Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IL-12 and GM-CSF in DNA/MVA Immunizations against HIV-1 CRF12_BF Nef Induced T-Cell Responses With an Enhanced Magnitude, Breadth and Quality

In Argentina, the HIV epidemic is characterized by the co-circulation of subtype B and BF recombinant viral variants. Nef is an HIV protein highly variable among subtypes, making it a good tool to study the impact of HIV variability in the vaccine design setting. We have previously reported a specific cellular response against NefBF with low cross-reactivity to NefB in mice. The aim of this work was to analyze whether the co-administration of IL-12 and GM-CSF, using DNA and MVA vaccine vectors, could improve the final cellular response induced. Mice received three DNA priming doses of a plasmid that express NefBF plus DNAs expressing IL-12 and/or GM-CSF. Afterwards, all the groups were boosted with a MVAnefBF dose. The highest increase in the magnitude of the NefBF response, compared to that induced in the control was found in the IL-12 group. Importantly, a response with higher breadth was detected in groups which received IL-12 or GM-CSF, evidenced as an increased frequency of recognition of homologous (BF) and heterologous (B) Nef peptides, as well as a higher number of other Nef peptide pools representing different viral subtypes. However, these improvements were lost when both DNA cytokines were simultaneously administered, as the response was focused against the immunodominant peptide with a detrimental response towards subdominant epitopes. The pattern of cytokines secreted and the specific-T-cell proliferative capacity were improved in IL-12 and IL-12+GM-CSF groups. Importantly IL-12 generated a significant higher T-cell avidity against a B heterologous peptide. This study indicates that the incorporation of DNA expressing IL-12 in DNA/MVA schemes produced the best results in terms of improvements of T-cell-response key properties such as breadth, cross-reactivity and quality (avidity and pattern of cytokines secreted). These relevant results contribute to the design of strategies aimed to induce T-cell responses against HIV antigens with higher quality.
The Role of Microglia in Diabetic Retinopathy

There is growing evidence that chronic inflammation plays a role in both the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. There is also evidence that molecules produced as a result of hyperglycemia can activate microglia. However the exact contribution of microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, to retinal tissue damage during diabetes remains unclear. Current data suggest that dysregulated microglial responses are linked to their deleterious effects in several neurological diseases associated with chronic inflammation. As inflammatory cytokines and hyperglycemia disseminate through the diabetic retina, microglia can change to an activated state, increase in number, translocate through the retina, and themselves become the producers of inflammatory and apoptotic molecules or alternatively exert anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, microglial genetic variations may account for some of the individual differences commonly seen in patient's susceptibility to diabetic retinopathy.
Two Styles of Narrative Construction and Their Linguistic and Educational Implications

The research on which this paper is based was done in collaboration with a project at the Harvard University School of Education directed by Courtney Cazden and Sarah Michaels. The stories by the young black girl discussed in this paper were collected by Charles Haynes from Harvard University as part of the project. The story by the young white girl was collected by Dennie Wolf of Project Zero at Harvard as part of her own research. All of the above helped with the ideas in this paper, though they may not agree with them all. Gee (1985, 1986a) contains linguistic analyses of the same black child's stories 4 years earlier than those treated here, and readers may want to compare the present analysis to the earlier ones to gain a developmental perspective on the material. The line of research in this paper and the earlier ones took root from the “sharing time” literature (Cazden, 1988; Cazden, Michaels, & Tabors, 1985; Collins, 1985; Michaels, 1981, 1985; Michaels & Cazden, 1986; Michaels & Collins, 1984; Mi.
Optimized antidepressant therapy and pain self-management in primary care patients with depression and musculoskeletal pain: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT Pain and depression are the most common physical and psychological symptoms in primary care, respectively. Moreover, they co-occur 30% to 50% of the time and have adverse effects on quality of life, disability, and health care costs. OBJECTIVE To determine if a combined pharmacological and behavioral intervention improves both depression and pain in primary care patients with musculoskeletal pain and comorbid depression. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS Randomized controlled trial (Stepped Care for Affective Disorders and Musculoskeletal Pain [SCAMP]) conducted at 6 community-based clinics and 5 Veterans Affairs general medicine clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana. Recruitment occurred from January 2005 to June 2007 and follow-up concluded in June 2008. The 250 patients had low back, hip, or knee pain for 3 months or longer and at least moderate depression severity (Patient Health Questionnaire 9 score > or = 10). INTERVENTION Patients were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 123) or to usual care (n = 127). The intervention consisted of 12 weeks of optimized antidepressant therapy (step 1) followed by 6 sessions of a pain self-management program over 12 weeks (step 2), and a continuation phase of therapy for 6 months (step 3). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Depression (20-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist), pain severity and interference (Brief Pain Inventory), and global improvement in pain at 12 months. RESULTS At 12 months, 46 of the 123 intervention patients (37.4%) had a 50% or greater reduction in depression severity from baseline compared with 21 of 127 usual care patients (16.5%) (relative risk [RR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-3.2), corresponding to a much lower number of patients with major depression (50 [40.7%] vs 87 [68.5%], respectively; RR, 0.6 [95% CI, 0.4-0.8]). Also, a clinically significant (> or = 30%) reduction in pain was much more likely in intervention patients (51 intervention patients [41.5%] vs 22 usual care patients [17.3%]; RR, 2.4 [95% CI, 1.6-3.2]), as was global improvement in pain (58 [47.2%] vs 16 [12.6%], respectively; RR, 3.7 [95% CI, 2.3-6.1]). More intervention patients also experienced benefits in terms of the primary outcome, which was a combined improvement in both depression and pain (32 intervention patients [26.0%] vs 10 usual care patients [7.9%]; RR, 3.3 [95% CI, 1.8-5.4]). CONCLUSION Optimized antidepressant therapy followed by a pain self-management program resulted in substantial improvement in depression as well as moderate reductions in pain severity and disability. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00118430.
Synthesis of 3D virtual auditory space via a spatial feature extraction and regularization model

A functional representation for head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) is desirable as it overcomes many of the limitations associated with use of measured HRTFs. It provides a continuous representation of auditory space, such that the synthesis of HRTF at any given spatial location can be performed by functional evaluation of the model. Such a model that establishes a mathematical representation of the external ear transformation characteristics based on spatial feature extraction and regularization is proposed. <<ETX>>
How to model a DC microgrid: Towards an automated solution

DC microgrids are envisioned to be EPDS (Electronic Power Distribution Systems) composed of COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) converters. Naturally, these converters will determine the dynamic behavior of the system. Besides, unlike classic EPDS, microgrids are highly variable due to the intermittent behavior of the renewable sources and customer consumption. In this context, there is not an accepted solution when it comes to create a model able to account for the large-signal dynamic behavior of the converters, their different operation modes or the interaction among them, which could lead to dynamic degradation or even instability. This work proposes the blackbox polytopic model as a tool able to accomplish these objectives. In particular, it is proposed a methodology to derive dynamic weighting functions using the characteristic polynomial of the transfer functions identified. Using this method, strong nonlinearities as transitions between operation modes can be represented more accurately and with a deterministic approach. This is a step forward towards the complex task of defining an automated tool able to model the particular phenomena that arise in dc microgrids.
The Use of Professional Disclosure in Rehabilitation Counseling

The importance of adequate professional disclosure has recently received increased attention in the counseling and psychology literature. Despite this trend, the rehabilitation counseling professional literature contains little information about the prevalence and manner in which this practice is used within rehabilitation counseling. This article reviews the relevant literature and discusses its implications for rehabilitation counselors. The authors discuss the use and content of disclosure forms and practices, including the degree to which mental health professionals actually use such forms and reasons for nonuse. Clinical and research needs regarding professional disclosure within rehabilitation counseling are also discussed.
Generic Construction of Publicly Verifiable Predicate Encryption

There is an increasing trend for data owners to store their data in a third-party cloud server and buy the service from the cloud server to provide information to other users. To ensure confidentiality, the data is usually encrypted. Therefore, an encrypted data searching scheme with privacy preserving is of paramount importance. Predicate encryption (PE) is one of the attractive solutions due to its attribute-hiding merit. However, as cloud is not always trusted, verifying the searched results is also crucial. Firstly, a generic construction of Publicly Verifiable Predicate Encryption (PVPE) scheme is proposed to provide verification for PE. We reduce the security of PVPE to the security of PE. However, from practical point of view, to decrease the communication overhead and computation overhead, an improved PVPE is proposed with the trade-off of a small probability of error.
The views, verdict and recommendations for school and home sex and relationships education by young deaf and hearing people

The purpose of this survey study was to explore the views of young deaf and hearing people (16–25 years old) on school and home sex and relationships education (SRE). The study addressed a critical knowledge gap in the research literature on deaf youth's perception of SRE. The small-scale study explored young deaf people's experiences of SRE and the challenges they had faced when learning about sexuality and relationships. Recommendations on how to improve school SRE lessons were also obtained. Data were collected from 81 young people (n = 27 deaf, n = 54 hearing). Overall, deaf participants indicated greater levels of satisfaction with school SRE than hearing respondents. More deaf young people than young hearing people felt that the school had provided them with enough opportunities to learn about sexuality and relationships. The deaf group showed a preference for school SRE lessons to start at a later age than the hearing group. Mothers and friends were the two sources most frequently consulted in both groups. Teachers and school nurses were a third source frequently used by the deaf group. The views of deaf and hearing youth on their own SRE are important for the development, implementation and delivery of the school SRE curriculum. The study's findings can provide educators with valuable insight on the needs of a minority group who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and sexual misinformation due to their sensory loss and associated factors.
Arabidopsis Small Ubiquitin-Like Modifier Paralogs Have Distinct Functions in Development and Defense[C][W][OA]

This report describes the effect that protein modifications by isoforms of the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) have on plant development and innate immunity. SUM1 and SUM2 were found to be essential for suppressing defense responses in noninfected plants by preventing accumulation of the defense hormone salicylic acid, whereas SUM3 enhances these defense responses in infected plants. Posttranslational modifications allow dynamic and reversible changes to protein function. In Arabidopsis thaliana, a small gene family encodes paralogs of the small ubiquitin-like posttranslational modifier. We studied the function of these paralogs. Single mutants of the SUM1 and SUM2 paralogs do not exhibit a clear phenotype. However, the corresponding double knockdown mutant revealed that SUM1 and SUM2 are essential for plant development, floral transition, and suppression of salicylic acid (SA)–dependent defense responses. The SUM1 and SUM2 genes are constitutively expressed, but their spatial expression patterns do not overlap. Tight transcriptional regulation of these two SUM genes appears to be important, as overexpression of either wild-type or conjugation-deficient mutants resulted in activation of SA-dependent defense responses, as did the sum1 sum2 knockdown mutant. Interestingly, expression of the paralog SUM3 is strongly and widely induced by SA and by the defense elicitor Flg22, whereas its expression is otherwise low and restricted to a few specific cell types. Loss of SUM3 does not result in an aberrant developmental phenotype except for late flowering, while SUM3 overexpression causes early flowering and activates plant defense. Apparently, SUM3 promotes plant defense downstream of SA, while SUM1 and SUM2 together prevent SA accumulation in noninfected plants.
Effect of process parameters on the surface morphology and mechanical performance of silicon structures after deep reactive ion etching (DRIE)

The ability to predict and control the influence of process parameters during silicon etching is vital for the success of most MEMS devices. In the case of deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of silicon substrates, experimental results indicate that etch performance as well as surface morphology and post-etch mechanical behavior have a strong dependence on processing parameters. In order to understand the influence of these parameters, a set of experiments was designed and performed to fully characterize the sensitivity of surface morphology and mechanical behavior of silicon samples produced with different DRIE operating conditions. The designed experiment involved a matrix of 55 silicon wafers with radius hub flexure (RHF) specimens which were etched 10 min under varying DRIE processing conditions. Data collected by interferometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), profilometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), was used to determine the response of etching performance to operating conditions. The data collected for fracture strength was analyzed and modeled by finite element computation. The data was then fitted to response surfaces to model the dependence of response variables on dry processing conditions.
Analysis of disparity distortions in omnistereoscopic displays

An omnistereoscopic image is a pair of panoramic images that enables stereoscopic depth perception all around an observer. An omnistereo projection on a cylindrical display does not require tracking of the observer's viewing direction. However, such a display introduces stereo distortions. In this article, we investigate two projection models for rendering 3D scenes in omnistereo. The first is designed to give zero disparity errors at the center of the visual field. The second is the well-known slit-camera model. For both models, disparity errors are shown to increase gradually in the periphery, as visual stereo acuity decreases. We use available data on human stereoscopic acuity limits to argue that depth distortions caused by these models are so small that they cannot be perceived.
Optimal Allocation of Surgery Blocks to Operating Rooms Under Uncertainty

The allocation of surgeries to operating rooms (ORs) is a challenging combinatorial optimization problem. There is also significant uncertainty in the duration of surgical procedures, which further complicates assignment decisions. In this paper, we present stochastic optimization models for the assignment of surgeries to ORs on a given day of surgery. The objective includes a fixed cost of opening ORs and a variable cost of overtime relative to a fixed length-of-day. We describe two types of models. The first is a two-stage stochastic linear program with binary decisions in the first stage and simple recourse in the second stage. The second is its robust counterpart, in which the objective is to minimize the maximum cost associated with an uncertainty set for surgery durations. We describe the mathematical models, bounds on the optimal solution, and solution methodologies, including an easy-to-implement heuristic. Numerical experiments based on real data from a large health-care provider are used to contrast the results for the two models and illustrate the potential for impact in practice. Based on our numerical experimentation, we find that a fast and easy-to-implement heuristic works fairly well, on average, across many instances. We also find that the robust method performs approximately as well as the heuristic, is much faster than solving the stochastic recourse model, and has the benefit of limiting the worst-case outcome of the recourse problem.
Prospective, multicentre study of external ventricular drainage-related infections in the UK and Ireland

Objectives External ventricular drain (EVD) insertion is a common neurosurgical procedure. EVD-related infection (ERI) is a major complication that can lead to morbidity and mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish a national ERI rate in the UK and Ireland and determine key factors influencing the infection risk. Methods A prospective multicentre cohort study of EVD insertions in 21 neurosurgical units was performed over 6 months. The primary outcome measure was 30-day ERI. A Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis to calculate HR. Results A total of 495 EVD catheters were inserted into 452 patients with EVDs remaining in situ for 4700 days (median 8 days; IQR 4–13). Of the catheters inserted, 188 (38%) were antibiotic-impregnated, 161 (32.5%) were plain and 146 (29.5%) were silver-bearing. A total of 46 ERIs occurred giving an infection risk of 9.3%. Cox regression analysis demonstrated that factors independently associated with increased infection risk included duration of EVD placement for ≥8 days (HR=2.47 (1.12–5.45); p=0.03), regular sampling (daily sampling (HR=4.73 (1.28–17.42), p=0.02) and alternate day sampling (HR=5.28 (2.25–12.38); p<0.01). There was no association between catheter type or tunnelling distance and ERI. Conclusions In the UK and Ireland, the ERI rate was 9.3% during the study period. The study demonstrated that EVDs left in situ for ≥8 days and those sampled more frequently were associated with a higher risk of infection. Importantly, the study showed no significant difference in ERI risk between different catheter types.
Three Cognitive Issues Related to Evaluation of Institutions of Higher Education

58 Translation © 2009 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Chinese text, Liu Zhentian, “Gaoxiao pinggu zhong de sange renshi wenti,” Guangming ribao (Guangming Daily) (September 19, 2007): 11. Translated by Ted Wang. Liu Zhentian is a research professor and head of the Division of Institutional Teaching Evaluation, Higher Education Evaluation Center, Ministry of Education. Chinese Education and Society, vol. 42, no. 2, March–April 2009, pp. 58–62. © 2009 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1061–1932 / 2009 $9.50 + 0.00. DOI 10.2753/CED1061-1932420207
Involvement of Aquaporin 9 in Osteoclast Differentiation*

Aquaporins (water channels) selectively enhance water permeability of membranes. Since osteoclast differentiation includes a dramatic increase in cell volume, we hypothesize that aquaporin(s) is/are critical for the formation of the multinucleated osteoclast from its mononuclear precursor. Our studies employ two cell models, bone marrow macrophages (BMMs) and the murine macrophage-like cell line, RAW264.7, as osteoclast precursors. Receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL) and macrophage-colony-stimulating factor or RANKL alone were used to induce osteoclast differentiation in BMMs or RAW264.7 cells, respectively. We first used qualitative reverse transcription (RT)-PCR to examine which of the aquaporins are expressed in osteoclasts and in their precursor cells. Out of the 10 aquaporins examined, only aquaporin 9 (AQP9) was expressed in osteoclast-lineage cells. AQP9 has unique aqueous pore properties mediating the passage of a wide variety of non-charged solutes in addition to water. Western analyses using specific antibodies revealed a higher AQP9 level in RANKL-treated than in untreated cells. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analyses also demonstrated higher AQP9 mRNA levels in RANKL-treated cells. Finally, we examined the effect of phloretin, an AQP9 inhibitor, on RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation. Cells were incubated with RANKL for 5 days, and phloretin was added for the last 2 days, when most fusion occurs. A dramatic reduction in osteoclast size and in the number of nuclei per osteoclast was observed in cultures containing phloretin. The inhibitor did not have a significant effect on the number and size of mononuclear phagocytes in cultures not treated with RANKL. Our results suggest a role for AQP9 in osteoclast differentiation, specifically in the fusion process.
Crossbreeding in dairy cattle: International trends and results from crossbreeding data in Germany

Crossbreeding has been the breeding method of choice for several species in plants and livestock. In plants, the main reason for crossbreeding is to exploit heterosis effects which can be maximized via the use of highly inbred parental strains. In livestock, notably in poultry and swine, positional effects of pure-bred parents of crosses are well known and hence crossbreeding systems are set up accordingly. Compared to plant breeding, heterosis effects are not expected to be as high but are still significant and thus give an additional benefit. Breeding systems for swine and poultry thus almost exclusively use crossbreeding systems.
iSee: obstacle detection and feedback system for the blind

This paper proposes a novel obstacle detection and feedback system iSee based on RGB-D sensor for the blind. Firstly, a fast and robust ground detection method based on multi-scale voxel plane segmentation and geometric constraints is introduced. Secondly, the regions besides the ground area are segmented by region growing. Then an area-division based obstacle detection method is proposed, which combines the analysis of context information. Finally, a multi-level voice feedback strategy is proposed. The experimental results show the proposed system can detect and feedback obstacle information fast and robustly.