Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved delay-dependent stability criteria for stochastic systems with time delay and uncertainties

This paper is concerned with the robust asymptotical stability in mean square for stochastic systems with time delay and two kinds of uncertainties. Firstly, a Lyapunov-Krasoskii functional of more complete form is constructed. Then, in order to establish the robust stability criteria for stochastic time-delay systems with two kinds of uncertainties in the same frame, a new variable is introduced to replace the uncertainties and slack matrices are used. Based on Itô calculus rules, the action of the infinitesimal generator of Itô diffusion on the constructed functional is computed and the novel delay-dependent sufficient conditions is obtained in terms of LMIs. Numerical examples are given to illustrate that the results presented in this paper are effective and less conservative than the existing ones.
Competitive Inhibition Flow Analysis Assay for the Non-Culture-Based Detection and Serotyping of Pneumococcal Capsular Polysaccharide

ABSTRACT Traditional confirmation procedures for the identification of a pneumococcal serotype require an isolate. Non-culture-based confirmation protocols are available. Some of these confirm only the presence of pneumococci, and others are capable of identifying a limited number of serotypes. The increased use of pneumococcal polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines, especially in high-risk patient groups, and the likely increase in the number of serotypes included in future versions of the conjugate vaccines have necessitated the need for improved enhanced surveillance in order to assess their impact on public health. Since 2006, a multiplexed assay has been used at the Health Protection Agency of the United Kingdom for the detection of 14 pneumococcal serotypes which requires pneumococcal serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). We have developed a microsphere competitive inhibition method capable of detecting 23 pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide serotypes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and urine and serotyping pneumococcal suspensions, utilizing an international reference serum, 89-SF. The assay was shown to be reproducible and specific for homologous polysaccharide. Validation of the assay was performed with a selection of MAbs specific for pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide serotypes, which confirmed the specificity of the assay. Analysis of pneumolysin PCR-positive CSF samples in the competitive inhibition assay determined a serotype for 89% of the samples. The assay developed here is well suited to large-scale epidemiologic studies because the assay is simple, robust, and rapid and utilizes readily available resources.
MicroRNAs: a new piece in the paediatric cardiovascular disease puzzle

Abstract Cardiovascular diseases in children comprise a large public health problem. The major goals of paediatric cardiologists and paediatric cardiovascular researchers are to identify the cause(s) of these diseases to improve treatment and preventive protocols. Recent studies show the involvement of microRNAs (miRs) in different aspects of heart development, function, and disease. Therefore, miR-based research in paediatric cardiovascular disorders is crucial for a better understanding of the underlying pathogenesis of the disease, and unravelling novel, efficient, preventive, and therapeutic means. The ultimate goal of such research is to secure normal cardiac development and hence decrease disabilities, improve clinical outcomes, and decrease the morbidity and mortality among children. This review focuses on the role of miRs in different paediatric cardiovascular conditions in an effort to encourage miR-based research in paediatric cardiovascular disorders.
Factors Associated With Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Circulating Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes From HIV-Infected People

Nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI)-associated mitochondrial toxicity is an important issue in the clinical management of HIV infection. The aim of this study was the detection of mitochondrial dysfunction by flow cytometry in lymphocytes from HIV-infected individuals and its association with blood lactate levels, clinical and virologic status, and the different NRTI-based therapies. Lower peripheral blood lymphocytes with mitochondrial dysfunction (PBLmd) percentages were observed in healthy controls (1.2, interquartile range [IQR] = 0.4–1.9) than in patients (2.2, IQR = 0.9–3.7; P < 0.01). Stavudine-containing therapy showed higher PBLmd percentages (3.0, IQR = 1.1–4.5) than no treatment (2.1, IQR = 0.8–2.8; P < 0.05) or zidovudine-based therapy (0.9, IQR = 0.3–1.4; P < 0.01). A significant inverse correlation was found between PBLmd and CD4 T-cell percentage and absolute count. Patients with an AIDS diagnosis had higher PBLmd percentage (2.7, IQR = 1.1–4.4) than HIV-positive non-AIDS patients (1.4, IQR = 0.6–3.0; P = 0.012). In multivariate analysis, use of stavudine (odds ratio [OR] = 5.86, 95% CI = 1.81–19.01, P = 0.003) and CD4 T-cell counts <200/&mgr;L (OR = 4.51, 95% CI = 1.38–14.70, P = 0.012) were independent predictors of high PBLmd percentage. This cross-sectional study shows that antiretroviral drugs can impair the in vivo mitochondrial function of PBLs.
Tracing a Z-track in the M 31 X-ray binary RX J0042.6+4115

Four XMM-Newton observations of the core of M 31, spaced at 6 month intervals, show that the brightest point X-ray source, RX J0042.6+4115, has a 0.4-10 keV luminosity of5 10 38 erg s 1 , and exhibits significant variability in intensity and X-ray spectrum over a time scale of100 s including hard flares; such behaviour is only observed in Z-sources and transient black hole binaries in our Galaxy. The lightcurves, X-ray spectra and hardness-intensity data from the four XMM-Newton observations all strongly suggest that it is a Z-source, bringing the total number of known Z-sources to nine.
Effect of Garlic Paste Added to Yoghurt of Cow Milk

Yoghurt has greater popularity among fermented milk products. The development of fruit and flavoured yoghurt resulted in this product of major importance in markets. Garlic is a common food spice and herbal medicine for preventing of many human diseases. This study was conducted to analyze physicochemical properties of yoghurt by incorporating of garlic paste at different concentrations. Yoghurt mixtures were prepared with 0.5%, 1%, 2% and 3% garlic paste, and without garlic paste as a control. They were subjected into chemical, sensorial and microbial assessment during the storage period of four weeks. At the first week, the chemical attributes, such as ash, dry matter, total sugar, reducing sugar and pH show significantly (P < 0.05) higher in 3% garlic added yoghurt. On the other hand, titrable acidity was higher in yoghurt made without garlic paste. At the fourth week of storage period, 3% garlic added yoghurt received higher mean value for ash, dry matter, total sugar, reducing sugar and pH. Similarly, yoghurt made without garlic received higher mean value for titrable acidity. Garlic reduced the bacterial load in the yoghurt, as bacterial count was decreased with increase in the concentration of garlic paste. Finally, organoleptic assessment revealed that there were (P < 0.05) changes among the treatments in the sensory attributes. Although, yoghurt made from 1% of garlic at the first week of storage showed the best overall acceptability compared with other all treatments, such as values of ash, dry matter, total sugar and reducing sugar were 0.61% ± 0.05%, 14.73% ± 3%, 12.7% ± 1.57% and 1.86% ± 0.19%, respectively.
The effects of short-term jump training on bone metabolism in females using oral contraceptives

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of oral contraceptive use on bone serum markers following a 3-week jumping protocol. Twenty-three females (18–25 years) were grouped as oral contraceptive users (OC+) or non-users (OC−). Following a 3-week observation period, participants completed a 3-week (15-day) jump protocol. Jump sessions consisting of ten 42 cm drop jumps with a 30 s rest interval between jumps were completed each day, 5 days per week. Peak vertical ground reaction force and loading rate were measured and the osteogenic index was calculated. Serum markers for bone formation, bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and bone resorption, C-terminal telopeptides of type I collagen (CTX) were measured at three time points (pre-, mid-, post-jump). BAP and CTX increased significantly (P = 0.0017, 0.0488) in both groups post-jump; however, bone metabolic markers were not different between the OC+ and OC− groups. Osteogenic index, ground reaction force and vertical jump height were similar between groups. Correlations between markers of bone metabolism and participants’ age at menarche, weight, loading rate and years on OC were not significant. A 3-week jumping protocol was found to be effective in stimulating bone metabolism in both OC+ and OC− groups.
Detection strategies: metrics-based rules for detecting design flaws

In order to support the maintenance of an object-oriented software system, the quality of its design must be evaluated using adequate quantification means. In spite of the current extensive use of metrics, if used in isolation metrics are oftentimes too fine grained to quantify comprehensively an investigated design aspect (e.g., distribution of system's intelligence among classes). To help developers and maintainers detect and localize design problems in a system, we propose a novel mechanism - called detection strategy - for formulating metrics-based rules that capture deviations from good design principles and heuristics. Using detection strategies an engineer can directly localize classes or methods affected by a particular design flaw (e.g., God Class), rather than having to infer the real design problem from a large set of abnormal metric values. We have defined such detection strategies for capturing around ten important flaws of object-oriented design found in the literature and validated the approach experimentally on multiple large-scale case-studies.
Expression of Genes for a Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide-Binding Oxidoreductase and a Methyltransferase from Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum Is Necessary for Biosynthesis of 10-Methyl Stearic Acid from Oleic Acid in Escherichia coli

In living organisms, modified fatty acids are crucial for the functions of the cellular membranes and storage lipids where the fatty acids are esterified. Some bacteria produce a typical methyl-branched fatty acid, i.e., 10-methyl stearic acid (19:0Me10). The biosynthetic pathway of 19:0Me10 in vivo has not been demonstrated clearly yet. It had been speculated that 19:0Me10 is synthesized from oleic acid (18:1Δ9) by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyltransfer and NADPH-dependent reduction via a methylenated intermediate, 10-methyelene octadecanoic acid. Although the recombinant methyltransferases UmaA and UfaA1 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv synthesize 19:0Me10 from 18:1Δ9 and NADPH in vitro, these methyltransferases do not possess any domains functioning in the redox reaction. These findings may contradict the two-step biosynthetic pathway. We focused on novel S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyltransferases from Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum that are involved in 19:0Me10 synthesis and selected two candidate proteins, WP_048471942 and WP_048472121, by a comparative genomic analysis. However, the heterologous expression of these candidate genes in Escherichia coli cells did not produce 19:0Me10. We found that one of the candidate genes, WP_048472121, was collocated with another gene, WP_048472120, that encodes a protein containing a domain associated with flavin adenine dinucleotide-binding oxidoreductase activity. The co-expression of these proteins (hereafter called BfaA and BfaB, respectively) led to the biosynthesis of 19:0Me10 in E. coli cells via the methylenated intermediate.
Understanding the Coronary Circulation Through Studies at the Microvascular Level

Studies of the coronary circulation have divided vascular resistances into three large components: large vessels, small resistance vessels, and veins. Studies of the epicardial microcirculation in the beating heart using stroboscopic illumination have suggested that resistance is more precisely controlled in different segments of the circulation. Measurements of coronary pressure in different sized arteries and arterioles have indicated that under normal conditions, 45–50% of total coronary vascular resistance resides in vessels larger than 100 μm. This distribution of vascular resistance can be altered in a nonuniform manner by a variety of physiological (autoregulation, increases in myocardial oxygen consumption, sympathetic stimulation) and pharmacological stimuli (norepinephrine, papaverine, dipyridamole, serotonin, vasopressin, nitroglycerin, adenosine, and endothelin). Studies of exchange of macromolecules in the microcirculation using fluorescent-labeled dextrans have also identified the size of the small pore (35–50 AÅ) in coronary microvessels that can be altered by myocardial ischemia. Studies of the coronary microcirculation have demonstrated that the control of vascular resistance is extremely complex, and mechanisms responsible for these heterogeneous responses need further examination.
Clinicopathological Risk Factors and Biochemical Predictors of Safe Discharge after Total Thyroidectomy and Central Compartment Node Dissection for Thyroid Cancer: A Prospective Study

To determine the clinicopathological risk factors and reliable biochemical predictors of the development of hypocalcemic symptoms after total thyroidectomy on the basis of serum calcium and intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels measured 1 hour after surgery, a prospective study was performed on 817 patients who underwent a total thyroidectomy with central compartment node dissection (CCND) due to well-differentiated thyroid cancer. We evaluated the correlations between hypocalcemic symptom development and clinicopathological factors. And the predictability for hypocalcemic symptom development of intact PTH cut-offs (<10 pg/mL and <20 pg/mL, resp.) according to serum calcium level subgroup was analyzed. Female gender (P < 0.001) was the only independent risk factor for hypocalcemic symptom development in multivariate regression analysis. The negative predictive value (NPV) of intact PTH, signifying nondevelopment of hypocalcemic symptoms, was higher than the positive predictive value (PPV) which signified development of hypocalcemic symptoms. In addition, when we applied the different adoption of the intact PTH cut-off according to serum calcium level, we could obtain more increased NPVs. A female gender and the application of more specific cut-offs for intact PTH according to the serum calcium levels measured 1 hour after surgery may help the patients to be more safely discharged.
Contralateral suppression of otoacoustic emissions: Input-Output functions in neonates

Summary Background The literature suggests that contralateral acoustic stimulation (CAS) alters the amplitude of the distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), but it is still unknown whether the DPOAE Input/Output (I/O) functions are also affected. To elucidate this aspect of the DPOAEs, the present study assessed the effects of CAS on DPOAE I/O functions at the frequencies of 2 kHz and 4 kHz, in a sample of term neonatal subjects. Material/Methods Sixty randomly selected neonates were included in the study. The DPOAE I/O functions were obtained at 2 kHz and 4 kHz, in the presence of a 60 dB SPL broad band-contralateral white noise, using the TDH39 headphones contralaterally. DPOAEs were recorded up to a stimulus level of L2=35 dB peSPL. Results Significant DPOAE amplitude suppression effects were observed at various L2 stimulus levels for both tested frequencies at 2 and 4 kHz. In contrast, the corresponding DPOAE slopes showed various alterations that were not statistically significant. Conclusions The data from the present study show that contralateral acoustic stimulation significantly affects only the amplitude of the DPOAE I/O functions; the slope is affected, but not significantly. This observation can shed light on the nature of CAS, suggesting that the latter is primarily a linear phenomenon without the cochlear compression and non-linear components seen in the healthy cochlea. From the available data it is not possible to infer whether the sample size has influenced the obtained results and the study should be repeated with a larger sample size and assessing more frequencies.
Population genetic patterns among social groups of the endangered Central American spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) in a human-dominated landscape

Spider monkeys (Genus: Ateles) are a widespread Neotropical primate with a highly plastic socioecological strategy. However, the Central American species, Ateles geoffroyi, was recently re-listed as endangered due to the accelerated loss of forest across the subcontinent. There is inconsistent evidence that spider monkey populations could persist when actively protected, but their long-term viability in unprotected, human-dominated landscapes is not known. We analyzed noninvasive genetic samples from 185 individuals in 14 putative social groups on the Rivas Isthmus in southwestern Nicaragua. We found evidence of weak but significant genetic structure in the mitochondrial control region and in eight nuclear microsatellite loci plus negative spatial autocorrelation in Fst and kinship. The overall pattern suggests strong localized mating and at least historical female-biased dispersal, as is expected for this species. Heterozygosity was significantly lower than expected under random mating and lower than that found in other spider monkey populations, possibly reflecting a recent decline in genetic diversity and a threat from inbreeding. We conclude that despite a long history of human disturbance on this landscape, spider monkeys were until recently successful at maintaining gene flow. We consider the recent decline to be further indication of accelerated anthropogenic disturbance, but also of an opportunity to conserve native biodiversity. Spider monkeys are one of many wildlife species in Central America that is threatened by land cover change, and an apt example of how landscape-scale conservation planning could be used to ensure long-term persistence.
Springback Simulations of Monolithic and Layered Steels Used for Pressure Equipment

— Carbon steel is used in boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, piping, structural elements and other moderate-temperature service systems in which good strength and ductility are desired. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section II Part A (2004) provides specifications of ferrous materials for construction of pressure equipment, covering wide range of mechanical properties including high strength materials for power plants application. However, increased level of springback is one of the major problems in fabricating components of high strength steel using bending. Presented work discuss the springback simulations for five different steels (i.e. SA-36, SA-299, SA-515 grade 70, SA-612 and SA-724 grade B) using finite element analysis of air V-bending. Analytical springback simulations of hypothetical layered materials are presented. Result shows that; (i) combination of the material property parameters controls the springback, (ii) layer of the high ductility steel on the high strength steel greatly suppresses the springback.
Synthesis Method for Hierarchical Interface-based Supervisory Control

Hierarchical Interface-based Supervisory Control (HISC) decomposes a discrete-event system (DES) into a high-level subsystem which communicates with n ges 1 low- level subsystems, through separate interfaces which restrict the interaction of the subsystems. It provides a set of local conditions that can be used to verify global conditions such as nonblocking and controllability. As each clause of the definition can be verified using a single subsystem, the complete system model never needs to be stored in memory, offering potentially significant savings in computational resources. Currently, a designer must create the supervisors himself and then verify that they satisfy the HISC conditions. In this paper, we develop a synthesis method that can take advantage of the HISC structure. We replace the supervisor for each level by a corresponding specification DES. We then do a per level synthesis to construct for each level a maximally permissive supervisor that satisfies the corresponding HISC conditions. We define a set of language based fixpoint operators and show that they compute the required level-wise supremal languages. We then discuss the complexity of the algorithms that we have constructed that implement the fixpoint operators and show that they potentially offer significant improvement over the monolithic approach. A large manufacturing system example (estimated worst case statespace on the order of 1022) extended from the AIP example is discussed. A software tool for synthesis and verification of HISC systems using our approach was also developed.
Design and manufacture of knitted tubular fabric with auxetic effect

Abstract Auxetic materials refer to materials that exhibit a negative Poisson’s ratio. They behave directly opposite to conventional materials by becoming wider when stretched and narrower when compressed. The unique property of this group of materials has led to them gaining a wider range of applications. This paper presents a study on the use of a flatbed knitting machine to fabricate and experiment on an arrow-headed auxetic tubular fabric. The study used three kinds of yarns: nylon (PA), PES, and cotton as the materials for knitting the tubular samples. Three variations of an arrow-head design (4 × 4, 6 × 6, and 8 × 8) were also used as the three main structural patterns. The results reveal that the ‘6 × 6’ structure gives the best auxetic effect among the three and the nylon (PA) yarn had the best auxeticity.
Fragmentation of Two Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling Collagen-Induced Arthritis Reveals a New Set of Interacting Subloci1

Linkage analysis of F2 crosses has led to identification of large numbers of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for complex diseases, but identification of the underlying genes has been more difficult. Reasons for this could be complications that arise from separation of interacting or neighboring loci. We made a partial advanced intercross (PAI) to characterize and fine-map linkage to collagen-induced arthritis in two chromosomal regions derived from the DBA/1 strain and crossed into the B10.Q strain: Cia7 on chromosome 7 and a locus on chromosome 15. Only Cia7 was detected by a previous F2 cross. Linkage analysis of the PAI revealed a different linkage pattern than the F2 cross, adding multiple loci and strong linkage to the previously unlinked chromosome 15 region. Subcongenic strains derived from animals in the PAI confirmed the loci and revealed additional subloci. In total, no less than seven new loci were identified. Several loci interacted and three loci were protective, thus partly balancing the effect of the disease-promoting loci. Our results indicate that F2 crosses do not reveal the full complexity of identified QTLs, and that detection is more dependent on the genetic context of a QTL than the potential effect of the underlying gene.