Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional dissection of the granzyme family: cell death and inflammation

Summary: Cytotoxic lymphocytes rapidly respond and destroy both malignant cells and cells infected with intracellular pathogens. One mechanism, known as granule exocytosis, employs the secretory granules of these lymphocytes. These include the pore‐forming protein perforin (pfp) and a family of serine proteases known as granzymes that cleave and activate effector molecules within the target cell. Over the past two decades, the study of granzymes has largely focused on the ability of these serine proteases to induce cell death. More recently, sophisticated mouse models of disease coupled with gene‐targeted mice have allowed investigators to ask why granzyme subfamilies are encoded on different chromosomal loci and what broader role these enzymes might play in inflammation and immune response. Here, we provide a brief overview of the granzyme superfamily, their relationship to pfp, and their reported functions in apoptosis. This overview is followed by a comprehensive analysis of the less characterized and developing field regarding the non‐apoptotic functions of granzymes.
Organisational performance management in a UK Insurance firm

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Long-term outcomes of intravascular ultrasound-guided implantation of bare metal stents versus drug-eluting stents in primary percutaneous coronary intervention

Background/Aims While drug-eluting stents (DESs) have shown favorable outcomes in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) compared to bare metal stents (BMSs), there are concerns about the risk of stent thrombosis (ST) with DESs. Because intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance may help optimize stent placement and improve outcomes in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients, we evaluated the impact of IVUS-guided BMS versus DES implantation on long-term outcomes in primary PCI. Methods In all, 239 STEMI patients received DES (n = 172) or BMS (n = 67) under IVUS guidance in primary PCI. The 3-year incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) including death, myocardial infarction (MI), target vessel revascularization (TVR), and ST was evaluated. Results There was no difference in all cause mortality or MI. However, the incidence of TVR was 23.9% with BMS versus 9.3% with DES (p = 0.005). Thus, the number of MACEs was significantly lower with DES (11.0% vs. 29.9%; p = 0.001). The incidence of definite or probable ST was not different (1.5% vs. 2.3%; p = 1.0). IVUS-guided DES implantation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.08 to 0.78; p = 0.017), stent length (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.06; p = 0.046), and multivessel disease (HR, 3.01; 95% CI, 1.11 to 8.15; p = 0.030) were independent predictors of MACE. Conclusions In patients treated with primary PCI under IVUS guidance, the use of DES reduced the incidence of 3-year TVR versus BMS. However, all cause mortality and MI were similar between the groups. The incidence of ST was low in both groups.
BiCMOS fault models: is stuck-at adequate?

The adequacy of the stuck-at fault model for BiCMOS logic is investigated. Realistic failures in basic logic blocks are examined, and their coverage by the stuck-at model is explored. It is shown that the static stuck-at model cannot cover the complete range of possible failures, and more importantly, tests for stuck-at faults will not detect realistic features in BiCMOS technology. This is because most open faults manifest themselves as delay failures. Through the use of transient analysis it is shown that the only way to insure proper functioning of BiCMOS circuits is to test for delay faults. <<ETX>>
Investigating the value of fine needle aspiration cytology in thyroid cancer

Background: Current guidance recommends the use of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) as an essential investigation in patients presenting with a thyroid lump. Current literature suggests that the sensitivity of FNAC in thyroid nodules ranges between 80-90%. However, only very few studies have looked specifically at the sensitivity of FNAC in solely thyroid cancer patients. Aims: The aim of our study was to investigate the value of FNAC as a first-line investigation in patients with thyroid cancer. We aimed specifically to assess the sensitivity of FNAC within this group. Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 2000-08 were identified from a local histopathology database. Sixty-seven case notes were retrieved, retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. Analysis included results of FNAC, ultrasound scanning and final histopathological diagnosis. Results: Analysis of the 56 patients who underwent FNAC revealed that a cytological grading of thy3 or greater was only given to 31 cases (55.3%). Conclusion: In this study, FNAC findings of thy3 or greater were reported only in 55.3% of proven thyroid cancer cases. This study highlights the greater diagnostic difficulties of thyroid cancer compared to other thyroid nodules. Our findings suggest that clinicians must interpret the results of this initial investigation with caution and consider the routine use of ultrasound scanning to help guide FNAC.
Towards practical application of sensors for monitoring animal health: the effect of post-calving health problems on rumination duration, activity and milk yield

Three sources of sensory data: cow's individual rumination duration, activity and milk yield were evaluated as possible indicators for clinical diagnosis, focusing on post-calving health problems such as ketosis and metritis. Data were collected from a computerised dairy-management system on a commercial dairy farm with Israeli Holstein cows. In the analysis, 300 healthy and 403 sick multiparous cows were studied during the first 3 weeks after calving. A mixed model with repeated measurements was used to compare healthy cows with sick cows. In the period from 5 d before diagnosis and treatment to 2 d after it, rumination duration and activity were lower in the sick cows compared to healthy cows. The milk yield of sick cows was lower than that of the healthy cows during a period lasting from 5 d before until 5 d after the day of diagnosis and treatment. Differences in the milk yield of sick cows compared with healthy cows became greater from 5 to 1 d before diagnosis and treatment. The greatest significant differences occurred 3 d before diagnosis for rumination duration and 1 d before diagnosis for activity and milk yield. These results indicate that a model can be developed to automatically detect post-calving health problems including ketosis and metritis, based on rumination duration, activity and milk yield.
Improved methods for the thermal analysis of cure in polymer composites.

Measurement of the degree of cure of composite materials is vital to both research and manufacture of these materials. The glass transition temperature (Tg) is a measurable material property that can be used as an indicator of the degree of cure. The three most common thermal analysis techniques used to measure Tg are DMA, TMA and DSC (i.e. dynamic mechanical analysis, thermomechanical analysis and differential scanning calorimetry). There is a current need to improve the experimental methods and analysis of data when using these techniques, where issues such as thermal lag can negatively impact data precision. In this work, a method using multiple tests at different heating rates has been applied to these three techniques to eliminate the effect of thermal lag as well as assess other variables that can influence test data; specimen moisture condition, specimen thickness and fibre type. It was shown that while thermal lag can be accounted for, there are remaining slight differences between DMA, TMA and DSC Tg data, which can be expected due to the different response modes involved (e.g. mechanical, thermal expansion, calorimetric). For DMA testing, a simple relationship has been proposed, relating heating rate and specimen thickness, which can account for the effect of thermal lag when comparing data obtained for specimens of different thicknesses or for the same thickness at different heating rates; the relationship is supported by relevant experimental evidence. It was shown for materials with different degrees of cure that the relationship between Tg and degree of cure followed the same trend regardless of differences in Tg measured by the three techniques. Preliminary experiments indicated that FTIR showed promise for measurement of the degree of cure of composite materials, in addition to measurements by DSC.
Anti-CTLA-4 treatment induces IL-10-producing ICOS+ regulatory T cells displaying IDO-dependent anti-inflammatory properties in a mouse model of colitis

Background and aims: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) has been shown to act as a negative regulator of T cell function and has been implicated in the regulation of T helper 1 (Th1)/Th2 development and the function of regulatory T cells. Tests were carried out to determine whether anti-CTLA-4 treatment would alter the polarisation of naive T cells in vivo. Methods: Mice were treated with anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (UC10-4F10) at the time of immunisation or colonic instillation of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). The cytokines produced by lymph node cells after in vitro antigenic stimulation and the role of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase (IDO) and of interleukin-10 (IL-10) were tested, and the survival of mice was monitored. Results: Injection of anti-CTLA-4 mAb in mice during priming induced the development of adaptive CD4+ regulatory T cells which expressed high levels of ICOS (inducible co-stimulator), secreted IL-4 and IL-10. This treatment inhibited Th1 memory responses in vivo and repressed experimental intestinal inflammation. The anti-CTLA-4-induced amelioration of disease correlated with IDO expression and infiltration of ICOShigh Foxp3+ T cells in the intestine, suggesting that anti-CTLA-4 acted indirectly through the development of regulatory T cells producing IL-10 and inducing IDO. Conclusions: These observations emphasise the synergy between IL-10 and IDO as anti-inflammatory agents and highlight anti-CTLA-4 treatment as a potential novel immunotherapeutic approach for inducing adaptive regulatory T cells.
Economic assessment of aseptic compounding rooms in hospital pharmacies in five European countries

Purpose The aims of the study are to make an inventory of fixtures of aseptic compounding structures, to compare, using real examples, the design and operating costs of controlled atmosphere area (CAA) with isolators and CAA with laminar flow biological safety cabinets (BSCs) in order to determine the most economical scheme in hospitals and to give a final facilities cost calculated for one workstation. Methods Forty-three hospitals were interviewed (21 French and 22 from four European countries) over seven months. Hospital pharmacists completed a form with 390 items. Hospitals are compared according to their workstation type: BSCII or BSCIII (group B) and isolator (group I), using Mann and Whitney’s statistical test and Monte-Carlo modeling. Results Twenty-one hospitals responded (11 French and 10 from other European countries). All European compounding unit organizations are not significantly different. The study compared items such as infrastructure cost, equipment cost, staff cost, consumable cost, cleaning cost and control cost. A synthesis of all costs has been drafted to calculate an estimated preparation cost which seemed to be higher for group B than for group I when staff costs were included ($46 and $31, respectively, in study conditions). Conclusions The different costs studied have revealed little significant difference between group B and I. The preparation cost in group B appears higher than in group I. This pilot study has resulted in the calculation of an estimated manufactured preparation cost but this work should be completed to help optimize resources and save money.
Impairments in Negative Facial Emotion Recognition in Chinese Schizophrenia Patients Detected With a Newly Designed Task

Abstract Facial emotion recognition has been found to be impaired in schizophrenia, although overall results have been inconclusive. A new set of facial emotion stimuli with Chinese faces was developed, using static and dynamic avatars, the identification of which were subsequently validated in 562 healthy control subjects. This test was then used to identify facial emotion recognition accuracy in 44 patients with schizophrenia and 41 healthy controls. Overall, patients identified facial emotions significantly worse than healthy controls (p = 0.018) with a significant main effect for type of emotion (p = 0.016). Patients performed significantly worse in fear (p = 0.029) and sadness (p = 0.037), and marginally worse in anger (p = 0.052). No significant differences were evident in contempt (p = 0.254) or happiness (p = 0.943). Regarding error rates of misattribution, patients overidentified contempt (p = 0.035) and sadness (p = 0.01), but not anger, fear, or happiness. Conclusion, patients of Chinese ethnicity with schizophrenia may have significantly greater difficulties identifying negative, but not positive emotions.
Approximating the marginal likelihood in mixture models

In Chib (1995), a method for approximating marginal densities in a Bayesian setting is proposed, with one proeminent application being the estimation of the number of components in a normal mixture. As pointed out in Neal (1999) and Fruhwirth-Schnatter (2004), the approximation often fails short of providing a proper approximation to the true marginal densities because of the well-known label switching problem (Celeux et al., 2000). While there exist other alternatives to the derivation of approximate marginal densities, we reconsider the original proposal here and show as in Berkhof et al. (2003) and Lee et al. (2008) that it truly approximates the marginal densities once the label switching issue has been solved.
Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and paleoecology of Upper Cretaceous deposits from the Palmyride Region , Syria

This study represents a detailed micropalaeontological investigation of the composition and diversity of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages from the upper Turonian to Maastrichtian interval of two deep exploration wells (Al Mahr-1 and Palmyra-1) in the Palmyride area of Syria. In combination with lithostratigraphic analysis, this detailed biostratigraphic study provided important new palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic interpretations and insights into the nature of deposition along the northern passive margin of Gondwana during the Late Cretaceous. The investigated strata belong to three lithostratigraphic units (from base to top): the upper part of the Judea Formation (upper Turonian–lowermost Santonian), the Soukhne Formation (Santonian–lower Campanian), and the Shiranish Formation (upper Campanian–Maastrichtian). The results represent the fi rst detailed determination of planktonic foraminifera from the Palmyride region. The presence of rich and diverse foraminiferal associations enabled the establishment of the following nine late Turonian to Maastrichtian biostratigraphic zones, based on documented indextaxa and/or the entire microfossil assemblages: I) Biozone I; II) Biozone II; III) Biozone III; IV) Contusotruncana plummerae Zone; V) Biozone V; VI) Globotruncanella havanensis Zone; VII) Pseudoguembelina palpebra Zone; VIII) Racemiguembelina fructicosa Zone; and IX) Abathomphalus mayaroensis Zone. The late Turonian to early Campanian foraminiferal assemblages (biozones I–IV) are dominated by opportunistic taxa (r-strategists) and suggest a generally fl uctuating subtropical climate and deposition an outer shelf environments. The well­preserved and highly diversifi ed late Campanian to Maastrichtian foraminiferal assemblages (biozones V–IX) imply the presence of a well­stratifi ed water column, tropical to subtropical climate, and deposition in outer shelf to upper bathyal envi­ ronments. A decrease in the number of globotruncanid species during the late Maastrichtian indicates a less stratifi ed water column and unfavourable environmental conditions for K-strategists. The common occurrence of phosphate grains in the Soukhne Formation (Santonian–lower Campanian) represents an important indicator of specifi c geological and palaeoenvironmental conditions, such as oxygen defi ciency, up­ welling and transgression. These conditions support the interpretation of the domination by opportunistic planktonic foraminiferal taxa (heterohelicids and muricohedbergellids) in Biozone II.
Varenicline for tobacco dependence.

A 57-year-old man presents to his primary care provider because he would like to quit smoking. A trial of varenicline, a partial agonist of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor that has been shown to increase rates of smoking abstinence as compared with placebo, is recommended. In light of reports of neuropsychiatric side effects, including suicidal behavior, patients treated with varenicline should be closely monitored for behavioral symptoms.
A kernel-oriented algorithm for transmission expansion planning

With deregulation sweeping all over electrical systems around the world, transmission planning has undergone dramatic changes during this decade. Centralized cost allocation methods have become obsolete and new procedures are needed to deal with intelligent and self-sufficient players. In this paper, the authors study the allocation of transmission costs in a decentralized manner. For this purpose, they have developed a multi-agent system that is based on a well known cooperative game theory procedure, the kernel. Using their approach, the agents are able to form kernel-stable coalitions and the cost allocation procedure is performed at every step of the kernel algorithm. A six bus example and an IEEE 24 bus case illustrate their model.
Evolutionary Automata: Expressiveness and Convergence of Evolutionary Computation

Expressiveness and convergence of evolutionary computation (EC) is studied using the evolutionary automata model. It turns out that all standard classes of evolutionary automata are equally expressive when they operate in the terminal mode, i.e. in the terminal mode, evolutionary finite automata (EFA) are as expressive as evolutionary pushdown automata, evolutionary linearly bounded automata, evolutionary Turing machines or evolutionary inductive Turing machines. For example, the simplest class of evolutionary automata, EFA, can accept all recursively enumerable languages (i.e. EFA have power of Turing machines) and even more—they can accept languages that are not recursively enumerable. Due to utilization of evolutionary automata, we obtain also very simple sufficient conditions for convergence of EC.
A study on setting of the fatigue limit of temporary dental implants

A temporary dental implant is a medical device which is temporarily used to support a prosthesis such as an artificial tooth used for restoring patient's masticatory function during implant treatment. It is implanted in the oral cavity to substitute for the role of tooth. Due to the aging and westernization of current Korean society, the number of tooth extraction and implantation procedures is increasing, leading to an increase in the use and development of temporary dental implants. Because an implant performs a masticatory function in place of a tooth, a dynamic load is repeatedly put on the implant. Thus, the fatigue of implants is reported to be the most common causes of the fracture thereof. According to the investigation and analysis of the current domestic and international standards, the standard for fatigue of implant fixtures is not separately specified. Although a test method for measuring the fatigue is suggested in an ISO standard, it is a standard for permanent dental implants. Most of the test standards for Korean manufacturers and importers apply 250 N or more based on the guidance for the safety and performance evaluation of dental implants. Therefore, this study is intended to figure out the fatigue standard which can be applied to temporary dental implants when measuring the fatigue according to the test method suggested in the permanent dental implant standard. The results determined that suitable fatigue standards of temporary dental implants should be provided by each manufacturer rather than applying 250 N. This study will be useful for the establishment of the fatigue standards and fatigue test methods of the manufacturers and importers of temporary dental implants.
Integrating Time Domain and Input Domain Analyses of Software Reliability Using Tree-Based Models

The paper examines two existing approaches to software reliability analysis, time domain reliability growth modeling and input domain reliability analysis, and presents a new approach that combines some of their individual strengths. An analysis method called tree-based modeling is used to build models based on the combined measurement data. This new approach can be used to assess the reliability of software systems, to track reliability change over time, and to identify problematic subparts characterized by certain input states or time periods. The results can also be used to guide various remedial actions aimed at reliability improvement. This approach has been demonstrated to be applicable and effective in the testing of several large commercial software systems developed in the IBM Software Solutions Toronto Laboratory.