Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration Profile and Safety of an Adenovirus Hybrid-Vector Utilizing Hyperactive Sleeping Beauty Transposase for Somatic Integration

We recently developed adenovirus/transposase hybrid-vectors utilizing the previously described hyperactive Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposase HSB5 for somatic integration and we could show stabilized transgene expression in mice and a canine model for hemophilia B. However, the safety profile of these hybrid-vectors with respect to vector dose and genotoxicity remains to be investigated. Herein, we evaluated this hybrid-vector system in C57Bl/6 mice with escalating vector dose settings. We found that in all mice which received the hyperactive SB transposase, transgene expression levels were stabilized in a dose-dependent manner and that the highest vector dose was accompanied by fatalities in mice. To analyze potential genotoxic side-effects due to somatic integration into host chromosomes, we performed a genome-wide integration site analysis using linker-mediated PCR (LM-PCR) and linear amplification-mediated PCR (LAM-PCR). Analysis of genomic DNA samples obtained from HSB5 treated female and male mice revealed a total of 1327 unique transposition events. Overall the chromosomal distribution pattern was close-to-random and we observed a random integration profile with respect to integration into gene and non-gene areas. Notably, when using the LM-PCR protocol, 27 extra-chromosomal integration events were identified, most likely caused by transposon excision and subsequent transposition into the delivered adenoviral vector genome. In total, this study provides a careful evaluation of the safety profile of adenovirus/Sleeping Beauty transposase hybrid-vectors. The obtained information will be useful when designing future preclinical studies utilizing hybrid-vectors in small and large animal models.
Organic aerosol formation in urban and industrial plumes near Houston and Dallas, Texas

[1] We present measurements of organic aerosol (OA) in urban plumes from Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth as well as in industrial plumes in the Houston area during TexAQS-2006. Consistent with the TexAQS-2000 study, measurements show greater amount of aerosol mass downwind of the industrial centers compared to urban areas. This is likely due to higher emission and processing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the industrial sources along the Houston ship channel. Comparisons of the current measurements with observations from the northeastern (NE) United States indicate that the observed ratios of the enhancement above background in OA, ΔOA, to the enhancement above background in CO, ΔCO, downwind of urban centers of Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth are within a factor of 2 of the same values in plumes from urban areas in the NE United States. In the ship channel plumes, ΔOA/ΔCO exceeds that in the urban areas by factors ranging from 1.5 to 7. We use a chemical box model to simulate secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from anthropogenic and biogenic VOCs in different plumes using recently reported dependencies of SOA yields on VOC/NOx ratios. Modeled SOA to CO enhancement ratios are within a factor of 2 of measurements. The increase in SOA from biogenic VOCs (BVOCs) predicted by the chemical box model as well as by a separate analysis using a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (FLEXPART) is <0.7 μg per standard m3 (sm−3). We find no evidence for a substantial influence of BVOCs on OA formation in our measurements in Houston area.
Cyclotomic Polytopes and Growth Series of Cyclotomic Lattices

The coordination sequence of a lattice $\L$ encodes the word-length function with respect to $M$, a set that generates $\L$ as a monoid. We investigate the coordination sequence of the cyclotomic lattice $\L = \Z[\zeta_m]$, where $\zeta_m$ is a primitive $m\th$ root of unity and where $M$ is the set of all $m\th$ roots of unity. We prove several conjectures by Parker regarding the structure of the rational generating function of the coordination sequence; this structure depends on the prime factorization of $m$. Our methods are based on unimodular triangulations of the $m\th$ cyclotomic polytope, the convex hull of the $m$ roots of unity in $\R^{\phi(m)}$, with respect to a canonically chosen basis of $\L$.
Health related quality of life among patients with chronic graft‐versus‐host disease in China

Background Chronic graft‐versus‐host disease (GVHD), the commonest long‐term complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), has a negative impact on patients' health related quality of life (HRQoL). This study was designed to investigate the HRQoL in patients with chronic GVHD in China. Methods Two hundred and sixty‐four patients with chronic GVHD who were ≥24 months post‐HSCT and had been in continuous complete remission since HSCT were enrolled in this retrospective study. HRQoL was evaluated using an SF‐36 questionnaire. Multivariate analysis was used to identify the factors that affect HRQoL in patients with chronic GVHD. Results HRQoL in patients categorized as having mild and moderate chronic GVHD was significantly better than in those in the severe category. In the moderate chronic GVHD category, markedly poorer HRQoL was observed in patients with both multiple organ involvement and more severe organ impairment than in those without these factors. According to multivariate analysis, chronic GVHD severity had the greatest significant negative impact on patients' HRQoL; whereas being female was associated with a negative impact on psychological health. Conclusion Chronic GVHD severity strongly correlates with negative impacts on patients' HRQoL.
Circulating Progenitor Cells Regenerate Endothelium of Vein Graft Atherosclerosis, Which Is Diminished in ApoE-Deficient Mice

Abstract— Previously we showed that a large number of endothelial cells in vein grafts undergo apoptosis or necrosis during the first few days followed by endothelial regeneration. In the present study, we investigated endothelial cell death and regeneration in vein grafts using transgenic mice carrying LacZ genes driven by an endothelial TIE2 promoter. When a vein fragment from TIE2-LacZ was isografted into the carotid artery of wild-type mice, the number of &bgr;-gal+ cells were reduced at 3 days and disappeared completely by 4 weeks after grafting. Conversely, &bgr;-gal+ cells were observed on the surface of vein segments donated by wild-type mice isografted into TIE2-LacZ mice at 1 week and reached confluence by 4 weeks, suggesting recipient origins of endothelial cells. Interestingly, &bgr;-gal+ cells were evenly distributed on the surface of the whole vein segment grafted into TIE2-LacZ mice, indicating a contribution of circulating progenitor cells. When wild-type veins were grafted into a chimeric mouse carrying TIE2-LacZ genes in bone marrow cells, a proportion of cells displayed a &bgr;-gal+ staining. Furthermore, the number of CD34+ and Flk+ progenitor cells in blood of apoE-deficient mice were significantly lower than those of wild-type controls, which coincided with diminished &bgr;-gal+ endothelial cells on the surface of vein grafts in TIE2-LacZ/apoE−/− mice. Thus, we provide the first evidence that endothelial cells of vein grafts are derived from circulating progenitor cells, of which one-third are derived from bone marrow progenitor cells. Hyperlipidemia due to apoE deficiency results in a lower number of endothelial progenitors in blood and correlated with enhanced atherosclerosis. The full text of this article is available online at http://www.circresaha. org.
Preservation of TSPO by chronic intermittent hypobaric hypoxia confers antiarrhythmic activity

Abnormal activation of mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) contributes to arrhythmogenesis during cardiac metabolic compromise; however, its role in the antiarrhythmic activities of chronic hypoxia adaptation remains unclear. Our results demonstrated that 80% of normoxic rats developed ischaemic VF, whereas this condition was seldom observed in rats with 14 days of chronic intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (CIHH). TSPO stimulation or inhibition affected the arrhythmias incidence in normoxic rats, but did not change the CIHH‐mediated antiarrhythmic effects. Abrupt and excessive elevation of TSPO activity was positively linked to ischaemic VF, and CIHH preserved TSPO activity during ischaemia. The preservation of TSPO activity by CIHH also contributed to the maintenance of intracellular Ca homeostasis. These results suggest that the blunt sensitivity of TSPO to ischaemic stress may be responsible for the antiarrhythmic effects by CIHH.
Quantization and Sampling of Not Necessarily Band-Limited Signals

This paper presents novel results on the joint problem of sampling and quantization of non bandlimited signals. Existing literature typically focuses either on sampling in the absence of quantization, or, conversely, studies quantization for already sampled signals. Our emphasis here is on the issues that arise al the intersection of these two design problems. We argue that the joint problem can be formulated and solved to any desired level of accuracy, using moving horizon optimization methods. We present several examples which show that consideration of the combined sampling and quantization problem gives important performance gains, relative to strategies which don't specifically address the interaction between these two problems
Four-phase merging in sessile compound drops

We consider the statics of compound droplets made of two immiscible fluids on a rigid substrate, in the limit when gravity is dominated by capillarity. In particular, we show that the merging of four phases along a single contact line is a persistent and robust phenomenon from a mechanical and thermodynamic perspective; it can and does occur for a range of interfacial energies and droplet volumes. We give an interpretation for this in the context of the macroscopic Young–Laplace law and its microscopic counterpart due to van der Waals, and show that the topological transitions that result can be of either a continuous or discontinuous type depending on the interfacial energies in question.
Is once enough?: on the extent and content of replications in human-computer interaction

A replication is an attempt to confirm an earlier study's findings. It is often claimed that research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) contains too few replications. To investigate this claim we examined four publication outlets (891 papers) and found 3% attempting replication of an earlier result. The replications typically confirmed earlier findings, but treated replication as a confirm/not-confirm decision, rarely analyzing effect sizes or comparing in depth to the replicated paper. When asked, most authors agreed that their studies were replications, but rarely planned them as such. Many non-replication studies could have corroborated earlier work if they had analyzed data differently or used minimal effort to collect extra data. We discuss what these results mean to HCI, including how reporting of studies could be improved and how conferences/journals may change author instructions to get more replications.
Maternal essential fatty acid patterns during normal pregnancy and their relationship to the neonatal essential fatty acid status

Although essential fatty acids (EFA) and their longer chain, more unsaturated derivatives play a major role during pregnancy, hardly any information is available with respect to the course of the maternal EFA status during an uncomplicated pregnancy and its relationship to the neonatal EFA status. Therefore, a longitudinal study was started in which 110 pregnant women gave repeated blood samples from the 10th week of gestation until delivery. After birth a blood sample from the umbilical vein and a maternal venous blood sample were collected as well, and 6 months after delivery a final blood sample from the mother was taken. The absolute (mg/l) and relative (% total fatty acids) amounts of the fatty acids in plasma phospholipids were determined. The total amounts of fatty acids increased significantly during pregnancy. This pattern was similar for the individual fatty acids and fatty acid families. The relative amount of linoleic acid (18:2n−6) did not change during pregnancy, whereas the relative amount of arachidonic acid (20:4n−6) decreased. Despite maternal mobilization of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n−3, DHA), suggested by a temporary increase in the DHA status until 18 weeks gestation, the DHA status steadily declined thereafter. This pattern was associated with a progressive increase in the DHA deficiency index in maternal blood throughout pregnancy and resulted in a sub-optimal neonatal DHA status. The overall maternal EFA status also declined steadily during pregnancy. Therefore, the question arises whether the mother, under the prevailing dietary conditions, is able to meet the high fetal requirement for EFA.
A Brief, Intensive Application of Multi-Family-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders

There is a continued need to improve upon the efficacy and availability of treatments for anorexia nervosa. Family-based therapy for anorexia nervosa demonstrates strong empirical evidence; however, trained treatment providers are limited and a subsample of participants receiving the treatment fail to respond. The intensive family treatment program is a brief, time-limited, multi-family program that trains families of adolescents with eating disorders to oversee their adolescents’ recovery at home by providing psychoeducation, skills training, and immersive practice over the course of a 5-day period. This article provide a description of the program by summarizing underlying theoretical principles and key therapeutic components.
Understanding Customer Problem Troubleshooting from Storage System Logs

Customer problem troubleshooting has been a critically important issue for both customers and system providers. This paper makes two major contributions to better understand this topic. First, it provides one of the first characteristic studies of customer problem troubleshooting using a large set (636,108) of real world customer cases reported from 100,000 commercially deployed storage systems in the last two years. We study the characteristics of customer problem troubleshooting from various dimensions as well as correlation among them. Our results show that while some failures are either benign, or resolved automatically, many others can take hours or days of manual diagnosis to fix. For modern storage systems, hard-ware failures and misconfigurations dominate customer cases, but software failures take longer time to resolve. Interestingly, a relatively significant percentage of cases are because customers lack sufficient knowledge about the system. We observe that customer problems with attached system logs are invariably resolved much faster than those without logs. Second, we evaluate the potential of using storage system logs to resolve these problems. Our analysis shows that a failure message alone is a poor indicator of root cause, and that combining failure messages with multiple log events can improve low-level root cause prediction by a factor of three. We then discuss the challenges in log analysis and possible solutions.
Health Seeking Behaviour and Treatment Intentions of Dengue and Fever: A Household Survey of Children and Adults in Venezuela

Background Dengue in Venezuela is a major public health problem with an increasing incidence of severe cases. Early diagnosis and timely treatment influences the outcome of dengue illness, as delay in care-seeking is significantly associated with complications leading to severe dengue. We aimed to understand patterns of health seeking behaviour (HSB) in individuals exposed to high dengue incidence in order to improve early attendance to health centres. Methods Between September 2013 and February 2014 a cross-sectional household survey was performed in Maracay, Venezuela. Intended HSB of adults and children’s parents/guardians was assessed with respect to fever or suspected dengue. Data was collected through structured questionnaires from 105 individuals. Results Most individuals felt at risk of dengue and believed it could be a deadly disease. In the case of suspected dengue, the majority (60%) would choose to first seek medical help versus first treating at home, in contrast to 11% in the case of fever. Amongst those who decided to visit a doctor, a suspected dengue infection would prompt them to search medical help earlier than if having only fever (p<0.001). Multivariate analysis modelling showed that the independent factors associated with the intention to firstly visit a doctor versus treating at home in the case of dengue were feeling at risk (OR = 3.29; p = 0.042) and being an adult (as opposed to caring for a child as a parent/guardian; OR = 3.33, p = 0.021), while having had a previous dengue infection (OR = 0.29; p = 0.031) and living in the neighbourhood Caña de Azúcar (OR = 0.28, p = 0.038) were negatively associated with seeking medical care as their first action. Conclusion Knowledge of HSB related to dengue is scarce in the Americas, our study attempts to contribute to a better understanding of HSB in this region. Improving early dengue disease recognition and awareness may enhance prompt attendance to medical care in affected populations and thereby reduce mortality and severity of dengue. Especially for those with a previous dengue infection, efforts have to be made to promote prompt health centre attendance.
A Lumped Element Modeling Schema for Metabotropic Signaling in Neurons

Richard B. Wells MRC Institute, The University of Idaho Abstract: A lumped element modeling schema is presented that can be usefully applied to modeling and analysis of metabotropic processes affecting the signal processing properties of neurons. The schema is easily applied to qualitative models of such biochemical processes and facilitates the development of differential equation descriptions. The state variables within the model are applicable to augmenting and extending Hodgkin-Huxley-like models (H-H models) of neuron dynamics.
A Dbf4p BRCA1 C-Terminal-Like Domain Required for the Response to Replication Fork Arrest in Budding Yeast

Dbf4p is an essential regulatory subunit of the Cdc7p kinase required for the initiation of DNA replication. Cdc7p and Dbf4p orthologs have also been shown to function in the response to DNA damage. A previous Dbf4p multiple sequence alignment identified a conserved ∼40-residue N-terminal region with similarity to the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) motif called “motif N. ” BRCT motifs encode ∼100-amino-acid domains involved in the DNA damage response. We have identified an expanded and conserved ∼100-residue N-terminal region of Dbf4p that includes motif N but is capable of encoding a single BRCT-like domain. Dbf4p orthologs diverge from the BRCT motif at the C terminus but may encode a similar secondary structure in this region. We have therefore called this the BRCT and DBF4 similarity (BRDF) motif. The principal role of this Dbf4p motif was in the response to replication fork (RF) arrest; however, it was not required for cell cycle progression, activation of Cdc7p kinase activity, or interaction with the origin recognition complex (ORC) postulated to recruit Cdc7p–Dbf4p to origins. Rad53p likely directly phosphorylated Dbf4p in response to RF arrest and Dbf4p was required for Rad53p abundance. Rad53p and Dbf4p therefore cooperated to coordinate a robust cellular response to RF arrest.
Relationships among Facial Mimicry, Emotional Experience, and Emotion Recognition

Background The relationships between facial mimicry and subsequent psychological processes remain unclear. We hypothesized that the congruent facial muscle activity would elicit emotional experiences and that the experienced emotion would induce emotion recognition. Methodology/Principal Findings To test this hypothesis, we re-analyzed data collected in two previous studies. We recorded facial electromyography (EMG) from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major and obtained ratings on scales of valence and arousal for experienced emotions (Study 1) and for experienced and recognized emotions (Study 2) while participants viewed dynamic and static facial expressions of negative and positive emotions. Path analyses showed that the facial EMG activity consistently predicted the valence ratings for the emotions experienced in response to dynamic facial expressions. The experienced valence ratings in turn predicted the recognized valence ratings in Study 2. Conclusion These results suggest that facial mimicry influences the sharing and recognition of emotional valence in response to others' dynamic facial expressions.
Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of the Response and Collapse of 316L Stainless Steel Tubes Subjected to Cyclic Bending

This paper presents the experimental and theoretical results of the response and collapse of 316L stainless steel tubes subjected to cyclic bending. The tube bending machine and curvature-ovalization measurement apparatus were used for conducting the curvature-controlled experiment. It was found that the response and collapse are similar to that of metal tubes found in literatures. Next, the endochronic theory and the principle of virtual work were used to simulate the response of 316L stainless steel tubes under cyclic bending. In addition, a proposed theoretical formulationwas used to simulate the relationship between the controlled curvature and the number of cycles to produce buckling. It has been shown that the theoretical simulations of the response and collapse correlate well with the experimental data.
Clinical assessment and outcome of three techniques for jejunal resection and anastomosis in horses: 59 cases (1989-2000).

OBJECTIVE To compare postoperative complications, short- and long-term survival, and surgical times for hand-sewn end-to-end (EE), stapled functional end-to-end (FEE), and stapled side-to-side (SS) anastomotic techniques for jejunal resection in horses. DESIGN Retrospective study. ANIMALS 59 horses. PROCEDURE Medical records were reviewed to obtain signalment, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome for horses that underwent jejunojejunostomy in our hospital. Only horses that recovered from anesthesia were included in the study. RESULTS Among the 59 horses, there were 33 EE, 15 FEE, and 11 SS anastomoses. No difference was found in duration of surgery among the 3 techniques. The most common postoperative complications were colic episodes (56%), ileus (53%), diarrhea (20%), and adhesions (15%). Horses with SS anastomosis had a significantly shorter duration of postoperative ileus than the EE group did. No significant difference in duration of postoperative ileus was found among the other groups. No difference was found among the 3 anastomotic techniques in regard to survival rate at the time of discharge, 6 months after surgery, or 1 year after surgery. Overall survival rates after jejunal anastomosis were 88% at the time of discharge, 65% at 6 months after surgery, and 57% at > or = 1 year after surgery. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The hand-sewn EE, stapled FEE, and stapled SS anastomotic techniques should be considered equivalent methods for small intestinal anastomosis in the horse. However, the stapled SS technique may be preferred because of possible decreased duration of postoperative ileus.