Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constraining the equation of state of the Universe from distant Type Ia supernovae and cosmic microwave background anisotropies

The magnitude–redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae is beginning to provide strong constraints on the cosmic densities contributed by matter, Ωm, and a cosmological constant, ΩΛ, although the results are highly degenerate in the Ωm–ΩΛ plane. Here we estimate the constraints that can be placed on a cosmological constant or quintessence-like component by extending supernovae samples to high redshift. Such measurements, when combined with constraints from anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), could provide an important consistency check of systematic errors in the supernovae data. A large campaign of high-z supernovae observations with 10-m class telescopes could constrain Ωm to an accuracy (1σ) of 0.06 and ΩΛ to 0.15. A sample of supernovae at redshift z∼3, as might be achievable with a Next Generation Space Telescope, could constrain Ωm to an accuracy of about 0.02 independently of the value of ΩΛ. The constraints on a more general equation of state, wQpρ, converge slowly as the redshift of the supernovae data is increased. The most promising way of setting accurate constraints on wQ is by combining high-z supernovae and CMB measurements. With feasible measurements it should be possible to constrain wQ to a precision of about 0.06, if the Universe is assumed to be spatially flat. We use the recent supernovae sample of Perlmutter et al. and observations of the CMB anisotropies to constrain the equation of state in quintessence-like models via a likelihood analysis. The 2σ upper limits are wQ<−0.6 if the Universe is assumed to be spatially flat, and wQ<−0.4 for universes of arbitrary spatial curvature. The upper limit derived for a spatially flat Universe is close to the lower limit (wQ≈−0.7) allowed for simple potentials, implying that additional fine tuning may be required to construct a viable quintessence model.
Diversity at Work: Diversity initiative effectiveness: What organizations can (and cannot) expect from diversity recruitment, diversity training, and formal mentoring programs

The organizational literature began emphasizing the “business case” for diversity in the late 1980s (Cox and Blake, 1991; Johnston and Packer, 1987; Robinson and Dechant, 1997). The business case predicted a range of benefits resulting from greater workforce diversity within organizations (Jayne and Dipboye, 2004; Konrad, 2003). Specifically, an organization making maximum use of the talent available in the labor pool would select a diverse group of employees. These diverse employees would be more effective in dealing with a diverse customer base, and the diverse employees would bring a greater range of perspectives to bear on organizational decision making. In sum, “a more diverse workforce, [managers] say, will increase organizational effectiveness. It will lift morale, bring greater access to new segments of the marketplace, and enhance productivity” (Thomas and Ely, 1996: 79). The business case for diversity, and its optimistic expectations of the benefits achieved through employee diversity, has been enthusiastically embraced by managers. In a Catalyst-sponsored study of 15 Fortune 500 companies, every corporate executive interviewed by the researchers cited the business case as the primary rationale for their organizations' diversity efforts (Giscombe and Mattis, 2002). And there is evidence of a trickle-down effect to the employee level: a diversity program accompanied by a “competitive advantage” justification is likely to generate the most positive employee attitudes (Kidder et al ., 2004). Given the widespread acceptance of the business case, it is ironic that the academic literature has documented so many negative outcomes associated with workforce diversity.
Personalized Privacy Protection in Social Networks

Due to the popularity of social networks, many proposals have been proposed to protect the privacy of the networks. All these works assume that the attacks use the same background knowledge. However, in practice, different users have different privacy protect requirements. Thus, assuming the attacks with the same background knowledge does not meet the personalized privacy requirements, meanwhile, it looses the chance to achieve better utility by taking advantage of differences of users' privacy requirements. In this paper, we introduce a framework which provides privacy preserving services based on the user's personal privacy requests. Specifically, we define three levels of protection requirements based on the gradually increasing attacker's background knowledge and combine the label generalization protection and the structure protection techniques (i.e. adding noise edge or nodes) together to satisfy different users' protection requirements. We verify the effectiveness of the framework through extensive experiments.
BLOOD URIC ACID VALUES AS RELATED TO SEX AND AGE.

BLOOD URIC ACID values above 5.0 to 6.0 mg/100 cc of serum occur in persons with no apparent clinical explanation. The age of the patient and sex have apparently been related to the elevation of the uric acid. With conflicting reports appearing in the literature, this study was undertaken. Of the original sera submitted, 4,667 were not duplicates. These were from consecutive admissions of three general hospitals. One of these was a Veterans Administration hospital. There were 3,879 males and 788 females in the study, ranging in age from 16 to 96 years. The smallest number (eight women and four men) was in the 90-and-over age group. A disproportionate number of males in the 60- to 69-age group is a reflection of the VA hospital population. The technique of Henry et al 1 was employed in the chemical tests. (This technique yields blood uric acid values approximately 1 mg greater
Utilization of cysteine and cysteine precursors for the synthesis of glutathione in astroglial cultures: Preference for cystine

The ability of astroglia‐rich primary cultures derived from the brains of neonatal rats to take up and metabolize various sulfur containing compounds to cysteine was investigated using the content of intracellular glutathione as an indicator. Astroglial cells were partially depleted of glutathione by starvation for 24 h. Subsequent feeding for 4 h with glucose, glycine, and glutamate resulted in a restoration of the glutathione level, if cysteine was present. Substitution of cysteine by cystine during resynthesis of glutathione led to a glutathione content which exceeded that of cysteine‐refed cells by 41%. Half‐maximal content of glutathione was found at a concentration of about 12 μM cysteine and a maximal content at a concentration of at least 50 μM cysteine. In contrast, no plateau in the glutathione level was reached with increasing concentrations of cystine. The cystine effect could not be due to a contamination, since it was abolished after reduction of cystine by dithiothreitol. Since the cystine effect was not affected by inhibiting γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase, a promotion of cystine uptake by formation of γ‐glutamylcystine can also be excluded. Of the potential cysteine precursors tested, N‐acetylcysteine was able to replace cysteine half‐maximally at a concentration of 1 mM and fully at 5 mM. Feeding 2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylic acid at a concentration of 5 mM resulted in 64% of the glutathione level found in the presence of cysteine. A half‐maximal glutathione content was attained at 50 μM 2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylic acid. While cystathionine could partially replace cysteine, methionine and homocysteine were not at all able to substitute for cysteine. These results demonstrate that astroglial cells prefer cystine from cysteine for glutathione synthesis and express uptake systems for N‐acetylcysteine, 2‐oxothiazolidine‐4‐carboxylic acid, and cystathionine, as well as the enzymes N‐deacetylase, 5‐oxoprolinase, and cystathionine γ‐lyase. GLIA 22:11–18, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Alloreactivity is limited by the endogenous peptide repertoire

A significant portion of the naive T-cell repertoire is capable of responding to allogeneic MHC, violating the paradigm of self-MHC restriction. Recent studies have demonstrated convincing evidence for germ-line affinity of T-cell receptors (TCR) for MHC, providing explanation for recognition of MHC not encountered during thymic development. However, although germ-line affinity proposes all TCR have inherent affinity for MHC, most T cells are not alloreactive to a given MHC. We propose that specific recognition of endogenous presented peptides, rather than inability to interact with allogeneic MHC molecules, is the primary determinant of alloreactivity. Here, we demonstrate that alloreactive and nonalloreactive TCR differ specifically in the CDR3 sequences responsible primarily for the peptide specificity of T-cell recognition. Limitations on alloreactivity imposed by a requirement for recognition of presented peptides are directly demonstrated by expansion of the alloreactive T-cell repertoire through the addition of peptide mimotopes enabling response to two distinct allogeneic MHC by otherwise nonalloreactive T cells. Responses to peptide mimotopes were specific and depended on TCR interaction with MHC. These results demonstrate that recognition of presented endogenous peptides, and not the inability to interact with allogeneic MHC, is the primary limiter on alloreactivity. This observation reconciles the concept of an inherently MHC-reactive TCR repertoire with observed frequencies of T cells responding to allogeneic stimulation and underscores the fundamental nature of TCR recognition of ligands, where both MHC and presented peptides contribute critically to T-cell recognition.
Improved bounds on the sample complexity of learning

We present a new general upper bound on the number of examples required to estimate all of the expectations of a set of random variables uniformly well. The quality of the estimates is measured using a variant of the relative error proposed by Haussler and Pollard. We also show that our bound is within a constant factor of the best possible. Our upper bound implies improved bounds on the sample complexity of learning according to Haussler's decision theoretic model.
Elevated levels of soluble fractalkine in active systemic lupus erythematosus: potential involvement in neuropsychiatric manifestations.

OBJECTIVE To determine levels of the soluble form of the chemokine fractalkine (sFkn) and its receptor, CX(3)CR1, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with neuropsychiatric involvement (NPSLE) and in SLE patients without neuropsychiatric involvement, and to assess their relationship with disease activity and organ damage. METHODS Levels of sFkn in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Expression of Fkn and CX(3)CR1 was quantified using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Surface expression of CX(3)CR1 on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was determined by flow cytometry. Disease activity and organ damage were assessed using the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) and the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (SLICC/ACR) Damage Index, respectively. RESULTS Serum sFkn levels were significantly higher in patients with SLE than in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or healthy controls. In addition, significant correlations between serum sFkn levels and the SLEDAI, the SLICC/ACR Damage Index, anti-double-stranded DNA and anti-Sm antibody titers, immune complex levels (C1q), and serum complement levels (CH50) were observed. Expression of CX(3)CR1 was significantly greater in PBMCs from patients with active SLE than in those from RA patients or healthy controls. Levels of sFkn were also significantly higher in CSF from untreated patients with newly diagnosed NPSLE than in SLE patients without neuropsychiatric involvement; treatment reduced both serum and CSF levels of sFkn in patients with SLE. CONCLUSION Soluble Fkn and CX(3)CR1 may play key roles in the pathogenesis of SLE, including the neuropsychiatric involvement. Soluble Fkn is also a serologic marker of disease activity and organ damage in patients with SLE, and its measurement in CSF may be useful for the diagnosis of NPSLE and followup of patients with NPSLE.
Ab Initio Theory of Coherent Laser-Induced Magnetization in Metals.

We present the first materials specific ab initio theory of the magnetization induced by circularly polarized laser light in metals. Our calculations are based on nonlinear density matrix theory and include the effect of absorption. We show that the induced magnetization, commonly referred to as inverse Faraday effect, is strongly materials and frequency dependent, and demonstrate the existence of both spin and orbital induced magnetizations which exhibit a surprisingly different behavior. We show that for nonmagnetic metals (such as Cu, Au, Pd, Pt) and antiferromagnetic metals the induced magnetization is antisymmetric in the light's helicity, whereas for ferromagnetic metals (Fe, Co, Ni, FePt) the imparted magnetization is only asymmetric in the helicity. We compute effective optomagnetic fields that correspond to the induced magnetizations and provide guidelines for achieving all-optical helicity-dependent switching.
Effects of angiotensin II on the CO 2 dependence of HCO 3 reabsorption by the rabbit S 2 renal proximal tubule

Zhou, Yuehan, Patrice Bouyer, and Walter F. Boron. Effects of angiotensin II on the CO2 dependence of HCO3 reabsorption by the rabbit S2 renal proximal tubule. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 290: F666–F673, 2006. First published October 4, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00287. 2005. — Previous authors showed that, at low doses, both basolateral and luminal ANG II increase the proximal tubule’s HCO3 reabsorption rate (JHCO3). Using out-of-equilibrium CO2/HCO3 solutions, we demonstrated that basolateral CO2 increases JHCO3. Here, we examine interactions between ANG II and CO2 in isolated, perfused rabbit S2 segments. We first used equilibrated 5% CO2/22 mM HCO3 /pH 7.40 in bath and lumen. At 10 11 M, basolateral (BL) ANG II increased JHCO3 by 41%, and luminal ANG II increased JHCO3 by 35%. At 10 9 M, basolateral ANG II decreased JHCO3 by 43%, whereas luminal ANG II was without effect. Second, we varied [CO2]BL from 0 to 20% at fixed [HCO3 ]BL and pHBL. Fractional stimulation produced by BL 10 11 M ANG II falls when [CO2]BL exceeds 5%. Fractional inhibition produced by BL 10 9 M ANG II tends to rise when [CO2]BL exceeds 5%. Regarding luminal ANG II, fractional stimulation produced by 10 11 M ANG II fell monotonically as [CO2]BL rose from 0 to 20%. Fractional inhibition produced by 10 9 M ANG II rose monotonically with increasing [CO2]BL. Viewed differently, ANG II at 10 11 M tended to reduce stimulation by CO2, and at 10 9 M, produced an even greater reduction. In conclusion, the mutual effects of 1) ANG II on the JHCO3 response to basolateral CO2 and 2) basolateral CO2 on the JHCO3 responses to ANG II suggest that the signal-transduction pathways for ANG II and basolateral CO2 intersect or merge.
Cooperative immunoregulatory function of the transmembrane adaptor proteins SIT and LAX

Lymphocyte activation is crucial for the generation of immune responses. In vitro studies have demonstrated that TRAPs are critical regulators of lymphocyte activation. However, more recent in vivo studies have demonstrated that with the exception of LAT, TRAPs, such as SIT, NTAL, and LAX, only minimally affect immune cell functions. Additional studies have suggested that the mild or the apparent lack of a phenotype displayed by most TRAP KO mice may be explained by functional redundancy among this family of adaptors. In fact, it has been shown that the phenotype of NTAL/LAT or SIT/TRIM double‐deficient mice is more severe than that of the single KOs. Here, we have evaluated whether SIT and the related transmembrane adaptor LAX have overlapping functions by generating SIT/LAX DKO mice. We show that DKO, in contrast to single KO mice, accumulate large numbers of activated CD4+ T cells in the spleen. Moreover, conventional B cells from DKO mice are hyperproliferative upon CD40 stimulation. Additionally, we found that DKO mice displayed an expansion of the B1 cell pool in the peritoneal cavity, hypergammaglobulinaemia, and an enhanced immune response to the T1‐independent antigen, TNP‐LPS. Finally, we demonstrate that SIT/LAX double deficiency resulted in a more pronounced breakdown of peripheral tolerance and the development of autoimmunity characterized by ANAs and renal disease (glomerulonephritis and proteinuria). Collectively, our data indicate that SIT and LAX are important negative regulators of immune responses that functionally cooperate.
A multilevel modeling framework to study hepatic perfusion characteristics in case of liver cirrhosis.

Liver cirrhosis represents the end-stage of different liver disorders, progressively affecting hepatic architecture, hemodynamics, and function. Morphologically, cirrhosis is characterized by diffuse fibrosis, the conversion of normal liver architecture into structurally abnormal regenerative nodules and the formation of an abundant vascular network. To date, the vascular remodeling and altered hemodynamics due to cirrhosis are still poorly understood, even though they seem to play a pivotal role in cirrhogenesis. This study aims to determine the perfusion characteristics of the cirrhotic circulation using a multilevel modeling approach including computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Vascular corrosion casting and multilevel micro-CT imaging of a single human cirrhotic liver generated detailed datasets of the hepatic circulation, including typical pathological characteristics of cirrhosis such as shunt vessels and dilated sinusoids. Image processing resulted in anatomically correct 3D reconstructions of the microvasculature up to a diameter of about 500 μm. Subsequently, two cubic samples (150 × 150 × 150 μm³) were virtually dissected from vascularized zones in between regenerative nodules and applied for CFD simulations to study the altered cirrhotic microperfusion and permeability. Additionally, a conceptual 3D model of the cirrhotic macrocirculation was developed to reveal the hemodynamic impact of regenerative nodules. Our results illustrate that the cirrhotic microcirculation is characterized by an anisotropic permeability showing the highest value in the direction parallel to the central vein (kd,zz = 1.68 × 10-13 m² and kd,zz = 7.79 × 10⁻¹³ m² for sample 1 and 2, respectively) and lower values in the circumferential (kd,ϑϑ = 5.78 × 10⁻¹⁴ m² and kd,ϑϑ = 5.65 × 10⁻¹³ m² for sample 1 and 2, respectively) and radial (kd,rr = 9.87 × 10⁻¹⁴ m² and kd,rr = 5.13 × 10⁻¹³ m² for sample 1 and 2, respectively) direction. Overall, the observed permeabilities are markedly higher compared to a normal liver, implying a locally decreased intrahepatic vascular resistance (IVR) probably due to local compensation mechanisms (dilated sinusoids and shunt vessels). These counteract the IVR increase caused by the presence of regenerative nodules and dynamic contraction mechanisms (e.g., stellate cells, NO-concentration, etc.). Our conceptual 3D model of the cirrhotic macrocirculation indicates that regenerative nodules severely increase the IVR beyond about 65 vol. % of regenerative nodules. Numerical modeling allows quantifying perfusion characteristics of the cirrhotic macro- and microcirculation, i.e., the effect of regenerative nodules and compensation mechanisms such as dilated sinusoids and shunt vessels. Future research will focus on the development of models to study time-dependent degenerative adaptation of the cirrhotic macro- and microcirculation.
Antimicrobial Activity of Thiamphenicol-glycinate-acetylcysteinate and Other Drugs against Chlamydia pneumoniae

Summary Chlamydia pneumoniae is responsible for respiratory tract infections of both upper and lower respiratory tract. Although this bacterium is one of the most widespread pathogens of man, there are limited data on the antibiotic treatment of C. pneumoniae infections. The aim of this study has been to evaluate the in vitro activity of thiamphenicol glycinate acetylcysteinate (TGA, CAS 20192-91-0) in comparison with molecules with established activity against C. pneumoniae, as well as macrolides and quinolones. The results have shown that TGA and clarithromycin (CAS 81103-11-9) are the most active drugs tested, but it is important to underline that the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges of TGA are very much lower than the breakpoint of thiamphenicol for the respiratory pathogens. In conclusion, the good antimicrobial in vitro activity of TGA against C. pneumoniae together with its in vivo characteristics, in particular the high concentration reached in lung and the combination with the mucolytic agent N-acetylcysteine (NAC, CAS 616-91-1), can make a valid choice in the treatment of respiratory tract infections caused by C. pneumoniae. These findings need further evaluation by clinical studies.
SkimpyStash: RAM space skimpy key-value store on flash-based storage

We present SkimpyStash, a RAM space skimpy key-value store on flash-based storage, designed for high throughput, low latency server applications. The distinguishing feature of SkimpyStash is the design goal of extremely low RAM footprint at about 1 (± 0.5) byte per key-value pair, which is more aggressive than earlier designs. SkimpyStash uses a hash table directory in RAM to index key-value pairs stored in a log-structured manner on flash. To break the barrier of a flash pointer (say, 4 bytes) worth of RAM overhead per key, it "moves" most of the pointers that locate each key-value pair from RAM to flash itself. This is realized by (i) resolving hash table collisions using linear chaining, where multiple keys that resolve (collide) to the same hash table bucket are chained in a linked list, and (ii) storing the linked lists on flash itself with a pointer in each hash table bucket in RAM pointing to the beginning record of the chain on flash, hence incurring multiple flash reads per lookup. Two further techniques are used to improve performance: (iii) two-choice based load balancing to reduce wide variation in bucket sizes (hence, chain lengths and associated lookup times), and a bloom filter in each hash table directory slot in RAM to disambiguate the choice during lookup, and (iv) compaction procedure to pack bucket chain records contiguously onto flash pages so as to reduce flash reads during lookup. The average bucket size is the critical design parameter that serves as a powerful knob for making a continuum of tradeoffs between low RAM usage and low lookup latencies. Our evaluations on commodity server platforms with real-world data center applications show that SkimpyStash provides throughputs from few 10,000s to upwards of 100,000 get-set operations/sec.
Deregulated Intracellular Signaling by Mutated c-CBL in Myeloid Neoplasms

c-CBL encodes a 120-kDa protein involved in intracellular signal transduction in a wide variety of cell types. Recently, frequent mutations of c-CBL have been reported in myeloid neoplasms showing both myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative features, in which most mutations are present in a homozygous state, as a result of allelic conversion in 11q. c-CBL has ubiquitin E3 ligase activity for a wide variety of tyrosine kinases, and thereby, negatively regulates tyrosine kinase signaling. Accordingly, c-CBL seems to have tumor suppressor functions, loss of which promotes tumorigenesis. On the other hand, once mutated, it is converted to an oncogenic protein and commits to myeloid leukemogenesis through a kind of gain of function causing aberrant signal transduction. The inhibition of mutant CBL protein or signaling pathways that it activates would have a role in therapeutics of myeloid neoplasms with CBL mutations. Clin Cancer Res; 16(15); 3825–31. ©2010 AACR.