Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The pattern‐recognition molecule Nod1 is localized at the plasma membrane at sites of bacterial interaction

The pattern‐recognition molecule Nod1 is a critical sensor for bacterial derived diaminopimelic acid‐containing peptidoglycan fragments which induces innate immune responses in epithelial cells. Here we report the subcellular localization of this protein in human epithelial cells. Nod1 is localized in the cytosol and at the plasma membrane in human cells. This membrane association is dependent on the integrity of the protein, on its signalling capacity and on an intact actin cytoskeleton. Signalling‐inactive mutants of Nod1 or disruption of the actin cytoskeleton interferes with this localization pattern and impacts on downstream NF‐κB activation. Moreover, the invasive bacterium Shigella flexneri was used as a model for physiological activation of Nod1. Imaging revealed that Nod1 is recruited to the site of bacterial entry, where it colocalizes with NEMO. Our data provide evidence that membrane association is linked to Nod1 function and, in view of recent findings on Nod2, that this may be a common feature of NLR family members.
Inter-simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) Analysis of Somaclonal Variation in Artemisia amygdalina Decne. plantlets Regenerated from nodal explants

In this study Artemisia amygdalina - a critically endangered medicinal plant endemic to Kashmir Himalayas was grown under in vitro conditions. ISSR markers were used to study the somaclonal variation at the genetic level. Two ISSR-primers (CAC) 3 GC and (ACTG) 5 were used, two additional DNA bands (0.15kb and 0.2kb) were observed respectively in tissue cultured Artemisia amygdalina . Direct regeneration was seen from nodal explants on MS + BAP (10µM) + (NAA (10µM). The results depict that direct regenerants were actually the somaclonal variants but not true to type as was expected.
Réalisation de sources impulsionnelles pour les télécommunications

Ce memoire est consacre a l'etude et a la realisation de sources impulsionnelles, constituees de lasers a semi-conducteurs soumis a une retroaction optique non lineaire ou filtree, pour des applications dans les domaines lies aux telecommunications optiques. Apres un bref rappel des principales methodes utilisees pour realiser des sources impulsionnelles, nous presentons les notions theoriques necessaires a la comprehension du phenomene de retroaction optique ainsi que les principales realisations de sources impulsionnelles, utilisant une contre-reaction, disponibles dans la litterature. Puis nous nous interessons a l'analyse, principalement numerique, de la dynamique d'un laser contre-reactionne par un miroir non lineaire. Cette etude a permis de mettre en evidence l'existence d'un regime de blocage de modes passif conduisant a la generation d'impulsions caracterisees par un taux de repetition pouvant atteindre 20 GHz. D'autre part, nous montrons que l'utilisation d'un reseau de Bragg a pas variable comme reflecteur externe d'un laser fonctionnant en regime de blocage de modes permet la generation d'impulsions en limite de Fourier. La methode de fabrication d'une telle cavite composee d'un reseau de Bragg et d'une microlentille est decrite. Et nous presentons un modele permettant d'analyser numeriquement le comportement de lasers soumis a une contre-reaction filtree ainsi qu'une analyse statique de ce dernier. Nous terminons cette etude par l'analyse de l'influence d'une injection optique sur les caracteristiques de ces impulsions.
Genetic and phenotypic correlates of colorectal cancer in young patients.

To the Editor: Colorectal cancer in young patients (age, 21 years or younger) is rare and has a well-recognized aggressive, often fatal course, but the genetic origin and developmental biology of this disease are poorly understood.1 We analyzed data from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on young patients with colorectal cancer to assess the hereditary basis of this disease. We used pedigree analysis and molecular assessment to identify microsatellite instability and other genetic markers. Microsatellite instability is a characteristic pattern of genetic instability seen in microsatellite DNA that occurs in most hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancers (more than 95 percent). 2 Twenty-nine patients .
Carotid intima‐media thickness is increased and related to arterial stiffening in patients with beta‐thalassaemia major

An increased iron store has been linked to the risk of atherosclerosis. The carotid intima‐media thickness (IMT), stiffness index, Young's elastic modulus (YEM), and augmentation index were determined in 20 patients with beta‐thalassaemia major. Compared with controls, patients had greater IMT (P < 0·001), YEM (P = 0·005), and stiffness (P = 0·009) and augmentation (P = 0·03) indices. The odds ratio for increased IMT in patients was 39. Carotid IMT correlated with YEM (P = 0·036), stiffness index (P = 0·036) and augmentation index (P = 0·006). Multivariate analysis identified patient status (P < 0·001) as the only significant determinant of IMT. These findings suggest the possibility of premature atherosclerosis in beta‐thalassaemia major patients.
Review series: Aspects of interstitial lung disease: Exercise limitation in interstitial lung disease - mechanisms, significance and therapeutic options

Exercise limitation is a cardinal feature of the interstitial lung diseases and is frequently associated with marked dyspnoea on exertion. People with interstitial lung disease exhibit a rapid, shallow breathing pattern during exercise that worsens as disease progresses. Despite this, ventilatory mechanics are not the major limitation to exercise in most patients, with impaired gas exchange and circulatory limitation playing a more important role. Peripheral and respiratory muscle dysfunction may also contribute to impaired exercise tolerance, either due to systemic manifestations of the underlying disease, treatment side-effects or deconditioning. Measures of exercise capacity or desaturation obtained from maximal and submaximal exercise tests are good predictors of survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. However, to date few pharmaceutical treatments have affected exercise outcomes despite improvements in other important clinical markers. Supplemental oxygen acutely improves exercise capacity in interstitial lung disease and is recommended for hypoxic patients, although quality of life or survival benefits have not yet been demonstrated. Exercise training improves walking capacity and dyspnoea in short-term trials and is useful to maximize functional capacity. The role of exercise testing in the routine management of patients with interstitial lung disease is not clearly defined. However, given the poor prognosis in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and the marked variation in clinical course, assessment of exercise capacity may provide useful information for both clinicians and patients when evaluating the risks and benefits of new treatments. The extent of resting or exercise-induced hypoxia in patients with interstitial lung disease may influence the selection of an appropriate exercise test, and oxygen administration should be standardized on repeat testing.
High-level test compaction techniques

Available register-transfer level (RTL) test generation techniques do not make a concerted effort to reduce the test application time associated with the derived tests. Chip tester memory limitations, increasing tester costs, etc., make it imperative that the issue of generating compact tests at the RTL be addressed and consolidated with the known gains of high-level testing. In this paper, the authors provide a comprehensive framework for generating compact tests for an RTL circuit. They develop a series of techniques that exploit the inherent parallelism available in symbolic test(s) derived for RTL module(s). These techniques enable them to schedule testing of multiple modules in parallel as well as perform test pipelining. In addition, the authors also present design for testability (DFT) techniques for lowering test application time. Using a maximum bipartite matching formulation, they choose a low-overhead set of test enhancements that can achieve compact tests. The authors' techniques can seamlessly plug into any generic high-level test framework. Their experimental results in the context of one such framework indicate that the proposed methodology achieves an average reduction in test application time of 54.2% for the example circuits.
A Four-Country Comparative Study of Child Labor

The literature on child labor has identified several key factors that affect child labor, most notably household size and composition, parents’ education and employment status, and household's ability to cope with income fluctuations on the supply side and the functioning of the labor market and the prevailing production technology on the demand side. This paper reports the findings of a comparative study of the determinants of child labor in Côte d’Ivoire, Colombia, Bolivia and the Philippines, and updates the policy recommendations by reporting on several empirical applications in a number of countries. The investigation focuses on the labor supply decision by the household. The supply-side factors are embodied in the models estimated in this study. The household decision about how a child's time will be allocated is seen as a sequential decision making process whereby the household first weighs the decision on whether the child will attend school only against all other options. If the household does not select the preferred option, a series of further decisions are needed to choose between a work-school combination or work only option and then to select the type of work. A sequential probit model was used to estimate the determinants. The consistency of results across four countries with vastly different social and cultural characteristics is itself a remarkable finding and strengthens the validity of the policy recommendations.
Cattle‐Caused Fatalities in a Province of Western Turkey: 1996–2010 Autopsy Results

Cattle‐caused injuries and deaths are much more than predicted. The aim of this research is to determine the prevalence of cattle‐caused fatalities and the factors affecting it in a province of western Turkey. The court files on cattle‐caused fatalities during a 15‐year period between 1996 and 2010 were explored. The proportion of forensic‐qualified deaths from the total of 3753 was 0.9% (35/3753). Most of the cases were between the ages of 18 and 65 (60%). Most deaths occurred in the spring and summer months compared with autumn and winter months (9 and 22 vs. 3 and 1, respectively). The mortality rate was much higher in men compared with women (94.3% and 5.7%, respectively). The majority of deaths were caused by injuries on the chest (71.4%). The reason for most deaths was due to hemopneumothorax and lung injury (71.4%). Predicting the behavior of cattle may not always be possible, as such, it is advisable that one wears protective equipment when dealing with cattle.
Property, Privacy, and Personal Data

Modern computing technologies and the Internet have generated the capacity to gather, manipulate, and share massive quantities of data; this capacity, in turn, has spawned a booming trade in personal information. Even as it promises new avenues for the creation of wealth, this controversial new market also raises significant concerns for individual privacy-consumers and citizens are often unaware of, or unable to evaluate, the increasingly sophisticated methods devised to collect information about them. This Article develops a model of propertized personal information that responds to these serious concerns about privacy. It begins this task with a description and an analysis of several emerging technologies that illustrate both the promise and peril of the commodification of personal data. This Article also evaluates the arguments for and against a market in personal data, and concludes that while free alienability arguments are insufficient to justify unregulated trade in personal information, concerns about market failure and the public's interest in a protected privacy commons are equally insufficient to justify a ban on the trade. This Article develops the five critical elements of a model for propertized personal information that would help fashion a market that would respect individual privacy and help maintain a democratic order. These five elements are: limitations on an individual's right to alienate personal information; default rules that force disclosure of the terms of trade; a right of exit for participants in the market; the establishment of damages to deter market abuses; and institutions to police the personal information market and punish privacy violations. Finally, this Article returns to examples of technologies already employed in data trade and discusses how this proposed model would apply to them.
Role of caffeic acid phenethyl ester, an active component of propolis, against cisplatin‐induced nephrotoxicity in rats

We have investigated the effect of caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) on cisplatin‐induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Administration of a single dose of cisplatin resulted in the elevation of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine in serum, as well as nitric oxide in kidney tissue of rats. Cisplatin also caused reduction of catalase (P < 0.0001), superoxide dismutase (P = 0.149) and glutathrone peroxidase (P < 0.0001) activities in kidney tissue. Although cisplatin caused elevation in malondialdehyde levels and myeloperoxidase activities in kidney tissue, they were not statistically signiﬁcant. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester was found to be protective against cisplatin‐induced antioxidant enzyme reductions. Treatment with free‐radical scavenger CAPE attenuated the increase in plasma blood urea nitrogen and kidney nitric oxide levels, and showed histopathological protection against cisplatin‐induced acute renal failure. Extensive epithelial cell vacuolization, swelling, desquamation and necrosis were observed in the kidney of the cisplatin‐treated rat. There were also larger tubular lumens in cisplatin‐treated rats than those of the control and the CAPE groups. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester caused a marked reduction in the extent of tubular damage. It is concluded that administration of cisplatin imposes an oxidative stress to renal tissue and CAPE confers protection against the oxidative damage associated with cisplatin. This mechanism may be attributed to its free‐oxygen‐radical scavenging activity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Enhanced Economic Stability and the Role of Inflation Targeting Policy: Empirical Study on Case of Developing Countries

Inflation targeting has become the predominant monetary approach across the globe. In this paper, we examine the inflation targeting experience in developing countries. We estimate the effects of inflation targeting on macroeconomic performance in these economies. The approach is based on the methodology applied by P? tursson (2005) which uses panel data to assess the effects of inflation targeting while controlling for the Great Moderation. The work analyze the relationship between inflation targeting and macroeconomic performance for two groups:? treatment and control group over the period 1980-2012. A key lesson from this experience is that inflation targeting monetary policy realizes macroeconomic performance and contributes to the reduction of inflation, especially in countries with hyperinflation.
Effect of Plant Powders as Natural Nitrate Source on Reduction of Nitrosamine Compounds in Beef Burgers

Recent epidemiological studies have shown a positive association between cancer incidence and high intake of processed meats. N-nitrosamines (NAs) in these products have been suggested as one potential causative factor. Most NAs are classified as probable human carcinogens. Nitrite, a curing agent of meat products and is a precursor of carcinogenic, so one of the main research topics in meat industry is the reduction of chemical contamination with nitrite. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of replacement of artificial nitrite by tomato, red beet and celery powders (at levels of 1.5 and 3%) as natural sources of nitrates into beef burger formula on residual nitrite and NAs concentrations. The results showed that the tested plant powders were much decreased the residual nitrite content in beef burger samples during the frozen storage periods by different rates depending on the type and level of powder added. Where, tomato powder was the most effective in reducing these contents, followed by red beet powder. Also, the results indicated that the compounds of NDMA, NDEA, NPYR, NPIP, NDBA, NDPA and NSAR were detected in all tested samples and ranged from 0.30 to 10.0μg/kg. While, the other nitrosamine compounds such as NPRO, NMOR, NMEA, NMA and NHPRO were not detected. In general, beef burger samples containing plant powders were lower in the total nitrosamine content (0.84 to 3.66 μg/kg) compared with the sample prepared with 150 ppm sodium nitrite (10.0 μg/kg). The most abundant nitrosamine compounds in the burger samples were NDMA (0.17 2.71 μg/kg), NDEA (0.05 1.78 μg/kg) and NPYR (0.08 2.11μg/kg). It could be concluded that the nitrite (precursor of NAs) can be avoid by replace it with natural nitrate/nitrite sources.
Monitoring of selections of visual stimuli and the primate frontal cortex

This investigation shows that lesions confined to the middle sector of the dorsolateral frontal cortex, i.e. cytoarchitectonic areas 46 and 9, cause a striking impairment in the ability of non-human primates to recall which one from a set of stimuli they chose, without in any way affecting their ability to recognize that they had previously seen those stimuli. By contrast, lesions placed within the adjacent posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex affect neither recognition of visual stimulinor recall of prior choices. These findings delineate the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex as a critical component of a neural system mediating the monitoring of self-generated responses.
Modeled climate change effects on distributions of Canadian butterfly species

Climate change effects on biodiversity are being documented now frequently in the form of changes in phenology and distributional shifts. However, the form that these effects will take over a longer timespan is unclear; for this understanding, a quantitative, validated, predictive approach is key. Here, we use ecological niche modeling and general circulation model outputs to estimate future potential geographic distributions of 111 Canadian butterfly species. We develop future estimates under two emission scenarios from each of two climate change modeling centers; future projections for biodiversity are not only scenario dependent (more severe emission scenarios produce more severe effects on species' distributions) but also model dependent (the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis results were more severe than the Hadley Centre results). One interesting feature is the appearance of disjunctions in species' distributions, hence creating "vicariant events" over very short time periods. In ge.
Timing resolution performance comparison for fast and standard outputs of SensL SiPM

A new silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) with a unique fast output signal feature was recently introduced by SensL. For a SiPM device with 3×3 mm2 sensitive area, the single photo electron response from the fast output is less than 2 ns wide compared with 50 ns width observed at the standard output. Using the fast readout signal, a coincidence resolving time (CRT) of 190 ps (FWHM - full width at half maximum) was measured with a 3×3×10 mm3 LYSO crystal optically coupled to the SiPM mounted on the SensL MicroFB-SMA evaluation board. Applying additional C-R high pass filters to the standard SiPM output, we shortened the SPE response from 50 ns to 3 ns width and measured CRT values similar to those obtained with fast output signals. We have studied the effect of external filtering on CRT with two SensL 3×3 mm2 devices with different microcell sizes (35 μm and 50 μm). For both devices studied, we demonstrated similar CRT performance between the fast output and standard output with optimized pulse shaping filter. However, for applications requiring simultaneous measurement of intensity and timing of light pulses, the availability of a separate fast output directly from the sensor is convenient because it reduces the need for additional circuits and provides CRT performance equal to external filters optimized for the standard outputs.
Antibodies to mycobacterial peptidoglycolipid and to crude protein antigens in sera from different categories of human subjects

Sera from patients with disease caused by the Mycobacterium avium complex (M. avium and M. intracellulare), M. kansasii, or M. tuberculosis and from subjects who did not have a mycobacterial disease were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay against peptidoglycolipid antigens representing each of the 15 most common serovars of the M. avium complex and against crude protein antigen extracts of M. avium and M. tuberculosis. The highly specific peptidoglycolipid antigens yielded positive reactions in 83% of M. avium complex patients, 57% of active-tuberculosis patients, and 14% of subjects without mycobacterial disease. Reactions to more than 1 of the 15 peptidoglycolipid antigens were found only in patients with infections caused by mycobacteria, suggesting that a mycobacterial pulmonary lesion is readily colonized by mycobacteria other than the one that initiated the lesion. The two crude mycobacterial protein antigens were highly cross-reactive, with little if any capacity to discriminate between infections caused by any of the mycobacteria studied. Moreover, they did not appear to be more sensitive than the peptidoglycolipids. The data suggest that it is unlikely that a practical and reliable serological test can be developed that will distinguish between transient subclinical infection and significant disease caused by common environmental mycobacteria, such as members of the M. avium complex. Success in developing such a test for nonenvironmental mycobacteria, such as M. tuberculosis, appears more likely.
Expression of a dietary protein in E. coli renders it strongly antigenic to gut lymphoid tissue.

Bacteria that colonize the intestinal mucosa elicit a strong mucosal immune response, whereas food antigens such as ovalbumin are very weakly immunogenic to the gut-associated lymphoid tissue. This may either be due to special physico-chemical properties of bacterial substances versus proteins from animals and plants, or to stimulating properties of the bacteria on, e.g., antigen presentation, rendering all substances contained within bacteria antigenic. To test these hypotheses, ovalbumin was expressed in wild-type Escherichia coli and germ-free female rats were colonized with this strain. The systemic and mucosal antibody response of these rats was compared with that of rats given large amounts of dietary ovalbumin. Biliary IgA antibodies, which reflect the local IgA antibody production in the intestine, were only found in the rats colonized with ovalbumin-synthesizing E. coli. IgG antibodies in the bile were also only seen in these rats. We conclude that mucosal immunogenicity depends on the context in which a protein is presented to the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, rather than to special antigenic characteristics of the protein in itself.