Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Donor-Reactive Regulatory T Cell Frequency Increases During Acute Cellular Rejection of Lung Allografts

Background Acute cellular rejection is a major cause of morbidity after lung transplantation. Because regulatory T (Treg) cells limit rejection of solid organs, we hypothesized that donor-reactive Treg increase after transplantation with development of partial tolerance and decrease relative to conventional CD4+ (Tconv) and CD8+ T cells during acute cellular rejection. Methods To test these hypotheses, we prospectively collected 177 peripheral blood mononuclear cell specimens from 39 lung transplant recipients at the time of transplantation and during bronchoscopic assessments for acute cellular rejection. We quantified the proportion of Treg, CD4+ Tconv, and CD8+ T cells proliferating in response to donor-derived, stimulated B cells. We used generalized estimating equation-adjusted regression to compare donor-reactive T cell frequencies with acute cellular rejection pathology. Results An average of 16.5 ± 9.0% of pretransplantation peripheral blood mononuclear cell Treg cell were donor-reactive, compared with 3.8% ± 2.9% of CD4+ Tconv and 3.4 ± 2.6% of CD8+ T cells. These values were largely unchanged after transplantation. Donor-reactive CD4+ Tconv and CD8+ T cell frequencies both increased 1.5-fold (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.3-1.6; P < 0.001 and 95% CI, 1.2-1.6; P = 0.007, respectively) during grade A2 rejection compared with no rejection. Surprisingly, donor-reactive Treg frequencies increased by 1.7-fold (95% CI, 1.4-1.8; P < 0.001). Conclusions Contrary to prediction, overall proportions of donor-reactive Treg cells are similar before and after transplantation and increase during grade A2 rejection. This suggests how A2 rejection can be self-limiting. The observed increases over high baseline proportions in donor-reactive Treg were insufficient to prevent acute lung allograft rejection.
A non‐parametric order statistics software reliability model

This paper addresses a family of probability models for the failure time process known as order statistics models. Conventional order statistics models make rather strong distributional assumptions about the detection times: typically they assume that these come from some parametric family of distributions. In this paper a new model is presented that relaxes these distributional assumptions, and—in the tradition of non‐parametric statistics generally—‘allows the data to speak for themselves’. The accuracy of the new model is compared on some real data sets with the predictions that come from several of the better parametric reliability growth models © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
pVHL Modification by NEDD8 Is Required for Fibronectin Matrix Assembly and Suppression of Tumor Development

ABSTRACT Functional inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene is the cause of the familial VHL disease and most sporadic renal clear-cell carcinomas (RCC). pVHL has been shown to play a role in the destruction of hypoxia-inducible factor α (HIF-α) subunits via ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and in the regulation of fibronectin matrix assembly. Although most disease-causing pVHL mutations hinder the regulation of the HIF pathway, every disease-causing pVHL mutant tested to date has failed to promote the assembly of the fibronectin matrix, underscoring its potential importance in VHL disease. Here, we report that a ubiquitin-like molecule called NEDD8 covalently modifies pVHL. A nonneddylateable pVHL mutant, while retaining its ability to ubiquitylate HIF, failed to bind to and promote the assembly of the fibronectin matrix. Expression of the neddylation-defective pVHL in RCC cells, while restoring the regulation of HIF, failed to promote the differentiated morphology in a three-dimensional growth assay and was insufficient to suppress the formation of tumors in SCID mice. These results suggest that NEDD8 modification of pVHL plays an important role in fibronectin matrix assembly and that in the absence of such regulation, an intact HIF pathway is insufficient to prevent VHL-associated tumorigenesis.
Overexpression and Small Molecule-Triggered Downregulation of CIP2A in Lung Cancer

Background Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with a five-year overall survival rate of only 15%. Cancerous inhibitor of PP2A (CIP2A) is a human oncoprotein inhibiting PP2A in many human malignancies. However, whether CIP2A can be a new drug target for lung cancer is largely unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings Normal and malignant lung tissues were derived from 60 lung cancer patients from southern China. RT-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate the expression of CIP2A. We found that among the 60 patients, CIP2A was undetectable or very low in paratumor normal tissues, but was dramatically elevated in tumor samples in 38 (63.3%) patients. CIP2A overexpression was associated with cigarette smoking. Silencing CIP2A by siRNA inhibited the proliferation and clonogenic activity of lung cancer cells. Intriguingly, we found a natural compound, rabdocoetsin B which is extracted from a Traditional Chinese Medicinal herb Rabdosia coetsa, could induce down-regulation of CIP2A and inactivation of Akt pathway, and inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in a variety of lung cancer cells. Conclusions/Significance Our findings strongly indicate that CIP2A could be an effective target for lung cancer drug development, and the therapeutic potentials of CIP2A-targeting agents warrant further investigation.
Door Handle Detection for the Stanford AI Robot ( STAIR )

We adapted a visual object detection framework, originally applied to face recognition, to perform fast and robust door handle detection. We detect objects in real time using a cascade of weak classifiers. The framework rejects most image subwindows early on in the cascade and a very small minority ever reaches the later nodes. Our system achieves a high detection rate (approximately 95%) while maintaining a very low number of false positives, even though door handles are intrinsically less feature-rich than faces.
Processing Tonal Modulations: An ERP Study

A common stylistic element of Western tonal music is the change of key within a musical sequence (known as modulation in musical terms). The aim of the present study was to investigate neural correlates of the cognitive processing of modulations with event-related brain potentials. Participants listened to sequences of chords that were infrequently modulating. Modulating chords elicited distinct effects in the event-related brain potentials: an early right anterior negativity reflecting the processing of a violation of musical regularities and a late frontal negativity taken to reflect processes of harmonic integration. Additionally, modulations elicited a tonic negative potential suggested to reflect cognitive processes characteristic for the processing of tonal modulations, namely, the restructuring of the hierarchy of harmonic stability (which specifies musical expectations), presumably entailing working memory operations. Participants were nonmusicians; results thus support the hypothesis that nonmusicians have a sophisticated (implicit) knowledge about musical regularities.
Significant Enhancement of Docking Sensitivity Using Implicit Ligand Sampling

The efficient and accurate quantification of protein-ligand interactions using computational methods is still a challenging task. Two factors strongly contribute to the failure of docking methods to predict free energies of binding accurately: the insufficient incorporation of protein flexibility coupled to ligand binding and the neglected dynamics of the protein-ligand complex in current scoring schemes. We have developed a new methodology, named the 'ligand-model' concept, to sample protein conformations that are relevant for binding structurally diverse sets of ligands. In the ligand-model concept, molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations are performed with a virtual ligand, represented by a collection of functional groups that binds to the protein and dynamically changes its shape and properties during the simulation. The ligand model essentially represents a large ensemble of different chemical species binding to the same target protein. Representative protein structures were obtained from the MD simulation, and docking was performed into this ensemble of protein conformation. Similar binding poses were clustered, and the averaged score was utilized to rerank the poses. We demonstrate that the ligand-model approach yields significant improvements in predicting native-like binding poses and quantifying binding affinities compared to static docking and ensemble docking simulations into protein structures generated from an apo MD simulation.
Preventing Diabetes: Early Versus Late Preventive Interventions

There are a number of arguments in support of early measures for the prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2D), as well as for concepts and strategies at later intervention stages. Diabetes prevention is achievable when implemented in a sustainable manner. Sustainability within a T2D prevention program is more important than the actual point in time or disease process at which prevention activities may start. The quality of intervention, as well as its intensity, should vary with the degree of the identified T2D risk. Nevertheless, preventive interventions should start as early as possible in order to allow a wide variety of relatively low- and moderate-intensity programs. The later the disease risk is identified, the more intensive the intervention should be. Public health interventions for diabetes prevention represent an optimal model for early intervention. Late interventions will be targeted at people who already have significant pathophysiological derangements that can be considered steps leading to the development of T2D. These derangements may be difficult to reverse, but the worsening of dysglycemia may be halted, and thus the clinical onset of T2D can be delayed.
An exponential triangle model for the Facebook network based on big data

Social networks have become one of the most important research platforms in the big data era. Modelling social networks enables researchers and engineers to understand and analyze their intrinsic properties thereby implementing their real applications. A number of studies on social network modelling focus on a few characteristics, such as the number of edges (i.e., two-star motifs), scale-free degree distribution, and assortative property. This paper proposes an exponential triangle model for a typical social network, namely the Facebook network, established based on big data, and further analyzes its primary attributes of common interest on topological features. This new model has a power-law node-degree distribution with a flat top and an exponential cut-off tail, in remarkable agreement with one large-scale Facebook dataset. It can be used to predict future links of the Facebook network and help improve the friend-recommendation system. Furthermore, this work provides a useful graph-theoretic tool for Facebook network studies and enhances potential applications of social networks in general.
Adjunctive treatment with oral AKL1, a botanical nutraceutical, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Purpose The objective of this pilot trial was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AKL1, a patented botanical formulation containing extracts of Picrorhiza kurroa, Ginkgo biloba, and Zingiber officinale, as add-on therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic cough. Patients and methods This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled male and female patients >18 years old with COPD and Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) score of <18. The 10-week study period comprised a 2-week single-blind placebo run-in period followed by add-on treatment with AKL1 or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks. The primary study endpoint was the change from week 0 to week 8 in cough-related health status, as assessed by the LCQ. Results Of 33 patients enrolled, 20 were randomized to AKL1 and 13 to placebo. Patients included 19 (58%) men and 14 (42%) women of mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 67 (9.4) years; 15 (45%) patients were smokers and 16 (49%) were ex-smokers. The mean (SD) change from baseline in LCQ score at 8 weeks was 2.3 (4.9) in the AKL1 group and 0.6 (3.7) in the placebo group, with mean difference in change of 1.8 (95% confidence interval: −1.5 to 5.1; P=0.28). The St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire score improved substantially in the AKL1 treatment group by a mean (SD) of −7.7 (11.7) versus worsening in the placebo group (+1.5 [9.3]), with mean difference in change of −9.2 (95% confidence interval: −19.0 to 0.6; P=0.064). There were no significant differences between treatment groups in change from baseline to week 8 in other patient-reported measures, lung function, or the 6-minute walk distance. Conclusion Further study is needed with a larger patient population and over a longer duration to better assess the effects of add-on therapy with AKL1 in COPD.
Inter-Domain MPLS and GMPLS Traffic Engineering - Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) Extensions

This document describes procedures and protocol extensions for the use of Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) signaling in Multiprotocol Label Switching-Traffic Engineering (MPLS- TE) packet networks and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) packet and non-packet networks to support the establishment and maintenance of Label Switched Paths that cross domain boundaries. For the purpose of this document, a domain is considered to be any collection of network elements within a common realm of address space or path computation responsibility. Examples of such domains include Autonomous Systems, Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) routing areas, and GMPLS overlay networks. [STANDARDS-TRACK]
Battery-Aware Variable Voltage Scheduling on Real-Time Multiprocessor Platforms

In battery-operated portable devices, battery lifetime maximization is one of the most important design goals. This paper addresses the problem of variable voltage scheduling on battery-powered multiprocessor distributed systems, with the goal of shaping the discharge current profile to extend battery lifetime. A critical-path based battery-aware task scheduling (CPbBATS) algorithm is proposed to optimize the total load current profile (LCP) as a whole via scaling the voltage of the tasks on critical paths. The CPbBATS has a novel flow to improve the computation efficiency. Experiments on hundreds of task graphs with 10 to 100 tasks show that, compared with traditional algorithm, the CPbBATS achieved 3.3%-6.1% reduction on apparent charge lost a, 3.6%-8.3% reduction on actual charge lost Q, and average 31.99% reduction on the CPU runtime.
Role of Cyclic mPer2 Expression in the Mammalian Cellular Clock

ABSTRACT To explore the role of mPer2 in the circadian oscillation in the mammalian cellular clock, we established fibroblast cell lines in which expression of mPer2 is controlled through a tetracycline-regulatable promoter. We revealed that constitutive expression and overexpression of mPer2 mRNA severely impair serum shock-induced cyclic circadian clock gene expression. Moreover, under conditions of lower mPer2 mRNA expression, mPER2 protein accumulation in these cells showed clear circadian oscillation even in constitutive mPer2 mRNA expression, suggesting that the protein cycling of mPER2 was required for oscillation of the circadian feedback loop. Since the rhythms of gene expression driven by the intrinsic clock oscillation system dampen rapidly in the absence of cyclic expression of mPer2, the transcriptional rhythm helps to sustain the clock oscillation.
Biometric authentication & identification through behavioral biometrics: A survey

Computer Security is an important issue now a days because these are used everywhere to store and process the sensitive information. Millions of transactions occur through internet on daily basis and these transactions are to be completed without being exposed to third party. Username and passwords are required to protect the sanctity of the initiating systems. Username can be easily known and passwords can be easily guessed. As the passwords are simple, they are vulnerable to attacks like phishing attacks and brute force attacks etc. Thus a better way to strengthen the password is to combine the passwords with biometrics comprises of behavioral or psychological biometrics. Keystroke dynamics is one of the behavioral biometric techniques, which is cheaper and does not require any additional piece of hardware. The main focus of this paper is to provide an imminent survey of keystroke dynamics based biometrics methods, metrics and various approaches as well as challenges and future directions.
Waves in the Magnetized Solar Atmosphere. I. Basic Processes and Internetwork Oscillations

We have modeled numerically the propagation of waves through magnetic structures in a stratified atmosphere. We first simulate the propagation of waves through a number of simple, exemplary field geometries in order to obtain a better insight into the effect of differing field structures on the wave speeds, amplitudes, polarizations, direction of propagation, etc., with a view to understanding the wide variety of wavelike and oscillatory processes observed in the solar atmosphere. As a particular example, we then apply the method to oscillations in the chromospheric network and internetwork. We find that in regions where the field is significantly inclined to the vertical, refraction by the rapidly increasing phase speed of the fast modes results in total internal reflection of the waves at a surface whose altitude is highly variable. We conjecture a relationship between this phenomenon and the observed spatiotemporal intermittancy of the oscillations. By contrast, in regions where the field is close to vertical, the waves continue to propagate upward, channeled along the field lines but otherwise largely unaffected by the field.
Dynamics improvement of 3-phase inverter with output LC-filter by using differential flatness based control for grid connected applications

This paper proposes a cascade voltage/current control method (vector control) for a three-phase inverter for grid connected applications. The study mainly focuses on the innovative control law based on the flatness properties for a three-phase inverter with output LC filter. Utilizing the flatness principle, we propose simple solutions to the control and stabilization problems. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is validated through experiments on a prototype 1-kVA testbed with a dSPACE 1104 controller platform. Finally, the comparative results for the proposed scheme and the conventional linear control (proportional-integral control) scheme are presented to demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves an excellent performance such as fast transient response.
Management of osteonecrosis of the femoral head with pedicled iliac bone flap transfer: A multicenter study of 2190 patients

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) often affects young active adults and leads to destruction of the hip joint and disabling arthritis. Several procedures have been developed to arrest the progress of osteonecrosis and postpone the procedure of total hip replacement especially in young patients. The aim of this multicenter study was to analyze the results of the use of the vascularized iliac bone flap transfer for management of ONFH.
NEWTON-KRYLOV-SCHWARZ: AN IMPLICIT SOLVER FOR CFD

Newton-Krylov methods and Krylov-Schwarz (domain decomposition) methods have begun to become established in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) over the past decade. The former employ a Krylov method inside of Newton''s method in a Jacobian-free manner, through directional differencing. The latter employ an overlapping Schwarz domain decomposition to derive a preconditioner for the Krylov accelerator that relies primarily on local information, for data-parallel concurrency. They may be composed as Newton-Krylov-Schwarz (NKS) methods, which seem particularly well suited for solving nonlinear elliptic systems in high-latency, distributed-memory environments. We give a brief description of this family of algorithms, with an emphasis on domain decomposition iterative aspects. We then describe numerical simulations with Newton-Krylov-Schwarz methods on aerodynamics applications emphasizing comparisons with a standard defect-correction approach, subdomain preconditioner consistency, subdomain preconditioner quality, and the effect of a coarse grid.
Cascaded Coupled Line Filter With Reconfigurable Bandwidths Using LCP Multilayer Circuit Technology

This paper presents a new design method for reconfigurable coupled line filters. The main aim is to develop an analytical design procedure for designing this type of reconfigurable filter with any orders and bandwidths. The new design procedure allows not only making the design easy, but also increasing the passband performance by eliminating the impedance transformers needed for matching purposes used in previous filters. A reconfigurable bandpass filter of this type is designed that can switch between three distinct bandwidth states ranging from around 26% to 50% ripple fractional bandwidth (FBW) centered at 2 GHz. In addition, liquid crystal polymer (LCP) multilayer circuit technology, which offers a great flexibility in realizing required even- and odd-mode impedances for a wideband coupled line filter, is deployed to implement the designed filter. The reconfigurable filter exhibits insertion losses ranging from 0.57 dB for the widest passband state to 1.95 dB for the narrowest passband state. The fabricated filter shows good agreement with EM simulated results.
Interactions with a line-follower: An interactive tabletop system with a markerless gesture interface for robot control

An interactive desktop system for robot control is presented in this paper. The system consists of a digital desk, a markerless gesture interface and a line-follower. The digital desk is a network system composed of a camera, a computer and a projector. Hand motion is captured by the camera, and available gestures are recognized by the computer. The projector draws lines on the field where the line-follower moves. Lines are drawn or eliminated in accordance with user's gestures under an operation rule. The user can control the line-follower by gestures.