Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulatory T cells in virus infections

Summary: This review discusses situations when the magnitude and function of immune responses to virus infection are influenced by regulatory T cells (Tregs). The focus is on CD4+CD25+ forkhead box protein 3+ natural Tregs (nTregs). The immune response may be limited in magnitude and efficacy when animals with normal nTreg function are infected with virus. This limitation can be observed both in vitro and in vivo. In the case of herpes simplex virus (HSV), animals depleted of nTregs prior to infection more effectively control the virus. With some virus infections, Treg responses (either nTregs or interleukin‐10‐dependent adaptive Tregs) appear to contribute to immune dysfunction, accounting for viral persistence and chronic tissue damage. This may occur with hepatitis C virus and some retrovirus infections that include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Under other circumstances, the nTreg response is judged to be beneficial, as it may help limit the severity of tissue damage associated with an immunoinflammatory reaction to virus infection. Such a situation occurs in HSV‐induced immunopathological lesions in the eye. With HIV, nTregs may help limit chronic immune activation that may precede collapse of the immune system. This review also discusses how virus infections become recognized by nTreg responses and how such responses might be manipulated to increase immunity or to limit virus‐induced immunopathology.
Stable Wave Detector for Precise and Fast Detection of Blobs in the Image

Stable Wave Detector (SWD) is a new multiscale landmark detector in the intensity image. The target landmarks are blobs which correspond to local maxima/minima of intensity (positive and negative peaks). SWD belongs to a group of interestpoint-like operators aiming at detecting repeatedly distinguished entities without considering their semantics. SWD is practically motivated by a 3D natural scene reconstruction task from a videosequence captured by a low cost stereo camera rig. Precision, robustness and speed are main issues. The detector is based on the phase of the first harmonic wave in the moving window. The localization is a result of an integral transformation rather than a derivative. Thus, the blob detector is inherently robust to noise and blur in the image. The SWD provides subpixel localization of blobs together with the estimate of its precision, the measure of the strength/significance and the estimate of the size/scale for each blob. Detected blobs are further hierarchically decomposed according to scale. Blobs at each hierarchy level have some minimal distance given by the period of the detector. Both grouping of landmarks and their minimal mutual distance can facilitate matching of corresponding scene points.
Cell-substrate contacts illuminated by total internal reflection fluorescence

A technique for exciting fluorescence exclusively from regions of contact between cultured cells and the substrate is presented. The technique utilizes the evanescent wave of a totally internally reflecting laser beam to excite only those fluorescent molecules within one light wavelength or less of the substrate surface. Demonstrations of this technique are given for two types of cell cultures: rat primary myotubes with acetylcholine receptors labeled by fluorescent alpha- bungarotoxin and human skin fibroblasts labeled by a fluorescent lipid probe. Total internal reflection fluorescence examination of cells appears to have promising applications, including visualization of the membrane and underlying cytoplasmic structures at cell-substrate contacts, dramatic reduction of autofluorescence from debris and thick cells, mapping of membranes topography, and visualization of reversible bound fluorescent ligands at membrane receptors.
Salicylic Acid Induction–Deficient Mutants of Arabidopsis Express PR-2 and PR-5 and Accumulate High Levels of Camalexin after Pathogen Inoculation

In Arabidopsis, systemic acquired resistance against pathogens has been associated with the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) and the expression of the pathogenesis-related proteins PR-1, PR-2, and PR-5. We report here the isolation of two nonallelic mutants impaired in the pathway leading to SA biosynthesis. These SA induction–deficient (sid) mutants do not accumulate SA after pathogen inoculation and are more susceptible to both virulent and avirulent forms of Pseudomonas syringae and Peronospora parasitica. However, sid mutants are not as susceptible to these pathogens as are transgenic plants expressing the nahG gene encoding an SA hydroxylase that degrades SA to catechol. In contrast to NahG plants, only the expression of PR-1 is strongly reduced in sid mutants, whereas PR-2 and PR-5 are still expressed after pathogen attack. Furthermore, the accumulation of the phytoalexin camalexin is normal. These results indicate that SA-independent compensation pathways that do not operate in NahG plants are active in sid mutants. One of the mutants is allelic to eds5 (for enhanced disease susceptibility), whereas the other mutant has not been described previously.
Sensitivity analysis of coupled chaotic dynamical systems with the pseudo-orbit tracing property

This paper focuses on the sensitivity analysis of coupled nonlinear dynamical systems, which under certain conditions exhibit the chaotic behavior. Sensitivity functions calculated via conventional methods of sensitivity analysis are inherently uninformative and inconclusive. The use of the pseudo-orbit shadowing property in dynamical systems allows calculating sensitivity functions correctly and accurately for chaotic dynamics. The “pseudo-orbit” algorithm is illustrated on the coupled multiscale nonlinear chaotic dynamical system, which is obtained by coupling the fast and slow versions of the original well-known Lorenz model.
Data sharing and recovery in gigabit-networked databases

Major advances in optical fiber transmission and switching technology have enabled the development of very high speed networks with data rates of the order of gigabits per second. It is anticipated that in the future, wide area gigabit networks will interconnect database servers around the globe creating extremely powerful distributed information systems. In this paper, we examine the implications of such a high speed network on data access and sharing techniques and propose a lock-based concurrency control protocol and a log-based recovery protocol that ensures data consistency in gigabit-networked databases. Both protocols exploit the characteristics of a gigabit network to enhance the performance of the database system and, in particular, the fact that the size of the message is less of a concern than the number of sequential phases of message passing.
Intravenous Zoledronic Acid Given Every 6 Months in Childhood Osteoporosis

Aim: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 12 months of zoledronic acid (ZA) administered every 6 months to children with osteoporosis. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of 27 patients (16 male, 11 female) treated with ZA (0.05 mg/kg/dose) every 6 months for 1 year. 20 were immobile, 4 steroid-induced osteoporosis, 2 idiopathic osteoporosis and 1 neurofibromatosis type 1. 16 had long bone fractures and 12 had vertebral wedging at baseline. Mineral homeostasis, bone mineral density (BMD) and vertebral morphometry were evaluated at baseline and 12 months. Results were compared to published data on 3-monthly ZA treatment. Results: Median age at ZA start was 10.5 years (range 6.2-13.3). Following the first infusion, 2 developed asymptomatic hypocalcemic, 14 developed temperature >38°C, 13 aches/pain and 6 nausea. At 12 months, there was reduction in bone turnover and improvement in BMD and vertebral shape. No patient fractured after starting ZA. Growth was normal. Outcomes were similar to 3-monthly ZA. Conclusion: ZA administered 6-monthly was associated with acute phase reaction to the first dose and improvement in BMD, reduction in bone turnover and improved vertebral shape at 12 months.
Spot the Best Frame: Towards Intelligent Automated Selection of the Optimal Frame for Initialisation of Focal Liver Lesion Candidates in Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Video Sequences

This paper describes a contribution to a wider project which aims to provide an intelligent automated assistant to radiologists performing the skilled and time-intensive task of detecting and characterising cancerous lesions within a human liver from Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) video sequences. This particular contribution relates to automatically locating the optimal frame, for initialising a suspected focal liver lesion (FLL), within a CEUS video sequence. Currently, this task is routinely performed manually by radiologists, but is very time-consuming. The proposed approach is to use statistical and image processing techniques to automatically identify the most suitable frame for performing this initialisation, which should save the radiologist significant time and effort, bearingin mind the continuously increasing amount of CEUS data acquired and processed. In the future, this could be coupled with a method for automatically initialising the FLL's area within the area of the ultrasonographic image in this optimal frame and, together with already produced systems for the tracking and characterisation of such lesions, lead to a fully automated system assisting clinicians in the diagnosis of such lesions.
Towards a comprehensive volume visualization system

The VolVis system has been developed to satisfy the diverse requirements of the volume visualization community by comfortably housing numerous visualization algorithms and methods within a consistent and well organized framework. The VolVis system is supported by a generalized abstract model which provides for both geometric and volumetric constructs. VolVis contains several rendering algorithms that span the speed versus accuracy continuum. A fast volume rendering algorithm has been developed, which is capable of exploiting existing graphics hardware without placing any viewing restrictions or compromising accuracy. In addition, VolVis includes a volumetric navigation facility, key-frame animation generator, quantitative analysis tools, and a generalized protocol for communicating with 3D input devices. <<ETX>>
Lamina-associated Polypeptide 2-α Forms Homo-trimers via Its C Terminus, and Oligomerization Is Unaffected by a Disease-causing Mutation*

The nucleoplasmic protein, Lamina-associated polypeptide (LAP) 2α, is one of six alternatively spliced products of the LAP2gene, which share a common N-terminal region. In contrast to the other isoforms, which also share most of their C termini, LAP2α has a large unique C-terminal region that contains binding sites for chromatin, A-type lamins, and retinoblastoma protein. By immunoprecipitation analyses of LAP2α complexes from cells expressing differently tagged LAP2α proteins and fragments, we demonstrate that LAP2α forms higher order structures containing multiple LAP2α molecules in vivo and that complex formation is mediated by the C terminus. Solid phase binding assays using recombinant and in vitro translated LAP2α fragments showed direct interactions of LAP2α C termini. Cross-linking of LAP2α complexes and multiangle light scattering of purified LAP2α revealed the existence of stable homo-trimers in vivo and in vitro. Finally, we show that, in contrast to the LAP2α-lamin A interaction, its self-association is not affected by a disease-linked single point mutation in the LAP2α C terminus.
Exploring the Experiences of a Small Group of Saskatchewan Neophyte Aboriginal Teachers

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of a small group of Aboriginal neophyte teachers in Saskatchewan, Canada. Part of a larger study, this research used a mixed method approach for data collection in which 18 Aboriginal beginning teachers completed a survey (with Likert-scale items and open-ended questions) and an additional two Aboriginal beginning teachers participated in individual interviews. This study is a focused attempt to highlight the voices of the Aboriginal beginning teachers. Findings suggested that many participants had difficulty obtaining employment and identified family and friends as their core supports. Most participants felt challenged by their workload and a lack of supports to address the diverse needs of their students. Most participants found teaching to be rewarding and enjoyed the autonomy of their own classrooms. Many of the issues raised by the participants can be addressed by placing a greater focus on an Aboriginal epistemology based on the concept of community. To promote Aboriginal teacher recruitment, employment, and retention rates, it is essential that neophyte teachers are provided with employment assistance, mentorship opportunities, and curricular and unit plan resources. Keywords: neophyte/beginning teachers; preservice teacher education, mixed-methodology
Inferring Major Events from BGP Update Streams Technical Report 04-043

BGP updates are triggered by a variety of events such as link failures, session resets, router crashes, policy or configuration changes. Making sense of BGP update streams and inferring their underlying causes is important in trouble-shooting BGP and improving its performance. In this paper we propose a novel methodology to identify BGP updates associated with major events– affecting network reachability to multiple ASes– and separating them (statistically) from those attributable to minor events, which individually generate few updates, but collectively form the persistent background noise observed at BGP vantage points. Our methodology is based on principal component analysis (PCA), which enables us to transform and reduce the BGP updates into different AS clusters that are likely affected by distinct major events. We also perform “spatial correlation” and “type-of-change” analysis based on AS PATH attributes to further validate and corroborate our findings. We demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our methodology through simulations, and subsequently apply it to real BGP data. In addition, we corroborate our approach by analyzing updates corresponding to periods in which well-known routing events took place.
An Assessment of the Validity of the Developmental Inventory Scales for Children (DISC)

The Developmental Inventory Scales for Children (DISC) was designed as a screening device for preschool children. The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of the DISC. Twenty male and twenty female preschoolers were observed for three 30 minute sessions and their activities recorded by an observer. The observer then rated each child in each of the areas of the DISC under study. Each child was then rated by his/her teacher and one parent using the same rating scales as had the observer. The DISC was then administered to each child and each of the areas under study was scored. Correlations were first completed among the three sources of ratings and were found to be strongly intercorrelated. The DISC scores were then correlated with the three sources of ratings. The DISC correlated significantly with the ratings in only a few instances. It was concluded that the present form of the DISC does not represent a valid screening device. Additional revision of the DISC is necessary, followed by the collection of additional information regarding the reliability and validity of the revised form.
Testing the Effect of Supplier Development on Purchasing Performance Using Structural Equations Modelling

Supply chain management is an increasingly important organizational concern, and proper management of supplier relationships constitutes one essential element of supply chain success (Fawcett and Fawcett, 1995; Giunipero and Brand, 1996). Buying firms faced with problems of deficient supplier performance and/or capabilities can implement a wide range of supplier development practices in order to upgrade the performance and/or capabilities of the weakest links in their supply chain, such as supplier evaluation and feedback, supplier recognition, and supplier training (Krause and Ellram, 1997a). These activities require different levels of involvement by the buyer firm (Krause, 1997) and are characterized by different levels of implementation complexity (Trent and Monczka, 1999). However, we are unaware of any previous study that has characterized supplier development activities according to their level of involvement and implementation complexity (i.e., skill, time, and resources required to execute successfully a particular activity). Consequently, the main objective of this research is to comprehensively analyze the effect of supplier development practices with different levels of implementation complexity on the firm’s purchasing performance.
A Bio-inspired Optimization Algorithm for Modeling the Dynamics of Biological Systems

A new approach to meta-heuristic bat search optimization algorithm is developed. The fine balance between intensification (exploitation) and diversification (exploration) is very important to the overall efficiency and performance of a meta-heuristic search algorithm. Too little exploration and too much exploitation could cause the system to be trapped in local optima, which makes it very difficult or even impossible to find the global optimum. The track of chaotic variable can travel ergodically over the whole search space. In general, the chaotic variable has special characters, i.e., ergodicity, pseudo-randomness and irregularity. To enrich the searching behavior and to avoid being trapped into local optimum, chaotic sequence and a chaotic Levy flight are incorporated in the meta-heuristic search for efficiently generating new solutions. In this paper, we describe a general methodology to adaptively select the values of the model parameters for the reconstruction of biological system dynamics. We illustrate the application of the method by jointly estimating the parameter vector of the dynamics of endocytosis.
A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS AND HEALTH RELATED VARIABLES OF LATVIAN OLDER ADULTS

The study aim is to examine the relationships between self-rated physical activity (PA), health related subjective and objective variables and psychological determinants derived from the Transtheoretical and Social Cognitive theories. The study sample includes 359 respondents aged 60 to 75 years. The short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) was used to assess the level of PA. As a subjective measure of health status it was used The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36v2). For objective health determinants were used the Heart Health consulting room cardiovascular risk factors assessment data. Multidimensional Outcome Exercise Expectation Scale (MOEES) data show the beliefs about the benefits of exercise. To detect the involvement in regular PA it was used the Exercise Stages of Change – a short form. The results show that 20.6% of respondents have “low” PA level, 30.4% are “moderate” and 49.0% are ”high” physically active. Nevertheless, only 19.7% exercise regularly more than 6 months and 49.9% do not even plan to engage regular activities in the next 6 months. MOEES data show that outcome expectations decrease with the age, the same as PA. These results influence a subjective health assessment, because more than half of respondents are rated below the General Population Norm of SF-36v2 survey. Moreover, poor adherence to exercise is closely related to higher cardiovascular illness risk (p<0.01).
MicroRNA-26a/b and their host genes cooperate to inhibit the G1/S transition by activating the pRb protein

The functional association between intronic miRNAs and their host genes is still largely unknown. We found that three gene loci, which produced miR-26a and miR-26b, were embedded within introns of genes coding for the proteins of carboxy-terminal domain RNA polymerase II polypeptide A small phosphatase (CTDSP) family, including CTDSPL, CTDSP2 and CTDSP1. We conducted serum starvation-stimulation assays in primary fibroblasts and two-thirds partial-hepatectomies in mice, which revealed that miR-26a/b and CTDSP1/2/L were expressed concomitantly during the cell cycle process. Specifically, they were increased in quiescent cells and decreased during cell proliferation. Furthermore, both miR-26 and CTDSP family members were frequently downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues. Gain- and loss-of-function studies showed that miR-26a/b and CTDSP1/2/L synergistically decreased the phosphorylated form of pRb (ppRb), and blocked G1/S-phase progression. Further investigation disclosed that miR-26a/b directly suppressed the expression of CDK6 and cyclin E1, which resulted in reduced phosphorylation of pRb. Moreover, c-Myc, which is often upregulated in cancer cells, diminished the expression of both miR-26 and CTDSP family members, enhanced the ppRb level and promoted the G1/S-phase transition. Our findings highlight the functional association of miR-26a/b and their host genes and provide new insight into the regulatory network of the G1/S-phase transition.
Borrowing Culture and Debt Relief: Evidence from a Policy Experiment

Using a model as well as extensive empirical tests, the present paper investigates the effects of a large-scale debt waiver program on the post-waiver debt repayment behavior of borrowers in a typical rural credit market in an emerging economy. In this market the farmers borrow from banks at a subsidized rate and from private moneylenders at a substantially higher rate, debt contract enforcement is imperfect, and political interventions in the credit market in the form of waiver of overdue debt can happen even in normal states of the economy. Our model includes all classes of borrowers: those who receive full debt relief, those who receive partial debt relief, and those who do not benefit at all from the program as they do not have overdue loans. The effects are negative for all groups. In the post-waiver period, all borrowers, behaving strategically, default as well as take longer to repay their loans than in the pre-waiver period, causing ex-post inefficiency in the credit market. Interestingly, the effects are most negative for the formerly good borrowers who did not default before. Expectations about similar debt relief in future coupled with extensions on loan repayment granted by bankers who find debt recovery difficult drive our results. Further, rationally anticipating adverse borrower behavior, the lending institutions ration credit, generating ex ante inefficiency as well. Ironically, access to credit declines for poor households following unconditional debt relief. We confirm the predictions of the model with extensive tests using loan accounts data for a large sample of rural borrowers before and after a nation-wide debt relief program undertaken by the Indian government in 2008, one of the largest such programs in history.