Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protective effect of selenium-enriched Lactobacillus on CCl4-induced liver injury in mice and its possible mechanisms.

AIM To study the protective effects and mechanisms of Se-enriched lactobacillus on liver injury caused by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in mice. METHODS Seventy-two ICR mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal group, CCl4-induced model group, low Se-enriched lactobacillus treatment group (L-Se group), and high Se-enriched lactobacillus treatment group (H-Se group). During a 3-wk experimental period, the common complete diet was orally provided daily for normal group and model group, and the mice in L-Se and H-Se groups were given a diet with 2 and 4 mg of organoselenium from Se-enriched lactobacillus per kg feed, respectively. From the 2nd wk of experiment, the model group, L-Se group, and H-Se group received abdominal cavity injection of olive oil solution containing 500 mL/L CCl4 (0.07 mL/100 g body mass) to induce liver injury, and the normal group was given olive oil on every other day for over 2 wk. In the first 2 wk post injection with CCl4, mice in each group were killed. The specimens of blood, liver tissue, and macrophages in abdominal cavity fluid were taken. Then the activities of the following liver tissue injury-associated enzymes including glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) content were assayed. Changes of phagocytic rate and phagocytic index in macrophages were observed with Wright-Giemsa stain. Plasma TNF-alpha level was measured by radioimmunoassay. The level of intracellular free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) in hepatocytes was detected under a laser scanning confocal microscope. RESULTS During the entire experimental period, the AST and ALT activities in liver were greatly enhanced by CCl4 and completely blunted by both low and high doses of Se-enriched lactobacillus. The Se-enriched lactobacillus-protected liver homogenate GSH-Px and SOD activities were higher or significantly higher than those in model group and were close to those in normal group. CCl4 significantly increased MDA content in liver homogenates, while administration of Se-enriched lactobacillus prevented MDA elevation. Phagocytic rate and phagocytic index of macro-phages decreased after CCl4 treatment compared to those in normal control, but they were dramatically rescued by Se-enriched lactobacillus, showing a greatly higher phagocytic function compared to model group. CCl4 could significantly elevate plasma TNF-alpha and hepatocyte [Ca2+]i level, which were also obviously prevented by Se-enriched lactobacillus. CONCLUSION Se-enriched lactobacillus can intervene in CCl4-induced liver injury in mice by enhancing macrophage function activity to keep normal and beneficial effects, elevating antioxidant-enzyme activities and reducing lipid peroxidation reaction, inhibiting excessive release of TNF-alpha, preventing the dramatic elevation of [Ca2+]i in hepatocytes.
Oxide Breakdown After RF Stress: Experimental Analysis and Effects on Power Amplifier Operation

The target in the design of CMOS radio-frequency (RF) transceivers for wireless application is the highest integration level, despite reliability issues of conventional submicron MOSFETs, due to high RF voltage and current peaks. In this scenario, this paper investigates gate-oxide breakdown under RF stress by using a class-E power amplifier (PA) for experiments. We showed that maximum RF voltage peaks for safe device operation are much larger than usual DC limits, and that the physical mechanism of oxide degradation is triggered by the rms value of oxide field, and not by its maximum, as generally believed. This finding has a strong impact on RF circuit designs, especially in MOSFET scaling perspectives. Finally, breakdown effects on PA operations are discussed
Natural Killer Cell (NK-92MI)-Based Therapy for Pulmonary Metastasis of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer in a Nude Mouse Model

Objective Natural killer (NK) cells represent the third largest population of lymphocytes, and they play an important role in immune surveillance against tumors. The lungs are a common metastatic site for anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), and metastasis is one of the most frequent causes of mortality in this type of cancer. In the current study, we evaluated the effects of NK cell-based immunotherapy for pulmonary metastasis of ATC and determined how it affects the effector molecules of NK cells. Methods Human NK cells (NK-92MI) were retrovirally transduced to express the effluc gene. Human ATC cells (CAL-62) were transduced with the effluc and Rluc genes. The cytotoxicity of NK cells against CAL-62 cells was assessed using the CytoTox 96® Non-Radioactive Cytotoxicity Assay system. Pulmonary metastases of ATC were developed by i.v. injection of CAL-62, and metastasis growth was monitored using bioluminescence imaging (BLI). To treat the metastases, five million NK-92MI cells were injected twice into the caudal vein of nude mice. To assess the targetability of NK cells to ATC tumors, NK-92MI cells expressing the effluc gene (NK/F) were administered through the tail vein of nude mice with a pulmonary metastasis or tumor xenograft. BLI was subsequently performed at 1, 3, 24, and 48 h. Results NK/F and CAL-62 cells expressing the effluc or Rluc gene (CAL-62/F, CAL-62/R) were successfully established. Expression of the effluc and Rluc genes in NK/F, CAL-62/F, and CAL-62/R cells was verified by RT-polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, and luciferase assay. After coculture of NK-92MI and CAL-62/F cells for 24 h, the BLI signal intensity of CAL-62/F cells proportionally decreased with the number of cocultured NK cells. An ATC pulmonary metastasis mouse model was successfully generated, and NK cells significantly inhibited the growth of the metastasis (p < 0.01). The NK/F cells exhibited targetability to the pulmonary metastasis and tumor xenograft in the mouse model. Conclusion The results of present study suggest that NK cells are able to target ATC tumors and that NK cell-based immunotherapy may serve as an effective therapeutic approach for pulmonary metastases of ATC.
2 Dynamic Networks and Compositional Reasoning

We formulate a method to compute global invariants of dynamic process networks. In these networks, inter-process connectivity may be altered by an adversary at any point in time. Dynamic networks serve as models for ad-hoc and sensor-network protocols. The analysis combines elements of compositional reasoning, symmetry reduction, and abstraction. Together, they allow a small “cutoff” network to represent arbitrarily large networks. A compositional invariant computed on the small network generalizes to a parametric invariant of the shape “for all networks and all processes: property p holds of each process and its local neighborhood. ” We illustrate this method by showing how to compute useful invariants for a simple dining philosophers protocol, and the latest version of the ad-hoc routing protocol AODV (version 2).
Research on selection of initial center points based on improved K-means algorithm

Traditional K-Means clustering algorithm is very sensitive to the initial center point, the selection of the different initial center points will bring about different clustering results, and clustering performance is greatly affected by the initial center point. After the analysis of the characteristics of the initial center point, the selection of the initial point of the K texts as different categories in the text collection makes the sum of the k texts similarity be smallest. In the paper, the selection of the initial center point based on improved K-means algorithm is proposed. Experimental results show that the method effectively reduces the the clustering algorithm iteration process and improves the clustering performance.
Current-mirror based PID controller

In this paper, the architecture of the Proportional-Integration-Derivative (PID) controller, based on the current-difference amplifier, is presented. This architecture allows to integrate the controller, employing only four active MOS transistors. It also allows obtaining interesting features, such as the low power consumption, and high bandwidth, in spite of the low DC accuracy (offset). In this paper, basic design equations for the DC operation point setting, transfer function, and the MOS transistor sizing are provided. The performances are demonstrated by a simulation of the circuit designed in 40nm CMOS, employed to stabilize the feedback-loop of the switched DC/DC buck converter.
Ambiguity function analysis of broadcast signals for passive radar

Passive bistatic radar (PBR) system can include a variety of non-cooperative signals like GPS, or even cell phone networks. These signals are used for target detection and ranging. In this paper ambiguity function analysis of two common signals viz., FM broadcast waveform and DVB-T is presented. Different settings of these signals are be analyzed including Doppler cut, existence of side lobes, and different sampling modes. Then effects of ambiguities like masking, and wrong detection will be are also presented. The calculated ISLR & PSLR for FM broadcast waveform and DVB-T are −14.52dB & −24.35dB, −13.96dB & −19.93dB respectively. Results revealed that in terms of ISLR and PSLR, the DVB-T performed well compared to FM broadcast waveform.
Maximum cross-entropy generalized series reconstruction

This paper addresses the classical image reconstruction problem from limited Fourier data. Here, we assume that a high-resolution reference which provides an initial estimate of the desired image is available. A new algorithm is described which represents the desired image using a family of basis functions derived from the reference image. The selection of the most efficient basis function set from this family is guided by the principle of maximum cross-entropy. Simulation and experimental results have shown that the algorithm can achieve high resolution with a small number of data points and can also account for relative rotation and translation between the reference and the measured data.
The serine phosphatases PP1 and PP2A associate with and activate the actin‐binding protein cofilin in human T lymphocytes

Cofilin, an actin‐depolymerizing protein, is essential for the functional dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton and for cell viability. In unstimulated human peripheral blood T lymphocytes cofilin is phosphorylated and localized in the cytoplasm. Following co‐stimulation through accessory receptors (e.g. CD2 or CD28) – however, not following TCR/CD3 stimulation alone – cofilin undergoes dephosphorylation. The subcellular localization as well as the actin‐binding activity of cofilin are regulated by the phosphorylation state of serine‐3. Thus, only the dephosphorylated form of cofilin associates with the actin cytoskeleton and possesses the capability to translocate into the nucleus. Recently, LIM‐kinase 1 was shown to inactivate cofilin through phosphorylation. Here, we have identified the functional counterparts of LIM‐kinase 1: the serine/threonine phosphatases of type 1 and type 2A not only associate with cofilin but also dephosphorylate this 19‐kDa protein and thereby mediate cofilin activation. In malignant T lymphoma cells, activation of these phosphatases occurs spontaneously, independent of external stimuli. In untransformed human peripheral blood T lymphocytes, these phosphatases function through a cyclosporin A/FK506‐resistant co‐stimulatory signaling pathway which is common for the accessory receptors CD2 and CD28. This co‐stimulatory signaling pathway is also not affected by a series of other clinically established immunosuppressive drugs (i.e. rapamycin, dexamethasone, leflunomide or mycophenolic acid).
A study of poisson multi-Bernoulli mixture conjugate prior in multiple target estimation

Multiple target tracking (MTT) denotes the process of estimating the set of target trajectories based on a sequence of noise-corrupted measurements including missed detections and false alarms. Nowadays, MTT has found applications in numerous areas, such as air traffic control, autonomous vehicles and robotics, computer vision and biomedical research. In recent years, a significant research trend in MTT is the development of conjugate distributions in Bayesian probability theory based on random finite set. Two popular frameworks have been studied so far, one is based on labelled multi-Bernoulli conjugate prior, and the other is based on unlabelled multiBernoulli conjugate prior. The first contribution of this thesis is a performance comparison study of filters based on multi-Bernoulli conjugate prior. In this part of work, we focus on point target tracking that each target is assumed to give rise to at most one measurement per time scan. The simulation results show that the Poisson multi-Bernoulli filters arguably provide the best overall performance. Due to the rapid development of high-resolution sensors equipped on autonomous vehicles, e.g., near-field radar and lidar, a target may occupy multiple sensor cells on any given scan, leading to the so-called extended target. Solving the multiple extended target tracking problem is mainly complicated by the unknown correspondence between targets and measurements that a huge number of data association events need to be considered. Methods of how to solve the data association in a single step that maximises the desired likelihood function using sampling methods are presented. The second contribution of this thesis is the performance evaluation of different sampling algorithms, which are integrated into the Poisson multi-Bernoulli mixture (PMBM) filter. As an approximation of the PMBM filter, the Poisson multi-Bernoulli (PMB) filter has shown superior performance in point target tracking, but it is not yet clear how to adapt this algorithm to extended target tracking. The third contribution of this thesis is that we present an extended target PMB filter, along with its gamma Gaussian inverse Wishart implementation. The simulation results show that the PMB filter can retain most of the advantages of the PMBM filter.
Formal Procedural Content Generation in Games Driven by Social Analyses

Millions of people play online computer games every day. Massive Multiplay Online (MMO) Games suffer a great problem: Developing new content for games (especially for Role Play Games-RPG) is an highly expensive and time consuming task. On the other hand, Players usually complain of static and repetitive contents of games and a rapid decrease of their interest in the games is evident after main patches deployment. In this scenario, a way to create new dynamic game contents is appealing, in particular if it depends on players needs and expectations. In this paper we describe a framework and a methodology for Procedural Content Generation (PCG) of game contents. The methodology exploit formal Multi-Agent based models and planning techniques.
Paper No . 154 nowledge Transfer . Is the IPR ownership odel more efficient ?

This paper contributes to the current debate on university patents and knowledge transfer at two levels. First we present the results of the comparison of European and US academic patenting systems, and show that the common perception that Europe is lagging behind the US in terms of university patenting is far from being correct. Second, we develop an assessment of the efficiency of the academic IPR ownership model. Specifically, we assess whether university-owned patents in Europe are more often applied, and/or more economically valuable, than patents that result from university research but are not owned by universities (university-invented). Our analysis starts from the observation that in our sample of six major European countries, about two-thirds of the patents that result (at least partly) from university research, are not owned by universities (but instead are owned in large measure by private firms). Given the different importance of Public Research Organisations (PRO) in the 6 EU countries considered, we have done the same analysis also for the case of PRO-owned and PRO-invented patents. A review of the theory of research joint ventures suggests that ownership is the result of a bargaining game, in which the relative bargaining positions depend, among other things, on characteristics of the inventive process. This is the starting point for applying two separate statistical treatment models. Our results indicate that, after correcting for observable patent characteristics, there are no significant differences between university-owned and university-invented patents. JEL Subject Classification: O3, I28
The exponential growth of autophagy‐related research: from the humble yeast to the Nobel Prize

Autophagy was discovered more than half a century ago. In the early days, autophagy was studied mostly through the use of biochemical methods and electron microscopy. In the 1990s, yeast genetics was introduced to this field and brought about an exponential expansion. The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was eventually awarded to the scientist who spearheaded the rapid development of the field: Yoshinori Ohsumi. Here, I describe in a Nutshell how the autophagy machinery was discovered and how the autophagy research field has grown following the breakthroughs from yeast studies.
The effect of stress proliferation on depression in South African grandparent caregivers

This study explored the proliferation of stressors that contribute to depression in grandparents who are caregivers of an adult child with a long-term illness and their grandchildren. The data were drawn from Wave 4 of the Cape Area Panel Study in South Africa and subjected to linear regression analysis to predict depression in these older adults. We found evidence that the combination of primary and secondary care leads to a proliferation of stressors as these older adults experienced higher levels of depression, lower income, and greater food insecurity. Providing financial help to others and declining health also contributed to an increase in depression.
The Psychophysics of Harmony Perception: Harmony is a Three-Tone Phenomenon

In line with musical "common sense" (but contrary to the century-old tradition of musical psychophysics), we show that harmony is an inherently three-tone phenomenon. Previous attempts at explaining the affective response to major/minor chords and resolved/unresolved chords on the basis of the summation of interval dissonance have been notably unsuccessful, but consideration of the relative size of the intervals contained in triads leads directly to solutions to these historical problems. At the heart of our model is Leonard Meyer's idea from 1956 concerning "intervallic equidistance" - i.e., the perception of "tension" inherent to any three-tone combination that has two intervals of equivalent size (e.g., the augmented chord). By including the effects of the upper partials, a psychophysical explanation of the perceived sonority of the triads (major>minor>diminished>augmented) and the affective valence of major and minor chords is easily achieved. We conclude that the perceptual regularities of traditional diatonic harmony are neither due to the summation of interval effects nor simply arbitrary, learned cultural artifacts, but rather that harmony has a psychophysical basis dependent on three-tone combinations. THE psychophysical study of music has an honorable history going back at least to Helmholtz (1877). Particularly since the 1960s and the widespread use of electronic techniques to create and measure musical tones with great precision, the perception of two-tone intervals and the influence of upper partials on the perception of intervals have been rigorously examined, and several important insights gained. Some of the successes of this reductionist scientific approach to the perception of music will be reviewed below, but a discussion of the science of music must begin with a statement of the complete failure thus far to account for the core phenomena of diatonic harmony on psychophysical principles. Most significantly, the fact that some chords sound stable, final and resolved, while others sound unstable, tense and unresolved cannot be explained solely on the basis of the summation of interval dissonance among tones and their upper partials. Moreover, although the positive and negative affective valence of major and minor chords is salient both to young children and to adults from diverse cultures, this also has not been explained. As a consequence of the simultaneous ability to explain the basics of interval perception (and therefore the emergence of diatonic and pentatonic musical scales worldwide) and yet the inability to explain the perception of even the simplest of three-tone harmonies, there is a widespread (if often implicit) acknowledgement that harmony perception may be a result of the learning of the arbitrary tone patterns commonly used within the so-called Western idiom, with little acoustic rationale for these patterns other than the consonance of certain intervals. THREE-TONE PSYCHOPHYSICS
Associations of Social Relationships with Consultation for Symptoms of Depression: A Community Study of Depression in Older Men and Women in Québec

To assess associations between social relationships and consultation for symptoms of depression, data from a representative sample of 2,811 French-speaking community-dwelling older adults in Québec were used. Less than half of the older adults meeting DSM criteria for depression (N = 379; 47.1%) had sought consultation about their depression-relevant symptoms in the preceding 12 months. Having a cohabitant partner or having children were not associated with frequency of consultation for women. Men without a partner tended to consult more frequently than men with a cohabiting partner (OR = 2.5; 95%CI = 0.81, 7.88). None of the men without a confidant had consulted. Among the 67 men with a confidant, consultation was more frequent among those not cohabiting with a partner (70%) than among those with a cohabiting partner (46%). The influence of social relationships on consultation for depression differed in men and women in this population of depressed elderly people in Québec.
Social exclusion mobility in Spain , 1994-2000 * Ambra Poggi

Social exclusion can be defined as a process leading to a state of multiple functioning deprivations. Crosssectional headcount ratios of social exclusion may overstate the extent of the problem if most individuals do not remain in the same state in successive years. To address this issue, we need to focus on mobility. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse changes in the individual levels of social exclusion focusing on the extent to which individuals change place in social exclusion distribution.