Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interleukin-2 and Loss of Immunity in Experimental Mycobacterium avium Infection

ABSTRACT Experimental infection of mice with a virulent strain of Mycobacterium avium leads to a slowly progressive disease, which we have previously shown culminates in loss of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) production by T lymphocytes and death of the animals approximately 40 weeks after infection. Here we investigated the changes in T-cell activation, the production of interleukin-2 (IL-2), and the response to IL-2 throughout M. avium infection as a possible explanation for this loss. We found that there is a steady increase in the percentage of T cells expressing activation markers right to the end of infection. However, in vivo T-cell proliferation, measured as a percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells incorporating 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine, initially increased but then remained constant. In the final stages of infection there was a decline in proliferation of activated (CD62L−) T cells. Since IL-2 is a major driver of T-cell proliferation, we asked whether this was due to loss of IL-2 responsiveness or production. However, CD25 (IL-2Rα) continued to be highly expressed in the terminal stages of infection, and although IL-2 production declined, addition of recombinant IL-2 to cultures could not rescue the final loss of IFN-γ production.
Behavioral response of spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii Matsumura, to aversive odors and a potential oviposition deterrent in the field.

BACKGROUND Drosophilia suzukii Matsumura is an invasive pest insect that lays its eggs in the fruit of several commercially grown crops. An effective oviposition deterrent could contribute to its management. Repellant odors were evaluated in the laboratory and in the field. RESULTS Geosmin and 1-octen-3-ol were found to be aversive to seven-day-old female D. suzukii at concentrations of 10(-1) and 10(-2) in laboratory choice tests. Field experiments found that fewer eggs were observed in fruit on the day of harvest and fewer adult D. suzukii were reared from fruit associated with 1-octen-3-ol odors than control fruit in cultivated red raspberry. CONCLUSION Geosmin and 1-octen-3-ol induce aversive behaviors in Drosophila suzukii and are potential oviposition deterrents for its management in fruit crops.
Three novel mutations (I506S, S466X, 1651A→T) in exon 10 of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) detected in patients of Southern German Descent

Since the characterisation of the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein and the identification of its main mutation AF508 (Kerem et al., 1992) in the Caucasian population, more than 170 mutations have been reported (Collins, 1992). Most of these mutations are rare, only a few reaching frequencies of more than 1% in some populations. Screening DNA samples from CF patients in Bavaria (southeast Germany) by heteroduplex and SSCP analysis of exon 10, we have identified three novel mutations, IS06S, S466X, and 1651A+T, in the CFTR gene. The clinical data available so far do not suggest an atypical course of the disease in the patients carrying these mutations.
On managing optical services in future control-plane-enabled IP/WDM networks

This paper presents the design and experimental implementation of a service-oriented Internet Protocol (IP)/wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) management plane. In the proposed approach, compliant with International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)'s automatic-switched optical network (ASON), a distributed control plane performs signaling, routing, and discovery functions, and a decentralized management plane, both at information and architectural levels, performs cross-plane actions to enforce service establishment and monitoring with a view to guarantee service level agreements (SLAs). In-service monitoring provides status of optical resources and services by using spectral- and time-domain information. Some performance aspects of the approach are evaluated in a real testbed featuring dense wavelength multiplexing and a control plane based on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)'s generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS).
Lateral Diffusion of Two Fluorescent Lipids in the Outer Membrane of Schistosomula and Lung Worms

Abs trac t . The technique of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching was used to measure the lateral diffusion of fluorescent lipid analogues in the surface membrane of Schistosoma mansoni. Our data reveal that although some lipids could diffuse freely others exhibited restricted lateral diffusion. Quenching of lipid fluorescence by a non-permeant quencher, trypan blue, showed that there was an asymmetric distribution of lipids across the double bilayer of mature parasites. Those lipids that diffused freely were found to reside mainly in the external monolayer of the outer membrane whereas lipids with restricted lateral diffusion were located mainly in one or more of the monolayers beneath the external monolayer. Formation of surface membrane blebs allowed us to measure the lateral diffusion of lipids in the membrane without the influence of underlying cytoskeletal structures. The restricted diffusion found on the normal surface membrane of mature parasites was found to be released in membrane blebs. Quenching of fluorescent lipids on blebs indicated that all probes were present almost entirely in the external monolayer. Juvenile worms exhibited lower lateral diffusion coefficients than mature parasites: in addition, the lipids partitioned into the external monolayer. The results are discussed in terms of membrane organization, cytoskeletal contacts, and biological significance.
The Immune Response to the Hapten NP in C57BL/6 Mice: Insights into the Structure of the B‐Cell Repertoire

Studies of the immune response have been facilitated by the use of idiotypic systems in which inbred strains of mice respond in a reproducible and defined manner. It is evident that, where examined, the responses to more complex antigens behave similarly but use a more diverse assortment of V genes. The idiotypic systems allow a more defined system for studying the development of the response. After the basic structure of the immunoglobulin (Ig) genes was determined it became evident that the diversity of expressed Ig's was considerably greater than that which could be encoded directly by the germline DNA by combinatorial association. A glimpse of somatic variants had been seen in the amino acid sequences of the X light chains (Weigert et al. 1970). This was just the first hint at the complexity that resides in the generation of the functional primary B-cell repertoire and subsequent secondary and hyperimmune responses. The first studies on the DNA sequences encoding the anti-(4-bydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NP) (Bothwell et al. 1981, 1982) and anti-phosphorylcholine (PC) (Gearhart et al. 1981, Crews et al. 1981) antibodies suggested that somatic variants were a component of the later part of these immune responses and were generally associated with non-IgM antibodies. The characteristics and extent of the germlineV regions and acquired mutations were also described. Subsequently, the characteristics of these and other responses were described by others, including V gene usage and the extent of mutation early and late during the response; these have been recently reviewed (Manser et al. 1987, Berek & Milstein 1987, Allen et al. 1987). In addition, the rate of somatic mutation was estimated
Validation of the English and Mandarin versions of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory in an Asian population

The Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory has shown adequate psychometric properties to assess for fear of cancer recurrence among cancer survivors. However, the use of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory in Asia is limited due to the paucity of validation studies. Participants include 331 cancer survivors who completed the English and newly developed Mandarin versions of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory. The results revealed that both versions of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability, test–retest reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity. A confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the original seven-factor structure. The validated Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory is applicable to cancer survivors in Singapore.
Security and efficiency in authentication protocols resistant to password guessing attacks

Cryptographic protocols for authentication and key exchange are necessary for secure communications. Most protocols have assumed that a strong secret for authentication should be shared between communicating participants in the light of a threat of dictionary attacks. But a user-chosen weak secret, i.e. password, is typically used for authentication. Since most users want to use an easily memorizable password, which tends to be easy to guess, several authentication protocols that protect such a weak secret from password guessing attacks, have been developed. However, those security-oriented protocols are more expensive in terms of the number of random numbers, cipher operations, and protocol steps than the previous protocols which are not resistant to guessing attacks. The authors propose new authentication and key exchange protocols, which are efficient considerably in protecting a poorly-chosen weak secret from guessing attacks.
Contact X‐ray microscopy of living cells by using LiF crystal as imaging detector

In this paper, the use of lithium fluoride (LiF) as imaging radiation detector to analyse living cells by single‐shot soft X‐ray contact microscopy is presented. High resolved X‐ray images on LiF of cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya VRUC135, two unicellular microalgae of the genus Chlamydomonas and mouse macrophage cells (line RAW 264.7) have been obtained utilizing X‐ray radiation in the water window energy range from a laser plasma source. The used method is based on loading of the samples, the cell suspension, in a special holder where they are in close contact with a LiF crystal solid‐state X‐ray imaging detector. After exposure and sample removal, the images stored in LiF by the soft X‐ray contact microscopy technique are read by an optical microscope in fluorescence mode. The clear image of the mucilaginous sheath the structure of the filamentous Leptolyngbya and the visible nucleolus in the macrophage cells image, are noteworthiness results. The peculiarities of the used X‐ray radiation and of the LiF imaging detector allow obtaining images in absorption contrast revealing the internal structures of the investigated samples at high spatial resolution. Moreover, the wide dynamic range of the LiF imaging detector contributes to obtain high‐quality images. In particular, we demonstrate that this peculiar characteristic of LiF detector allows enhancing the contrast and reveal details even when they were obscured by a nonuniform stray light.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy for idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Background: Idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) and tinnitus are common. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) may improve hearing loss and/or reduce the intensity of tinnitus. Methods: We performed a systematic search of the literature for randomized controlled trials, and made pooled analyses of pre-determined clinical outcomes where possible. Results: Six trials contributed to this review (304 subjects). Pooled analysis suggested a significantly increased chance of a 25 per cent improvement in hearing threshold on pure tone average with HBOT (relative risk (RR) 1.39, 95 per cent confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.84, p = 0.02; number-needed-to-treat 5, 95 per cent CI 3–20), but not a 50 per cent increase (RR 1.53, 95 per cent CI 0.85–2.78, p = 0.16). The significance of any improvement in tinnitus following HBOT could not be assessed due to poor reporting. Conclusions: HBOT improved hearing, but the clinical significance of the level of improvement is not clear. Routine application of HBOT to patients with ISSHL is not justified by this review. More research is needed.
Longitudinal Change in Performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Older Adults

Objective: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief screening measure commonly used to determine cognitive status among older adults. Despite the popularity of the MoCA, there has been little research into how performance on the MoCA changes over time in healthy older adults. Methods: The present study examined a sample of older adults (n = 53) recruited for a longitudinal study of healthy aging. Change in total MoCA score at three time points (baseline, 12 months, and 48 months) and scores from the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status at five time points (RBANS; baseline 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, and 48 months) were assessed using repeated measures analyses. Results: Total MoCA score significantly increased across time, particularly between the first and second administrations. Scores did not significantly differ between the second (12 month) and third (48 month) administrations. When grouped by baseline performance, individuals who scored low at baseline significantly improved performance at 12-month testing, but had little change between 12- and 48-month testing. Conversely, individuals who scored high at baseline did not significantly change between baseline and 12-month testing, but improved between 12- and 48-month testing. RBANS scores did not significantly change over time. Conclusions: These results suggest that the MoCA may be susceptible to practice effects, particularly between the first and second administrations. These practice effects should be taken into consideration when repeatedly employing the MoCA to screen for cognitive status in healthy older adults.
Performance Analysis of Multiuser Diversity in MIMO Systems with Antenna Selection

In this paper, a framework is presented to analyze the performance of multiuser diversity (MUD) in multiuser point-to-multipoint (PMP) MIMO systems with antenna selection. Based on this framework, the tight closed-form expressions of outage capacity and average symbol error rate are derived for the multiuser transmit antenna selection with maximal-ratio combining (TAS/MRC) system, by which we show how and with what characteristics antenna selection gains, MIMO antenna configurations and fading gains impact on the system performance, with an emphasis on the study of multiuser diversity influence. From both theoretical and simulation results, our study shows that in multiuser PMP TAS/MRC systems an diversity order equals to the product of the number of transmit antennas, number of receive antennas and number of users can be achieved; what's more, users plays a key role in the system performance and can be viewed as equivalent "virtual" transmit antennas, which is the source of the multiuser diversity inherent exists in the multiuser system. This kind of diversity can be efficiently extracted in the design of multiantenna systems.
Phosphorylation‐Dependent Akt Cleavage in Neural Cell In Vitro Reconstitution of Apoptosis

Abstract : Neuronal apoptotic execution uses a cytochrome c‐dependent caspase activation mechanism that is conserved in other cell types. Phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase and its downstream effector, Akt/protein kinase B, appear to control this mechanism and govern the life/death decision. We have developed a cell‐free system using cytosol from human neuroblastoma (SY5Y) cells that reconstitutes biochemical features of neuronal apoptosis. In the presence of cytochrome c and ATP, caspase‐9 and ‐3 were activated, which initiated chromatin condensation and DNA cleavage in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) nuclei. Akt was cleaved in reactions where caspase‐3 was activated and its cleavage was prevented by the caspase inhibitor DEVD‐aldehyde. The phosphatase inhibitors orthovanadate and okadaic acid prevented catalytic processing and activation of caspase‐3 and digestion of Akt and partially inhibited cleavage of caspase‐9. Caspase‐dependent destruction of Akt irreversibly inactivates this key mediator of survival signaling, ensuring that the execution pathway will prevail.
ATP diphosphohydrolase from Schistosoma mansoni egg: characterization and immunocytochemical localization of a new antigen

The fact that the Schistosoma mansoni egg has two ATP diphosphohydrolase (EC 3.6.1.5) isoforms with different net charges and an identical molecular weight of 63000, identified by non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunological cross-reactivity with potato apyrase antibodies, is shown. In soluble egg antigen (SEA), only the isoform with the lower net negative charge was detected and seemed to be the predominant species in this preparation. By confocal fluorescence microscopy, using anti-potato apyrase antibodies, the S. mansoni egg ATP diphosphohydrolase was detected on the external surface of miracidium and in von Lichtenberg's envelope. Intense fluorescence was also seen in the outer side of the egg-shell, entrapped by the surface microspines, suggesting that a soluble isoform is secreted. ATP diphosphohydrolase antigenicity was tested using the vegetable protein as antigen. The purified potato apyrase was recognized in Western blots by antibodies present in sera from experimentally S. mansoni-infected mice. In addition, high levels of IgG anti-ATP diphosphohydrolase antibodies were detected by ELISA in the same sera. This work represents the first demonstration of antigenic properties of S. mansoni ATP diphosphohydrolase and immunological cross-reactivity between potato apyrase and sera from infected individuals.
A Compact Uniplanar Printed Dual-Antenna Operating at the 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN Bands for Laptop Computers

A compact uniplanar printed dual-antenna for laptop computers is proposed. The dual-antenna, consisting of two symmetric antenna elements and a protruded ground with an embedded T-shaped slot, is printed on a single-layer printed circuit board with a size of only 9 × 40 mm2. The antenna element is a coupled-fed loop antenna with a size of only 9 × 7 mm2. The protruded ground with the embedded T-shaped slot reduces the mutual coupling within two frequency bands. The working mechanism is analyzed in detail for deep understanding. A prototype shows that the measured -10-dB impedance bandwidths are 190 MHz (2.38-2.57 GHz)/1.82 GHz (4.34-6.16 GHz), and the measured mutual couplings are lower than -18/ -20 dB at the 2.4- and 5.2/5.8-GHz WLAN bands, respectively. The measured gains and efficiencies are better than 4.1/4.1 dBi and 65%/54% at the 2.4- and 5.2/5.8-GHz WLAN bands, respectively.
Likelihood word image generation model for word recognition

This paper describes a new word image generation model for word recognition. This model can generate a word image with likelihood based on linguistic knowledge, segmentation and character image. In the recognition process, first, the model generates the word image which approximates an input image best for each of a dictionary of possible words. Next, the model calculates the distance value between the input image and each generated word image. The efficiency of the proposed method was evaluated in an experiment using type-written museum archive card images. Results show that a recognition rate of 99.8% was obtained, compared with only 70.3% for a recently published comparator algorithm.
Controle externo da magistratura vulnera o sistema constitucional da tripartição do poder

Alega merecer a questao analise sob dois aspectos: o constitucional e o filosofico. Quanto ao primeiro, explica que o controle externo do Judiciario fere o art. 2o da Constituicao Federal, o da independencia dos poderes; e, com respeito ao segundo, afirma que tal ideia nao encontra precedentes no Executivo ou no Legislativo. Descreve a experiencia da adocao da medida na Franca, com a instituicao, em 1958, do Conselho Superior da Magistratura ? orgao encarregado desse controle ? , considerando-a um retrocesso, dada a politizacao do conselho e a desqualificacao do Judiciario como poder, classificado apenas de ? autoridade? judiciaria. Entende nao haver possibilidade de um controle do Poder Judiciario no Brasil sem a prevalencia de interesses politicos sobre a contextura tecnica. Considera ainda que, devido a sua flagrante inconstitucionalidade, tal iniciativa seria apenas viavel por meio da implantacao de uma nova ordem constitucional, com poderes originarios, de direita ou de esquerda.
Temperature dependence of DC voltage activated Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 solidly mounted resonator

Temperature dependent scattering parameter data was collected on a 30 × 30 µm<sup>2</sup> voltage activated barium strontium titanate solidly mounted resonator. The frequency variation over the temperature range of −40°C to 120°C normalized to room temperature was as low as 0.41% and as high as 0.84%. The resonant frequency measurements also show a step at −10°C which is believed to be a structural phase transition of the ferroelectric material. The data was collected at a dc bias voltage range of 0V to 30V in 5V increments.
Areas MT/V5 and their transcallosal connectivity in cortical dysplasia by fMRI

A patient with unilateral focal cortical dysplasia with a significant impairment of visual motion perception within the contralateral hemifield was examined with fMRI. During hemifield visual motion stimulation primary visual cortex areas were activated contralaterally and deactivated ipsilaterally to the stimulated hemifield. Transcallosal visuo-visual interaction was further evident as bilateral activation in temporo-occipital areas that best correspond to the motion sensitive areas MT/V5. MT/V5 was displaced anteriorly, superiorly, and medially within the dysplastic hemisphere and separated into two distinct activation clusters. During visual motion stimulation the parieto-insular vestibular cortex showed signal decreases that agree with the concept of inhibitory visuo-vestibular interaction. Thus, fMRI is a suitable tool for detecting preserved function and transcallosal connections in patients with focal cortical dysplasia.
Optimal modeling of real radio base station antennas for human exposure assessment using spherical-mode decomposition

This article presents an innovative way to derive a radio station antenna model that can match very closely real antennas described by their measurements. The derived model can then be used for the assessment of human exposure to the electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the antennas, including the near field and the interactions with the environment. The technique is based on the principle of decomposing a whole antenna into subantennas enhanced by spherical-harmonic fields decomposition. A singular values decomposition (SVD) is used to find the model parameters. The proposed technique is applied on a real antenna used in mobile networks.
Génération de séquences d'actions sûres par recherche d'atteignabilité

Cet article s'interesse a l'ingenierie et la preparation des sequences d'actions pour les systemes complexes critiques, avec pour objectif d'assurer que les sequences peuvent etre operees en toute securite sur le procede. L'article montre, en se basant d'une part sur une modelisation formelle du systeme a l'aide d'automates a etats communicants, et d'autre part sur des mecanismes de recherche d'atteignabilite, la faisabilite et les limites d'une approche de generation automatique de sequences respectant a priori les contraintes de securite.