Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cloning and characterization of a cDNA for murine macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP), a novel monokine with inflammatory and chemokinetic properties [published erratum appears in J Exp Med 1989 Dec 1;170(6):2189]

In the course of studies on cachectin/TNF being conducted in our laboratory, a novel macrophage product has been detected and characterized. Termed macrophage inflammatory protein or MIP, this protein appears to be an endogenous mediator of the inflammatory events induced by endotoxin. A cDNA cloned probe for this protein has been isolated from a lambda gt10 phage library prepared from poly(A)+ RNA obtained of endotoxin-induced RAW264.7 cells. The sequence codes for a 92 amino acid-long polypeptide, of which 69 amino acids correspond to the mature product. The sequence predicts a molecular weight of 7,889 and structural analysis of the protein indicates a characteristic signal sequence alpha-helix and a hydrophobic core. Sequence data also confirm no sequence similarity to any other protein listed in the Dayhoff data base.
Extra-abdominal removal of placenta during cesarean section: a prospective randomized controlled trial of a novel technique

Abstract Aim: To evaluate intraoperative and early postoperative outcomes of a novel placenta delivery technique; extra-abdominal removal vs. intra-abdominal removal of the placenta during cesarean section (CS). Methods: A total of 210 women delivering by CS at term in a tertiary university hospital between March 2014 and January 2015 were randomized to extra-abdominal removal vs. intra-abdominal removal of the placenta. The women were randomly allocated to the extra- (group 1) or intra-abdominal removal group (group 2) according to random sampling method, where women with even and odd numbers were allocated to intra- and extra-abdominal groups, respectively. The amount of intra-abdominal hemorrhagic fluid accumulation, the duration of operation and estimated blood loss during operation were the primary outcomes. The secondary outcomes included the mean difference between pre- and post-operative hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, the mean postoperative pain score, any additional need of analgesia, postoperative bowel function, postoperative endometritis and wound infections. Results: The amount of aspirated hemorrhagic fluid was significantly higher in the intra-abdominal group compared to the extra-abdominal group (34.6±22.2 mL vs. 9.4±4.8 mL, P<0.001). Mean duration of the operation, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative requirement of additional analgesia, postoperative pain scores, postoperative endometritis or wound infection, and length of hospital stay were not significantly different between the intra- and extra-abdominal placental removal groups. Conclusion: By extra-abdominal removal of the placenta, the accumulation of bloody fluid in the abdominal cavity is significantly less compared to the intra-abdominal removal method, which, in turn, provides avoidance of excessive mounted-gauze use, intra-abdominal manipulations, or iatrogenic trauma.
Context-Specific and Immune Cell-Dependent Antitumor Activities of α1-Antitrypsin

α1-antitrypsin (AAT), a circulating glycoprotein that rises during acute phase responses and healthy pregnancies, exhibits immunomodulatory properties in several T-cell-dependent immune pathologies. However, AAT does not directly interfere with T-cell responses; instead, it facilitates polarization of macrophages and dendritic cells towards M2-like and tolerogenic cells, respectively. AAT also allows NK cell responses against tumor cells, while attenuating DC-dependent induction of autoimmune NK cell activities. Since AAT-treated macrophages bear resemblance to cancer-promoting tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), it became imperative to examine the possible induction of tumor permissive conditions by AAT. Here, AAT treatment is examined for its effect on tumor development, metastatic spread, and tumor immunology. Systemic AAT treatment of mice inoculated with B16-F10 melanoma cells resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth and metastatic spread. Using NK cell-resistant RMA cells, we show that AAT interferes with tumor development in a CD8+ T-cell-dependent manner. Unexpectedly, upon analysis of tumor cellular composition, we identified functional tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T-cells alongside M1-like TAMs in AAT-treated mice. Based on the ability of AAT to undergo chemical modifications, we emulated conditions of elevated reactive nitrogen and oxygen species. Indeed, macrophages were stimulated by treatment with nitrosylated AAT, and IFNγ transcripts were significantly elevated in tumors extracted soon after ischemia-reperfusion challenge. These context-specific changes may explain the differential effects of AAT on immune responses towards tumor cells versus benign antigenic targets. These data suggest that systemically elevated levels of AAT may accommodate its physiological function in inflammatory resolution, without compromising tumor-targeting immune responses.
Bank Funding Stability - Pricing Strategies and the Guidance of Depositors

Banks face a ‘behavioralization’ of their balance sheets since deposit funding increasingly consists of non-maturing deposits with uncertain cash flows exposing them to asset liability (ALM) risk. Thus, this study examines the behavior of banks’ retail customers regarding non-maturing deposits. Our unique sample comprises the contract and cash flow data for 2.2 million individual contracts from 1991 to 2010. We find that contractual rewards, i.e., qualified interest payments, and government subsidies, effectively stabilize saving behavior and thus bank funding. The probability of an early deposit withdrawal decreases by approximately 40%, and cash flow volatility drops by about 25%. Our findings provide important insights for banks using pricing incentives to steer desired saving patterns for their non-maturing deposit portfolios. Finally, these results are informative regarding the bank liquidity regulations (Basel III) concerning the stability of deposits and the minimum requirements for risk management (European Commission DIRECTIVE 2006/48/EC).
Joint dynamic voltage scaling and adaptive body biasing for heterogeneous distributed real-time embedded systems

While dynamic power consumption has traditionally been the primary source of power consumption, leakage power is becoming an increasingly important concern as technology feature size continues to shrink. Previous system-level approaches focus on reducing power consumption without considering leakage power consumption. To overcome this limitation, we propose a two-phase approach to combine dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) and adaptive body biasing (ABB) for distributed real-time embedded systems. DVS is a powerful technique for reducing dynamic power consumption quadratically. However, DVS often requires a reduction in the threshold voltage that increases subthreshold leakage current exponentially and, hence, subthreshold leakage power consumption. ABB, which exploits the exponential dependence of subthreshold leakage power on the threshold voltage, is effective in managing leakage power consumption. We first derive an energy consumption model to determine the optimal supply voltage and body bias voltage under a given clock frequency. Then, we analyze the tradeoff between energy consumption and clock period to allocate slack to a set of tasks with precedence relationships and real-time constraints. Based on this two-phase approach, we propose a new system-level scheduling algorithm that can optimize both dynamic power and leakage power consumption by performing DVS and ABB simultaneously for distributed real-time embedded systems. Experimental results show that the average power reduction of our technique with respect to DVS alone is 37.4% for the 70-nm technology.
The new medical-industrial complex.

Abstract The most important health-care development of the day is the recent, relatively unheralded rise of a huge new industry that supplies health-care services for profit. Proprietary hospitals and nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, home-care and emergency-room services, hemodialysis, and a wide variety of other services produced a gross income to this industry last year of about $35 billion to $40 billion. This new "medical-industrial complex" may be more efficient than its nonprofit competition, but it creates the problems of overuse and fragmentation of services, overemphasis on technology, and "cream-skimming," and it may also excercise undue influence on national health policy. In this medical market, physicians must act as discerning purchasing agents for their patients and therefore should have no conflicting financial interests. Closer attention from the public and the profession, and careful study, are necessary to ensure that the "medical-industrial complex" puts the interests of the pub.
Capacitance deviation-to-time interval converter using current-tunable Schmitt triggers

A capacitance deviation-to-time interval converter is presented for interfacing capacitive sensors. It consists of two ramp integrators, two current-tunable Schmitt triggers, and two logic gates. A prototype circuit built using discrete components exhibits a resolution as high as 13bits and a linearity error less than ±0.2% when the output pulse width is counted by a 20MHz clock signal. Its application to a humidity sensor is also presented.
Exchange of chromosomal and plasmid alleles in Escherichia coli by selection for loss of a dominant antibiotic sensitivity marker

Transfer of an allele from a donor DNA to a recipient DNA molecule was selected by the loss of a dominant conditional lethal mutation previously incorporated ito the gene of interest in the recipient DNA. Both the Escherichia coli chromosome and plasmids carrying E. coli genes were used successfully as donor molecules. Recipient molecules for these exchanges were constructed in vitro by using the rpsL gene, which confers sensitivity to streptomycin, to replace segments of specific E. coli genes located either on multicopy plasmids or in the E. coli chromosome. Plasmids carrying such replacements were capable of acquiring chromosomal alleles of the gene(s) of interest, and strains carrying rpsL replacements in the chromosome were capable of acquiring plasmid-encoded alleles at the sight of the rpsL replacement. In both situations, these allele transfers resulted in loss of the rpsL gene from the recipient DNA molecule. The desired transfer events constituted a large percentage of these events, which gave rise to viable colonies when appropriate donor-recipient pairs were subjected to streptomycin selection. Thus, this is a useful approach for transferring alleles of interest from plasmids to the E. coli chromosome and vice versa.
Unquenched flavors in the Klebanov-Witten model

Using AdS/CFT, we study the addition of an arbitrary number of backreacting flavors to the Klebanov-Witten theory, making many checks of consistency between our new Type IIB plus branes solution and expectations from field theory. We study generalizations of our method for adding flavors to all = 1 SCFTs that can be realized on D3-branes at the tip of a Calabi-Yau cone. Also, general guidelines suitable for the addition of massive flavor branes are developed.
The Level of Service Inventory—Revised (LSI-R)

This study examined the Level of Service Inventory—Revised (LSI-R) with Australian offenders. Normative statistics, offender need characteristics, and the predictive utility of the LSI-R were assessed using a sample of more than 78,000 administrations. No gender differences were apparent on the LSI-R total score, although female offenders scored higher than male offenders on the Finance and Family/Marital subscales. Significant sentence order differences (community, custodial, and a combination of community and custodial) were found, especially on the Criminal History, Education/Employment, and Companions subscales and the LSI-R total score. Bivariate correlations and logistic regression analyses indicated that different subscales were predictive of reoffending by sex and sentence orders. Overall, the assessment instrument indicated modest predictive validity, with varying results for the different offender groups. Female offenders serving combinations of community and custodial sentence orders, however, revealed unexpected findings. Discussions of the results, implications, and recommendations for further research are presented.
A dense semantic mapping system based on CRF-RNN network

Geometric structure and appearance information of environments are main outputs of Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Visual SLAM) systems. They serve as the fundamental knowledge for robotic applications in unknown environments. Nowadays, more and more robotic applications require semantic information in visual maps to achieve better performance. However, most of the current Visual SLAM systems are not equipped with the semantic annotation capability. In order to address this problem, we develop a novel system to build 3-D Visual maps annotated with semantic information in this paper. We employ the CRF-RNN algorithm for semantic segmentation, and integrate the semantic algorithm with ORB-SLAM to achieve the semantic mapping. In order to get real-scale 3-D visual maps, we use the RGB-D data as the input of our system. We test our semantic mapping system with our self-generated RGB-D dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that our system is able to reliably annotate the semantic information in the resulting 3-D point-cloud maps.
Dendrite architecture organized by transcriptional control of the F-actin nucleator Spire

The architectures of dendritic trees are crucial for the wiring and function of neuronal circuits because they determine coverage of receptive territories, as well as the nature and strength of sensory or synaptic inputs. Here, we describe a cell-intrinsic pathway sculpting dendritic arborization (da) neurons in Drosophila that requires Longitudinals Lacking (Lola), a BTB/POZ transcription factor, and its control of the F-actin cytoskeleton through Spire (Spir), an actin nucleation protein. Loss of Lola from da neurons reduced the overall length of dendritic arbors, increased the expression of Spir, and produced inappropriate F-actin-rich dendrites at positions too near the cell soma. Selective removal of Lola from only class IV da neurons decreased the evasive responses of larvae to nociception. The increased Spir expression contributed to the abnormal F-actin-rich dendrites and the decreased nocifensive responses because both were suppressed by reduced dose of Spir. Thus, an important role of Lola is to limit expression of Spir to appropriate levels within da neurons. We found Spir to be expressed in dendritic arbors and to be important for their development. Removal of Spir from class IV da neurons reduced F-actin levels and total branch number, shifted the position of greatest branch density away from the cell soma, and compromised nocifensive behavior. We conclude that the Lola-Spir pathway is crucial for the spatial arrangement of branches within dendritic trees and for neural circuit function because it provides balanced control of the F-actin cytoskeleton.
Decision problems related to structural induction for rings of Petri nets with fairness

Structural induction is a technique for proving that a system consisting of many identical components works correctly regardless of the actual number of components it has. Previously the authors have obtained conditions under which structural induction goes through for rings that are modeled as a Petri net satisfying a fairness requirement. The conditions guarantee that for some k, all rings of size k or greater exhibit "similar" behavior. The key concept is the similarity between rings, where rings R/sup k/ and R/sup l/ of sizes k and l, respectively, are said to be similar if: none of the components in either ring can tell whether it is in R/sup k/ or R/sup l/, and none of the components (except possibly one) can tell its position within the ring to which it belongs. A ring satisfying this second property is said to be uniform. We prove the undecidability of various basic questions regarding similarity and uniformity. Some of the questions are shown to be undecidable regarding the existence of K such that: 1) R/sup k/ and R/sup k+1/ are similar; 2) all rings of size k or greater are mutually similar; 3) R/sup k/ is uniform; and 4) R/sup k/, R/sup k+1/, R/sup k+2/,. are all uniform?
Engineering Change Management Impact on Project Success within a South African Petrochemical Company

Engineering changes are greatly influenced by the evolving technology and as a result customers' requirements are continuously changing. There is therefore, a need to effectively manage these changes as they arise. This research paper focuses mainly on the engineering change management (ECM) in projects within Petrochemical Company. Based on the fact that changes are inevitable, it is crucial to find out if these changes are managed properly in a project or not, and what will be the impact thereof. The literature review conducted in this paper discusses various ECM frameworks and the knowledge obtained assisted in propositions formulation. These propositions were then tested by means of questionnaires on experienced personnel working with the ECM on a daily basis. The results obtained revealed that proper ECM in a project will decrease the overall project cost and reduce overall project schedule. However, based on the knowledge of the people who participated in the survey, there is no correlation between ECM and project quality.
Lessons from Thymic Epithelial Heterogeneity: FoxN1 and Tissue-Restricted Gene Expression by Extrathymic, Endodermally Derived Epithelium1

Modeling of thymic epithelial differentiation has been guided by several important underlying assumptions. One is that within epithelial tissues derived from pharyngeal endoderm, FoxN1 expression is signature for the thymic epithelial lineage. Another is that expression of tissue-restricted Ag (TRA) is a unique feature of thymic epithelium. In this murine study, we evaluate the thymic expression of a subset of TRA, parathyroid hormone, calcitonin, and thyroglobulin, as part of an effort to better define the heterogeneity of medullary thymic epithelial cells. In this study, we demonstrate that both conventional and cystic epithelial cells display a history of FoxN1 expression using a cre-lox approach. We also document that extrathymic epithelial tissues that originate from pharyngeal endoderm also have a history of FoxN1 expression, indicating that FoxN1 expression per se is not a signature for the thymic lineage and suggesting that FoxN1 expression, whereas necessary for thymic epithelium, development, is not sufficient for this process to occur. Both cystic and conventional medullary thymic epithelial cells express these TRAs, as do extrathymic epithelial tissues that are not usually considered to be sources of these molecules. This finding supports the proposition that promiscuous gene expression is not unique to the thymus. Furthermore, the pattern of promiscuous gene expression in these extrathymic epithelia is consistent with developmental regulation processes and suggests that it is premature to discard the possibility that some promiscuous gene expression in the thymus reflects normal differentiation programs of epithelia.
A quick method for finding shortest pairs of disjoint paths

Let G be a directed graph containing n vertices, one of which is a distinguished source s, and m edges, each with a non-negative cost. We consider the problem of finding, for each possible sink vertex v, a pair of edge-disjoint paths from s to v of minimum total edge cost. Suurballe has given an O(n2 logn)-time algorithm for this problem. We give an implementation of Suurballe's algorithm that runs in O(m log(1+ m/n)n) time and O(m) space. Our algorithm builds an implicit representation of the n pairs of paths; given this representation, the time necessary to explicitly construct the pair of paths for any given sink is O(1) per edge on the paths.
In response to: acute management of auricular hematoma: a novel approach and retrospective review.

Dear Editor-in-Chief: We read with great interest the article by Brickman et al entitled “Acute Management of Auricular Hematoma: A Novel Approach and Retrospective Review. ” The authors introduce their experiences for the treatment of auricular hematoma and are to be commended for their efforts. In our previous studies, we have introduced our novel pressure therapy using a pair of magnets for the treatment of auricular keloids. In addition to auricular keloids, we also applied our novel use of magnets to acute auricular hematoma and cauliflower ear deformity. Proper management of acute hematoma usually refers to drainage and prevention of reaccumulation. However, we simply placed the magnets on the lesion without any incisions, and all the lesions subsided within 2 weeks without exceptions (Figures 1 and 2). In terms of cauliflower ear deformities, we excised the deformed cartilage and reshaped the auricles followed by sufficient adjuvant pressure therapy using a pair of magnets. We have never experienced any complications such as recurrence of hematoma or keloids. We believe that the novel injection technique used by Brickman et al is useful for auricular hematoma. However, although our report is brief, we wished to share our simple and effective method of treating acute hematoma and cauliflower ear deformity.
ETX - A Language for Processing of XML Data by ET Rules

Recently, following its standardization, utilization of XML has been increasing. As a result, various methods and tools have been proposed and developed for the processing of XML data. We propose to process the XML data using ET (Equivalent Transformation) theory's D-rule. In this paper, using past proposal as a foundation, we will examine simplification, speed-up, and the construction of a new processing system ETX (ET+XML).
Participation Ratio for Constraint-Driven Condensation with Superextensive Mass

Broadly distributed random variables with a power-law distribution f ( m ) ∼ m - ( 1 + α ) are known to generate condensation effects. This means that, when the exponent α lies in a certain interval, the largest variable in a sum of N (independent and identically distributed) terms is for large N of the same order as the sum itself. In particular, when the distribution has infinite mean ( 0 1 constrained condensation takes places fixing the total mass to a large enough value M = ∑ i = 1 N m i > M c . In both cases, a standard indicator of the condensation phenomenon is the participation ratio Y k = 〈 ∑ i m i k / ( ∑ i m i ) k 〉 ( k > 1 ), which takes a finite value for N → ∞ when condensation occurs. To better understand the connection between constrained and unconstrained condensation, we study here the situation when the total mass is fixed to a superextensive value M ∼ N 1 + δ ( δ > 0 ), hence interpolating between the unconstrained condensation case (where the typical value of the total mass scales as M ∼ N 1 / α for α δ c = 1 / α - 1 is separated from a homogeneous phase at δ < δ c from a transition line, δ = δ c , where a weak condensation phenomenon takes place. We focus on the evaluation of the participation ratio as a generic indicator of condensation, also recalling or presenting results in the standard cases of unconstrained mass and of fixed extensive mass.