Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics of oscillating relativistic tori around Kerr black holes

We present a comprehensive numerical study of the dynamics of relativistic axisymmetric accretion tori with a power-law distribution of specific angular momentum orbiting in the background space‐time of a Kerr black hole. By combining general relativistic hydrodynamics simulations with a linear perturbative approach we investigate the main dynamical properties of these objects over a large parameter space. The astrophysical implications of our results extend and improve two interesting results that have been recently reported in the literature. First, the induced quasi-periodic variation of the mass quadrupole moment makes relativistic tori of nuclear matter densities, as those formed during the last stages of binary neutron star mergers, promising sources of gravitational radiation, potentially detectable by interferometric instruments. Secondly, p-mode oscillations in relativistic tori of low rest-mass densities could be used to explain high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations observed in X-ray binaries containing a black hole candidate under conditions more generic than those considered so far. Ke yw ords: accretion, accretion discs ‐ gravitational waves ‐ hydrodynamics ‐ relativity.
Arrowroot as a treatment for diarrhoea in irritable bowel syndrome patients: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES Arrowroot is an old-fashioned remedy for diarrhoea, but no clinical studies have been done to evaluate its effectiveness. The aim of this pilot study was to assess its efficacy as a treatment for diarrhoea in 11 patients, all of whom had irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea as a feature. METHODS The patients were interviewed and a questionnaire completed on entry into the trial. They then took 10 mL arrowroot powder three times a day for one month and discontinued the treatment for the subsequent month. Questionnaires were completed after one month on treatment and at the end of the trial after one month off treatment. RESULTS Arrowroot reduced diarrhoea and had a long-term effect on constipation. It also eased abdominal pain. CONCLUSION Arrowroot is an effective treatment for diarrhoea. Its action could be explained by several theories which relate to an increase in faecal bulk and thus a more efficient bowel action. The number of patients was small, and further studies are needed to substantiate preliminary results.
Therapeutic Potential of Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Inhibitors in Inflammatory Respiratory Disease

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase(s) (PI3K) are a family of proteins that catalyze the phosphorylation of the 3-OH position of phosphoinositides and generate lipids that control a wide variety of intracellular signaling pathways. They are classified into three families according to their structure and substrate specificity and are thought to have distinct biological roles. Recent studies suggested that numerous components of the PI3K pathway play a crucial role in the expression and activation of inflammatory mediators, inflammatory cell recruitment, immune cell function, airway remodeling, and corticosteroid insensitivity in chronic inflammatory respiratory disease. Selective PI3K inhibitors have been developed that reduce inflammation and some characteristics of disease in experimental animal models. Targeting specific PI3K isoforms that may be overexpressed or overactive in disease should allow for selective treatment of respiratory diseases. Encouraging data from animal models, primary cells and clinical studies in other diseases suggest that inhibitors of PI3K/Akt may prove to be useful novel therapies in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Analytical performance evaluation of Internet access over GPRS and its comparison with simulation results

We discuss the results of recently published analytical concepts for the performance evaluation of packet-switched mobile radio networks (see Vornefeld, U., Proc. European Wireless 2002, 2002; Proc. Int. Commun. Conf. '02, 2002). We compare them with the results of a simulation system (GPRSim), which emulates the GSM general packet radio service (GPRS) in great detail (see Stuckmann, P., Technical Report, http://www.comnets.rwith-aachen.de//spl sim/pst; Stuckmann and Paul, O., Proc. 10th Symp. Wireless Personal Multimedia Commun., p.597-602, 2001). We try to identify possible reasons for deviations between analytical and simulation results in order to support further development in this area. In Vornefeld's analytical modelling framework, source modelling is done by characterization of WWW traffic by means of marked Markovian arrival processes (MMAP); accordingly, GPRS performance measures are derived by analysis of an MMAP/G/1 queue. By evaluation of WWW traffic generated during stochastic simulation, we show that important characteristics of recent Internet traffic are depicted by Vornefeld's analytical source model. We find that the analytical approach is well suited for understanding the general impact of various system parameters. Nevertheless, although the analytical model uses a very detailed characterization of WWW traffic, for quantitative performance analysis, simulation results are still required.
Novel mutations, pseudo‐dominant inheritance, and possible familial affects in patients with autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism

Autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder, usually beginning before the age of 40. We found three exonic deletions and two novel point mutations (Arg33Stop and Cys431Phe) in six families with autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism. In 1 family, in which an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance was suspected, multiple mutant alleles were identified. Although a wide range of ages at onset was observed, there was no correlation between age at onset and genotype. Ann Neurol 2000;48:245–250
Distinct rhythm generators for inspiration and expiration in the juvenile rat

Inspiration and active expiration are commonly viewed as antagonistic phases of a unitary oscillator that generates respiratory rhythm. This view conflicts with observations we report here in juvenile rats, where by administration of fentanyl, a selective μ‐opiate agonist, and induction of lung reflexes, we separately manipulated the frequency of inspirations and expirations. Moreover, completely transecting the brainstem at the caudal end of the facial nucleus abolished active expirations, while rhythmic inspirations continued. We hypothesize that inspiration and expiration are generated by coupled, anatomically separate rhythm generators, one generating active expiration located close to the facial nucleus in the region of the retrotrapezoid nucleus/parafacial respiratory group, the other generating inspiration located more caudally in the preBötzinger Complex.
The strategic use of CAD: an empirically inspired, theory-based course

The inefficient use of complex computer systems has been widelyreported. These studies show the persistence of inefficient methodsdespite many years of experience and formal training. To counteractthis phenomenon, we present the design of a new course, called theStrategic Use of CAD. The course aims at teaching studentsefficient strategies to use a computer-aided drafting systemthrough a two-pronged approach. Learning to See teaches students torecognize opportunities to use efficient strategies by studying thenature of the task, and Learning to Do teaches students toimplement the strategies. Results from a pilot experiment show thatthis approach had a positive effect on the strategic behavior ofstudents who did not exhibit knowledge of efficient strategiesbefore the class, and had no effect on the strategic behavior ofthose who did. Strategic training can thus assist users inrecognizing opportunities to use efficient strategies. We presentthe ramifications of these results on the design of training andfuture experiments.
Symbolic Synthesis of Mealy Machines from Arithmetic Bitstream Functions

In this paper, we describe a symbolic synthesis method which given an algebraic expression that species a bitstream function f, constructs a (minimal) Mealy machine that realises f. The synthesis algorithm can be seen as an analogue of Brzozowski’s construction of a nite deterministic automaton from a regular expression. It is based on a coinductive characterisation of the operators of 2-adic arithmetic in terms of stream dierential equations.
Low-pH-induced effects on patterns of protein synthesis and on internal pH in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium

Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium were grown in a supplemented minimal medium (SMM) at a pH of 7.0 or 5.0 or were shifted from pH 7.0 to 5.0. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of proteins labeled with H2(35)SO4 for 20 min during the shift showed that in E. coli, 13 polypeptides were elevated 1.5- to 4-fold, whereas in S. typhimurium, 19 polypeptides were increased 2- to 14-fold over the pH 7.0 control. Upon long-term growth at pH 5.0, almost double the number of polypeptides were elevated twofold or more in S. typhimurium compared with E. coli. In E. coli, there was no apparent induction of heat shock proteins upon growth at pH 5.0 in SMM. However, growth of E. coli in a complex broth to pH 5.0, or subsequent growth of fresh E. coli cells in the filtrate from this culture, showed that a subset of five polypeptides is uniquely induced by low pH. Two of these polypeptides, D60.5, the inducible lysyl-tRNA synthetase, and C62.5, are known heat shock proteins. Measurements of the internal pH (pHi) and growth rates of both organisms were made during growth in SMM at pH 7.0, pH 5.0, and upon the pH shift. The data show that the pHi of E. coli decreases more severely than that of S. typhimurium at an external pH of 5.0; the growth rate of E. coli is about one-half that of S. typhimurium at this pH, whereas the two organisms have the same growth rate at pH 7.0. The two-dimensional gel, growth, and pHi experiments collectively suggest that, at least in SMM, S. typhimurium is more adaptive to low-pH stress than is E. coli.
Cystic pulmonary metastases of endometrial stromal sarcoma of the uterus, mimicking lymphangiomyomatosis: A case report with immunohistochemistry of HMB45

A case of endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS) showed cystic pulmonary metastases mimicking lymphangiomyomatosis (LAM). A 58‐year‐old female, who had undergone total hysterectomy for low‐grade ESS 16 years previously, had repeated bouts of pneumothorax. Multiple then‐walled cysts in the perlpheral lung were revealed by radiological examinations. In an open‐lung blopsy specimen, cystlc lesions were surrounded by layers of spindle‐shaped cells of varying thickness that resembled LAM. However, In addltion to subtle histological differences from LAM, HMB45 (antimelanoma antibody) showed positive In LAM (n=3), but was negative in ESS (M) and the cystlc leslons of this case. Using myogenic markers (desmin and α‐smooth muscle actin), metastatlc ESS could be immunohistochemically differentiated from mesenchymal cystlc hamartoma (n=1). HMB45 Immunohistochemistry is useful in the differential diagnosis of cystic puimonary lesions.
Sialic acids as link to Japanese scientists

This manuscript is dedicated to Prof. Tamio Yamakawa and describes my cooperations on sialic acid-related topics with Japanese scientists during the last 40 years. We studied sialic acids and their O-acetylated derivatives in the sea urchin Pseudocentrotus depressus, in Halocynthia species, and in human and bovine milk. In seafood we mainly searched for N-glycolylneuraminic acid. With synthetic substrates it was shown that sialic acid O-acetylation at C-4 hinders the activity of sialidases, with the exception of viral enzymes. The biosynthesis of Neu5Gc was discussed and the distribution of this sialic acid in dogs followed in modern literature and reviewed regarding their migration. An excellent source of sialic acids is edible bird nest substance (Collocalia mucin) which was used for the synthesis of sialylation inhibitors.
Endoscopic Endonasal Nasopharyngectomy in Selected Cancers

Objective To describe the different surgical techniques for nasopharyngeal endoscopic resection (NER) and to support the efficacy of the endoscopic endonasal approach in the management of selected primary and locally recurrent nasopharyngeal tumors (NPTs). Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Patients affected by NPTs who underwent NER from 1997 to 2011 at two Italian referral centers. Subjects and Methods NER was tailored to the NPT extension and classified as follows: type 1 NER, resection of the posterior nasopharyngeal wall; type 2 NER, resection superiorly extended to the sphenoid; type 3 NER, trans-pterygoid approach to the postero-lateral nasopharynx with removal of pterygoid plates and Eustachian tube, under control of parapharyngeal-petrous-cavernous segments of the internal carotid artery. Results Thirty-six consecutive patients with primary (9 cases) or locally recurrent (27 cases) NPTs were enrolled. The lesions were staged as follows: stage I, 16 (44.4%); stage II, 3 (8.4%); stage III, 15 (41.6%); and stage IVA, 2 (5.6%). Type 1 NER was performed in 6 cases, type 2 NER in 12, type 3 NER in 16, and bilateral-extended type 3 NER in 2. No perioperative mortality or major complications were observed. Postoperatively, 11 patients received intensity-modulated radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 173 months (mean: 38 months). Five years overall, disease-specific, and disease-free survivals were 75.1% ± 9.13%, 80.9% ± 7.79%, and 58.1% ± 14.8%, respectively. Conclusion NER is a feasible and minimally invasive surgical approach for the management of selected primary and locally recurrent NPTs. Our preliminary outcomes are promising, with local control rates comparable to those of conventional procedures. Larger case series and longer follow-up are needed to validate the reproducibility and efficacy of the technique.
A Practical Universal Forgery Attack against PAES-8

PAES is an authenticated encryption scheme designed by Ye et al., and submitted to the CAESAR competition. The designers claim that PAES-8, which is one of the designs of the PAES-family, provides 128-bit security in the nonce misuse model. In this note, we show our forgery attack against PAES-8. Our attack works in the nonce misuse model. The attack exploits the slow propagation of message differences. The attack is very close to the universal forgery attack. As long as the target message is not too short, e.g. more than 10 blocks (160 bytes), a tag is forged only with 2 encryption oracle calls, 2 computational cost, and negligible memory.
Enhancing the signal of lateral flow immunoassays by using different developing methods

Lateral flow immunoassay devices are potential biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics. However, these devices are limited by low analytical sensitivity when coupled with a visual colorimetric signal. Here, we analyzed key parameters related to nucleic acid lateral flow performance and related this to the analytical theory behind lateral flow functionality. In particular, we predicted a set of different physical running methods to optimize the assay signal intensity by ensuring higher binding of the signal molecules to the DNA. We found that a double-run method improved the assay signal intensity on average by approximately 50%, and a fully absorbed conjugate pad method came close to the double-run signal efficacy at high DNA concentrations. Our results demonstrate that even when the signal molecule is supplied in excess, a significant proportion of analytes bind to the detection antibody in a colorless complex. The lowest detection limits achieved were 0.1 picomole for detection using an anti-Cy5 antibody and 0.01 picomole for the detection using an anti-Texas Red antibody. Our double-run method improvement is generic, does not require additional reagents and equipment, reduces assay costs compared to the fully absorbed method, and is applicable to other lateral flow immunoassays.
Pharmacogenetics and Cardiovascular Disease—Implications for Personalized Medicine

The past decade has seen tremendous advances in our understanding of the genetic factors influencing response to a variety of drugs, including those targeted at treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In the case of clopidogrel, warfarin, and statins, the literature has become sufficiently strong that guidelines are now available describing the use of genetic information to guide treatment with these therapies, and some health centers are using this information in the care of their patients. There are many challenges in moving from research data to translation to practice; we discuss some of these barriers and the approaches some health systems are taking to overcome them. The body of literature that has led to the clinical implementation of CYP2C19 genotyping for clopidogrel, VKORC1, CYP2C9; and CYP4F2 for warfarin; and SLCO1B1 for statins is comprehensively described. We also provide clarity for other genes that have been extensively studied relative to these drugs, but for which the data are conflicting. Finally, we comment briefly on pharmacogenetics of other cardiovascular drugs and highlight β-blockers as the drug class with strong data that has not yet seen clinical implementation. It is anticipated that genetic information will increasingly be available on patients, and it is important to identify those examples where the evidence is sufficiently robust and predictive to use genetic information to guide clinical decisions. The review herein provides several examples of the accumulation of evidence and eventual clinical translation in cardiovascular pharmacogenetics.
Recent progress in research on cell-to-cell movement of rice viruses

To adapt to plants as hosts, plant viruses have evolutionally needed the capacity to modify the host plasmodesmata (PD) that connect adjacent cells. Plant viruses have acquired one or more genes that encode movement proteins (MPs), which facilitate the cell-to-cell movement of infectious virus entities through PD to adjacent cells. Because of the diversity in their genome organization and in their coding sequences, rice viruses may each have a distinct cell-to-cell movement strategy. The complexity of their unusual genome organizations and replication strategies has so far hampered reverse genetic research on their genome in efforts to investigate virally encoded proteins that are involved in viral movement. However, the MP of a particular virus can complement defects in cell-to-cell movement of other distantly related or even unrelated viruses. Trans-complementation experiments using a combination of a movement-defective virus and viral proteins of interest to identify MPs of several rice viruses have recently been successful. In this article, we reviewed recent research that has advanced our understanding of cell-to-cell movement of rice viruses.
Cerebellar projections to the ventral lateral geniculate nucleus and the thalamic reticular nucleus in the cat

The ventral lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNv) is a retinorecipient part of the ventral thalamus and in cats, it consists of medial (M), medial intermediate (IM), lateral intermediate (IL), lateral (L), and dorsal (D) subdivisions. These subdivisions can be differentiated not only by their cytoarchitecture, but also by their connectivity and putative functions. The LGNv may play a role in visuomotor gating, in that there is evidence of cerebellar afferent projections to the intermediate subdivisions. The cerebellar posterior interpositus (IP) and lateral (LC) nuclei are known to project to IM and IL, but the specifics of these projections are unclear. We hypothesized that the IP and LC project differentially to IM and IL. To evaluate LGNv innervation by the deep cerebellar nuclei, we injected the tract‐tracer wheat germ agglutinin‐horseradish peroxidase (WGA‐HRP) into several different regions of the LGNv and cerebellar nuclei of adult cats in either sex. Small injections into the middle and posterior LGNv retrogradely labeled cells in the ventral part of the IP. However, injections in the anterior regions of the LGNv, with or without diffusion into the thalamic reticular nucleus (Re), retrogradely labeled cells in the ventral part of both the IP and the LC. Confirmatory injections into the IP and LC produced terminal‐like labeling distributed in IM, IL, and Re; injections mostly localized to the LC resulted in labeling mainly in IM and Re. We concluded that the IP projects to IL whereas the LC projects to IM and Re.
An in vitro-differentiated human cell line as a model system to study the interaction of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with phagocytic cells

The extreme host specificity of pathogenic neisseriae limits investigations aimed at the analysis of bacterial-host interactions almost completely to the use of in vitro models. Although permanent epithelial and endothelial cell lines are already indispensable tools with respect to initial infection processes, studies concerning the interaction of neisseriae with phagocytic cells have been confined to primary human blood cells. We investigated the use of human leukemia-derived monocytic and myelomonocytic cell lines that can be differentiated in vitro towards phagocytic cells by a panel of chemical and biological reagents including cytokines, vitamin analogs, and antileukemia drugs. Whereas tumor necrosis factor alpha, gamma interferon, bufalin, or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor only marginally increased the ability of monocytic MonoMac-6 and myelomonocytic JOSK-M cells to interact with the bacteria, retinoic acid and vitamin D3 treatment for 2 to 4 days led to highly phagocytic cells that internalized gonococci in an Opa protein-specific manner. This is comparable to the phagocytosis by primary monocytes from human blood, where more than 80% of cells are infected with intracellular bacteria. The increased phagocytic activity of JOSK-M cells following in vitro differentiation was paralleled by enhanced oxidative burst capacity. Whereas undifferentiated cells responded to neither phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate nor other known soluble and particulate stimuli, cells incubated with retinoic acid and bufalin showed the same pattern and the same intensity of oxidative burst activity in response to Neisseria gonorrhoeae as primary cells: Opa-expressing gonococci elicited an oxidative burst, whereas Opa- gonococci did not. The surface expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules was only slightly changed after retinoic acid treatment. Also, phagocytosis of gonococci had no influence on MHC class II surface expression. Taken together, our results demonstrate that in vitro-differentiated human myelomonocytic JOSK-M cells provide a suitable model for the study of a variety of aspects of the gonococcal interaction with phagocytes.