Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The HMW1 and HMW2 Adhesins Enhance the Ability of Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae To Colonize the Upper Respiratory Tract of Rhesus Macaques

ABSTRACT Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract and is a common cause of localized respiratory tract disease. Previous work has established that the NTHi HMW1 and HMW2 proteins are potent adhesins that mediate efficient in vitro adherence to cultured human respiratory epithelial cells. In this study, we used a rhesus macaque model to assess the contributions of HMW1 and HMW2 to in vivo colonization. In experiments involving inoculation of individual isogenic derivatives of NTHi strain 12, the parent strain expressing both HMW1 and HMW2 and the mutant strains expressing either HMW1 or HMW2 were able to colonize more frequently than the double mutant strain lacking HMW1 and HMW2. In competition experiments, the parent strain efficiently outcompeted the double mutant lacking HMW1 and HMW2. Colonization with strains expressing HMW2 resulted in development of antibody against HMW2 in a number of the animals, demonstrating that colonization can stimulate an antibody response. In conclusion, we have established that the HMW1 and HMW2 adhesins play a major role in facilitating colonization of the upper respiratory tract of rhesus macaques, in some cases associated with stimulation of an immune response.
Diverse roles for ionotropic glutamate receptors on inhibitory interneurons in developing and adult brain

Glutamate receptor‐mediated recruitment of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons is a critical determinant of network processing. Early studies observed that many, but not all, interneuron glutamatergic synapses contain AMPA receptors that are GluA2‐subunit lacking and Ca2+ permeable, making them distinct from AMPA receptors at most principal cell synapses. Subsequent studies demonstrated considerable alignment of synaptic AMPA and NMDA receptor subunit composition within specific subtypes of interneurons, suggesting that both receptor expression profiles are developmentally and functionally linked. Indeed glutamate receptor expression profiles are largely predicted by the embryonic origins of cortical interneurons within the medial and caudal ganglionic eminences of the developing telencephalon. Distinct complements of AMPA and NMDA receptors within different interneuron subpopulations contribute to the differential recruitment of functionally divergent interneuron subtypes by common afferent inputs for appropriate feed‐forward and feedback inhibitory drive and network entrainment. In contrast, the lesser‐studied kainate receptors, which are often present at both pre‐ and postsynaptic sites, appear to follow an independent developmental expression profile. Loss of specific ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) subunits during interneuron development has dramatic consequences for both cellular and network function, often precipitating circuit inhibition–excitation imbalances and in some cases lethality. Here we briefly review recent findings highlighting the roles of iGluRs in interneuron development.
Neurophysiologic evaluation of auditory recognition memory in healthy newborn infants and infants of diabetic mothers.

OBJECTIVES We evaluated the integrity of neural pathways for auditory recognition memory in normal newborn infants (n = 32) and infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs, n = 25). IDMs are at risk for fetal metabolic abnormalities that potentially damage recognition memory pathways. We hypothesized that newborn IDMs would have recognition memory deficits that would be correlated with later cognitive development. STUDY DESIGN Recognition memory was assessed with event-related potentials (ERPs). Neonatal ERPs elicited by the maternal voice were compared with those elicited by a stranger's voice. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered at 1 year of age. RESULTS Infants in both the control and IDM groups demonstrated recognition of the maternal voice, but their ERP patterns differed. Both groups demonstrated increased amplitude and latency for the "P2" peak elicited by the maternal voice compared with the stranger's voice. In the control group the stranger's voice also elicited a negative slow wave, which was attenuated in the IDMs. The negative slow wave correlated significantly with the 1-year Mental Developmental Index. CONCLUSIONS The presence of a specific neonatal ERP pattern indicated better 1-year cognitive development in infants in the control and IDM groups. ERPs from IDMs demonstrated subtle evidence of recognition memory impairments.
Bond yields and debt supply: new evidence through the lens of a preferred-habitat model

This paper examines the responsiveness of bond yields to changes in debt supply. The preferred-habitat theory predicts a positive relation between the term spread and relative supply of longer term debt, and that this relation is stronger when risk aversion is high. To capture this effect, a time-varying coefficient model is introduced and applied to German bond data. The results support the theoretical predictions and indicate substantial time variation: under high risk aversion, yield spreads react about three times more strongly than when risk aversion is low. The accumulated response of term spreads to a one standard deviation change in debt supply ranges between 4 and 46 basis points.
An extended transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) for multi‐allele marker loci

The transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) was recently introduced by Spielman et al. (1993) as a test for linkage and linkage disequilibrium. The test is based on the unequal probability of transmission of two different marker alleles from parents to affected offspring, when the marker locus and the hypothetical disease locus are linked and are in linkage disequilibrium. The probabilities of marker allele transmission to affected offspring conditional on parental genotype have been derived by Ott (1989) for a biallelic marker and a recessive disorder with no phenocopies. Here, we derive the transmission probabilities for a multi‐allele marker locus and a generalized single locus disease model in a random sample of affected individuals from a randomly mating population. The form of these transmission probabilities suggests an extension of the TDT to multi‐allele marker loci, in which the alternative hypothesis is restricted to take account of the likely pattern of unequal transmission when the recombination fraction is near 0. We show how our extended TDT can be implemented by standard software for logistic regression, although we have also written our own program which is available on request. We have evaluated the approximate power of the test under a range of realistic assumptions, and it appears that the test will often have good power when linkage disequilibrium is strong and if the disease is recessive.
Neutrophils enhance expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in human normal but not cystic fibrosis bronchial epithelial cells.

The bronchial epithelium in cystic fibrosis (CF) expresses very low levels of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The product of iNOS, nitric oxide (NO), mediates anti-microbial effects and can reduce neutrophil sequestration in the lung. Heavy neutrophilic infiltration of the pulmonary epithelium is a major feature of the end-stage CF lung. This study hypothesized that the system whereby the pulmonary epithelium protects itself against exaggerated neutrophilic infiltration by producing NO is compromised in CF. Human neutrophils were activated by incubation with cytokines, added to monolayers of normal (16HBE14o-) and CF (CFBE41o-) bronchial epithelial cells and co-cultured for up to 72 h. Marked up-regulation of iNOS protein expression was seen in normal bronchial epithelial cells following neutrophil co-culture but the CF cells showed a significantly smaller increase (p<0.001). To determine whether the relative lack of protein was due to a defect in translation, RT-PCR of iNOS mRNA was carried out and a pattern of mRNA expression was seen paralleling that of the protein. The reduced production of NO by CF compared with normal epithelium was shown by the presence of significantly (p<0.001) less accumulated nitrites in medium after co-culture with neutrophils. In summary, this study shows that the normal production of NO by bronchial epithelium in response to contact with neutrophils is lacking in CF. As NO has been shown to oppose neutrophil sequestration, its relative lack in CF may underlie the heavy neutrophilic infiltration that characterizes the disease.
Critical Infrastructure Analysis of Telecom for Natural Disasters

Critical national infrastructures for power, emergency services, finance, and other basic industries rely heavily on information and telecommunications networks (voice, data, Internet) to provide services and conduct business. While these networks tend to be highly reliable, severe, large scale outages do occur, especially at times of unfolding disasters, which can lead to cascading effects on other dependent infrastructures. This paper describes recent natural disasters in the USA, namely hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, and the impacts they have had on power outages and flooding leading to failures on the dependent critical infrastructure. In particular we consider the impact of these disasters on the affected telecommunication networks. We quantify the level of availability of wireline and wireless services during these network failures. We also discuss studies that were performed in preparation for a hurricane impact. The studies have been performed using the network simulation modeling and analysis research tool (N-SMART), which has been developed to support detailed wireline and wireless network simulations under varying network conditions and degrees of failures. We analyze the levels of outages and recovery times for these disaster events as well as possible mitigations to prepare in advance for these and other potential future disasters
The role of insulin-like growth factor-1 in development of coronary no-reflow and severity of coronary artery disease in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Introduction Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) has atheroprotective effects via reduction in oxidative stress, cellular apoptosis, pro-inflammatory signaling, and endothelial dysfunction. Aim We hypothesized that low levels of IGF-1 may be associated with the severity and extent of coronary artery disease and development of the coronary no-reflow phenomenon in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and investigated the role of the IGF-1 molecule in the coronary no-reflow phenomenon and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with acute STEMI in a tertiary hospital. Material and methods The study was conducted among 113 patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for STEMI, of whom 49 patients developed the no-reflow phenomenon. Coronary no-reflow was defined as Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grade 2 or less after intervention. Insulin-like growth factor-1 levels were measured in both groups. The severity and extent of CAD were evaluated according to the Gensini and Syntax scores. Results Although IGF-1 levels were lower in the no-reflow group, there was not a statistically significant difference between the no-reflow group and the control group (116.65 ±51.72 vs. 130.82 ±48.76, p = 0.130). Gensini and Syntax scores were higher in the no-reflow group. There was no association between Gensini and Syntax scores and IGF-1 levels (r = –0.071, r = 0.479, r = –0.158, p = 0.113). Conclusions In this study, IGF-1 levels were not statistically different between patients developing the no-reflow phenomenon and controls. There was no association between development of the no-reflow phenomenon and severity of CAD or IGF-1 levels. Nevertheless, large scale studies are needed to verify these results.
Lu system chaos synchronization using single variable feedback

This paper treats the chaos synchronization problem of chaotic Lu system via single variable information of the master system. By stability theory of cascade-connection system, the derived controller is featured as follows: (a) only single variable information of the master system is needed to transmit to slave system for synchronization; (b) the pre-knowledge of upper bound of the trajectory of the master system is eliminated; (c) the controller is linear feedback. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control law is also illustrated by the numerical simulation on Matlab environment as well as rigorous mathematical proof.
Energy Management Strategy for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles via Bidirectional Vehicle-to-Grid

As a paradigm of the incoming smart grid, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) has been proposed as a promising solution to increase the adoption rate of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). In this paper, we investigate the energy management strategies for PHEVs via bidirectional V2G. We first follow a cost-conscious approach from the PHEV owner point of view. To minimize the daily energy cost, we formulate the energy management problem via dynamic programming (DP). However, the “well-known” complexity in solving DP poses a computational challenge even for a small number of iterations. Therefore, we propose a state-independent four-threshold <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(s,S,s^{\prime},S^{\prime})$</tex-math> </inline-formula> battery charging/discharging policy and theoretically prove the optimality of the proposed energy management strategy based on stochastic inventory theory. A backward iteration algorithm is further developed to practically implement the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(s,S,s^{\prime},S^{\prime})$</tex-math> </inline-formula> feedback policy. Second, from the distribution system operator's perspective, we aim to shave the peak load and flatten the overall load profile. To this end, we propose an optimal PHEV charging scheme and further derive a reminiscent “water-filling” solution for this scenario. Realistic PHEV battery models, time-of-use electricity pricing rate, and real data of household demand are integrated into our formulated V2G system model. The theoretical analysis and proofs are instrumental to the future large-scale PHEV adoption in smart grids.
The National Innovation System

The article considers the prerequisites of the concept of the national innovation system (NIS), and it demonstrates the role of neoclassical economic theory as well as evolutionary, institutional, and neo-Schumpeterian approaches to the formation of the NIS. The article identifies problems that must be addressed by the new concept, and it describes the main characteristics of the approaches that it fosters for the analysis of the NIS, including the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches. The author proposes an alternative approach for developing NIS theory on the basis of the structural-objective and functional approaches to the analysis of the national innovation system.
Long-term intake of trans-fatty acids and risk of gallstone disease in men.

BACKGROUND The consumption of trans-fatty acids adversely affects blood lipid levels. The relationship with the incidence of gallstone disease is unknown. METHODS We prospectively studied consumption of trans-fatty acids in relation to the risk of gallstone disease in a cohort of 45,912 men. trans-Fatty acid consumption was assessed using a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Newly diagnosed gallstone disease, by radiology or cholecystectomy, was ascertained biennially. RESULTS During 14 years of follow-up, we documented 2356 new cases of symptomatic gallstones. After adjusting for age and other potential risk factors, we found that compared with men in the lowest quintile of dietary intake of trans-fatty acids, the relative risk (RR) of gallstone disease for those in the highest quintile was 1.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.44; P for trend, .03). Among individual trans-fatty acids, the RR for trans-oleic fatty acid, when extreme quintiles were compared, was 1.24 (95% CI, 1.06-1.45; P for trend, .02). Intakes of trans-palmitoleic fatty acid (RR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.90-1.31), trans,trans 18:2 fatty acid (RR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.96-1.34), and cis-trans 18:2 fatty acid (RR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.86-1.16) were not significantly associated with the risk. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that a higher intake of trans-fatty acids modestly increases risk of gallstone disease. This adds to the concern that partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils to form shortening and margarine can lead to adverse health effects.
Immunogenicity of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Polytope Vaccine Containing Multiple HLA A2 HIV CD8+ Cytotoxic T-Cell Epitopes

ABSTRACT Compelling evidence now suggests that αβ CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) have an important role in preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and/or slowing progression to AIDS. Here, we describe an HIV type 1 CTL polyepitope, or polytope, vaccine comprising seven contiguous minimal HLA A2-restricted CD8 CTL epitopes conjoined in a single artificial construct. Epitope-specific CTL lines derived from HIV-infected individuals were able to recognize every epitope within the construct, and HLA A2-transgenic mice immunized with a recombinant virus vaccine coding for the HIV polytope also generated CTL specific for different epitopes. Each epitope in the polytope construct was therefore processed and presented, illustrating the feasibility of the polytope approach for HIV vaccine design. By simultaneously inducing CTL specific for different epitopes, an HIV polytope vaccine might generate activity against multiple challenge isolates and/or preempt the formation of CTL escape mutants.
Duty Ratio Modulation Strategy to Minimize Torque and Flux Linkage Ripples in IPMSM DTC Systems

The active vector effects on torque and flux linkage are different in interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) systems at different times under direct torque control (DTC). These different effects may cause overcompensation or undercompensation to torque and flux linkage leading to large torque and flux linkage ripples in the IPMSM DTC systems. A novel duty ratio modulation strategy for the IPMSM DTC systems is presented, which considers these differences that are ignored in conventional duty ratio modulation strategies. The proposed duty ratio modulation strategy aims at minimizing torque ripple and flux linkage ripple, which makes sure that the control system can work in an optimum state. The active angle, the impact angle, the active factor, and the impact factor are first introduced. The active angel and the impact angle are used to get the active factor and the impact factor, respectively. Every sector is divided into five small sectors based on the impact angels, and then, a switching table is redesigned according to the small sectors division. Also, the vector selection rules for the redesigned switching table are described in details. Subsequently, an optimal duty ratio can be derived through the simplified duty ratio determination method. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed novel modulation strategy is verified through the experimental results on a 100-W IPMSM drive system.
Enterotoxigenicity of bovine staphylococci isolated from California mastitis test-positive milk in Japan.

Enterotoxigenic staphylococci (ES) were detected in 363 (34.4 %) out of 1,056 coagulase-positive isolates obtained from California Mastitis Test positive milk from 708 cows on 168 farms scattered throughout Japan. The ES produced enterotoxins C (54.3 %), A (31.1 %), D (27.0 %) and B (10.7 %) either alone or together. None produced enterotoxin E. The ES were isolated from 34.0 % of the mammary quarter-milk samples. Of the entero toxigenic isolates, 38.6 % were typable by the basic set for typing bovine staphylococci, while 62.3 % of the nonenterotoxigenic isolates were typable. Almost all of the enterotoxin A-and D-producing isolates belonged to phage groups III or IIIlI. Several repeated examinations of the same cows showed that the ES persisted in the mammary glands of the same cow for at least 8 months and that it was transmitted to other cows of the same farm. These results indicated that staphylococcal infections of the bovine mammary glands represent a significant reservoir of ES.
Optical GMPLS networks with code switch capable layer for sub-wavelength switching

We propose a novel extension to the label mapping space in GMPLS networks by exploiting further physical layer properties. The proposed extension, OC-GMPLS (optical code enabled GMPLS), is a modified version of the standard GMPLS. OC-GMPLS relies on adding an optical CDMA code switching layer called code switch capable (CSC) layer to the existing label mapping layers. OC-GMPLS provides a larger label mapping space and enhances the QoS capabilities for optical networks through increasing the granularity of traffic identification. In our extension, we use Manchester signaling to allow for more robust clock recovery while providing enhanced performance over conventional on-off keying (OOK) schemes. We also provide a reference architecture for the label switching layers in our OC-GMPLS architecture capable of performing labelling through optical CDMA. We analyze the performance of the proposed scheme and show that our proposal significantly enhances the overall network performance.
Multichannel Intraneural and Intramuscular Techniques for Multiunit Recording and Use in Active Prostheses

During the last decade there has been a renewed interest in the development of advanced, active hand prosthetic devices for amputees. In contrast to passive prostheses, active devices can be controlled by the user's intention. Active prosthetic devices have been substantially improved by integrating robot technology to achieve more functionalities and lifelike movements. Despite important progress in the technological development of prosthetics, their clinical application is still limited by the quantity and quality of biological signals that can be used for understanding the user's intention, and by the relatively poor performance of the algorithms that translate the user's intention into a desired movement. In this review we describe a solution to some of these limitations, i.e., the flexible, multichannel, implantable intraneural and intramuscular electrodes to interface the body's peripheral nerves or muscles. We aim to review the historic development, the underlying technology, and the design concepts of these electrodes. Moreover, the signal processing methods applied to these recordings and their use for the control of prosthetic devices will be discussed. Although the focus is on hand prostheses, the interface approach described is general.
A Dynamic Power Management Algorithm for Sporadic Tasks in Real-Time Embedded Systems

Dynamic voltage Scaling (DVS) has been widely studied as an innovative technology in reducing the real-time embedded devices. An efficient performance of DVS algorithm largely depends on how to acquire more slack times to scale voltage down. In this paper, we present a more effective power management algorithm to reclaim online slack time from both higher-priority and lower-priority tasks. Based on the improvement of method, we propose a novel dynamic energysaving scheduling algorithm for sporadic tasks in real-time embedded systems (DESSAST-RTES) based on EDF. We also introduce the critical speed which was proposed in previous Studies, and the dynamic power management technology to acquire better energy-saving performance. Considering the difference between the real execution time and the worst-case execution time, DESSAST-RTES can scale processor frequencies dynamically with the real execution time, while guaranteeing all task would not miss their deadlines. The experimental results show that the DESSAST-RTES algorithm can reduce more energy consumption than existing DVS algorithms for sporadic tasks.