Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Large-signal stability analysis of two power converters solutions for DC shipboard microgrid

Bus voltage stability is an essential requirement in DC shipboard microgrids. In presence of Constant Power Loads, voltage instability is strictly dependent on RLC filters. This paper evaluates two power converter solutions (Thyristor Converters, TCs, and diode rectifiers + DC-DC Converters, DCs) for interfacing AC machines and DC bus. Firstly, TCs and DCs filters are sized maintaining same targets, i.e. voltage ripple and small-signal damping factor. Secondly, Lyapunov stability analysis investigates the large-signal behavior of TCs and DCs power systems. Identical Regions of Asymptotic Stability prove the feasibility of TCs, which can therefore constitute a cost-effective alternative to DCs solution.
Field Support Vector Machines

Conventional classifiers often regard input samples as identically and independently distributed (i.i.d.). This is however not true in many real applications, especially when patterns occur as groups (where each group shares a homogeneous style). Such tasks are also called field classification. By breaking the i.i. d. assumption, one novel framework called Field Support Vector Machine (F-SVM) is proposed in this paper. The distinction lies that it is capable of training and predicting a group of patterns (i.e., a field pattern) simultaneously. Specifically, the proposed F-SVM classifier is investigated by learning simultaneously both the classifier and the Style Normalization Transformation for each group of data (called field). Such joint learning proves even feasible in the high-dimensional kernel space. An efficient optimization algorithm is further developed with the convergence guaranteed. More importantly, by appropriately exploring the style consistency in each field, the F-SVM is able to significantly improve the classification accuracy. A series of experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the F-SVM model. Empirical results show that the proposed F-SVM achieves in three different benchmark data sets the best performance so far, significantly better than those state-of-the-art classifiers.
Is Sonic hedgehog (SHH) a candidate gene for spina bifida? A pilot study

Huiping Zhu, Robert Barber, Gary M. Shaw, Edward J. Lammer, and Richard H. Finnell* Institute of Bioscience and Technology, Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, Houston, Texas Center for Human Molecular Genetics, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, Oakland, California Division of Medical Genetics, Children’s Hospital, Oakland, California
Fiber and Penton Base Capsid Modifications Yield Diminished Adenovirus Type 5 Transduction and Proinflammatory Gene Expression with Retention of Antigen-Specific Humoral Immunity

ABSTRACT Fiber and penton base capsid proteins of adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) mediate a well-characterized two-step entry pathway in permissive tissue culture cell lines. Fiber binds with high affinity to the cell surface coxsackievirus-and-adenovirus receptor (CAR), and penton base facilitates viral internalization by binding αv integrins through an RGD motif. In vivo, the entry pathway is complicated by interactions of capsid proteins with additional cell surface molecules and blood factors. When administered systemically in mice, adenovirus vectors (Adv) localize primarily to hepatic tissue, resulting in efficient gene transduction and potent activation of the host antiviral immune response. The goal of the present study was to detarget Adv uptake through fiber and penton base capsid protein manipulations and determine how detargeted vectors influence transduction efficiency, inflammatory activation, and activation of the adaptive arm of the immune system. By manipulating fiber and the penton base, we have generated highly detargeted vectors (up to 1,200-fold reduction in transgene expression in vivo) with reduced macrophage stimulatory activity in vitro and in vivo. In spite of the diminished transduction and macrophage activation, the detargeted vectors induce strong neutralizing immunity as well as efficient antitransgene antibody. Three of the modified vectors produce antitransgene humoral immunity at levels that exceed or are equal to that seen with an unmodified Ad5-based vector. The fiber-pseudotyped and penton base constructs with RGD deleted have attributes that could be important enhancements in a number of vaccine applications.
Reemergence of gentamicin-susceptible strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: roles of an infection control program and changes in aminoglycoside use.

The spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in our hospital in the 1980s correlated with increasing acquisition of resistance to antibiotics including gentamicin, rifampin, and fluoroquinolones. During the period 1993-1995, there was a major change in clinical MRSA isolates: the percentage of aminoglycoside-resistant MRSA isolates decreased from 75% to 52%, while the proportion of heterogeneous MRSA strains susceptible to gentamicin, rifampin, and tetracycline increased gradually from 4.9% to 27.5%. We used five epidemiological markers (i.e., antibiotyping, phage typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and restriction analysis of PCR amplified coagulase and protein A genes) to characterize recent isolates. With use of these techniques, we confirmed the persistence of the aminoglycoside-resistant MRSA clone and identified a clone of erythromycin-susceptible strains among the gentamicin-susceptible isolates and found that the remaining strains were diverse. These changes were due to the introduction of various MRSA strains from outside the hospital, while implementation of infection control measures in 1991 could have led to reduced transmission of the aminoglycoside-resistant MRSA strain. Changes in antibiotic prescribing patterns that resulted in reduced selective pressure from gentamicin may have contributed to the spread of gentamicin-susceptible MRSA strains.
Locating the γ-ray emission site in Fermi/LAT blazars from correlation analysis between 37 GHz radio and γ-ray light curves

We address the highly debated issue of constraining the γ-ray emission region in blazars from cross-correlation analysis using discrete correlation function between radio and γ-ray light curves. The significance of the correlations is evaluated using two different approaches: simulating light curves and mixed source correlations. The cross-correlation analysis yielded 26 sources with significant correlations. In most of the sources, the γ-ray peaks lead the radio with time lags in the range +20 and +690 d, whereas in sources 1633+382 and 3C 345 we find the radio emission to lead the γ-rays by −15 and −40 d, respectively. Apart from the individual source study, we stacked the correlations of all sources and also those based on subsamples. The time lag from the stacked correlation is +80 d for the whole sample and the distance travelled by the emission region corresponds to 7 pc. We also compared the start times of activity in radio and γ-rays of the correlated flares using Bayesian block representation. This shows that most of the flares at both wavebands start at almost the same time, implying a co-spatial origin of the activity. The correlated sources show more flares and are brighter in both bands than the uncorrelated ones.
Multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene in inflammatory bowel disease: a key player?

The chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are characterized by an overly aggressive cell-mediated immune response to luminal commensal bacteria in genetically susceptible individuals. 1,2 Several lines of evidence now suggest a role for the multidrug resistance (MDR1) gene and its product P-glycoprotein 170 (PgP) in the regulation of host– bacteria interaction and in the pathogenesis of IBD. PgP functions as an ATP-dependent efflux transporter pump and is highly expressed in the epithelial surfaces of intestine, biliary ductules, proximal tubules of kidneys, and central nervous system, where it forms the basis of the blood–brain barrier. 3–5 Interindividual variability of PgP expression in the intestine plays a role in the determining the pharmacokinetics of a wideranging number of substrates. 6 The exact physiological role in the gut remains unknown. The high constitutive levels of expression of PgP in the gut suggest a role in protection against xenobiotics and bacterial products. 7 This review focuses on the current data (animal studies, gene expression, and genetic studies) on the possible role of MDR1 in IBD and also future directions and implications of our current knowledge of this gene.
Unionisation Triggers Tax Incentives to Attract Foreign Direct Investment

This paper analyses tax competition between a unionised and a non-unionised country for the location of an outside firm. We show that unionisation offers an extra incentive for the government to attract a foreign competitor to a concentrated domestic market, in order to affect the behaviour of the domestic union. This results in the unionised country's government offering a tax discount (or a subsidy premium) to the outside firm in excess of what is needed to compensate the investor for the higher union wage. In equilibrium, therefore, the unionised country can attract the outside firm even if it has other location disadvantages, such as a smaller home market.
Comparative safety of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy

Editors’ Note: Drs. Maheshwari et al. and the article by Hernandez-Diaz et al. discuss questions of methodology in regards to the study “Comparative safety of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy. ” In reference to the article by Hu et al., “Plasma multianalyte profiling in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease,” in which several peripheral proteins associated with AD are proposed, Dr. Bennett cautions against false-positives and other confounding factors inherent in genome studies. Megan Alcauskas, MD, and Robert C. Griggs, MD # {#article-title-2} Due to the increased use of newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), we agree with Hernandez-Diaz et al. that it is vital to assess the efficacy and safety of the same drugs in the general population and in pregnant women, especially regarding teratogenicity.1 We also agree that valproic acid use is not acceptable …
Coarsening Mechanism for Systems Governed by the Cahn-Hilliard Equation with Degenerate Diffusion Mobility

We study a Cahn--Hilliard equation with a diffusion mobility that is degenerate in both phases and a double-well potential that is continuously differentiable. Using asymptotic analysis, we show that the interface separating the two phases does not move in the $t=O(1)$ or $O(\varepsilon^{-1})$ time scales, although in the latter regime there is a nontrivial porous medium diffusion process in both phases. Interface motion occurs in the $t=O(\varepsilon^{-2})$ time scale and is determined by quasi-stationary porous medium diffusion processes in both bulk phases, together with a surface diffusion process along the interface itself. In addition, in off-critical systems where one phase---the minor phase---occupies only a small fraction of the system and consists of many disjoint components, it is the quasi-stationary porous medium diffusion process that provides communications between the disjoint components and accounts for the occurrence of coarsening.
[Multiplex RT-PCR assay for detecting fusion genes of soft tissue small round cell tumors using paraffin-embedded and formalin-fixed tissue].

目前,用于软组织肉瘤(soft tissue sarcoma,STS)染色体易位或其融合基因检测的技术方法很多[1],以逆转录聚合酶链反应(RT-PCR)方法最为常用[2,3]. 然而对于一些形态学缺乏特征性排列结构的小圆细胞肿瘤,运用RT-PCR技术对不同融合基因逐一检测和排除,也存在检测程序繁琐、耗时、耗材等不足. 针对此问题,我们设计了多重引物,应用多重RT-PCR技术检测石蜡包埋STS融合基因的表达,建立一套稳定高效、适合临床常规STS融合基因表达检测的分子诊断方法。
Real-time PCR analysis of DNA and RNA extracted from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded biopsies.

The archives of departments of pathology represent a unique source of morphologically defined biopsies derived from normal and pathologically altered tissues for which extensive clinical data are available. The exact quantification of nucleic acids in these biopsies offers a promising extension of current methodology to study the pathogenesis of many different diseases. The development of real-time PCR technology has greatly facilitated the realization of nucleic acid quantification. Now it is feasible to analyze large series of samples for the exact quantification of nucleic acids even if the number of target molecules is small and the amount of material available for analysis is limiting. This review focuses on our own experiences concerning the extraction of nucleic acids from fixed and embedded biopsies using both conventional approaches and laser-assisted microdissection and the subsequent application of real-time PCR methods for quantification of mRNA transcripts, gene copy number, and the methylation status. We provide a number of protocols to assist in the application of these techniques.
Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Join Forces with Integrase Inhibitors to Combat HIV

In the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), the diarylpyrimidine (DAPY) analogs etravirine (ETR) and rilpivirine (RPV) have been widely effective against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) variants that are resistant to other non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). With non-inferior or improved efficacy, better safety profiles, and lower doses or pill burdens than other NNRTIs in the clinic, combination therapies including either of these two drugs have led to higher adherence than other NNRTI-containing treatments. In a separate development, HIV integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) have shown efficacy in treating AIDS, including raltegravir (RAL), elvitegravir (EVG), cabotegravir (CAB), bictegravir (BIC), and dolutegravir (DTG). Of these, DTG and BIC perform better against a wide range of resistance mutations than other INSTIs. Nevertheless, drug-resistant combinations of mutations have begun to emerge against all DAPYs and INSTIs, attributable in part to non-adherence. New dual therapies that may promote better adherence combine ETR or RPV with an INSTI and have been safer and non-inferior to more traditional triple-drug treatments. Long-acting dual- and triple-therapies combining ETR or RPV with INSTIs are under study and may further improve adherence. Here, highly resistant emergent mutations and efficacy data on these novel treatments are reviewed. Overall, ETR or RPV, in combination with INSTIs, may be treatments of choice as long-term maintenance therapies that optimize efficacy, adherence, and safety.
Wave-Making by Whirligig Beetles (Gyrinidae)

Swimming whirligig beetles (Dineutes carolinus) either make no waves at all or make conspicuous circular or vee-shaped patterns of capillary waves. The beetle's swimming speed can be determined from these wave patterns (or lack of them). Capillary waves precede the beetle for several body lengths, and their reflections may help the beetle avoid solid objects by echolocation. The gravity waves produced by a beetle are always longer than the beetle's hull length. Hence the waves do not interact with the hull to impose an upper limit on speed as they do with conventional ships. Although the beetles swim at high speeds, they apparently do not hydroplane.
On BE and HAVE in Georgian

L'A. presente une analyse des constructions etre et avoir en georgien. Contrairement au francais et a l'anglais ces deux verbes n'ont pas d'entree lexicale separee. Dans les temps non-presents leurs constructions sont morphologiquement paralleles, par contre ce parallelisme est brise au present. Etre devient un morpheme de temps et avoir un verbe polymorphemique non-accusatif avec deux arguments internes. L'A. veut montrer que cette dechirure n'est pas accidentelle
Point-to-Point Migration Functions and Gravity Model Renormalization: Approaches to Aggregation in Spatial Interaction Modeling

Two distinct approaches to assessing the effect of geographic scale on spatial interactions are pursued. In the first, the question of whether a distance (d) deterrence function, which explains interactions for one system of zones, can also succeed on a more aggregate scale, is examined. Only the two-parameter function, B0+B1d, (B1 < 0, B0 > |B1|, 0 < d ≤ -B0/B1) for which it is found that distances between macrozones are weighted averages of distances between component zones, is satisfactory in this regard. Estimation of continuous (point-to-point) functions—in the form of quadrivariate cubic polynomials—for US interstate migration streams, is then undertaken. Upon numerical integration, these (higher order) trend surfaces yield predictions of interzonal and intrazonal movements at any scale of interest. Tests of spatial stationarity, isotropy, and symmetry of interstate migration are conducted in this framework.
Long-term safety and effects of tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing factor analogue, in HIV patients with abdominal fat accumulation

Objective:Treatment of HIV patients with daily tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing factor analogue, for 26 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and improvement in lipids. The objective of the 26-week extension phase was to evaluate long-term safety and effects of tesamorelin. Design:HIV patients with central fat accumulation in the context of antiretroviral therapy were randomized to tesamorelin 2 mg (n = 273) or placebo (n = 137) s.c. daily for 26 weeks. At week 26, patients originally on tesamorelin were rerandomized to 2 mg tesamorelin (T–T group, n = 154) or placebo (T–P group, n = 50), whereas patients originally on placebo were switched to tesamorelin (P–T group, n = 111). Methods:Safety included adverse events and glucose parameters. Results:Tesamorelin was generally well tolerated. The prevalence of adverse events and serious adverse events during the extension phase was comparable with the initial phase. Changes in glucose parameters over 52 weeks were not clinically significant and similar to those after 26 weeks. The change in VAT was sustained at −18% over 52 weeks of treatment (P < 0.001 versus baseline) as was the change in triglycerides (−51 mg/dl, P < 0.001 versus baseline). Similar sustained beneficial effects were seen for total cholesterol, but high-density lipoprotein decreased minimally over 52 weeks. Upon discontinuation of tesamorelin, VAT reaccumulated. Conclusion:Treatment with tesamorelin was generally well tolerated and resulted in sustained decreases in VAT and triglycerides over 52 weeks without aggravating glucose. Though effects on VAT are sustained during treatment for 52 weeks, these effects do not last beyond the duration of treatment.
Hesitations in Continuous Tracking Induced by a Concurrent Discrete Task

Subjects performed continuous, visually guided pursuit tracking with the right hand while giving simultaneous discrete left-hand responses, which were signaled by auditory tones appearing at the average rate of one tone per 30 s. This left-hand secondary task was frequently associated with tracking hesitations lasting 333 ms or longer. The rate of occurrence of these hesitations was about the same when the left-hand response involved a choice between competing responses as when the left hand responded in a previously specified direction. Hesitations occurred for three different mechanical tracking manipulanda using different controlling muscles and appeared to be due to active muscular freezing rather than to relaxation. The rate of hesitations declined with practice, and this improvement in right-hand performance was accompanied by an improvement in performance of the concurrent left-hand response.
Risk factors for hospitalizations resulting from pulmonary embolism after renal transplantation in the United States.

BACKGROUND Risk factors for pulmonary embolism (PE) have been identified in the general population but have not been studied in a national population of renal transplant recipients. METHODS Therefore, 33,479 renal transplant recipients in the United States Renal Data System from 1 July 1994-30 June 1997 were analyzed in a historical cohort study of hospitalized PE (ICD9 Code 415.1x). HCFA form 2728 was used for comorbidities. RESULTS Renal transplant recipients had an incidence of PE of 2.26 hospitalizations per 1000 patient years at risk. In multivariate analysis, polycystic kidney disease (adjusted odds ratio, 4.44, 95% confidence interval, 2.31-8.53), older recipient age, higher recipient weight, cadaveric donation, history of ischemic heart disease, and decreased serum albumin were associated with increased risk of PE. Body mass index and hemoglobin were not significant. Kidney-pancreas transplantation was also not significant. In Cox Regression analysis PE was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio 2.06, 95% CI 1.34-3.18). CONCLUSIONS The most important risk factors for PE in this population were polycystic kidney disease, advanced age and increased weight. The reasons for the increased risk of polycystic kidney disease remain to be determined but were independent of hematocrit level at initiation of end stage renal disease, and may result from venous compression. Prospective studies of anatomical and hemostatic changes after renal transplantation in recipients with polycystic kidney disease are warranted.
Recovery of T cell populations after acute graft-vs-host reaction.

We previously have observed that T dependent immune functions were deficient for several months after induction of acute suppressive graft-vs-host-reaction (GVHR) by injection of parental C57BL/10 donor spleen cells into unirradiated (B10 x B10.BR) F, hosts. We therefore investigated whether new T cells matured after acute GVHR, and whether these were tolerant of host Ag. By 8 to 17 mo after GVHR, the frequencies of splenic CD4 and CD8 T cells were found to be comparable to age-matched untreated hosts, although the lymphoid organ size and hence the total number of T cells was significantly reduced. When GVHR was induced with a combination of C57BL/6 (Thy-1.2) mature lymphocytes and B6.PL (Thy-1.1) bone marrow stem cells, the mature donor Thy-1.2 T cells initially predominated during the acute GVHR. After several months, however, 75% of the CD4 and 50% of the CD8 T cell population was derived from donor Thy-1.1% pre-T cells that had matured in the host. Long term GVHR spleen cells were unresponsive to host Ag in CTL assays, but did not suppress anti-host CTL responses. Finally, host-reactive V beta 11 TCR expressing cells were found to be clonally deleted from splenic CD4 and CD8 populations, consistent with intrathymic negative selection. This evidence suggests that the post-GVHR thymus has the capacity to produce and negatively select phenotypically mature CD4 and CD8 T cells and that a failure to clonally delete self-reactive populations is not a contributing factor to the development of chronic GVHR in this system.