Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The SC15 protein of Schizophyllum commune mediates formation of aerial hyphae and attachment in the absence of the SC3 hydrophobin

Disruption of the SC3 gene in the basidiomycete Schizophyllum commune affected not only formation of aerial hyphae but also attachment to hydrophobic surfaces. However, these processes were not completely abolished, indicating involvement of other molecules. We here show that the SC15 protein mediates formation of aerial hyphae and attachment in the absence of SC3. SC15 is a secreted protein of 191 aa with a hydrophilic N‐terminal half and a highly hydrophobic C‐terminal half. It is not a hydrophobin as it lacks the eight conserved cysteine residues found in these proteins. Besides being secreted into the medium, SC15 was localized in the cell wall and the mucilage that binds aerial hyphae together. In a strain in which the SC15 gene was deleted (ΔSC15) formation of aerial hyphae and attachment were not affected. However, these processes were almost completely abolished when the SC15 gene was deleted in the ΔSC3 background. The absence of aerial hyphae in the ΔSC3ΔSC15 strain can be explained by the inability of the strain to lower the water surface tension and to make aerial hyphae hydrophobic.
The contribution of glycemic control to impaired growth during puberty in young people with type 1 diabetes and microalbuminuria

In adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D), short stature has been associated with risk for cardiovascular disease and nephropathy. However, there are no available data on the potential relationship between growth patterns during puberty and the development of vascular complications. Our aim was to assess whether pubertal growth is impaired in young people with T1D who develop microalbuminuria (MA).
Fetal skeletal dysplasia: three-dimensional US--initial experience.

PURPOSE To compare the prenatal ultrasonographic (US) features of skeletal dysplasia by using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) US to determine whether 3D US can reveal additional diagnostic information. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven pregnant women suspected of having skeletal dysplasia were examined by using 2D US and 3D US. Data regarding the thorax, spine, face, limbs, hands, and feet were compared. Multiplanar and volume-rendered US images were evaluated. RESULTS The skeletal dysplasias studied included camptomelic dysplasia (n = 2), thanatophoric dysplasia (n = 1), osteogenesis imperfecta (n = 1), arthrogryposis (n = 2), and short-limbed dysplasia (n = 1). Three-dimensional US, by allowing review in a standard anatomic orientation, was better than 2D US in depicting abnormal spatial relationships such as short ribs, splayed digits, and absent bones. Three-dimensional US enabled the acquisition of additional information in two fetuses with facial abnormalities and in two fetuses with scapular aplasia or hypoplasia (one fetus had both facial and scapular anomalies); it enabled a specific diagnosis in one fetus. The archiving capabilities of 3D US allow the review and manipulation of data after the patient has left the clinic. CONCLUSION In three of seven patients, 3D US provided additional information in the evaluation of skeletal dysplasias, as compared with 2D US.
Grating-Assisted Coupling Between a Low Effective Index Polymer Subwaveguide and a High Effective Index Semiconductor Subwaveguide

In this paper, a leaky-mode directional coupler based on grating-assisted coupling between a semiconductor subwaveguide and a polymer subwaveguide is experimentally demonstrated at wavelengths near 1310 nm. The grating is fabricated at the interface between the semiconductor and polymer materials. The grating period satisfies the phase-matching condition for power exchange between the two nonsynchronous subwaveguides. Experimental and theoretical results show coupling from the semiconductor subwaveguide to the polymer subwaveguide as a function of excitation wavelength.
Genetic and functional evaluation of an interleukin-12 polymorphism (IDDM18) in families with type 1 diabetes

Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus (T1DM) [MIM 222100] is an autoimmune disease with both genetic and environmental components. The HLA region is the major genetic susceptibility region, but in addition several minor susceptibility loci have been suggested. Their identification is, however, difficult because of the complexity of the disease.1 Recently, a new susceptibility locus, IDDM18 [MIM 605598], was reported and mapped to chromosome 5q31.1-q33.1, close to the IL12B gene, which encodes the p40 subunit of interleukin (IL) 12.2–4 IL-12p40 production influences T cell response, and may therefore be important in T1DM pathogenesis.5 IL-12 drives the differentiation of T lymphocytes towards the Th1 subset, characterised by production of cytokines leading to cell mediated immunity.6–8 Furthermore, in the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse, IL-12 has been shown to play a primary role in T1DM induction.5,9,10 In addition, IL-12 is important in immune reactivity against infections, but it has been shown that in the absence of infection, IL-12 induced autoreactive T cell responses might predispose to self destructive immunity.11,12 IL-12 is a disulphide linked heterodimer composed of a heavy chain of 40 kDa, p40, and a light chain of 35 kDa, p35, encoded by two separate genes.2,13 The gene for the p35 subunit, IL12A , is located on chromosome 3p12-q13.2. The two subunits of IL-12 are in contrast to most cytokines, which possess only one polypeptide chain. Many cell types express the p35 chain, while the p40 subunit is expressed principally by activated macrophages and B cells.2 The heterodimer, p70 or p75, is the biologically active IL-12.13 IL12B is a candidate for IDDM18 , as linkage disequilibrium is confined to a 30 kb region on chromosome 5, in which IL12B is the only known gene.4 Several polymorphisms …
Numerical Analysis of Second Harmonic Generation in Soft Glass Equiangular Spiral Photonic Crystal Fibers

In this paper, the accurate and numerically efficient finite element (FE)-based beam propagation method (BPM) has been employed to investigate second harmonic generation (SHG) in highly nonlinear soft glass (SF57) equiangular spiral photonic crystal fibers (ES-PCFs) for the first time. It is shown here that the SHG output power in highly nonlinear SF57 soft glass PCF exploiting the ES design is significantly higher compared with that of silica PCF with hexagonal air-hole arrangements. The effects of fabrication tolerances on the coherence length and the modal properties of ES-PCF are also illustrated. Moreover, phase matching between the fundamental and the second harmonic modes is discussed through the use of the quasi-phase matching technique. Furthermore, the ultralow bending loss in the SF57 ES-PCF design has been successfully analyzed.
Endotoxin-induced tumor necrosis factor alpha synthesis in murine embryo fibroblasts

Murine embryo fibroblasts (MEF) were found to secrete tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in response to stimulation with endotoxin. Endotoxin-induced TNF production by MEF was inhibited by cycloheximide. However, reversal of the effect of this inhibitor on protein synthesis results in TNF being secreted in amounts equivalent to those produced by endotoxin-induced MEF not treated with cycloheximide. Actinomycin D treatment of MEF blocked the production of endotoxin-induced TNF. Maximal production of TNF required MEF gene transcription during the first 6 h of incubation with endotoxin. To determine whether endotoxin-induced TNF alpha (TNF-alpha) and/or TNF beta were produced by MEF, cDNA was synthesized from the total RNA isolated from endotoxin-induced MEF and amplified by the polymerase chain reaction in the presence of oligonucleotide primers specific for each cytokine. On the basis of the polymerase chain reaction analysis, it was determined that TNF-alpha mRNA levels were increased in endotoxin-induced MEF. Thus, production of TNF-alpha by fibroblasts in response to the endotoxin component of bacterial cell walls is likely to contribute to the expression of TNF-mediated effects occurring in fibroblast-rich tissues infected with gram-negative bacteria.
Pseudofunctional Delay Tests For High Quality Small Delay Defect Testing

Pseudofunctional Delay Tests for High Quality Small Delay Defect Testing. (December 2011) Shayak Lahiri, B.Tech., Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Duncan Walker Testing integrated circuits to verify their operating frequency, known as delay testing, is essential to achieve acceptable product quality. The high cost of functional testing has driven the industry to automatically-generated structural tests, applied by low-cost testers taking advantage of design-for-test (DFT) circuitry on the chip. Traditional atspeed functional testing of digital circuits is increasingly challenged by new defect types and the high cost of functional test development. This research addressed the problems of accurate delay testing in DSM circuits by targeting resistive open and short circuits, while taking into account manufacturing process variation, power dissipation and power supply noise. In this work, we developed a class of structural delay tests in which we extended traditional launch-on-capture delay testing to additional launch and capture cycles. We call these Pseudofunctional Tests (PFT). A test pattern is scanned into the circuit, and then multiple functional clock cycles are applied to it with at-speed launch and capture for the last two cycles. The circuit switching activity over an extended period allows the off-chip power supply noise transient to die down prior to the at-speed
The UX of Avatar Customization

Avatar customization is a feature that is offered in many computer and video games. Customization options are presented to users via Character Creation Interfaces or CCIs. CCIs differ greatly between games, independent of genre, with regard to the quantity and quality of customization options available. In addition, the way in which these options are presented to users differs from game to game. Research on avatar customization is typically focused on user-avatar identity or self-representation. In general, we have found that the User Experience (UX) of avatar customization has been greatly overlooked in academic literature. As such, we look to existing research on UX in order to propose how its methodologies may be used to study the impact of CCI affordances on player experience in games.
Scheduling of energy storage in a grid-connected PV/battery system via SIMPLORER

Grid connected photovoltaic (PV) systems are becoming increasingly attractive as a generation alternative due to new developments in technologies, environmental concerns and transmission congestion management. Usually the energy storage system is used to store the excess power generated during off-peak hours and to return it to the system when power from PV is not enough for the system or generation is more expensive. A real-time dynamic scheduling algorithm for energy storage in a PV/battery system based on the battery charge and discharge characteristics, and current and temperature dependence of the capacity of the battery is presented in this paper. The work aims to extend existing battery aware scheduling techniques. It differs from previous works as it takes into consideration many aspects of battery characteristics that were not considered previously. This allows better use of the battery bank and can prolong the battery service time. This paper also builds a simple PV/battery system in the SIMPLORER within VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) for realtime simulation.
Statin use is safe and does not impact prognosis in patient with de novo follicular lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy: An exploratory analysis of the PRIMA cohort study

An adverse prognostic impact of statin use in lymphoma was first suspected from in vitro data showing an impairment of anti‐CD20 antibody binding. However, further clinical studies suggested an improved outcome associated with their use in hematological malignancies. In particular, a survival benefit was reported for patients with follicular lymphoma on statins. Our objective was to assess the outcome of follicular lymphoma patients treated in the PRIMA study with immunochemotherapy according to the use of statins. Among the 1,217 patients enrolled in the PRIMA study, 1,135 were included in the present study. Concomitant treatments at registration were available for all patients. Among those 1,135 patients, 119 were on statins (10.5%) at diagnosis. Adverse events frequencies, event‐free survival (EFS), time to next lymphoma treatment (TTNLT), time to next chemotherapy (TTNCT), and overall survival (OS) were evaluated according to the use of statins. The rates of overall and specific cardiovascular adverse events between the two groups of patients were comparable both during induction and maintenance. Outcome in terms of response rates or EFS, TTNLT, TTNCT, and OS were similar regardless of the use of statins (P = 0.57, P = 0.85, P = 0.30, and P = 0.43, respectively) in univariate analysis and after further adjustments for potential confounding factors in multivariate analysis. In conclusion, statin use does not impact the prognosis of patients with follicular lymphoma treated with immunochemotherapy. Am. J. Hematol. 91:410–415, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The predicted structure of immunoglobulin D1.3 and its comparison with the crystal structure

Predictions of the structures of the antigen-binding domains of an antibody, recorded before its experimental structure determination and tested subsequently, were based on comparative analysis of known antibody structures or on conformational energy calculations. The framework, the relative positions of the hypervariable regions, and the folds of four of the hypervariable loops were predicted correctly. This portion includes all residues in contact with the antigen, in this case hen egg white lysozyme, implying that the main chain conformation of the antibody combining site does not change upon ligation. The conformations of three residues in each of the other two hypervariable loops are different in the predicted models and the experimental structure.
A large σVTH/VDD tolerant zigzag 8T SRAM with area-efficient decoupled differential sensing and fast write-back scheme

This paper demonstrates for the first time quantitative performance advantages of a zigzag 8T-SRAM (Z8T) cell over the decoupled single-ended sensing 8T-SRAM (DS8T) with write-back schemes, which was previously recognized as the most area-efficient cell under large σVTH/VDD conditions. Since Z8T uses only 1T for each decoupled read-port, faster 2T differential sensing (D2S) can be implemented within the same area as the single-ended DS8T. Thanks to D2S, Z8T cell enables much faster R/W speed at VDDmin than DS8T. For the same VDDmin/speed, Z8T save the cell area by 15%. A fabricated 256-row 32Kb Z8T SRAM, using a 65nm low-power process, is 14% smaller area and 53% faster than DS8T SRAM, and is 430mV lower VDDmin than 6T-SRAM. The 32-row 4Kb Z8T macro achieves 250mV VDDmin.
Heat-Epimerized Tea Catechins Have the Same Cholesterol-Lowering Activity as Green Tea Catechins in Cholesterol-Fed Rats

Tea catechins are known to be epimerized by heat treatment. The effect of heat-epimerized tea catechins on serum cholesterol concentration was compared with that of green tea catechins. Our observations strongly suggest that both tea catechins and heat-epimerized tea catechins lower serum cholesterol concentration by inhibiting cholesterol absorption in the intestine. There was no differential effect between the two catechin preparations.
The role of job strain on return to work after carpal tunnel surgery

Aims: To examine the impact of job strain (that is, high psychological job demands and low job control) on return to work and work role functioning at two months, six months, or both, following carpal tunnel release surgery. Methods: A community based cohort of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients from physician practices was recruited between April 1997 and October 1998 throughout Maine (USA). 128 patients at two months and 122 at six months completed all relevant questions. A three level outcome variable indicated whether patients had: (1) returned to work functioning successfully, (2) returned to work functioning with limitations, or (3) not returned to work for health reasons. Two job strain measures were created: one, by combining psychological job demands and job control; and two, by dividing demands by control. Ordinal logistic regression was used to identify predictors of the three level work outcome variable. Results: After adjustment, workers with high demands and high control (active work) were less likely to successfully return to work (OR = 0.22; p = 0.014) at two months. Having a job with higher demands than job control (high strain) predicted not returning to work or returning to work but not successfully meeting job demands (OR = 0.14; p = 0.001), at six months. Conclusions: The findings underscore the role of psychosocial work conditions, as defined by the Karasek demand-control model, in explaining a worker’s return to work. Clinicians, researchers, and employers should consider a multidimensional and integrative model of successful work role functioning upon return to work. Moreover, since the evidence of the effects of work process changes on the reduction of CTS is very scarce, these findings point to the opportunity for collaborative workplace interventions to facilitate successful return to work.
The Diffusion and Dynamics of Producer Prices, Deflationary Pressure Across Asian Countries, and the Role of China

The ongoing producer price deflation in China and other Asian economies is a genuine concern. In particular, Chinai¯s producer prices are down a cumulative 12.7 percent from their peak in 2011, extending the stretch of negative producer price readings for 52 months in a row. Given the problem of overcapacity and heavy debt burden, this persistent decline in the producer price index could hurt corporate revenue, which limits fixed investments and the country's overall growth. Against this background, the paper analyses the determinants of the producer price decline across 11 Asian economies, and finds that the recent synchronous and protracted producer price deflation is driven by weak production growth, sharp declines in commodity prices, spillover effects from Chinai¯s producer price deflation and policy uncertainty and, to a lesser extent, exchange rate pass-through. Since China is at the heart of the regioni¯s producer price deflation challenge, we also discuss the necessary structural adjustments in China to cope with the decline and head off deflationary threats.
Iterative Based ML Demodulation Method for OFDM Signal under Higher Mobile Environments

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal would be damaged significantly by inter- carrier interference (ICI) in higher time-varying fading channels which leads fatal degradation of bit error rate (BER) performance due to the loss of orthogonality among subcarriers. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an iterative based maximum likelihood demodulation (MLD) method which can achieve better BER performance with lower computation complexity even in higher time-varying fading channels. The features of proposed method are to employ a time domain training sequence (TS) in the estimation of channel impulse response (CIR) instead of using pilot subcarriers in the frequency domain and to employ a time domain equalization (TDE) method with a maximum likelihood (ML) estimation instead of using a conventional frequency domain equalization (FDE) method. This paper also proposes a low-complexity iterative method for solving the simultaneous equations in the MLD method instead of using an inverse matrix calculation. This paper presents various simulation results in higher time-varying fading channels to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method as comparing with the conventional frequency domain equalization method.
Understanding the social determinants of health among Indigenous Canadians: priorities for health promotion policies and actions

Background Indigenous Canadians have a life expectancy 12 years lower than the national average and experience higher rates of preventable chronic diseases compared with non-Indigenous Canadians. Transgenerational trauma from past assimilation policies have affected the health of Indigenous populations. Objective The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively examine the social determinants of health (SDH), in order to identify priorities for health promotion policies and actions. Design We undertook a series of systematic reviews focusing on four major SDH (i.e. income, education, employment, and housing) among Indigenous peoples in Alberta, following the protocol Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis-Equity. Results We found that the four SDH disproportionately affect the health of Indigenous peoples. Our systematic review highlighted 1) limited information regarding relationships and interactions among income, personal and social circumstances, and health outcomes; 2) limited knowledge of factors contributing to current housing status and its impacts on health outcomes; and 3) the limited number of studies involving the barriers to, and opportunities for, education. Conclusions These findings may help to inform efforts to promote health equity and improve health outcomes of Indigenous Canadians. However, there is still a great need for in-depth subgroup studies to understand SDH (e.g. age, Indigenous ethnicity, dwelling area, etc.) and intersectoral collaborations (e.g. community and various government departments) to reduce health disparities faced by Indigenous Canadians.
An Offer You Can't Refuse? Incentives Change What We Believe

Economists often espouse incentives, arguing that expanding choice sets cannot lower welfare. Yet, laws worldwide restrict incentives for many transactions, partly due to an untested concern that incentives cause poor decisions. I show experimentally that incentives skew information gathering and beliefs about what a transaction entails in a way that causally influences the participation decision, as policy makers suspected. A model of costly information acquisition shows this behavior is consistent with rationality, and thus unconcerning from an ex ante welfare economic perspective, but demands consideration under reasonable alternatives. The mechanisms apply in any situation where incentives interact with information acquisition.