Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T cell-mediated hepatitis in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Liver cell destruction by H-2 class I- restricted virus-specific cytotoxic T cells as a physiological correlate of the 51Cr-release assay?

A model for immunologically T cell-mediated hepatitis was established in mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). The severity of hepatitis was monitored histologically and by determination of changes in serum levels of the enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), and alkaline phosphatase (AP). Kinetics of histological disease manifestations, increases of liver enzyme levels in the serum, and cytotoxic T cell activities in livers and spleens all correlated and were dependent upon several parameters: LCMV-isolate; LCMV-WE caused extensive hepatitis, LCMV-Armstrong virtually none. Virus dose. Route of infection; i.v. or i.p. infection caused hepatitis, whereas infection into the footpad did not. The general genetic background of the murine host; of the strains tested, Swiss mice and A-strain mice were more susceptible than C57BL or CBA mice; BALB/c and DBA/2 mice were least susceptible. The degree of immunocompetence of the murine host; T cell deficient nu/nu mice never developed hepatitis, whereas nu/+ or +/+ mice always did. B cell-depleted anti-IgM-treated mice developed immune-mediated hepatitis comparably or even more extensively than control mice. Local cytotoxic T cell activity; mononuclear cells isolated from livers during the period of overt hepatitis were two to five times more active than equal numbers of spleen cells. Adoptive transfer of nylon wool-nonadherent anti-Thy-1.2 and anti-Lyt-2 plus C- sensitive, anti-L3T4 plus C-resistant lymphocytes into irradiated mice preinfected with LCMV-WE caused a rapid time- and dose-dependent linear increase of serum enzyme levels. This increase was caused by adoptive transfer of lymphocytes if immune cell donors and recipient mice shared class I, but not when they shared class II histocompatibility antigens. The donor cell dose-dependent increase of these enzymes was first measurable 6-18 h after transfer with 2 X 10(8) cells or 3 X 10(6) cells, respectively. The time-dependent increase caused by the adoptive transfer of 1-2 X 10(8) cells was strictly linear during a period of up to 25-40 h. These results indicate single-hit kinetics of liver cell death and suggest that effector T cells destroy infected liver cells via direct contact rather than via soluble toxic mediators. The results may represent the best in vivo correlate of the in vitro 51Cr-release assay that has been analyzed so far, and strongly support the view that antiviral cytotoxic T cells are directly cytolytic in vivo. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Persuasive prediction of concurrency access anomalies

Predictive analysis is a powerful technique that exposes concurrency bugs in un-exercised program executions. However, current predictive analysis approaches lack the persuasiveness property as they offer little assistance in helping programmers fully understand the execution history that triggers the predicted bugs. We present a persuasive bug prediction technique as well as a prototype tool, PECAN, for detecting general access anomalies (AAs) in concurrent programs. The main characteristic of PECAN is that, in addition to predict AAs in a more general way, it generates "bug hatching clips" that deterministically instruct the input program to exercise the predicted AAs. The key ingredient of PECAN is an efficient offline schedule generation algorithm, with proof of the soundness, that guarantees to generate a feasible schedule for every real AA in programs that use locks in a nested way. We evaluate PECAN using twenty-two multi-threaded subjects including six large concurrent systems, and our experiments demonstrate that PECAN is able to effectively predict and deterministically expose real AAs. Several serious and previously unknown bugs in large open source concurrent systems were also revealed in our experiments.
Characterization of resting state activity in MCI individuals

Objectives. Aging is the major risk factor for Alzheimer Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The aim of this study was to identify novel modifications of brain functional connectivity in MCI patients. MCI individuals were compared to healthy elderly subjects. Methods. We enrolled 37 subjects (age range 60–80 y.o.). Of these, 13 subjects were affected by MCI and 24 were age-matched healthy elderly control (HC). Subjects were evaluated with Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and prose memory (Babcock story) tests. In addition, with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we investigated resting state network (RSN) activities. Resting state (Rs) fMRI data were analyzed by means of Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Subjects were followed-up with neuropsychological evaluations for three years. Results. Rs-fMRI of MCI subjects showed increased intrinsic connectivity in the Default Mode Network (DMN) and in the Somatomotor Network (SMN). Analysis of the DMN showed statistically significant increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and left inferior parietal lobule (lIPL). During the three years follow-up, 4 MCI subjects converted to AD. The subset of MCI AD-converted patients showed increased connectivity in the right Inferior Parietal Lobule (rIPL). As for SMN activity, MCI and MCI-AD converted groups showed increased level of connectivity in correspondence of the right Supramarginal Gyrus (rSG). Conclusions. Our findings indicate alterations of DMN and SMN activity in MCI subjects, thereby providing potential imaging-based markers that can be helpful for the early diagnosis and monitoring of these patients.
Metal ions‐dependent peroxidase and oxidoreductase activities of polyclonal IgGs from the sera of Wistar rats

We present evidence showing that a small fraction of electrophoretically homogeneous IgGs from the sera of healthy Wistar rats is bound with several different Me2+ ions and oxidizes 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine through a peroxidase activity in the presence of H2O2 and through an oxidoreductase activity in the absence of H2O2. During purification on Protein A‐Sepharose and gel filtration, the polyclonal IgGs partially lose the Me2+ ions. Therefore, in the absence of external metal ions, the specific peroxidase activity of IgGs from the sera of different rats varied in the range 1.6–26% and increased up to 13–198% after addition of Fe2+ or Cu2+ ions as compared with horseradish peroxidase (HRP, taken for 100%). The oxidoreductase activity of HRP is 24‐fold lower than its peroxidase activity, while oxidoreductase and peroxidase activities of IgGs are comparable. Oxidoreductase activities of different IgGs in the absence of external metal ions varied from 22 to 800%, and in the presence of Fe2+ or Cu2+ ions, from 37 to 1100% in comparison with the HRP oxidoreductase activity (100%). Chromatography of the IgGs on Chelex‐100 leads to the adsorption of a small IgG fraction bound with metal ions and to its separation to many different subfractions demonstrating various affinities to the chelating resin and increased levels of the specific oxidoreductase and peroxidase activities. Antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutases, catalases, and glutathione peroxidases are known to represent critical defense mechanisms for preventing oxidative modifications of DNA, proteins, and lipids. Peroxidase and oxidoreductase activity of antibodies may play an important role in the protection of organisms from oxidative stress and toxic compounds. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study of Helicobacter pullorum proinflammatory properties on human epithelial cells in vitro

Background and aims: Helicobacter pullorum is an enterohepatic Helicobacter species of avian origin detected in patients with acute diarrhoea and inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of the present study was to determine whether H pullorum exerts a direct effect on human intestinal epithelial cells in vitro and to characterise the bacterial mechanisms and the signalling pathways involved. Materials and methods: The proinflammatory properties of H pullorum from human and avian origins were measured on human gastric (AGS) and intestinal (CaCo-2 and HT-29) epithelial cell lines after co-culture with different H pullorum strains, and the extent of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) involvement was determined. Results: All of the H pullorum strains tested stimulated interleukin 8 (IL8) secretion by the three cell lines. Similar results were obtained with heat-killed H pullorum. Incubation of cells with filtered H pullorum culture supernatants did not stimulate IL8 secretion. The same observation was made when bacterial adherence was inhibited by Transwell inserts. H pullorum induced NF-κB activation and rapid nuclear translocation as demonstrated by immunofluorescent staining and cellular fractionation. NF-κB involvement was confirmed by using the specific inhibitor SN50 and small interfering RNA (siRNA) which abolished H pullorum-induced IL8 production. Conclusions: H pullorum strains stimulate IL8 secretion by human gastric and intestinal epithelial cell lines. This effect requires bacterial adherence and probably lipopolysaccharides, and is mediated by NF-κB signalling. The present study strengthens the argument that H pullorum is a potent human pathogen and highlights its putative role in acute and chronic digestive diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Channel Estimation using Differential Model of Fading Fluctuation for EM Algorithm Applied to OFDM MAP Detection

This paper proposes a new channel estimation method for the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm applied to an OFDM receiver. Conventional schemes using the EM algorithm assume the random walk model as a process equation of a channel impulse response, and thus have insufficient tracking ability to fading fluctuation over fast fading channels. To improve the tracking ability, the proposed channel estimation method employs the differential model having the first and higher order differentials of the channel impulse response with respect to time. Computer simulations under the fast fading condition demonstrate that the proposed method is much superior in packet error rate to the conventional schemes employing the random walk model.
Maternal serum PAPP‐A and free β‐hCG at 12, 22 and 32 weeks' gestation in screening for pre‐eclampsia

To examine the distribution of maternal serum pregnancy‐associated plasma protein‐A (PAPP‐A) and free β‐human chorionic gonadotropin (β‐hCG) at 12, 22 and 32 weeks' gestation in singleton pregnancies which develop pre‐eclampsia (PE) and examine the performance of these biomarkers in screening for PE.
Expert Systems With Applications

Financial markets play an important role on the economical and social organization of modern society. In these kinds of markets, information is an invaluable asset. However, with the modernization of the ﬁnancial transactions and the information systems, the large amount of information available for a trader can make prohibitive the analysis of a ﬁnancial asset. In the last decades, many researchers have attempted to develop computational intelligent methods and algorithms to support the decision-making in different ﬁnancial market segments. In the literature, there is a huge number of scientiﬁc papers that investigate the use of computational intelligence techniques to solve ﬁnancial market problems. However, only few studies have focused on review the literature of this topic. Most of the existing review articles have a limited scope, either by focusing on a speciﬁc ﬁnancial market application or by focusing on a family of machine learning algorithms. This paper presents a review of the application of several computational intelligent methods in several ﬁnancial applications. This paper gives an overview of the most important primary studies published from 2009 to 2015, which cover techniques for preprocessing and clustering of ﬁnancial data, for forecasting future market movements, for mining ﬁnancial text information, among others. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) a comprehensive review of the literature of this ﬁeld, (ii) the deﬁnition of a systematic procedure for guiding the task of building an intelligent trading system and (iii) a discussion about the main challenges and open problems in this scientiﬁc ﬁeld
Discourse-level argumentation in scientific articles: human and automatic annotation

In this paper we present a rhetorically defined annotation scheme which is part of our corpus-based method for the summarisation of scientific articles. The annotation scheme consists of seven non-hierarchical labels which model prototypical academic argumentation and expected intentional 'moves'. In a large-scale experiments with three expert coders, we found the scheme stable and reproducible. We have built a resource consisting of 80 papers annotated by the scheme, and we show that this kind of resource can be used to train a system to automate the annotation work.
Mobilization with movement applied to the elbow affects shoulder range of movement in subjects with lateral epicondylalgia.

Clinical observations have suggested a relationship between shoulder range of movement (ROM) and lateral epicondylalgia. This study reports the effect of a single intervention of a mobilization with movement (MWM) applied to the elbow, on shoulder rotation ROM in subjects with lateral epicondylalgia. Twenty-three subjects with lateral epicondylalgia were included. In a one-group pretest-post-test design, ROM of shoulder internal and external rotation were measured by goniometer before and after the application of the MWM, of both the unaffected and the affected limbs. Significant differences in pre-intervention external rotation ROM were found between unaffected and affected shoulders of subjects with lateral epicondylalgia, but no significant difference remained post-intervention. It may be concluded that restriction of shoulder rotation ROM is present in patients with lateral epicondylalgia, probably due to a facilitated level of shoulder rotator muscle tone. Shoulder internal and external rotation ROM increases significantly following MWM to the elbow, in subjects with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia. Surprisingly, these ROM increases are also apparent on the 'unaffected' limb. These findings suggest that the MWM causes a neurophysiologically mediated decrease in resting muscle tone.
Polarization Degree and Direction Angle Effects on a CdZnTe Focal Plane Performance

To date in astrophysics, X- and gamma-ray source emissions have been studied almost exclusively through imaging techniques, spectral- and timing-variability analysis. However, often two or more distinct models potentially describe the same observations of a particular celestial-radiation source. By measuring the angle and degree of linear polarization of the detected radiation, it is increased by two the number of observational parameters thereby allowing a better discrimination between different models. Therefore, future <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\gamma$</tex></formula>-ray-telescope instrumentation should include the capability to perform highly sensitive polarimetric measurements. This idea has recently become even more important from the perspective of new very sensitive hard X- and soft gamma-ray focusing missions based on Laue lenses such as the Gamma-Ray Imager and DUAL missions, submitted to ESA Cosmic Vision calls. In order to optimize the design of a gamma-ray telescope focal plane, a CdZnTe detector prototype has been tested at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility under a <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">${\sim}100\hbox{\%}$</tex></formula> polarized gamma-ray beam. The tested detector was a 5 mm thick CdZnTe array with segmented anodes into 16<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times\,$</tex> </formula>16 pixels of 2.5<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times\,$</tex> </formula>2.5 mm<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{2}$</tex> </formula>. The aim of these tests was to study the polarimetric performance of this prototype as a function of the polarization state of the synchrotron beam. In particular, we determined the sensitivity of the detector to the level of the beam polarization as well as its potential to determine the polarization angle orientation by performing measurements at different polarization direction angles. In both tests the CdZnTe prototype showed a good linearity in its response and good sensitivity to polarization levels down to 50% and a polarization angular resolution better than 5<formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$^{\circ}$</tex> </formula>.
Aquatic and terrestrial stressors in amphibians: A test of the double jeopardy hypothesis based on maternally and trophically derived contaminants

Amphibians with biphasic life histories occupy aquatic and terrestrial habitats at different times in their lives, leading to a double jeopardy of contaminant risk in both habitats. The present study examines individual and interactive effects of mercury exposure to terrestrial adults and aquatic larvae on fitness‐related traits of American toads, Bufo americanus. Eggs from reference mothers or contaminated mothers were allowed to hatch and larvae were fed diets of either no added Hg or 2.5 or 10 µg/g total Hg (dry wt). Both dietary and maternal Hg had adverse effects on developing larvae, but there was no interaction between these factors. Dietary Hg had a marginal effect of decreased survival with increasing Hg in the diet. Animals from Hg‐exposed mothers weighed 14% less than those from reference mothers, and size at metamorphosis was directly correlated with hopping performance. Animals from Hg‐exposed mothers also took longer to complete metamorphosis and had 2.5 times the prevalence of spinal malformations compared with those from reference mothers. Results of the present study demonstrate that amphibians do indeed face a double jeopardy of contaminant exposure stemming from terrestrial and aquatic environments, because both exposure pathways adversely affected developing offspring. The present study also demonstrates that all possible routes of exposure over an organism's life history must be examined to provide a comprehensive picture of the ecological consequences of habitat contamination. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011;30:2277–2284. © 2011 SETAC
A comparative study of CIDP in a cohort of HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients

Objective: To investigate differences in clinical presentation, electrodiagnostic measures, CSF changes, and treatment outcome measures in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records of all patients meeting the European Federation of Neurology diagnostic criteria for idiopathic CIDP was performed in 2 neuromuscular units in Kwa-Zulu Natal between 2003 and 2015. Results: Eighty-four patients were included in the study; 39 were HIV-infected and 45 were HIV-uninfected. Among the HIV-infected patients, the majority were younger, were female, and had a monophasic progressive illness. Eighty-six percent (86%) were corticosteroid-responsive and 76% were in remission within 6–12 months requiring no further treatment. Among the HIV- uninfected patients, the majority were older, were male, and had a relapsing-remitting course. Twenty-seven percent (27%) were corticosteroid-responsive, 95% required combination therapy, and 33% were not in remission by 18 months on therapy. Conclusion: This study shows that HIV-infected patients with CIDP were younger, were more often female, displayed a monophasic progressive course, were highly steroid-responsive, and went into remission within 12 months of corticosteroid initiation.
An Adaptively Accelerated Lucy-Richardson Method for Image Deblurring

We present an adaptively accelerated Lucy-Richardson (AALR) method for the restoration of an image from its blurred and noisy version. The conventional Lucy-Richardson (LR) method is nonlinear and therefore its convergence is very slow. We present a novel method to accelerate the existing LR method by using an exponent on the correction ratio of LR. This exponent is computed adaptively in each iteration, using first-order derivatives of the deblurred image from previous two iterations. Upon using this exponent, the AALR improves speed at the first stages and ensures stability at later stages of iteration. An expression for the estimation of the acceleration step size in AALR method is derived. The superresolution and noise amplification characteristics of the proposed method are investigated analytically. Our proposed AALR method shows better results in terms of low root mean square error (RMSE) and higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), in approximately 43% fewer iterations than those required for LR method. Moreover, AALR method followed by wavelet-domain denoising yields a better result than the recently published state-of-the-art methods.
Dynamictrust: the trust development in peer-to-peer environments

In peer-to-peer (P2P) environments, trust is a very important issue when transactions/interactions occur between peers. In general, the trust evaluation on transactions/interactions relies on the recommendations from other peers, which may be inaccurate. This paper presents Dynamictrust, a P2P trust evaluation system. It is based on our peer trust evaluation model, which measures the credibility of peers' recommendations, and thus filters noise in responses and obtains more accurate and objective trust values
Parallel Processing via a Dual Olfactory Pathway in the Honeybee

In their natural environment, animals face complex and highly dynamic olfactory input. Thus vertebrates as well as invertebrates require fast and reliable processing of olfactory information. Parallel processing has been shown to improve processing speed and power in other sensory systems and is characterized by extraction of different stimulus parameters along parallel sensory information streams. Honeybees possess an elaborate olfactory system with unique neuronal architecture: a dual olfactory pathway comprising a medial projection-neuron (PN) antennal lobe (AL) protocerebral output tract (m-APT) and a lateral PN AL output tract (l-APT) connecting the olfactory lobes with higher-order brain centers. We asked whether this neuronal architecture serves parallel processing and employed a novel technique for simultaneous multiunit recordings from both tracts. The results revealed response profiles from a high number of PNs of both tracts to floral, pheromonal, and biologically relevant odor mixtures tested over multiple trials. PNs from both tracts responded to all tested odors, but with different characteristics indicating parallel processing of similar odors. Both PN tracts were activated by widely overlapping response profiles, which is a requirement for parallel processing. The l-APT PNs had broad response profiles suggesting generalized coding properties, whereas the responses of m-APT PNs were comparatively weaker and less frequent, indicating higher odor specificity. Comparison of response latencies within and across tracts revealed odor-dependent latencies. We suggest that parallel processing via the honeybee dual olfactory pathway provides enhanced odor processing capabilities serving sophisticated odor perception and olfactory demands associated with a complex olfactory world of this social insect.