Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pulsed Light Treatment of Different Food Types with a Special Focus on Meat: A Critical Review

Today, the increasing demand for minimally processed foods that are at the same moment nutritious, organoleptically satisfactory, and free from microbial hazards challenges the research and development to establish alternative methods to reduce the level of bacterial contamination. As one of the recent emerging nonthermal methods, pulsed light (PL) constitutes a technology for the fast, mild, and residue-free surface decontamination of food and food contact materials in the processing environment. Via high frequency, high intensity pulses of broad-spectrum light rich in the UV fraction, viable cells as well as spores are inactivated in a nonselective multi-target process that rapidly overwhelms cell functions and subsequently leads to cell death. This review provides specific information on the technology of pulsed light and its suitability for unpackaged and packaged meat and meat products as well as food contact materials like production surfaces, cutting tools, and packaging materials. The advantages, limitations, risks, and essential process criteria to work efficiently are illustrated and discussed with relation to implementation on industrial level and future aspects. Other issues addressed by this paper are the need to take care of the associated parameters such as alteration of the product and utilized packaging material to satisfy consumers and other stakeholders.
Semantic effects of agreement: The case of French past participle agreement

Kayne's (1989) seminal paper on participle agreement in Italian and French has spurred numerous studies on the syntactic conditions governing agreement relations. The focus of this paper is on the semantic aspects of this phenomenon. Within the framework of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program, an analysis of French participle agreement is developed, that relates the semantic impact of overt agreement to the syntactic structure that it enforces. We argue that the interaction of Move with the projection of a morphologically strong AGR-O/v determines the position of DPs at LF and their interpretations. Modifying Diesing’s proposal for a syntax-semantic mapping, we propose that only DPs adjoined to a V-head (incorporation) can be interpreted predicatively (or non-specifically) in the sense of De Hoop (1992) while those adjoined to AGR-O/v projection receive a specific interpretation. We further take the presence of AGR-O/v in a sentence structure to be subject to Economy conditions operating on the numeration. The complex distribution of overt object agreement in French, -- optional in accusative constructions, obligatory in passives and impossible in impersonal constructions -- as well as its semantic impact on the interpretation of the triggering nominal expressions are then shown to derive straightforwardly from the interaction of Case and the Economy driven projection of AGR-O/v in the sentence structure.
The project on death in America faculty scholars program: a report on scholars' progress.

BACKGROUND The Project on Death in America's (PDIA) Faculty Scholars' Program (FSP) was created to develop a cadre of faculty and clinician leaders in palliative care. The purpose of this study was to document Scholars' progress since their participation in this program. METHODS Key outcome variables included grants awarded in palliative care, peer-reviewed publications, academic promotions, editorships held, honors, and certifications since their FSP grant award. Methods included a self-administered survey in 2003, and an update in 2007 through collection of Scholars' CVs and a review of literature and websites of national medical palliative care organizations. RESULTS Of 740 applicants who applied during the granting period 1995-2003, 87 were selected as Faculty Scholars (8 cohorts, 2-3 years each). All Scholars responded to the survey (100% response). Forty percent were female; 82.8% were physicians and 12.6% were nurses. Scholars reported receiving a total of more than $113 million dollars in grants. As of 2007, Scholars had published a total of 2171 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Sixty percent of physicians were certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Scholars have been represented in the leadership of all major medical organizations related to end-of-life care and national end-of-life initiatives. CONCLUSION Our results suggest the PDIA Faculty Scholars Program has been successful in accomplishing its objective of developing a core group of clinical and academic leaders to advance the field of palliative care.
Age-dependent sexual selection in bighorn rams

Although mating systems and sexual selection have been intensively studied in ungulate model systems, very few studies have combined genetic paternity analysis with individual phenotypic data over several breeding seasons. We used microsatellite paternity analysis to determine the parentage of 83 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) born between 1995 and 2000 at Ram Mountain, Alberta, Canada. We could assign the paternity of 64 lambs at a high level of statistical confidence (95%). Within each season, the most successful ram sired an average of 35.5% of the lambs with assigned paternity, and a single ram sired 26.1% of all lambs over the six mating seasons. Although a few large-horned, mature (age 8+ years) rams had very high reproductive success, younger rams sired ca. 50% of the lambs. Mixed–effects models indicated that mating success increases as a nonlinear function of age, with horn length increasingly positive in correlation with mating success in older rams. These results indicate that young or small rams possibly achieve mating success through alternative mating tactics that are less dependent on body and weapon size, such as coursing and blocking. Sexual selection is therefore likely to have age–dependent effects on traits such as agility, body and horn size.
Does a family history of cancer increase the risk for postmenopausal endometrial carcinoma?

As part of the hereditary nonpolyposis colon carcinoma (HNPCC) constellation of neoplasia caused by defects in mismatch repair genes, some endometrial carcinomas are known to have a genetic contribution to etiology. However, most endometrial carcinomas occur in postmenopausal women, presumably without the HNPCC defect. Consequently, the genetic contribution to these cases is unclear. The objective of this study was to determine whether family history of cancer is a risk factor for endometrial carcinoma in older women.
Reactive Power Compensation in Electric Arc Furnaces Using Prediction Intervals

This paper proposes a probabilistic method to model the uncertainty of reactive power compensation by static VAr compensators (SVCs) in electric arc furnaces (EAFs). The time-varying characteristics of EAF accentuate the voltage fluctuations and produce flicker in power lines as well as neighboring loads. In order to solve this issue, quick and accurate response of SVC within a half-cycle ahead is required. This paper proposes a nonparametric approach based on lower upper bound estimation method to construct prediction intervals (PIs) for the reactive power in EAFs. Due to the nonlinear nature of reactive power signals in EAFs, a set of PIs are produced and combined to find an optimal aggregated PI. The proposed prediction method provides a faster-than-real-time monitoring of SVC, which aims at high speed and efficient reactive power compensation. In order to find the most satisfying PIs with high coverage probability and low average width, an optimization algorithm is developed to improve the training process of neural networks. The appropriate performance of the proposed method is examined on the practical data gathered from the Mobarakeh Steel Company, Iran.
Real-time effects of centrotemporal spikes on cognition in rolandic epilepsy: An EEG-fMRI study

behavior. Language impairment and behavior problems are frequently reported in this disorder. In addition, several studies suggested the risk that interictal brain activity affects cognitive development and alters brain maturation in this disorder. Our suggestion for treatment of patients with RE is that the risk of spikes for neuropsychological development should not be neglected and, compared with nontreatment, treatment with initial AED (even low-dosage AED) is necessary for patients with frequent spikes.
Physiological role of urothelial cancer‐associated one long noncoding RNA in human skeletogenic cell differentiation

A vast number of long‐noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) are found expressed in human cells, which RNAs have been developed along with human evolution. However, the physiological functions of these lncRNAs remain mostly unknown. In the present study, we for the first time uncovered the fact that one of such lncRNAs plays a significant role in the differentiation of chondrocytes and, possibly, of osteoblasts differentiated from mesenchymal stem cells, which cells eventually construct the human skeleton. The urothelial cancer‐associated 1 (UCA1) lncRNA is known to be associated with several human malignancies. Firstly, we confirmed that UCA1 was expressed in normal human chondrocytes, as well as in a human chondrocytic cell line; whereas it was not detected in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). Of note, although UCA1 expression was undetectable in hBMSCs, it was markedly induced along with the differentiation toward chondrocytes, suggesting its critical role in chondrogenesis. Consistent with this finding, silencing of the UCA1 gene significantly repressed the expression of chondrogenic genes in human chondrocytic cells. UCA1 gene silencing and hyper‐expression also had a significant impact on the osteoblastic phenotype in a human cell line. Finally, forced expression of UCA1 in a murine chondrocyte precursor, which did not possess a UCA1 gene, overdrove its differentiation into chondrocytes. These results indicate a physiological and important role of this lncRNA in the skeletal development of humans, who require more sustained endochondral ossification and osteogenesis than do smaller vertebrates.
Analytical hierarchy process for the selection of advanced manufacturing technology in an aircraft industry

It has often been said that the strength of any country resides in the strength of its industrial sector and progress in industrial society has been accomplished by the creation of new technologies. The implementation of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) requires careful planning at all levels of the organisation to ensure that the implementation will achieve the intended goals considering the multiple criteria. An appropriate multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) can be used in order to evaluate and compare new technologies. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has the ability to structure complex, multi-person, multi-attribute and multi-period problems hierarchically. In this paper, a decision-making model is proposed for AMT evaluation and selection. This strategic decision-making model is based on both tangible and intangible criteria and uses the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach. Finally, the model was tested in a case study of an aircraft company in Malaysia.
Analyze PFG Anomalous Diffusion via Real Space 2 and Phase Space Approaches 3

Pulsed-field gradient (PFG) diffusion experiments can be used to measure anomalous 7 diffusion in many polymer or biological systems. However, it is still complicated to analyze PFG 8 anomalous diffusion, particularly the finite gradient pulse width (FGPW) effect. In practical 9 applications, the FGPW effect may not be neglected such as in clinical diffusion magnetic resonance 10 imaging (MRI). Here, two significantly different methods are proposed to analyze PFG anomalous 11 diffusion: the effective phase shift diffusion equation (EPSDE) method and an observing the signal 12 intensity at the origin method. The EPSDE method describes the phase evolution in virtual phase 13 space, while the method to observe the signal intensity at the origin describes the magnetization 14 evolution in real space. However, these two approaches give the same general PFG signal 15 attenuation including FGPW effect, which can be numerically evaluated by a direct integration 16 method. The direct integration method is fast and without overflow. It is a convenient numerical 17 evaluation method for Mittag-Leffler function type PFG signal attenuation. The methods here 18 provide a clear view of spin evolution under field gradient, and their results will help the analysis 19 of PFG anomalous diffusion. 20
Laminin γ3 Chain Binds to Nidogen and Is Located in Murine Basement Membranes*

Recently a novel laminin γ3 chain was identified in mouse and human and shown to have the same modular structure as the laminin γ1 chain. We expressed two fragments of the γ3 chain in mammalian cells recombinantly. The first, domain VI/V, consisting of laminin N-terminal (domain VI) and four laminin-type epidermal growth factor-like (domain V) and laminin N-terminal modules, was shown to be essential for self-assembly of laminins. The other was domain III3–5, which consists of three laminin-type epidermal growth factor-like modules and is predicted to bind to nidogens. The γ3 VI/V fragment was a poor inhibitor for laminin-1 polymerization as was the β2 VI/V fragment. The γ3 III3–5 fragment bound to nidogen-1 and nidogen-2 with lower affinity than the γ1 III3–5 fragment. These data suggested that laminins containing the γ3 chain may assemble networks independent of other laminins. Polyclonal antibodies raised against γ3 VI/V and γ3 III3–5 showed no cross-reaction with homologous fragments from the γ1 and γ2 chains of laminin and allowed the establishment of γ chain-specific radioimmunoassays and light and electron microscopic immunostaining of tissues. This demonstrated a 20–100-fold lower content of the γ3 chain compared with the γ1 chain in various tissue extracts of adult mice. The expression of γ3 chain was highly tissue-specific. In contrast to earlier assumptions, the antibodies against the γ3 chain showed light microscopic staining exclusively in basement membrane zones of adult and embryonic tissues, such as the brain, kidney, skin, muscle, and testis. Ultrastructural immunogold staining localized the γ3 chain to basement membranes of these tissues.
Regulation of yeast COX6 by the general transcription factor ABF1 and separate HAP2- and heme-responsive elements

Transcription of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae COX6 gene is regulated by heme and carbon source. It is also affected by the HAP2/3/4 transcription factor complex and by SNF1 and SSN6. Previously, we have shown that most of this regulation is mediated through UAS6, an 84-bp upstream activation segment of the COX6 promoter. In this study, by using linker scanning mutagenesis and protein binding assays, we have identified three elements within UAS6 and one element downstream of it that are important. Two of these, HDS1 (heme-dependent site 1; between -269 and -251 bp) and HDS2 (between -228 and -220 bp), mediate regulation of COX6 by heme. Both act negatively. The other two elements, domain 2 (between -279 and -269 bp) and domain 1 (between -302 and -281 bp), act positively. Domain 2 is required for optimal transcription in cells grown in repressing but not derepressing carbon sources. Domain 1 is essential for transcription per se in cells grown on repressing carbon sources, is required for optimal transcription in cells grown on a derepressing carbon source, is sufficient for glucose repression-derepression, and is the element of UAS6 at which HAP2 affects COX6 transcription. This element contains the major protein binding sites within UAS6. It has consensus binding sequences for ABF1 and HAP2. Gel mobility shift experiments show that domain 1 binds ABF1 and forms different numbers of DNA-protein complexes in extracts from cells grown in repressing or derepressing carbon sources. In contrast, gel mobility shift experiments have failed to reveal that HAP2 or HAP3 binds to domain 1 or that hap3 mutations affect the complexes bound to it. Together, these findings permit the following conclusions: COX6 transcription is regulated both positively and negatively; heme and carbon source exert their effects through different sites; domain 1 is absolutely essential for transcription on repressing carbon sources; ABF1 is a major component in the regulation of COX6 transcription; and the HAP2/3/4 complex most likely affects COX6 transcription indirectly.
Inhibition of canine tracheal smooth muscle by mediators from cultured bronchial epithelial cells.

To determine the effect of mediators released from cultured canine bronchial epithelial cells on contraction of canine tracheal smooth muscle, we treated smooth muscle strips with piperazine-N,N'-bis(2-ethanesulfonic acid) buffer "conditioned" by 5 h incubation with cultures of 4- to 5-day-old cultured epithelial cells. Pretreatment of tracheal smooth muscle with conditioned buffer for 5 min resulted in a significant shift to the right of the contractile dose-response curve to histamine in the range of 10(-8) to 5 x 10(-4) M. In addition, conditioned buffer induced a dose-related relaxation of the muscle precontracted by histamine (5 microM). Relaxant activity was also evident against tissues precontracted by 5-hydroxytryptamine or methacholine. Lipid extraction of conditioned buffer reduced its activity to that of the fresh buffer control. Prior treatment of the cells in culture with the cyclooxygenase inhibitor, sodium meclofenamate (4 microM), markedly reduced the relaxant effect of the conditioned buffer, whereas prior treatment with MK-886, an inhibitor of 5-lipoxygenase, did not alter relaxant activity. Analysis of prostanoids released into the buffer by epithelial cells indicated the presence of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and 6-ketoprostaglandin F1 alpha, the former in concentrations sufficient to account for the effect of conditioned buffer on precontracted tracheal muscle. Prostaglandin I2 appeared to have a synergistic effect on PGE2-induced relaxation. We conclude that canine bronchial epithelial cells exhibit baseline release of a relaxant lipid factor(s) that can both inhibit and reverse the contraction of tracheal smooth muscle by histamine. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A control architecture to coordinate DG inverters and a series-ZC-filtered hybrid active filter for power quality improvement in micro-grid

In this paper, a control architecture to coordinate DG inverters and a series-LC-filtered hybrid active filter (HAF) is proposed to impede the current harmonics from flowing into DG inverters and grid simultaneously. First, the main circuit topology for the proposed control architecture is presented, which contains a group of DG units, a transformer interfacing the micro-grid to the grid and a series-LC-filtered HAF. Secondly, harmonics rejection control (HRC) is incorporated into the voltage-controlled inverters to impede the current harmonics from the nonlinear loads. Moreover, a small-capacity Series-LC-Filtered HAF is connected to the point of common coupling (PCC). The LC filtering branch is designed based on the reactive demand of loads, which can reduce capacity of DG inverter further. Besides, potential harmonic resonance can also be effectively dampened with proposed filtering method. Finally, a detailed case study validates the proposed control architecture and indicates that this method is suitable for grid-connected micro-grid, because it can effectively decrease current harmonics in both DG inverter output and grid side simultaneously.
Fourier-Transform Midinfrared Spectroscopy for Analysis and Screening of Liquid Protein Formulations Part 2 : Detailed Analysis and Applications

LEVEL: ADVANCED I n the first half of this two-part article (1), we introduced the physical principle behind infrared (IR) absorptions and experimental setups used for investigating protein samples. This second part concludes by focusing on the use of IR spectroscopic data in formulation stability studies and for characterizing protein secondary structures and related changes (e.g., resulting from protein–excipient interactions). We also examine IR’s use in screening protein formulations.
Combination therapy of hydroxycarbamide with anagrelide in patients with essential thrombocythemia in the evaluation of Xagrid® efficacy and long-term safety study

Available information is limited regarding the use of cytoreductive combination therapy in high-risk patients with essential thrombocythemia. This analysis aims to evaluate the clinical relevance and patterns of cytoreductive combination treatment in European high-risk patients with essential thrombocythemia in the Evaluation of Xagrid® Efficacy and Long-term Safety study. Of 3643 patients, 347 (9.5%) received combination therapy. Data were recorded at each 6-month update. Of 347 patients who received combination therapy, 304 (87.6%) received hydroxycarbamide + anagrelide. Monotherapies received before this combination were hydroxycarbamide (n=167, 54.9%) and anagrelide (n=123, 40.5%). Median weekly doses of hydroxycarbamide and anagrelide were: 7000 and 10.5 mg when used as prior monotherapy; 3500 and 7.0 mg when used as add-on treatment. Overall, median platelet counts were 581×109/L and 411×109/L before and after starting hydroxycarbamide + anagrelide, respectively. In patients with paired data (n=153), the number of patients with platelet counts less than 400×109/L increased from 33 (21.6%) to 74 (48.4%; P<0.0001), and with platelet counts less than 600×109/L, from 82 (53.6%) to 132 (86.3%; P<0.0001). Hydroxycarbamide + anagrelide was discontinued in 158 patients: 76 (48.1%) stopped hydroxycarbamide, 59 (37.3%) stopped anagrelide, 19 (12.0%) stopped both and 4 (2.5%) had another therapy added. The most frequent reasons for discontinuation were intolerance/side-effects, lack of efficacy, and therapeutic strategy. Combination therapy, usually hydroxycarbamide + anagrelide, is used in approximately 10% of all high-risk patients with essential thrombocythemia and may be a useful approach in treating patients for whom monotherapy is unsatisfactory. (Clinicaltrials.gov identifier:NCT00567502)
Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn): a novel target for therapeutic antibodies and antibody engineering

Abstract The biomedical applications of antibodies as prophylactics, therapeutics and diagnostics are developing rapidly. Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is a major IgG Fc receptor capable of facilitating the translocation of IgG. FcRn can protect IgG from intracellular catabolism, thereby increasing its half-life. In recent decade, the interaction between FcRn and the Fc region has been reported with the focuses on either prolonging the plasma half-life of therapeutic IgG or shortening the half-life of pathogenic IgG. The FcRn–IgG interaction can be altered by modifying the Fc region to change their affinity (increase or decrease), and/or by reducing the Fc fragments of IgG to enhance its penetration into tissues or cells. By over expression of FcRn, the exogenous catabolism can be reduced, meanwhile the circulating IgG level could be enhanced. It has been confirmed in different FcRn over-expressed transgenic mice models, substantial humoral responses against antigens with weak immunogenicity can be mounted. In addition, designing inhibitors for FcRn–IgG interaction is another application prospect for treating IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases. Recent research advancements strengthen the understanding that FcRn is a key and promising drugable target in IgG intervention in the field of antibody engineering.
Human action recognition using simple geometric features and a finite state machine

Abstract In this paper a human action recognition algorithm, which uses background generation with shadow elimination, silhouette description based on simple geometrical features and a finite state machine for recognizing particular actions is described. The performed tests indicate that this approach obtains a 81 % correct recognition rate allowing real-time image processing of a 360 X 288 video stream.