Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of Multibrid Permanent-Magnet Wind Generator Systems

This paper investigates the cost-effective ranges of gearbox ratios and power ratings of multibrid permanent-magnet (PM) wind generator systems by using a design optimization method. First, the analytical model of a multibrid wind turbine concept consisting of a single-stage gearbox and a three-phase radial-flux PM synchronous generator with a back-to-back power converter is presented. The design optimization is adopted with a genetic algorithm for minimizing generator system cost. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed electromagnetic design model, the optimization results of a 500-kW direct-drive PM generator and a 1.5-MW multibrid PM generator with various gear ratios are, respectively, compared with those from other methods. Then, the optimal design approach is further employed for a range from 750 kW up to 10 MW. The optimization results of PM generator systems including direct-drive and multibrid wind turbine configurations are obtained, and the suitable ranges of gear ratios for different power ratings are investigated. Finally, the detailed comparisons of the most cost-effective multibrid PM generator system and the optimized direct-drive PM generator system are also presented and discussed. The comparative results have shown that the multibrid wind turbine concept appears more cost-effective than the direct-drive concept.
Effect of Piper betle leaf extract on alcoholic toxicity in the rat brain.

The protective effect of Piper betle, a commonly used masticatory, has been examined in the brain of ethanol-administered Wistar rats. Brain of ethanol-treated rats exhibited increased levels of lipids, lipid peroxidation, and disturbances in antioxidant defense. Subsequent to the experimental induction of toxicity (i.e., the initial period of 30 days), aqueous P. betle extract was simultaneously administered in three different doses (100, 200, and 300 mg kg(-1)) for 30 days along with the daily dose of alcohol. P. betle coadministration resulted in significant reduction of lipid levels (free fatty acids, cholesterol, and phospholipids) and lipid peroxidation markers such as thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and hydroperoxides. Further, antioxidants, like reduced glutathione, vitamin C, vitamin E, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, were increased in P. betle-coadministered rats. The higher dose of extract (300 mg kg(-1)) was more effective, and these results indicate the neuroprotective effect of P. betle in ethanol-treated rats.
Reclassification of Neuroendocrine Tumors Improves the Separation of Carcinoids and the Prediction of Survival

Introduction: The classification of neuroendocrine lung tumors has changed over the last decades. Reliable diagnoses are crucial for the quality of clinical databases. The purpose of this study is to determine to which extent the use of different diagnostic criteria of neuroendocrine lung tumors has influenced the classification of these tumors. The prognostic information of tumor, node, metastasis descriptors was also evaluated. Methods: We retrieved 110 tumors from the period 1989 to 2007. All tumors were reclassified according to the World Health Organization classification of 2004. Tumor, node, metastasis descriptors were evaluated. Results: By reclassification, the diagnoses on 48 tumors (44%) were changed. More diagnoses were changed in the older part of the material. A significantly different survival was shown for all patients in relation to tumor size (p < 0.0001). An endobronchial component was seen in 54%, 31%, and 11% of typical carcinoid, atypical carcinoid, and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, respectively with no impact on survival (p = 0.90). For all included patients the survival was significantly worse for patients having metastasis to N1 nodes as compared with N0 (p = 0.03). However, the number of removed lymph nodes were insufficient for definitive determination of the prognostic impact of node metastases. Regarding the revised diagnoses, a significant difference in survival between typical carcinoid, atypical carcinoid, large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and small cell carcinoma was noted (p < 0.005). Conclusion: Tumors must be rediagnosed before entering a central database. Tumor and node seem to be useful predictors of survival.
Nonadhesive Organ Culture of Human Exocrine Pancreatic Cells with Their Stroma

Introduction Studies using explanted tissue have shown that it is possible to keep adult human cells in organ culture with a preserved morphology for up to 1 month as spheres in a nonadhesive organ culture. Aims The current study was to determine whether human exocrine pancreatic cells also can be grown in this manner. Methodology Small tissue samples from organ donors and tumor-free resection rim from patients with pancreatic carcinoma were obtained (n = 16 adults). From each patient, fragments of approximately 300 &mgr;m in diameter were cultured and investigated with light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy at the time of explantation and after 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 days of culture. Results Incubation of cultured fragments with vital dyes revealed a viable epithelium. At the time of explantation all the tissue fragments had a rough appearance with an uneven, torn periphery. During the first week of culture the fragments became rounder, with a smooth surface covering the whole circumference. This spheroid morphology persisted for the rest of the 6-week culture period. The fragments were within 1 week covered by a highly differentiated, polarized epithelium with secretory apparatus, apical secretion granules, and microvilli, as well as specialized cell junctions, with the same appearance as acinoductal pancreatic cells of the original tissue. The core of the fragments consisted of connective tissue with vascular elements, fibroblasts, leukocytes, and a few ductal and acinar elements. Transmission electron microscopy of the spheroids revealed a continuous basal lamina underneath the epithelium. Immunostaining for cytokeratin 5, 6, 7, 8, 17, and 18 was strongly positive in the epithelium. Conclusion These results show that normal exocrine pancreatic cells can be grown in vitro in a nonadhesive organ culture with their stroma.
Suitability of Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus (C.A. Mey.) Soják) for Its Use in Constructed Wetlands in Areas Polluted with Heavy Metals

Schoenoplectus californicus subsp. tatora (totora) is an endemic plant from wetlands in South America’s Altiplano region. In the endorheic Titicaca-Desaguadero-Poopó-Salar de Coipasa system (TDPS), totora can be found along rivers, lakes, and shallow ponds. Lake Uru-Uru is a minor lake placed upstream of Lake Poopó, and it gets water inflows from the Desaguadero River, the city of Oruro and several mining and metallurgic complexes. Polluted waters from these origins, together with natural high salinity and high presence of As and Pb, make Lake Uru-Uru an ideal location to search for plant species suitable to be used in constructed and restored wetlands under pollution stress, particularly in systems with high pH and salty waters. To test if totora could meet such requirements, healthy plants were collected at two sites in Lake Uru-Uru with different exposure to polluted inflows. Chemical composition of different organs (leaves, rhizomes and roots) were compared. Results indicated totora’s capacity to withstand high concentrations of a cocktail of multiple pollutants and heavy metals. Particularly, this research showed totora as a multi-hyperaccumulator (concentrations in shoots higher than 1000 mg kg−1) for As, Fe and Ni. These results, combined with totora’s intrinsic high rates of biomass production, slow decomposition rates and its value as raw material for local craftwork and industrial uses, support the recommendation to use totora in constructed or restored wetlands, particularly in sites polluted with heavy metals, and in waters with high salinity.
Performance Evaluation and Comparison of Classification Techniques for Outcome Estimation in Strategic Board Games

Summary Supervised learning aims to construct a distribution model for class labels with respect to features of prediction. Various machine learning approaches have been developed to analyze classification technique on different kinds of data. The objective of this work is to evaluate and compare the prediction performance of various classification techniques on 3 datasets belonging to strategic board games. This comparison analysis is done by using WEKA, open source software, which is responsible for implementing variety of machine learning algorithms for data-mining application i.e. classification. This work provides basic overview of selected machine learning classification models alongwith a brief description of datasets of three strategic board games. Then, it evaluates and compares the prediction performance of various classifiers using K-fold cross validation test mode. The results are based on several evaluation metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, kappa statistics, mean absolute error, and root mean squared error. Finally, it provides the best classification method for outcome prediction in strategic board games. Tree based LMT, SVM based SMO and K-NN based LBk are observed as the most suitable models for outcome prediction of strategic board games, LMT being the most influential one.
Xenorhabdus nematophila lrhA Is Necessary for Motility, Lipase Activity, Toxin Expression, and Virulence in Manduca sexta Insects

ABSTRACT The gram-negative insect pathogen Xenorhabdus nematophila possesses potential virulence factors including an assortment of toxins, degradative enzymes, and regulators of these compounds. Here, we describe the lysR-like homolog A (lrhA) gene, a gene required by X. nematophila for full virulence in Manduca sexta insects. In several other gram-negative bacteria, LrhA homologs are transcriptional regulators involved in the expression (typically repression) of virulence factors. Based on phenotypic and genetic evidence, we report that X. nematophila LrhA has a positive effect on transcription and expression of certain potential virulence factors, including a toxin subunit-encoding gene, xptD1. Furthermore, an lrhA mutant lacks in vitro lipase activity and has reduced swimming motility compared to its wild-type parent. Quantitative PCR revealed that transcript levels of flagellar genes, a lipase gene, and xptD1 were significantly lower in the lrhA mutant than in the wild type. In addition, lrhA itself is positively regulated by the global regulator Lrp. This work establishes a role for LrhA as a vital component of a regulatory hierarchy necessary for X. nematophila pathogenesis and expression of surface-localized and secreted factors. Future research is aimed at identifying and characterizing virulence factors within the LrhA regulon.
Cultural Phylogenetics : Concepts and Applications in Archaeology

This book explores the potential and challenges of implementing evolutionary phylogenetic methods in archaeological research, by discussing key concepts and presenting concrete applications of these approaches. The volume is divided into two parts: The first covers the theoretical and conceptual implications of using evolution-based models in the sociocultural domain, illustrates the sorts of questions that these methods can help answer, and invites the reader to reflect on the opportunities and limitations of these perspectives. The second part comprises case studies that address relevant empirical issues, such as inferring patterns and rates of cultural transmission, detecting selective pressures in cultural evolution, and explaining the nature of cultural variation. This book will appeal to archaeologists interested in applying evolutionary thinking and inferential methods to their field, and to anyone interested in cultural evolution studies
Engineering protein for X‐ray crystallography: The murine major histocompatibility complex class II molecule I‐Ad

Class II Major Histocompatibility (MHC) molecules are cell surface heterodimeric glycoproteins that play a central role in the immune response by presenting peptide antigens for surveillance by T cells. Due to the inherent instability of the class II MHC heterodimer, and its dependence on bound peptide for proper assembly, the production of electrophoretically pure samples of class II MHC proteins in complex with specific peptides has been problematic. A soluble form of the murine class II MHC molecule, I‐Ad, with a leucine zipper tail added to each chain to enhance dimer assembly and secretion, has been produced in Drosophila melanogaster SC2 cells. To facilitate peptide loading, a high affinity ovalbumin peptide was covalently engineered to be attached by a six‐residue linker to the amino terminus of the I‐Adβ chain. This modified I‐Ad molecule was purified using preparative IEF and one fraction, after removal of the leucine zipper tails, produced crystals suitable for X‐ray crystallographic analysis. The protein engineering and purification methods described here should be of general value for the expression of I‐A and other class II MHC‐peptide complexes.
Site‐specific accretion of an integrative conjugative element together with a related genomic island leads to cis mobilization and gene capture

Genomic islands, flanked by attachment sites, devoid of conjugation and recombination modules and related to the integrative and conjugative element (ICE) ICESt3, were previously found in Streptococcus thermophilus. Here, we show that ICESt3 transfers to a recipient harbouring a similar engineered genomic island, CIMEL3catR3, and integrates by site‐specific recombination into its attachment sites, leading to their accretion. The resulting composite island can excise, showing that ICESt3 mobilizes CIMEL3catR3 in cis. ICESt3, CIMEL3catR3 and the whole composite element can transfer from the strain harbouring the composite structure. The ICESt3 transfer to a recipient bearing CIMEL3catR3 can also lead to retromobilization, i.e. its capture by the donor. This is the first demonstration of specific conjugative mobilization of a genomic island in cis and the first report of ICE‐mediated retromobilization. CIMEL3catR3 would be the prototype of a novel class of non‐autonomous mobile elements (CIMEs: CIs mobilizable elements), which hijack the recombination and conjugation machinery of related ICEs to excise, transfer and integrate. Few genome analyses have shown that CIMEs could be widespread and have revealed internal repeats that could result from accretions in numerous genomic islands, suggesting that accretion and cis mobilization have a key role in evolution of genomic islands.
Social Protection and Vulnerability to Climate Shocks: a Panel Data Evidence from Rural Ethiopia

It is widely predicted that climate change will have an adverse impact on Ethiopian agriculture and exacerbate the problem of food insecurity. In this context, social protection schemes can potentially contribute to households’ autonomous adaptation by reducing vulnerability to climatic shocks. This paper examines the role of the Productive Safety Net Program in reducing vulnerability to climate related shocks and its impacts on autonomous adaptation strategies by taking the case of household income diversification into non-farm activities. The paper assesses vulnerability using index-based approach and the impact of the program using two non-experimental approaches namely; Difference-in-Differences combined with Propensity Score Matching for a panel of 1,306 rural households from the two recent rounds of the Ethiopian Rural Household surveys for the years 2004 and 2009. Taking advantage of the extensive data available on climate-induced shocks and a range of activities and incomes, the paper makes a conceptual distinction between non-farm and off-farm income, and uses the recent Adaptive Social Protection framework to examine the impact of the program. The results from the vulnerability assessment indicate that exposure and lack of adaptive capacity to climate-induced shocks explain the vulnerability of rural households and PSNP helps to decrease the vulnerability of households to climateinduced shocks. The results from the non-experimental estimations also indicate that receiving transfers from the PSNP, on average increases income from nonfarm activities. These results partly confirm the hypothesis that social protection can promote positive adaptation strategies and may serve as an effective means of reducing the vulnerability of smallholders to climate change-induced shocks. Keywords : climate change, difference-in-differences, diversification, Ethiopia, social protection, vulnerability
Clinical results of drug eluting stents compared to bare metal stents for patients with ST elevation acute myocardial infarction

Objective: To investigate the clinical outcomes in patients with ST segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with drug eluting stents (DES) versus a matched control group of patients with STEMI treated with bare metal stents (BMS). Methods: This registry included 122 patients with STEMI undergoing primary coronary angioplasty with DES implantation at our institution. The control group consisted of 506 patients implanted with BMS, who were matched for age, infarct location, and diabetic status. The incidences of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including target vessel/lesion revascularization (TVR/TLR) and stent thrombosis were assessed up to 12 months. Results: Twelve months follow up showed a non-significant trend towards reduced deaths (3.3% versus 7.1%, P=0.1), significantly reduced recurrent MI (0.0% versus 6.1%, P=0.02), TVR (5.7% versus 15.2%, P=0.006) and TLR (2.5% versus 14.0%, P=0.004) events in the DES group as compared to BMS group. The composite incidences of MACE at 12 months follow-up was lower in the DES group (11.5%) as compared to the BMS group (21.3%, P=0.01). Conclusion: According to our experiences, the use of DES in STEMI is safe and effective as compared to BMS. DES was effective in reducing the incidence of restenosis outcomes and overall adverse cardiac events up to 12 months.
Transactivation of the metallothionein promoter in cisplatin-resistant cancer cells: a specific gene therapy strategy.

BACKGROUND Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum) is one of the most active agents against a broad range of malignancies, including ovarian cancer. Cisplatin resistance appears to be associated with several molecular alterations, including overexpression of metallothionein, a metal-binding protein. In the present study, we attempted to take advantage of metallothionein overexpression to overcome cisplatin resistance. METHODS Using a virus-free system (liposomes), we sought to express the suicide gene, thymidine kinase (TK), driven by the promoter of the human metallothionein IIa (hMTIIa) gene using the pMT-TK plasmid. We used cisplatin-resistant human ovarian carcinoma cells as a model. RESULTS We first analyzed metallothionein expression using a ribonuclease protection assay. In comparison to parental cells, the cisplatin-resistant cells were found to have increased expression of metallothionein messenger RNA (mRNA). Metallothionein overexpression in these cells was not associated with an increased copy number of the hMTIIa gene or with different transfection efficiencies. Furthermore, we showed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis that transfection of the pMT-TK plasmid results in a 56-fold higher expression of thymidine kinase mRNA in cisplatin-resistant cells compared with parental cells, consistent with increased metallothionein promoter-mediated transactivation in the cisplatin-resistant cells. Transfection of resistant cells with pMT-TK or a control plasmid (pCD3-TK) resulted in a marked sensitization to ganciclovir, with a 50% cell growth-inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) of 20 microg/mL and 9 microg/mL, respectively. Transfections of the cisplatin-sensitive cells resulted in no sensitization to ganciclovir with pMT-TK (IC(50) 200 microg/mL) and a high sensitization with pCD3-TK (IC(50) = 6 microg/mL). CONCLUSION These studies suggest that pMT-TK gene therapy may provide an alternative treatment for cisplatin-refractory ovarian tumors.
Vibro- and Electrotactile User Feedback on Hand Opening for Myoelectric Forearm Prostheses

Many of the currently available myoelectric forearm prostheses stay unused because of the lack of sensory feedback. Vibrotactile and electrotactile stimulation have high potential to provide this feedback. In this study, performance of a grasping task is investigated for different hand opening feedback conditions on 15 healthy subjects and validated on three patients. The opening of a virtual hand was controlled by a scroll wheel. Feedback about hand opening was given via an array of eight vibrotactile or electrotactile stimulators placed on the forearm, relating to eight hand opening positions. A longitudinal and transversal orientation of the array and four feedback conditions were investigated: no feedback, visual feedback, feedback through vibrotactile or electrotactile stimulation, and addition of an extra stimulator for touch feedback. No influence of array orientation was shown for all outcome parameters (duration of the task, the percentage of correct hand openings, the mean position error, and the percentage deviations up to one position). Vibrotactile stimulation enhances the performance compared to the nonfeedback conditions. The addition of touch feedback further increases the performance, but at the cost of an increased duration. The same effects were found for the patient group, but the task duration was around 25% larger.
Etanercept: therapeutic use in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) plays a central part in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). TNF initiates signal transduction by interacting with surface bound TNF receptors. Soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors (sTNFRs) act as natural inhibitors of TNF activity. Etanercept, recombinant p75 sTNFR:Fc fusion protein, has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for patients with RA and juvenile RA (JRA) who have failed treatment with at least one other drug. Etanercept has demonstrated excellent safety and efficacy in large scale, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trials of patients with RA and JRA who are refractory to other disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. The therapeutic effects mediated by etanercept are rapid and sustained. Combining etanercept with methotrexate was found to be safe and more effective than treatment with methotrexate alone in the treatment of RA. These clinical findings demonstrate that etanercept can result in symptomatic improvement in patients with RA and JRA. Etanercept is an important new addition to the treatment of these diseases.
Airborne multi-spectral images registration through genetic algorithm

The proposed paper deals with images registration through airborne images mosaicking, in the context of environmental monitoring. The matching problem consists, here, in determining the transfer parameters required to partially map one multi spectral image to the adjacent images of the flight lines. The purpose is to build a seamless representation of the regions flown over by the aircraft. However, given the unsteadiness of the airborne platform, a single affine transformation cannot cope with the acquisition distortions and cannot yield to a seamless mosaic. Thus, the principle of the developed approach relies on a field of transformations rather than on a single transformation. Genetic agents are introduced to carry out the local matching transformations. The approach, even if it involves a sequential programming, proved to be efficient from the computational time point of view.