Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Viral antigen mediated NKp46 activation of NK cells results in tumor rejection via NK-DC crosstalk

Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in antitumor immunity, their activation being regulated through NK cell receptors. Although the endogenous ligands for these receptors are largely unknown, viral ligands have been identified. We investigated the ability of an activating NK receptor ligand derived from the mumps virus, haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) to enhance NK activation against tumor cells. HN-expressing B16.OVA tumor cells induced stronger activation of NK cells compared with B16.OVA cells and also promoted dendritic cell (DC) activation toward a DC1 phenotype, in vitro. Moreover, incubation of DCs, NK cells and HN-expressing B16-OVA cells further enhanced NK cell activation through the NK-DC crosstalk, in a cell-to-cell contact- and IL-12-dependent fashion. Immunization of mice with HN-expressing B16-OVA cells resulted in > 85% survival rate after subsequent challenge with parental B16 or B16.OVA tumor cells. Tumor rejection was dependent on both NK and CD8+ T cells but not on CD4+ T cells, demonstrating induction of an effective adaptive immune response through innate immune cell activation. Our data indicate the potential of using robust NK cell activation, which through the NK-DC crosstalk stimulates effective antitumor responses, providing an alternate vaccine strategy.
MAGNETIC BRAKING AND PROTOSTELLAR DISK FORMATION: AMBIPOLAR DIFFUSION

It is established that the formation of rotationally supported disks during the main accretion phase of star formation is suppressed by a moderately strong magnetic field in the ideal MHD limit. Nonideal MHD effects are expected to weaken the magnetic braking, perhaps allowing the disk to reappear. We concentrate on one such effect, ambipolar diffusion, which enables the field lines to slip relative to the bulk neutral matter. We find that the slippage does not sufficiently weaken the braking to allow rotationally supported disks to form for realistic levels of cloud magnetization and cosmic ray ionization rate; in some cases, the magnetic braking is even enhanced. Only in dense cores with both exceptionally weak fields and unreasonably low ionization rate do such disks start to form in our simulations. We conclude that additional processes, such as Ohmic dissipation or Hall effect, are needed to enable disk formation. Alternatively, the disk may form at late times when the massive envelope that anchors the magnetic brake is dissipated, perhaps by a protostellar wind.
Fast and effective finite difference method for 2 D photonic crystals

In this article we develop a finite difference (FDFD) method to compute the band spectra of 2D photonic crystals without impurities. Exploiting periodicity to identify discretization points differing by a period, the computational complexity of the algorithms is reduced significantly. Numerical results on three test problems are presented.
A semi-empirical model for the estimation of maximum horizontal displacement due to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading

During the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, liquefaction-induced lateral spreading and resultant ground displacements damaged bridges, buried utilities and lifelines, conventional structures, and other developed works. This paper presents an improved engineering tool for the prediction of maximum displacement due to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading. A semi-empirical approach is employed, combining mechanistic understanding and data from laboratory testing with data and lessons from full-scale earthquake field case histories. The principle of strain potential index, based primarily on correlation of cyclic simple shear laboratory testing results with in-situ Standard Penetration Test (SPT) results, is used as an index to characterize the deformation potential of soils after they liquefy. A Bayesian probabilistic approach is adopted for development of the final predictive model, in order to take fullest advantage of the data available and to deal with the inherent uncertainties intrinsic to the back-analyses of field case histories. A case history from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake is utilized to demonstrate the ability of the resultant semi-empirical model to estimate maximum horizontal displacement due to liquefaction-induced lateral spreading.
FGF-18, a Novel Member of the Fibroblast Growth Factor Family, Stimulates Hepatic and Intestinal Proliferation

ABSTRACT The fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play key roles in controlling tissue growth, morphogenesis, and repair in animals. We have cloned a novel member of the FGF family, designated FGF-18, that is expressed primarily in the lungs and kidneys and at lower levels in the heart, testes, spleen, skeletal muscle, and brain. Sequence comparison indicates that FGF-18 is highly conserved between humans and mice and is most homologous to FGF-8 among the FGF family members. FGF-18 has a typical signal sequence and was glycosylated and secreted when it was transfected into 293-EBNA cells. Recombinant murine FGF-18 protein (rMuFGF-18) stimulated proliferation in the fibroblast cell line NIH 3T3 in vitro in a heparan sulfate-dependent manner. To examine its biological activity in vivo, rMuFGF-18 was injected into normal mice and ectopically overexpressed in transgenic mice by using a liver-specific promoter. Injection of rMuFGF-18 induced proliferation in a wide variety of tissues, including tissues of both epithelial and mesenchymal origin. The two tissues which appeared to be the primary targets of FGF-18 were the liver and small intestine, both of which exhibited histologic evidence of proliferation and showed significant gains in organ weight following 7 (sometimes 3) days of FGF-18 treatment. Transgenic mice that overexpressed FGF-18 in the liver also exhibited an increase in liver weight and hepatocellular proliferation. These results suggest that FGF-18 is a pleiotropic growth factor that stimulates proliferation in a number of tissues, most notably the liver and small intestine.
Long-Term Outcomes of Radio-Frequency Catheter Ablation on Ventricular Tachycardias Due to Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy: A Single Center Experience

Aims To summarize our experience of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) for recurrent drug-refractory ventricular tachycardias (VTs) due to arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) in our center over the past 11 years and its related factors. Methods and Results We reviewed 48 adults (mean age 39.9 ± 12.9 years, range: 14 to 65) who met the present ARVC diagnostic criteria and accepted RFCA for VTs from December 2004 to April 2016. The patients received a total of 70 procedures using two ablation approaches, the endocardial approach in 52 RFCAs, and the combined epicardial and endocardial approach (the combined approach) in 18 RFCAs. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the combined approach achieved better acute procedural success (p = 0.003) and better long-term outcomes (p = 0.028) than the endocardial approach. Patients who obtained acute procedural success with non-inducibility had better long-term outcomes (p < 0.001). COX regression of multivariate analysis showed that procedural success was the only factor that benefited long-term outcome, irrespective of the endocardial or the combined approach (p = 0.001). The rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients without procedural success was significantly higher than that in patients with procedural success (p = 0.005). All patients without implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation who had successful final RFCA survived. Conclusions The combined approach resulted in better procedural success and long-term VT-free survival compared with the endocardial approach in ARVC patients with recurrent VTs. Acute procedural success with non-inducibility was strongly related to better long-term VT-free survival and reduced SCD, irrespective of whether this was achieved by the endocardial approach or the combined approach.
Combinations of Host Biomarkers Predict Mortality among Ugandan Children with Severe Malaria: A Retrospective Case-Control Study

Background Severe malaria is a leading cause of childhood mortality in Africa. However, at presentation, it is difficult to predict which children with severe malaria are at greatest risk of death. Dysregulated host inflammatory responses and endothelial activation play central roles in severe malaria pathogenesis. We hypothesized that biomarkers of these processes would accurately predict outcome among children with severe malaria. Methodology/Findings Plasma was obtained from children with uncomplicated malaria (n = 53), cerebral malaria (n = 44) and severe malarial anemia (n = 59) at time of presentation to hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Levels of angiopoietin-2, von Willebrand Factor (vWF), vWF propeptide, soluble P-selectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), soluble endoglin, soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1), soluble Tie-2, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, 10 kDa interferon gamma-induced protein (IP-10), and soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (TREM-1) were determined by ELISA. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess predictive accuracy of individual biomarkers. Six biomarkers (angiopoietin-2, soluble ICAM-1, soluble Flt-1, procalcitonin, IP-10, soluble TREM-1) discriminated well between children who survived severe malaria infection and those who subsequently died (area under ROC curve>0.7). Combinational approaches were applied in an attempt to improve accuracy. A biomarker score was developed based on dichotomization and summation of the six biomarkers, resulting in 95.7% (95% CI: 78.1–99.9) sensitivity and 88.8% (79.7–94.7) specificity for predicting death. Similar predictive accuracy was achieved with models comprised of 3 biomarkers. Classification tree analysis generated a 3-marker model with 100% sensitivity and 92.5% specificity (cross-validated misclassification rate: 15.4%, standard error 4.9%). Conclusions We identified novel host biomarkers of pediatric severe and fatal malaria (soluble TREM-1 and soluble Flt-1) and generated simple biomarker combinations that accurately predicted death in an African pediatric population. While requiring validation in further studies, these results suggest the utility of combinatorial biomarker strategies as prognostic tests for severe malaria.
Multi-user detection in ultra-wideband multiple-access communications systems using an efficient heuristic algorithm

This paper investigates learning and achievable bit error rate (BER) performance of ultra-wideband (UWB) systems that use intelligent multiuser detector (MUD) when communicating over UWB channels that experience both multiuser interference (MUI) and intersymbol interference (ISI), in addition to multipath fading. Multiple access interference (MAI) degrades performance of conventional single user detector in UWB systems. Due to high complexity of the optimum multiuser detector, suboptimal multiuser detectors with less complexity and reasonable performance have drawn considerable attention. By taking advantage of heuristic values and collective intelligence of tabu search with Hopfield neural networks (TAHNN), the proposed detector offers almost the same BER performance as a full-search-based optimum multiuser detector does, while greatly reducing computational complexity. To evaluate performance and robustness of our proposed TAHNN based MUD, we experiment with a number of test problems. Computational results show that our proposed TAHNN in almost all cases outperforms other foregoing heuristics applied to this paper.
Identification of Burkholderia cenocepacia Genes Required for Bacterial Survival In Vivo

ABSTRACT Burkholderia cenocepacia (formerly Burkholderia cepacia complex genomovar III) causes chronic lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. In this work, we used a modified signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) strategy for the isolation of B. cenocepacia mutants that cannot survive in vivo. Thirty-seven specialized plasposons, each carrying a unique oligonucleotide tag signature, were constructed and used to examine the survival of 2,627 B. cenocepacia transposon mutants, arranged in pools of 37 unique mutants, after a 10-day lung infection in rats by using the agar bead model. The recovered mutants were screened by real-time PCR, resulting in the identification of 260 mutants which presumably did not survive within the lungs. These mutants were repooled into smaller pools, and the infections were repeated. After a second screen, we isolated 102 mutants unable to survive in the rat model. The location of the transposon in each of these mutants was mapped within the B. cenocepacia chromosomes. We identified mutations in genes involved in cellular metabolism, global regulation, DNA replication and repair, and those encoding bacterial surface structures, including transmembrane proteins and cell surface polysaccharides. Also, we found 18 genes of unknown function, which are conserved in other bacteria. A subset of 12 representative mutants that were individually examined using the rat model in competition with the wild-type strain displayed reduced survival, confirming the predictive value of our STM screen. This study provides a blueprint to investigate at the molecular level the basis for survival and persistence of B. cenocepacia within the airways.
Respiratory Cancer and Non-Malignant Respiratory Disease-Related Mortality among Older Construction Workers-Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

Objective This study explored the risk of respiratory cancer and non-malignant respiratory disease (NMRD)-related mortality among older construction workers. Methods Analyzed data from the 1992–2010 RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the HRS National Death Index – Cause of Death file. About 25,183 workers aged 50 years and older were examined, including 5,447 decedents and 19,736 survivors, of which 1,460 reported their longest job was in construction. Multinomial logistic regression assessed the differences in mortality between workers’ longest occupations, controlling for confounders. Results After adjusting for smoking and demographics, construction workers were almost twice as likely to die from respiratory cancer (OR = 1.65; CI: 1.10–2.47) or NMRD (OR = 1.73; CI: 1.16–2.58) compared to white-collar workers. Conclusions This study adds to the growing evidence that respiratory cancer and NMRD are frequently associated with construction exposure.
Apartheid’s Transnational Soldiers: The Case of Black Namibian Soldiers in South Africa’s Former Security Forces

Histories of southern Africa’s liberation struggles have been primarily written in the frame of the nation and have thus largely neglected the significant role played by transnational and inter-regional connections in shaping those struggles. In this article, I explore the complex and seemingly paradoxical dynamics of ‘national liberation’ through the case of black Namibians who were recruited into the South West African Territorial Force (SWATF), and the South African police counter-insurgency unit, Koevoet, during Namibia’s war for independence. I argue that the initially temporary ‘alliances’ between these transnational soldiers and South Africa’s security forces assumed a degree of permanence in the form of new and enduring military identities and loyalties. These often contradictory identities and loyalties have remained salient in influencing the history and politics of post-independence Namibia, as ex-SWATF and ex-Koevoet members have continued to invoke them in attempts to claim full citizen and war-veteran status in Namibia and South Africa. By analysing the post-war politics and historical narratives of two veterans’ organisations of former SWATF and Koevoet members, I bring into focus the transnational character of Namibia’s liberation struggle and the painful legacies of the conflict’s internalisation along familial, ethnic, racial and ideological lines.
Multi-platform permanent scatterers analysis: first results

The PS technique is an advanced tool for the joint exploitation of series of interferometric SAR data for measuring millimetric ground deformation effects on privileged radar targets. In this paper we briefly discuss some preliminary results obtained in the first attempt to apply the permanent scatterers (PS) technique on a RADARSAT data set.
Private Equity Premium in a General Equilibrium Model of Uninsurable Investment Risk

This paper studies the quantitative properties of a general equilibrium model where a continuum of heterogeneous entrepreneurs are subject to aggregate as well as idiosyncratic risks in the presence of a borrowing constraint. The calibrated model matches the highly skewed wealth and income distributions of entrepreneurs. The authors provide an accurate solution to the model despite the significant nonlinearities that are absent in the economy with uninsurable labor income risk. The model is capable of generating the average private equity premium of roughly 3 percent and a low risk-free rate. The model also produces procyclicality of the risk-free rate and countercyclicality of the average private equity premium. The countercyclicality of the average equity premium is largely driven by tightening (loosening) of financing constraints during recessions (booms).
The Relationship between Volatility and Trading Volume in the Chinese Stock Market: A Volatility Decomposition Perspective

We use heterogeneous autoregressive (HAR) model with high-frequency data of Hu-Shen 300 index to investigate the volatility-volume relationship via the volatility decomposition approach. Although we find that the continuous component of daily volatility is positively correlated with trading volume, the jump component reveals a significant and robust negative relation with volume. This result suggests that the jump component contains some “public information” while the continuous components are more likely driven by “private information”. Discussion of the intertemporal relationship supports the information-driven trading hypothesis. Lagged realized skewness only significantly affects the continuous component.
A Statistical Dependency Parser of Chinese under Small Training Data *

Parsing is an important and difficult problem in natural language processing. In this paper a probabilistic parsing model is proposed in terms of dependency grammar. A small corpus annotated manually serves as training data because the largescale Chinese Treebank is unavailable at present. Dependency relations of the partof-speech tags are obtained from training data, and their probabilities are used as parameters of model. Then we present a dynamic programming method to find the best path. Experiments show that our method achieves a good result with precision of 80.25% on open test.
Patterns of Nogo mRNA and Protein Expression in the Developing and Adult Rat and After CNS Lesions

Nogo-A is a neurite growth inhibitor involved in regenerative failure and restriction of structural plasticity in the adult CNS. Three major protein products (Nogo-A, -B, and -C) are derived from thenogo gene. Here we describe the embryonic and postnatal expression of the three Nogo isoforms in the rat by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Northern and Western blot analysis indicated that Nogo-A is predominantly expressed in the nervous system with lower levels also present in testis and heart. In CNS myelin, confocal and immunoelectron microscopy revealed that Nogo-A is expressed in oligodendrocyte cell bodies and processes and localized in the innermost adaxonal and outermost myelin membranes. Additionally, we find Nogo-A to be expressed by projection neurons, in particular during development, and by postmitotic cells in the developing cortex, spinal cord, and cerebellum. The expression levels of Nogo-A/B were not changed significantly after traumatic lesions to the cortex or spinal cord. Nogo-B showed widespread expression in the central and peripheral nervous systems and other peripheral tissues. Nogo-C was mainly found in skeletal muscle, but brain and heart were also found to express this isoform. The localization of Nogo-A in oligodendrocytes fits well with its role as a myelin-associated inhibitor of regenerative fiber growth and structural plasticity. However, expression of Nogo-A in other tissues and, in particular, in neurons and the widespread expression of the two shorter isoforms, Nogo-B and -C, suggest that the Nogo family of proteins might have function(s) additional to the neurite growth-inhibitory activity.
Analysis of torque ripple due to phase commutation in brushless DC machines

An original analytical study is developed concerning the torque undulation due to phase commutation on brushless DC motors. The results indicate that the relative ripple is independent of current, varies with speed, and may reach 50% of the average torque. The amplitude of the torque undulation and the duration of the commutation are analyzed, showing how this affects the torque-speed curve of the drive. Simulation and experimental results are presented that validate the theoretical analysis. <<ETX>>
Effectiveness of Platelet-rich Plasma Injection for Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy: A Prospective Open-label Study

Objective: Assess platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection for rotator cuff tendinopathy (RCT). Design: Prospective open label study with 1-year follow-up. Methods: Participants recruited from an outpatient sports medicine clinic had clinically and magnetic resonance image (MRI)—demonstrated RCT refractory to physical therapy and corticosteroid injection. They received one ultrasound-guided injection of 3.0 mL of 1% xylocaine followed by 3.5 mL of PRP at the lesion and surrounding tendon. Primary outcome: 0—10 visual analog scale (VAS; baseline, 8, 12, and 52 weeks). Secondary outcomes: functional shoulder tests assessing rotator cuff strength and endurance (at baseline and 8 and 12 weeks), MRI severity (1—5 points [at baseline and 4 and 8 weeks]), and patient satisfaction (52 weeks). Results: Eighteen participants with 19 assessed shoulders reported VAS pain score improvement from 7.5 ± 0.3 points to 0.5 ± 0.3 points by week 12 and 0.4 ± 0.2 (P = .0001) points at week 52. Functional outcomes significantly improved; the largest effect was seen in the external rotation test: 33.5 ± 5.7 seconds to 62.6 ± 7.2 seconds at week 12 (P = .0001). MRI appearance improved by 1 to 3 points in 16 of 18 assessed shoulders. Seventeen participants were “completely satisfied” (12) or “satisfied” (5). One participant was “unsatisfied. ” Conclusions: A single ultrasound-guided, intralesional injection of PRP resulted in safe, significant, sustained improvement of pain, function, and MRI outcomes in participants with refractory RCT. Randomized multidisciplinary effectiveness trials that add ultrasound and validated clinical outcome measures are needed to further assess PRP for RCT.
AN ESTIMATE OF THE PRIMORDIAL NON-GAUSSIANITY PARAMETER fNL USING THE NEEDLET BISPECTRUM FROM WMAP

We use the full bispectrum of spherical needlets applied to the WMAP data of the cosmic microwave background as an estimator for the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter fNL. We use needlet scales up to ℓmax = 1000 and the KQ75 galactic cut and find fNL = 84 ± 40 corrected for point-source bias. We also introduce a set of consistency tests to validate our results against the possible influence of foreground residuals or systematic errors. In particular, fluctuations in the value of fNL obtained from different frequency channels, different masks, and different multipoles are tested against simulated maps. All variations in fNL estimates are found statistically consistent with simulations.