Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recombinant CD40 ligand stimulation of murine B cell growth and differentiation: cooperative effects of cytokines

The ligand for the B cell surface antigen CD40 was recently cloned from a murine thymoma cDNA library and shown to be expressed on activated T cells. In this study, we investigate the biological effects of murine recombinant CD40 ligand. The recombinant CD40 ligand expressed on the CV‐1/EBNA monkey fibroblast cell line directly activated resting B cell to express elevated levels of cell surface class II major histocompatibility complex and CD23 molecules. CD40 ligand also stimulated B cell proliferation, reaching maximal levels on day 2 of culture and declining thereafter. This effect was positively regulated by other cytokines, most notably interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐5. By itself, CD40 ligand had no effect upon immunoglobulin secretion by B cells. However, when B cells were treated with CD40 ligand plus cytokines, immunoglobulin secretion was stimulated in a cytokine‐dependent and isotype‐specific manner. IL‐4 was a potent co‐stimulator of IgE and IgG1 in the presence of CD40 ligand, and IL‐5 acted synergistically with IL‐4 in these responses as well as in IgM and IgG3 production. Taken together, the results indicate that CD40 ligand is a potent regulatory molecule for B cell growth and differentiation, and its activities are potentiated in a cytokine‐specific manner.
Purification and Characterization of Aspartic Proteinase from Sunflower Seeds

Aspartic proteinases were purified from sunflower seed extracts by affinity chromatography on a pepstatin A-EAH Sepharose column and by Mono Q column chromatography. The final preparation contained three purified fractions. SDS-PAGE showed that one of the fractions consisted of disulfide-bonded subunits (29 and 9 kDa), and the other two fractions contained non-covalently bound subunits (29 and 9 kDa). These purified enzymes showed optimum pH for hemoglobinolytic activity at pH 3.0 and were completely inhibited by pepstatin A like other typical aspartic proteinases. Sunflower enzymes showed more restricted specificity on oxidized insulin B chain and glucagon than other aspartic proteinases. The cDNA coding for an aspartic proteinase was cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence showed that the mature enzyme consisted of 440 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 47,559 Da. The difference between the molecular size of purified enzymes and of the mature enzyme was due to the fact that the purified enzymes were heterodimers formed by the proteolytic processing of the mature enzyme. The derived amino acid sequence of the enzyme showed 30-78% sequence identity with that of other aspartic proteinases.
Deep Dense Multi-level feature for partial high-resolution fingerprint matching

Fingerprint sensors on mobile devices commonly have limited area, which results in partial fingerprints. Optical sensor can capture fingerprints at very high resolution (2000ppi) with abundant details like pores, incipients, etc. It is quite crucial to develop effective partial-to-partial high-resolution fingerprint matching algorithms. Existing fingerprint matching methods are mainly minutiae-based, with fusion of different levels of features. Their accuracy degrades significantly in our application due to minutiae insufficiency and detection error. In this paper, we propose a novel representation for partial high-resolution fingerprint, named Deep Dense Multi-level feature (DDM). We train a deep convolutional neural network that can extract discriminative features inside any local fingerprint block with certain size. We find that not only minutiae but most local blocks contain sufficient features. Moreover, we analyze DDM and find that it contains multi-level information. When utilizing DDM for partial-to-partial matching, we first extract features block by block through a fully convolutional network, next match the two sets of features pairwise exhaustively, and then select the bi-directional best matches to compute matching score. Experiments indicate that our method outperforms several state-of-the-art approaches.
Phoenician Atlit and Its Newly-Excavated Harbour: a Reassessment

Abstract During 2002-2003 underwater excavations, our team dated the artificial harbour at the ancient Phoenician settlement of Atlit to the first half of the Iron Age II. We accomplished this by 14C testing a number of wooden samples extracted from the submerged northern mole of the harbour. In this article we question why such an artificial harbour was constructed just a few miles north of the main port city of Dor. We suggest that no harbour facilities existed at Iron Age II Dor. The quays at the southern bay of Dor, which served during the Bronze Age and during the Iron Age L were blocked during the 10th century BCE and no alternative quay was built at Dor until the Persian period.
Calcium‐dependent after‐potentials in visceral afferent neurones of the rabbit.

Intracellular recordings were made from neurones in nodose ganglia excised from rabbits. In C neurones, 1‐60 action potentials were followed by an after‐hyperpolarization with a peak amplitude of 16 mV and a time constant of decay ranging from 3 to 10 s. In A neurones, the action potentials were followed only by a brief (up to 50 ms) after‐hyperpolarization. The after‐hyperpolarization was associated with an increase in the membrane conductance to potassium ions; it reversed polarity at the potassium equilibrium potential. The increase in conductance following the action potentials was blocked by removal of calcium ions, or addition of cobalt to the extracellular solution. Intracellular injection of ethyleneglycol‐bis(beta‐aminoethylether)‐N,N'‐tetraacetic acid (EGTA) abolished the after‐hyperpolarization; intracellular injection of calcium mimicked the after‐hyperpolarization. It is concluded that calcium entry during the action potential leads to a long‐lasting increase in potassium conductance in visceral afferent C neurones.
Discrete wavelet transform and probabilistic neural networks algorithm for identification of fault locations on transmission systems

This paper proposes a new algorithm for detecting faults in an electric power transmission system. The discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and probabilistic neural network (PNN) are used in order to detect the high frequency components and to identify fault locations on the transmission system. Simulations and the training process for the neural network are performed using ATP/EMTP and MATLAB. It is found that the proposed algorithm gives satisfactory results, and will be very useful in the development of a power system protection scheme.
Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Indian Scene

Pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) are characterized by slow, limited and atypical developmental processes with onset in the early years of life. The condition leads on to disabilities in virtually all the psychological and behavioral sectors with prominent disturbances in social, communicative and cognitive spheres. PDDs include the prototypic Childhood autism, Rett’s syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD), Asperger’s syndrome and Atypical autism. Except for one additional category (hyper kinetic stereotyped movement disorder in ICD-10), the disorders included in ICD 10 (World Health Organization, 1992) and DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) are identical.
Competition between Nitrospira spp. and Nitrobacter spp. in nitrite‐oxidizing bioreactors

In this work the question was addressed if in nitrite‐oxidizing activated sludge systems the environmental competition between Nitrobacter spp. and Nitrospira spp. , which only recently has been discovered to play a role in these systems, is affected by the nitrite concentrations. Two parallel chemostats were inoculated with nitrifying‐activated sludge containing Nitrospira and operated under identical conditions. After addition of Nitrobacter to both chemostats, the nitrite concentration in the influent of one of the chemostats was increased such that nitrite peaks in the bulk liquid of this reactor were detected. The other chemostat served as control reactor, which always had a constant nitrite influent concentration. The relative cellular area (RCA) of Nitrospira and Nitrobacter was determined by quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The nitrite perturbation stimulated the growth of Nitrobacter while in the undisturbed control chemostat Nitrospira dominated. Overall, the results of this experimental study support the hypothesis that Nitrobacter is a superior competitor when resources are abundant, while Nitrospira thrive under conditions of resource scarcity. Interestingly, the dominance of Nitrobacter over Nitrospira, caused by the elevated nitrite concentrations, could not be reverted by lowering the available nitrite concentration to the original level. One possible explanation for this result is that when Nitrobacter is present at a certain cell density it is able to inhibit the growth of Nitrospira. An alternative explanation would be that the length of the experimental period was not long enough to observe an increase of the Nitrospira population. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Tracking physical activity and sedentary behavior in young children.

Tracking of total physical activity (PA), moderate to vigorous activity (MVPA), and sedentary behavior was assessed in 42 young children (mean age at baseline 3.8 years) over a 2-year period using the Actigraph accelerometer. Tracking was analyzed using Spearman rank correlations, percentage agreements, and kappa statistics. Spearman rank correlations were r = . 35 (p = .002) for total PA, r = . 37 (p = .002) for MVPA, and r = . 35 (p = .002) for sedentary behavior. Percentage agreements for PA, MVPA, and sedentary behavior were 38, 41, and 26 respectively. Kappa statistics for PA, MVPA, and sedentary behavior ranged from poor to fair. Results suggest low levels of tracking of total physical activity, MVPA, and sedentary behavior in young Scottish children over a 2-year period.
Yield of epileptiform electroencephalogram abnormalities in incident unprovoked seizures: A population‐based study

The yield of epileptiform abnormalities in serial electroencephalography (EEG) studies has not been addressed in a population‐based setting for subjects with incident epilepsy or a single unprovoked seizure, raising the possibility of methodologic limitations such as selection bias. Our aim was to address these limitations by assessing the yield and predictors of epileptiform abnormalities for the first and subsequent EEG recording in a study of incident epilepsy or single unprovoked seizure in Rochester, Minnesota.
Demographic and microbial characteristics and drug resistance of childhood tuberculosis in Istanbul: analysis of 1,541 cases.

INTRODUCTION Although tuberculosis (TB) is frequently seen in Turkey, there are limited studies on childhood TB. We aimed to describe clinical and laboratory findings, including drug resistance, of children with TB in Istanbul, Turkey. METHODOLOGY The study included all children aged 0-14 years who were registered in public dispensaries between 2006 and 2010. RESULTS The study included 1,541 cases. Forty-four percent (n = 763) of the patients were male with a mean age of 8.86 ± 4.19 years. Fifty-five percent of the patients had pulmonary TB, 39% had extrapulmonary TB, and 6% had both pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. The most common extrapulmonary involvement sites were the pleura (n = 193), lymph nodes (n = 247), and central nervous system (n = 41). Forty-one percent of the patients were evaluated microbiologically and 35% of them were positive. For the total study group, 14% of them were positive. A drug susceptibility test was performed on 108 patients. Drug resistance to at least one drug was detected in 16% (n = 17), to isoniazid in 15% (n = 16), streptomycin in 12% (n = 12), rifampicin in 9% (n = 10), ethambutol in 7% (n = 8), and multi-drug resistance in 8% (n = 9) of patients. CONCLUSIONS This is the largest analysis on demographic features and drug resistance of childhood TB in Turkey. In Turkey, the rate of microbiological diagnosis is low, similar to rates worldwide. More microbiological studies and drug resistance tests should be done and annual changes should be followed with multi-center studies.
Sorting Heuristics for the Feedback Arc Set Problem ?

The feedback arc set problem plays a prominent role in the four-phase framework to draw directed graphs, also known as the Sugiyama algorithm. It is equivalent to the linear arrangement problem where the vertices of a graph are ordered from left to right and the backward arcs form the feedback arc set. In this paper we extend classical sorting algorithms to heuristics for the feedback arc set problem. Established algorithms are considered from this point of view, where the directed arcs between vertices serve as binary comparators. We analyze these algorithms and afterwards design hybrid algorithms by their composition in order to gain further improvements. These algorithms primarily differ in the use of insertion sort and sifting and they are very similar in their performance, which varies by about 0.1%. The differences mainly lie in their run time and their convergence to a local minimum. Our studies extend related work by new algorithms and our experiments are conducted on much larger graphs. Overall we can conclude that sifting performs better than insertion sort.
Individual differences in moral judgment competence are related to activity of the prefrontal cortex when attributing blame to evil intention

The weighing of intentions and consequences is inconsistent in adult’s moral judgments, and this is particularly prominent when assigning blame to the immoral intentions in the absence of negative outcomes. The current study extends previous research by examining how individual differences in moral judgment competence are reflected in the cortical network when making judgments about immoral intentions. Twenty-four participants were scanned, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, while making judgments about three kinds of moral scenarios: a neutral condition, an immoral intention condition, and an immoral condition. The result showed that comparing with making judgments about the other two conditions, making judgments about the immoral intentions takes longer time and was associated with significantly elevated activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Additionally, moral judgment competence scores were inversely correlated with activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when assigning blame to the immoral intentions. Greater activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in participants with lower moral judgment competence possibly reflected increased recruitment of cognitive resource applied to control impulsive response and integrate competitive information in making judgments about the immoral intention.
Trial designs used to study neuroprotective therapy in Parkinson's disease

There have been numerous trials conducted to evaluate putative disease‐modifying or neuroprotective treatments in Parkinson's disease. These trials have used several different study designs and outcome measures. Each of these has its own strengths and weaknesses. Confounding all studies is the potential symptomatic benefit that the treatment might have on the features of Parkinson's disease. In addition, patient‐related factors such as age of onset and the nature of the dominant symptoms may have important impacts that are often not addressed. Here we provide an overview of the various trial designs that have been used and emphasize the challenges faced in attempting to study neuroprotection in Parkinson's disease and the advances needed before this goal can be successfully achieved. © 2013 Movement Disorder Society
Effects of Smoking on Lipid Profile and Homocysteine in Coronary Heart Disease

Smoking produces adverse effects on lipid profile and homocysteine, thus increasing the cardiovascular disease risk in coronary heart disease patients. The present study was undertaken to evaluate plasma lipid profile, lipoprotein (a) and homocysteine in coronary heart disease of smoker male and female patients in two age groups; below and above 50 years old, comparing them with nonsmokers healthy matched control. Triglyceride plasma level (291.33 ±101 mg/dl , mean ± SD, P value=0.01 ) was elevated significantly in smoking coronary heart disease males less than 50 years old as compared to controls, while cholesterol (233.54 ±44.9 mg/dl, P value= 0.02 ), LDLcholesterol (174 ±58.3 mg/dl, P value=0.09 ) , lipoprotein (a) Lp(a) (65.06 ±25.2 mg/dl, P value=0.05 ), and triglycerides (188.18 ±62.0 mg/dl, P value=0.01 ) are significantly increased in males more than 50 years old. No lipid profile parameter was significantly elevated in smoking coronary heart disease female less than 50 years old, while only homocysteine (28.83 ±5.7 mg/dl, P value= 0.02 ) was elevated significantly in females more than 50 years . In conclusion, smoking affects lipid profile and homocysteine and increases the cardiovascular disease risk among smokers.
Treatment of cystic hygroma and lymphangioma with the use of bleomycin fat emulsion

Of the several types of treatment for cystic hygromas and lymphangiomas, surgical excision has been the preferred treatment. However, there is a high recurrence rate because lymphangiomas tend to infiltrate the surrounding tissues. Bleomycin in a microsphere‐in‐oil (S/O) emulsion was used in this study as a sclerosing agent for lymphangiomas. Experimental studies using domestic rabbits showed that the bleomycin emulsion caused more marked fibrotic changes at the injection site than other formulations, such as a blank emulsion and bleomycin solution. In clinical trials, 27 of 33 patients received bleomycin S/O emulsion injected directly into the tumors with satisfactory results. Histologic pictures of the clinically resected specimens confirmed the findings of the experimental studies. Comparative studies of treatments between bleomycin S/O emulsion and surgery indicated that injection therapy of bleomycin S/O emulsion would be more beneficial than surgical excisions.
Modeling, Design, and Fabrication of Self-Doping Si1-xGex/Si Multiquantum Well Material for Infrared Sensing

The paper presents the study of band distributions and thermoelectric properties of self-doping Si1−xGex/Si multiquantum well material for infrared detection. The simulations of different structures (including boron doping, germanium concentrations, and SiGe layer thickness) have been conducted. The critical thickness of SiGe layer grown on silicon substrate has also been illustrated in the paper. The self-doping Si1−xGex/Si multiquantum well material was epitaxially grown on SOI substrate with reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition. Each layer of the material is clear in the SEM. The characterizations and temperature resistance coefficient (TCR) tests were also performed to show the thermoelectric properties. The TCR was about −3.7%/K at room temperature in the experiments, which is competitive with the other thermistor materials. The material is a low noise material, whose root mean square noise is 1.89 mV in the experiments.
Four Essays in the Measurement of Governance Institutions

Title of dissertation: FOUR ESSAYS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS David Givens, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation directed by: Professor Peter Murrell Department of Economics This dissertation produces a new set of orthogonal governance measures based on expert assessment data. Chapter 1 constructs the measures using a factor model. Chapter 2 applies the measures to study comparative economic development. Chapter 3 conducts a number of robustness checks on results from the rst two chapters. Chapter 4 uses Monte Carlo experiments to assess potential inaccuracy in my governance measures caused by the application of the maximum-likelihood estimator to polytomous data. FOUR ESSAYS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS
A multi-dimensional histogram for selectivity estimation and fast approximate query answering

Histograms have been widely used for selectivity estimation in query optimization, as well as for fast approximate query answering in many data mining, OLAP, and data visualization applications. This paper presents a new type of multi-dimensional histogram, the multi-dimensional VI histogram. Unlike other types of multi-dimensional histograms, which are seldom used in practice due to their high construction costs, the multi-dimensional VI histogram can be constructed in just one scan through the data. Through a set of experiments, we show that the multi-dimensional VI histogram is capable of providing more accurate estimations than the techniques currently used in major commercial database management systems, including IBM DB2, Oracle Database, and Microsoft SQL Server.
Activation of central angiotensin type 2 receptors by compound 21 improves arterial baroreflex sensitivity in rats with heart failure.

BACKGROUND In a previous study we demonstrated that central administration of compound 21 (C21), a nonpeptide AT2R agonist, inhibited sympathetic tone in normal rats. In this study, we hypothesized that C21 exerts a similar effect in rats with coronary ligation-induced heart failure (HF). METHODS C21 was intracerebroventricularly infused for 7 days by osmotic mini pump. Blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded by radiotelemetry in the conscious state to measure spontaneous arterial baroreflex sensitivity. Urine was collected for measurement of norepinephrine excretion. On the last day of C21 treatment, renal sympathetic nerve activity, BP, and HR were directly recorded under anesthesia, and the induced arterial baroreflex sensitivity was evaluated. Protein expressions of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) in the subfornical organ, paraventricular nucleus, rostral ventrolateral medulla, and nucleus tractus solitarius were determined by Western blot analysis. RESULTS C21-treated HF rats displayed significantly less norepinephrine excretion (2,385.6 ± 121.1 vs. 3,677.3 ± 147.6 ng/24 hours; P < 0.05) and lower renal sympathetic nerve activity (50.2 ± 1.9% of max vs. 70.9 ± 8.2% of max; P < 0.05) than vehicle-treated HF rats. C21-treated rats also exhibited improved spontaneous arterial baroreflex sensitivity and induced arterial baroreflex sensitivity. Bolus intracerebroventricular injection of angiotensin II-evoked pressor and sympatho-excitatory responses were attenuated in the C21-treated HF rats, which displayed upregulated nNOS and downregulated AT1R expression in the subfornical organ, paraventricular nucleus, and rostral ventrolateral medulla. CONCLUSIONS Activation of central angiotensin II type 2 receptor AT2R by C21 suppresses sympathetic outflow in rats with HF by improving baroreflex sensitivity and may provide important benefit in the HF syndrome.
Customized correction of wavefront aberrations in abnormal human eyes by using a phase plate and a customized contact lens

Wavefront aberrations in human eyes were measured with a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Based on the measured wavefront aberrations, customized optics, such as phase plates and a customized contact lens, were designed and fabricated to compensate for higher-order wavefront aberrations in human eyes. The fabricated customized optics could successfully correct higherorder aberrations in human eyes and improve retinal image quality, and compensating for such aberrations with customized optics might be a promising technique to improve human vision.