Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene Gun-Mediated DNA Immunization Primes Development of Mucosal Immunity against Bovine Herpesvirus 1 in Cattle

ABSTRACT Vaccination by a mucosal route is an excellent approach to the control of mucosally acquired infections. Several reports on rodents suggest that DNA vaccines can be used to achieve mucosal immunity when applied to mucosal tissues. However, with the exception of one study with pigs and another with horses, there is no information on mucosal DNA immunization of the natural host. In this study, the potential of inducing mucosal immunity in cattle by immunization with a DNA vaccine was demonstrated. Cattle were immunized with a plasmid encoding bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1) glycoprotein B, which was delivered with a gene gun either intradermally or intravulvomucosally. Intravulvomucosal DNA immunization induced strong cellular immune responses and primed humoral immune responses. This was evident after BHV-1 challenge when high levels of both immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA were detected. Intradermal delivery resulted in lower levels of immunity than mucosal immunization. To determine whether the differences between the immune responses induced by intravulvomucosal and intradermal immunizations might be due to the efficacy of antigen presentation, the distributions of antigen and Langerhans cells in the skin and mucosa were compared. After intravulvomucosal delivery, antigen was expressed early and throughout the mucosa, but after intradermal administration, antigen expression occurred later and superficially in the skin. Furthermore, Langerhans cells were widely distributed in the mucosal epithelium but found primarily in the basal layers of the epidermis of the skin. Collectively, these observations may account for the stronger immune response induced by mucosal administration.
Prognostic Value of Leukocyte Telomere Length in Patients With Stable Coronary Artery Disease: Data From the Heart and Soul Study

Background—Telomere shortening has been proposed as a marker of biological aging. Whether leukocyte telomere length is associated with mortality among patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown. Methods and Results—We measured leukocyte telomere length in 780 patients with stable CAD in a prospective cohort study. Participants were categorized by quartiles of telomere length. Hazard Ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for all-cause mortality, heart failure (HF) hospitalization, and cardiovascular (CV) events. After 4.4 years of follow-up there were 166 deaths. Compared with participants in the highest telomere length quartile, those in the lowest quartile were at increased risk of death (age-adjusted HR 1.8; 95% CI 1.2 to 2.9). After multivariate adjustment for clinical (HR 2.1; CI 1.3 to 3.3), inflammatory (HR 2.0; CI 1.2 to 3.2), and echocardiographic (HR 1.9; CI 1.0 to 3.5) risk factors, patients in the lowest quartile of telomere length remained at significantly increased risk of death compared to those in the highest quartile. Patients in the lowest quartile of telomere length were also at significantly increased risk of HF hospitalization (HR 2.6; CI 1.1 to 6.0) but not CV events (HR 1.7; CI 0.9 to 3.5). Conclusions—Reduced leukocyte telomere length is associated with all-cause mortality in patients with stable CAD. The prognostic value of short telomeres in predicting death is not completely captured by existing clinical, inflammatory, and echocardiographic markers of risk.
Evaluation of Infectivity, Virulence and Transmission of FDMV Field Strains of Serotypes O and A Isolated In 2010 from Outbreaks in the Republic of Korea

Since the early 2000s outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have been described in several previously FMD-free Asian nations, including the Republic of Korea (South Korea). One outbreak with FMD virus (FDMV) serotype A and two with serotype O occurred in South Korea in 2010/2011. The causative viruses belonged to lineages that had been spreading in South East Asia, far East and East Asia since 2009 and presented a great threat to the countries in that region. Most FMDV strains infect ruminants and pigs, as it happened during the outbreaks of FMDV serotype O in South Korea. Contrastingly, the strain of serotype A affected only ruminants. Based upon these findings, the intention of the work described in the current report was to characterize and compare the infectivity, virulence and transmission of both strains under laboratory conditions in cattle and pigs, by direct inoculation and contact exposure. As expected, FMDV serotype O was highly virulent in both cattle and swine by contact exposure and direct inoculation. Surprisingly, FMDV serotype A was highly virulent in swine, but was less infectious in cattle by contact exposure to infected swine or cattle. Interestingly, similar quantities of aerosolized FMDV RNA were detected during experiments with viruses of serotypes O and A. Specific virus-host interaction of A/SKR/2010 could affect the transmission of this strain to cattle, and this may explain in part the limited spread of the serotype A epizootic.
Comparative 16S rRNA oligonucleotide analyses and murein types of round-spore-forming bacilli and non-spore-forming relatives.

The phylogenetic incoherency of the genus Bacillus as presently described is demonstrated by analysis of both published and new data from comparative 16S rRNA cataloguing of nine Bacillus species and a number of related non-Bacillus taxa, i.e. Caryophanon latum, Filibacter limicola and Planococcus citreus. While the ellipsoidal-spore-forming bacilli, e.g. B. subtilis and allied species, formed a coherent cluster, the round-spore-forming bacilli showed a higher degree of relationship to the non-spore-forming organisms than these bacilli show among each other. Thus B. sphaericus clustered with C. latum, B. globisporus grouped with F. limicola, B. pasteurii with Sporosarcina ureae, and 'B. aminovorans' with P. citreus, respectively. These organisms formed two related subclusters which, in their phylogenetic depth, are comparable to that of the B. subtilis subline. With the exception of 'B. aminovorans', the 16S rRNA phylogeny was entirely consistent with the distribution of murein types. Even more distantly related to and grouping outside the main Bacillus cluster was B. stearothermophilus, which displayed a moderate relationship to Thermoactinomyces vulgaris. Taxonomic problems arising from the new insights into the intrageneric relationships of Bacillus are discussed.
Generation of Light Scattering States in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals by Optically Controlled Boundary Conditions

Circularly polarized light was previously employed to stimulate the reversible and reconfigurable writing of scattering states in cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) cells constructed with a photosensitive layer. Such dynamic photodriven responses have utility in remotely triggering changes in optical constructs responsive to optical stimulus and applications where complex spatial patterning is required. Writing of scattering regions required the handedness of incoming radiation to match the handedness of the CLC and the reflection bandwidth of the CLC to envelop the wavelength of the incoming radiation. In this paper, the mechanism of transforming the CLC into a light scattering state via the influence of light on the photosensitive alignment layer is detailed. Specifically, the effects of: (i) the polarization state of light on the photosensitive alignment layer; (ii) the exposure time; and (iii) the incidence angle of radiation on domain formation are reported. The photogenerated light-scattering domains are shown to be similar in appearance between crossed polarizers to a defect structure that occurs at a CLC/air interface (i.e., a free CLC surface). This observation provides strong indication that exposure of the photosensitive alignment layer to the circularly polarized light of appropriate wavelength and handedness generates an out-of-plane orientation leading to a periodic distortion of the original planar structure.
Sniping and Squatting in Auction Markets

We conducted a field experiment to test the benefit from late bidding (sniping) in online auction markets. We compared sniping to early bidding (squatting) in auctions for newly-released DVDs on eBay. Sniping led to a statistically significant increase in our average surplus. However, this improvement was small. The two bidding strategies resulted in a variety of other qualitative differences in the outcomes of auctions. We show that a model of multiple concurrent auctions, in which our opponents are naive or incremental bidders as identified in the lab, explain the results well. Our findings illustrate how the overall impact of naivete, and the benefit from sniping observed in the lab, may be substantially attenuated in real-world market settings. (JEL D44)
Differential equations for algebraic functions

It is classical that univariate algebraic functions satisfy linear differential equations with polynomial coefficients. Linear recurrences follow for the coefficients of their power series expansions. We show that the linear differential equation of minimal order has coefficients whose degree is cubic in the degree of the function. We also show that there exists a linear differential equation of order linear in the degree whose coefficients are only of quadratic degree. Furthermore, we prove the existence of recurrences of order and degree close to optimal. We study the complexity of computing these differential equations and recurrences. We deduce a fast algorithm for the expansion of algebraic series.
A Modified Zerilli-Armstrong Constitutive Model Describing the Strength and Localizing Behavior of Ti-6A1-4V

Abstract : Modeling localizing behavior (e.g., shear instability) of metals such as Ti-6Al-4V has been an important goal for some time in the study of ballistic impact and penetration phenomena. Toward this end, Zerilli and Armstrong proposed a constitutive model for metals with a hexagonal closely packed crystal structure that addressed the shear instability of some of these materials. This model was fit to Hopkinson Bar data obtained at strain rates from 1,000 to 50,000 per second. Several modifications of the model were made in order to fit the data better, although the dominant physics-based aspects of the model were not changed. The fit was excellent, with an average error of only 1% in the predicted stress over the range of experimental strains and strain rates. The modified form of the Zerilli-Armstrong model was installed into the Lagrangian shock-physics code EPIC1 and tested in a series of simulations. Shear localization was predicted in simulations of two experiments where the phenomenon was observed: a Taylor-Anvil experiment and a ballistic limit velocity ( V50 ) experiment. Good agreement was obtained as well in simulations of two series of penetration experiments; impact velocities ranged from 1100 m/s to 2000 m/s.
Volatile Organic Compounds from Native Potato-associated Pseudomonas as Potential Anti-oomycete Agents

The plant kingdom represents a prominent biodiversity island for microbes that associate with the below- or aboveground organs of vegetal species. Both the root and the leaf represent interfaces where dynamic biological interactions influence plant life. Beside well-studied communication strategies based on soluble compounds and protein effectors, bacteria were recently shown to interact both with host plants and other microbial species through the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Focusing on the potato late blight-causing agent Phytophthora infestans, this work addresses the potential role of the bacterial volatilome in suppressing plant diseases. In a previous study, we isolated and identified a large collection of strains with anti-Phytophthora potential from both the phyllosphere and the rhizosphere of potato. Here we report the characterization and quantification of their emissions of biogenic volatiles, comparing 16 Pseudomonas strains differing in (i) origin of isolation (phyllosphere vs. rhizosphere), (ii) in vitro inhibition of P. infestans growth and sporulation behavior, and (iii) protective effects against late blight on potato leaf disks. We systematically tested the pharmacological inhibitory activity of core and strain-specific single compounds against P. infestans mycelial growth and sporangial behavior in order to identify key effective candidate molecules present in the complex natural VOCs blends. We envisage the plant bacterial microbiome as a reservoir for functional VOCs and establish the basis for finding the primary enzymatic toolset that enables the production of active components of the volatile bouquet in plant-associated bacteria. Comprehension of these functional interspecies interactions will open perspectives for the sustainable control of plant diseases in forthcoming agriculture.
Asynchronous Liquid Separation Types

We present a refinement type system for reasoning about asynchronous programs manipulating shared mutable state. Our type system guarantees the absence of races and the preservation of user-specified invariants using a combination of two ideas: refinement types and concurrent separation logic. Our type system allows precise reasoning about programs using two ingredients. First, our types are indexed by sets of resource names and the type system tracks the effect of program execution on individual heap locations and task handles. In particular, it allows making strong updates to the types of heap locations. Second, our types track ownership of shared state across concurrently posted tasks and allow reasoning about ownership transfer between tasks using permissions. We demonstrate through several examples that these two ingredients, on top of the framework of liquid types, are powerful enough to reason about correct behavior of practical, complex, asynchronous systems manipulating shared heap resources. We have implemented type inference for our type system and have used it to prove complex invariants of asynchronous OCaml programs. We also show how the type system detects subtle concurrency bugs in a file system implementation.
Investigation of probability density functions in modeling sample distribution of surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals

The surface electromyography signal (sEMG) has been typically modeled as a Gaussian random process. However, some authors have reported that the probability density functions (pdfs) associated with the sample distribution of sEMG signal exhibits a more peaked shape than one could expected for a Gaussian pdf. This work aimed to reinvestigate the profile of the sEMG pdfs during five different load levels of isometric contractions of biceps brachii muscle, and compared the adequacy of four different pdfs (Gaussian, Logistic, Cauchy, and Laplacian) in describing the sample distribution of such signal. Experimental pdfs were estimated for each subject and load condition. The comparison between experimental pdfs obtained from sEMG data of forty volunteers and four theoretical pdfs was performed by fitting these functions to its experimental counterpart, and using a mean absolute errors in the assessment of the best fit. On average, the Logistic pdf seemed to be the best one to describe the sample distribution of sEMG signal, although the probabilistic results, considering binomial trials, were significant for both Gaussian and Logistic pdfs.
A Relationship between Linear Discriminant Analysis and the Generalized Minimum Squared Error Solution

In this paper, a relationship between linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and the generalized minimum squared error (MSE) solution is presented. The generalized MSE solution is shown to be equivalent to applying a certain classification rule in the space defined by LDA. The relationship between the MSE solution and Fisher discriminant analysis is extended to multiclass problems and also to undersampled problems for which the classical LDA is not applicable due to singularity of the scatter matrices. In addition, an efficient algorithm for LDA is proposed exploiting its relationship with the MSE procedure. Extensive experiments verify the theoretical results.
Construction of Eukaryotic Expression Vector with mBD1-mBD3 Fusion Genes and Exploring Its Activity against Influenza A Virus

Influenza (flu) pandemics have exhibited a great threat to human health throughout history. With the emergence of drug-resistant strains of influenza A virus (IAV), it is necessary to look for new agents for treatment and transmission prevention of the flu. Defensins are small (2–6 kDa) cationic peptides known for their broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. Beta-defensins (β-defensins) are mainly produced by barrier epithelial cells and play an important role in attacking microbe invasion by epithelium. In this study, we focused on the anti-influenza A virus activity of mouse β-defensin 1 (mBD1) and β defensin-3 (mBD3) by synthesizing their fusion peptide with standard recombinant methods. The eukaryotic expression vectors pcDNA3.1(+)/mBD1-mBD3 were constructed successfully by overlap-PCR and transfected into Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. The MDCK cells transfected by pcDNA3.1(+)/mBD1-mBD3 were obtained by G418 screening, and the mBD1-mBD3 stable expression pattern was confirmed in MDCK cells by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence assay. The acquired stable transfected MDCK cells were infected with IAV (A/PR/8/34, H1N1, 0.1 MOI) subsequently and the virus titers in cell culture supernatants were analyzed by TCID50 72 h later. The TCID50 titer of the experimental group was clearly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.001). Furthermore, BALB/C mice were injected with liposome-encapsulated pcDNA3.1(+)/mBD1-mBD3 through muscle and then challenged with the A/PR/8/34 virus. Results showed the survival rate of 100% and lung index inhibitory rate of 32.6% in pcDNA3.1(+)/mBD1-mBD3group; the TCID50 titer of lung homogenates was clearly lower than that of the control group (p < 0.001). This study demonstrates that mBD1-mBD3 expressed by the recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1(+)/mBD1-mBD3 could inhibit influenza A virus replication both in vitro and in vivo. These observations suggested that the recombinant mBD1-mBD3 might be developed into an agent for influenza prevention and treatment.
Neurotrophic Schwann-cell factors induce neural differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells

Neural transdifferentiation of bone marrow stromal cells has been questioned, because cell fusion could explain the development of new cell types, misinterpreted as transdifferentiated cells. We performed here cocultures of bone marrow stromal cells and Schwann cells, without possibility that both cell types can establish contact. In these conditions, bone marrow stromal cells expressed nestin 4 h after beginning cocultures, and strong expression of neuronal markers was disclosed at 72 h, increasing at 1 and 2 weeks. Our results support that neural transdifferentiation of bone marrow stromal cells is induced by soluble factors provided by glial cells, and suggest that cell fusion should not be significant when local bone marrow stromal cells administration for neural repair is considered.
Individualized estimates of second cancer risks after contemporary radiation therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma

Estimates of radiation‐related second cancer risk among Hodgkin lymphoma survivors are largely based on radiation therapy (RT) fields and doses no longer in use, and these estimates do not account for differences in normal tissue dose among individual patients. This study gives individualized estimates for the risks of lung and female breast cancer expected with contemporary involved‐field RT and low‐dose (20 Gy) RT for mediastinal Hodgkin lymphoma.
Replacement of Chromium Electroplating on Gas Turbine Engine Components Using Thermal Spray Coatings

Abstract : Electrolytic hard chrome (EHC) plating is a technique that has been in commercial production for more than 50 years. It is a critical process used for applying hard coatings to a variety of aircraft components in manufacturing operations and for general re-build of worn or corroded components that have been removed from aircraft during overhaul. Chromium plating baths contain chromic acid, in which the chromium is in the hexavalent state, with hexavalent chromium (hex-Cr) being a known carcinogen. During operation, chrome plating tanks emit a hex-Cr mist into the air, that must be ducted away and removed by scrubbers. Wastes generated from plating operations must be disposed of as hazardous waste, and plating operations must abide by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure limits (PEL). Recent studies have clearly shown that there are a significant number of excess deaths at the current PEL of 100 g/m3. OSHA is currently under court order to establish a new hex-Cr PEL by January 2006, and the metal finishing industry expects it to be in the range of 1 g/m3. A Navy/Industry task group concluded that the cost of compliance for all Navy operations that utilize hex-Cr (i.e., not just plating) would be in excess of $10 million if the PEL was reduced to less than 5 g/m3. Previous research and development efforts had established that high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) thermal spray coatings are the leading candidates for replacing hard chrome. HVOF thermal spraying can be used to deposit both metal alloy and ceramic/metal (cermet) such as tungsten carbide/cobalt (WC/Co) coatings that are dense and highly adherent to the base material. They also can be applied to thicknesses in the same range as that used for EHC. Currently, there are HVOF thermal spray systems commercially available.
Vector Models for Data-Parallel Computing

"Vector Models for Data-Parallel Computing "describes a model of parallelism that extends and formalizes the Data-Parallel model on which the Connection Machine and other supercomputers are based. It presents many algorithms based on the model, ranging from graph algorithms to numerical algorithms, and argues that data-parallel models are not only practical and can be applied to a surprisingly wide variety of problems, they are also well suited for very-high-level languages and lead to a concise and clear description of algorithms and their complexity. Many of the author's ideas have been incorporated into the instruction set and into algorithms currently running on the Connection Machine.The book includes the definition of a parallel vector machine; an extensive description of the uses of the scan (also called parallel-prefix) operations; the introduction of segmented vector operations; parallel data structures for trees, graphs, and grids; many parallel computational-geometry, graph, numerical and sorting algorithms; techniques for compiling nested parallelism; a compiler for Paralation Lisp; and details on the implementation of the scan operations.Guy E. Blelloch is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and a Principal Investigator with the Super Compiler and Advanced Language project at Carnegie Mellon University.Contents: Introduction. Parallel Vector Models. The Scan Primitives. Computational-Geometry Algorithms. Graph Algorithms. Numerical Algorithms. Languages and Compilers. Correction-Oriented Languages. Flattening Nested Parallelism. A Compiler for Paralation Lisp. Paralation-Lisp Code. The Scan Vector Model. Data Structures. Implementing Parallel Vector Models. Implementing the Scan Operations. Conclusions. Glossary.