Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fine idiotype analysis of B cell precursors in the T-dependent and T- independent responses to alpha 1-3 dextran in BALB/c mice

In this study BALB/c B cell precursors responsive to the T-independent (TI) type 2 (TI-2) antigen, dextran B1355S (DEX), and the T-dependent (TD) derivative, dextran-Limulus hemocyanin (DEX-Hy) were examined for isotype and idiotope expression using the splenic focus assay. The predominant isotype detected in the TI assay was IgM, while IgA was the predominant isotype expressed in the TD assay. There was also a fourfold increase in the number of foci secreting more than one isotype in the TD assay vs. the TI assay without an overall change in anti-DEX precursor frequency, suggesting that carrier-primed T cells enhance the expression of non-IgM isotypes possibly by increasing the frequency of isotype switching by individual B cell precursors. A panel of distinct monoclonal antiidiotype antibodies (MAIDs) was then used to examine idiotope expression by antibodies secreted in splenic foci responding to DEX and DEX-Hy. This analysis revealed considerable diversity in the idiotope profiles expressed by all isotypes tested. There appeared to be no differences in idiotope diversity among the various isotypes. A similar diversity of idiotope profiles was obtained from both TI and TD splenic foci, indicating that a comparable degree of diversity was associated with the antibodies generated by TI and TD precursors. Idiotype analysis of IgM-IgA-secreting foci with a panel of monoclonal antiidiotope antibodies revealed slight idiotypic differences between the two isotypes secreted in the same focus in about half the cases. These results suggest that somatic variation occurs during the antigen- driven maturation of B cell precursors, within the 15-d time frame of the splenic focus assay, and may be associated with isotype switching.
Distribution and Risk Profile of Paroxysmal, Persistent, and Permanent Atrial Fibrillation in Routine Clinical Practice: Insight From the Real-Life Global Survey Evaluating Patients With Atrial Fibrillation International Registry

Background— There is a paucity of international data on the various types of atrial fibrillation (AF) outside the highly selected populations from randomized trials. This study aimed to describe patient characteristics, risk factors, comorbidities, symptoms, management strategy, and control of different types of AF in real-life practice. Methods and Results— Real-life global survey evaluating patients with atrial fibrillation (RealiseAF) was a contemporary, large-scale, cross-sectional international survey of patients with AF who had ≥1 episode in the past 12 months. Investigators were randomly selected to avoid bias. Among 9816 eligible patients from 831 sites in 26 countries, 2606 (26.5%) had paroxysmal, 2341 (23.8%) had persistent, and 4869 (49.6%) had permanent AF. As AF progressed from paroxysmal to persistent and permanent forms, the prevalence of comorbidities, such as heart failure (32.9%, 44.3%, and 55.6%), coronary artery disease (30.0%, 32.9%, and 34.3%), cerebrovascular disease (11.7%, 10.8%, and 17.6%), and valvular disease (16.7%, 21.2%, and 35.8%), increased, and the prevalence of lone AF decreased. Similarly, there was an increase in mean CHADS2 [cardiac failure, hypertension, age, diabetes, stroke (doubled)] score (1.7, 1.8, and 2.2), and more than half of patients (51.0%, 56.7%, and 67.3%) qualified for oral anticoagulants. Almost 90% of patients received ≥1 antiarrhythmic drug, but >60% had European Heart Rhythm Association symptom scores from II to IV. Furthermore, 40.7% of persistent and 49.8% of permanent AF patients were still in AF with a heart rate >80 beats per minute. Conclusions— This survey disclosed high cardiovascular risks and an unmet need in daily practice for patients with any type of AF, especially those with the permanent form.
Relapse Tendency in Maxillary Arch Width in Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Patients with Different Maxillary Arch Forms

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relapse tendency in the maxillary dental arch widths in unilateral cleft lip and palate patients with different types of maxillary arch form. Subjects: Thirty-two unilateral cleft lip and palate patients treated by one-stage surgical palatal closure were included. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the types of the maxillary arch forms: group A, symmetrical arch form; group B, collapse of minor segment; group C, collapse of both segments. Methods: Using dental casts obtained at three different times, relapse in the intercanine, interpremolar, and intermolar widths in each group was assessed and differences between groups were investigated. Results: Patients in group A showed stable results in all measurements. Patients in group B showed posttreatment relapse in the intercanine width only, whereas patients in group C demonstrated significant posttreatment relapses in the interpremolar and intermolar widths. Comparison between groups showed more significant relapse in the interpremolar and intermolar widths of group C than in those of group B. Conclusion: The types of the maxillary arch forms in unilateral cleft lip and palate patients might play a stronger role in the stability of the maxillary dental arch widths after orthodontic treatment in patients with collapse of both segments and a severe degree of maxillary narrowness.
Three Dimensional Gait Analysis Using Wearable Acceleration and Gyro Sensors Based on Quaternion Calculations

This paper proposes a method for three dimensional gait analysis using wearable sensors and quaternion calculations. Seven sensor units consisting of a tri-axial acceleration and gyro sensors, were fixed to the lower limbs. The acceleration and angular velocity data of each sensor unit were measured during level walking. The initial orientations of the sensor units were estimated using acceleration data during upright standing position and the angular displacements were estimated afterwards using angular velocity data during gait. Here, an algorithm based on quaternion calculation was implemented for orientation estimation of the sensor units. The orientations of the sensor units were converted to the orientations of the body segments by a rotation matrix obtained from a calibration trial. Body segment orientations were then used for constructing a three dimensional wire frame animation of the volunteers during the gait. Gait analysis was conducted on five volunteers, and results were compared with those from a camera-based motion analysis system. Comparisons were made for the joint trajectory in the horizontal and sagittal plane. The average RMSE and correlation coefficient (CC) were 10.14 deg and 0.98, 7.88 deg and 0.97, 9.75 deg and 0.78 for the hip, knee and ankle flexion angles, respectively.
Free-end saddle length influence on stress level in unilateral complex partial denture abutment teeth and retention elements.

BACKGROUND/AIM Different types of dental restorations are used for the therapy of unilateral free-end saddle edentulism. Unilateral complex partial denture is one of the indications for the Kennedy class II partial edentulism. The abscence of major connector and denture plate is an advantage compared to the conventional restorations, because of better comfort and shorter period of adaptation. The aim of the study was to analyse the influence of free-end saddle length change on the behaviour of unilateral complex partial denture supporting structures. METHODS Stress levels of the canine and the first premolar as retentional teeth and the attachments were tested under the influence of physiological forces with the loading point shifting distally in relation to the saddle length change. A virtual real size 3D model of the fixed part of the restoration (the canine and the first premolar with milled crowns) was created using the CATIA computer program. It was connected to the mobile part of partial denture with the SD snap in latch attachment. Mobile part of the restoration was designed in the region of 2, 3 and 4 lateral teeth (second premolar, first, second and third molar). By using the finite element method (FEM) stress levels analysis was performed under the load of physiological forces of 150 N in the free-end saddle teeth zone. RESULTS The results of analysis show that physiological forces cause a different stress distribution on the abutment teeth and the attachment, depending on the saddle length. CONCLUSION The stress level values obtained for the abutment teeth as well as the attachment are far lower than the marginal ones. The behaviour of the system changes under this defined stress, but no plastic deformation occurs.
An Efficient Method for Exploring the Space of Gene Tree/Species Tree Reconciliations in a Probabilistic Framework

Background. Inferring an evolutionary scenario for a gene family is a fundamental problem with applications both in functional and evolutionary genomics. The gene tree/species tree reconciliation approach has been widely used to address this problem, but mostly in a discrete parsimony framework that aims at minimizing the number of gene duplications and/or gene losses. Recently, a probabilistic approach has been developed, based on the classical birth-and-death process, including efficient algorithms for computing posterior probabilities of reconciliations and orthology prediction. Results. In previous work, we described an algorithm for exploring the whole space of gene tree/species tree reconciliations, that we adapt here to compute efficiently the posterior probability of such reconciliations. These posterior probabilities can be either computed exactly or approximated, depending on the reconciliation space size. We use this algorithm to analyze the probabilistic landscape of the space of reconciliations for a real data set of fungal gene families and several data sets of synthetic gene trees. Conclusion. The results of our simulations suggest that, with exact gene trees obtained by a simple birth-and-death process and realistic gene duplication/loss rates, a very small subset of all reconciliations needs to be explored in order to approximate very closely the posterior probability of the most likely reconciliations. For cases where the posterior probability mass is more evenly dispersed, our method allows to explore efficiently the required subspace of reconciliations.
Thin-film-induced morphological instabilities over calcite surfaces

Precipitation of calcium carbonate from water films generates fascinating calcite morphologies that have attracted scientific interest over past centuries. Nowadays, speleothems are no longer known only for their beauty but they are also recognized to be precious records of past climatic conditions, and research aims to unveil and understand the mechanisms responsible for their morphological evolution. In this paper, we focus on crenulations, a widely observed ripple-like instability of the the calcite–water interface that develops orthogonally to the film flow. We expand a previous work providing new insights about the chemical and physical mechanisms that drive the formation of crenulations. In particular, we demonstrate the marginal role played by carbon dioxide transport in generating crenulation patterns, which are indeed induced by the hydrodynamic response of the free surface of the water film. Furthermore, we investigate the role of different environmental parameters, such as temperature, concentration of dissolved ions and wall slope. We also assess the convective/absolute nature of the crenulation instability. Finally, the possibility of using crenulation wavelength as a proxy of past flows is briefly discussed from a theoretical point of view.
Alveolar Macrophage Apoptosis Contributes to Pneumococcal Clearance in a Resolving Model of Pulmonary Infection 1

The role of alveolar macrophages (AM) in host defense against pulmonary infection has been difficult to establish using in vivo models. This may reflect a reliance on models of fulminant infection. To establish a unique model of resolving infection, with which to address the function of AM, C57BL/6 mice received low-dose intratracheal administration of pneumococci. Administration of low doses of pneumococci produced a resolving model of pulmonary infection characterized by clearance of bacteria without features of pneumonia. AM depletion in this model significantly increased bacterial outgrowth in the lung. Interestingly, a significant increase in the number of apoptotic AM was noted with the low-dose infection as compared with mock infection. Caspase inhibition in this model decreased AM apoptosis and increased the number of bacteremic mice, indicating a novel role for caspase activation in pulmonary innate defense against pneumococci. These results suggest that AM play a key role in clearance of bacteria from the lung during subclinical infection and that induction of AM apoptosis contributes to the microbiologic host defense against pneumococci.
Enhancing privacy in participatory sensing applications with multidimensional data

Participatory sensing applications rely on individuals to share local and personal data with others to produce aggregated models and knowledge. In this setting, privacy is an important consideration, and lack of privacy could discourage widespread adoption of many exciting applications. We present a privacy-preserving participatory sensing scheme for multidimensional data which uses negative surveys. Multidimensional data, such as vectors of attributes that include location and environment fields, are challenging for privacy protection and are common in participatory sensing applications. When reporting data in a negative survey, an individual participant randomly selects a value from the set complement of the sensed data value, once for each dimension, and returns the negative values to a central collection server. Using algorithms described in this paper, the server can reconstruct the probability density functions of the original distributions of sensed values, without knowing the participants' actual data. Our algorithms avoid computationally expensive encryption and key management schemes, conserving energy. We study trade-offs between accuracy and privacy, and their relationships to the number of dimensions, categories, and participants. We introduce dimensional adjustment, a method that reduces the magnification of error associated with earlier work. Two simulation scenarios illustrate how the approach can protect the privacy of a participant's multidimensional data while allowing useful aggregate information to be collected.
Steady at the wheel: conservative sex and the benefits of bacterial transformation

Many bacteria are highly sexual, but the reasons for their promiscuity remain obscure. Did bacterial sex evolve to maximize diversity and facilitate adaptation in a changing world, or does it instead help to retain the bacterial functions that work right now? In other words, is bacterial sex innovative or conservative? Our aim in this review is to integrate experimental, bioinformatic and theoretical studies to critically evaluate these alternatives, with a main focus on natural genetic transformation, the bacterial equivalent of eukaryotic sexual reproduction. First, we provide a general overview of several hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the evolution of transformation. Next, we synthesize a large body of evidence highlighting the numerous passive and active barriers to transformation that have evolved to protect bacteria from foreign DNA, thereby increasing the likelihood that transformation takes place among clonemates. Our critical review of the existing literature provides support for the view that bacterial transformation is maintained as a means of genomic conservation that provides direct benefits to both individual bacterial cells and to transformable bacterial populations. We examine the generality of this view across bacteria and contrast this explanation with the different evolutionary roles proposed to maintain sex in eukaryotes.
Preparation of TiO2 Anatase Nanocrystals by TiCl4 Hydrolysis with Additive H2SO4

A new methodology was developed to synthesize uniform titania anatase nanocrystals by the hydrolysis of titanium chloride in sulfuric acid aqueous solutions at 0–90°C. The samples were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED), and an Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The effects of the reaction temperature, mole ratio of SO4 2− to Ti4+, and the calcinations temperature on the particle size and crystal phase were investigated. Depending on the acidity, the hydrolysis temperature, and the calcination temperature, rhombic anatase nanocrystals sizes in the range of 10 nm to 50 nm were obtained. In the additive of sulfuric acid, Raman spectra and electron diffraction confirmed that the nanoparticles are composed of anatase TiO2. No other titania phases, such as rutile or brookite, were detected.
Fading correlation and its effect on the capacity of multielement antenna systems

We investigate the effects of fading correlations in multielement antenna (MEA) communication systems. Pioneering studies showed that if the fades connecting pairs of transmit and receive antenna elements are independently, identically distributed, MEAs offer a large increase in capacity compared to single-antenna systems. An MEA system can be described in terms of spatial eigenmodes, which are single-input single-output subchannels. The channel capacity of an MEA is the sum of capacities of these subchannels. We show that the fading correlation affects the MEA capacity by modifying the distributions of the gains of these subchannels. The fading correlation depends on the physical parameters of MEA and the scatterer characteristics. In this paper, to characterize the fading correlation, we employ an abstract model, which is appropriate for modeling narrow-band Rayleigh fading in fixed wireless systems.
Accurate Deep Syntactic Parsing of Graphs: The Case of French

Parsing predicate-argument structures in a deep syntax framework requires graphs to be predicted. Argument structures represent a higher level of abstraction than the syntactic ones and are thus more difficult to predict even for highly accurate parsing models on surfacic syntax. In this paper we investigate deep syntax parsing, using a French data set (Ribeyre et al., 2014a). We demonstrate that the use of topologically different types of syntactic features, such as dependencies, tree fragments, spines or syntactic paths, brings a much needed context to the parser. Our higher-order parsing model, gaining thus up to 4 points, establishes the state of the art for parsing French deep syntactic structures.
Deep Bottleneck Feature for Image Classification

Effective image representation plays an important role for image classification and retrieval. Bag-of-Features (BoF) is well known as an effective and robust visual representation. However, on large datasets, convolutional neural networks (CNN) tend to perform much better, aided by the availability of large amounts of training data. In this paper, we propose a bag of Deep Bottleneck Features (DBF) for image classification, effectively combining the strengths of a CNN within a BoF framework. The DBF features, obtained from a previously well-trained CNN, form a compact and low-dimensional representation of the original inputs, effective for even small datasets. We will demonstrate that the resulting BoDBF method has a very powerful and discriminative capability that is generalisable to other image classification tasks.
Generation of Type I Collagen Gradient in Polyacrylamide Hydrogels by a Simple Diffusion-Controlled Hydrolysis of Amide Groups

The objective of this study is to develop an easy and simple diffusion-controlled fabrication technique to generate the concentration gradient of biomolecules in hydrogels. Polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels with a concentration gradient of type I collagen were prepared to evaluate the cell adhesion. The PAAm hydrogel was exposed to a gradient concentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution at 52 °C to generate that of carboxyl groups in the hydrogel. The carboxyl groups generated were chemically coupled with the amino groups of type I collagen to prepare the hydrogel with a concentration gradient of collagen immobilized. The attachment of L929 fibroblasts was evaluated for the collagen-immobilized hydrogel prepared. The amount gradient of carboxyl groups in the hydrogel increased with an increase in the NaOH concentration while the carboxyl groups gradient enabled to generate a gradient of collagen immobilized in the hydrogel. On the other hand, the number of fibroblasts adhered depended on the amount of collagen immobilized. These findings indicate that the adhesion behavior of cells is modified by the concentration gradient of biomolecule in the three-dimensional scaffold of cells.
A note on the maximum flow through a network

This note discusses the problem of maximizing the rate of flow from one terminal to another, through a network which consists of a number of branches, each of which has a limited capacity. The main result is a theorem: The maximum possible flow from left to right through a network is equal to the minimum value among all simple cut-sets. This theorem is applied to solve a more general problem, in which a number of input nodes and a number of output nodes are used.
Cellular Assays of Chemokine Receptor Activation

This unit describes procedures for measuring the activation of chemokine receptors by their ligands. Chemokines are chemoattractant proteins and two assays are described for analyzing the chemoattractant properties (chemotaxis) of these proteins. Chemokine receptors are coupled to G proteins, and activation of the receptors results in the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+ stores. Two assays for the measurement of this activity are described which employ calcium‐sensitive dyes, one for adherent and one for non‐adherent cells. In addition, an assay for quantitating chemokine receptor downmodulation and subsequent recycling events is described. The assays are applicable to both purified leukocytes and stably expressed recombinant chemokine receptors.This unit describes procedures for measuring the activation of chemokine receptors by their ligands.
Transaction attributes and software outsourcing success: an empirical investigation of transaction cost theory

Abstract. In recent years, an increasing amount of attention has been paid to information systems (IS) outsourcing by practitioners as well as academics. However, our understanding of the factors that affect outsourcing success is hardly complete. By adopting transaction cost theory (TCT) as the theoretical foundation, this study analyses the implications of transaction attributes on the consequences of customized software outsourcing practice. The research model includes three exogenous variables (contractor reputation, asset specificity and uncertainty) and two endogenous variables (post‐contractual opportunism and outsourcing success). The moderating effects of asset specificity on the relationships between uncertainty and the endogenous variables are also examined. Based on data collected in Taiwan, a research model is constructed to test the hypotheses derived from the theory. The empirical evidence is generally supportive of the theory but with some important exceptions. In particular, contractor reputation and uncertainty have the predicted effects on the contractor’s post‐contractual opportunism perceived by the client and outsourcing success, but asset specificity shows a negative effect on post‐contractual opportunism and a positive effect on outsourcing success, which are opposite to the typical predictions of TCT. Thus, in addition to the supportive findings of the theory, this study also raises an important research question regarding the effects of asset specificity on outsourcing for future research to explore.