Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction of Functional IL-8 Receptors by IL-4 and IL-13 in Human Monocytes1

IL-8 and related Glu-Leu-Arg (ELR+) CXC chemokines are potent chemoattractants for neutrophils but not for monocytes. IL-13 and IL-4 strongly increased CXCR1 and CXCR2 chemokine receptor expression in human monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. The effect was receptor- and cell type-selective, in that CCRs were not increased and no augmentation was seen in neutrophils. The effect was rapid, starting at 4 h, and concentration dependent (EC50 = 6.2 and 8.3 ng/ml for CXCR1 and CXCR2, respectively) and caused by new transcriptional activity. IL-13/IL-4-treated monocytes showed increased CXCR1 and CXCR2 membrane expression. IL-8 and related ELR+ chemokines were potent and effective chemotactic agents for IL-13/IL-4-treated monocytes, but not for untreated mononuclear phagocytes, with activity comparable to that of reference monocyte attractants, such as MCP-1. In the same cells, IL-8 also caused superoxide release. Macrophages and dendritic cells present in biopsies from Omenn’s syndrome and atopic dermatitis patients, two Th2 skewed pathologies, expressed IL-8 receptors by immunohistochemistry. These results show that IL-13 and IL-4 convert IL-8 and related ELR+ chemokines, prototypic neutrophil attractants, into monocyte chemotactic agonists, by up-regulating receptor expression. Therefore, IL-8 and related chemokines may contribute to the accumulation and positioning of mononuclear phagocytes in Th2-dominated responses.
Interactions between Job Search and Housing Decisions: A Structural Estimation

Housing and financial market shocks affect frictional labor markets. We structurally estimate a model of job search with accumulation of liquid and residential wealth and randomly persistent house prices. Using NLSY data from 1978 to 2000, we show that reservation wages and nonemployment increase in total wealth and respond to the composition of wealth, home prices and financial markets' tightness. We cluster counties of residence by HPI growth and find a residential wealth effect on labor markets that erodes with fast home price growth. When we counterfactually fix downpayment rates above observed trajectories, nonemployment becomes one percentage point higher in counties of average or fast home price growth and 1.2 percentage points lower where home prices are stagnant. Fixing interest rates at 2% generates a 0.5 percentage point decline in nonemployment in counties with no home price growth, but no changes where price growth is average or fast.
Infectious complications in patients with multiple myeloma treated with new drug combinations containing thalidomide

The literature provides scant data concerning infectious complications and their effect on the outcome of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) treated with new drug combinations. Despite no substantial myelotoxic effect, thalidomide increases the risk of severe infections in patients with MM. We studied 202 patients who received regimens containing thalidomide in order to assess the time, type, outcome, and factors affecting development of severe infections, role of antibiotic prophylaxis, and effect of severe infections on final outcome. Thirty-eight patients (19%) developed a severe infection early during induction therapy and most infections were pneumonia. Only one patient died due to septic shock during neutropenia. No significant differences were reported in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) between patients developing a severe infection and those who did not. Multivariate analysis determined a monoclonal component >3 g/dL and platelets <130 000/μL as factors associated with increased risk of severe infection. Primary antibiotic prophylaxis significantly decreased the probability of severe infection only in patients having both the above risk factors. Patients with MM receiving thalidomide combinations with high tumor burden are at high risk of developing severe infections and require primary antibiotic prophylaxis, whereas in other patients it is questionable. However, patient final outcome was not affected by infection development.
Heterozygous mutations affecting the protein kinase domain of CDK13 cause a syndromic form of developmental delay and intellectual disability

Introduction Recent evidence has emerged linking mutations in CDK13 to syndromic congenital heart disease. We present here genetic and phenotypic data pertaining to 16 individuals with CDK13 mutations. Methods Patients were investigated by exome sequencing, having presented with developmental delay and additional features suggestive of a syndromic cause. Results Our cohort comprised 16 individuals aged 4–16 years. All had developmental delay, including six with autism spectrum disorder. Common findings included feeding difficulties (15/16), structural cardiac anomalies (9/16), seizures (4/16) and abnormalities of the corpus callosum (4/11 patients who had undergone MRI). All had craniofacial dysmorphism, with common features including short, upslanting palpebral fissures, hypertelorism or telecanthus, medial epicanthic folds, low-set, posteriorly rotated ears and a small mouth with thin upper lip vermilion. Fifteen patients had predicted missense mutations, including five identical p.(Asn842Ser) substitutions and two p.(Gly717Arg) substitutions. One patient had a canonical splice acceptor site variant (c.2898–1G>A). All mutations were located within the protein kinase domain of CDK13. The affected amino acids are highly conserved, and in silico analyses including comparative protein modelling predict that they will interfere with protein function. The location of the missense mutations in a key catalytic domain suggests that they are likely to cause loss of catalytic activity but retention of cyclin K binding, resulting in a dominant negative mode of action. Although the splice-site mutation was predicted to produce a stable internally deleted protein, this was not supported by expression studies in lymphoblastoid cells. A loss of function contribution to the underlying pathological mechanism therefore cannot be excluded, and the clinical significance of this variant remains uncertain. Conclusions These patients demonstrate that heterozygous, likely dominant negative mutations affecting the protein kinase domain of the CDK13 gene result in a recognisable, syndromic form of intellectual disability, with or without congenital heart disease.
Using Options Theory To Identify The OptimalDispatch Strategy For Electricity Producers In ADeregulated Environment

The deregulation of the production of electricity has dramatically changed the rules of the electricity market. Before deregulation, to design their optimal dispatch policy, producers had to solve a complicated optimization problem with many operational constraints. Since deregulation their situation is even more complicated. Because they are in a competitive situation, they cannot spread profit and loss over time. Accepting to produce even for a short time at a loss has become a much riskier strategy. One effect of deregulation has been to increase significantly the volatility of the price of electricity. In this research, the decision making of the producers is modeled as a mix of optimization and risk management. To quantify the risks use is made of instruments borrowed from option theory. These tools are put in an optimization framework, which involve the operational and physical constraints involved in producing electricity. Flexibility also comes at a cost. The use of option theory allows a quantification of the premium that the reduction of the risk for the production associated with the failure of plant (reliability) and the ability for the production to adjust instantaneously to sudden changes in the demand (flexibility) are worth.
Absence of Acquired Thermotolerance in Murine Tumors Unable to Increase the Expression of Heat Shock Proteins following Stress Stimuli

The induction of thermotolerance was studied in two groups of murine tumors, one able to produce heat shock proteins (HSP) and the other entirely lacking HSP expression in response to various stress inducers. Heat treatments were performed in vitro and the development of thermotolerance was then evaluated in vivo. The data obtained on the of death rate of mice inoculated with tumor cells previously conditioned at 42 °C for 1 h and then challenged at 45 °C for 30 min following 2 h of reincubation at 37 °C, show that the rate of survival is far higher in mice inoculated with HSP negative tumor cells. This indicates that a large number of cells able to increase HSP synthesis following stress escape heat killing, whereas cells unable to express HSP after adequate stimuli are less tolerant against heat challenge.
Maximum rank distance codes as space-time codes

The critical design criterion for space-time codes in asymptotically good channels is the minimum rank between codeword pairs. Rank codes are a two-dimensional matrix code construction where by the rank is the metric of merit. We look at the application of rank codes to space-time code design. In particular, we provide construction methods of full-rank codes over different complex signal constellations, for arbitrary numbers of antennas, and codeword periods. We also derive a Singleton-type bound on the rate of a code for the rank metric, and we show that rank codes satisfy this bound with equality.
Safety and efficacy of an oral HIV vaccine (V-1 Immunitor) in AIDS patients at various stages of the disease

Abstract PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of an orally available, therapeutic HIV vaccine (V-1 Immunitor) in patients who were not treated with antiviral drugs. METHOD: All entrants who had been tested at least once at entry and at postimmunization were considered for analysis. Main endpoints were vaccine safety and differential effects on CD4 and CD8 cell counts, plasma HIV RNA levels, and body weight change. Forty patients, 21 females (52%) and 19 males (48%), aged 22-65 years (mean/median age, 35/32 years) with a mean 225/mm3 CD4 cells at baseline were retrospectively analyzed. Patients self-administered two 850-mg pills containing inactivated HIV-1 antigens b.i. d. for 27 weeks (median, 24 weeks). RESULTS: The treatment was well tolerated without significant adverse effects. The mean body weight gain was 2.2 kg (p = .0004). The mean increase in absolute CD4 and CD8 cells was 51 (18%; p = .0088) and 172 (16%; p = .0199) cells/mm3. Viral load was measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in 8 individuals; although overall decrease did not reach standard cut-off statistical significance (Friedman p = .0588), the trend in reduction of viremia attributable to vaccine administration was highly significant (Spearman correlation test: r = 0.96, p = .0005). CONCLUSION: Mucosal delivery of HIV antigens provides compelling results and deserves further evaluation in placebo-controlled clinical trials.
The Day of the Week, Turn of the Month and January Effect on Stock Market Volatility and Volume: Evidence from Bursa Malaysia

This paper focuses on three important calendar events namely day of the week, turn of the month and January effect. Using both a GARCH (1 1)-M model and a mixture of distribution hypothesis (MDH) this paper investigates the return and conditional volatility pattern of the Malaysian stock index over the period from 1994 to 2004. In an attempt to isolate the effect of the 1997 crisis, the sample period is divided into three sub periods namely “pre-crisis”, “during crisis” and “post crisis”. Findings indicate the presence of a week-end effect suggesting Monday returns to be significantly negative across the three sub periods and provide strong explanation for both return volatility pattern on Malaysian capital market. While No clear pattern of January or turn of the month effect was observed for the full sample. However, when the sample period is subdivided based on economic conditions, the turn of the month effect is found to be positive and significant for the pre crisis period and negative and significant for post crisis period. The January effect appeared to be present in the post crisis period only. While volume serves as mixture of distribution explaining return distribution and volatility pattern. While study lend some support to the mixture of distribution hypothesis, The findings imply that the behavioral pattern of Malaysian traders has been changed since the 1997 Asian crisis period, hence shed new light on anomalies study literature.
Ferritin in the red cells of normal subjects and patients with iron deficiency and iron overload

Summary. Red cell ferritin was measured in normal subjects and patients with iron deficiency and iron overload by means of radioimmunoassays with antibodies to liver (basic) and heart (acidic) ferritins. In most of the subjects examined, red cells were found to contain greater amounts of heart‐type than liver‐type ferritin. The basic ferritin content reflected the abnormal body iron status both in iron deficiency and iron overload while the acidic ferritin content was less closely related to the iron status. The two immunologically different red‐cell ferritins probably represent distinct ferritin molecules and may have different metabolic functions within haem‐synthesizing erythroid cells.
Distinct, but compensatory roles of PAK1 and PAK3 in spine morphogenesis

PAK1 and PAK3 belong to a family of protein kinases that are effectors of small Rho GTPases. In humans, mutations of PAK3 have been associated with mental retardation and result in in vitro studies in defects of spine morphogenesis. The functional specificities of PAK1 and PAK3 remain, however, unclear. Here, we investigated using loss and gain of function experiments how PAK1 and PAK3 affect spine morphology in hippocampal slice cultures. We find that while knockdown of PAK3 is associated with an increase in thin, elongated, immature‐type spines, downregulation of PAK1 does not alter spine morphology. Conversely, expression of a constitutively active form of PAK3 remains without effect, while expression of constitutively active PAK1 results in the formation of spines with smaller head diameters. Interestingly, expression of constitutively active PAK1 can rescue the long spine phenotype induced by suppression of PAK3. We conclude that while PAK1 and PAK3 share distinct roles in the regulation of spine morphogenesis, their activity may overlap allowing the compensation of the PAK3 deficit by PAK1. This result opens interesting perspectives in the context of reversing the spine defects associated with PAK3 mutations. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Interface Immobilization Chemistry of cRGD-based Peptides Regulates Integrin Mediated Cell Adhesion

The interaction of specific surface receptors of the integrin family with different extracellular matrix‐based ligands is of utmost importance for the cellular adhesion process. A ligand consists of an integrin‐binding group, here cyclic RGDfX, a spacer molecule that lifts the integrin‐binding group from the surface and a surface anchoring group. c(‐RGDfX‐) peptides are bound to gold nanoparticle structured surfaces via polyproline, polyethylene glycol or aminohexanoic acid containing spacers of different lengths. Although keeping the integrin‐binding c(‐RGDfX‐) peptides constant for all compounds, changes of the ligand's spacer chemistry and length reveal significant differences in cell adhesion activation and focal adhesion formation. Polyproline‐based peptides demonstrate improved cell adhesion kinetics and focal adhesion formation compared with common aminohexanoic acid or polyethylene glycol spacers. Binding activity can additionally be improved by applying ligands with two head groups, inducing a multimeric effect. This study gives insights into spacer‐based differences in integrin‐driven cell adhesion processes and remarkably highlights the polyproline‐based spacers as suitable ligand‐presenting templates for surface functionalization.
Subthalamic deep brain stimulation after anesthetic inhalation in Parkinson disease: a preliminary study.

OBJECT The authors of this preliminary study investigated the outcome and feasibility of intraoperative microelectrode recording (MER) in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) undergoing deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) after anesthetic inhalation. METHODS The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of 10 patients with PD who received a desflurane anesthetic during bilateral STN electrode implantation. The MERs were obtained as an intraoperative guide for final electrode implantation and the data were analyzed offline. The functional target coordinates of the electrodes were compared preoperatively with estimated target coordinates. RESULTS Outcomes were evaluated using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale 6 months after surgery. The mean improvement in total and motor Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale scores was 54.27 +/- 17.96% and 48.85 +/- 16.97%, respectively. The mean STN neuronal firing rate was 29.7 +/- 14.6 Hz. Typical neuronal firing patterns of the STN and substantia pars nigra reticulata were observed in each patient during surgery. Comparing the functional target coordinates, the z axis coordinates were noted to be significantly different between the pre- and postoperative coordinates. CONCLUSIONS The authors found that MER can be adequately performed while the patient receives a desflurane anesthetic, and the results can serve as a guide for STN electrode implantation. This may be a good alternative surgical method in patients with PD who are unable to tolerate deep brain stimulation surgery with local anesthesia.
Severe depression and antidepressants: focus on a pooled analysis of placebo-controlled studies on agomelatine

The efficacy of agomelatine in severe depression has been examined in three positive placebo-controlled studies and in a pooled analysis of the data from the three studies in patients treated with 25–50 mg agomelatine (n=357) and placebo (n=360). Agomelatine was significantly more effective than placebo in a subgroup of patients with severe depression with a severity of 25 or more on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale 17-item scale in each individual study (P<0.05) and in the pooled analysis (P<0.001). Analysis of the pooled data demonstrated that there was an increase in the magnitude of the agomelatine–placebo difference with increasing severity on the baseline Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. When the population was divided into subgroups using increasing cut-off Hamilton Depression Rating Scale values a significant difference between agomelatine and placebo was observed in each subgroup despite the decreasing numbers of patients with higher severity with a difference of 2.06 rising to 4.45 points on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. In conclusion, agomelatine is effective in treating severe depression.
On the detection of mesospheric meteoric smoke particles embedded in noctilucent cloud particles with rocket-borne dust probes.

Mesospheric nanoparticles in the forms of water ice particles and meteoric smoke particles (MSPs) exist in the middle atmosphere where they often play a decisive role in cloud formation and in chemical processes. Direct in situ observations of mesospheric nanoparticles have been made possible by rocket probes developed during the last two decades. Although progress has been made in mapping properties such as electric charge, sizes, and interaction with the plasma and neutral gas, more observations are needed on the size distribution, chemical content, and structure of the MSP to determine their role in cloud formation and chemistry in the mesosphere and stratosphere. We here present the result of a detailed analysis of the performance of a new dust probe MUltiple Dust Detector (MUDD) [O. Havnes et al., J. Atmos Soll. -Terr. Phys. 118, 190 (2014); O. Havenes et al., ibid. (in press)], which should give information of the size distribution of MSP by fragmenting impacting ice particles and releasing a fraction of the MSP which most probably are embedded in them [O. Havnes and L. I. Naesheim, Ann. Geophys. 25, 623 (2007); M. E. Hervig et al., J. Atmos. Sol. -Terr. Phys. 84-85, 1 (2012)]. We first determine the electric field structure and neutral gas condition in the interior of the probe and from this compute, the dynamics and current contribution of the charged fragments to the currents measured as the probe scans the fragment energy. For the single MUDD probe flown in July 2011 on the PHOCUS payload, we find that the fragment currents at the three retarding potentials for MUDD of 0, 10, and 20 V correspond to fragment sizes of ≳0.6 nm, >1.5 nm, and >1.8 nm if the fragments have a negative unit charge. We also discuss the optimum choice of retarding potentials in future flights of MUDD probes. By launching 2 to 3 mechanically identical MUDD probes but with different retarding potentials, we will obtain a much more detailed and reliable fragment (MSP) size distribution.
Benchmarking Keypoint Filtering Approaches for Document Image Matching

Reducing the amount of keypoints used to index an image is particularly interesting to control processing time and memory usage in real-time document image matching applications, like augmented documents or smartphone applications. This paper benchmarks two keypoint selection methods on a task consisting of reducing keypoint sets extracted from document images, while preserving detection and segmentation accuracy. We first study the different forms of keypoint filtering, and we introduce the use of the CORE selection method on keypoints extracted from document images. Then, we extend a previously published benchmark by including evaluations of the new method, by adding the SURF-BRISK detection/description scheme, and by reporting processing speeds. Evaluations are conducted on the publicly available dataset of ICDAR2015 SmartDOC challenge 1. Finally, we prove that reducing the original keypoint set is always feasible and can be beneficial not only to processing speed but also to accuracy.
Human tracking and following in dynamic environment for service robots

Robot human interactions have significant applications in dealing with day-to-day robot service. This paper presents a novel approach for human detection, tracking and following. A flexible and robust detection method using a 2D laser scanner is proposed firstly. The detection method can be adapted to various leg characteristics. The detection result is then fed to a Kalman Filter based tracking algorithm. Owing to the inherent ability of the embedded Kalman Filter, the tracking algorithm is able to track specific persons and their motion. Then, a controller is designed to follow target persons while avoiding obstacles. Finally, a service robot, namely ISERA, is adopted in the experiments for verifying the proposed approach. The experimental results show the robot can following a target person both indoor and outdoor dynamic environment.
Global dynamics of humoral immunity Chikungunya virus with two routes of infection and Holling type-II

In this work, we analyze the global dynamics of within-host Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection model with humoral immune response. We incorporate two modes of infections, attaching a CHIKV to a host monocyte, and contacting an infected monocyte with an uninfected monocyte. The infection incident rate is given by Holling type-II. The basic reproduction number R0 is used to prove that the CHIKV-free equilibrium E0 is globally asymptotically stable when R0 6 1 and the infected equilibrium E1 is globally asymptotically stable when R0 > 1. Numerical simulations have been performed to confirm the theoretical results.