Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systemic candidosis in silica-treated athymic and euthymic mice

Intravenous silica injections were used to assess the role of macrophages in the resistance of BALB/c nude and euthymic mice to systemic candidosis. CFU of Candida albicans in the kidneys, livers, and spleens of saline- or silica-treated mice were enumerated at various times after inoculation with 10(4) viable yeast cells. The number of C. albicans organisms recovered from the kidneys of silica-treated euthymic mice was similar to the number recovered from saline-treated controls during the first 3 days of infection; however, at every assay period thereafter, the number of organisms recovered from the kidneys of silica-treated mice was dramatically reduced (100- to 1,000-fold). Conversely, silica-treated nude mice were no more susceptible to systemic candidosis than were saline-injected nude mice. Silica treatment did not alter the ability of treated or control mice to clear C. albicans from the liver and spleen. These results demonstrate that macrophages play an important role in susceptibility to Candida infections.
Exploratory Strategies in Haptic Softness Discrimination Are Tuned to Achieve High Levels of Task Performance

Haptic perception essentially depends on the executed exploratory movements. It has been speculated that spontaneously executed movements are optimized for the computation of associated haptic properties. We investigated to what extent people strategically execute movements that are tuned for softness discrimination of objects with deformable surfaces. In Experiment 1, we investigated how movement parameters depend on expected stimulus compliance. In a discrimination task, we measured exploratory forces for less compliant (hard) stimuli and for more compliant (soft) stimuli. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether exploratory force also depends on the expected compliance difference between the two stimuli. The results indicate that participants apply higher forces when expecting harder objects as compared to softer objects, and they apply higher forces for smaller compliance differences than for larger ones. Experiment 3 examined how applied force influences differential sensitivity for softness as assessed by just noticeable differences (JNDs). For soft stimuli, JNDs did not depend on force. For hard stimuli, JNDs were “worse” (higher) if participants applied less force than they use naturally. We conclude that applying high force is a robust strategy to obtain high differential sensitivity, and that participants used this strategy if it was required for successful discrimination performance.
Collaborative Traceability Management: Challenges and Opportunities

Traceability and trace link management are important for various reasons, including managing knowledge about a complex software system, monitoring the progress of its development, and proving that it is developed in accordance to regulations. However, it is difficult to maintain and use trace links in real-world projects where artifacts undergo constant change and multiple stakeholders are involved. In this paper, we extend the current body of knowledge on traceability management by regarding its collaborative aspects in an industrial setting. Based on 15 industrial cases and semi-structured interviews with 24 practitioners, we identify challenges involved in collaborative traceability management, and how traceability management can be used to enable collaboration. Our findings show that main challenges are boundaries between organizations and tools, a lack of common goals and responsibilities, and the difficulty of collaboratively maintaining trace links. We also identify traceability as an important facilitator for communication and knowledge management across these boundaries.
The energy of heavy atoms according to Brown and Ravenhall: the Scott correction

We consider relativistic many-particle operators which – according to Brown and Ravenhall – describe the electronic states of heavy atoms. Their ground state energy is investigated in the limit of large nuclear charge and velocity of light. We show that the leading quasi-classical behavior given by the Thomas-Fermi theory is raised by a subleading correction, the Scott correction. Our result is valid for the maximal range of coupling constants, including the critical one. As a technical tool, a Sobolev-Gagliardo-Nirenberg type inequality is established for the critical atomic Brown-Ravenhall operator. Moreover, we prove sharp upper and lower bound on the eigenvalues of the hydrogenic Brown-Ravenhall operator up to and including the critical coupling constant.
Influenza Vaccination of Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

The role of influenza vaccination in patients suffering from autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), has long been a subject of discussion. The risk of exacerbation of the main disease following vaccination is of particular concern, and needs to be carefully evaluated against the risk of disease flares as a result of infections. Our study included 69 SLE patients and 54 RA patients, all in stable condition. We split the groups into two subgroups each: patients in SLE1 (23 patients) and RA1 (23 patients) received the flu vaccine (“Vaxigrip”, Aventis Pasteur) in November 2003. Patients in SLE2 (46 patients) and RA2 (31 patients) were not vaccinated. Throughout the following year, we studied parameters of disease activity and the occurrence of viral respiratory and bacterial infections in our patients. The vaccine was well tolerated in all cases. Vaccinated patients had significantly fewer occurrences of infections. Every viral and bacterial infection resulted in the worsening of the main disease. We believe that influenza vaccine is indicated for SLE and RA patients in stable condition. However, this decision must be made on a patient-by-patient basis. We plan to continue our study with the goal of formulating a better protocole for the clinical practice.
REGRET: A reputation model for gregarious societies

Reputation has been studied in many fields but few formal models have been defined up to now. In this paper we propose a new model for reputation that takes into account the social dimension of agents and a hierarchical ontology structure. This model is a natural extension of other models currently being used in the area of electronic commerce. We show how the model relates to these other systems and provide initial experimental results about the benefits of using a social view on the modeling of reputation.
Assessment of Post-Storm Recovery of Beaches Using Video Imaging Techniques: A Case Study at Gold Coast, Australia

Ever-expanding networks of surf cameras offer a unique opportunity to monitor the coastline over large expanses at very little cost compared to traditional in situ survey methods. Here, we describe and test a new coastal monitoring system maintained by CoastalCOMS Pty Ltd. at their test site at Gold Coast, Australia. The two-camera system monitors two highly sensitive 4-km stretches of sandy coastline adjacent to high-value assets. The traditional static multi-camera setup has been replaced by a single rotational camera. A 14-month data set, encompassing one major storm, a recovery period, and a seasonal cycle, was analyzed. Positive shoreline detections using the new camera system were available 64% of the time (roughly 145 days of the available 226, where daily offshore significant wave heights Hs ≤ 1 m). Comparison of the CoastalCOMS-derived shorelines and in situ survey data showed a mean shoreward bias of 25.5 m. Daily shoreline estimates were used to calculate weekly and five-week running mean beach widths at both sites. Analysis showed that both sites eroded between 15-22 m during the May 2009 storm and then recovered during the proceeding five-month calm period. Distinct intersite variability was observed between the more exposed Northern Beaches that displayed an annual shoreline cycle and very little intrasite variability and the more sheltered southern Palm Beach site that displayed large intrasite spatial variability and sensitivity to changes to both wave direction and wave height.
Effect of high salt intake in mutant mice lacking bradykinin-B2 receptors.

Renal kinins release prostaglandins and nitric oxide via the B2 receptor, promoting diuresis and natriuresis; hence, they may also contribute significantly to blood pressure regulation. We hypothesized that mutant mice lacking the gene encoding for the bradykinin-B2 receptor (B2-KO) become hypertensive when placed on a long-term high-salt diet. To test this, B2-KO and control mice were placed on either a normal (0.2%) or high-Na+ diet (3.15% in food plus 1% saline as drinking water) for 8 weeks. Systolic blood pressure was determined during weeks 6 and 8 by a computerized tail-cuff system. At the end of the 8-week period, mice were anesthetized for determination of mean blood pressure, renal blood flow, and renal vascular resistance. In B2-KO mice maintained on high Na+, systolic blood pressure was 15 mm Hg higher than in knockout animals on normal Na+ (P < .01). In contrast, there was no difference in blood pressure in control mice fed either a normal or a high-Na+ diet. Consistent with the systolic blood pressure data, direct mean arterial pressure revealed that B2-KO mice on high Na+ were hypertensive (115 +/- 6 in B2-KO on high-Na+ diet versus 79 +/- 2.8 in B2-KO on normal Na+, P < .0001); renal blood flow was reduced by 20% (P < .05) and renal vascular resistance was doubled (P < .0001) compared with B2-KO mice on normal Na+. In contrast, control mice on high Na+ were normotensive and tended to have increased renal blood flow and decreased renal vascular resistance compared with control mice on a normal Na+ diet. These findings indicate that kinins play an important role in preventing salt-sensitive hypertension; this may be achieved by maintaining renal blood flow under conditions of high salt intake.
A correlation between the weight of visceral adipose tissue and selected anthropometric indices: an autopsy study

Several anthropometric indices are used as an estimation of the true amount of body fat, e.g. the body mass index (BMI). These indices correlate well with each other and with non‐invasive measurements of total body fat and visceral adipose tissue. The indices generally show a strong correlation with cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.
Intercropping in Okra for Sustainable Vegetable Production

A field experiment was conducted at the Instructional Farm of UBKV during rabi seasons of 2008 and 2009 to assess intercropping effect in okra with an objective to generate more income from the farm through increased cropping intensity and complete and economical use of natural resources by combining nine different treatment combinations of different intercrops like cowpea, amaranthus, radish and palak in 1:1 row ratio. The trial was laid out in randomized block design (RBD) with four replications. Experimental results indicated that sole cropping of okra recorded significantly maximum values for most of the vegetative parameters. Sole cropping of okra recorded maximum number of marketable fruits plot-1 (1502.81), maximum fruit weight (17.11 g) and highest yield ha-1 (11.54 t). However, maximum okra equivalent yield ha-1 (15.67 t) was observed in okra+cowpea intercropping system. Minimum value for the same (9.02 t ha-1) was recorded in okra+radish intercropping system. The study revealed that ascorbic acid content of the okra fruit was not significantly affected due to intercropping. Okra+cowpea intercropping system was found best user of biological resources as it recorded maximum values for LER (1.56), RCC (13.75) and lower values of aggressivity (-0.14) and competitive ratio (0.93). Economic analysis also showed that okra+cowpea intercropping system was most remunerative as it recorded highest net return and B:C ratio (` 1,35,891.50 and 2.61, respectively). Based on the findings, growing of cowpea with okra may be adjudged as the best intercrop for sustainable vegetable production. Art ic le History
System F with coercion constraints

We present a second-order λ-calculus with coercion constraints that generalizes a previous extension of System F with parametric coercion abstractions by allowing multiple but simultaneous type and coercion abstractions, as well as recursive coercions and equi-recursive types. This enables a uniform presentation of several type system features that had previously been studied separately: type containment, bounded and instance-bounded polymorphism, which are already encodable with parametric coercion abstraction, and ML-style subtyping constraints. Our framework allows for a clear separation of language constructs with and without computational content. We also distinguish coherent coercions that are fully erasable from potentially incoherent coercions that suspend the evaluation---and enable the encoding of GADTs. Technically, type coercions that witness subtyping relations between types are replaced by a more expressive notion of typing coercions that witness subsumption relations between typings, e.g. pairs composed of a typing environment and a type. Our calculus is equipped with full reduction that allows reduction under abstractions---but we also introduce a form of weak reduction as reduction cannot proceed under incoherent type abstractions. Type soundness is proved by adapting the step-indexed semantics technique to full reduction, moving indices inside terms so as to control the reduction steps internally---but this is only detailed in the extended version.
Myelin‐specific T cells induce interleukin‐1beta expression in lesion‐reactive microglial‐like cells in zones of axonal degeneration

Infiltration of myelin‐specific T cells into the central nervous system induces the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). We have previously shown that myelin‐specific T cells are recruited into zones of axonal degeneration, where they stimulate lesion‐reactive microglia. To gain mechanistic insight, we used RNA microarray analysis to compare the transcript profile in hippocampi from perforant pathway axonal‐lesioned mice with and without adoptively transferred myelin‐specific T cells 2 days postlesion, when microglia are clearly lesion reactive. Pathway analysis revealed that, among the 1,447 differently expressed transcripts, the interleukin (IL)‐1 pathway including all IL‐1 receptor ligands was upregulated in the presence of myelin‐specific T cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed increased mRNA levels of IL‐1β, IL‐1α, and IL‐1 receptor antagonist in the T‐cell–infiltrated hippocampi from axonal‐lesioned mice. In situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry showed a T‐cell–enhanced lesion‐specific expression of IL‐1β mRNA and protein, respectively, and induction of the apoptosis‐associated speck‐like protein, ASC, in CD11b+ cells. Double in situ hybridization showed colocalization of IL‐1β mRNA in a subset of CD11b mRNA+ cells, of which many were part of cellular doublets or clusters, characteristic of proliferating, lesion‐reactive microglia. Double‐immunofluorescence showed a T‐cell–enhanced colocalization of IL‐1β to CD11b+ cells, including lesion‐reactive CD11b+ ramified microglia. These results suggest that myelin‐specific T cells stimulate lesion‐reactive microglial‐like cells to produce IL‐1β. These findings are relevant to understand the consequences of T‐cell infiltration in white and gray matter lesions in patients with MS. GLIA 2016;64:407–424
In Vitro Activity of the New Azole Isavuconazole (BAL4815) Compared with Six Other Antifungal Agents against 162 Cryptococcus neoformans Isolates from Cuba

ABSTRACT Cuban Cryptococcus isolates (n = 165) were tested in vitro against amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, and isavuconazole, giving MIC90 values of 0.25, 8, 4, 0.25, 0.125, 0.016, and 0.016 μg/ml, respectively. Isavuconazole and posaconazole seem to be potentially active drugs for treating cryptococcal infections.
Confidence in Structured-Prediction Using Confidence-Weighted Models

Confidence-Weighted linear classifiers (CW) and its successors were shown to perform well on binary and multiclass NLP problems. In this paper we extend the CW approach for sequence learning and show that it achieves state-of-the-art performance on four noun phrase chucking and named entity recognition tasks. We then derive few algorithmic approaches to estimate the prediction's correctness of each label in the output sequence. We show that our approach provides a reliable relative correctness information as it outperforms other alternatives in ranking label-predictions according to their error. We also show empirically that our methods output close to absolute estimation of error. Finally, we show how to use this information to improve active learning.
Influence of core stability exercise on lumbar vertebral instability in patients presented with chronic low back pain: A randomized clinical trial

Background: Excessive lumbar vertebrae translation and rotation in sagittal plane has been attributed as an associated factor of lumbar segmental instability (LSI) and low back pain (LBP). Reduction of these abnormalities improves back pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of core stability exercise on the translation and rotation of lumbar vertebrae in sagittal plane in patients with nonspecific chronic LBP (NSCLBP). Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 30 patients with NSCLBP due to LSI were included. The participants were randomly divided into two groups of treatment and control. The treatment group received general exercises plus core stability exercise for 8 weeks whereas; the control group received only general exercises. The magnitude of translation (mm) and rotation (deg) of lumbar vertebrae in the sagittal plane was determined by radiography in flexion and extension at baseline and after intervention. The primary outcome measures were to determine the mean changes from baseline in translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebrae in the sagittal plane after 8 weeks of intervention in each group. The secondary outcome was to compare the two groups in regard to translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebrae at the end of the study period. Data were analyzed using paired t-test and independent t-test. Results: Thirty patients aged 18-40 years old with clinical diagnosis of NSCLBP entered the study. Compared with baseline values, mean value of translation and rotation of the lumbar vertebra reduced significantly in both groups (P<0.05), except L3 translation in the control group. At the endpoint, mean translation value of L4 (P=0.04) and L5 (P=0.001) and rotation of the L5 (P=0.01) in the treatment group was significantly lower than the control group. Conclusion: These findings indicate that in patients presented with NSCLBP due to lumbar segmental instability, core stability exercises plus general exercises are more efficient than general exercises alone in the improvement of excessive lumbar vertebrae translation and rotation.
Influence of Various Oil Coatings on the Shelf Life of Guava cv. Allahabad Safeda

The present investigation entitled “Influence of various oil coatings on the shelf life of guava fruit cv. Allahabad safeda” was conducted in the Laboratory of Department of Horticulture, Khalsa College, Amritsar during the year 2017-18to find out suitable coating for extension of shelf life of guava. The fruits were harvested at the maturity at colour break change from green to scant yellow. Present experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD factorial) with twelve treatments replicated three times viz. T1 (Rice bran oil + Ambient condition), T2 (Olive oil + Ambient condition), T3 (Coconut oil + Ambient condition), T4 (Cinnamon oil + Ambient condition), T5 (Palm oil + Ambient condition), T6 (Untreated + Ambient condition), T7 (Rice bran oil + Cold storage), T8 (Olive oil + Cold storage), T9 (Coconut oil + Cold storage), T10 (Cinnamon oil + Cold storage), T11 (Palm oil + Cold storage), T12 (Untreated + Cold storage). Quality evaluation was done to find out suitable oil coating for guava fruits. The results of the study revealed that the guava fruits treated with (T8) olive oil coating at cold storage conditions were selected as better performed treatments in extending the shelf life of guava (32 days in cold storage and 16 days at ambient conditions) than cinnamon oil (8 days in cold storage and 4 days at ambient conditions) and caused minimum changes in physiological weight loss, retained fruit color, better organoleptic quality, maximum TSS, and ascorbic acid content as compared to cinnamon oil and other treatments.
Isotope mixing models require individual isotopic tracer content for correct quantification of sediment source contributions

The use of isotopic tracers for sediment source apportionment is gaining interest with recent introduction of compound‐specific stable isotope tracers. The method relies on linear mixing of source isotopic tracers, and deconvolution of a sediment mixture initially quantifies the contribution of sources to the mixture's tracer signature. Therefore, a correction to obtain real sediment source proportions is subsequently required. As far as we are aware, all published studies to date have used total isotopic tracer content or a proxy (e.g., soil carbon content) for this post‐unmixing correction. However, as the relationship between the isotopic tracer mixture and the source mixture is different for each isotopic tracer, post‐unmixing corrections cannot be carried out with one single factor.
Immunotherapy for malignant mesothelioma: reality check

ABSTRACT Introduction: Initial data of immune based therapy showed promise for improving malignant mesothelioma (MM) treatment. However, the results of such treatments have neither been predictable nor consistent and recent clinical studies of immune checkpoint inhibitors in MM have dampened initial enthusiasm. Areas covered: We comprehensively discuss the basis, modalities and updated results of immunotherapy in MM. An online search was conducted for relevant literature and abstracts of recent meetings. Expert commentary: Although initial studies have demonstrated proof of principle that manipulating the immune checkpoint axis holds promise in MM, results of some recent large studies using checkpoint inhibitors have been disappointing. This is not surprising given the low mutational load in MM and suggests that single agent immunotherapy has limited benefit in this disease. We believe that in order to demonstrate durable survival benefits, they will need to be used in combination approaches with other immunotherapies, vaccines or chemotherapy.
A Neural Network Implementation on an Inexpensive Eight Bit Microcontroller

The paper describes a neural network implementation on a low end and inexpensive microcontroller. It also describes the method of using a simple hardware multiplier to generate multibyte accurate results. An activation function that is equivalent to tangent hyperbolic is also described. An example is shown using an inexpensive eight bit microcontroller is used for a nonlinear control surface.