Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimisation of arbitrarily shaped corrugated horns through finite elements and simplex

This work addresses the design of corrugated horns with arbitrary shape profile. The optimisation is carried out by a simplex algorithm. The analysis is performed by a hybrid method based on the segmentation technique, the finite-element and a matrix Lanczos-Pade algorithm (SFELP), adapted to problems with axial symmetry. An example design is presented to verify the technique
Topographic organization of cardiovascular responses to electrical and glutamate microstimulation of the parabrachial nucleus in the rat

We examined the functional organization of the parabrachial complex (PB) by mapping the cardiovascular and respiratory responses to PB microstimulation in anesthetized rats. The PB was explored with 100 m̈m resolution, at threshold doses of electrical current (5 m̈A) and glutamate (10‐500 pmols), and the locations of stimulation sites were identified by small iontophoretic or pressure injections of biocytin or Phaselous vulgaris leucoagglutinin. Threshold doses of either L‐glutamate or electrical current pulses caused pressor‐tachycardic responses that mapped to the outer edge of the external lateral subnucleus while depressor bradycardic responses were elicited from stimuli near the dorsal lateral subnucleus. Pressor responses persisted in paralyzed, ventilated animals and were thus not dependent upon concomitant respiratory changes. Cardiac arrhythmias sometimes occurred during large pressor responses and during augmented breaths that occurred during or following PB stimulation. These observations indicate that the PB contains at least two distinct neuronal systems that are potently and opposingly involved in cardiovascular control. The locations of the sites giving the most potent responses implicate specific ascending and descending pathways as substrates for the cardiovascular responses. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Long Peptide Vaccination Can Lead to Lethality through CD4+ T Cell-Mediated Cytokine Storm

The optimization of anticancer therapeutic vaccines can lead to better efficacy but also to stronger adverse effects. In a mouse model of antitumor vaccination using a long peptide (LP), which included MHC class I- and II-restricted male (H-Y) epitopes, we observed unexpected mortality. Mice with an increased frequency of anti–H-Y CD4 T cells were primed with LP+CpG and boosted 10 d later. Within hours of boost, they displayed shock-like signs with high mortality. Serum cytokine levels were high. TNF-α secreted by the CD4 T cells was identified as the key effector molecule. Priming with a short peptide (SP), which included the MHC class II-restricted epitope, was a more efficient primer than LP, but did not lead to mortality when used as boost. The high mortality induced by LP compared with SP was probably related to its specific ability to be presented by B cells. Finally, targeting the LP sequence to dendritic cells allowed tumor protection without side effects. Our data: 1) confirm that the immune system can be very dangerous; 2) caution against the use of systemic activation of high-frequency Ag-specific T cells as induced by high doses of LP; and 3) underline the benefit of targeting Ag to dendritic cells.
3D CNN-Based Speech Emotion Recognition Using K-Means Clustering and Spectrograms

Detecting human intentions and emotions helps improve human–robot interactions. Emotion recognition has been a challenging research direction in the past decade. This paper proposes an emotion recognition system based on analysis of speech signals. Firstly, we split each speech signal into overlapping frames of the same length. Next, we extract an 88-dimensional vector of audio features including Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), pitch, and intensity for each of the respective frames. In parallel, the spectrogram of each frame is generated. In the final preprocessing step, by applying k-means clustering on the extracted features of all frames of each audio signal, we select k most discriminant frames, namely keyframes, to summarize the speech signal. Then, the sequence of the corresponding spectrograms of keyframes is encapsulated in a 3D tensor. These tensors are used to train and test a 3D Convolutional Neural network using a 10-fold cross-validation approach. The proposed 3D CNN has two convolutional layers and one fully connected layer. Experiments are conducted on the Surrey Audio-Visual Expressed Emotion (SAVEE), Ryerson Multimedia Laboratory (RML), and eNTERFACE’05 databases. The results are superior to the state-of-the-art methods reported in the literature.
Polysialylation at Early Stages of Oligodendrocyte Differentiation Promotes Myelin Repair

Polysialic acid is a glycan modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) produced by the polysialyltransferases ST8SIA2 and ST8SIA4. Polysialic acid has been detected in multiple sclerosis plaques, but its beneficial or adverse role in remyelination is elusive. Here, we show that, despite a developmental delay, myelination at the onset and during cuprizone-induced demyelination was unaffected in male Ncam1−/− or St8sia2−/− mice. However, remyelination, restoration of oligodendrocyte densities, and motor recovery after the cessation of cuprizone treatment were compromised. Impaired differentiation of NCAM- or ST8SIA2-negative oligodendrocyte precursors suggested an underlying cell-autonomous mechanism. In contrast, premature differentiation in ST8SIA4-negative cultures explained the accelerated remyelination previously observed in St8sia4−/− mice. mRNA profiling during differentiation of human stem cell-derived and primary murine oligodendrocytes indicated that the opposing roles of ST8SIA2 and ST8SIA4 arise from sequential expression. We also provide evidence that potentiation of ST8SIA2 by 9-cis-retinoic acid and artificial polysialylation of oligodendrocyte precursors by a bacterial polysialyltransferase are mechanisms to promote oligodendrocytic differentiation. Thus, differential targeting of polysialyltransferases and polysialic acid engineering are promising strategies to advance the treatment of demyelinating diseases. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The beneficial or adverse role of polysialic acid (polySia) in myelin repair is a long-standing question. As a modification of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), polySia is produced by the polysialyltransferases ST8SIA2 and ST8SIA4. Here we demonstrate that NCAM and ST8SIA2 promote oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelin repair as well as motor recovery after cuprizone-induced demyelination. In contrast, ST8SIA4 delays oligodendrocyte differentiation, explaining its adverse role in remyelination. These opposing roles of the polysialyltransferases are based on different expression profiles. 9-cis-retinoic acid enhances ST8SIA2 expression, providing a mechanism for understanding how it supports oligodendrocyte differentiation and remyelination. Furthermore, artificial polysialylation of the cell surface promotes oligodendrocyte differentiation. Thus, boosting ST8SIA2 and engineering of polySia are promising strategies for improving myelin repair.
The new identified biomarkers determine sensitivity to immune check-point blockade therapies in melanoma

ABSTRACT Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has achieved remarkable clinical benefit in melanoma. However, our understanding of biomarkers that predict response to ICB remained obscure. Here we systematically analyzed the association between somatic mutations profile and clinicopathologic information from 336 melanoma patients treated by ICB (CTLA-4/PD-1). We identified eight new significantly mutated genes including COL5A1, SEMA3E, COL28A1, DGKG, RAPGEF5, GLDN, NCF2 and RCAN2. A mutational signature featured by enrichment of T > C mutations was identified to be associated with immune resistance (logistic regression model, OR, 2.59 [95%CI, 1.07 to 7.00], P = .043). High neoantigen quality was associated with prolonged immunotherapy survival (log-rank test, P = .009). This association remained significant after controlling for age, gender, stage and hypermutation (Cox proportional hazards model, HR, 0.56 [95%CI, 0.38 to 0.82], P = .003). Our findings shed new insights on biomarkers that are useful to predict melanoma patients who may benefit from ICB treatment; however, these biomarkers need to be validated in future studies.
Variation in Emergency Department Admission Rates Across the United States

There were more than 19 million hospitalizations in 2008 from hospital-based emergency departments (EDs), representing nearly 50% of all U.S. admissions. Factors related to variation in hospital-level ED admission rates are unknown. Generalized linear models were used to assess patient-, hospital-, and community-level factors associated with ED admission rates across a sample of U.S. hospitals using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data. In 1,376 EDs, the mean ED admission rate, when defined as direct admissions and also transfers from one ED to another hospital, was 17.5% and varied from 9.8% to 25.8% at the 10th and 90th percentiles. Higher proportions of Medicare and uninsured patients, more inpatient beds, lower ED volumes, for-profit ownership, trauma center status, and higher hospital occupancy rates were associated with higher ED admission rates. Also, hospitals in counties with fewer primary care physicians per capita and higher county-level ED admission rates had higher ED admission rates.
Cavity Model Analysis of a Dual-Probe-Feed Circular Microstrip Patch Antenna

The cavity model is extended to analyze a dual-probe-feed circular microstrip patch antenna for both differential and single-ended operations. Particular emphasis is given to the impedance characteristics in order to understand the relationship between the differential and single-ended input impedances. It is shown that the differential input resistance is four times of the single-ended input resistance at the resonant frequency of the fundamental mode.
Functional properties and axon terminations of interneurons in laminae III-V of the mammalian spinal dorsal horn in vitro.

1. The functional organization of interneurons in spinal laminae III-V was studied in an isolated preparation of hamster dorsal horn with sensory innervation from an excised skin patch. Morphological details of 40 neurons were visualized by intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase. Active and passive membrane properties, synaptic responses to cutaneous nerve volleys, and responses to innocuous mechanical stimuli were determined for 25 cells with identified axons. 2. Neurons were classified into two types: 1) cells with local axons, branching in proximity to the cell soma and dendrites, that produced numerous synaptic boutons (740 +/- 504/axon; mean +/- SD), often arranged in clusters and 2) neurons with deep axons that usually bifurcated into rostral and caudal daughter branches up to 2.5 mm long, giving off collaterals ventral to the cell body and dendrites and forming significantly fewer boutons (155 +/- 140/axon) than local axon cells. A majority of boutons of local axon and deep axon cells, 89 and 83%, respectively, were of the en passant type. 3. Dendritic trees of local axon cells were relatively compact dorsoventrally (119 +/- 42 microns) and mediolaterally (128 +/- 45 microns), but were elongated rostrocaudally (404 +/- 121 microns). In comparison, dendritic trees of deep axon cells radiated significantly farther dorsoventrally (218 +/- 88 microns) and mediolaterally (180 +/- 34 microns), but exhibited comparable rostrocaudal spread (413 +/- 128 microns). There was no correlation between dorsoventral and mediolateral dendritic spread and mediolateral soma location for either cell type. However, for medially situated deep axon cells the rostrocaudal dendritic spread was up to 180% greater than for those located laterally. For nearly one-half of all cells (49%; 17/35) dendritic processes extended dorsally into lamina II. 4. Local axon cells had resting membrane potentials that were more negative than deep axon cells (-59.5 +/- 6.1 and -53.6 +/- 4.7 mV, respectively), but the amplitude and duration of action potentials generated by the two types were similar. Neuronal input resistance (RN) and membrane time constant (tau m) varied widely from cell to cell, but were not significantly different for local axon (77.4 +/- 46.8 M omega, 13.4 +/- 9.5 ms) and deep axon cells (46.5 +/- 19.2 M omega, 6.6 +/- 3.0 ms). 5. Volleys in myelinated afferent fibers activated fast rising excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) that exhibited later, more slowly rising potentials with multiple components in a majority of deep axon (89%) and local axon (72%) neurons. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Considering the past and present of Romani in Sweden: secondary school pupils’ thinking and caring about the history of the Romani in national tests

ABSTRACT In this study, we analyse 126 secondary pupils’ responses to national test questions designed to make them think and care about the history of national minorities in Sweden. Using a mixed method approach we find that historical thinking and empathy as caring are tightly interlinked in the responses. In particular, the cognitive act of corroborating historical sources about the treatment of minorities is linked to historical empathy as caring – while sourcing seems like a separate process. We also find that pupils struggle to link the past to the present and the future more than they do with sourcing and corroboration. Engaging with the past of discrimination of minorities makes pupils take critical positions beyond established dimensions of historical thinking. Our findings highlight how we need to better understand how to scaffold pupils’ practical knowledge, skills and attitudes in ideologically and emotionally charged issues.
An Improved Rotor Speed Observer for Standalone Brushless Doubly-Fed Induction Generator Under Unbalanced and Nonlinear Loads

The conventional control methods for brushless doubly-fed induction generator (BDFIG) normally employ mechanical sensors to acquire the information of rotor speed, which brings many disadvantages in the cost, complexity, reliability, etc. This paper presents an improved rotor speed observer (RSO) for the sensorless operation of standalone BDFIGs, which is based on the power winding (PW) voltage and control winding (CW) current. In order to eliminate the impact of unbalanced and nonlinear loads on the RSO, second-order generalized integrators (SOGIs) and low-pass filters (LPFs) are introduced to pre-filter the PW voltage and CW current, respectively. Through comprehensive parameter design, the response speed of the improved RSO will be not lower than that of the basic RSO with ensuring the filtering effect of these additional filters. In addition, the proposed RSO is independent to machine parameters except the pole pairs. Comprehensive experiments are conducted and results verify the proposed improved RSO applied to the standalone BDFIG. Also, the applicability of the proposed RSO on another dual-electrical-port machine, doubly-fed induction generator, is confirmed by simulation results.
Molecular determinants of biocompatibility

The biocompatibility of medical implants dictates the fate of almost all medical devices. It is well established that medical devices trigger a variety of adverse tissue responses, such as inflammation, fibrosis, infection and thrombosis. However, the mechanisms involved in biomaterial-mediated tissue responses remain largely unknown. The lack of such knowledge hinders the development of biomaterials with better biocompatibility and safety. The aim of this review is to summarize our current understanding of the processes governing foreign body reactions to tissue-contact devices. Obviously, this information is urgently needed for assisting the rational design of materials or medical devices to minimize undesirable tissue reactions upon implantation and, in addition, to promote the wound healing process.
Immunomodulatory Effect of Triphala during Experimentally Induced Noise Stress in Albino Rats

Stress is a term that generally has a negative connotation, which results in immune dysfunction. In this study, immunomodulatory effect of Triphala (equal proportion of Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellerica and Emblica officinalis) during noise-stress in male albino rats was evaluated by analyzing the antibody titer, cytokines IL-2-Interleukin (2), IL-4 and IFN-Interferon (gamma) and Pan T, CD4+/CD8+ lymphocyte phenotype in spleen. Four groups of rat were employed namely control, Triphala (1 g/kg body weight), noise-stress (100 dB/4 hr/15 days), Triphala + noise-stress and rats were immunized with sheep red blood cells (5 × 109 cells/ml). Results indicate that noise-stress induced elevation in the serum antibody titer and IL-4 levels associated with decreased IL-2, IFN-gamma, and reduction in Pan T, CD4+/CD8+ lymphocyte phenotype in spleen were significantly prevented in Triphala treated noise-stress exposed group. This study showed the immunomodulatory effect of Triphala during noise-stress and suggests its therapeutic usefulness.
Long-term health effects in hamsters and rats exposed chronically to man-made vitreous fibres.

Rats and hamsters were exposed to several types of airborne man-made vitreous fibers. Exposure protocols were ''nose-only'' 6 h a day, 5 d a week for 24 m with surviving animals maintained for the rest of their lives. Challenge aerosols consisted of 4 types of fibrous glass, 1 refractory ceramic fiber (RCF), and 1 mineral wool fiber. UICC crocidolite asbestos and clean air served as positive and negative controls for the inhalation groups. Groups of additional controls were unmanipulated caged animals, intraperitoneally (IP) injected animals, and intratracheally (IT) instilled animals. Animals, after their deaths, were examined macroscopically and microscopically. Fiber lung burdens were significant for the inhalation exposures and related to the mean diameters of the fibrous challenge aerosols. The inhalation exposures with MMVF did not result in any adverse effects except for a mesothelioma of the lung in 1 hamster exposed to the RCF, not a statistically significant finding. Consistent with other reported work, abdominal mesotheliomas were induced in the groups of hamsters and rats injected IP with 0.45-micron mean diameter fibrous glass, RCF, and crocidolite asbestos. With IT instillations, primary lung tumors were found only in hamsters and rats receiving UICC crocidolite; no lung tumors occurred in animalsmore » instilled IT with 2 types of MMVF. 28 refs., 2 figs., 18 tabs. « less
Vertex control of flows in networks

We study a transport equation in a network and control it in a single vertex. We describe all possible reachable states and prove a criterion of Kalman type for those vertices in which the problem is maximally controllable. The results are then applied to concrete networks to show the complexity of the problem.
Creatinine generation is reduced in patients requiring continuous venovenous hemodialysis and independently predicts mortality.

BACKGROUND Existing systems for grading severity of acute kidney injury (AKI) rely on a change of serum creatinine concentration over a defined time interval. The rate of change in serum creatinine increases by degree of reduction in glomerular filtration rate, but is mitigated by low creatinine generation rate (CGR). Failure to appreciate variation in CGR may lead to erroneous conclusions regarding severity of AKI and distorted predictions regarding patient outcomes based on AKI severity. METHODS Cohort study of 103 patients who received continuous venovenous hemodialysis (CVVHD) over a 2-year period in a tertiary care hospital setting. Study participants entered the cohort when they were anuric, receiving a stable and uninterrupted dose of CVVHD with serum creatinine in steady state. They were followed until hospital discharge. CGR was measured based on dialyzate effluent volume and effluent creatinine concentration (prospective cohort) and via effluent volume and serum creatinine concentration (retrospective cohort). RESULTS CGR (mean 10.5, range 1.7-22.4 mg/kg/day) was substantially lower in this patient population than what would be predicted from existing equations. Correlates of CGR in multivariable analysis included the length of hospitalization prior to measurement and presence of an oncologic diagnosis. Lower CGR was independently associated with in-hospital mortality in unadjusted analysis and after multivariable adjustment for measures of severity of illness. CONCLUSIONS Grading systems for severity of AKI fail to account for variation in CGR, limiting their ability to predict relevant outcomes. Calculation of CGR is superior to other risk metrics in predicting hospital mortality in this population.
Prevalence of Clinical manifestations in SLE patients Clinical manifestations No % fever fatigue malar rash alopecia photosensitivity discoid lupus Raynaud ' s phenomenon arthralgia arthritis myalgia gangrenous nails epilepsy stroke pleurisy pleural effusion pericarditis

Background Anti-chromatin antibodies have recently been described in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and it has been suggested that their presence is associated with lupus activity. Objectives To assess the presence of antichromatin antibodies in patient with SLE and its relation to lupus nephritis. Method The presence of antichromatin antibodies in 52 SLE patients has been investigated by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To determine the specificity of these antibodies, 12 cases with other systemic auto immune disease (SAD), 13 healthy control subjects were investigated. Results Positive levels were detected in 40/52 (77%), 2 cases with other SAD (16.7%) and none of healthy control. Significant correlation was found between the levels of antichromatin antibodies and disease activity score as measured by SLEDAI, a significant correlation was found between the levels of anti-chromatin antibodies and parameters of nephritis. Conclusion The measurement of anti-chromatin antibodies appears to be a useful addition to the laboratory tests that can help in the diagnosis and treatment of SLE. These antibodies are both sensitive and specific for SLE, and are a useful marker for increased risk of lupus nephritis.
Hematologic and Immunophenotypic Characterization of Human Umbilical Cord Blood

In this work, cord blood cells from 30 healthy term newborns were analyzed for complete blood counts with an automated cytometer and, in part of the sample, for surface molecules in cord blood monocytes, lymphocytes and CD34+ cells by two-color flow cytometry. Hematological parameters were as follows: WBC = 12.85 (5.24–15.10) ×109/l; platelets = 304.33 (156.00–469.00) × 109/l; Hb = 14.45 (11.90–17.82) g/dl; RBC = 3.99 (3.14–5.12) × 1012/l; MCV 107.25 (99.60–115.00) fl; reticulocytes = 157.80 (101.00–124.00) × 109/l or 3.99 (2.45–6.01)%; erythroblasts = 0.88 (0.15–2.58) per 100 WBC or 6.63 (2.86–16.80) × 109/l. The mononuclear population, as evaluated by flow cytometry, was composed of 22.9 ± 7.2% monocytes and 77.05 ± 7.24% lymphocytes, among which 46.59 ± 15.62% were T lymphocytes (43.94 ± 16.94% CD3+/CD4+ and 13.45 ± 7.46% CD3+/CD8+). CD34+ cells were on average 0.54 ± 0.24% of the mononuclear fraction. CD11c, CD49e and HLA-DR were found mainly on monocytes, and CD31 and CD62L occurred in similar levels on monocytes and lymphocytes. CD117+ cells were less than 5% of these populations. Among CD34+ cells, CD31 and HLA-DR were the molecules with higher frequencies (79.7 ± 19.9 and 65.7 ± 23.0%, respectively), followed by CD62L (41.8 ± 31.9%) and CD117 (20.1 ± 15.8%). The presence of CD11c and CD49e on CD34+ cells was low (below 10%). The results stress the phenotypic heterogeneity of cord blood CD34+ cells, and the different behavior of the cells when manipulated in vitro in different degrees of isolation.