection devices. Lasers provide longer lifetime, wider color gamut, smaller extension and higher stability of light output. But the high degree of coherence of theses sources also lead to the formation of granular structures, usually known as speckle. When an imaging system is involved, as in the cinema projection case because of the capacity of the human eye to form an image of the screen, we speak about subjective speckle. In order to remove this spatial random pattern, different methods have been studied as temporal and/or spatial coherence reduction. But most of them can’t be used in the context of cinema projection because they don’t respect the cinematography projection standard. In our work, we have studied the possibility to reduce the subjective speckle either by changing the coherence of the light source or by studying the influence of the different elements constituting the projection display and most importantly in the conditions imposed by cinematography industry. Thanks to a lasers array formed by N independant semiconductor lasers, we have measured the evolution of the subjective speckle contrast in function of the number of sources. The resulting contrast discreases as a square root function and reach a saturation level when a light pipe is used. This behavior is directly due to the caracteristic of the light pipe which limit at its output the spatial coherence of the light source. Futhermore, in a different configuration, we have studied the influence of diffusers and the magnification of the projector zoom. It has been demonstrated that magnification plays an important rôle on the speckle formation because it increases the coherence length determined by the light pipe. On the contrary, the diffusers placed before the light pipe doesn’t change really the amount of subjective speckle.