Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Redundancy problem in writing: from human to anthropomorphic robot arm

This paper presents the analysis of motion of a redundant anthropomorphic arm during the writing. The modeling is based on the separation of the prescribed movement into two motions: smooth global, and fast local motion, called distributed positioning (DP). The distribution of these motions to arm joints is discussed. It is based on the inertial properties and actuation capabilities of joints. The approach suggested allows unique solution of the inverse kinematics of redundant mechanisms such as human arm and anthropomorphic robot arm. Distributed positioning is an inherent property of biological systems. Humans, when writing, as shown in literature and in our earlier work control their proximal joints, while the movement of distal joints follow them (synergy). To enhance capabilities of robots, new control schema are necessary. We show that robot control can be improved if it is biological analog. The major aim of this study is to promote such a hypothesis by using anthropomorphic robot arm in writing as an example.
Herpesvirus Entry: an Update

Herpesviruses engage multiple receptors during viral entry. Some are considered binding receptors only, in that engagement with these receptors may be reversible and may serve to concentrate virus on the cell surface without triggering changes required for membrane fusion. Others are considered entry receptors, binding to which triggers events required for membrane fusion. Most herpesviruses probably recognize multiple entry receptors, any one of which may be sufficient for viral entry. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent findings on the entry of alpha- and gammaherpesviruses and on structure-function studies of their entry receptors and viral ligands. Members of the Herpesviridae form a large and diverse family comprised of three subfamilies designated alpha-, beta-, and gammaherpesviruses. Virions are composed of a large DNA genome encased in an icosahedral capsid, which is in turn coated with a layer of proteins called the tegument and an envelope composed of about a dozen viral proteins and glycoproteins in a lipid bilayer. At least three, sometimes four, of these envelope glycoproteins are absolutely essential for viral entry. The three glycoproteins thought to be essential for the entry of all herpesviruses are designated gB, gH, and gL. The genes for these glycoproteins are conserved, with gB exhibiting the highest degree of sequence similarity. For at least some herpesviruses, gB is a homodimer or homotrimer displayed as a prominent spike. Heterodimerization of gH and gL is a conserved feature, with the addition of another viral protein subunit for some viruses. Common features of herpesvirus biology include a high incidence of asymptomatic infections and the establishment of latent infections which can be reactivated to cause recurrent or new episodes of disease. The human herpesviruses exhibit these common features as well as diversity in biology and pathogenesis. They include the alphaherpesviruses, herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) and varicellazoster virus (VZV); the betaherpesviruses, cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human herpesviruses 6 and 7; and the gammaherpesviruses, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). HSV-1 and HSV-2 are responsible for localized mucocutaneous lesions, most commonly, but can also cause meningitis and encephalitis. VZV causes systemic disease with skin lesions during primary infection (chicken pox) and zoster. All three viruses establish latent infections in neurons and can be reactivated from neurons. The betaherpesviruses cause mostly asymptomatic infections in immunocompetent individuals and can establish latent infections in several cell types, including leukocytes of various lineages. EBV is the major cause of infectious mononucleosis and is causally associated with various malignancies, including Burkitt’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, other lymphomas, and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. HHV-8 is associated with Kaposi’s sarcoma, multicentric Castleman’s disease, and primary effusion lymphoma.
Four weeks’ intensive rehabilitation generates significant health effects in COPD patients

Changes in health according to World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) after four weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) were investigated. Gender differences in the response to PR, and the correlation between improvements in the two components of ICF (Body functions and Activities and Participation) were examined. Twenty-two men and 18 women with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage II-IV attended in-patient, multidisciplinary PR consisting of endurance training four to five times/week at 70% of peak work rate (WRpeak), resistance training three to four times/week at 72% of 15 repetitions maximum, educational sessions and individual counselling. The results were compared to those of 20 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients included after the same criteria and investigated while waiting for admission to PR. In the rehabilitation group, we found significant improvements in health related quality of life (HRQoL) (-7 units, St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire), arm (6%) and leg (15%) maximal voluntary contraction, peak oxygen uptake (6%), WRpeak (60%) and treadmill endurance time (93%). At iso-WR, ventilation and dyspnoea were significantly lower, but inspiratory capacity remained unchanged. Improvements in HRQoL correlated with increases in peak ventilation, but not in muscle strength or exercise capacity. Men improved their six-minute walking distance significantly in contrast to women. Clinically important improvements in HRQoL were found in two out of three of the men, and one out of three of the women. Four weeks of intensive PR generated significant health effects comparable to longer lasting programmes. Changes in exercise capacity and muscle strength were not related to improvements in HRQoL. The gender differences in the response to PR deserve attention in future studies.
IMPORTANCE OF BIOGEOGRAPHY AND ONTOGENY OF WOODY PLANTS IN WINTER HERBIVORY BY MAMMALS

Abstract Mammals can influence growth, reproduction, competitive ability, and survival of woody plants by virtue of selective browsing and gnawing of dormant shoots during winter. Apparently in response to this type of herbivory, plants have evolved chemical and mechanical deterrents to mammalian herbivores. We report on plant ontogeny and biogeography, which exert their influence on herbivory at different spatiotemporal scales. To evaluate how plant ontogeny influences herbivory, we conducted a meta-analysis of 128 studies, encompassing 37 plant and 10 mammal species, in which juvenile and mature growth stages of conspecific plants were made available to mammals during winter in temperate and northern latitudes. Mammals ate more of the mature-stage growth in 96% of the studies, and stage-specific differences in consumption were very large (d+ = 2.16). Plants characterized by rapid growth rates or low tolerances to resource limitation elicited the greatest degree of stage-specific discrimination by mammals, consistent with existing theories regarding tradeoffs governing plant growth and defense. The influence of a plant's growth rate and tolerance to resource limitation was dependent on climatic regime; plants grown in areas with harsh winter conditions tended to elicit greater discrimination of juvenile- and mature-stage growth by mammals than plants grown in more moderate climates. Further evidence for biogeographical variation in mammalian consumption came from 14 feeding studies, including 6 plant and 6 mammal species, that compared conspecific plants of the juvenile growth stage either grown or collected at different localities. In 86% of the studies, extent of herbivory by mammals varied inversely with latitude, and this yielded a moderate effect (Z+ = −0.46, r+ = −0.53). We discuss potential roles of life history, climate, and historical association of plants and mammals in shaping these biogeographical patterns.
Brief Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor Treatment in Young Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats Reduces Blood Pressure Long‐term

Our study examines the long-term cardiovascular effects after a brief period of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor treatment in young spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). SHR were treated with perindopril (3 mg/kg/day) by gavage from 2 to 6, from 6 to 10, or from 2 to 10 weeks of age. Systolic blood pressure was measured in the tail weekly until 25 weeks of age. Corresponding control groups received distilled water for the same periods. In each treatment group blood pressure was reduced significantly during treatment, rose when treatment stopped, but plateaued significantly below control SHR thereafter. This difference in blood pressure at 25 weeks of age was due to reduced total peripheral resistance as determined by microsphere methods, but plasma renin activity and angiotensin II concentrations were not different Cardiac hypertrophy was also reduced in treated SHR. In a separate experiment, perindopril treatment from 6 to 10 weeks of age resulted in a significant reduction in the media/ lumen ratios of mesenteric resistance vessels at 32 weeks of age. Concomitant administration of angiotensin II with perindopril from 6 to 10 weeks of age not only prevented the long-term effects on blood pressure seen with perindopril treatment alone but was associated with cardiovascular hypertrophy in excess of untreated control SHR. Finally, perindopril given for a shorter period (6 to 7 weeks) or later in life (20 to 24 weeks) had no significant long-term effects on blood pressure. These results demonstrate that a 4-week period of ACE inhibitor treatment in young SHR is sufficient to prevent the full expression of genetic hypertension and cardiovascular hypertrophy and that angiotensin II might be important in the development of hypertension in this model, its role in later life being less important.
Mycobacterial Trehalose Dimycolate Reprograms Macrophage Global Gene Expression and Activates Matrix Metalloproteinases

ABSTRACT Trehalose 6,6′-dimycolate (TDM) is a cell wall glycolipid and an important virulence factor of mycobacteria. In order to study the role of TDM in the innate immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, microarray analysis was used to examine gene regulation in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages in response to 90-μm-diameter polystyrene microspheres coated with TDM. A large number of genes, particularly those involved in the immune response and macrophage function, were up- or downregulated in response to these TDM-coated beads compared to control beads. Genes involved in the immune response were specifically upregulated in a myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88)-dependent manner. The complexity of the transcriptional response also increased greatly between 2 and 24 h. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were significantly upregulated at both time points, and this was confirmed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Using an in vivo Matrigel granuloma model, the presence and activity of MMP-9 were examined by immunohistochemistry and in situ zymography (ISZ), respectively. We found that TDM-coated beads induced MMP-9 expression and activity in Matrigel granulomas. Macrophages were primarily responsible for MMP-9 expression, as granulomas from neutrophil-depleted mice showed staining patterns similar to that for wild-type mice. The relevance of these observations to human disease is supported by the similar induction of MMP-9 in human caseous tuberculosis (TB) granulomas. Given that MMPs likely play an important role in both the construction and breakdown of tuberculous granulomas, our results suggest that TDM may drive MMP expression during TB pathogenesis.
On the approximation of the generalized-Κ distribution by a gamma distribution for modeling composite fading channels

In wireless channels, multipath fading and shadowing occur simultaneously leading to the phenomenon referred to as composite fading. The use of the Nakagami probability density function (PDF) to model multipath fading and the Gamma PDF to model shadowing has led to the generalized-K model for composite fading. However, further derivations using the generalized K PDF are quite involved due to the computational and analytical difficulties associated with the arising special functions. In this paper, the approximation of the generalized-K PDF by a Gamma PDF using the moment matching method is explored. Subsequently, an adjustable form of the expressions obtained by matching the first two positive moments, to overcome the arising numerical and/or analytical limitations of higher order moment matching, is proposed. The optimal values of the adjustment factor for different integer and non-integer values of the multipath fading and shadowing parameters are given. Moreover, the approach introduced in this paper can be used to well-approximate the distribution of the sum of independent generalized-K random variables by a gamma distribution; the need for such results arises in various emerging distributed communication technologies and systems such as coordinated multipoint transmission and reception schemes including distributed antenna systems and cooperative relay networks.
Sloan School of Management Working Paper 4454-03 November 2003 Capital Controls : Mud in the Wheels of Market Discipline

Widespread support for capital account liberalization in emerging markets has recently shifted to skepticism and even support for capital controls in certain circumstances. This sea-change in attitudes has been bolstered by the inconclusive macroeconomic evidence on the benefits of capital account liberalization. There are several compelling reasons why it is difficult to measure the aggregate impact of capital controls in very different countries. Instead, a new and more promising approach is more detailed microeconomic studies of how capital controls have generated specific distortions in individual countries. Several recent papers have used this approach and examined very different aspects of capital controls—from their impact on crony capitalism in Malaysia and on financing constraints in Chile, to their impact on US multinational behavior and the efficiency of stock market pricing. Each of these diverse studies finds a consistent result: capital controls have significant economic costs and lead to a misallocation of resources. This new microeconomic evidence suggests that capital controls are not just “sand”, but rather “mud in the wheels” of market discipline. * Paper prepared for the conference: “Market Discipline: The Evidence Across Countries and Industries. ” Sponsored by the Bank of International Settlements and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Author contact information: Council of Economic Advisers, White House, Washington, DC 20502; phone: 202395-5046; email: kforbes@cea.eop. gov; web page: http://web.mit. edu/kjforbes/www
Rhodanobacter sp. Strain BPC1 in a Benzo[a]pyrene-Mineralizing Bacterial Consortium

ABSTRACT A bacterial consortium which rapidly mineralizes benzo[a]pyrene when it is grown on a high-boiling-point diesel fuel distillate (HBD) was recovered from soil and maintained for approximately 3 years. Previous studies have shown that mobilization of benzo[a]pyrene into the supernatant liquid precedes mineralization of this compound (R. Kanaly, R. Bartha, K. Watanabe, and S. Harayama, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66:4205-4211, 2000). In the present study, we found that sterilized supernatant liquid filtrate (SSLF) obtained from the growing consortium stimulated mineralization of benzo[a]pyrene when it was readministered to a consortium inoculum without HBD. Following this observation, eight bacterial strains were isolated from the consortium, and SSLF of each of them was assayed for the ability to stimulate benzo[a]pyrene mineralization by the original consortium. The SSLF obtained from one strain, designated BPC1, most vigorously stimulated benzo[a]pyrene mineralization by the original consortium; its effect was more than twofold greater than the effect of the SSLF obtained from the original consortium. A 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and biochemical tests identified strain BPC1 as a member of the genus Rhodanobacter, whose type strain, Rhodanobacter lindaniclasticus RP5557, which was isolated for its ability to grow on the pesticide lindane, is not extant. Strain BPC1 could not grow on lindane, benzo[a]pyrene, simple hydrocarbons, and HBD in pure culture. In contrast, a competitive PCR assay indicated that strain BPC1 grew in the consortium fed only HBD and benzo[a]pyrene. This growth of BPC1 was concomitant with growth of the total bacterial consortium and preceded the initiation of benzo[a]pyrene mineralization. These results suggest that strain BPC1 has a specialized niche in the benzo[a]pyrene-mineralizing consortium; namely, it grows on metabolites produced by fellow members and contributes to benzo[a]pyrene mineralization by increasing the bioavailability of this compound.
Asymptotic properties of the robust ANMF

This paper presents two approaches to derive an asymptotic distribution of the robust Adaptive Normalized Matched Filter (ANMF). More precisely, the ANMF has originally been derived under the assumption of Gaussian distributed noise where the variance is different between the observation under test and the set of secondary data. We propose in this work to relax the Gaussian hypothesis: we analyze the ANMF built with robust estimators, namely the M-estimators and the Tyler's estimator, under the Complex Elliptically Symmetric (CES) distributions framework. In this context, we derive two asymptotic distributions for this robust ANMF. Firstly, we combine the asymptotic properties of the robust estimators and the Gaussian-based distribution of the ANMF at finite distance. Secondly, we directly derive the asymptotic distribution of the robust ANMF. Then, Monte-Carlo simulations show the good approximation provided by the proposed methods. Moreover, for a non-asymptotic regime, the simulations provide very promising results.
Mortality of Childhood-Onset IDDM Patients: A cohort study in Havana City Province, Cuba

OBJECTIVE To determine the survival pattern and the underlying cause of death in a cohort of childhood-onset IDDM subjects from Havana City Province, Cuba. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a descriptive study carried out on a historical cohort of IDDM subjects with disease onset before 15 years of age in Havana City Province, Cuba. The cohort was assembled from several sources. Subjects were diagnosed from 1965 to 1980, and their vital status was assessed at 31 December 1991. Cumulative survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method, and a univariate analysis was performed. To test survival differences between groups, the Cox-Mantel test was used. To compare the cohort mortality with the general population, standardized mortality ratios by sex and age were calculated. Specific causes of death were determined by a committee examining death certificates, clinical records, and necropsy reports. RESULTS A total of 504 subjects were identified, and the mean follow-up time was 17.5 years. Of the subjects, 70 (13.9%) had died at 31 December 1991. Overall, the cohort had a 71% cumulative survival rate at 25 years of IDDM duration. There were no survival differences according to sex or calendar period of IDDM diagnosis. Statistically significant differences were found among age-at-diagnosis groups. The group with a peripubertal age at diagnosis showed the worst prognosis. The cohort experienced 8.5 times the all-causes death rate, compared with the general population. Renal disease accounted for almost half the deaths. CONCLUSIONS IDDM subjects from Havana City Province, Cuba, showed a better survival pattern than IDDM subjects from other developing countries. However, when compared with IDDM populations from developed countries, there is a survival reserve to be achieved by reducing mortality due to renal disease and infections.
Chinese Anti鄄 Cancer a Ssociation

Apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor鄄 related apoptosis 鄄 inducing ligand (TRAIL) can be regulated by the epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling pathway. In this study, recombinant adenoviral vectors that encode TRAIL gene from the hTERT/RGD promoter (AdTRAIL) was combined with drugs including gefitinib, elotinib, and cetuximab that inhibit EGFR and the EGF signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines to investigate their antitumor activity. In vitro, compared to single reagent, AdTRAIL combined with EGFR inhibitors reduced proliferation and enhanced apoptosis in H460, A549, and SW1573 cell lines. Western blot results suggested that these effects were relative to up鄄 regulation of pro鄄 apoptosis protein BAX and down鄄 regulation of p鄄 AKT. In vivo, AdTRAIL combined with cetuximab resulted in a significant growth reduction in H460 xenografts without damage to the main organs of nude mice. Histological examination and TUNEL analyses of xenografts showed that cetuximab enhanced cell apoptosis induced by AdTRAIL. These results indicate that EGFR inhibitors enhanced AdTRAIL anti鄄 tumor activity in NSCLC cell lines and that inhibiting the AKT pathway played an important role in this enhancement. Non­small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of death from cancer throughout the world. Despite the improvements in chemotherapy and radiotherapy, long­term survival of patients with NSCLC still remains low. For this reason, novel and more effective treatments and strategies for NSCLC are critically needed. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in 32% to 81% of NSCLCs and affects all aspects of carcinogenesis, including cell growth, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis [1­4]. Thus, EGFR inhibitors are a major focus in NSCLC therapies. Gefitinib (ZD1839, Iressa) and erlotinib (OSI­774, Tarceva) are small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that inhibit the internal catalytic activity of EGFR and decrease lung cancer cell proliferation. In 2005, both gefitinib and erlotinib are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (United States) as single agent therapy for NSCLC following chemotherapy failure. Cetuximab is an immunoglobulin (Ig) G1 monoclonal antibody that binds to the extracellular domain of EGFR, effectively blocking the ligand­receptor interaction and promoting receptor internalization. Recent studies have shown that combining cetuximab with first­line chemotherapy improves treatment efficacy in patients with advanced NSCLC [5­7]. However, in clinical practice, EGFR inhibitors have produced objective responses in only a small fraction (9% to 30%) of patients with advanced NSCLC