Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of T Cell Frequency and Graft Size on Transplant Outcome in Mice 1

The features that determine whether graft-reactive T lymphocytes develop into effector cells capable of mediating organ destruction are not well understood. To investigate potential factors involved in this process, we first confirmed that female recipient mice acutely rejected minor Ag-disparate male skin, but not heart transplants. Despite this difference in outcome, heart and skin transplantation induced antidonor T cell responses of similar magnitude, specificity, and cytokine profile. The heart-graft-primed T cells transiently infiltrated the graft and ultimately induced the development of chronic transplant vasculopathy. Increasing the frequency of donor-reactive T cells by presensitization or by using TCR (CD8+ antimale)-transgenic recipients did not mediate acute rejection but accelerated the pace and severity of the vasculopathy. Surprisingly, decreasing the tissue mass of the donor heart by 50% resulted in acute rejection of these smaller grafts without increasing the frequency of antidonor effector T cells in the recipients. In complementary studies, placement of one or two male skin grafts on a single recipient did not affect the frequency or cytokine profile of the induced antimale T cell repertoire. Nonetheless, the recipients of single grafts acutely rejected the transplanted skin while the recipients of two skin grafts did not. These results provide new insight into the pathogenesis of transplant vasculopathy and provide an explanation for the difference in outcome between murine skin and heart transplants by highlighting the novel concept that the efficiency of transplant-reactive T cell immunity is heavily influenced by the tissue burden it encounters at the effector stage.
Left atrial mechanical function and stiffness in patients with atrial septal aneurysm: a speckle tracking study.

BACKGROUND Atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) is a risk factor for arterial embolism. Atrial dysfunction and atrial arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation, might represent a mechanism for arterial embolism in such patients. Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is a novel and promising tool for detecting early changes in left atrial (LA) myocardial dysfunction. The aim of the study was to evaluate LA mechanical function and stiffness in ASA patients by 2-dimensional STE strain parameters. METHODS Thirty-four ASA patients (44.2 ± 12.3 years, 15 male) were studied, using a STE, and were compared with 31 age, gender, and left ventricular (LV) mass-matched controls (41.8 ± ± 11.5 years, 14 male). LA volume indices, mitral annular velocities, and global longitudinal LA strain were measured. The ratio of E/e' to LA strain was used as an index of LA stiffness. RESULTS Patients with ASA showed increased LA volume indices and decreased LA global strain (25.3 ± 5.2 vs. 42.1 ± 8.7, p < 0.001). LA stiffness was increased in patients with ASA compared to the control subjects (0.41 ± 0.15 vs. 0.14 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), and LA strain and stiffness were related with LA volume indices. CONCLUSIONS Patients with ASA have decreased LA global strain and increased stiffness, in comparison with those of the control subjects. LA strain and stiffness were significantly related with LA volume indices. LA stiffness and strain can be used for the assessment of LA function in patients with ASA.
Sphingosine and FTY720 are potent inhibitors of the transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) channels

Transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7) is a unique channel kinase which is crucial for various physiological functions. However, the mechanism by which TRPM7 is gated and modulated is not fully understood. To better understand how modulation of TRPM7 may impact biological processes, we investigated if TRPM7 can be regulated by the phospholipids sphingosine (SPH) and sphingosine‐1‐phosphate (S1P), two potent bioactive sphingolipids that mediate a variety of physiological functions. Moreover, we also tested the effects of the structural analogues of SPH, N,N‐dimethyl‐D‐erythro‐sphingosine (DMS), ceramides and FTY720 on TRPM7.
The Arctic in World Environmental History

This Article situates the Arctic in global environmental history across the long duration of time. For millions of years, the Arctic has been the world’s most important “barometer of global change and amplifier of global warming. ”1 For twenty thousand years, the Arctic has been the homeland of modern human settlement, and it has played a central role in the interplay between global climate change and human migration throughout Eurasia and the Americas. Since the late fifteenth century, Arctic aboriginal peoples, lands, and seas have been thoroughly integrated into the international history of European trade, capitalism, and colonization; the territorial expansion of modern nation states; and the transnational strategic history since the outset of the Cold War, including the continued basing of nuclear-armed missiles, bombers, and submarines throughout the Arctic region. Appreciation of this international history can provide lessons for contemporary policymakers to help mitigate grave risks to human life and biodiversity in the Arctic and subArctic. For example, this Article calls for negotiations between the U.S., NATO, and the Russian Federation on the basis of Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1987 proposal to transform the Arctic into “a zone of peace” and, specifically, to establish “a nuclear free-zone in northern Europe. ”2 In conclusion, this Article identifies how deeply embedded global systems of political economy and international relations continue to shape recent developments in the Arctic at this time of exacerbated climate change and resulting ecological crisis. Appreciation of the Arctic’s environmental history can help decision-makers to more knowledgeably and effectively support 1. Andrew Davies et al., Letter, Late Cretaceous Seasonal Ocean Variability from the Arctic, 460 NATURE 254, 254 (2009). 2. Mikhail Gorbachev, Speech at the Presentation of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal to the City of Murmansk (Oct. 1, 1987), available at http://www.barentsinfo. fi/docs/Gorbachev_speech. pdf. 1308 VANDERBILT JOURNAL OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 42:1307 indigenous self-determination, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship throughout the circumpolar
The problem of investment during the history of economic science

The article is devoted to methods for assessing the effectiveness of investments. The development of the National program of the digital economy presupposes the development of a methodology for measuring the effectiveness of investments. Two criteria for measuring investment efficiency are considered: IRR (Inner Rate of Return) - internal rate of return and NPV (Net Profit Value) - discounted total profit. Based on the analysis of world economic literature, we show the inadequacy of the recommendations of the French economist Pierre Masset on the advantage of the NPV criterion over the IRR.
Variable switching frequency PWM strategy for inverter switching loss and system noise reduction in electric/hybrid vehicle motor drives

In order to reduce the inverter switching loss and system noise of electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) motor drives operating in high output torque region, while preventing over-heating and demagnetization of the electric motor, this paper proposes variable switching frequency PWM (VSFPWM) strategies based on on-line prediction of current ripple RMS value for two typical motor drive systems of EV/HEV. First, the instantaneous output current ripple of three-phase inverter with SVPWM is analyzed in the time-domain. Then the current ripple prediction based VSFPWM strategies are proposed for both traction motor drive topologies to meet the current ripple RMS value requirement. Compared with constant switching frequency PWM (CSFPWM) method, the inverter switching loss and noise reduction capabilities of the proposed VSFPWM methods are analyzed. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is verified by both simulation and experiments.
Analysis of Integrated Management Systems research: identifying core themes and trends for future studies

This paper presents an analysis of 123 scientific publications in the Integrated Management System (IMS) domain dating from 2005 to 2015. The objective of this study is to investigate core themes, gaps and trends in the IMS research area. The search was conducted in Scopus and Web of Science databases and the bibliometric analysis was carried out with the support of Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer version 1.6. 4. The results showed that the main topics investigated are related to (1) IMS levels of integration; (2) major motivations, benefits and obstacles to operate multiple management systems and (3) models for implementation of IMSs. Moreover, this study highlighted the following opportunities for future research: (1) investigating levels of integration from a long-term perspective, (2) considering what barriers to the audits’ integration may possibly affect the degree of integration; (3) evaluating the results of IMS implementation through objective business results, (4) performing empirical tests of the proposed models to implementation of IMS and (5) analyse whether and how IMSs can contribute to engage companies in the development of environmentally sustainable strategies. The main contribution of this paper is to characterise significant points about emerging research on IMS and assist the development of new studies.
The clinical usefulness of routine stacked multiplanar reconstruction in helical abdominal computed tomography.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES The authors evaluate the usefulness of stacked multiplanar reconstructions in routine, thick-section abdominal computed tomography. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-five routine, thick-section contrast abdominal CTs performed with equivalent technique were reformatted by multiplanar reconstructions in sagittal and coronal planes sequentially from side-to-side and front-to-back. The image sets were submitted, first axial images only followed by axial plus multiplanar reconstructions (MPRs), to 5 separate physician readers including 2 radiologists and 3 nonradiologists. These readers graded the visualization of a variety of normal and up to 5 pathologic lesions per patient on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 = best). RESULTS The addition of sagittal and coronal multiplanar reconstructions significantly improved the visualization of all normal anatomic structures (mean axial only, 3.8; mean axial plus MPR, 4.1; P < 0.0001). In addition, most pathologic lesions were statistically better visualized with the addition of multiplanar reconstructions (mean axial images only, 3.9; mean axial plus MPR, 4.1; P < 0.0001). All five readers found improved visualization in nearly every category with the addition of the multiplanar reconstructions. However, in only 7% of cases, did a reviewer find new diagnostic information with the addition of MPR images. CONCLUSIONS Stacked multiplanar reconstructions of routine, thick-section abdominal CT has clinical value in both the display of normal anatomic and pathologic lesions. Further studies, however, are required to confirm these findings before it is commonly used.
Phenyl-ring rotational disorder in the two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer salt of the diazo-dye precursor 4-(phenyldiazenyl)aniline (aniline yellow) with L-tartaric acid.

In the structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer compound from the reaction of L-tartaric acid with the azo-dye precursor aniline yellow [4-(phenyldiazenyl)aniline], namely 4-(phenyldiazenyl)anilinium (2R,3R)-3-carboxy-2,3-dihydroxypropanoate, C(12)H(12)N(3)(+) x C(4)H(5)O(6)(-), the asymmetric unit contains two independent 4-(phenyldiazenyl)anilinium cations and two hydrogen L-tartrate anions. The structure is unusual in that all four phenyl rings of the two cations have identical rotational disorder with equal occupancy of the conformations. The two hydrogen L-tartrate anions form independent but similar chains through head-to-tail carboxyl-carboxylate O-H.O hydrogen bonds [graph set C(7)], which are then extended into a two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded sheet structure through hydroxy O-H.O hydrogen-bonded links. The anilinium groups of the 4-(phenyldiazenyl)anilinium cations are incorporated into the sheets and also provide internal hydrogen-bonded extensions, while their aromatic tails are layered in the structure without significant association except for weak pi-pi interactions [minimum ring centroid separation = 3.844 (3) A]. The hydrogen L-tartrate residues of both anions exhibit the common short intramolecular hydroxy-carboxylate O-H.O hydrogen bonds. This work provides a solution to the unusual disorder problem inherent in the structure of this salt, as well as giving another example of the utility of the hydrogen tartrate anion in the generation of sheet substructures in molecular assembly processes.
Current knowledge on cannabinoids in oral fluid.

Oral fluid (OF) is a new biological matrix for clinical and forensic drug testing, offering non-invasive and directly observable sample collection reducing adulteration potential, ease of multiple sample collections, lower biohazard risk during collection, recent exposure identification, and stronger correlation with blood than urine concentrations. Because cannabinoids are usually the most prevalent analytes in illicit drug testing, application of OF drug testing requires sufficient scientific data to support sensitive and specific OF cannabinoid detection. This review presents current knowledge of OF cannabinoids, evaluating pharmacokinetic properties, detection windows, and correlation with other biological matrices and impairment from field applications and controlled drug administration studies. In addition, onsite screening technologies, confirmatory analytical methods, drug stability, and effects of sample collection procedure, adulterants, and passive environmental exposure are reviewed. Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol OF concentrations could be >1000 µg/L shortly after smoking, whereas minor cannabinoids are detected at 10-fold and metabolites at 1000-fold lower concentrations. OF research over the past decade demonstrated that appropriate interpretation of test results requires a comprehensive understanding of distinct elimination profiles and detection windows for different cannabinoids, which are influenced by administration route, dose, and drug use history. Thus, each drug testing program should establish cut-off criteria, collection/analysis procedures, and storage conditions tailored to its purposes. Building a scientific basis for OF testing is ongoing, with continuing OF cannabinoids research on passive environmental exposure, drug use history, donor physiological conditions, and oral cavity metabolism needed to better understand mechanisms of cannabinoid OF disposition and expand OF drug testing applicability. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
SAR based products for the implementation of humanitarian aid and development assistance projects within the UNOSAT project

The UNOSAT service is an ESA Earth Observation Market Development initiative whose objective is to encourage, facilitate, accelerate and expand the use of accurate geo-information derived from EO satellite imagery by professionals involved in the implementation of humanitarian aid and development assistance projects. In this paper, we focus on the role of SAR within this context. Space-borne SAR has a particularly good potential to support disaster management and humanitarian relief projects thanks to its all-weather capability, its capabilities for change detection, the large existing data archives, and, of course, the geometric and thematic information content of the images. Basic processing techniques, including precision image co-registration, multi-temporal analysis, terrain corrected geocoding, interferometry, and radargrammetry are well developed and operational. Advanced techniques like differential interferometry and interferometric point target analysis (IPTA) became more and more operational during the last years and provide unique information about terrain stability and deformation
Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle-income children in upstate New York.

OBJECTIVES We documented inequitable, cumulative environmental risk exposure and health between predominantly White low-income and middle-income children residing in rural areas in upstate New York. METHODS Cross-sectional data for 216 third- through fifth-grade children included overnight urinary neuroendocrine levels, noise levels, residential crowding (people/room), and housing quality. RESULTS After control for income, maternal education, family structure, age, and gender, cumulative environmental risk exposure (0-3) (risk >1 SD above the mean for each singular risk factor [0, 1]) was substantially greater for low-income children. Cumulative environmental risk was positively correlated with elevated overnight epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol in the low-income sample but not in the middle-income sample. CONCLUSIONS Cumulative environmental risk exposure among low-income families may contribute to bad health, beginning in early childhood.
The Comovment between Money and Economic Growth in 15 Asia-Pacific Countries: Wavelet Coherency Analysis in Time-Frequency Domain

The paper applies framework of the Wavelet-based measure of comovement from the Wavelet coherency analysis in Aguiar-Conraria and Soares (2011) to examine the comovement phenomenon and the causality of a lead-lag relationship between economic growth and money in 15 Asia-Pacific countries over about three decades. This is the first study to apply wavelet analysis in studying money and GDP lead-lag links in the Asia-Pacific countries. The main advantage of the wavelet approach is the ability to analyze transient dynamics between two time series across different frequencies or time scales. The use of the wavelet tool is superior to traditional tools because it allows us to determine how the series interact at different frequencies and how they evolve over time. The method allows us to identify both the causality and sign of correlation between our research variables. Therefore, through wavelet coherency and phase-difference analysis, this paper is the first study to identify certain period causality relationship of finance-growth, the lead-lag effect in 15 Asia-Pacific countries. In addition, our study has verified that monetary neutrality did support in some Asia-Pacific countries (i.e., Australia, Malaysia, Philippines, and South Korea). However, monetary policy did work in most of Asia-Pacific countries. The empirical results have important policy implications for these 15 Asia-Pacific countries conducting monetary policy to boot up its economy.
Capital structure and the substitutability versus complementarity nature of leases and debt

The capital structure irrelevance argument of Modigliani and Miller (1958) implies that the use of debt or leases should have no impact on firm values. This classical argument leaves out several important considerations crucial for the result, in particular, counterparty credit risk. We re-examine the capital structure problem for firms that can utilize debt and leases in the presence of counterparty risk. Our numerical and empirical estimates show a negative term structure of lease rates that steepens as a function of counterparty risk. Moreover, we document numerical evidence for the complementary relationship between debt and leases in the presence of counterparty risk.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF LOSS GIVEN DEFAULT (LGD) MODELS’ RISK ON REGULATORY CAPITAL: A BAYESIAN APPROACH

The model is wrong! ” so it is determined. All of the estimated output using the model becomes un-reliable immediately. And so is every other result calculated using the unreliable output. So what is the impact of the model being “wrong” in the later calculations? To address this question, this paper presents a Bayesian approach that provides a quantitative assessment for the impact on downstream results calculated using the unreliable estimates. Section 1 details the practical challenge in the financial industry and discusses why this is important. Section 2 starts the discussion with a description of the overall framework for this Bayesian approach, introducing and defining each individual component. Then Sections 3 and 4 carry on discussing the prior and likelihood distributions, respectively. Section 5 then obtains the target posterior distribution by applying the Bayesian posterior update using obtained prior and likelihood results. Then conditioning on value of the unreliable estimate already in place in the portfolio, the density distribution obtained can be used to update the output of the “wrong” model and assess the impact in further calculations. This approach bridges the practitioners’ initial expectations with the model performance and provides an intuitive quantitative assessment for the impact in the follow-up calculations which are largely affected by the unreliable estimate. The presented approach is the first in literature to raise the concern of uncertain impact caused by “wrong” models and propose a solution. The pioneer demonstration using uncertainty in the loss given default (LGD) models as an example and assessing the impact on the then calculated regulatory capital provides a timely assessment tool for model risk management in the current banking industry. Note that the abuse of the word wrong in quotation marks is an exaggeration of the uncertainty involved, in practice, impact analysis could be requested at any level of uncertainty.
Synthesis of QDI FSMs from Synchronous Specifications

Quasi-Delay insensitive (QDI) circuits are the most robust and practical that can be built and are resilient to process, temperature and voltage (PVT) variations. Although there are many research papers that can translate synchronous designs into asynchronous sequential designs, to the best of our knowledge, there is neither QDI finite state machine (FSM) models proposed nor algorithms or tools designed. Three QDI FSM (QFSM) designs (i.e. NCLD, NCLX and ROC QFSMs) are proposed and an algorithm to automatically synthesize QFSMs from synchronous FSM specifications in Verilog is designed and implemented in Java. One of the distinguish feature is that the behaviors of our QFSMs are the same as those of the corresponding synchronous FSMs in terms of functionality. This greatly simplifies the verification complexity and reduces verification cost. Two sets of FSM circuits (i.e. verifiable benchmark circuits and ISCAS89) are exploited to carry out verification and performance evaluation. The experimental results show that ROCopt QFSMs use the least hardware cost and consume lowest energy in average.