Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The transient gravitational-wave sky

Interferometric detectors will very soon give us an unprecedented view of the gravitational-wave sky, and in particular of the explosive and transient Universe. Now is the time to challenge our theoretical understanding of short-duration gravitational-wave signatures from cataclysmic events, their connection to more traditional electromagnetic and particle astrophysics, and the data analysis techniques that will make the observations a reality. This paper summarizes the state of the art, future science opportunities, and current challenges in understanding gravitational-wave transients.
Autoantibodies induced by blood transfusion

describe two patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) that was suspected to have been associated with previous blood transfusions. In a retrospective study, they found that 5 percent of 2618 patients with a positive DAT had demonstrable RBC autoantibodies and 34 percent of these had a history of the positive DAT developing after transfusions and the subsequent development of alloantibodies. This study draws attention to a phenomenon that has been in the literature for many years but, as the authors point out, seems to have received little attention. It is a phenomenon that I think is very important and touches on some basic immunologic principles that might have broader implications than has been realized. In 1980, Dr Petz and I thought this phenomenon to be of such interest that we devoted a special section on this subject in the first edition of our book, Acquired Immune Hemolytic Anemias; 2 the recently published second edition 3 contains an enlarged section with many pertinent references. As early as 1918, Rous and Robertson 4 showed that rabbits, who had received small transfusions of blood from other rabbits, developed strong cold autoagglutinins. In 1965, Ovary and Speigelman 5 confirmed and extended these findings. These authors found that IgG warm autoantibodies sometimes were formed in addition to the IgM cold autoagglutinins. In the same year Zmijewski 6
1kW, 2000–4500rpm Ferrite PMSM drive: Comprehensive characterization and two sensorless control options

An optimal design of internal Ferrite permanent magnet motor with embedded key FEM verification is presented with the scope to increase the efficiency of the small power motors without to use the expensive, rare earth permanent magnets. Two internal flux concentration topologies are analyzed and the geometric dimensions and performances are presented for three cases, all at 1kW rated power at 4500rpm rated speed. The 6/8 poles spoke PMSM prototype was build and test results prove an efficiency larger than 88% for a large load range. Two sensorless control methods based on active flux observer are presented with the key simulation results including acceleration, speed reversal, loading and unloading speed response.
Flux trapping and superconductive glass state in La2CuO4-y:Ba.

The mixed copper-oxide superconductors recently discovered are not classical superconductors but have been shown to exhibit some properties of a superconducting glass. The grains in these ceramics are not uniform bulk materials but rather a composition of coupled superconducting clusters. Evidence for the superconducting glass state was first seen in the susceptibility, chi, and magnetic-moment measurements of powder samples of La/sub 2/CuO/sub 4-y/:Ba from 1.9 to 35 K in magnetic fields up to 1.5 T. The diamagnetism observed in the zero-field-cooled state was considerably larger than when field cooled. Figure 1(b) shows typical sequences of temperature dependences expected of a glass state. After zero-field cooling the sample and switching on a 0.03-T field, chi is measured at point A. On heating sample, point B on curve 1 is reached. On recooling, a nearly temperature-independent susceptibility is measured. With further heating, point B is passed until point C is reached on curve 1, where on recooling, a temperature-dependent slope smaller than that of curve is followed. On further heating, curve 1 becomes reversible past point D. This same value D is reached by field cooling from 35 K. In field cooling past D, curve 2 is followed reversibly on a timemore » scale of two hours. « less
Transdermal nicotine as maintenance therapy for ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND Ulcerative colitis is largely a disease of nonsmokers. Having found previously that treatment with transdermal nicotine patches and mesalamine (5-aminosalicylic acid) has a beneficial effect on active colitis, we examined the value of transdermal nicotine for the maintenance of remission. METHODS We treated 80 patients with ulcerative colitis in remission with either transdermal nicotine or placebo patches for six months in a randomized, double-blind study. Incremental doses of nicotine were given for the first three weeks to achieve a maintenance dose; most patients tolerated 15 mg for 16 hours daily. All patients were taking mesalamine preparations as maintenance treatment at entry into the study; this treatment was stopped once the maintenance dose of nicotine was achieved. Clinical, sigmoidoscopic, and histologic assessments were made at the beginning and the end of the study, or at relapse. Side effects and serum nicotine and cotinine concentrations were monitored throughout the study. RESULTS There was no significant difference in the number of relapses between the groups. Twenty-two patients in the nicotine group were prematurely withdrawn from the study, 14 because of relapse and 8 for other reasons, including side effects and protocol violations. In the placebo group, 20 patients were withdrawn prematurely, 17 because of relapse and 3 for other reasons. Among patients using 15-mg nicotine patches, serum nicotine and cotinine concentrations were lower than expected and may reflect poor compliance. Side effects were reported by 35 patients--21 in the nicotine group and 14 in the placebo group--the most common of which were nausea, lightheadedness, and itching. CONCLUSIONS Transdermal nicotine alone was no better than placebo in the maintenance of remission of ulcerative colitis, and premature withdrawal due to side effects was more common in the nicotine group.
Irish Traveller English

Ireland is often considered to be a homogeneous bilingual country, and before the influx of foreigners in the boom years of the Celtic Tiger the Irish themselves may have regarded their country as a monocultural society. However, even though still widely disregarded in their cultural distinctiveness, the Irish Travellers have stood out as a separate community in Irish society for several centuries. The Irish Travellers are a native Irish community with a nomadic background, who naturally share a lot of history with settled Irish people, but culturally, religiously and linguistically they have preserved their own identity. According to researchers and the Irish Travellers themselves, there is no or very little genetic connection with other European nomadic or Gypsy groups, even though they may share with them many traditions and values, such as the preference of selfemployment, birth, marriage and burial customs, and values concerning morality, taboos and purity (Freese 1980: 53–63). The Irish Travellers are recognized as an ethnic group in Northern Ireland and in the UK. In the Republic of Ireland their legal status has been widely discussed but remains insecure. According to the Census of 2011, there are 29,573 Irish Travellers living and travelling in the Republic of Ireland, which accounts for 0.6 per cent of the overall population in Ireland. There are also Irish Travellers living in Britain, Australia and the USA. Linguistically, Irish Travellers differ from the settled community in a twofold way. Firstly, their in-group code ‘Shelta’ (also known as ‘Gammon’ or ‘Cant’), a distinctive communicative tool used in specific, Travellerrelated contexts, provides the possibility to have private conversations in situations where settled people are present, such as trade and business
Manipulated by PavA Induced Adaptive Immune Response Are Dendritic Cells: Phagocytosis, Survival, and Pneumococcal Interaction with Human

2 †‡ Dendritic cells (DCs) ingest and process bacteria for presenting their Ags to T cells. PavA (pneumococcal adherence and virulence factor A) is a key virulence determinant of pneumococci under in vivo conditions and was shown to modulate adherence of pneumococci to a variety of nonprofessional phagocytic host cells. Here, we demonstrated the role of PavA for the interaction of human DCs with live pneumococci and analyzed the induced host cell responses upon ingestion of viable pneumococci. Expression of PavA protected pneumococci against recognition and actin cytoskeleton-dependent phagocytosis by DCs compared with isogenic pavA mutants. A major proportion of internalized pneumococci were found in membrane-bound phagosomes. Pneumococcal phagocytosis promotes maturation of DCs, and both wild-type pneumococci and PavA-deﬁcient pneumococci triggered production of proinﬂammatory cytokines such as IL-1 (cid:1) , IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, and TNF- (cid:2) and antiinﬂammatory IL-10. However, cytokine production was delayed and reduced when DCs encounter pneumococci lacking PavA, which also results in a less efﬁcient activation of the adaptive immune response. Strikingly, puriﬁed PavA reassociates to pneumococci but not DCs and reduced phagocytosis of the pavA mutant to levels similar to those of wild-type pneumococci. Additionally, pavA mutants covered with exogenously provided PavA protein induced a DC cytokine proﬁle similar to wild-type pneumococci. In conclusion, these results suggest that PavA is key factor for live pneumococci on induced adaptive immune responses have not been studied in great detail. In the present study we demonstrate the key role of PavA for internalization and processing of viable pneumococci by immature human blood-derived DCs. Additionally, we show that the presence of pneumococcal PavA is required to stimulate optimal cytokine production by DCs and adaptive immune responses. use of wild-type bacteria precludes the analysis of pneumococci-induced cytokines and T cell responses. Similar to in vitro studies with nonprofessional and professional phagocytes such as macrophages (25, 29), ingestion of encapsulated pneumococci by DCs was massively impaired. These results are in accordance with Neisseria meningitidis whose adherence to and uptake by DCs are signiﬁcantly impaired for encapsulated bacteria (36).
Relaxation of Arterial Smooth Muscle by Calcium Sparks

Local increases in intracellular calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) resulting from activation of the ryanodine-sensitive calcium-release channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of smooth muscle cause arterial dilation. Ryanodine-sensitive, spontaneous local increases in [Ca2+]i (Ca2+ sparks) from the SR were observed just under the surface membrane of single smooth muscle cells from myogenic cerebral arteries. Ryanodine and thapsigargin inhibited Ca2+ sparks and Ca2+-dependent potassium (KCa) currents, suggesting that Ca2+ sparks activate KCa channels. Furthermore, KCa channels activated by Ca2+ sparks appeared to hyperpolarize and dilate pressurized myogenic arteries because ryanodine and thapsigargin depolarized and constricted these arteries to an extent similar to that produced by blockers of KCa channels. Ca2+ sparks indirectly cause vasodilation through activation of KCa channels, but have little direct effect on spatially averaged [Ca2+]i, which regulates contraction.
Nanoimprinted Polymer Micro/Nanofiber Bragg Gratings for High-Sensitivity Strain Sensing

By using a simple and low-cost nanoimprinting technique, polymer micro/nanofiber Bragg gratings (MNFBGs) are fabricated with a ~551-nm grating period and a grating depth >;10 dB around 1.5-μm wavelength. As-fabricated MNFBGs also show high compactness to optical fiber systems and large dynamic range. Using a 2.5-μm-wide and 1.4-μm-thick MNFBG, we demonstrate strain sensing with a high sensitivity of -2.5 pm/με.
Socioeconomic position, health behaviors, and C-reactive protein: a moderated-mediation analysis.

OBJECTIVE We sought to understand the link between low socioeconomic position (SEP) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) by examining the association between SEP, health-related coping behaviors, and C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker and independent risk factor for CVD, in a U.S. sample of adults. DESIGN We used a multiple mediation model to evaluate how these behaviors work in concert to influence CRP levels and whether these relationships were moderated by gender and race/ethnicity. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES CRP levels were divided into two categories: elevated CRP (3.1-10.0 mg/L) and normal CRP (< or =3.0 mg/L). RESULTS Both poverty and low educational attainment were associated with elevated CRP, and these associations were primarily explained through higher levels of smoking and lower levels of exercise. In the education model, poor diet also emerged as a significant mediator. These behaviors accounted for 87.9% of the total effect of education on CRP and 55.8% the total effect of poverty on CRP. We also found significant moderation of these mediated effects by gender and race/ethnicity. CONCLUSION These findings demonstrate the influence of socioeconomically patterned environmental constraints on individual-level health behaviors. Specifically, reducing socioeconomic inequalities may have positive effects on CVD disparities through reducing cigarette smoking and increasing vigorous exercise.
Activation of pp70/85 S6 kinases in interleukin-2-responsive lymphoid cells is mediated by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and inhibited by cyclic AMP

Activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and activation of the 70/85-kDa S6 protein kinases (alpha II and alpha I isoforms, referred to collectively as pp70S6k) have been independently linked to the regulation of cell proliferation. We demonstrate that these kinases lie on the same signalling pathway and that PI3K mediates the activation of pp70 by the cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2). We also show that the activation of pp70S6k can be blocked at different points along the signalling pathway by using specific inhibitors of T-cell proliferation. Inhibition of PI3K activity with structurally unrelated but highly specific PI3K inhibitors (wortmannin or LY294002) results in inhibition of IL-2-dependent but not phorbol ester (conventional protein kinase C [cPKC])-dependent pp70S6k activation. The T-cell immunosuppressant rapamycin potently antagonizes IL-2-(PI3K)- and phorbol ester (cPKC)-mediated activation of pp70S6k. Thus, wortmannin and rapamycin antagonize IL-2-mediated activation of pp70S6k at distinct points along the PI3K-regulated signalling pathway, or rapamycin antagonizes another pathway required for pp70S6k activity. Agents that raise the concentration of intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) and activate cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) also inhibit IL-2-dependent activation of pp70S6k. In this case, inhibition appears to occur at least two points in this signalling path. Like rapamycin, PKA appears to act downstream of cPKC-mediated pp70S6k activation, and like wortmannin, PKA antagonizes IL-2-dependent activation of PI3K. The results with rapamycin and wortmannin are of added interest since the yeast and mammalian rapamycin targets resemble PI3K in the catalytic domain.
A Tele-Traffic-Aware Optimal Base-Station Deployment Strategy for Energy-Efficient Large-Scale Cellular Networks

With the explosive proliferation of mobile devices and services, the user density of large-scale cellular networks continues to increase, which results in further escalating traffic generation. Yet, there is an urging demand for reducing the network's energy dissipation. Hence, we model the energy efficiency of large-scale cellular networks for characterizing its dependence on the base station (BS) density as well as for quantifying the impact of tele-traffic on the achievable energy efficiency under specific quality of service requirements. This allows us to match the BS deployment to the network's tele-traffic while conserving precious energy. More specifically, we formulate a practical tele-traffic-aware BS deployment problem for optimizing the network's energy efficiency while satisfying the users' maximum tolerable outage probability. This is achieved by analyzing the optimal BS-density under specific tele-traffic conditions. Furthermore, we study the energy saving potential of our optimal BS deployment strategy under diverse practical parameters and provide insights into the attainable energy savings in dense random cellular networks. Our simulation results confirm the accuracy of our analysis and verify the impact of the parameters considered on the network's energy efficiency. Our results also demonstrate that the proposed tele-traffic-aware optimal BS deployment strategy significantly outperforms the existing approaches in terms of its energy efficiency.
Cancer: crab or chimera? The clinical implications of cancer cell heterogeneity.

clinical remission was obtained and then allow the tumor to grow back before treating sequentially with a second agent. With this approach, as you indicated, a resistant cell line has a tremendous growth advantage, and cell numbers again rise into the billions. Combination therapy with multiple drugs or multimodalities has been used empirically and is clearly more successful. Perhaps by rotating a combination of several drugs, sequentially with another combination of different agents, without giving the tumor a chance of getting reestablished, we may have an even higher chance of eradicating the more resistant clones. I think that understanding the underlying problem of cancer cell heterogeneity may well provide better insight in devising more effective therapeutic regimens.
Cholinergic innervation of the basal ganglia in humans and other anthropoid primates

Cholinergic innervation of the basal ganglia is important in learning and memory. Striatal cholinergic neurons integrate cognitive and motivational states with behavior. Given these roles, it is not surprising that deficits in cortical cholinergic innervation have been correlated with loss of cognitive function in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Such evidence suggests the potential significance of subcortical cholinergic innervation in the evolution of the human brain. To compare humans with other closely related primates, the present study quantified axons and interneurons immunoreactive for choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in regions of the executive and motor loops of the basal ganglia of humans, great apes, and monkeys. We also compared ChAT‐immunoreactive (ir) interneuron morphological types among species within striatal regions. The results indicate that humans and great apes differ from monkeys in having a preponderance of multipolar ChAT‐ir interneurons in the caudate nucleus and putamen, whereas monkeys have a more heterogeneous representation of multipolar, bipolar, and unipolar interneurons. Cholinergic innervation, as measured by axon and interneuron densities, did not differ across species in the medial caudate nucleus. Differences were detected in the dorsal caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus but the observed variation did not associate with the phylogenetic structure of the species in the sample. However, combining the present results with previously published data for dopamine revealed a unique pattern of innervation for humans, with higher amounts of dopamine compared with acetylcholine in the striatum. Taken together, these findings indicate a potential evolutionary shift in basal ganglia neurotransmission in humans that may favor increased synaptic plasticity. J. Comp. Neurol. 525:319–332, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autistic social impairment in the siblings of children with pervasive developmental disorders.

OBJECTIVE Sibling recurrence risk in autism has been estimated to be approximately 10%. This study investigated subsyndromal autistic impairments among siblings of probands with pervasive developmental disorders. METHOD The authors used the Social Responsiveness Scale to obtain quantitative assessments of autistic social impairment in three groups of proband-sibling pairs: 1) autistic children from multiple-incidence families and their closest in age nonautistic brothers (N=49 pairs); 2) children with any pervasive developmental disorder, including autism, and their closest-in-age brothers (N=100 pairs), and 3) children with psychopathology unrelated to autism and their closest-in-age brothers (N=45 pairs). RESULTS Sibling Social Responsiveness Scale scores were continuously distributed and substantially elevated for both the autistic and pervasive developmental disorder groups. Highest scores (i.e., greatest impairment) were seen among siblings of autistic probands from multiple-incidence families, followed by siblings of probands with any pervasive developmental disorder, then siblings of probands with psychopathology unrelated to autism. CONCLUSIONS Taken together with previous findings, these results support the notion that genetic susceptibility factors responsible for common, subsyndromal social impairments may be related to the causes of categorically defined pervasive developmental disorders.
Aquaporin water channels: atomic structure molecular dynamics meet clinical medicine.

The movement of water across cell membranes is fundamental to life. Water constitutes roughly 70% of the mass of most living organisms, so the orderly distribution of water is required to maintain proper fluid balance within different anatomic compartments. Although water is known to diffuse through lipid bilayers, diffusion is not sufficiently rapid for many physiological processes. To accommodate these needs, a family of membrane channel proteins evolved for rapid transport of water across biological membranes. These proteins, termed “aquaporins,” are found in all life forms, including archaea, eubacteria, fungi, plants, and all phyla of animals. Since the discovery of the aquaporins ten years ago (1), researchers around the world have sought to learn how these proteins work. Selectivity, rates of permeation, and gating mechanisms are three properties that characterize channel proteins. Aquaporins are exquisitely selective for the transport of water — even repelling hydronium ions (H3O+). The importance of the latter is emphasized by the normal function of mammalian renal tubules, which reabsorb 99% of the water from glomerular filtrate at the same time that acid is secreted by intercalated cells. Some members of the aquaporin superfamily are permeated by a variety of small neutral solutes such as glycerol or urea (termed “aquaglyceroporins”) (2). The transport of water or glycerol through aquaporins represents facilitated diffusion driven by osmotic or concentration gradients.
A 1.25-Gb/s CMOS burst-mode optical transceiver for ethernet PON system

A 1.25-Gb/s burst-mode optical transceiver for an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) system has been developed using a 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. With the new automatic gain control (AGC) technique and reference-voltage generator (RVG), the optical receiver achieved wide dynamic range of 26.8 dB with sensitivity of -29.0 dBm and overload of -2.2 dBm at a 1.25-Gb/s burst-mode transmission. Moreover, coming up with the novel automatic optical output power and extinction ratio control (APC) system, the optical transmitter successfully suppressed their variations within /spl plusmn/0.4 dBm and /spl plusmn/0.6 dB, respectively in wide temperature range from -40 to 100/spl deg/C. This is the first CMOS optical transceiver that meets the specifications of IEEE802.3ah PX20 standard.