Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CTLA4‐Ig Restores Rejection of MHC Class‐II Mismatched Allografts by Disabling IL‐2‐Expanded Regulatory T Cells

Allograft acceptance and tolerance can be achieved by different approaches including inhibition of effector T cell responses through CD28‐dependent costimulatory blockade and induction of peripheral regulatory T cells (Tregs). The observation that Tregs rely upon CD28‐dependent signals for development and peripheral expansion, raises the intriguing possibility of a counterproductive consequence of CTLA4‐Ig administration on tolerance induction. We have investigated the possible negative effect of CTLA4‐Ig on Treg‐mediated tolerance induction using a mouse model of single MHC class II‐mismatched skin grafts in which long‐term acceptance was achieved by short‐term administration of IL‐2/anti‐IL‐2 complex. CTLA4‐Ig treatment was found to abolish Treg‐dependent acceptance in this model, restoring skin allograft rejection and Th1 alloreactivity. CTLA4‐Ig inhibited IL‐2‐driven Treg expansion, and prevented in particular the occurrence of ICOS+ Tregs endowed with potent suppressive capacities. Restoring CD28 signaling was sufficient to counteract the deleterious effect of CTLA4‐Ig on Treg expansion and functionality, in keeping with the hypothesis that costimulatory blockade inhibits Treg expansion and function by limiting the delivery of essential CD28‐dependent signals. Inhibition of regulatory T cell function should therefore be taken into account when designing tolerance protocols based on costimulatory blockade.
Women Who Sexually Abuse Children: From Research to Clinical Practice

Who the Women Were and How They Told Their Stories Childhood - The Formative Years Relationships - With Self and Others Stresses, Social Support and Coping Mechanisms The Children that the Women Target to Sexually Abuse The Women's Experience of Sex: Looking at Motivations to Offend "Typical" and "Atypical" Female Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse Women Involved as Perpetrators in the Ritual Abuse of Children Speculative Theoretical Models Assessment for Risk and Establishing a Therapeutic Relationship Therapeutic Intervention Final Words.
Propolis non-volatile constituents: A Review

Plan: This study includes the characteristics and variation of non volatile constituents in propolis samples collected from different regions of the world. The review covers the research activities after 2010 on propolis constituents. Outcome: Propolis constitutes a complex resinous material collected by honeybees serving as a defense system for their hives. Apart from this evident natural use, propolis is marketed by the pharmaceutical industry due to its claimed beneficial effects on human health such as antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer activities. These properties are attributed to the chemical compounds that are found in propolis mainly phenolic compounds and terpenes. In this review article the analysis of non-volatile compounds of propolis performed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with various detectors, will be presented. Future trends and further insights are quoted and commented.
Liver Resection or Combined Chemoembolization and Radiofrequency Ablation Improve Survival in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background/Aims: To evaluate the long-term outcome of surgical and non-surgical local treatments of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: We stratified a cohort of 278 HCC patients using six independent predictors of survival according to the Vienna survival model for HCC (VISUM-HCC). Results: Prior to therapy, 224 HCC patients presented with VISUM stage 1 (median survival 18 months) while 29 patients were classified as VISUM stage 2 (median survival 4 months) and 25 patients as VISUM stage 3 (median survival 3 months). A highly significant (p < 0.001) improved survival time was observed in VISUM stage 1 patients treated with liver resection (n = 52; median survival 37 months) or chemoembolization (TACE) and subsequent radiofrequency ablation (RFA) (n = 44; median survival 45 months) as compared to patients receiving chemoembolization alone (n = 107; median survival 13 months) or patients treated by tamoxifen only (n = 21; median survival 6 months). Chemoembolization alone significantly (p ≤ 0.004) improved survival time in VISUM stage 1–2 patients but not (p = 0.341) in VISUM stage 3 patients in comparison to those treated by tamoxifen. Conclusion: Both liver resection or combined chemoembolization and RFA improve markedly the survival of patients with HCC.
Electron Transport and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Substituted Aryldimesityl Boranes: A DFT Study

A comprehensive theoretical study was carried out on a series of aryldimesityl borane (DMB) derivatives using Density Functional theory. Optimized geometries and electronic parameters like electron affinity, reorganization energy, frontiers molecular contours, polarizability and hyperpolarizability have been calculated by employing B3PW91/6-311++G (d, p) level of theory. Our results show that the Hammett function and geometrical parameters correlates well with the reorganization energies and hyperpolarizability for the series of DMB derivatives studied in this work. The orbital energy study reveals that the electron releasing substituents increase the LUMO energies and electron withdrawing substituents decrease the LUMO energies, reflecting the electron transport character of aryldimesityl borane derivatives. From frontier molecular orbitals diagram it is evident that mesityl rings act as the donor, while the phenylene and Boron atom appear as acceptors in these systems. The calculated hyperpolarizability of secondary amine derivative of DMB is 40 times higher than DMB (1). The electronic excitation contributions to the hyperpolarizability studied by using TDDFT calculation shows that hyperpolarizability correlates well with dipole moment in ground and excited state and excitation energy in terms of the two-level model. Thus the results of these calculations can be helpful in designing the DMB derivatives for efficient electron transport and nonlinear optical material by appropriate substitution with electron releasing or withdrawing substituents on phenyl ring of DMB system.
Text Classification by Labeling Words

Traditionally, text classifiers are built from labeled training examples. Labeling is usually done manually by human experts (or the users), which is a labor intensive and time consuming process. In the past few years, researchers investigated various forms of semi-supervised learning to reduce the burden of manual labeling. In this paper, we propose a different approach. Instead of labeling a set of documents, the proposed method labels a set of representative words for each class. It then uses these words to extract a set of documents for each class from a set of unlabeled documents to form the initial training set. The EM algorithm is then applied to build the classifier. The key issue of the approach is how to obtain a set of representative words for each class. One way is to ask the user to provide them, which is difficult because the user usually can only give a few words (which are insufficient for accurate learning). We propose a method to solve the problem. It combines clustering and feature selection. The technique can effectively rank the words in the unlabeled set according to their importance. The user then selects/labels some words from the ranked list for each class. This process requires less effort than providing words with no help or manual labelillg of documents. Our results show that the new method is highly effective and promising.
State-space representation of the extended Guyton's model.

There are some debate as to dynamic-state applicability and cause-and-effect relationship between variables in Guyton9s circulatory equilibrium model. The work of Moller PW et al. () supports the dynamic-state applicability in the venous return property of Guyton9s model. State-space representation clearly depicts function structure of cardiovascular system; inputs to the system firstly affect internal unmeasureable properties of system (total stressed blood volume, pump function, systemic arterial resistance) and as a result measurable variables (cardiac output, venous return, RAP, LAP, systemic arterial pressure) were determined simultaneously as circulatory equilibrium. Accordingly, there is no cause-and-effect relationship among measurable variables.
Chapter 11 - BATHYMETRIC ESTIMATION

The surface of the ocean bulges outward and inward reflecting the topography of the ocean floor. A dense mapping of ocean surface topography from declassified Geosat altimeter data (US Navy), ERS-1 altimeter data (European Space Agency), and repeat-track coverage from the Topex/Poseidon altimeter (NASA and CNES) has provided the first view of the ocean floor structures in many remote areas of the Earth. The spatial resolution of the derived gravity field is limited by travel-time noise from ocean waves and can be improved through additional dense measurements. Altimeter-derived gravity can be used to estimate seafloor topography but only over an intermediate wavelength band (200 < λ < 20 km) and only in areas where sediment cover is thin. The longer wavelength variations in depth are constrained by depth soundings collected by research vessels over the past 30 years. Detailed bathymetry is essential for understanding physical oceanography, marine geophysics, and perhaps even biological oceanography. Currents and tides are controlled by the overall shapes of the ocean basins as well as the smaller sharp ocean ridges and seamounts. Because erosion rates are low in the deep oceans, detailed bathymetry reveals the mantle convection patterns, the plate boundaries, the cooling/subsidence of the oceanic lithosphere, the oceanic plateaus, and the distribution of off-ridge volcanoes.
Learning the Species of Biomedical Named Entities from Annotated Corpora

In biomedical articles, terms with the same surface forms are often used to refer to different entities across a number of model organisms, in which case determining the species becomes crucial to term identification systems that ground terms to specific database identifiers. This paper describes a rule-based system that extracts species indicating words, such as human or murine, which can be used to decide the species of the nearby entity terms, and a machine-learning species disambiguation system that was developed on manually species-annotated corpora. Performance of both systems were evaluated on gold-standard datasets, where the machine-learning system yielded better overall results.
ArticleAsf 1 Mediates Histone Eviction and Deposition during Elongation by RNA Polymerase II

Histones are rapidly evicted and deposited during transcription by RNA polymerase (Pol) II, but a factor that mediates histone eviction in vivo has not yet been identified. Here, we show that the histone chaperone Asf1 associates with promoters and coding regions of transcriptionally active genes. Asf1 mediates histone H3, but not H2B, eviction and deposition during Pol II elongation, suggesting that nucleosome assembly and disassembly occur in a stepwise fashion. Lastly, Asf1 inhibits internal initiation from cryptic promoters within coding regions. These results strongly suggest that Asf1 functions as an elongation factor to disassemble and reassemble histones during Pol II elongation.
The RPN1 Subunit of the 26S Proteasome in Arabidopsis Is Essential for Embryogenesis

The 26S proteasome plays a central role in the degradation of regulatory proteins involved in a variety of developmental processes. It consists of two multisubunit protein complexes: the proteolytic core protease and the regulatory particle (RP). The function of most RP subunits is poorly understood. Here, we describe mutants in the Arabidopsis thaliana RPN1 subunit, which is encoded by two paralogous genes, RPN1a and RPN1b. Disruption of RPN1a caused embryo lethality, while RPN1b mutants showed no obvious abnormal phenotype. Embryos homozygous for rpn1a arrested at the globular stage with defects in the formation of the embryonic root, the protoderm, and procambium. Cyclin B1 protein was not degraded in these embryos, consistent with cell division defects. Double mutant plants (rpn1a/RPN1a rpn1b/rpn1b) produced embryos with a phenotype indistinguishable from that of the rpn1a single mutant. Thus, despite their largely overlapping expression patterns in flowers and developing seeds, the two isoforms do not share redundant functions during gametogenesis and embryogenesis. However, complementation of the rpn1a mutation with the coding region of RPN1b expressed under the control of the RPN1a promoter indicates that the two RPN1 isoforms are functionally equivalent. Overall, our data indicate that RPN1 activity is essential during embryogenesis, where it might participate in the destruction of a specific set of protein substrates.
Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus nucleoprotein reveals endonuclease activity in bunyaviruses

Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), a virus with high mortality in humans, is a member of the genus Nairovirus in the family Bunyaviridae, and is a causative agent of severe hemorrhagic fever (HF). It is classified as a biosafety level 4 pathogen and a potential bioterrorism agent due to its aerosol infectivity and its ability to cause HF outbreaks with high case fatality (∼30%). However, little is known about the structural features and function of nucleoproteins (NPs) in the Bunyaviridae, especially in CCHFV. Here we report a 2.3-Å resolution crystal structure of the CCHFV nucleoprotein. The protein has a racket-shaped overall structure with distinct “head” and “stalk” domains and differs significantly with NPs reported so far from other negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. Furthermore, CCHFV NP shows a distinct metal-dependent DNA-specific endonuclease activity. Single residue mutations in the predicted active site resulted in a significant reduction in the observed endonuclease activity. Our results present a new folding mechanism and function for a negative-strand RNA virus nucleoprotein, extend our structural insight into bunyavirus NPs, and provide a potential target for antiviral drug development to treat CCHFV infection.
Performance enhancement on SOA-based four-wave-mixing wavelength conversion using an assisted beam

We propose to use an additional injection beam of short wavelength to enhance the wavelength conversion that utilizes the four-wave-mixing effect in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The experiments demonstrated larger than 5-dB improvement on conversion efficiency, as the SOA is biased at the corresponding transparent condition for the assisted beam. At such a condition, an assisted beam can increase the saturation intensity without sacrificing the gain of an SOA, and this leads to an increase in conversion efficiency. The assisted beam also improves the signal-to-background-noise ratio in wavelength conversion. The effects of different assisted wavelengths and the measures for further improvement are discussed.
Inhibition by zinc of deoxycholate‐induced apoptosis in HCT‐116 cells

The bile acid, deoxycholate, can induce apoptosis although the effect of trace elements on such cell death is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if deoxycholate‐induced apoptosis is influenced by zinc. HCT‐116 colon epithelial cells were pre‐treated with zinc and then exposed to deoxycholate. Membrane blebbing, formation of apoptotic bodies, and greater overall production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) occurred in cells exposed to deoxycholate, but zinc inhibited the occurrence of these three events caused by deoxycholate. Upon finer analysis, stimulation of mitochondrial superoxide production, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cytochrome c release were detected in cells exposed to deoxycholate, but zinc did not inhibit any of these three effects caused by deoxycholate. Additionally, caspase‐3 activation, plasma membrane phospholipid translocation, and also chromatin condensation and fragmentation were observed in cells exposed to deoxycholate, but all of these effects of deoxycholate, including the greater overall ROS production, were all inhibited by zinc. Because zinc did not prevent the three mitochondrial effects caused by deoxycholate, the last set of findings suggested that zinc hampered activation of an initiator caspase upstream of effector caspase‐3, in inhibiting deoxycholate‐induced HCT‐116 cell death. In examining this possibility, it was found that caspase‐8 activation caused by deoxycholate was blocked by zinc. Collectively, the results suggest that zinc can inhibit deoxycholate‐induced apoptotic cell death mediated by caspases. J. Cell. Biochem. 113: 650–657, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Positive Sacroiliac Screening Tests in Asymptomatic Adults

Study Design In a prospective, single-blinded study, the incidence of false-positive screening tests for sacroiliac joint dysfunction was investigated using the standing flexion, seated flexion, and Gillet tests in 101 asymptomatic subjects. Objectives This study determined if these commonly used sacroiliac screening tests can be abnormal in an asymptomatic population. Summary of Background Data The sacroiliac joint is a potential source of back and leg pain. One condition affecting this joint is termed sacroiliac joint dysfunction. Diagnosis of this is made primerily by physical examination using screening tests as preliminary diagnostic tools. These screening tests evaluate for asymmetry in sacroiliac motion due to a relative, unilateral hypomobility in one the sacroiliac joints. The specificity of these tests, however, has not been thoroughly evaluated in a well-selected asymptomatic population. Methods A single-blinded examiner performed the standing flexion, seated flexion, and Gillet tests on all subjects. An asymptomatic and a symptomatic group were studied. Results Overall, 20% of asymptomatic individuals had positive findings in one or more of these tests. The specific percentage of false positives are reported by test, age, sex, and side. Conclusion This study suggests that asymmetry in sacroiliac motion due to relative hypomobility as determined by these tests can occur in asymptomatic joints. Obviously, one should not rely solely on these tests to diagnose symptomatic sacroiliac dysfunction.
Performance comparison of two on-demand routing protocols for ad hoc networks

Ad hoc networks are characterized by multi-hop wireless connectivity, frequently changing network topology and the need for efficient dynamic routing protocols. We compare the performance of two prominent on-demand routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks - dynamic source routing (DSR) and ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing (AODV). A detailed simulation model with MAC and physical layer models is used to study inter-layer interactions and their performance implications. We demonstrate that even though DSR and AODV share a similar on-demand behavior the differences in the protocol mechanics can lead to significant performance differentials. The performance differentials are analyzed using varying network load, mobility and network size. Based on the observations, we make recommendations about how the performance of either protocol can be improved.
Transitioning into the Community: Outcomes of a Pilot Housing Program for Forensic Patients

The Transitional Rehabilitation Housing Pilot (TRHP) was designed to transition hospitalized forensic patients to the community. Twenty clients and their clinicians in two Ontario cities completed measures on functioning, substance use, recovery, social support, and quality of life at admission to the program and then every 6 months until 18 months post-admission. Clients also responded to open-ended questions on the impact of the program and living in the community on their recovery. Three (15%) clients re-offended. Eleven clients (55%) experienced rehospitalization; however, brief rehospitalization was seen as part of the recovery process. Level of community functioning was stable across time and 35% of clients had a decrease in the restrictiveness of their disposition order. Clients described numerous characteristics of community living that contributed to improvements in functioning, such as integration into the community, social contact, and newfound independence. Some aspects of TRHP that encouraged recovery included developing new skills and knowledge, staff support, and the programming that engaged clients in treatment and recovery-oriented activities. Findings suggest that forensic patients can transition successfully into the community with appropriate support and housing.
Multiple-antenna techniques for wireless communications - a comprehensive literature survey

The use of multiple antennas for wireless communication systems has gained overwhelming interest during the last decade - both in academia and industry. Multiple antennas can be utilized in order to accomplish a multiplexing gain, a diversity gain, or an antenna gain, thus enhancing the bit rate, the error performance, or the signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio of wireless systems, respectively. With an enormous amount of yearly publications, the field of multiple-antenna systems, often called multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, has evolved rapidly. To date, there are numerous papers on the performance limits of MIMO systems, and an abundance of transmitter and receiver concepts has been proposed. The objective of this literature survey is to provide non-specialists working in the general area of digital communications with a comprehensive overview of this exciting research field. To this end, the last ten years of research efforts are recapitulated, with focus on spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity techniques. In particular, topics such as transmitter and receiver structures, channel coding, MIMO techniques for frequency-selective fading channels, diversity reception and space-time coding techniques, differential and non-coherent schemes, beamforming techniques and closed-loop MIMO techniques, cooperative diversity schemes, as well as practical aspects influencing the performance of multiple-antenna systems are addressed. Although the list of references is certainly not intended to be exhaustive, the publications cited will serve as a good starting point for further reading.
Situational and Dispositional Factors Moderating Three Types of Framing Effects: Mortality Salience and Regulatory Focus

The present study examined how situational (mortality salience) and dispositional (chronic regulatory focus) factors interact to moderate the effect of framing on decision-making. We classified 236 participants according to chronic regulatory focus and randomly assigned them to a different framing valence (i.e., positive and negative) and a different uncertainty level (i.e., mortality salience vs. control). Participants finished all three framing task types: attribute, goal, and risky-choice frames. Results showed significant three-way interactions in which uncertainty and regulatory focus interact to predict the occurrence of framing effects. The findings indicated that the framing effects varied according to uncertainty evoked by mortality salience and dispositional regulatory focus. The present research highlights the necessity to consider the situational and dispositional factors in order to understand the process in which the effects of framing become apparent.