Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Helicobacter pylori Induces Apoptosis of Human Monocytes but Not Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells: Role of the cag Pathogenicity Island

ABSTRACT Monocytes are circulating precursors of the dendritic cell subset, professional antigen-presenting cells with a unique ability to initiate the innate and adaptive immune response. In this study, we have investigated the effects of wild-type Helicobacter pylori strains and their isogenic mutants with mutations in known bacterial virulence factors on monocytes and monocyte-derived dendritic cells. We show that H. pylori strains induce apoptosis of human monocytes by a mechanism that is dependent on the expression of a functional cag pathogenicity island. This effect requires an intact injection organelle for direct contact between monocytes and the bacteria but also requires a still-unidentified effector that is different from VacA or CagA. The exposure of in vitro-generated monocyte-derived dendritic cells to H. pylori stimulates the release of inflammatory cytokines by a similar mechanism. Of note is that dendritic cells are resistant to H. pylori-induced apoptosis. These phenomena may play a critical role in the evasion of the immune response by H. pylori, contributing to the persistence of the infection.
Prevalence, incidence and risk factors for hepatitis C in homosexual men: data from two cohorts of HIV-negative and HIV-positive men in Sydney, Australia

Background An increasing incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in HIV-positive homosexual men has recently been described, but it is uncertain to what extent this reflects sexual transmission. We report prevalence, incidence and risk factors for HCV infection in community-based cohorts of HIV-negative and HIV-positive homosexual men in Sydney. Methods Both cohorts recruited participants using similar community-based strategies. Men underwent annual face-to-face interviews, and reported history of injecting-drug use (IDU) and sexual and other behaviours that might lead to blood contact. HCV screening was offered to consenting participants from 2001 to 2007. Results At baseline, HCV prevalence was 1.07% in the HIV-negative and 9.39% in the HIV-positive men. HCV seropositivity was strongly associated with a history of IDU in both cohorts (OR=56.18, 95% CI 12.55 to 251.5 in HIV-negative, and OR=24.46, 95% CI 5.44 to 110.0 in HIV-positive). In the HIV-negative cohort, five men seroconverted to HCV over 4412.1 person-years of follow-up, an incidence of 0.11 per 100 person-years (95% CI 0.03 to 0.26). Only one seroconverter reported IDU. Of the five, four reported sexual contact with HIV-positive men (HR=8.23, 95% CI 0.91 to 74.28), and two had an incident ulcerative sexually transmitted infection. In the HIV-positive cohort, none seroconverted over 238.1 person-years of follow-up (97.5% CI 0 to 1.54, single-sided). Conclusion HCV prevalence was almost 10 times higher in HIV-positive homosexual men. Although incident HCV infection was uncommon in both cohorts, cases of non-IDU-related transmission did occur, possibly linked to sexual contact with HIV-positive men.
Ultrashort SONOS memories

We report the operational characteristics of ultrashort SONOS memories down to /spl sim/30-nm effective gate length. Good sub-threshold swing, good drain-induced barrier lowering (/spl sim/120 mV/decade), and /spl sim/2.4 V of memory window down to the smallest dimensions demonstrate the improvements that result from a thin tunneling oxide and a large trapping center density. The use of distributed defects and thin tunneling oxide is reflected in a memory window that is stable up to at least 10/sup 5/ cycles for the smallest devices. The smallest structures tested employ /spl sim/75 electrons for memory storage, which allows for device to device reproducibility. The capture and emission processes asymmetries point to the differences in the energy parameters of the two processes. The smallest structures, however, do show loss of retention time compared to the larger structures, for the same oxide-nitride-oxide stack thickness, and this is believed to arise from higher leakage due to higher defects distribution in the gate insulators from process-induced damage. All tested devices, down to /spl sim/30-nm effective gate length, show very good endurance characteristics.
Pharmacological and Protein Profiling Suggests Venetoclax (ABT-199) as Optimal Partner with Ibrutinib in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Purpose: Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a critical enzyme in the B-cell receptor pathway and is inhibited by ibrutinib due to covalent binding to the kinase domain. Though ibrutinib results in impressive clinical activity in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), most patients achieve only partial remission due to residual disease. We performed a pharmacologic profiling of residual circulating CLL cells from patients receiving ibrutinib to identify optimal agents that could induce cell death of these lymphocytes. Experimental Design: Ex vivo serial samples of CLL cells from patients on ibrutinib were obtained prior and after (weeks 2, 4, and 12) the start of treatment. These cells were incubated with PI3K inhibitors (idelalisib or IPI-145), bendamustine, additional ibrutinib, or BCL-2 antagonists (ABT-737 or ABT-199), and cell death was measured. In vitro investigations complemented ex vivo studies. Immunoblots for BTK signaling pathway and antiapoptotic proteins were performed. Results: The BCL-2 antagonists, especially ABT-199, induced high cell death during ex vivo incubations. In concert with the ex vivo data, in vitro combinations also resulted in high cytotoxicity. Serial samples of CLL cells obtained before and 2, 4, 12, or 36 weeks after the start of ibrutinib showed inhibition of BTK activity and sensitivity to ABTs. Among the three BCL-2 family antiapoptotic proteins that are overexpressed in CLL, levels of MCL-1 and BCL-XL were decreased after ibrutinib while ABT-199 selectively antagonizes BCL-2. Conclusions: Our biologic and molecular results suggest that ibrutinib and ABT-199 combination should be tested clinically against CLL. Clin Cancer Res; 21(16); 3705–15. ©2015 AACR.
An agent-based model of group decision making in baboons

We present an agent-based model of the key activities of a troop of chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) based on the data collected at De Hoop Nature Reserve in South Africa. We analyse the predictions of the model in terms of how well it is able to duplicate the observed activity patterns of the animals and the relationship between the parameters that control the agent's decision procedure and the model's predictions. At the current stage of model development, we are able to show that across a wide range of decision parameter values, the baboons are able to achieve their energetic and social time requirements. The simulation results also show that decisions concerning movement (group action selection) have the greatest influence on the outcomes. Those cases where the model's predictions fail to agree with the observed activity patterns have highlighted key elements that were missing from the field data, and that would need to be collected in subsequent fieldwork. Based on our experience, we believe group decision making is a fertile field for future research, and agent-based modelling offers considerable scope for understanding group action selection.
nfluence of body position on muscle deoxy [ Hb + Mb ] during ramp cycle exercise red

We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to test the hypothesis that body position alters the sigmoidal response profile of muscle fractional O2 extraction (estimated using deoxy[Hb + Mb]) during incremental cycle exercise. Seven male subjects (mean ± SD age 32 ± 13 years) completed a ramp incremental cycling test to exhaustion (30 W/min) in both the supine and upright body positions. The sigmoidal (as opposed to hyperbolic) model that provided the better fit to deoxy[Hb + Mb] data during upright cycling was also present for the supine response; however, the slope of the sigmoid was increased (upright: 0.052 ± 0.012 vs. supine: 0.090 ± 0.036% · %P−1 peak; P < 0.05) and a plateau occurred at a lower work rate (upright: 83 ± 8 vs. supine: 68 ± 19%P−1 peak; P < 0.05) during supine exercise. These changes occurred in the absence of a leftward shift of the sigmoid. We also found a significantly greater V̇O2 / W slope above compared to below gas exchange threshold (GET) for both conditions (upright: 9.8 ± 0.5 vs. 8.2 ± 0.9; supine: 10.7 ± 0.9 vs. 8.0 ± 0.8) and for supine compared to upright cycling above GET. These findings suggest that the supine posture affects O2 extraction and V̇O kinetics to a greater extent as work rate progresses during ramp incremental exercise.
The results of carpal tunnel release for carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed on clinical grounds, with or without electrophysiological investigations: a randomized study

We compared the results of carpal tunnel release in patients with the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome based on only clinical grounds and those diagnosed on clinical and electrophysiological grounds. Ninety-three patients, 83 women (89%) and ten men (11%), meeting the criteria of ‘typical’ carpal tunnel syndrome, were randomly assigned to receive carpal tunnel release with (n = 45, 48%) or without (n = 48, 52%) nerve conduction studies. Patients were followed-up at 1 and 6 months, by assessments that included the Levine scores, filament tests, grip and pinch strength. No significant differences in Levine scores were found at the 1 and 6 months assessments. Statistically significant differences were noted in three-point pinch strength and sensation; however, they were not of clinical importance. The results of the study show that the results of carpal tunnel release in patients with typical symptoms are no better after nerve conduction studies and, therefore, nerve conduction studies can be omitted.
Minimum Electrically Small Antennas

Theoretically, the minimum radiation quality factor of an isolated resonance can be achieved in a spherical electrically small antenna by combining TM and TE spherical modes, provided that the stored energy in the antenna spherical volume is totally suppressed. Using closed-form expressions for the stored energies obtained through the vector spherical wave theory, it is shown that a magnetic-coated metal core reduces the internal stored energy of both TM and TE modes simultaneously, so that a self-resonant antenna with the approaching the fundamental minimum is created. Numerical results for a multiarm spherical helix antenna confirm the theoretical predictions. For example, a 4-arm spherical helix antennawith amagnetic-coated perfectly electrically conducting core exhibits the of 0.66 times the Chu lower bound, or 1.25 times the minimum .
Development of word-based text compression algorithm for Indonesian language document

Information technology is growing very rapidly, in particular for data handling. Data is a valuable asset for everyone, especially for larger companies with branches in several places. Data transmission from headquarters to branch offices make the company must provide good tools to do it. These companies also need tools that can be used to compress data to reduce their size. The main idea of the word-based encoding is to extract each word of the source text, then it is checked whether containing capital letters or not. After that, it is checked if there is a symbol or number. The particle will be separated from the basic word using stemming algorithm. Symbols, numbers and affixes will be indexed in the basic dictionary. The basic word will also be checked whether it exists in the basic dictionary or not. If there is not a match, then the word will be stored in the supplement dictionary. The experiment was conducted on the text file with the size from about 10K bytes up to 500K bytes with 16-bits length codewords. The result shows that the compression ratio of the proposed method is comparable with the previous ones, while its processing time is much better than the Reversed Sequence of Characters on LZW method.
Soundness for <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$S$</tex></formula>- and <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">$A$</tex></formula>-Timed Workflow Nets Is Undecidable

The main purpose of workflow management systems is to support the definition, execution, and control of workflow processes. With or without time constraints, workflow management systems should satisfy certain correctness properties. The most important and widely used is the soundness property . In this paper, we focus on the soundness property for two classes of Petri-net-based workflow management systems with time constraints, S- and A-timed workflow nets (WNs), and we show that this property is undecidable for them. The proof technique, based on the undecidability of the halting problem for deterministic counter machines, shows first that the reachability, coverability, boundedness, and quasi-liveness problems are undecidable for these two classes of timed WNs, and then, as a consequence, the undecidability of the soundness problem is derived.
Exploring the Number of First-Order Political Subdivisions Across Countries: Some Stylized Facts

Why do some countries have no first-order administrative subdivisions (e.g., states or provinces), whereas other countries have over 80? Recently, economists have started to look at the optimal size of countries and forces influencing the creation of local political jurisdictions like school districts. This paper provides the first analy- sis of the "missing middle" level of political jurisdictions common to all countries. We empirically examine how country size, natural transportation infrastructure, location, population fractionalization, and level of development affect the number of first-order subdivisions. The number of first-order subdivisions is shown to be associated in a non- linear way with measures of fractionalization—exhibiting a U-shaped Kuznets curve for ethnic heterogeneity and an inverted Kuznets curve for lingual and religious heterogene- ity. This is a different and more complex relationship than that found for local political jurisdictions where greater heterogeneity is associated with more districts suggesting that first-order political subdivisions may serve a different role.
SHARC: Fast and robust unidirectional routing

During recent years, impressive speed-up techniques for Dijkstra's have been developed. Unfortunately, the most advanced techniques use bidirectional search, which makes it hard to use them in scenarios where a backward search is prohibited. Even worse, such scenarios are widely spread (e.g., timetable-information systems or time-dependent networks). In this work, we present a unidirectional speed-up technique, which competes with bidirectional approaches. Moreover, we show how to exploit the advantage of unidirectional routing for fast exact queries in timetable information systems and for fast approximative queries in time-dependent scenarios. By running experiments on several inputs other than road networks, we show that our approach is very robust to the input.
Moderate Effect of Job Commitment on the Relationship between Employees' Emotional Labor and Burnout

Emotional Labor has important effect on jobs which contact people frequently, such as teachers, salespersons and so on. It is necessary to explore the circumstances of emotional labor about these special jobs. This study tested the impact of emotional labor on job burnout with the methods of interview and questionnaire survey, and explored the moderate effect of job commitment on the relationship between employees’ emotional labor and burnout for teachers and sales employees. Results showed that 1)Surface acting can positively predict exhaustion and depersonalization, while deep acting negatively predict all three components of burnout; 2)Employees with higher job commitment tend to use more deep acting in work than those with lower job commitment; 3)Job commitment can moderate the relationship between surface acting and depersonalization. The relationship will be strong while job commitment is high, and will be weak while job commitment is low. At last, compared with teachers, sales employees tend to use more surface acting in work.
A Simple Open-Circuit Detection Strategy for a Single-Phase Grid-Connected PV Inverter Fed From Power Optimizers

A simple and real-time open-circuit fault (OCF) detection method is proposed for a single-phase grid-connected photovoltaic inverter fed by series-connected power optimizers (POs). To implement the proposed method, PO controllers periodically monitor POs’ output voltage variations and calculate output voltage residual errors. Then, on the PO side, the OCF identification rule for the inverter is developed, which is based on the amount of voltage variation and the improved judgment criterion derived from voltage residual error and power. The proposed OCF detection method is of low cost and is real time, needing no extra hardware and no communication between the inverter and POs. Generally speaking, the method provides a reliable and fast solution to detect OCFs in the series-connected distributed dc power or energy storage systems. Its effectiveness and reliability are verified by experimental results.
The effect of peritoneovenous shunting on catecholamine metabolism in patients with hepatic ascites

The elevated catecholamine levels in cirrhotic patients with ascites have been proposed to be due to sympathetic overactivity secondary either to reduced intravascular volume or to an underlying cardiovascular abnormality such as reduced pressor responsiveness. Furthermore, these elevated catecholamine levels have been proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of salt and water retention. Therefore, the effect of peritoneovenous shunting on the circulating levels and renal excretion of catecholamines were studied in six patients with massive refractive ascites preoperative within the first 8 hr postoperative and by 2 weeks postoperative under metabolic conditions. The recirculation of ascites into the intravascular compartment resulted perioperatively in significant rises in cardiac output (p = 0.001), para‐amino‐hippurate clearance (p = 0.08), creatinine clearance, diuresis (p = 0.05) and natriuresis (p = 0.06). Systemic blood pressure remained unchanged while systemic vascular resistance decreased (p < 0.05).
A lower hybrid current drive system for ITER

A 20 MW/5 GHz lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system was initially due to be commissioned and used for the second mission of ITER, i.e. the Q = 5 steady state target. Though not part of the currently planned procurement phase, it is now under consideration for an earlier delivery. In this paper, both physics and technology conceptual designs are reviewed. Furthermore, an appropriate work plan is also developed. This work plan for design, R&D, procurement and installation of a 20 MW LHCD system on ITER follows the ITER Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) T13-05 task instructions. It gives more details on the various scientific and technical implications of the system, without presuming on any work or procurement sharing amongst the possible ITER partnersb The LHCD system of ITER is not part of the initial cost sharing. This document does not commit the Institutions or Domestic Agencies of the various authors in that respect.
The causes of variation in learning and behavior: why individual differences matter

In a seminal paper written five decades ago, Cronbach discussed the two highly distinct approaches to scientific psychology: experimental and correlational. Today, although these two approaches are fruitfully implemented and embraced across some fields of psychology, this synergy is largely absent from other areas, such as in the study of learning and behavior. Both Tolman and Hull, in a rare case of agreement, stated that the correlational approach held little promise for the understanding of behavior. Interestingly, this dismissal of the study of individual differences was absent in the biologically oriented branches of behavior analysis, namely, behavioral genetics and ethology. Here we propose that the distinction between “causation” and “causes of variation” (with its origins in the field of genetics) reveals the potential value of the correlational approach in understanding the full complexity of learning and behavior. Although the experimental approach can illuminate the causal variables that modulate learning, the analysis of individual differences can elucidate how much and in which way variables interact to support variations in learning in complex natural environments. For example, understanding that a past experience with a stimulus influences its “associability” provides little insight into how individual predispositions interact to modulate this influence on associability. In this “new” light, we discuss examples from studies of individual differences in animals’ performance in the Morris water maze and from our own work on individual differences in general intelligence in mice. These studies illustrate that, opposed to what Underwood famously suggested, studies of individual differences can do much more to psychology than merely providing preliminary indications of cause-effect relationships.
Sphygmomanometry-Evoked Allodynia in Chronic Pain Patients With and Without Fibromyalgia

Background:Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome that affects about 2% of the U.S. general population, with greater prevalence among women (3.5%) than men (0.5%). Previous research results suggest that the experience of pain (allodynia) upon sphygmomanometry may indicate the presence of fibromyalgia. Objective:The aim of this study was to confirm these findings in patients with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain conditions and evaluate the use of sphygmomanometry as a potential screening tool for the identification of patients with fibromyalgia. Methods:A total of 150 people participated in this multicenter, cross-sectional observational study. The study included a physician-conducted evaluation to determine if the participant met the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1990 diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia. The presence of sphygmomanometry-evoked allodynia was assessed during a seated cuff pressure inflation that was repeated three times on each arm. Each site was provided a sphygmomanometer to ensure standardization, and the pressure of the cuff at the moment of pain initiation was recorded. If the patient did not indicate pain prior to 180 mmHg, then the inflation was stopped, a notation of no pain was made, and a cuff pressure of 180 mmHg was recorded. The mean of the six cuff pressure measurements was used for the analyses. Logistic regression was performed to analyze the relationship between sphygmomanometry-evoked allodynia and fibromyalgia. Results:The evaluable sample was 148 (one participant had too large an arm circumference for the sphygmomanometer and another did not receive the clinician evaluation of ACR-determined fibromyalgia diagnosis). Over half of the participants were determined to have an ACR diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Of these, 71 (91%) were women and had an average age of 54 years. Of the 70 participants with no fibromyalgia diagnosis, 42 (60%) were women and also had an average age of 54 years. Sixty-one (78%) of the fibromyalgia participants, compared with 25 (36%) of those with no fibromyalgia diagnosis, reported sphygmomanometry-evoked allodynia. The participants with fibromyalgia reported pain ata lower cuff pressure compared with those without fibromyalgia (132 mmHg vs. 166 mmHg, p < .01). The logistic regression showed that sphygmomanometry-evoked allodynia predicted an ACR-determined FM diagnosis (&khgr;2 = 19.4, p < .01). Discussion:These findings support previous research suggesting that patients who report pain upon sphygmomanometry may warrant further evaluation for the presence of fibromyalgia.