Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Participation of Functionally Different Macrophage Populations and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 in Early Stages of Thioacetamide-induced Rat Hepatic Injury

Macrophages are crucial in hepatic fibrogenesis. In acute hepatic necrosis induced in rats by a single injection of 300 mg/kg body weight (BW) of thioacetamide (TAA), macrophage properties were investigated using single or double immunohistochemistry. Macrophages reacting with anti-CD68, anti-CD163, or major histocompatibility complex (anti-MHC) class II antibody appeared in injured centrilobular areas on days 1-5 after injection. Increased expression of CD68 and CD163 reflect phagocytosis and production of pro-inflammatory factors, respectively. There were also macrophages double-positive to CD68/CD163, CD68/MHC class II, or CD163/MHC class II; of these, macrophages double-positive to CD68/MHC class II were most frequent, indicating that macrophages with enhanced phagocytic activity came to express MHC class II. The appearance of these macrophages corresponded to increased expression of mRNAs of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), a chemokine, on day 1, and TGF-β1, a fibrogenic factor, on day 3. Some hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in injured areas reacted with anti-MCP-1 antibody. To investigate the effects of MCP-1, we added MCP-1 to HS-P, a rat macrophage line. Addition of MCP-1 increased immunoexpression for CD68 and CD163 and up-regulated TGF-β1 mRNA expression. Collectively, macrophages in acute hepatic necrosis may express different properties such as phagocytosis, MHC class II expression, and TGF-β1 production; such expression may be influenced by MCP-1 produced by HSCs.
Multiorgan dysfunction syndrome in sickle cell disease.

OBJECTIVE Concurrent failure of multiple organs in patients of sickle cell disease (SCD) has rarely been reported. The main objective of this study was to highlight the multiorgan dysfunction (MODS) that occurs in some patients during sickle cell crisis. METHODS Ten episodes of multiorgan failure were identified with sickle cell disease and defining criteria of organ failure of two or more organs that is lung, liver, or renal were established according to Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation - II (APACHE-II) criteria. RESULTS Most episodes occurred during vaso-occlusive crisis, which was associated with a severe pain event. The onset of organ failure was associated with fever, rapid fall in haematocrit, platelet count and altered sensorium, later organ failure set in. Respiratory, hepatic, and kidney failure (all the three organs) were present in three of the ten patients who were in sickle crisis. Of this we lost one patient despite exchange transfusion and ventilator support. Of the four patients who had respiratory failure accompanied by hepatic failure, one patient died due to associated septicemia. Respiratory failure with renal involvement was seen in two patients whereas hepatic and renal failure was present in only one patient. Except for two, all other patients improved after aggressive blood transfusions. CONCLUSION Acute multiorgan failure is a life threatening complication of SCD, which can exhibit without any evidence of chronic organ damage and is easily reversed by prompt and aggressive transfusion therapy.
A New Procedure for Calculating Immittance Characteristics Using Detailed Computer Simulations

Immittance based methods are often used in the stability analysis of power electronics based systems. Because it is difficult and/or time consuming to develop average value models of some components, it is often desirable to extract immittance data from detailed simulations (simulations in which the switching of the power semiconductors is represented). Traditionally, this is accomplished by introducing a perturbation, extracting the fundamental component of the voltage and current waveforms at the perturbation frequency, from which the impedance at that frequency may be extracted using transform techniques. In this work, an alternate approach is suggested, which offers both reduced computational effort as well as increased accuracy.
Coronary oxygen persufflation for heart preservation in pigs: analyses of endothelium and myocytes1

Background. Coronary oxygen persufflation (COP) has been shown to prolong heart preservation time up to 14 hr in a mature pig model, with excellent recovery after orthotopic transplantation. The aim of the present study was to assess the structural, metabolic, and functional myocardial and endothelial integrity after COP in mature pig hearts. Methods. Cardioplegic arrest was induced by original crystalloid Bretschneider solution (HTK 3h, n=6), modified Bretschneider solution (mHTK+COP, n=6), or University of Wisconsin solution (UW+COP, n=6). Hearts were stored for 3 (HTK 3h) or 14 hr (mHTK+COP, UW+COP) at 0° to 1°C. In addition, COP hearts were persufflated. After heterotopic transplantation and reperfusion for 7 days, hearts were analyzed by light microscopy or electron microscopy for structural injuries. Endothelial function, cardiac enzymes, metabolic parameters, and myocardial water content (MWC) were determined. Six recipient hearts served as controls. Results. Quantitative light microscopic analyses and semiquantitative electron microscopic analyses showed an equal amount of damage in all groups including HTK 3h hearts. No rejection was observed. Substance P induced an equal dilatation in all hearts. Serum levels of cardiac enzymes were similar in all groups, but energy-enriched phosphates were significantly reduced, and MWC was augmented in the HTK 3h hearts and in the UW+COP hearts, in contrast to the mHTK+COP transplants. Conclusions. The lack of structural defects related to the COP technique, similar endothelial function, and an even better metabolic state of the mHTK+COP hearts versus HTK 3h hearts demonstrate the efficacy of the COP technique for prolongation of myocardial preservation time up to 14 hr.
Correct splicing of a group II intron from a chimeric reporter gene transcript in tobacco plastids

An in vivo test system was developed to study group II intron splicing in higher plant chloroplasts. The chimeric reporter gene uidA was constructed by translational fusion of an intron-containing segment of the plastid atpF gene with the coding region of a plastid uidA reporter gene. The chimeric uidA gene was inserted into the tobacco plastid genome by the biolistic transformation procedure using a plastid targeting vector. Correct intron excision was confirmed by Northern blot analysis, by sequencing amplified cDNAs and by accumulation of the encoded beta-glucuronidase (GUS), the expression of which was dependent on intron removal. Removal of the intron from the uidA mRNA is less efficient (< 50%) than from the atpF mRNA (> 90%). The efficiency of atpF mRNA splicing is not affected in the plasmid transformants indicating that inefficient splicing of the highly-expressed uidA mRNA is not due to depletion of factor(s) required for the atpF intron removal. A derivative of uidA, with a stop codon introduced into the loop of domain VI, was also tested. The mutations did not affect the splicing efficiency. The chimeric uidA splicing system will facilitate the study of structural and sequence requirements for group II intron splicing in plastids of higher plants.
MULTISCALE SCIENCE ENABLES HIGH-ACCURACY SIMULATIONS OF ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

We present a framework for the application of multiscale science and technology to Enhanced Oil Recovery [EOR] by propagating physical models for wetting and flow from the molecular scale to the scale of pore networks in reservoir rock. The framework contains dedicated, computational and experimental platforms for performing calibrations at critical length scales. The appoach enables us to scientifically investigate and validate liquid-solid interactions from the nanometer to the micrometer scale and to deploy experimentally calibrated, multi-scale flow simulations in a digital representation of a given rock pore network. Built on reservoir-specific data input such as measured rock tomographies and chemical compositions, the nanoscience-based flow simulations are expected to predict with higher accuracy the efficiency of a specific EOR agent for improving oil displacement in a pore network with feature sizes spanning six orders of magnitude on the phyiscal length scale. We discuss a conception that integrates the experimentally calibrated, multiscale flow simulations with a computational system for providing reservoir-specific EOR strategies. In particular, we report progress in the research and development of the computational and experimental platforms and discuss the challenges and opportunities related to their application within future EOR solutions.
Joint Scheduling and Beamforming Coordination in Cloud Radio Access Networks With QoS Guarantees

The cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is a promising architecture for future radio access networks (RANs) due to its advantages in cost efficiency, flexibility, and utilization efficiency. To fully reap these benefits, this paper focuses on joint optimization of user grouping, virtual base station (VBS) clustering, and transmit beamforming in C-RAN downlink networks for maximizing the system utility, subject to the diverse quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of users and the power constraints of distributed remote radio heads (RRHs). To tackle the high computational complexity in solving the nonconvex combinatorial optimization problem, a two-stage solution is proposed. Specifically, a dynamic user-centric scheduling algorithm is developed to form user groups and cluster RRHs into VBSs by exploiting the nonuniform distribution of users. Then, an iterative transmit beamformer optimization algorithm is devised to coordinate the transmit beamforming among the VBSs to mitigate the intracell and intercell interference, hence further enhancing the overall system utility. Evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves significant performance gain over various reference algorithms in terms of system utility, system throughput, and energy efficiency.
Transformative travel as a sustainable market niche for protected areas: a new development, marketing and conservation model

ABSTRACT Many protected areas worldwide are mandated to provide visitor enjoyment and sustainable heritage conservation but face growing challenges and competition. To satisfy modern aspirational markets, parks must design meaningful experiences delivering long-lasting participant benefits that cultivate visitation rates and a conservation constituency. Transformative travel can deliver such benefits through participants’ psycho-physiological transformation but market insights critical for experience development in parks are lacking. Our systematic quantitative review of 126 transformative travel articles provides those insights, linking experiential characteristics, participant traits and motivations to experience outcomes according to five transformative travel typologies pertinent to parks: health and wellness, nature-based physical activity, spiritual, cultural and volunteering travel. We identified 35 travel motivations, 14 participant traits and 23 experience characteristics linked to transformation and 28 purposefully or incidentally realised benefits. Transformative travel improved participants’ psychological, physiological, social, economic and environmental conditions, as well as satisfaction with and destination loyalty towards parks. Socio-demographic characteristics and propensity for independent versus social travel shaped choice of travel experience. Our results are uniquely conceptualised in a transformative travel framework and transformative market niche model which we apply to sustainable experience development and marketing in parks. We identify implementation possibilities and areas for future research and monitoring.
The 10 kVA SiC-based grid connected AC/DC converter with extended functionalities — Experimental investigation

The paper presents a SiC-based 10 kVA AC/DC converter and its experimental verification during various operation modes when is connected to the 3x 400V grid. Besides a standard feature of the AC/DC converter - bidirectional power flow - new functionalities are enabled: a compensation of highorder harmonics and reactive power, a fast response to step load changes. These features are available due applied control method based on Direct Power Control and the elevated switching frequency (40 kHz). Finally, the conducted measurements show that for the discussed AC/DC converter peak efficiency close to 98.75% is available.
Predictors of Length of Stay Among OEF/OIF/OND Veteran Inpatient PTSD Treatment Noncompleters

High rates of attrition occur in outpatient and inpatient evidence-based treatments (EBTs) targeting newly returning veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Traditionally, research has examined attrition as a dichotomous variable (i.e., noncompleters vs. completers) and focused almost exclusively on outpatient EBTs for PTSD. These studies have provided little information to inpatient psychiatric providers about timing-related predictors of treatment discontinuation. The present study attempted to mend these gaps by examining attrition as a continuous variable and investigated predictors of length of stay (LOS) among 282 OEF/OIF/OND male veterans, 69 of which did not complete the full 25-day intensive, multimodal inpatient PTSD EBT program. At admission, participants completed a series of clinician-rated, biological, and self-report assessments. Linear regression analyses were used to identify predictors of shorter LOS. The results demonstrated that less improvement in symptom reduction, overall functioning, and greater number of drugs used at admission were significant and unique predictors of shorter LOS. Overall, these findings reveal clinically relevant, timing-related predictors of attrition and provide generalizable clinical information to inpatient psychiatric providers.
Enhanced inhibitory neurotransmission in the cerebellar cortex of Atp1a3‐deficient heterozygous mice

• Mutations of ATP1A3 cause rapid‐onset dystonia with parkinsonism (RDP) and alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC). • The mRNA of Atp1a3 was highly expressed in molecular‐layer interneurons and Purkinje cells in the developing mouse cerebellar cortex, and the gene product was observed as dots in the molecular layer, on the surface of Purkinje cell soma and the pinceaux. • Here we report that Atp1a3+/− mice showed increased symptoms of dystonia when being administrated kainate into cerebellum. We also found enhanced inhibitory neurotransmission between molecular‐layer interneurons and Purkinje cells in the developing cerebellum of Atp1a3+/− mice. • These findings suggest that ATP1A3 haploinsufficiency in the cerebellum has some effect on the inhibitory, but not the excitatory, circuitry and the interaction among different cell types during development. Disturbances of the cerebellar inhibitory network seem to be the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of dystonia among the increasing spectrum of complex neurological symptoms in RDP and AHC.
Autonomous indoor passageway finding using 3D scene reconstruction with stereo vision

This paper investigates an algorithm that navigates a robot in an unknown environment with a stereo vision system. Different from a common application that computes the distance between the robot and a landmark, our research intends to autonomously find an opening, such as a hallway or a window, for the robot to pass. We first perform the color space transformation, and perform the 3D scene reconstruction in the gray-scale space. The sum of squared differences (SSD) algorithm is applied to match pixels and estimate the shifting distances. An algorithm is proposed to determine the passageway of the environment for the guidance purpose. Experiments are presented to demonstrate the validity of our research. The result of the research is especially applicable to surveil a robot in an unknown building or an indoor disaster site.
Spatial Diversity with LDPC Codes

Wireless links are impaired by random fluctuations in signal level across space, time and frequency known as fading. Spatial diversity is an attractive solution to improve system capacity as well as system performance by providing array gain or increased SNR. Satellites (GEO,MEO) and High Altitude platform stations(HAPS) also exploit spatial diversity in LOS/NLOS envirornment. Exact nature of the diversity system depends on satellite antenna configuration. One of such configuration is SIMO diversity system that realizes receive diversity. LDPC codes have outstanding performance in some cases than that of turbo codes, with iterative decoding algorithm which is easy to implement and parallelizable in hardware. LDPC codes when implemented along with SIMO system with Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) under the combination of AWGN and multipath fading is optimum from the standpoint of maximising SNR at combiner output. In addition when operating in interference scenario optimum combining can be employed that maximizes the output SINR. In this paper it is shown that LDPC codes with optimum combining (LDPC-OC) system improves SINR by 1.98 dB and 2.62 dB with 3 and 4 receive antennas respectively in multipath fading channel in the presence of a single interferer.
Deriving Haplotypes through Recombination and Gene Conversion Pathways

Retracing the trajectories of past genetic events is crucial to understand the structure of the genome, both in individuals and across populations. A haplotype describes a string of polymorphic sites along a DNA segment. Haplotype diversity is due to mutations creating new variants, and to recombinations and gene conversions that mix and redistribute these variants among individual chromosomes in populations. A number of studies have revealed a relatively simple pattern of haplotype diversity in the human genome, dominated by a few common haplotypes representing founder ancestral ones. New haplotypes are usually rare and have a limited geographic distribution. We propose a method to derive a new haplotype from a set of putative ancestral haplotypes, once mutations in place, through minimal recombination and gene conversion pathways. We describe classes of pathways that represent the whole set of minimal pathways leading to a new haplotype. We show that obtaining this set of pathways can be represented as a problem of finding "secondary structures" of minimum energy. We present a polynomial algorithm solving this folding problem.
Proactive Leverage Increases and the Value of Financial Flexibility

Traditional tradeoff models of corporate capital structure, although still featured prominently in finance textbooks and widely accepted by practitioners, have been criticized by financial economists for doing a poor job of explaining observed debt ratios. Moreover, the observed ratios are far less stable than what would be predicted by the standard tradeoff models.In a study published several years ago in the Review of Financial Studies, the authors of this article aimed to shed more light on the underlying forces governing capital structure decisions by analyzing a set of major changes in capital structure in which companies initiated large increases in leverage through substantial new borrowings. They then attempted to explain why these companies chose to increase leverage and how their capital structures changed during the years after the large debt issues.As summarized in this article, the authors' findings indicate, first of all, that the large debt financings were used primarily to fund major corporate investments—and not, for example, to make large distributions to shareholders. And the changes in leverage ratios that came after the debt offerings were driven far more by the evolution of the companies' realized cash flows and their investment opportunities than by deliberate or decisive attempts to rebalance their capital structures toward a stationary target. In fact, many of the companies chose to take on even more debt when faced with cash‐flow deficits, despite operating with leverage that was already well above any reasonable estimate of their estimated target leverage. At the same time, companies that generated financial surpluses used them to reduce debt, even when their leverage had fallen well below their estimated targets.Taken as a whole, the findings of the authors' study support the idea that unused debt capacity represents an important source of financial flexibility, and that preserving such flexibility—and making use of it when valuable investment opportunities materialize—may well be the critical missing link in connecting capital structure theory with observed corporate behavior.
A manually-annotated Italian corpus for fine-grained sentiment analysis

English. This paper presents the results of the annotation carried out on the Italian section of the SentiML corpus, consisting of both originally-produced and translated texts of different types. The two main advantages are that: (i) the work relies on the linguistically-motivated assumption that, by encapsulating opinions in pairs (called appraisal groups), it is possible to annotate (and automatically extract) their sentiment in context; (ii) it is possible to compare Italian to its English and Russian counterparts, as well as to extend the annotation to other languages. Italiano. Questo lavoro presenta i risultati dell’annotazione effettuata sulla sezione italiana del corpus “SentiML”, che consiste di testi sia originali che tradotti appartenenti a diversi tipi. I due vantaggi principali sono che: (i) il lavoro si fonda sull’assunzione motivata linguisticamente che, codificando le opinioni in coppie (chiamate appraisal groups), è possibile annotare (ed estrarre automaticamente) il loro sentiment tenendo in considerazione il contesto; (ii) è possibile confrontare l’italiano con le sue controparti inglese e russa, ed estendere l’annotazione ad altre
Assessing post-anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction ambulation using wireless wearable integrated sensors

Abstract A hardware/software co-design for assessing post-Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction ambulation is presented. The knee kinematics and neuromuscular data during walking (2–6 km h−1) have been acquired using wireless wearable motion and electromyography (EMG) sensors, respectively. These signals were integrated by superimposition and mixed signals processing techniques in order to provide visual analyses of bio-signals and identification of the recovery progress of subjects. Monitoring overlapped signals simultaneously helps in detecting variability and correlation of knee joint dynamics and muscles activities for an individual subject as well as for a group. The recovery stages of subjects have been identified based on combined features (knee flexion/extension and EMG signals) using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The proposed system has been validated for 28 test subjects (healthy and ACL-reconstructed). Results of ANFIS showed that the ambulation data can be used to distinguish subjects at different levels of recuperation after ACL reconstruction.