Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rutin improves endotoxin‐induced acute lung injury via inhibition of iNOS and VCAM‐1 expression

Endotoxins exist anywhere including in water pools, dust, humidifier systems, and machining fluids. The major causal factor is endotoxins in many serious diseases, such as fever, sepsis, multi‐organ failure, meningococcemia, and severe morbidities like neurologic disability, or hearing loss. Endotoxins are also called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and are important pathogens of acute lung injury (ALI). Rutin has potential beneficial effects including anti‐inflammation, antioxidation, anti‐hyperlipidemia, and anti‐platelet aggregation. Pre‐treatment with rutin inhibited LPS‐induced neutrophil infiltration in the lungs. LPS‐induced expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)‐1 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was suppressed by rutin, but there was no influence on expression of intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 and cyclooxygenase‐2. In addition, activation of the nuclear factor (NF)κB was reduced by rutin. Furthermore, we found that the inhibitory concentration of rutin on expression of VCAM‐1 and iNOS was similar to NFκB activation. In conclusion, rutin is a potential protective agent for ALI via inhibition of neutrophil infiltration, expression of VCAM‐1 and iNOS, and NFκB activation. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 185–191, 2016.
Towards Gb/s turbo decoding of product code onto an FPGA device

This paper presents the implementation, on an FPGA device of an ultra high rate block turbo code decoder. First, a complexity analysis of the elementary decoder leads to a low complexity decoder architecture (area divided by 2) for a negligible performance degradation. The resulting turbo decoder is implemented on a Xilinx Virtex II-Pro FPGA in a communication experimental setup. Based on an innovative architecture which enables the memory blocks between all half-iterations to be removed and clocked at only 37.5 MHz, the turbo decoder processes input data at 600Mb/s. The component code is an extended Bose, Ray-Chaudhuri, Hocquenghem (eBCH(16,11)) code. Ultra high-speed block turbo decoder architectures meet the demand for even higher data rates and open up new opportunities for the next generations of communication systems such as fiber optic transmission.
Large complex system test: objectives and approaches

Because the complexity of today's systems is so high, the changes in technology so fast, and the use of technology so broad, systems are no longer defined and bounded by their physical form, nor by their components. Instead, systems are defined by the characteristics of their use. The traditional performance focus, black-box system testing is no longer adequate to evaluate the capability and dependability of today's complex systems. This paper presents five system test objectives for today's systems, a usage-model approach to determine the system application environments as well as to verify functional aspects of the systems, and a structure testing technique to explore the non-functional aspects of the systems.
Shift of Clinical Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Isolates from X4 to R5 and Prevention of Emergence of the Syncytium-Inducing Phenotype by Blockade of CXCR4

ABSTRACT The emergence of X4 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains in HIV-1-infected individuals has been associated with CD4+ T-cell depletion, HIV-mediated CD8+ cell apoptosis, and an impaired humoral response. The bicyclam AMD3100, a selective antagonist of CXCR4, selected for the outgrowth of R5 virus after cultivation of mixtures of the laboratory-adapted R5 (BaL) and X4 (NL4-3) HIV strains in the presence of the compound. The addition of AMD3100 to peripheral blood mononuclear cells infected with X4 or R5X4 clinical HIV isolates displaying the syncytium-inducing phenotype resulted in a complete suppression of X4 variants and a concomitant genotypic change in the V2 and V3 loops of the envelope gp120 glycoprotein. The recovered viruses corresponded genotypically and phenotypically to R5 variants in that they could no longer use CXCR4 as coreceptor or induce syncytium formation in MT-2 cells. Furthermore, the phenotype and genotype of a cloned R5 HIV-1 virus converted to those of the R5X4 virus after prolonged culture in lymphoid cells. However, these changes did not occur when the infected cells were cultured in the presence of AMD3100, despite low levels of virus replication. Our findings indicate that selective blockade of the CXCR4 receptor prevents the switch from the less pathogenic R5 HIV to the more pathogenic X4 HIV strains, a process that heralds the onset of AIDS. In this article, we show that it could be possible to redirect the evolution of HIV so as to impede the emergence of X4 strains or to change the phenotype of already-existing X4 isolates to R5.
Federal Policy and the Rise in Disability Enrollment: Evidence for the Veterans Affairs’ Disability Compensation Program

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs compensates 13 percent of the nation’s military veterans for service‐related disabilities through the Disability Compensation (DC) program. In 2001, a legislative change made it easier for Vietnam veterans to receive benefits for diabetes associated with military service. In this paper, we investigate this policy’s effect on DC enrollment and expenditures as well as the behavioral response of potential beneficiaries. Our findings demonstrate that the policy increased DC enrollment by 6 percentage points among Vietnam veterans and that an additional 1.7 percent experienced an increase in their DC benefits, which increased annual program expenditures by $2.85 billion in 2007. Using individual‐level data from the Veterans Supplement to the Current Population Survey, we find that the induced increase in DC enrollment had little average impact on the labor supply or health status of Vietnam veterans but did reduce labor supply among their spouses.
Swedish SME companies revisited ten years after

Purpose The purpose is to study twenty Swedish smalland medium-sized companies over the timeline of a decade. Methodology The research uses a qualitative method, based on both empirically research and theoretical framework. The empirically research consist of twenty SME companies functioning in Sweden. The theoretical framework consists of scientific articles regarding SME companies. Limitations The limits to this research are the number of variables and that the industry composition of the panel may not present the whole Swedish SME sector. Findings All companies have changed in one way or another. Not all of them are existing and the ones that do have various financial results. The SMEs are working in a challenging situation with restricted resources that makes them sensitive to risk-taking. The owner’s willingness to expand is one important variable. If the company do not have the resources inside the company, it is a good solution to take help from the outside. Conclusions It is difficult to predict the future outcome of the SMEs when no other cases about SMEs have been done. The benefit with a case study is to be able to compare with cases that already have been done, and learn from it.
Epstein-Barr virus nuclear proteins EBNA-3A and EBNA-3C are essential for B-lymphocyte growth transformation

Recombinant Epstein-Barr viruses (EBV) with a translation termination codon mutation inserted into the nuclear protein 3A (EBNA-3A) or 3C (EBNA-3C) open reading frame were generated by second-site homologous recombination. These mutant viruses were used to infect primary B lymphocytes to assess the requirement of EBNA-3A or -3C for growth transformation. The frequency of obtaining transformants infected with a wild-type EBNA-3A recombinant EBV was 10 to 15%. In contrast, the frequency of obtaining transformants infected with a mutant EBNA-3A recombinant EBV was only 1.4% (9 mutants in 627 transformants analyzed). Transformants infected with mutant EBNA-3A recombinant virus could be obtained only by coinfection with another transformation-defective EBV which provided wild-type EBNA-3A in trans. Cells infected with mutant EBNA-3A recombinant virus lost the EBNA-3A mutation with expansion of the culture. The decreased frequency of recovery of the EBNA-3A mutation, the requirement for transformation-defective EBV coinfection, and the inability to maintain the EBNA-3A mutation indicate that EBNA-3A is essential or critical for lymphocyte growth transformation and that the EBNA-3A mutation has a partial dominant negative effect. Five transformants infected with mutant EBNA-3C recombinant virus EBV were also identified and expanded. All five also required wild-type EBNA-3C in trans. Serial passage of the mutant recombinant virus into primary B lymphocytes resulted in transformants only when wild-type EBNA-3C was provided in trans by coinfection with a transformation-defective EBV carrying a wild-type EBNA-3C gene. A secondary recombinant virus in which the mutated EBNA-3C gene was replaced by wild-type EBNA-3C was able to transform B lymphocytes. Thus, EBNA-3C is also essential or critical for primary B-lymphocyte growth transformation.
Using poly-N-acetyl glucosamine gel matrix to deliver IL-12 with anti-schistosomasis vaccination.

BACKGROUND Interleukin (IL)-12 is a potential adjuvant in a variety of diseases including schistosomiasis. The clinical use of IL-12, however, is limited by the toxicity associated with its systemic administration. We have developed a novel delivery system (designated F2 gel matrix) composed of poly-N-acetyl glucosamine that has the dual properties of sustaining the release of proteins (e.g. interleukins) and adjuvant effects. The main aim of this study was to use a mouse model to test whether IL-12 released from F2 gel can induce adjuvant effects in the schistosomiasis setting as compared to those obtained after systemic delivery of IL-12. METHODOLOGY First, we compared the toxicity induced by paracrine (delivered by F2 gel) and systemic IL-12. Second, we compared the induction of cytokines induced by paracrine and systemic IL-12. Third, we compared the adjuvant effects of paracrine and systemic IL-12-based prophylactic vaccination against schistosomiasis using soluble worm antigen preparation (SWAP). RESULTS IL-12 released from F2 gel did not induce significant toxicity measured by alanine aminotransferase (ALT). We found similar serum levels of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IL-2 after paracrine and systemic IL-12 treatments. We also found that vaccination with F2 gel/SWAP/IL-12 induced higher anti-schistosomal effects than IL-12/SWAP as evidenced by 1) the decrease in the total liver egg counts; 2) the reduction in the granuloma size and fibrotic reaction in the liver; and 3) the amelioration of the liver functions. CONCLUSION Collectively, these results indicate that IL-12-F2 gel delivery approach could be considered as a potential strategy for the treatment of schistosomiasis.
Association of protease activity against IGFBP-3 with peritoneal fluid mitogens: possible implications for the ectopic growth of endometrial cells in women with endometriosis.

BACKGROUND Recent data indicate the implication of an IGF/IGFBP/protease system in the development of ectopic implants of endometrium (endometriosis) in the pelvic cavity. MATERIAL AND METHODS We characterized mitogens and protease(s) against IGFBP-3 in the peritoneal fluid of women with or without endometriosis using preparative isoelectric focusing (IEC) Proteineous fractions were tested for a) mitogenic activity on NIH/3T3 cells and KLE endometrial-like cells, b) proteinolytic activity against radiolabeled IGFBP-3, and c) protein analysis using SDS-PAGE. RESULTS A significant increase in the DNA content of cultured cell lines was found in PF fractions having slightly acidic or alkaline pH and containing mainly proteins with molecular weights between 50 and 25 kD. These fractions were also found to cleave IGFBP-3 into 25, 18 and 14 kD fragments. Both activities were present in the PF of subjects with or without endometriosis. CONCLUSION The preparative isoelectric focusing system would be an advantageous approach to investigate the possible implication of the PF proteases with IGFBP-3 limited proteolysis generating PF mitogen(s) which possibly participate in the pathophysiology of endometriosis.
Elucidating the structural and conformational factors responsible for the activity and substrate specificity of alkanesulfonate monooxygenase

The mechanism and substrate specificity of alkanesulfonate monooxygenase (SsuD) was investigated by combining molecular dynamics simulations, docking, and a comprehensive quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) analysis. The FMNH2 dependent monooxygenase undergoes a dynamic conformational change of the active site, passing from a closed to an open state. As a consequence, substrates have access to the active site and the cofactor is then regenerated by the associated oxidoreductase FMN reductase SsuE. Computational analysis of the interaction of SsuD with FMNH2 based on molecular docking and multiple 20 ns molecular dynamics simulations pointed out that the conformational change is mainly driven by salt bridge formation between Arg297 and Glu20 or Asp111. A set of substrates accepted by SsuD were described by means of ALMOND chemical descriptors and a partial least square (PLS) mathematical model was constructed. The PLS model correlates the structure of substrates and enzyme activity, namely kinetic properties (k cat/K M). Therefore, information coming from the PLS analysis goes beyond the simple ability of the enzyme to recognize the substrate, but includes the factors that affect the capacity of the enzyme to reduce the activation energy of the rate determining step of the reaction. The two principal components of the model are able to describe both steric and electronic factors and, more importantly, their interactions. Indeed, interactions of factors appear to affect significantly the ability of SsuD of transforming efficiently a substrate.
Statistical Learning for Inference between Implementations and Documentation

API documentation is useful for developers to better understand how tocorrectly use the libraries. However, not all libraries provide gooddocumentation on API usages. To provide better documentation, existingtechniques have been proposed including program analysis-based anddata mining-based approaches. In this work, instead of mining, we aimto generate behavioral exception documentation for any given code. Wetreat the problem of automatically generating documentation from anovel perspective: statistical machine translation (SMT). We considerthe documentation and source code for an API method as the twoabstraction levels of the same intention. We use SMT to translatedocumentation from source code and vice versa. Our preliminary resultsshow that the direction of statistical learning for inference betweenimplementations and documentation is very promising.
Obliteration of bacterial growth and biofilm through ROS generation by facilely synthesized green silver nanoparticles

Mangifera indica inflorescence aqueous extract was utilized for production of green AgNPs. Synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometry, XRD, TEM, FESEM and particles size analyzer. AgNPs showed minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 8 μg ml-1 and 16 μg ml-1 for Gram negative (K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and E. coli) and Gram positive (S. mutans and S. aureus) strains, respectively which was relatively quite low compared to chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles. AgNPs inhibited 80% and 75% biofilms of E. coli and S. mutans respectively as observed quantitatively by crystal violet assay. Qualitative biofilm inhibition was observed using SEM and CLSM. AgNPs adsorbed catheter also resisted the growth of biofilm on its surface displaying its possible future applications. AgNPs interaction with bacteria lead to bacterial membrane damage as observed by SEM and TEM. The membrane damage was confirmed by detecting leakage of proteins and reducing sugars from treated bacterial cells. AgNPs generated ROS on interaction with bacterial cells and this ROS production can be one of the possible reasons for their action. AgNPs exhibited no toxic effect on the cell viability of HeLa cell line.
Does interest in language learning affect the non-native phoneme production in elderly learners?

Second language (L2) learning is widely studied in adult learners. This study was conducted in order to see how auditory training affects elderly learners’ L2 speech production and whether linguistically oriented seniors can benefit more from training compared to seniors not showing special interest in foreign languages. Hence, we studied seniors recruited from language courses and seniors with other than L2 related interests. The two day study included listenand-repeat trainings and production tests. The trained words included vowels from which the three first formants and their standard deviations were measured and analysed. The results showed that formant values changed differently as a function of training in the two groups. Also, the standard deviations developed differently: only the linguistically oriented seniors showed a deviation decrease, indicating non-native learning. This study showed that learning to produce a non-native phoneme can be easier for elderly learners who show a general interest in languages.
Muscles of facial expression in Otolemur, with a comparison to lemuroidea.

Gross and histologic aspects of facial expression muscles are presented here for Otolemur spp. (suborder Prosimii, family Lorisidae) and are compared with those of lemuroids. Muscles of facial expression are involved in social signaling among primates, and are a primary means by which close-proximity nonverbal communication is achieved. These muscles have been well described in catarrhines and many of the lemuroids; however, their arrangement is not well known in the lorisids. In the present study we examined muscles of facial expression in Otolemur by dissecting preserved faces. The arrangement and appearance of the muscles were noted, and samples were gathered from each muscle for histologic processing. The results showed 17 muscles of facial expression in Otolemur, as compared to seven reported in previous studies. Histologically, muscles of the ear region were arranged in tight, dense fascicles, while muscles of the orbital region were arranged more loosely. Grossly, the facial expression muscles in Otolemur were very similar in morphology and attachments to those in the lemuroids, with some differences in the ear region. Otolemur garnettii had several muscles that appeared to be more robust than in the larger O. crassicaudatus. This may be due to dietary and/or social differences between the species. In previous studies it was concluded that, relative to lemuroids, Otolemur has a primitive arrangement of facial expression muscles. The current results do not support that conclusion, and in fact support a far greater similarity between Otolemur and lemuroids in general. These results underscore the need for a reexamination of facial musculature in prosimians in general, and may have taxonomic value as regards the position of Otolemur with lemuroids and other galagos.
Tissue-Specific Roles of ABCA1 Influence Susceptibility to Atherosclerosis

Objective—The ATP-binding cassette transporter, subfamily A, member 1 (ABCA1) plays a key role in HDL cholesterol metabolism. However, the role of ABCA1 in modulating susceptibility to atherosclerosis is controversial. Methods and Results—We investigated the role of ABCA1 in atherosclerosis using a combination of overexpression and selective deletion models. First, we examined the effect of transgenic overexpression of a full-length human ABCA1-containing bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) in the presence or absence of the endogenous mouse Abca1 gene. ABCA1 overexpression in the atherosclerosis-susceptible Ldlr−/− background significantly reduced the development of atherosclerosis in both the presence and absence of mouse Abca1. Next, we used mice with tissue-specific inactivation of Abca1 to dissect the discrete roles of Abca1 in different tissues on susceptibility to atherosclerosis. On the Apoe−/− background, mice lacking hepatic Abca1 had significantly reduced HDL cholesterol and accelerated atherosclerosis, indicating that the liver is an important site at which Abca1 plays an antiatherogenic role. In contrast, mice with macrophage-specific inactivation of Abca1 on the Ldlr−/− background displayed no change in atherosclerotic lesion area. Conclusions—These data indicate that physiological expression of Abca1 modulates the susceptibility to atherosclerosis and establish hepatic Abca1 expression as an important site of atheroprotection. In contrast, we show that selective deletion of macrophage Abca1 does not significantly modulate atherogenesis.
The neuronal protein Kidins220 localizes in a raft compartment at the leading edge of motile immature dendritic cells

Kidins220, a protein predominantly expressed in neural tissues, is the first physiological substrate for protein kinase D (PKD). We show that Kidins220 is expressed in monocyte‐derived and in peripheral blood immature dendritic cells (im DC). Immature DC (im DC) migrate onto extracellular matrices changing cyclically from a highly polarized morphology (monopolar (MP) stage) to a morphologically symmetrical shape (bipolar (BP) stage). Kidins220 was localized on membrane protrusions at the leading edge or on both poles in MP and BP cells, respectively. CD43, CD44, ICAM‐3 and DC‐SIGN,and signaling molecules PKD, Arp2/3 were found at the leading edge in MP or on both edges in BP cells, showing an intriguing parallelism between morphology and localization of molecular components on the poles of the motile DC. F‐actin co‐localized and it was necessary for Kidins220 localization on the membrane in MP and BP cells. Kidins220 was also found in a raft compartment. Disruption of rafts with methyl‐β‐cyclodextrin induced rounding of the cells, inhibition of motility and lost of Kidins220 polarization. Our results describe for the first time the molecular components of the polesof motile im DC and indicate that a novel neuronal protein may be an important component among these molecules.
Combining Vγ9Vδ2 T Cells with a Lipophilic Bisphosphonate Efficiently Kills Activated Hepatic Stellate Cells

Activated hepatic stellate cells (aHSCs) are now established as a central driver of fibrosis in human liver injury. In the presence of chronic or repeated injury, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can occur, so there is interest in down-regulating aHSCs activity in order to treat these diseases. Here, we report that Vγ9Vδ2 T cells are reduced in patients with liver cirrhosis, stimulating us to investigate possible interactions between Vγ9Vδ2 T cells and aHSCs. We find that Vγ9Vδ2 T cells kill aHSCs and killing is enhanced when aHSCs are pretreated with BPH-1236, a lipophilic analog of the bone resorption drug zoledronate. Cytotoxicity is mediated by direct cell-to-cell contact as shown by Transwell experiments and atomic force microscopy, with BPH-1236 increasing the adhesion between aHSCs and Vγ9Vδ2 T cells. Mechanistically, BPH-1236 functions by inhibiting farnesyl diphosphate synthase, leading to accumulation of the phosphoantigen isopentenyl diphosphate and recognition by Vγ9Vδ2 T cells. The cytolytic process is largely dependent on the perforin/granzyme B pathway. In a Rag2−/−γc−/− immune-deficient mouse model, we find that Vγ9Vδ2 T cells home-in to the liver, and when accompanied by BPH-1236, kill not only orthotopic aHSCs but also orthotopic HCC tumors. Collectively, our results provide the first proof-of-concept of a novel immunotherapeutic strategy for the treatment of fibrosis–cirrhosis–HCC diseases using adoptively transferred Vγ9Vδ2 T cells, combined with a lipophilic bisphosphonate.