Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Host and Viral Proteins in the Virion of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus

ABSTRACT Infection of cultured cells with Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) typically establishes a latent infection, in which only a few viral genes are expressed. Recently, it has been reported that a subset of lytic genes are transiently expressed very early after viral entry but that this burst of abortive lytic gene expression is terminated with the supervention of latency (H. H. Krishnan, P. P. Naranatt, M. S. Smith, L. Zeng, C. Bloomer, and B. Chandran, J. Virol. 78:3601-3620, 2004). To identify molecules imported into cells by KSHV that might influence this gene expression program, we have examined the protein composition of the KSHV particle. Immunoblotting of virus particles demonstrated that RTA, the lytic switch protein, and RAP, a viral protein that is a transcriptional and cell cycle modulator, were both incorporated into virus particles. In a second approach, polypeptides isolated from purified virions were identified by mass-spectrometric analysis of their constituent tryptic peptides. With this approach we were able to identify 18 major virion proteins, including structural, regulatory, and signaling proteins of both viral and cellular origin.
Immunopharmacology of CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides and Ribavirin

ABSTRACT To investigate their potential mechanisms of action, the nucleoside analogue ribavirin and a TLR9 agonist were compared. The CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) demonstrated strong TLR9-related Th1-type effects, and ribavirin appeared only to mediate signaling in TLR-transfected cells. CpG ODN represent a promising new type of therapeutic drug for hepatitis C or other infectious diseases.
Research on fuzzy neural network-based sliding mode balance control of Acrobot

Acrobot is a kind of under-actuated two-link rods robot. The control methods of Acrobot are complicated, but doing research on it is valuable to the applications and the study of nonlinear systems. Balance control and swing-up control are two main control areas of Acrobot. This paper centers on its balance control and combines the advantages of sliding mode control and fuzzy neural network to control Acrobot system. The simulations show that the new control strategy proposed in this paper is more effective than SMC (Sliding Mode Control) or ANFIS (Adaptive-Neural Network-based Fuzzy Inference System) respectively used to control Acrobot.
On the unification of physics

Etude du changement qui s'est opere dans le domaine de la physique theorique depuis une quarantaine d'annees, definissant une nouvelle finalite a la discipline scientifique qui consiste a etablir une unification des forces fondamentales de l'univers. L'A. examine les fondements empiriques en vue d'une grande theorie unifiee (GUT) des forces electromagnetiques et nucleaires qui, unies a la force gravitationnelle, doit donner lieu a une theorie du tout (TOE)
Immunomodulatory Activity of the Methanol Extract of Amorphophallus campanulatus (Araceae) Tuber

Purpose: Traditionally, Amorphophallus campanulatus tuber is used for the treatment of enlarged spleen, rheumatism and tumour. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the immunomodulatory activity of the plant material. Method: The effect of the methanol extract (ME) of Amorphophallus campanulatus tuber on immunological function in mice was studied using charcoal clearance, spleen index and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response models. The extract was administered orally at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg. Results: The extract exhibited immunomodulatory activity by causing a significant decrease in charcoal clearance, spleen index and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response. Conclusion: Amorphophallus campanulatus caused decreases in the charcoal clearance rate and cellular immunity by facilitating the footpad thickness response to sheep red blood cell (RBC) in sensitized mice. Keywords : Amorphophallus campanulatus ; immunomodulatory activity, Charcoal clearance, Spleen index, Delayed-type hypersensitivity response.
EFFECT OF THE TYPE OF INNOVATION ON THE GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN KENYA: A CASE OF GARMENT ENTERPRISES IN JERICHO, NAIROBI

In Kenya like other countries in Sub-Sahara Africa, the ability of SMEs to innovate largely depends on its technological capabilities, the information and skills availability. More emphasis has been on technological innovation at the expense of other types of innovation. Entrepreneurs have lacked information on the effect of different types of innovation on growth of their enterprises. This study therefore sought to investigate and document different types of innovations adopted by garment SMEs in Nairobi. The study also evaluated whether there is any effect between the innovations adopted and growth of the enterprise. Descriptive design was used to study the research objectives. Census was conducted on the population. Questionnaires were administered to thirty one entrepreneurs/managers of garment businesses in the study area. The questionnaire was first pilot tested on six firms at a different location from study area to ensure reliability of research instrument. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data before reporting and making recommendations. The study found out that among the types of innovation analyzed, marketing innovation contributed most to the growth of garment SMEs in Jericho market, Nairobi. However, it was also established that all types of innovation were being practiced in the sector and that innovation is very critical for SMEs to become and remain competitive in the global market. Arising from these findings, the study recommended that promotion of information on innovative practices through networks and linkages to be enhanced.
Current control of a high speed SRM with an advanced 4-level converter

In this paper, a current control scheme is presented for high speed SRM (Switched Reluctance Motor) with an advanced 4-level converter. The presented 4-level converter for the high speed SRM has four current control modes which produces different 2 voltage levels during the sampling time. According to the current control modes, the average voltage of phase winding is different in the same PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) duty ratio. For the current ripple reduction, proper current control modes should be selected. In this paper, the boost voltage of the advance 4-level converter is automatically controlled as a set value without any auxiliary control signal, and the current control modes are automatically changed by the current error. The designed current controller can change the switching state according to the current error, the proper voltage level is supplied to the phase winding, and the phase current ripple can be reduced within the desired band. The detailed operating modes of an advanced 4-level converter and its current control scheme for the high speed SRM is described in this paper. And the proposed control method is verified by simulation which is compared with conventional current control method.
Prevalence of Risk Factors for Hepatitis C Virus in HIV-Infected and HIV/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected Patients

Methods: A sample of patients with HIV completed a questionnaire identifying their demographic characteristics and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV). A chart review was conducted to confirm the information obtained using the questionnaire. Risk factors associated with coinfection status at α level of 0.1 in univariate analysis were entered into a multivariate Cox regression model. Results: Of the 242 HIV-positive patients analyzed, 168 were HIV-infected and 74 were HIV/HCV-coinfected. Risk factors that were significantly different between HIV-monoinfected and HIV/HCV-coinfected subjects included intravenous drug use, snorting drugs, sharing razors or toothbrushes, being in prison, the presence of one or more tattoos, sex for money or drugs, sex with an intravenous drug user and man who has sex with men. In a multivariate regression model, only intravenous drug use remained as a significant risk factor/predictor of HCV/HIV coinfection. A subanalysis identified risk factors more prevalent among coinfected men who have sex with men, including intravenous drug use, sharing razors/toothbrushes, tattoos, sex for money or drugs, sex with an intravenous drug user, and a history of having 11 or more sexual partners. A history of having had a sexually transmitted disease and 11 or more sex partners was more prevalent among HIV-monoinfected men who have sex with men. Conclusions: HIV/HCV coinfection was associated with intravenous drug use but not with sexual risk factors.
New Tasks in Old Jobs: Drivers of Change and Implications for Job Quality

This overview report summarises the findings of 20 case studies looking at recent changes in the task content of five manufacturing occupations (car assemblers, meat processing workers, hand-packers, chemical products plant and machine operators and inspection engineers) as a result of factors such as digital transformations, globalisation and offshoring, increasing demand for high quality standards and sustainability. It also discusses some implications in terms of job quality and working life. The study reveals that the importance of physical tasks in manufacturing is generally declining due to automation; that more intensive use of digitally controlled equipment, together with increasing importance of quality standards, involve instead a growing amount of intellectual tasks for manual industrial workers; and that the amount of routine task content is still high in the four manual occupations studied. Overall, the report highlights how qualitative contextual information can complement existing quantitative data, offering a richer understanding of changes in the content and nature of jobs.
Are Knowledge Spillovers Driving the Convergence of Productivity Among Firms?

This study evaluates the impact of knowledge spillovers on the convergence of productivity among firms. With the use of patent citation data, knowledge spillovers are decomposed into intra- and inter-industry spillovers, and internal knowledge flows. The findings from this study suggest that each firm is converging to its own steady-state productivity growth rate, which is conditional on the firm's R&D efforts and the intensity of intra-industry spillovers it receives. Moreover, if technology followers and leaders invest equally in R&D activities, the followers will eventually catch up with the leaders because the former tend to be the ones who receive knowledge spillovers from the latter.
Informed Trading by Mutual Funds after Private Placement: Evidence from China

We examine the information content of changes in shareholdings after private issuance of public equity (PIPE) by mutual funds that participate in PIPEs in China. The results show that the changes in shareholdings are positively related to alpha and cumulative abnormal return (CAR) for PIPE issuers with high information asymmetry, suggesting that the participating mutual funds have superior information. These results are robust after controlling for investment skill, geographic location, and alumni relation. The positive relation between shareholding change and information content is driven by PIPE issuers with weaker corporate governance. In addition, the positive relation is stronger when the placement discount is lower. These results are consistent with a hypothesis that controlling shareholders/management in Chinese PIPE firms may collude with mutual funds to do tunneling.
Analysis of Perturbation and Observation Technique used in Maximum Power Point Tracking for Photovoltaic Systems

This paper gives the complete study of one of the MPP Tracking techniques which are developed by the researchers for tracking MPP in a photovoltaic system. The system is developed using PV module interfaced with DC to DC Boost Converter and Perturb & Observe Max. Power pt. Tracking technique. MATLAB /Simulink is used for developing the systems used to track the MPP of the PV system. Simulation of the system is done under different climatic observations and Perturb and Observe MPPT technique. In this paper, simulation results shows the maximum power is produced using Perturb and Observe method.
Stringent X-Ray Constraints on Mass Loss from Proxima Centauri

We have analyzed data from two Chandra imaging observations of Proxima Centauri, searching for an X-ray halo arising from charge exchange between highly charged ions in its stellar wind and neutral gas in the surrounding interstellar medium. Based upon our model of Proxima Cen's charge exchange emission, the absence of any detectable charge exchange signal places a statistical 3 σ upper limit of ~3 × 10-13 M☉ yr-1 (14Ṁ☉) on the mass-loss rate (9Ṁ☉ for the 2 σ limit and 4Ṁ☉ for 1 σ), with a model uncertainty of roughly a factor of 3. This is orders of magnitude smaller than the upper limits that have been placed on late-type dwarf stars using radio observations, and it supports a recent mass-loss result for Proxima Cen based on Lyα absorption profiles. We have also studied the coronal spectrum, both in quiescence and during a prominent flare. Results are consistent with those obtained in previous X-ray observations, but a firm determination of coronal metal abundances remains elusive.
A case of ‘anaphylactic‐like’ reaction during LDL apheresis: a pathophysiological hypothesis on white wine containing metabisulphite

Dear Editor, This report regards a 60-year-old man who has been treated for 8 years for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia associated with lipoprotein (a) hyperlipoproteinemia in aggressive coronary and polidistrectual atherosclerotic disease. This patient presented two consecutive episodes of systemic malaise likely to be due to the interaction between low-density lipoprotein (LDL) apheresis procedure and intake of crafted or home-made white wine. His first cardiovascular event, an acute myocardial infarction, occurred at the age of 51. He was treated with percutaneous coronary artery revascularisation procedure/stenting on anterior descending artery and on the bifurcation between circumflex artery and second marginal branch of the left coronary artery. Subsequently, his atherosclerotic disease progressed and he had persistent angina of effort due to progressive coronary atherosclerosis at the second marginal branch, which required a new percutaneous stent placement. At this time, atherosclerotic plaque was noted on both carotid arteries and ectasia seen in the abdominal aorta. When he first came to our attention, a probable diagnosis of heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia was made using the Simon Broome Register criteria (Scientific Steering Committee on behalf of the Simon Broome Register Group, 1991). He was placed on intensive lipid lowering therapy with LDL apheresis [Schwartz et al., 2013; heparin-mediated LDL precipitation (HELP), Plasma Futura, B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany] every 2 weeks treating 4000 mL of plasma per session, in addition to lipid-lowering therapy. His baseline pre-apheresis lipid profile after titration on maximally tolerable lipid-lowering therapy (Atorvaststatin 40 mg) was a total cholesterol of 191 mg dL−1, high-density lipoprotein 60 mg dL−1, triglycerides 111 mg dL−1, LDL 128 mg dL−1 and Lp(a) 141 mg dL−1. Other drugs taken at this time were aspirin 100 mg once a day (OD), atenolol 50 mg OD and ramipril 5 mg OD. During the following 8 years, the patient did suffer another acute cardiac event. He had regular treadmill tests, which were always negative, and carotid artery Doppler examination, which remained unchanged (intimal medial thickness less than 1 mm with a 30% stenosis at the bulb bilaterally). The ectasia of
Wheel-Based Climbing Robot: Modeling and Control

This paper addresses the kinematics modeling and control of a novel nonholonomic wheel-based pole climbing robot called UT-PCR. This robot belongs to a challenging and less-studied class of wheel-based mobile robots in which the relative position of the wheels changes in a complex manner and the robot is constrained to maneuver on a closed geometric surface. The problem is formulated in terms of the kinematic model of the robot, which is derived using non-holonomic constraints imposed by the wheels on the motion. This model is an underactuated driftless nonlinear state space (control system) which is linear in its inputs. Feasibility of complex maneuvering is then proved by an analysis of controllability for this nonlinear system. It is shown that three orientations of the robot cannot be controlled independently. Therefore, three basic movements are introduced as the fundamental elements of the kinematic control strategy and stable controllers are designed to create those basic movements. Simulation and experimental results are provided to show the applicability of the proposed control system.
The Role of Metro Transport Node Architectures in Optimized Edge Data-Center Dimensioning

The combination of traditional optical transport network paradigms with the advent and necessities of edge computing opens up new challenges for optimizing both the optical layer and the data-center (DC) infrastructure. In the specific case of ring/horseshoe metro access topologies, the flexibility to divert services to a specific DC with low latency is highly dependent on the node architecture that is employed. Consequently, the optimal trade-off between consolidating services in larger DCs and the number of transponders required for transporting traffic will shift depending on the possibilities enabled by the network itself. Furthermore, traditional north/south traffic to/from the core is still expected to be significant in these topologies, providing opportunities to leverage existing optical bandwidth for improved cost effectiveness. This process requires a careful dimensioning in order to optimally consider all impacting factors and select which services to assign where. We model this problem with a mixed integer quadratically constrained problem (MIQCP) that optimizes DC resources for a given availability level according to services' mean and peak loads. This optimization accounts for the interdependencies with the required optical transponder costs and the constraints imposed by service latency, as well as the specific restrictions imposed by optical nodes based on fixed/reconfigurable add/drops, or filterless solutions. The resulting analysis not only provides optimal solutions to specific network/DC planning instances, but also identifies general deployment guidelines for metro access networks in terms of desired node architectures for each network scenario.
Role of Calcium in Regulating Potassium-Sodium Homeostasis and Potassium as Nutrient Signal during Abiotic Stress Conditions

Calcium is a ubiquitous cation, which serves as a second messenger for numerous signals and confers specific cellular responses in eukaryotes. Recent studies have established a concept termed ‘Ca signature’ that specifies Ca changes triggered by each signal. However, it is very fascinating how this pervasive cation can translate an infinite number of stimuli into unique stimulus-dependent responses. Ca is a fundamental component of nutrition signaling under stress condition. It interacts with various calcium sensors, which are directly involved in various molecular, biochemical and cellular changes occurring during the plant’s adaptation to nutritional stress. Recently, in calcium signaling in plants, the CBL-CIPK protein network has been implicated in phytohormone (ABA), abiotic stress and potassium nutrition signaling. This review will mainly focus on the functional relationship of calcium-mediated salt stress tolerance, potassium nutrition, and potassium-sodium homeostasis by involvement of the CBL-CIPK complex. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
To open or not to open? Determinants of open government data

In recent years, open government data has become an important movement among government administrations around the world. While there is still limited open data research conducted in East Asia, this study explores the complexity of open data initiatives in Taiwan. In particular, the influential factors and their impacts on open data initiatives are investigated from four perspectives: technology, organization, legislation and policy, and environment. Legislation and policy is found to have the most significant impact while agencies’ existing regulations and policies act as constraints. The factors residing in organizational and environmental perspectives follow as the secondary impacts. Technological factors also exist but are considered to be relatively more easily resolved with sufficient support. While the identified factors act as determinants to influence government agencies’ intentions towards open data participation, it is also found that open data is closely related to interagency information sharing, and the two activities in the long term are expected to reinforce to each other iteratively. In addition, practical implications are discussed to provide practitioners with insights. Lastly, the contributions, limitations and potential future research of the current study are listed in the Conclusion section.
Burkitt lymphoma and cavernous sinus syndrome with breast uptake on 18F-FDG-PET/CT

Rationale: Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that arises in the B-cells. Cavernous sinus involvement is rare, especially in adults. Here we report an unusual case of a 30-year-old HIV-positive woman with BL and cavernous sinus syndrome who also had intense bilateral breast uptake, related to menstrual cycle. Fluorine-18 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been found to be useful in the management of BL. Patient concerns: A 30-year old female patient presented with a history of diplopia and headache. Diagnoses: Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large cavernous sinus mass. A bone marrow biopsy was done and demonstrated extensive marrow infiltration by Burkitt lymphoma. Further investigation detected the Epstein–Barr virus in her cerebrospinal fluid using qualitative polymerase chain reaction. 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging done revealed a hypermetabolic cavernous sinus mass, conglomerates of enlarged pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes as well as diffuse bone marrow uptake. Intense bilateral breast uptake was noted coinciding with the start of menses. Interventions: She was started on chemotherapy with adjuvant radiotherapy. Outcomes: After her first cycle of chemotherapy, repeat 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging revealed a marked reduction in the metabolic activity and size of the cavernous sinus mass and conglomerates of lymph nodes. The bone marrow activity was still visualized but less intense compared to the staging PET/CT. Lessons: A cavernous sinus mass will rarely be the primary lesion in Burkitt's Lymphoma. Our case demonstrates the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the assessment of such cases to detect other primary areas of disease involvement. It is useful in accurate initial staging and monitoring of treatment response in patients with Burkitt's Lymphoma.