Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toll‐like receptor 2 has a prominent but nonessential role in innate immunity to Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia

Staphylococcus aureus is an important cause of acute bacterial pneumonia. Toll‐like receptor 2 (TLR2) recognizes multiple components of the bacterial cell wall and activates innate immune responses to gram‐positive bacteria. We hypothesized that TLR2 would have an important role in pulmonary host defense against S. aureus. TLR null (TLR2−/−) mice and wild type (WT) C57BL/6 controls were challenged with aerosolized S. aureus at a range of inocula for kinetic studies of cytokine and antimicrobial peptide expression, lung inflammation, bacterial killing by alveolar macrophages, and bacterial clearance. Survival was measured after intranasal infection. Pulmonary induction of most pro‐inflammatory cytokines was significantly blunted in TLR2−/− mice 4 and 24 h after infection in comparison with WT controls. Bronchoalveolar concentrations of cathelicidin‐related antimicrobial peptide also were reduced in TLR2−/− mice. Lung inflammation, measured by enumeration of bronchoalveolar neutrophils and scoring of histological sections, was significantly blunted in TLR2−/− mice. Phagocytosis of S. aureus by alveolar macrophages in vivo after low‐dose infection was unimpaired, but viability of ingested bacteria was significantly greater in TLR2−/− mice. Bacterial clearance from the lungs was slightly impaired in TLR2−/− mice after low‐dose infection only; bacterial elimination from the lungs was slightly accelerated in the TLR2−/− mice after high‐dose infection. Survival after high‐dose intranasal challenge was 50–60% in both groups. TLR2 has a significant role in early innate immune responses to S. aureus in the lungs but is not required for bacterial clearance and survival from S. aureus pneumonia.
PRICING ATTRIBUTES OF WINES FROM EMERGING SUPPLIERS ON THE BRITISH COLUMBIA MARKET

We examine British Columbia (BC) wine consumersâ valuation of wine imported from emerging suppliers (Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia and Hungary) using hedonic pricing technique. BC Liquor Distribution Branch retail sales data covering weekly sales of table wine imported into the province of British Columbia from all five countries for the period April 20th, 2002 to May 8th, 2004 are applied to estimate the influence of wine attributes on prices. The results indicate that grape variety, brand name, country of origin, and alcohol content are important factors influencing prices paid by consumers. In particular, Chilean white and red wines are associated with larger price premia as compared to Argentinean wines. Wines from Hungary, Bulgaria, and Croatia, although sold in large quantities in the BC market, are substantially discounted in comparison to New World wines. Cabernet Sauvignon fetches a higher price when blended with other varietals and Chardonnay appears to be popular and highly valued by consumers among white wines.
Prolactin Secreting Pituitary Carcinoma with Extracranial Spread Presenting with Pathological Fracture of Femur

Pituitary carcinomas are rare neoplasm, and account for approximately 0.1%–0.2% of all pituitary neoplasm. [1] Pituitary carcinoma is an extremely rare and typically carry very poor prognosis. For confirmation of diagnosis of pituitary carcinoma, which require demonstration of the presence of metastases, which may develop due to malignant transformation of preexisting benign pituitary adenoma after a varied latency period, ranging from few months to many years. [2] Sir, Pituitary carcinoma is considered as extremely rare neoplasm and account for 0.1%–0.2% pituitary neoplasm. [1] Pituitary carcinoma carry very poor prognosis. For confirmation of the diagnosis of pituitary carcinoma, require radiological as well histopathological demonstration of the presence of metastases. Pituitary carcinoma may develop due to malignant transformation of preexisting functional hormone secreting benign pituitary adenoma after a varying period of latency, which may extend up to many years after the initial diagnosis ranging from few months to many years. Present with extracranial metastasis. Authors report an interesting case with invasive prolactinoma, who presented with pathological fracture of femur. She underwent surgical management.
Measuring mental workload with the NASA-TLX needs to examine each dimension rather than relying on the global score: an example with driving

Abstract The distinction between several components of mental workload is often made in the ergonomics literature. However, measurements used are often established from a global score, notably with several questionnaires that originally reflect several dimensions. The present study tested the effect of driving situation complexity, experience and subjective levels of tension and alertness on each dimension of the NASA-TLX questionnaire of workload, in order to highlight the potential influence of intrinsic, extraneous and germane load factors. The results showed that, in complex situation, mental, temporal and physical demand (load dimensions) increased, and that novice drivers presented high physical demand when subjective tension was low on performance. Moreover, increase of mental and physical demand increased effort. It thus, appears essential to distinguish the different components of mental workload used in the NASA-TLX questionnaire. Practitioner Summary: Currently, global score of NASA-TLX questionnaire is used to measure mental workload. Here, we considered independently each dimension of NASA-TLX, and results showed that mental load factors (driving situation complexity, experience, subjective tension and alertness) had a different effect on dimensions, questioning global score use to evaluate workload.
Anatomical and ecological constraints on Phanerozoic animal diversity in the marine realm

We grouped the fossil records of marine animal genera into suites defined by function and physiology. The stratigraphic coherence of the resulting diversity history indicates the importance of ecological structure in constraining taxonomic richness through time. The proportional representation of major functional groups was stably maintained for intervals as long as 200 million years, despite evolutionary turnover and changes in total diversity. Early Paleozoic radiations established stable ecosystem relationships, and thereafter only the great era-bounding mass extinctions were able to break patterns of incumbency, permitting the emergence of new community structures with distinct proportional diversity relationships.
Characterization of Bacterial Community Diversity in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Infections Using Novel Culture-independent Techniques

Background Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with or without polyps is a common chronic upper airway condition of multifactorial origin. Fundamental to effective treatment of any infection is the ability to accurately characterize the underlying cause. Many studies have shown that only a small fraction of the total range of bacterial species present in CRS is detected through conventional culture-dependent techniques. Consequently, culture data are often unrepresentative of the true diversity of the microbial community within the sample. These drawbacks, along with the length of time required to complete the analysis, strongly support the development of alternative means of assessing which bacterial species are present. As such, molecular microbiological approaches that assess the content of clinical samples in a culture-independent manner could significantly enhance the range and quality of data obtained routinely from such samples. We aimed to characterize the bacterial diversity present in tissue and mucus samples taken from the CRS setting using molecular nonculture-dependent techniques. Methods Through 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene clone sequencing and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis, the bacteria present in 70 clinical samples from 43 CRS patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery were characterized. Results Bacterial T-RFLP profiles were generated for 70 of 73 samples and a total of 48 separate bands were detected. Species belonging to 34 genera were identified as present by clone sequence analysis. Of the species detected, those within the genera Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Haemophilus, Propionibacterium, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus were found numerically dominant, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa the most frequently detected species. Conclusion This study has validated the use of the culture-independent technique T-RFLP in sinonasal samples. Preliminary characterization of the microbial diversity in CRS suggests a complex range of common and novel bacterial species within the upper airway in CRS, providing further evidence for the polymicrobial etiology of CRS.
Suppression of anharmonicities in crystalline membranes by external strain

In practice, physical membranes are exposed to a certain amount of external strain (tension or compression) due to the environment where they are placed. As a result, the behavior of the phonon modes of the membrane is modified. We show that anharmonic effects in stiff two-dimensional membranes are highly suppressed under the application of tension. For this, we consider the anharmonic coupling between bending and stretching modes in the self-consistent screening approximation (SCSA) and compare the obtained height-height correlation function in the SCSA to the corresponding harmonic propagator. The elasticity theory results are compared to atomistic Monte Carlo simulations for a graphene membrane under tension. We find that, while rather high values of strain are needed to avoid anharmonicity in soft membranes, strain fields less than 1% are enough to suppress all the anharmonic effects in stiff membranes, as graphene.
Bulletproofs: Short Proofs for Confidential Transactions and More

We propose Bulletproofs, a new non-interactive zero-knowledge proof protocol with very short proofs and without a trusted setup; the proof size is only logarithmic in the witness size. Bulletproofs are especially well suited for efficient range proofs on committed values: they enable proving that a committed value is in a range using only 2 log_2(n)+9 group and field elements, where n is the bit length of the range. Proof generation and verification times are linear in n. Bulletproofs greatly improve on the linear (in n) sized range proofs in existing proposals for confidential transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Moreover, Bulletproofs supports aggregation of range proofs, so that a party can prove that m commitments lie in a given range by providing only an additive O(log(m)) group elements over the length of a single proof. To aggregate proofs from multiple parties, we enable the parties to generate a single proof without revealing their inputs to each other via a simple multi-party computation (MPC) protocol for constructing Bulletproofs. This MPC protocol uses either a constant number of rounds and linear communication, or a logarithmic number of rounds and logarithmic communication. We show that verification time, while asymptotically linear, is very efficient in practice. The marginal cost of batch verifying 32 aggregated range proofs is less than the cost of verifying 32 ECDSA signatures. Bulletproofs build on the techniques of Bootle et al. (EUROCRYPT 2016). Beyond range proofs, Bulletproofs provide short zero-knowledge proofs for general arithmetic circuits while only relying on the discrete logarithm assumption and without requiring a trusted setup. We discuss many applications that would benefit from Bulletproofs, primarily in the area of cryptocurrencies. The efficiency of Bulletproofs is particularly well suited for the distributed and trustless nature of blockchains. The full version of this article is available on ePrint.
Platelet factor 4 limits Th 17 differentiation and cardiac allograft rejection

Th cells are the major effector cells in transplant rejection and can be divided into Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg subsets. Th differentiation is controlled by transcription factor expression, which is driven by positive and negative cytokine and chemokine stimuli at the time of T cell activation. Here we discovered that chemokine platelet factor 4 (PF4) is a negative regulator of Th17 differentiation. PF4-deficient and platelet-deficient mice had exaggerated immune responses to cardiac transplantation, including increased numbers of infiltrating Th17 cells and increased plasma IL-17. Although PF4 has been described as a platelet-specific molecule, we found that activated T cells also express PF4. Furthermore, bone marrow transplantation experiments revealed that T cell–derived PF4 contributes to a restriction in Th17 differentiation. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that PF4 is a key regulator of Th cell development that is necessary to limit Th17 differentiation. These data likely will impact our understanding of platelet-dependent regulation of T cell development, which is important in many diseases, in addition to transplantation. Research Article Transplantation
iBoW-LCD: An Appearance-Based Loop-Closure Detection Approach Using Incremental Bags of Binary Words

In this letter, we introduce iBoW-LCD, a novel appearance-based loop-closure detection method. The presented approach makes use of an incremental bag-of-words (BoW) scheme based on binary descriptors to retrieve previously seen similar images, avoiding any vocabulary training stage usually required by classic BoW models. In addition, to detect loop closures, iBoW-LCD builds on the concept of dynamic islands, a simple but effective mechanism to group similar images close in time, which reduces the computational times typically associated with Bayesian frameworks. Our approach is validated using several indoor and outdoor public datasets, taken under different environmental conditions, achieving a high accuracy and outperforming other state-of-the-art solutions.
Pattern recognition as a key technology for the next generation of user interfaces

It is time to go beyond the established approaches in human-computer interaction. After a serious critic of command language, menu selection, and desktop interfaces we discuss the two known approaches to overcome the obstacles and limitations: virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). Both design strategies are diametrically opposed: VR enriches the virtual world with real humans, while AR augments the real world with intelligent features. Only with the AR design strategy humans are able to behave as much as possible in a natural way: behavior of humans in the real world with other humans and/or real world objects. Our interest in human centred design let us follow this idea. Based on the fundamental constraints of natural way of interacting we derive a set of recommendations for the next generation of user interfaces: the natural user interface (NUI). The concept of NUI is discussed in forms of general framework and several NUI-like applications. Finally, we describe the interdisciplinary research topics that must be taken into consideration for a well-designed NUI in the near future.
Smoothed generalized free energies for thermodynamics

In the study of thermodynamics for nanoscale quantum systems, a family of quantities known as generalized free energies have been derived as necessary and sufficient conditions that govern state transitions. These free energies become important especially in the regime where the system of interest consists of only a few (quantum) particles. In this work, we introduce a family of smoothed generalized free energies, by constructing explicit smoothing procedures that maximize or minimize the free energy over an ball of quantum states. In contrast to previously known smoothed free energies, these quantities now allow us to make an operational statement for approximate thermodynamic state transitions. We show that these smoothed quantities converge to the standard free energy in the thermodynamic limit.
CEP 13-10 House Prices and Government Spending Shocks

We show that a broad class of DSGE models with housing and collateralized borrowing predict a fall in house prices following positive government spending shocks. By contrast, we show that house prices in the US rise persistently after identiﬁed positive government spending shocks, using a structural vector autoregression methodology and accounting for anticipated eﬀects. We clarify that the incorrect house price response is due to a general property of DSGE models—approximately constant shadow value of housing—and that modifying preferences and production structure does not help in obtaining the correct house price response. We then show that the eﬀect on house prices is positive only when monetary policy strongly accommodates government spending shocks. The model, however, does not deliver a persistent rise in house prices. Properly accounting for the empirical evidence on government spending shocks and house prices using a DSGE model therefore remains a signiﬁcant challenge.
2MTF - V. Cosmography, β, and the residual bulk flow

Using the Tully-Fisher relation, we derive peculiar velocities for the 2MASS Tully-Fisher Survey and describe the velocity field of the nearby Universe. We use adaptive kernel smoothing to map the velocity field, and compare it to reconstructions based on the redshift space galaxy distributions of the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) and the IRAS Point Source Catalog Redshift Survey (PSCz). With a standard $\chi^2$ minimization fit to the models, we find that the PSCz model provides a better fit to the 2MTF velocity field data than does the 2MRS model, and provides a value of $\beta$ in greater agreement with literature values. However, when we subtract away the monopole deviation in the velocity zeropoint between data and model, the 2MRS model also produces a value of $\beta$ in agreement with literature values. We also calculate the `residual bulk flow': the component of the bulk flow not accounted for by the models. This is $\sim 250$ km/s when performing the standard fit, but drops to $\sim 150$ km/s for both models when the aforementioned monopole offset between data and models is removed. This smaller number is more in line with theoretical expectations, and suggests that the models largely account for the major structures in the nearby Universe responsible for the bulk velocity.
How Does Culture Matter in the Face of Globalization?

Globalization has made exposure to multiple cultures not only possible, but often necessary and unavoidable. This article focuses on how people react and adapt to increasing globalization and multiculturalism. We posit that reactions to multiculturalism and intercultural contact are not universal and are themselves shaped by cultural experiences. That is, culture provides a frame of reference for reconciling and negotiating the inflow of foreign cultures and peoples. Although exposure to foreign cultures can widen one’s worldview, thereby enhancing creativity and reducing prejudice, intercultural contact can also bring about negative exclusionary responses such as aversion, disgust, and defensiveness. We explore how culture and individual differences, such as a belief in racial essentialism, critically shape reactions to intercultural contact. Our discussion sheds light on recent geopolitical and societal shifts that reflect an increased backlash against rising globalization and cultural diversity.
The Estimate of Sea Ice Thickness Based on the Relative Albedo of NOAA/AVHRR

The estimate of sea ice thickness is the academic base of sea ice research in Bohai Sea. According to the ice-water spectrum differences and the correlation between ice thickness and albedo, this paper comes up with a sea ice thickness inversion model based on the relative albedo of NOAA/AVHRR data. The results are better in the coastal area and the average error of this method is about 21%. Then a preliminary analysis has been made on the errors of the estimate of sea ice thickness.
Soluble TNF Receptors Are Associated with Infarct Size and Ventricular Dysfunction in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate circulating markers of apoptosis in relation to infarct size, left ventricular dysfunction and remodeling in an ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) population undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Background Immediate re-opening of the acutely occluded infarct-related artery via primary PCI is the treatment of choice in STEMI to limit ischemia injury. However, the sudden re-initiation of blood flow can lead to a local acute inflammatory response with further endothelial and myocardial damage, so-called reperfusion injury. Apoptosis is suggested to be a key event in ischemia-reperfusion injury, resulting in LV-dysfunction, remodeling and heart failure. Methods The present study is a prespecified substudy of the F.I. R.E. trial. We included 48 patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI. Blood samples were collected prior to PCI and after 24 hours. Plasma was separated for later analysis of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (sTNFR) 1, sTNFR2, sFas and sFas ligand (sFasL) by ELISA. Infarct size, left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and remodeling were assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at five days and four months after STEMI. Results The levels of sTNFR1 at 24 h as well as the relative increases in sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 over 24 h showed consistent and significant correlations with infarct size and LV-dysfunction at four months. Moreover, both sTNFRs correlated strongly with Troponin I and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 measurements. Soluble Fas and sFasL did not overall correlate with measures of infarct size or LV-dysfunction. None of the apoptosis markers correlated significantly with measures of remodeling. Conclusions In STEMI patients, circulating levels of sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 are associated with infarct size and LV dysfunction. This provides further evidence for the role of apoptosis in ischemia-reperfusion injury.
ApoE deficiency promotes colon inflammation and enhances the inflammatory potential of oxidized-LDL and TNF-α in primary colon epithelial cells

Although deficiency in Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is linked to many diseases, its effect on colon homoeostasis remains unknown. ApoE appears to control inflammation by regulating nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). The present study was designed to examine whether ApoE deficiency affects factors of colon integrity in vivo and given the likelihood that ApoE deficiency increases oxidized lipids and TNF-α, the present study also examined whether such deficiency enhances the inflammatory potential of oxidized-LDL (oxLDL) and TNF-α in colon epithelial cells (CECs), in vitro. Here we show that ApoE deficiency is associated with chronic inflammation systemically and in colonic tissues as assessed by TNF-α levels. Increased colon TNF-α mRNA coincided with a substantial increase in cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. ApoE deficiency enhanced the potential of oxLDL and TNF-α to induce COX-2 expression as well as several other inflammatory factors in primary CECs. Interestingly, oxLDL enhanced TGF-β expression only in ApoE−/−, but not in wild-type, epithelial cells. ApoE deficiency appears to promote COX-2 expression enhancement through a mechanism that involves persistent NF-κB nuclear localization and PI3 and p38 MAP kinases but independently of Src. In mice, ApoE deficiency promoted a moderate increase in crypt length, which was associated with opposing effects of an increase in cell proliferation and apoptosis at the bottom and top of the crypt respectively. Our results support the notion that ApoE plays a central role in colon homoeostasis and that ApoE deficiency may constitute a risk factor for colon pathologies.