Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Distribution and ‘In Vivo’ Phase Variation Status of Haemoglobin Receptors in Invasive Meningococcal Serogroup B Disease: Genotypic and Phenotypic Analysis

Two haemoglobin-binding proteins, HmbR and HpuAB, contribute to iron acquisition by Neisseria meningitidis. These receptors are subject to high frequency, reversible switches in gene expression - phase variation (PV) - due to mutations in homopolymeric (poly-G) repeats present in the open reading frame. The distribution and PV state of these receptors was assessed for a representative collection of isolates from invasive meningococcal disease patients of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Most of the major clonal complexes had only the HmbR receptor whilst the recently expanding ST-275-centred cluster of the ST-269 clonal complex had both receptors. At least one of the receptors was in an ‘ON’ configuration in 76.3% of the isolates, a finding that was largely consistent with phenotypic analyses. As PV status may change during isolation and culture of meningococci, a PCR-based protocol was utilised to confirm the expression status of the receptors within contemporaneously acquired clinical specimens (blood/cerebrospinal fluid) from the respective patients. The expression state was confirmed for all isolate/specimen pairs with <15 tract repeats indicating that the PV status of these receptors is stable during isolation. This study therefore establishes a protocol for determining in vivo PV status to aid in determining the contributions of phase variable genes to invasive meningococcal disease. Furthermore, the results of the study support a putative but non-essential role of the meningococcal haemoglobin receptors as virulence factors whilst further highlighting their vaccine candidacy.
A Trusted Computing Base for Embedded Systems

The structure of many secure systems has been based on the idea of a security kernel—an operating system nucleus that performs all trusted functions. The diculty with this approach is that the security kernel tends to be rather large, complex, and unstructured. This paper proposes an alternative structure for secure embedded systems. The structure comprises three layers. At the bottom is a Domain Separation Mechanism which is responsible for maintaining isolated “domains” (also known as “processes” or “virtual machines”) and for providing controlled channels for their intercommunication. The other resources of the system (for example, devices and the more
Macrophage‐derived inflammatory cytokines regulate growth factors and pain‐related molecules in mice with intervertebral disc injury

Upregulation of inflammatory cytokines and various growth factors is a significant contributor to discogenic low back pain. The aim of this study was to investigate possible regulation of pain‐related molecules by macrophages and the role of macrophage‐derived molecules in injured intervertebral disc (IVD)s. C57BL/6J mice were used in this study. We characterized the expression profiles of genes for tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐alpha, interleukin (IL)‐1beta, nerve growth factor (NGF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in both intact and injured IVDs. We examined whether macrophage depletion, induced by systemic injection of clodronate‐laden liposomes, affected the expression of these molecules in injured IVDs. The effect of TNF‐alpha on cultured F4/80‐CD11b‐cells in injured IVDs was investigated. Expression of TNF‐alpha and IL‐1beta was significantly increased in injured IVDs, but decreased by macrophage depletion. Expression of NGF and VEGF was also significantly increased, but by contrast was not decreased by macrophage depletion. TNF‐alpha treatment of F4/80‐cells from injured IVDs upregulated NGF, VEGF, cyclooxygenase (COX)‐2, and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase‐1 (mPGES1). IVD injury upregulated inflammatory cytokines and various growth factors. Macrophages in the injured IVDs produced inflammatory cytokines, but not growth factors. Macrophage‐derived inflammatory cytokines regulate growth factors and pain‐related molecules. These findings demonstrate further complexity in the pathogenesis of discogenic pain. © 2018 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:2274–2279, 2018.
Preparation and characterization of an iron oxide-hydroxyapatite nanocomposite for potential bone cancer therapy

Recently, multifunctional magnetic nanostructures have been found to have potential applications in biomedical and tissue engineering. Iron oxide nanoparticles are biocompatible and have distinctive magnetic properties that allow their use in vivo for drug delivery and hyperthermia, and as T2 contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Hydroxyapatite is used frequently due to its well-known biocompatibility, bioactivity, and lack of toxicity, so a combination of iron oxide and hydroxyapatite materials could be useful because hydroxyapatite has better bone-bonding ability. In this study, we prepared nanocomposites of iron oxide and hydroxyapatite and analyzed their physicochemical properties. The results suggest that these composites have superparamagnetic as well as biocompatible properties. This type of material architecture would be well suited for bone cancer therapy and other biomedical applications.
Construction of a recombinant B-cell epitope vaccine based on a Der p1-derived hypoallergen: a bioinformatics approach.

AIM House dust mite (HDM) allergens are important elicitors of IgE-mediated allergies. This study was aimed at constructing and characterizing a recombinant fusion protein, DpTTDp, which was based on carrier-bound Der p 1-derived peptides for HDM allergen immunotherapy. METHODS Using the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), we identified from Der p 1, a 34-mer hypoallergenic peptide. Two copies of the hypoallergen were then fused to a partial fragment of a tetanus toxoid molecule's N-and C terminus and expressed in Escherichia coli. After purification to homogeneity, the protein was evaluated for allergenicity and its ability to induce blocking antibodies upon immunization. RESULTS Upon immunization of mice, DpTTDp induced high levels of protective IgG-antibodies that blocked allergic patients' IgE reactivity to HDM. In addition, DpTTDp lacked relevant IgE-reactivity, induced low T-cell proliferation and IFN-γ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HDM-allergic patients' sera. CONCLUSION The protein represents a promising HDM-allergy immunotherapy candidate vaccine.
Identification of CRKII, CFL1, CNTN1, NME2, and TKT as Novel and Frequent T-Cell Targets in Human IDH-Mutant Glioma

Purpose: Successful immunotherapies for IDHmut gliomas require better knowledge of T-cell target antigens. Here, we elucidated their antigen repertoire recognized by spontaneous T-cell responses using an unbiased proteomic approach. Experimental Design: Protein fractionations of tissue lysates from IDHmut gliomas (n = 4) were performed. Fractions were tested by IFNγ ELISpot assay for recognition through patients' T cells. Proteins of immunogenic fractions were identified by mass spectrometry and validated by in silico-predicted synthetic long peptides in patients of origin, additional IDHmut glioma patients (n = 16), and healthy donors (n = 13). mRNA and protein expression of immunogenic antigens was analyzed in tumor tissues and IDHmut glioma stem-like cells (GSC). HLA-A*02–restricted T-cell epitopes were functionally determined by short peptides and numbers of antigen-specific T cells by HLA-peptide tetramer analysis. Results: A total of 2,897 proteins were identified in immunogenic tumor fractions. Based on a thorough filter process, 79 proteins were selected as potential T-cell antigens. Twenty-six of these were recognized by the patients’ T cells, and five of them (CRKII, CFL1, CNTN1, NME2, and TKT) in up to 56% unrelated IDHmut glioma patients. Most immunogenic tumor-associated antigens (TAA) were expressed in IDHmut gliomas and GSCs, while being almost absent in normal brain tissues. Finally, we identified HLA-A*02–restricted epitopes for CRKII, NME2, and TKT that were recognized by up to 2.82% of antigen-specific peripheral cytotoxic T cells in IDHmut glioma patients. Conclusions: By analyzing the repertoire of T-cell target antigens in IDHmut glioma patients, we identified five novel immunogenic TAAs and confirmed their expression on IDHmut tumors and GSCs. Clin Cancer Res; 24(12); 2951–62. ©2018 AACR.
Nanoparticles as structure‐directing agents for controlling the orientation of block copolymer microdomain in thin films

Block copolymer/nanoparticle (BCP/NP) composites have attracted much attention due to their easiness of fabricating nanoscopic hierarchical structures, and significantly enhanced chemical and physical properties of the nanocomposites. Most of the focus in co-assembly of BCPs and NPs has been placed on the controlled alignment of NPs, “passively,” in the BCP domain. However, NPs with carefully designed interfacial properties “actively” direct self-assembled structure of BCP in a nonconventional route. Herein, we review recent investigations of the self-assembly of BCP domains in thin films via the addition of structure-directing organic and inorganic NPs. Understanding the phase behavior of BCP/NP co-assembly along with the theoretical description can shed a light on the far-reaching potentials to creating nonconventional nanostructures rarely obtained via traditional fabrication tools. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015
Tension-loaded bolted connections in steel structures

The purpose of this thesis is to study the behaviour of bolted steel connections subjected to tension. Quasi-static conditions have been considered. By performing laboratory tests on single bolts and simple T-stub connections the failure modes of the bolts have been examined. Finite element models are created and validated to represent the behaviour observed in the laboratory. Di erent grip length con gurations have been tested for a single bolt and nut assembly subjected to pure tension. Both partially and fully threaded bolts have been considered. It was found that partially threaded bolts with three threads between the unthreaded part of the shank and the bearing surface of the nut experienced thread stripping. This is inconsistent with the recommendations given in NS-EN 1090-2 [1], which states that one full thread is su cient to avoid thread stripping. Finite element models are able to recreate the behaviour of all con gurations tested with acceptable accuracy. In addition to the grip length, the material properties and geometry of the threads are identi ed as the crucial factors for the failure modes of the bolts. Simple T-stub connections with one bolt in each ange have been tested to examine the behaviour of the bolts when they are subjected to a combination of tension and bending. The center distance between the bolts was varied to examine the behaviour when subjected to increased bending e ects. Connections with partially threaded bolts all failed due to thread stripping. The fully threaded bolts experienced both thread stripping and bolt failure. The complexity of the stress distribution when large bending e ects are present was di cult to recreate with a simpli ed nite element model. Acceptable accuracy up to maximum force was possible to achieve for the smallest bolt center distance. The response of the nite element model was very mesh sensitive, and di cult to recreate with limited computational capacity when applying an explicit solution algorithm.
Automated Grammatical Tagging of Clinical Language Samples w ith and Without SALT Coding

Automated Grammatical Tagging of Clinical Language Samples with and Without SALT Coding Andrea Nielson Hughes Department of Communication Disorders, BYU Master of Science Language samples are naturalistic sources of information that supersede many of the limitations found in standardized test administration. Although language samples have clinical utility, they are often time intensive. Despite the usefulness of language samples in evaluation and treatment, clinicians may not perform language sample analyses due to the necessary time commitment. Researchers have developed language sample analysis software that automates this process. Coding schemes such as that used by the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software were developed to provide more information regarding appropriate grammatical tag selection. The usefulness of SALT precoding in aiding automated grammatical tagging accuracy was evaluated in this study. Results indicate consistent, overall improvement over an earlier version of the software at the tag level. The software was adept at coding samples from both developmentally normal and language impaired children. No significant differences between tagging accuracy of SALT coded versus non-SALT coded samples were found. As the accuracy of automated tagging software advances, the clinical usefulness of automated grammatical analyses improves, and thus the benefits of time savings may be realized.
The Impact of Social Media on C-level Roles

This article focuses on the potential impact of social media on organizational leadership and governance at the C-level. Although IT governance in general has become more shared across C-level leaders over time, social media initiatives have elevated the importance of an IT governance role for the chief marketing officer (CMO). Based on case studies and interviews with CIOs, CMOs and other C-level leaders, this article presents four leadership/governance models and describes their challenges and perceived success. The findings of this study also provide evidence for the paradigm shift in the CIO role that has been predicted by other researchers
Manipulation of electrical resistivity and optical properties of zinc oxide thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition and the sol-gel method

Adjusting and optimizing the electrical resistivity and optical transparency of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) is critically important to the quality of many solid state devices. In this work, the electrical and optical properties of zinc oxide thin films grown by the solgel method and by pulsed laser deposition are studied. A minimum electrical resistivity of 5.7×10−4 Ω·cm at an oxygen partial pressure of 0.01 mbar for room temperature (RT) growth by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) was achieved. This optimal film had a calculated transparency >90% in the visible region. The measurement techniques used and a full exploration of the various growth parameters (growth temperature, ambient gas type, ambient gas pressure, and annealing treatments) are discussed. The optimized growth parameters were applied to create a TCO top contact to nanorod structures that are potentially useful as solar cell devices. The application of this optimized film offers future work possibilities to perfect a promising up and coming device.
Tradeoffs between sensing quality and energy efficiency for context monitoring applications

Mobile devices have gone far beyond their basic usage like calling, texting, etc. New generation mobile devices like smartphones contain a rich set of embedded sensors which enable them to perform sensing operations in different domains. To get user contextual information, both human centric & participatory sensing can be helpful. In order to accurately capture, recognize and classify various user states, sensors need to operate more in active mode. However, continuous sensing results in huge energy consumption, decreasing the battery lifetime. Hence, a tradeoff in between the sensing accuracy and energyefficiency is required. In this paper, we have developed novel strategies to make this tradeoff. User contexts are monitored and multiplicative increase and multiplicative decrease (MIMD) approach is exploited to dynamically adjust the sensing frequency following the sensing quality requirements of the applications. We have developed a real-time android application to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of sensing accuracy and energy-efficiency. The results show a good level of improvement compared to a state-of-the-art work.
Sex Differences in Stress Response Circuitry Activation Dependent on Female Hormonal Cycle

Understanding sex differences in stress regulation has important implications for understanding basic physiological differences in the male and female brain and their impact on vulnerability to sex differences in chronic medical disorders associated with stress response circuitry. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we demonstrated that significant sex differences in brain activity in stress response circuitry were dependent on women's menstrual cycle phase. Twelve healthy Caucasian premenopausal women were compared to a group of healthy men from the same population, based on age, ethnicity, education, and right handedness. Subjects were scanned using negative valence/high arousal versus neutral visual stimuli that we demonstrated activated stress response circuitry [amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, brainstem, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG)]. Women were scanned twice based on normal variation in menstrual cycle hormones [i.e., early follicular (EF) compared with late follicular–midcycle (LF/MC) menstrual phases]. Using SPM8b, there were few significant differences in blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in men compared to EF women, except ventromedial nucleus (VMN), lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), left amygdala, and ACG. In contrast, men exhibited significantly greater BOLD signal changes compared to LF/MC women on bilateral ACG and OFC, mPFC, LHA, VMN, hippocampus, and periaqueductal gray, with largest effect sizes in mPFC and OFC. Findings suggest that sex differences in stress response circuitry are hormonally regulated via the impact of subcortical brain activity on the cortical control of arousal, and demonstrate that females have been endowed with a natural hormonal capacity to regulate the stress response that differs from males.
A Model for Software Development Effort and Cost Estimation

Several algorithmic models have been proposed to estimate software costs and other management parameters. Early prediction of completion time is absolutely essential for proper advance planning and aversion of the possible ruin of a project. L.H. Putnam's (1978) SLIM (Software LIfecycle Management) model offers a fairly reliable method that is used extensively to predict project completion times and manpower requirements as the project evolves. However, the nature of the Norden/Rayleigh curve used by Putnam renders it unreliable during the initial phases of the project, especially in projects involving a fast manpower buildup, as is the case with most software projects. In this paper, we propose the use of a model that improves early prediction considerably over the Putnam model. An analytic proof of the model's improved performance is also demonstrated on simulated data.
SIZE EFFECTS IN THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The influence of the diameter of [OOl] axial single crystal samples on the tensile and creep properties of MAR-MOO2 superalloy at 850 and 900 “C, respectively, has been studied. The tensile results indicate that the load bearing capacities of single crystals increase near the surface. The observed phenomena are interpreted on the basis of the macroscopic model in which the y-phase is considered to possess fluid-like properties and where, under a [OOl] directed tensile stress, the y-phase would flow along pressure gradients within the -y-phase channels between the non-deformable y’ particles. The observation that the load bearing capacity increases near the surface is interpreted to indicate a restriction in the flow of the y-phase fluid at the surface.
Amount and Diversity of Digital Emotional Expression Predicts Happiness

Emotional expression in digital form has become increasingly ubiquitous via the proliferation of computers and handheld devices. Using online surveys and live chat experiments across four studies and 1325 individuals (Study 1A-B and 2A-B), and a large social media dataset spanning 4.9 billion individuals (Study 3), we examine whether digital emotion expression (emojis) predicts happiness at the individual and national levels. Our studies converge on three central findings. First, people use emojis in text-based communication to convey emotional experience. Second, the amount and diversity of emojis causally increases happiness during social interactions. Third, across 122 countries, higher total amount and greater diversity of emoji usage per capita and per user correlate with higher national happiness. Across levels of analysis, our results suggest that both the amount and diversity of digital emotion expression influences well-being.
Delphinol® standardized maqui berry extract reduces postprandial blood glucose increase in individuals with impaired glucose regulation by novel mechanism of sodium glucose cotransporter inhibition.

AIM The impetus of our study was to investigate the effects of a nutritional supplement Delphinol®, an extract of maqui berries (Aristotelia chilensis) standardised to ≥25% delphinidins and ≥35% total anthocyanins, on postprandial blood glucose and insulin levels and identify the physiologic mechanism involved. METHODS Postprandial blood glucose and insulin were investigated in double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over fashion in ten volunteers with moderate glucose intolerance. Longer term effects on blood sugar levels were investigated in streptozotocin-diabetic rats over a four months period. Effects of maqui berry delphinidins on sodium-glucose symport were examined in rodent jejenum of the small intestine. RESULTS Delphinol® intake prior to rice consumption statistical significantly lowered post prandial blood glucose and insulin as compared to placebo. We identified an inhibition of Na+-dependant glucose transport by delphinidin, the principal polyphenol to which Delphinol® is standardised. In a diabetic rat model the daily oral application of Delphinol® over a period of four months significantly lowered fasting blood glucose levels and reached values indistinguishable from healthy non-diabetic rats. CONCLUSION Our results suggest a potential use of Delphinol® for naturally controlling post-prandial blood glucose owed to inhibition of sodium glucose co-transporter in small intestine.
The effect of devulcanization level on mechanical properties of reclaimed rubber by thermal‐mechanical shearing devulcanization

Ground tire rubber (GTR) with crosslinked structure has hardly any plasticity and processability, which makes its property very poor. Thermal-mechanical shearing devulcanization method can effectively destroy the crosslinked structure and restore GTR a certain extent of plasticity and processability. This article investigated the characteristic and reprocessing performance of reclaimed rubber prepared through thermal-mechanical shearing devulcanization. The relationship between the devulcanization level (indicated by gel fraction and crosslink density) and the mechanical property was analyzed by sufficient experiments. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and elemental analyzer studies revealed the chemical structure of GTR changed and many complex reactions occurred after devulcanization. The gel permeation chromatography indicated the specific changes of molecular weight and molecular weight distribution in devulcanization process. The differential scanning calorimetry revealed various vulcanized abilities and vulcanized structures of reclaimed rubber. The scanning electron microscope further confirmed the recovery of plasticity after devulcanization and the distinct vulcanized structures between revulcanizates. The determination of devulcanization level and mechanical properties verified that mechanical properties especially tensile strength reached to the optimum value only at an appropriate devulcanization level. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013