Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The scl gene product is required for the generation of all hematopoietic lineages in the adult mouse.

Homozygosity for a null mutation in the scl gene causes mid‐gestational embryonic lethality in the mouse due to failure of development of primitive hematopoiesis. Whilst this observation established the role of the scl gene product in primitive hematopoiesis, the death of the scl null embryos precluded analysis of the role of scl in later hematopoietic development. To address this question, we created embryonic stem cell lines with a homozygous null mutation of the scl gene (scl−/−) and used these lines to derive chimeric mice. Analysis of the chimeric mice demonstrates that the scl−/− embryonic stem cells make a substantial contribution to all non‐hematopoietic tissues but do not contribute to any hematopoietic lineage. These observations reveal a crucial role for the scl gene product in definitive hematopoiesis. In addition, in vitro differentiation assays with scl−/− embryonic stem cells showed that the scl gene product was also required for formation of hematopoietic cells in this system.
Comparison of Different Face Recognition Algorithms

-Face recognition is one of the most successful applications of image analysis and understanding and has gained much attention in recent years. Various algorithms were proposed and research groups across the world reported different and often contradictory results when comparing them. There are two approaches for the face recognition i.e. face Geometry based and face appearance based. The appearance based technique is also sub divided into two technique i.e. local feature and global feature based. The technique of local feature based are Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). In this paper we study the two global features appearance based algorithm i.e. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) in which every face image is converted into 1D, we are using 1D for all the calculation and then compare these two algorithm with the help of FAR (False Acceptance Rate), FRR (False Rejection Rate), Time, Memory and checks which algorithm gives the better result.
Production and characterization of monoclonal antibodies directed against Bordetella pertussis lipopolysaccharide

Hybrid cell lines producing monoclonal antibodies against Bordetella pertussis lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were established. The specificity of the antibodies was ascertained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ELISA-inhibition experiments with LPS and delipidated polysaccharide fragments (PS-1 and PS-2) prepared from B. pertussis LPS. Monoclonal antibody 9-1-H5 reacted with B. pertussis LPS only, whereas monoclonal antibodies 6-4-H6 and 9-2-A8 reacted with PS-1 and PS-2 as well as B. pertussis LPS. The antibodies did not react with LPS prepared from B. parapertussis and B. bronchiseptica in an LPS-specific ELISA. A monoclonal antibody-based sandwich ELISA was developed for detection of B. pertussis LPS. This assay had a detection limit of B. pertussis LPS in concentrations ranging from 0.16 to 0.32 microgram/ml. The assay was also shown to be specific for the detection of whole B. pertussis bacteria. No cross-reactions were observed with strains of Branhamella catarrhalis, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus miteor, Haemophilus influenzae, or Legionella pneumophila. The monoclonal antibodies might be useful for the detection of soluble antigens and whole bacteria in clinical samples and for studies of the immunochemical structure of B. pertussis LPS.
On-demand ultrasonography assessment in the most symptomatic joint supports the 8-joint score system for management of rheumatoid arthritis patients

Abstract Objectives: To investigate whether on-demand ultrasonography (US) assessment alongside a routine examination is useful in the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: US was performed in eight (bilateral MCP 2, 3, wrist and knee) joints as the routine in a cumulative total of 406 RA patients. The most symptomatic joint other than the routine joints was additionally scanned. Power Doppler (PD) and gray-scale images were scored semiquantitatively. Eight-joint scores were calculated as the sum of individual scores for the routine joints. Results: The most symptomatic joint was found among the routine joints in 209 patients (Group A) and in other joints in 148 (Group B). The PD scores of the most symptomatic joint correlated well with the 8-joint scores in Group A (rs = 0.66), but not in Group B (rs = 0.33). The sensitivity and specificity of assessment of the most symptomatic joint for routine assessment positivity were high (84.0% and 100%, respectively) in Group A, but low (50.0% and 61.8%, respectively) in Group B. Additional examination detected synovitis in 38% of Group B with negative results in the routine. Conclusions: On-demand US assessment in the most symptomatic joint, combined with the routine assessment, is useful for detecting RA synovitis.
The cortical thickness phenotype of individuals with DISC1 translocation resembles schizophrenia

BACKGROUND. The disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene locus was originally identified in a Scottish pedigree with a high incidence of psychiatric disorders that is associated with a balanced t(1;11)(q42.1;q14.3) chromosomal translocation. Here, we investigated whether members of this family carrying the t(1;11)(q42.1;q14.3) translocation have a common brain-related phenotype and whether this phenotype is similar to that observed in schizophrenia (SCZ), using multivariate pattern recognition techniques. METHODS. We measured cortical thickness, cortical surface area, subcortical volumes, and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy controls (HC) (n = 24), patients diagnosed with SCZ (n = 24), patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BP) (n = 19), and members of the original Scottish family (n = 30) who were either carriers (T+) or noncarriers (T–) of the DISC1 translocation. Binary classification models were developed to assess the differences and similarities across groups. RESULTS. Based on cortical thickness, 72% of the T– group were assigned to the HC group, 83% of the T+ group were assigned to the SCZ group, and 45% of the BP group were classified as belonging to the SCZ group, suggesting high specificity of this measurement in predicting brain-related phenotypes. Shared brain-related phenotypes between SCZ and T+ individuals were found for cortical thickness only. Finally, a classification accuracy of 73% was achieved when directly comparing the pattern of cortical thickness of T+ and T– individuals. CONCLUSION. Together, the results of this study suggest that the DISC1 translocation may increase the risk of psychiatric disorders in this pedigree by affecting neurostructural phenotypes such as cortical thickness. FUNDING. This work was supported by the National Health Service Research Scotland, the Scottish Translational Medicine Research Collaboration, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), The Wellcome Trust, the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), and Pfizer.
System Architecture for Stiffness Control in Brain–Machine Interfaces

Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) provide a versatile tool for rehabilitation of severely disabled people. Current BMI systems focus on the control of kinematic variables. However, this approach limits the application space of BMI technology to simulated environments. Real-world rehabilitation robots, on the other hand, must operate in a variety of complex physical situations. BMI systems that are aimed toward prostheses must, then, control interaction forces with their environments. In this paper, we design a BMI-driven architecture that provides a critical link between neuronal ensemble activity and real-world dynamics. In particular, our system allows simultaneous estimation of kinematic and stiffness variables of a prosthetic device. This approach is achieved by recording instantaneous activities from cortical neural ensembles that input to a musculoskeletal model of the arm, from which limb kinematics and dynamics are estimated and converted into control signals of a prosthetic device. Using real neural and behavioral data from nonhuman primates, we show that our architecture can accurately predict kinematic and stiffness variables in different dynamic situations. This architecture has strong implications in the development of the next generation of neural prosthetics that will restore motor function in neurologically impaired patients. Moreover, it demonstrates a novel framework for studying how the brain learns and adapts to new environments.
Neighborhood socioeconomic status at the age of 40 years and ischemic stroke before the age of 50 years: A nationwide cohort study from Sweden

Objective We aimed to study the association between neighborhood socioeconomic status at the age of 40 years and risk of ischemic stroke before the age of 50 years. Methods All individuals in Sweden were included if their 40th birthday occurred between 1998 and 2010. National registers were used to categorize neighborhood socioeconomic status into high, middle, and low and to retrieve information on incident ischemic strokes. Hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Results A total of 1,153,451 adults (women 48.9%) were followed for a mean of 5.5 years (SD 3.5 years), during which 1777 (0.30%) strokes among men and 1374 (0.24%) strokes among women were recorded. After adjustment for sex, marital status, education level, immigrant status, region of residence, and neighborhood services, there was a lower risk of stroke in residents from high-socioeconomic status neighborhoods (hazard ratio 0.87, 95% confidence interval 0.78–0.96), and an increased risk of stroke in adults from low-socioeconomic status neighborhoods (hazard ratio 1.16, 95% confidence interval 1.06–1.27), compared to their counterparts living in middle-socioeconomic status neighborhoods. After further adjustment for hospital diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation prior to the age of 40, the higher risk in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status was attenuated, but remained significant (hazard ratio 1.12, 95% confidence interval 1.02–1.23). Conclusions In a nationwide study of individuals between 40 and 50 years, we found that the risk of ischemic stroke differed depending on neighborhood socioeconomic status, which calls for increased efforts to prevent cardiovascular diseases in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods.
Altered microRNA Expression Profiles of Extracellular Vesicles in Nasal Mucus From Patients With Allergic Rhinitis

Purpose Allergic rhinitis (AR) is an inflammatory disorder of the upper airway. Exosomes or extracellular vesicles are nanosized vesicles of endosomal origin released from inflammatory and epithelial cells that have been implicated in allergic diseases. In this study, we characterized the microRNA (miRNA) content of exosomes in AR. Methods Extracellular vesicles were isolated from nasal mucus from healthy control subjects (n=10) and patients with severe AR (n=10). Vesicle RNA was analyzed by using a TaqMan microRNA assays Human Panel-Early Access kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) containing probes for 366 human miRNAs, and selected findings were validated with quantitative RT-PCR. Target prediction and pathway analysis for the differentially expressed miRNAs were performed using DIANA-mirPath. Results Twenty-one vesicle miRNAs were up-regulated and 14 miRNAs were under-regulated significantly (P<0.05) in nasal mucus from AR patients when compared to healthy controls. Bioinformatic analysis by DIANA-mirPath demonstrated that 32 KEGG biological processes were significantly enriched (P<0.05, FDR corrected) among differentially expressed vesicle miRNA signatures. Among them, the B-cell receptor signaling pathway (P=3.709E-09), the natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity (P=8.466E-05), the T-cell receptor signaling pathway (P=0.00075), the RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway (P=0.00127), the Wnt signaling pathway (P=0.00130), endocytosis (P=0.00440), and salivary secretion (P=0.04660) were the most prominent pathways enriched in quantiles with differential vesicle miRNA patterns. Furthermore, miR-30-5p, miR-199b-3p, miR-874, miR-28-3p, miR-203, and miR-875-5p, involved in B-cell receptor and salivary secretion signaling pathways, were selected for validation using independent samples from 44 AR patients and 20 healthy controls. MiR-30-5p and miR-199b-3p were significantly increased in extracellular vesicles from nasal mucus when compared to healthy controls, while miR-874 and miR-28-3p were significantly down-regulated. In addition, miRNA-203 was significantly increased in AR patients, while miRNA-875-5p was found to be significantly decreased in AR patients. Conclusions This study demonstrated that vesicle miRNA may be a regulator for the development of AR.
Missing value estimation methods for DNA microarrays

MOTIVATION Gene expression microarray experiments can generate data sets with multiple missing expression values. Unfortunately, many algorithms for gene expression analysis require a complete matrix of gene array values as input. For example, methods such as hierarchical clustering and K-means clustering are not robust to missing data, and may lose effectiveness even with a few missing values. Methods for imputing missing data are needed, therefore, to minimize the effect of incomplete data sets on analyses, and to increase the range of data sets to which these algorithms can be applied. In this report, we investigate automated methods for estimating missing data. RESULTS We present a comparative study of several methods for the estimation of missing values in gene microarray data. We implemented and evaluated three methods: a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) based method (SVDimpute), weighted K-nearest neighbors (KNNimpute), and row average. We evaluated the methods using a variety of parameter settings and over different real data sets, and assessed the robustness of the imputation methods to the amount of missing data over the range of 1--20% missing values. We show that KNNimpute appears to provide a more robust and sensitive method for missing value estimation than SVDimpute, and both SVDimpute and KNNimpute surpass the commonly used row average method (as well as filling missing values with zeros). We report results of the comparative experiments and provide recommendations and tools for accurate estimation of missing microarray data under a variety of conditions.
Randomized Comparison of the Efficacies and Tolerabilities of Three Artemisinin-Based Combination Treatments for Children with Acute Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

ABSTRACT An open-label, randomized controlled trial was carried out in 2011–2012 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to test the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the artemisinin-based combination treatments dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, amodiaquine-artesunate, and artemether-lumefantrine. Six hundred eighty-four children aged 3 to 59 months with uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria were randomly allocated to each study arm. Children were hospitalized for 3 days, given supervised treatment, and followed up weekly for 42 days. All regimens were well tolerated and rapidly effective. The median parasitemia clearance half-life was 2.2 h, and half-lives were similar between arms (P = 0.19). The PCR-uncorrected cure rates by day 42 were 73.0% for amodiaquine-artesunate, 70.2% for artemether-lumefantrine, and 86.3% for dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (P = 0.001). Early treatment failure occurred in three patients (0.5%), one in each arm. The PCR-corrected cure rates were 93.4% for amodiaquine-artesunate, 92.7% for artemether-lumefantrine, and 94.3% for dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (P = 0.78). The last provided a longer posttreatment prophylactic effect than did the other two treatments. The day 7 plasma concentration of piperaquine was below 30 ng/ml in 47% of the children treated with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, and the day 7 lumefantrine concentration was below 280 ng/ml in 37.0% of children who received artemether-lumefantrine. Thus, although cure rates were all satisfactory, they could be improved by increasing the dose. (This study has been registered with the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register [www.isrctn.org] under registration no. ISRCTN20984426.)
Species traits and environmental characteristics together regulate ant‐associated biodiversity

Abstract Host‐associated organisms (e.g., parasites, commensals, and mutualists) may rely on their hosts for only a portion of their life cycle. The life‐history traits and physiology of hosts are well‐known determinants of the biodiversity of their associated organisms. The environmental context may strongly influence this interaction, but the relative roles of host traits and the environment are poorly known for host‐associated communities. We studied the roles of host traits and environmental characteristics affecting ant‐associated mites in semi‐natural constructed grasslands in agricultural landscapes of the Midwest USA. Mites are frequently found in ant nests and also riding on ants in a commensal dispersal relationship known as phoresy. During nonphoretic stages of their development, ant‐associated mites rely on soil or nest resources, which may vary depending on host traits and the environmental context of the colony. We hypothesized that mite diversity is determined by availability of suitable host ant species, soil detrital resources and texture, and habitat disturbance. Results showed that that large‐bodied and widely distributed ant species within grasslands support the most diverse mite assemblages. Mite richness and abundance were predicted by overall ant richness and grassland area, but host traits and environmental predictors varied among ant hosts: mites associated with Aphaenogaster rudis depended on litter depth, while Myrmica americana associates were predicted by host frequency and grassland age. Multivariate ordinations of mite community composition constructed with host ant species as predictors demonstrated host specialization at both the ant species and genus levels, while ordinations with environmental variables showed that ant richness, soil texture, and grassland age also contributed to mite community structure. Our results demonstrate that large‐bodied, locally abundant, and cosmopolitan ant species are especially important regulators of phoretic mite diversity and that their role as hosts is also dependent on the context of the interaction, especially soil resources, texture, site age, and area.
Cooperative beamforming in multihop amplify-and-forward relay networks

This paper studies cooperative beamforming in multihop amplify-and-forward relay networks. We adopt a layer-by-layer approach, namely per-layer sum-rate maximization, to compute the beamforming weights employed by the relays at each layer. When there is only one receiving node at the adjacent downstream layer, the per-layer sum-rate maximization problem is equivalently converted into a convex quadratically constrained quadratic program. When there are multiple receiving nodes at the adjacent downstream layer, the per-layer sum-rate maximization problem is nonconvex and is equivalently transformed into a difference-of-convex (DC) program. We develop a successive convex approximation algorithm to approximately solve this DC program. Numerical results confirm that the proposed beam-forming design outperforms the existing ones in the literature in terms of achievable data rate, and the proposed scheme is effective for suppressing noise propagation.
Inhibition of tumour necrosis factor alpha in idiopathic membranous nephropathy: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Tumour necrosis alpha has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders was to evaluate the safety, tolerability and potential efficacy of the tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) inhibitor, etanercept (ET), in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (MN). METHODS Patients with biopsy-proven MN, nephrotic-range proteinuria and clearance of creatinine 50 ml/min or more were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were treatment with steroids or cyclosporine during the previous 3 months, or cytotoxic agents within 6 months prior to entry. ET was administered subcutaneously, 25 mg twice per week for 3 months. Plasma levels of TNF-alpha, interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule type 1 (sICAM-1), E-selectin, and the soluble form of tumour necrosis factor receptor-55 (sTNFR-55) were measured on entry and at Months 3, 6, and 9 after commencing therapy. RESULTS Twelve patients were entered in the study (four females/eight males, mean time from diagnosis 8.3 months). The therapy was well tolerated; no infections or other adverse events were recorded by the end of follow-up. Two patients exhibited complete remission of proteinuria for at least 4 years. No significant change was found in the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 during the study. Similarly the levels of E-selectin and sICAM-1 were not significantly altered by therapy. Although we found no change in sTNFR-55 at 3 and 6 months, the levels of sTNFR-55 were found significantly decreased 9 months after therapy (mean difference from baseline: 334 +/- 527 pg/ml, P = 0.028). CONCLUSION Short-term use of ET in a small series of patients reduced sTNFR-55 levels but did not exhibit any significant clinical effect in the majority of patients.
Automatic Whistler Detector and Analyzer system: Automatic Whistler Detector

[1] A new, unique system has been developed for the automatic detection and analysis of whistlers. The Automatic Whistler Detector and Analyzer (AWDA) system has two purposes: (1) to automatically provide plasmaspheric electron densities extracted from whistlers and (2) to collect statistical data for the investigation of whistler generation and propagation. This paper presents the details of and the first results obtained by the automatic detector segment. The detector algorithm is based on image correlation where the target image is a preprocessed spectrogram of raw VLF signals and the pattern is a model whistler. The first AWDA system has been working in Tihany, Hungary (L = 1.8), and has collected 100,000 whistler traces per year. The overall detection efficiency using a parameter set optimized for purpose 2 is 90% for misdetection and 50–80% for false detection. The statistical analysis over the period February 2002 to February 2008 including 600,000 whistler traces shows high diurnal variations; whistler were mainly, but not only, detected when both the source and receiver regions were unlit. The seasonal occurrence is high during austral summer and low during austral winter. Comparison with Tarcsai et al.'s (1988) statistical study on Tihany whistlers shows differences in both diurnal and seasonal variations, but the latter study was made on 1388 manually identified whistlers only. The L value distributions of both data sets are similar. A global network of AWDA systems (AWDAnet) has been set up to overcome the time and space limitations of a single station; the network consists of 13 nodes, and another 6 are envisaged for the near future.