Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation of Gap Junction Transcript and Protein Expression during Pregnancy in the Rat

The expression of three different gap junction transcripts, or, (Cx43), B~ (Cx39, and B2 (Cx26) was examined in several organs during pregnancy in the rat. In all of the organs that were examined-uterus, ovary, heart, and l iverthere was a strong correlation between levels of gap junction mRNA and gap junction antigens that were detected at different stages of pregnancy. A striking change in o~ transcript levels (a 5.5-fold increase) was detected in the uterine myometrium on the day before parturition. This elevation of the c~, transcript is thought to be associated with the formation of gap junctions that are required for synchronizing the contractility of the myometrial cells during parturition. 2 d before parturition, there was a detectable elevation of/32 transcripts and protein in the endometrial epithelium, which was then followed by a dramatic decrease in j52 gap junctional protein on the day before parturition. There was also a substantial elevation of tx~ transcripts (a 6.7-fold increase) in the stromal regions of the ovary on the day before parturition that was identical to the temporal pattern of ott expression in the myometrium. In all three instances-the c~, transcripts in the myometrium, ~2 transcripts in the endometrium, and at transcripts in the ovarythe transcript modulation appeared to be cell specific, because the changes in transcript levels of these three gene products occurred independently of the poly(A)+RNA concentrations at the same pregnancy stages in the respective organs. There were no specific changes detected in gap junction transcript levels in the heart and liver during pregnancy. These observations indicate that a cell-specific modulation of gap junction expression occurs in two regions of the uterus and the ovary during pregnancy. Further, it appears that the same gap junction gene in different organs, such as the ct~ gene in the uterine myometrium and the heart, can be differentially regulated. I T is now well established that cell-to-cell communication in various tissues is mediated by specialized membrane regions known as gap junctions (Gilula et al., 1972; Loewenstein, 1981). Recent molecular characterizations have provided direct evidence for a family of related gap junction (GJ) t proteins that form intercellular channels. This includes the identification of cDNA clones coding for three different GJ proteins with deduced molecular masses of 32 kD from mammalian liver (Paul, 1986; Kumar and Gilula, 1986), 43 kD from mammalian heart (Beyer et al., 1987), and a 26-kD protein from mammalian liver (Nicholson and Zhang, 1988). A fourth candidate is a 70-kD junction protein component of the lens fiber junctions that has an amino terminus that is homologous to those of the liver and heart GJ proteins (Kistler et al., 1988; Beyer et al., 1989). Because all of these coding sequences have a conserved region of"o 200 amino-terminal amino acid residues containAddress correspondence to Dr. Norton B. Gilula, Department of Molecular Biology, Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, 10666 N. Torrey Pines Road,
Applications of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) for the Characterization of Nanoparticles Developed for Biomedical Purposes

Great interest is currently being devoted to the development of nanoparticles (NPs) for biomedical purposes, designed to improve the pharmacokinetic profile of their cargos (either imaging probes or drugs) and to enhance the specific targeting at the disease site. Recent works suggest that Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), widely used for the analysis of biomolecular interactions, represents a technique of choice for rapid and quantitative analyses of the interaction between NPs—functionalized with specific ligands—and their putative biological targets. Moreover, SPR can provide important details on the formation and the role of the protein “corona”, i.e., the protein layer which coats NPs once they come into contact with biological fluids. These novel applications of SPR sensors may be very useful to characterize, screen and develop nanodevices for biomedical purposes.
Construction of a Single-Chain Variable-Fragment Antibody against the Superantigen Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B

ABSTRACT Staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) is one of the most prevalent causes of food-borne illness throughout the world. SFP is caused by 21 different types of staphylococcal enterotoxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Among these, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is the most potent toxin and is a listed biological warfare (BW) agent. Therefore, development of immunological reagents for detection of SEB is of the utmost importance. High-affinity and specific monoclonal antibodies are being used for detection of SEB, but hybridoma clones tend to lose their antibody-secreting ability over time. This problem can be overcome by the use of recombinant antibodies produced in a bacterial system. In the present investigation, genes from a hybridoma clone encoding monoclonal antibody against SEB were immortalized using antibody phage display technology. A murine phage display library containing single-chain variable-fragment (ScFv) antibody genes was constructed in a pCANTAB 5E phagemid vector. Phage particles displaying ScFv were rescued by reinfection of helper phage followed by four rounds of biopanning for selection of SEB binding ScFv antibody fragments by using phage enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Soluble SEB-ScFv antibodies were characterized from one of the clones showing high affinity for SEB. The anti-SEB ScFv antibody was highly specific, and its affinity constant was 3.16 nM as determined by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). These results demonstrate that the recombinant antibody constructed by immortalizing the antibody genes from a hybridoma clone is useful for immunodetection of SEB.
Towards a systematic structuring of MEDLINE abstracts

The bibliographical data are growing and their access becomes more difficult. A solution consists into providing structured abstracts in which their design is indicated explicitly. Our objective is to assign automatically the abstract sentences to relevant sections. We exploit machine learning algorithms and different sets of features (position of sentences, their forms and lemmas). The obtained f-measure is between 0.60 and 0.80, while one section (Objective) remains difficult to categorize. Our work indicates the feasibility of the abstract structuring on large amount of bibliographical data.
Identification on the Web Using Pattern Recognition

In this paper we propose the ARROW (Automatic Review Recognition and annOtation of Webpages) method which is capable of identifying and annotating user submitted reviews on a Web page. The method consists of six steps: data preparation, page-level pattern identification, subjectivity analysis, container structure analysis, review properties identification, and review annotation. For the evaluation we have implemented the method and tested it on various review websites. Based on the performed evaluation we conclude that our method is capable of identifying and annotating the majority of reviews. Copyright c © 0000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Automatic Cast Listing in Feature-Length Films with Anisotropic Manifold Space

Our goal is to automatically determine the cast of a feature-length film. This is challenging because the cast size is not known, with appearance changes of faces caused by extrinsic imaging factors (illumination, pose, expression) often greater than due to differing identities. The main contribution of this paper is an algorithm for clustering over face appearance manifolds. Specifically: (i) we develop a novel algorithm for exploiting coherence of dissimilarities between manifolds, (ii) we show how to estimate the optimal dataset-specific discriminant manifold starting from a generic one, and (iii) we describe a fully automatic, practical system based on the proposed algorithm. The performance of the system is evaluated on well-known featurelength films and situation comedies on which it is shown to produce good results.
Towards Emotional Variation in Speech-Based Natural Language Processing

We present a framework for handling emotional variations in a speech-based natural language generation system for use in the MRE virtual training environment. The system is a first step toward addressing issues in emotion-based modeling of verbal communicative behavior. We cast the problem of emotion-based generation as a distance minimization task, in which the system chooses between multiple valid realizations for a given input based on the emotional distance of each realization from the speaker’s attitude toward that input. We discuss evaluations of the system and future work that includes modeling personality and empathy within the same framework.
Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) as a third-wave therapy.

BACKGROUND This article presents a description of the Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT), and puts forwards its contributions, its techniques and progress, the research data on its usefulness compared to traditional behavioral couple therapy, and explains basically its articulation in third-wave behavior therapies using the concepts of functionality, rule-governed/contingency-shaped behavior and acceptance. METHOD A theoretical review of the main IBCT bibliography was carried out. RESULTS The review shows that this intervention model includes innovative intervention strategies (to promote acceptance and tolerance) that join the already well-known behavioral couple therapy techniques (behavior exchange, communication training and couple problem solving), substantially modifying the therapy. Furthermore, it incorporates useful orientation for especially difficult problems in couples (such as infidelity and substance use, abuse and dependence situations). CONCLUSIONS After this analysis, IBCT is revealed as a new intervention, the scope of which is still spreading among professionals. The acceptance concept, one of the core elements of third-wave therapies, has been fruitfully included in behavioral couple therapy through the IBCT.
Friction Stir Processing and Fusion Welding in Nickel Aluminum Propeller Bronze

Abstract : Friction Stir Processing (FSP) is currently being developed for applications including as-cast Nickel- Aluminum Bronze (NAB). Fabrication and repair of the United States Navy's NAB propellers involve fusion welding of as-cast NAB and so it is probable that FSP is likely to encounter as deposited weld metal as well as the more slowly cooled as-cast material. Here, the microstructure and resulting distribution of mechanical properties was examined for a fusion weld overlay, an FSP stir zone and an FSP stir zone that was placed in fusion weld metal. As-deposited weld metal exhibited a refined Widmanst tten morphology and higher yield and ultimate strengths as well as increased ductility in comparison to base metal. However, the heat affected zone (HAZ) exhibited severely reduced ductility. Strength and ductility varied throughout the FSP stir zone. The reduction in ductility in the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and HAZ was less for FSP than for the fusion weld. FSP over a fusion weld resulted in strengths and ductility s similar to those produced by FSP alone, although a region of low ductility was observed at a location where stir zone weld metal and base metal were all present.
Constructing the CODA Corpus: A Parallel Corpus of Monologues and Expository Dialogues

We describe the construction of the CODA corpus, a parallel corpus of monologues and expository dialogues. The dialogue part of the corpus consists of expository, i.e., information-delivering rather than dramatic, dialogues written by several acclaimed authors. The monologue part of the corpus is a paraphrase in monologue form of these dialogues by a human annotator. The annotator-written monologue preserves all information present in the original dialogue and does not introduce any new information that is not present in the original dialogue. The corpus was constructed as a resource for extracting rules for automated generation of dialogue from monologue. Using authored dialogues allows us to analyse the techniques used by accomplished writers for presenting information in the form of dialogue. The dialogues are annotated with dialogue acts and the monologues with rhetorical structure. We developed annotation and translation guidelines together with a custom-developed tool for carrying out translation, alignment and annotation of the dialogues. The final parallel CODA corpus consists of 1000 dialogue turns that are tagged with dialogue acts and aligned with monologue that expresses the same information and has been annotated with rhetorical structure relations.
Optimisation of Springback Predicted by Experimental and Numerical Approach by Using Response Surface Methodology

Bending has significant importance in the sheet metal product industry. Moreover, the springback of sheet metal should be taken into consideration in order to produce bent sheet metal parts within acceptable tolerance limits and to solve geometrical variation for the control of manufacturing process. Nowadays, the importance of this problem increases because of the use of sheet-metal parts with high mechanical characteristics (High Strength Low Alloy steel). This work describes robust methods of predicting springback of parts in 3D modelling subjected to bending and unbending deformations. Also the effects of tool geometry in the final shape after springback are discussed. The first part of this paper presents the laboratory experiments in wiping die bending, in which the influence of process variables, such as die shoulder radius, punch-die clearance, punch nose radius and materials properties were discussed. The second part summarises the finite element analysis by using ABAQUS software and compares these results with some experimental data. It appeared that the final results of the FEM simulation are in good agreement with the experimental ones. An optimisation methodology based on the use of experimental design method and response surface technique is proposed in the third part of this paper. That makes it possible to obtain the optimum values of clearance between the punch and the die and the optimum die radius which can reduce the springback without cracking and damage of product.
PiCasso: A lightweight edge computing platform

Recent trends show that deploying low cost devices with lightweight virtualisation services is an attractive alternative for supporting the computational requirements at the network edge. Examples include inherently supporting the computational needs for local applications like smart cities and applications with stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements which are naturally hard to satisfy by traditional cloud infrastructures or supporting multi-access edge computing requirements of network in the box type solutions. The implementation of such a platform demands precise knowledge of several key system parameters, including the load that a service can tolerate and the number of service instances that a device can host. In this paper, we introduce PiCasso, a platform for lightweight service orchestration at the edges, and discuss the benchmarking results aimed at identifying the critical parameters that PiCasso needs to take into consideration.
A Survey of Broadcast Protocols for Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks

Vehicular ad-hoc networks have become the most popular application to enhance traffic safety. The traffic safety by disseminating safety messages is considered as one of the most important applications of vehicular ad-hoc networks. Broadcasting is considered as the most suitable communication mechanism to disseminate the safety message in vehicular ad-hoc networks. When an accident happens on a road, the safety message should be broadcasted to all vehicles in the area exposed to potential hazard. Broadcasting is the process in which a source vehicle sends a message to all other vehicles in vehicular ad-hoc networks. The safety message can help human drivers to enable smooth and safe driving by providing the drivers in various risk traffic environments. This paper describes a survey on broadcasting protocols for vehicular ad-hoc networks, and discusses briefly discuss applications of vehicular ad-hoc networks. Classification and comparison of broadcasting protocols are also described from their pros and cons. From the classification and comparison, this survey makes it possible to provide a variety of considerations that are required for designing a new broadcasting protocol in vehicular ad-hoc networks.
Extinction Debt and Windows of Conservation Opportunity in the Brazilian Amazon

Growing Extinction Debt Predicting, and potentially preventing, extinction is a central goal of conservation biology. Wearn et al. (p. 228; see the Perspective by Rangel) describe a mathematical approach for predicting the time lags in extinction following habitat loss. The model was applied to the highly biodiverse Brazilian Amazon region, and used to reconstruct the spatial and temporal patterns of extinction and the accumulation of extinction debt from 1970 through to the present, and to extrapolate to 2050 under four deforestation scenarios. The Amazon basin sits at a critical point: Few species have been driven extinct to date, but an extinction debt is rapidly accumulating, which could lead to an increasing rate of extinction in the next four decades. Deforestation scenarios predict species extinction rates and identify targets of conservation efforts. Predicting when future species extinctions will occur is necessary for directing conservation investments but has proved difficult. We developed a new method for predicting extinctions over time, accounting for the timing and magnitude of habitat loss. We applied this to the Brazilian Amazon, predicting that local extinctions of forest-dependent vertebrate species have thus far been minimal (1% of species by 2008), with more than 80% of extinctions expected to be incurred from historical habitat loss still to come. Realistic deforestation scenarios suggest that local regions will lose an average of nine vertebrate species and have a further 16 committed to extinction by 2050. There is a window of opportunity to dilute the legacy of historical deforestation by concentrating conservation efforts in areas with greatest debt.
A 3D contact investigation of rough surfaces considering elastoplasticity

In this work, the non-penetration condition and the interface models for contact, taking into account the surface microstructure, are investigated in detail. It is done using a homogenization procedures presented by Bandeira, Wriggers and Pimenta (2001a), to obtain by numerical simulation the interface behavior for the normal and tangential contact pressures, based on statistical surface models. The contact surfaces of both bodies are rough. This paper can be regarded as a complementary study to that presented by Bandeira, Wriggers and Pimenta (2006). Here, the plasticity of the asperities is taken into account by assuming a constitutive equation based on an associated von Mises yield function formulated in principal axes. The plastic zones in the microstructure are shown to study in detail the contact interface. Numerical examples are selected to show the ability of the algorithm to represent interface law for rough surfaces, considering elastoplastic behaviour of the asperities.
A comparison of several vector quantization codebook generation approaches

A review and a performance comparison of several often-used vector quantization (VQ) codebook generation algorithms are presented. The codebook generation algorithms discussed include the Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) binary-splitting algorithm, the pairwise nearest-neighbor algorithm, the simulated annealing algorithm, and the fuzzy c-means clustering analysis algorithm. A new directed-search binary-splitting method which reduces the complexity of the LBG algorithm, is presented. Also, a new initial codebook selection method which can obtain a good initial codebook is presented. By using this initial codebook selection algorithm, the overall LBG codebook generation time can be reduced by a factor of 1.5-2.
Benzoyl Peroxide Formulated Polycarbophil/Carbopol 934P Hydrogel with Selective Antimicrobial Activity, Potentially Beneficial for Treatment and Prevention of Bacterial Vaginosis

The human vagina is colonized by a variety of indigenous microflora; in healthy individuals the predominant bacterial genus is Lactobacillus while those with bacterial vaginosis (BV) carry a variety of anaerobic representatives of the phylum Actinobacteria. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) encapsulated in a hydrogel against Gardnerella vaginalis, one of the causative agents of BV, as well as indicating its safety for healthy human lactobacilli. Herein, it is shown that in well diffusion assays G. vaginalis is inhibited at 0.01% hydrogel-encapsulated BPO and that the tested Lactobacillus spp. can tolerate concentrations of BPO up to 2.5%. In direct contact assays (cells grown in a liquid culture containing hydrogel with 1% BPO or BPO particles), we demonstrated that hydrogels loaded with 1% BPO caused 6-log reduction of G. vaginalis. Conversely, three of the tested Lactobacillus spp. were not inhibited while L. acidophilus growth was slightly delayed. The rheological properties of the hydrogel formulation were probed using oscillation frequency sweep, oscillation shear stress sweep, and shear rate sweep. This shows the gel to be suitable for vaginal application and that the encapsulation of BPO did not alter rheological properties.
Decision Tree Analysis of Traditional Risk Factors of Carotid Atherosclerosis and a Cutpoint-Based Prevention Strategy

Background Reducing the exposure to risk factors for the prevention of cardio-cerebral vascular disease is a crucial issue. Few reports have described practical interventions for preventing cardiovascular disease in different genders and age groups, particularly detailed and specific cutpoint-based prevention strategies. Methods We collected the health examination data of 5822 subjects between 20 and 80 years of age. The administration of medical questionnaires and physical examinations and the measurement of blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and blood lipids [total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein–cholesterol (HDL-C), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C)] were performed by physicians. Carotid ultrasound was performed to examine the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), which was defined as carotid atherosclerosis when CIMT ≥0.9 mm. Decision tree analysis was used to screen for the most important risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis and to identify the relevant cutpoints. Results In the study population, the incidence of carotid atherosclerosis was 12.20% (men: 14.10%, women: 9.20%). The statistical analysis showed significant differences in carotid atherosclerosis incidence between different genders (P<0.0001) and age groups (P<0.001). The decision tree analysis showed that in men, the most important traditional risk factors for carotid atherosclerosis were TC (cutpoint [CP]: 6.31 mmol/L) between the ages of 20–40 and FPG (CP: 5.79 mmol/L) between the ages of 41–59. By comparison, LDL-C (CP: 4.27 mmol/L) became the major risk factor when FPG ≤5.79 mmol/L. FPG (CP: 5.52 mmol/L) and TG (CP: 1.51 mmol/L) were the most important traditional risk factors for women between 20–40 and 41–59 years of age, respectively. Conclusion Traditional risk factors and relevant cutpoints were not identical in different genders and age groups. A specific gender and age group-based cutpoint strategy might contribute to preventing cardiovascular disease.