Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Viral safety of Nanogam®, a new 15 nm‐filtered liquid immunoglobulin product

Background and Objectives Producers of plasma derivatives continuously improve the viral safety of their products by, for example, introducing additional virus‐reducing steps into the manufacturing process. Here we present virus‐elimination studies undertaken for a number of steps employed in a new manufacturing process for liquid intravenous immunoglobulin (Nanogam®) that comprises two specific virus‐reducing steps: a 15‐nm filtration step combined with pepsin treatment at pH 4·4 (pH 4·4/15NF); and solvent–detergent (SD) treatment. The manufacturing process also includes precipitation of Cohn fraction III and viral neutralization, which contribute to the total virus‐reducing capacity of the manufacturing process. In addition, the mechanism and robustness of the virus‐reducing steps were studied.
New Performance Analysis of Angle Routing AODV Protocol in MANETs

The ultimate goal of the MANET community is to provide a set of standardized protocols that can be both robust and scalable. This paper proposes routing protocol based on the best heading direction angle route. The protocol is designed to calculate the average of all heading direction angles in the route and find the best route from the source to the destination. We measure the performance of the proposed approach by comparing it with the well known On-Demand (reactive) routing protocol (AODV). and Ad hoc on- demand Distance Vector routing (AODV) (3)are examples of reactive routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks. The Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP)(5), which is a hybrid routing protocol has been proposed to combine the merits of both proactive and reactive routing protocols and overcome their shortcomings. The most widely used metric in MANET routing is hop count . It is used in both the static and dynamic networks. In this paper, we propose a new approach that can find the suitable path between source and destination using angle direction if there is more than one path available calculate the average of all heading direction angles in every path and fined the best one from the source to the destination. We evaluate our proposed approach against the simple AODV hop count approach by implementing a modified version of the AODV protocol. The simulation results show that broken links, collisions and number of hops can be significantly reduced through the proposed approaches. The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 includes the background and related work of in MANETs. Section 3 presents the proposed algorithms. The parameters used in the experiments and the performance results and analysis to evaluate the effectiveness and limitation of the proposed technique are presented in Section 4. Section 5 concludes the paper and outlines the future work.
Biomedical Question-focused Multi-document Summarization: ILSP and AUEB at BioASQ3

Question answering systems aim to find answers to natural language questions by searching in document collections (e.g., repositories of scientific articles or the entire Web) and/or structured data (e.g., databases, ontologies). Strictly speaking, the answer to a question might sometimes be simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’, a named entity, or a set of named entities. In practice, however, a more elaborate answer is often also needed, ideally a summary of the most important information from relevant documents and structured data. In this paper, we focus on generating summaries from documents that are known to be relevant to particular questions. We describe the joint participation of AUEB and ILSP in the corresponding subtask of the bioasq3 competition, where participants produce multi-document summaries of given biomedical articles that are relevant to English questions prepared by biomedical experts.
Cardiac Alterations in Human African Trypanosomiasis (T.b. gambiense) with Respect to the Disease Stage and Antiparasitic Treatment

Background In Human African Trypanosomiasis, neurological symptoms dominate and cardiac involvement has been suggested. Because of increasing resistance to the available drugs for HAT, new compounds are desperately needed. Evaluation of cardiotoxicity is one parameter of drug safety, but without knowledge of the baseline heart involvement in HAT, cardiologic findings and drug-induced alterations will be difficult to interpret. The aims of the study were to assess the frequency and characteristics of electrocardiographic findings in the first stage of HAT, to compare these findings to those of second stage patients and healthy controls and to assess any potential effects of different therapeutic antiparasitic compounds with respect to ECG changes after treatment. Methods Four hundred and six patients with first stage HAT were recruited in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Sudan between 2002 and 2007 in a series of clinical trials comparing the efficacy and safety of the experimental treatment DB289 to the standard first stage treatment, pentamidine. These ECGs were compared to the ECGs of healthy volunteers (n = 61) and to those of second stage HAT patients (n = 56). Results In first and second stage HAT, a prolonged QTc interval, repolarization changes and low voltage were significantly more frequent than in healthy controls. Treatment in first stage was associated with repolarization changes in both the DB289 and the pentamidine group to a similar extent. The QTc interval did not change during treatment. Conclusions Cardiac involvement in HAT, as demonstrated by ECG alterations, appears early in the evolution of the disease. The prolongation of the QTC interval comprises a risk of fatal arrhythmias if new drugs with an additional potential of QTC prolongation will be used. During treatment ECG abnormalities such as repolarization changes consistent with peri-myocarditis occur frequently and appear to be associated with the disease stage, but not with a specific drug.
Personalized word representations carrying personalized semantics learned from social network posts

Distributed word representations have been shown to be very useful in various natural language processing (NLP) application tasks. These word vectors learned from huge corpora very often carry both semantic and syntactic information of words. However, it is well known that each individual user has his own language patterns because of different factors such as interested topics, friend groups, social activities, wording habits, etc., which may imply some kind of personalized semantics. With such personalized semantics, the same word may imply slightly differently for different users. For example, the word “Cappuccino” may imply “Leisure”, “Joy”, “Excellent” for a user enjoying coffee, by only a kind of drink for someone else. Such personalized semantics of course cannot be carried by the standard universal word vectors trained with huge corpora produced by many people. In this paper, we propose a framework to train different personalized word vectors for different users based on the very successful continuous skip-gram model using the social network data posted by many individual users. In this framework, universal background word vectors are first learned from the background corpora, and then adapted by the personalized corpus for each individual user to learn the personalized word vectors. We use two application tasks to evaluate the quality of the personalized word vectors obtained in this way, the user prediction task and the sentence completion task. These personalized word vectors were shown to carry some personalized semantics and offer improved performance on these two evaluation tasks.
A low-power ka-band direct conversion receiver employing half-frequency local oscillator in 65nm CMOS

Direct conversion to DC by means of quadrature SubHarmonic mixers is a promising solution to arrive at low power silicon receivers working at millimeter waves. A lower frequency local oscillator (LO) does not compromise receiver performances while takes advantage of the higher quality of tuning elements and avoids high frequency, power-hungry dividers in the synthesizer. This paper summarizes our recent research efforts to arrive at a low power receiver architecture tailored to Ka band operation. The receiver IC, implemented in a 65nm CMOS technology, displays 31.5dB gain and 6.7dB NF. The LO has an outstanding frequency tuning range of 26.5% with −110dBc/Hz phase noise at 1MHz offset. Total power dissipation is 78mW only.
Characterization of the Bacterial Community Naturally Present on Commercially Grown Basil Leaves: Evaluation of Sample Preparation Prior to Culture-Independent Techniques

Fresh herbs such as basil constitute an important food commodity worldwide. Basil provides considerable culinary and health benefits, but has also been implicated in foodborne illnesses. The naturally occurring bacterial community on basil leaves is currently unknown, so the epiphytic bacterial community was investigated using the culture-independent techniques denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and next-generation sequencing (NGS). Sample preparation had a major influence on the results from DGGE and NGS: Novosphingobium was the dominant genus for three different basil batches obtained by maceration of basil leaves, while washing of the leaves yielded lower numbers but more variable dominant bacterial genera including Klebsiella, Pantoea, Flavobacterium, Sphingobacterium and Pseudomonas. During storage of basil, bacterial growth and shifts in the bacterial community were observed with DGGE and NGS. Spoilage was not associated with specific bacterial groups and presumably caused by physiological tissue deterioration and visual defects, rather than by bacterial growth.
Cingulate cortex of the rhesus monkey: I. Cytoarchitecture and thalamic afferents

The cytoarchitecture and thalamic afferents of cingulate cortex were evaluated in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatto). Area 24 has three divisions of which area 24a is adjacent to the callosal sulcus and has the least laminar differentiation. Area 24b has more clearly defined layers II, III, and Va, and area 24c, which forms the lower bank of the anterior cingulate sulcus, has a particularly dense layer III. Area 23 also has three divisions, each of which has a distinct layer IV. Area 23a is adjacent to the callosal sulcus and has the thinnest layers II–IV, which have the same cell density as layers V and VI. Area 23b has the largest pyramids in layers IIIc and Va, and area 23c, in the depths of the posterior cingulate sulcus, has the broadest external and thinnest internal pyramidal layers. Finally, areas 29 and 30 are located in the posterior depths of the callosal sulcus. Two divisions of area 29 are apparent: one with a granular layer directly adjacent to layer I (area 29a–c) and another with differentiation of layers III and IV (area 29d). Area 30 has a dysgranular layer IV.
Mode locking in nonlinearly excited inharmonic musical oscillators

Many musical instruments consist essentially of resonant systems having only approximately harmonic normal modes and excited by a force that depends nonlinearly on the velocities associated with those modes. An approximate condition is derived for the resulting sound spectrum to consist of components rigorously locked into harmonic relationship. Such mode locking is favored by nearly harmonic normal mode frequencies, by large mode amplitudes, and by large nonlinearity in the driving force.
Hemostatic Genes Exhibit a High Degree of Allele-Specific Regulation in Liver

Abstract Objective Elucidating the genetic basis underlying hepatic hemostatic gene expression variability may contribute to unraveling genetic factors contributing to thrombotic or bleeding disorders. We aimed to identify novel cis-regulatory variants involved in regulating hemostatic genes by analyzing allele-specific expression (ASE) in human liver samples. Study Design Biopsies of human liver tissue and blood were collected from adults undergoing liver surgery at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital (n = 20). Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (gDNA) and total ribonucleic acid (RNA) were isolated. A targeted approach was used to enrich and sequence 35 hemostatic genes for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis (gDNAseq) and construct individualized genomes for transcript alignment. The allelic ratio of transcripts from targeted RNAseq was determined via ASE analysis. Public expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and genome-wide association study (GWAS) data were used to assess novelty and importance of the ASE SNPs (and proxies, r 2 ≥ 0.8) for relevant traits/diseases. Results Sixty percent of the genes studied showed allelic imbalance across 53 SNPs. Of these, 7 SNPs were previously validated in liver eQTL studies. For 32 with eQTLs in other cell/tissue types, this is the first time genotype-specific expression is demonstrated in liver, and for 14 ASE SNPs, this is the first ever reported genotype–expression association. A total of 29 ASE SNPs were previously associated with the respective plasma protein levels and 17 ASE SNPs to other relevant GWAS traits including venous thromboembolism, coronary artery disease, and stroke. Conclusion Our study provides a comprehensive ASE analysis of hemostatic genes and insights into the regulation of hemostatic genes in human liver.
High-efficient and environmentally friendly enrichment of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes by combining short-time electrochemical pre-oxidation and combustion

High purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) have bright prospects in the field of microelectronics, but their enrichment processes are usually very complicated and cost time and energy, which represent a major impediment for their future applications. Here, we report on a new efficient covalent modification enrichment approach that tackles this problem. Our method is to first selectively functionalize the surface of arc-discharge metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes (m-SWCNTs) rapidly by electrochemical pre-oxidation at 7.0 V in 0.1 M KCl aqueous solution, and subsequently followed up by removing the m-SWCNTs with a short-time combustion process at 600 °C for 30 s to enrich high purity s-SWCNTs. Although the surface of the s-SWCNTs was functionalized and heat-treated, the intrinsic tubular structure and electronic characteristics were well maintained. Besides, our approach, without any complex equipment or toxic reagents, is energy and time saving and can be easily scaled up. Milligrams of high-quality s-SWCNTs with high purity of more than 95 wt% can be easily obtained in only several minutes. The retention rate of s-SWCNTs after combustion is as high as 61 wt%.
Inflated responsibility and perfectionism in child and adolescent anorexia nervosa

Theory suggests that cognitive biases in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) may occur in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and anorexia nervosa /eating disorder not otherwise specified (AN/EDNOS), which may partly explain the large co-morbidity between the two disorders. The aim of the current study was to investigate the cognitive biases of inflated responsibility (IR) and perfectionism in children and adolescents who had been diagnosed with AN and AN/EDNOS. An additional aim was to investigate the relationship between IR and perfectionism and to test an interaction effect on AN severity. The relationship between young people and their parents’ levels of inflated responsibility was also investigated. A cross-sectional multi-site pilot study using standardised questionnaires was conducted. Full ethical approval was gained and 30 young people diagnosed with AN and AN/EDNOS and 32 of their parents participated. This included 22 matched pairs of children and parents. Children and adolescents with AN and AN/EDNOS reported significantly higher levels of IR and perfectionism, compared to the published data for non-clinical norms. Self-orientated perfectionism was associated with frequency of IR thoughts. There was also a significant interaction effect: young people who had a higher frequency of IR thoughts and self-orientated perfectionism had lower BMIs. Parents reported higher levels of IR compared to the published non-clinical norms, but there was no relationship between child and parent IR. Further independent replication of these results is needed. IR and perfectionism should be considered in the assessment and treatment of child and adolescent AN and AN/EDNOS, both in individual and systemic interventions. This research also adds to the growing body of literature examining cognitive biases of OCD in an AN population, which may offer some insight into the overlap between the two disorders.
A Phase I Study of Single Administration of Antibody-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy with the Recombinant Anti–Carcinoembryonic Antigen Antibody-Enzyme Fusion Protein MFECP1 and a Bis-Iodo Phenol Mustard Prodrug

Purpose: Antibody-directed enzyme prodrug therapy is a two-stage treatment whereby a tumor-targeted antibody-enzyme complex localizes in tumor for selective conversion of prodrug. The purpose of this study was to establish optimal variables for single administration of MFECP1, a recombinant antibody-enzyme fusion protein of an anti–carcinoembryonic antigen single-chain Fv antibody and the bacterial enzyme carboxypeptidase G2 followed by a bis-iodo phenol mustard prodrug. MFECP1 is manufactured in mannosylated form to facilitate normal tissue elimination. Experimental Design: Pharmacokinetic, biodistribution, and tumor localization studies were used to test the hypothesis that MFECP1 localizes in tumor and clears from normal tissue via the liver. Firstly, safety of MFECP1 and a blood concentration of MFECP1 that would avoid systemic prodrug activation were tested. Secondly, dose escalation of prodrug was done. Thirdly, the dose of MFECP1 and timing of prodrug administration were optimized. Results: MFECP1 was safe and well tolerated, cleared rapidly via the liver, and was less immunogenic than previously used products. Eighty-fold dose escalation from the starting dose of prodrug was carried out before dose-limiting toxicity occurred. Confirmation of the presence of enzyme in tumor and DNA interstrand cross-links indicating prodrug activation were obtained for the optimal dose and time point. A total of 28 of 31 patients was evaluable for response, the best response being a 10% reduction of tumor diameter, and 11 of 28 patients had stable disease. Conclusions: Optimal conditions for effective therapy were established. A study testing repeat treatment is currently being undertaken.
Nanoscopic and Photonic Ultrastructural Characterization of Two Distinct Insulin Amyloid States

Two different conformational isoforms or amyloid strains of insulin with different cytotoxic capacity have been described previously. Herein these filamentous and fibrillar amyloid states of insulin were investigated using biophysical and spectroscopic techniques in combination with luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes (LCO). This new class of fluorescent probes has a well defined molecular structure with a distinct number of thiophene units that can adopt different dihedral angles depending on its binding site to an amyloid structure. Based on data from surface charge, hydrophobicity, fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, along with atomic force microscopy (AFM), we deduce the ultrastructure and fluorescent properties of LCO stained insulin fibrils and filaments. Combined total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) and AFM revealed rigid linear fibrous assemblies of fibrils whereas filaments showed a short curvilinear morphology which assemble into cloudy deposits. All studied LCOs bound to the filaments afforded more blue-shifted excitation and emission spectra in contrast to those corresponding to the fibril indicating a different LCO binding site, which was also supported by less efficient hydrophobic probe binding. Taken together, the multi-tool approach used here indicates the power of ultrastructure identification applying AFM together with LCO fluorescence interrogation, including TIRFM, to resolve structural differences between amyloid states.
Effect of maternal calcium supplementation on offspring blood pressure in 5- to 10-y-old rural Gambian children123

Background: Evidence suggests that increased maternal calcium intake during pregnancy may result in lower offspring blood pressure, prompting calls for more robust data in this field, particularly in settings of habitually low calcium intake. Objective: The objective was to investigate the effect of maternal calcium supplementation on blood pressure in offspring by recruiting children born after a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of calcium supplementation during pregnancy. Design: Children (n = 389) from a rural area of The Gambia (mean age: 7.4 ± 1.2 y; range: 5–10 y), whose mothers received a calcium supplement (1500 mg Ca/d from 20 wk of gestation until delivery) or placebo, were followed up in West Africa. Blood pressure was assessed under standardized conditions with use of the Omron 705IT automated oscillometric device (Morton Medical Ltd, London, United Kingdom), and anthropometric and body composition (bioelectrical impedance) measurements were also made. Results: The analysis was restricted to 350 children born at term, which represented 64% of original trial births. There was no difference in systolic (adjusted mean difference: −0.04 mm Hg; 95% CI: −1.78, 1.69 mm Hg) or diastolic (adjusted mean difference: 0.25 mm Hg; 95% CI: −1.27, 1.77 mm Hg) blood pressure between children whose mothers had received calcium and those who received placebo. No interaction between childhood body mass index (in kg/m2; mean: 14.0) and maternal calcium supplementation was observed in this study. Conclusion: Calcium supplementation in the second half of pregnancy in Gambian women with very low habitual calcium intakes may not result in lower offspring blood pressure at 5–10 y of age.
Proteome Profiling of Exosomes Purified from a Small Amount of Human Serum: The Problem of Co-Purified Serum Components

Untargeted proteomics analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from human serum or plasma remains a technical challenge due to the contamination of these vesicles with lipoproteins and other abundant serum components. Here we aimed to test a simple method of EV isolation from a small amount of human serum (<1 mL) using the size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) standalone for the discovery of vesicle-specific proteins by the untargeted LC–MS/MS shotgun approach. We selected the SEC fraction containing vesicles with the size of about 100 nm and enriched with exosome markers CD63 and CD81 (but not CD9 and TSG101) and analyzed it in a parallel to the subsequent SEC fraction enriched in the lipoprotein vesicles. In general, there were 267 proteins identified by LC–MS/MS in exosome-containing fraction (after exclusion of immunoglobulins), yet 94 of them might be considered as serum proteins. Hence, 173 exosome-related proteins were analyzed, including 92 proteins absent in lipoprotein-enriched fraction. In this set of exosome-related proteins, there were 45 species associated with the GO cellular compartment term “extracellular exosome”. Moreover, there were 31 proteins associated with different immune-related functions in this set, which putatively reflected the major role of exosomes released by immune cells present in the blood. We concluded that identified set of proteins included a bona fide exosomes components, yet the coverage of exosome proteome was low due to co-purified high abundant serum proteins. Nevertheless, the approach proposed in current work outperformed other comparable protocols regarding untargeted identification of exosome proteins and could be recommended for pilot exploratory studies when a small amount of a serum/plasma specimen is available.