Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Binding of Xanthine Oxidase to Vascular Endothelium

Concentrations of up to 1.5 milliunits/ml xanthine oxidase (XO) (1.1 μg/ml) are found circulating in plasma during diverse inflammatory events. The saturable, high affinity binding of extracellular XO to vascular endothelium and the effects of cell binding on both XO catalytic activity and differentiated vascular cell function are reported herein. Xanthine oxidase purified from bovine cream bound specifically and with high affinity (K d = 6 nm) at 4 °C to bovine aortic endothelial cells, increasing cell XO specific activity up to 10-fold. Xanthine oxidase-cell binding was not inhibited by serum or albumin and was partially inhibited by the addition of heparin. Pretreatment of endothelial cells with chondroitinase, but not heparinase or heparitinase, diminished endothelial binding by ∼50%, suggesting association with chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans. Analysis of rates of superoxide production by soluble and cell-bound XO revealed that endothelial binding did not alter the percentage of univalent reduction of oxygen to superoxide. Comparison of the extent of CuZn-SOD inhibition of native and succinoylated cytochrome creduction by cell-bound XO indicated that XO-dependent superoxide production was occurring in a cell compartment inaccessible to CuZn-SOD. This was further supported by the observation of a shift of exogenously added XO from extracellular binding sites to intracellular compartments, as indicated by both protease-reversible cell binding and immunocytochemical localization studies. Endothelium-bound XO also inhibited nitric oxide-dependent cGMP production by smooth muscle cell co-cultures in an SOD-resistant manner. This data supports the concept that circulating XO can bind to vascular cells, impairing cell function via oxidative mechanisms, and explains how vascular XO activity diminishes vasodilatory responses to acetylcholine in hypercholesterolemic rabbits and atherosclerotic humans. The ubiquity of cell-XO binding and endocytosis as a fundamental mechanism of oxidative tissue injury is also affirmed by the significant extent of XO binding to human vascular endothelial cells, rat lung type 2 alveolar epthelial cells, and fibroblasts.
Perspectives From Family Caregivers Receiving Home Nursing Support: Findings From a Qualitative Study of Home Care Patients With Heart Failure

Many heart failure (HF) patients depend on a family caregiver and many families need additional home care nursing support. This qualitative study identified perspectives of being a HF caregiver for families receiving home care nursing. Eleven caregivers of homebound HF patients were interviewed on what helps them the most, their own health, obstacles in caregiving, and greatest needs overall. Eight themes emerged and will be discussed in this article. The findings articulate the positive influence nurses can have on HF families to guide future practice and research.
Serum phosphate is associated with left ventricular mass in patients with chronic kidney disease: a cardiac magnetic resonance study

Objective To explore the relationship between serum phosphate, arterial stiffness and left ventricular mass (LVM) in patients with early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). Design A cross-sectional observational study. Setting Single centre. Patients 208 patients with stage 2 to stage 4 non-diabetic CKD. Interventions Arterial stiffness was determined through measurement of aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV). Cardiac magnetic resonance was used to determine LVM. Main outcome measure Relationship between serum phosphate, aortic PWV and LVM. Results Mean age was 54±13 years, mean glomerular filtration rate was 50±15 ml/min/1.73 m2, mean serum phosphate was 1.11±0.21 mmol/l and mean PWV was 8.6±2.1 m/s. When the cohort was divided into quartiles according to serum phosphate, LVM increased across quartiles (p=0.04), with no significant differences in age, kidney function, blood pressure or PWV. Serum phosphate correlated with LVM (r=0.173; p=0.01), but PWV did not (p=0.2). In a regression model containing gender, serum phosphate, office systolic blood pressure, albumin/creatinine ratio and haemoglobin, 30% of the variation in LVM was explained (p<0.0005), with serum phosphate accounting for 5% of the variance. Conclusion Serum phosphate is independently associated with LVM in patients with CKD. Interventional studies are required to determine whether this association is causative and whether reducing phosphate exposure reduces LVM in this population.
The most congested cutset: deriving a tight lower bound for the chromatic number in the RWA problem

Routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) is an important issue in the design of routing protocols in an all-optical network. A solution for the RWA problem should determine the least possible number of wavelengths, also known as the chromatic number. In this letter, we introduce the concept of cutset congestion, and show that the congestion of the most congested cutset of a graph representing the network is a tight lower bound for the chromatic number in the RWA problem. In contrast to other existing techniques, our method can be applied to any network and any traffic pattern.
Homologous recombination in mammalian cells.

This review focuses on three approaches used to study recombination mediated by cellular functions: (a) extrachromosomal recombination between transfected DNA molecules; (b) chromosomal recombination between repeated genes stably incorporated in the genome; and (c) targeted recombination between introduced DNA molecules and homologous sequences in the chromosome
Assessment of Semantic Knowledge: Use of Feedback and Clinical Interviewing

Assessment of semantic knowledge is particularly challenging for clinicians working with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Vocabulary often reflects individual experiences, home language, and familiarity with school curriculum. Research demonstrates that children from nonmainstream backgrounds often score poorly on vocabulary tests yet may possess knowledge that is not evident in the kinds of tests that they take. Thus, a single word vocabulary test may not adequately capture the scope of such children's semantic knowledge. It is important that, before a diagnosis of language impairment is made, clinicians gain insight into children's semantic knowledge. This article describes the use of two procedures, feedback and the clinical interview, that can be utilized to probe children's language abilities.
Analyst Long-Term Growth Forecasts, Accounting Fundamentals and Stock Returns

We decompose consensus analyst long-term growth forecasts into a hard growth component that captures accounting information (asset and sales growth, profitability and equity dilution) and an orthogonal soft growth component. The soft component does not forecast future returns, and the hard component does forecast future returns, but in a perverse way. Specifically, stocks with accounting information indicating favorable long-term growth forecasts tend to realize negative future excess returns. This and other evidence we present is consistent with biased long-term growth forecasts generating stock mispricing.
EFFECTS OF REMITTANCES ON PER CAPITA ECONOMIC GROWTH OF PAKISTAN

This study investigates the effects of remittances on per capita economic growth of Pakistan for the period 1976 to 2013. The Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds testing model was employed to explore short run and long run liaison of remittances with per capita economic growth. The analyses evidence statistically significant positive long run and short run impacts of remittances on per capita economic growth. Based upon the empirical results, this study suggests that government should formulate and adopt policies which can further motivate and enhance remittances inflow, and hence a more promising economic growth.
Target RNA Secondary Structure Is a Major Determinant of miR159 Efficacy1[OPEN]

In addition to high miR159-target gene complementarity, conserved RNA secondary structures abutting the miR159 binding sites are required for strong miR159-mediated silencing of MYB target genes in Arabidopsis. In plants, microRNA (miRNA)-target complementarity has long been considered the predominant factor determining the silencing outcome of the miRNA-target interaction, although the efficacy of such interactions have rarely been appraised in plants. Here, we perform in planta silencing efficacy assays on seven Arabidopsis MYB genes, all of which contain conserved miR159-binding sites of analogous complementarity. These genes were found to be differentially silenced by miR159; MYB81, MYB97, MYB101, MYB104, and DUO1 were all poorly silenced, whereas MYB33 and MYB65 were strongly silenced. Curiously, this is consistent with previous genetic analysis defining MYB33 and MYB65 as the major functional targets of miR159. Neither the free energy of miR159-target complementarity, nor miRNA binding site accessibility, as determined by flanking region AU content, could fully explain the discrepancy of miR159 silencing efficacy. Instead, we found that MYB33 and MYB65 were both predicted to contain a distinctive RNA secondary structure abutting the miR159 binding site. The structure is composed of two stem-loops (SLs) that are predicted to form in MYB33/65 homologs of species as evolutionary distant as gymnosperms. Functional analysis found that the RNA structure in MYB33 correlated with strong silencing efficacy; introducing mutations to disrupt either SL attenuated miR159 efficacy, while introducing complementary mutations to restore the SLs, but not the sequence, restored strong miR159-mediated silencing. Therefore, it appears that this RNA secondary structure demarcates MYB33/65 as sensitive targets of miR159, which underpins the narrow functional specificity of Arabidopsis miR159.
Physiological signal-based emotion recognition system

The design specification and software implementation of a physiological signal-based user-independent emotion recognition system is proposed. The system will have various valuable applications in medicine, computing, education and security domain. Unfortunately, there are many challenges that must be overcome and addressed and this what make the contribution in this field valuable and much needed. The proposed system should operate as a user-independent system, based on physiological signal databases attained from several subjects. Various physiological signals were obtained and measured such as electrocardiogram (ECG), skin temperature, galvanic skin response (GSR), Electromyography (EMG), heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), saturation of oxygen in the blood (SPO2), Systolic blood pressure(SBP), and diastolic blood pressure(DBP). To construct the proposed system, the acquired signals went through preprocessing, feature extraction and statistical analysis. A subset of features was selected to be incorporated in the final system due to several technical limitations and design constraint. Using statistical analysis, the system was able to recognize emotion on three basic emotional states namely: anger, joy, and neutral.
Perceived Learning Needs of Men and Women after Myocardial infarction

Using a descriptive/comparative design, 121 men and women with symptoms of myocardial infarction rated the importance of learning needs concerning heart disease. Subjects completed the Cardiac Patients Learning Needs Inventory (CPLNI) on admission to a cardiac unit. Mean scores were calculated by gender for each of the eight CPLNI informational categories. Means were ranked, and six individual items that were significantly different by gender were identified. The preferred educator for women was the physician, and men preferred the nurse, closely followed by the physician. Risk factors wore most important to learn for men and medications for women. Recommendations for empowering individuals through teaching are detailed.
Structural polymorphisms of rough mutant lipopolysaccharides Rd to Ra from Salmonella minnesota.

The structural polymorphisms of rough mutant lipopolysaccharides (LPS) Rd, Rc, Rb, and Ra from Salmonella minnesota (strains R4, R7, Rz, R5, R345, and R60, respectively) were investigated as a function of temperature, water content, and Mg2+ concentration. The gel to liquid crystalline (beta<==>alpha) phase transition temperature (Tc) and the state of order within each phase were measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The amount of bound water was determined by differential scanning calorimetry and the three-dimensional structures in each phase state were characterized by synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. The results indicate an extremely complex dependence of the structural behavior of LPS on ambient conditions. The beta<==>alpha acyl chain melting temperatures at high water contents (95-97%), Tc = 31 to 32 degrees C for LPS Rd, 33 to 35 degrees C for LPS Rc to Rb, and 36 degrees C for LPS Ra, increase with decreasing water content and in the presence of Mg2+ cations with a concomitant broadening of the transition range. Below 30 to 50% water content, no distinct phase transitions can be observed. These effects are most pronounced for LPS with the shortest sugar chains. Below 50% water content, only lamellar structures can be observed in the temperature range 5 to 80 degrees C, independent of the Mg2+ concentration. Above 50% water concentration, for large [LPS]:[Mg2+] molar ratios the predominant structure above Tc is nonlamellar; for smaller [LPS]:[Mg2+] molar ratios a superposition of lamellar and nonlamellar structures is found. For all LPS Rd to Rb at low Mg2+ concentrations, the phase transition is connected with a change in the three-dimensional structure from lamellar or mixed lamellar/nonlamellar to a pure nonlamellar, probably cubic structure. The tendency to form non-lamellar structures decreases with the length of the core oligosaccharide. At an equimolar ratio of [LPS] and [Mg2+] a multibilayered organization is observed. Some of the nonlamellar structures are cubic phases with periodicities between 12 and 16 nm. The molecular dimensions of the single endotoxin molecules in the absence and the presence of external water are estimated from the different lamellar periodicities, including those of free lipid A and deep rough mutant LPS Re. These observations are discussed with respect to the biological importance of LPS as a potent inducer of biological effects in mammals.
Heterogeneity of cognitive profiles in aging: successful aging, normal aging, and individuals at risk for cognitive decline.

Neuropsychological clinical decision-making is complicated by the fact that variability in test performance increases with advancing age. This research explores the presence of homogeneous subgroups in 120 neurologically healthy individuals, from 55 to 85 years of age. Subjects at risk for dementing diseases were diagnosed as Aging-Associated Cognitive Decline (AACD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Cluster analysis was applied on 11 neuropsychological variables assessing logical memory immediate recall and retention percentage, visual memory immediate recall and retention, conceptual thinking, naming, verbal fluency, constructional functions, motor speed, flexibility and finger tapping. Five clusters were extracted, one representing cognitively successfully aged, and two consisting of individuals with normal or average level of performance. One cluster was characterized by older subjects with difficulties in visual memory, visuoconstructional functions, and speed and attention, most of the younger subjects in the same cluster had a diagnosis of AACD or MCI. The fifth cluster represented individuals at risk for dementing diseases; most of them were diagnosed having AACD and more than half had a diagnosis of MCI. Age, activity and intellectual levels, and to a lesser degree education, were significantly related to the cluster solution. The present findings caution against treating samples of elderly individuals as homogeneous.
A novel direct torque fuzzy control of SVM-inverter-fed induction motor drive

This paper presents an improved direct torque control (DTC) based on fuzzy logic technique. Two major problems that are usually associated with DTC drives are the high torque ripple and switching frequency that varies with operating conditions. To overcome these problems, fuzzy controllers are proposed and associated with DTC scheme. The proposed approach is shown to be able to reduce the torque and flux ripple and to improve performance DTC. The control algorithm is based on the SVM (space vector modulation) technique to provide a constant inverter switching frequency. Furthermore, to verify the effectiveness of this model, a DSP-based experimental induction motor DTC drive system is built.
Pricing Contingent Claims under Jump Uncertainty

We study the problem of pricing contingent claims in the presence of uncertainty about the timing and the size of a jump in the price of the underlying. We characterize the price of the claim as the minimal solution of a constrained BSDE and derive a pricing PDE in the special case of a Markovian market model. In a Black-Scholes market, explicit solutions are obtained.
Cervical spine clearance in obtunded blunt trauma patients: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND : An acceptable algorithm for clearance of the cervical spine (C-spine) in the obtunded trauma patient remains controversial. Undetected C-spine injuries of an unstable nature can have devastating consequences. This has led to reluctance toward C-spine clearance in these patients. OBJECTIVE : To objectify the accuracy of computed tomography (CT) scanning compared with dynamic radiographs within a well established C-spine clearance protocol in obtunded trauma patients at a level I trauma center. METHODS : This was a prospective study of consecutive blunt trauma patients (18 years or older) admitted to a single institution between December 2004 and April 2008. To be eligible for study inclusion, patients must have undergone both a CT scan and dynamic plain radiographs of their C-spine as a part of their clearance process. RESULTS : Among 402 patients, there was one injury missed on CT but detected by dynamic radiographs. This resulted in a percentage of missed injury of 0.25%. Subsequent independent review of the CT scan revealed that in fact pathologic changes were present on the scan indicative of the injury. CONCLUSIONS : Our results indicate that CT of the C-spine is highly sensitive in detecting the vast majority (99.75%) of clinically significant C-spine injuries. We recommend that CT be used as the sole modality to radiographically clear the C-spine in obtunded trauma patients and do not support the use of flexion-extension radiographs as an ancillary diagnostic method.
A fail-safe ASIC for implantable neural stimulation

We implemented a stimulator output stage that is failsafe without the need for off-chip blocking capacitors. Both the system architecture and details on the key circuits are described. The novel design employs high-frequency current-switching, a fully isolated bridge rectifier core, and AC-coupled discharging for the stimulation load. The prototype circuit was fabricated in a 1-mum silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology and operates from a power supply between the range of 5 V to 18 V, depending on the stimulation load and the stimulus current amplitude. Miniaturization of the entire stimulator output stage into a single fail-safe ASIC, is a major advance towards developing neural stimulators for multi-functional restoration after spinal cord injury.
A comparison of two types of dendritic cell as adjuvants for the induction of melanoma‐specific T‐cell responses in humans following intranodal injection

Dendritic cells (DCs) elicit potent anti‐tumoral T‐cell responses in vitro and in vivo. However, different types of DC have yet to be compared for their capacity to induce anti‐tumor responses in vivo at different developmental stages. Herein, we correlated the efficiencies of different types of monocyte‐derived DC as vaccines on the resulting anti‐tumor immune responses in vivo. Immature and mature DCs were separately pulsed with a peptide derived from tyrosinase, MelanA/MART‐1 or MAGE‐1 and a recall antigen. Both DC populations were injected every 2 weeks in different lymph nodes of the same patient. Immune responses were monitored before, during and after vaccination. Mature DCs induced increased recall antigen‐specific CD4+ T‐cell responses in 7/8 patients, while immature DCs did so in only 3/8. Expansion of peptide‐specific IFN‐γ–producing CD8+ T cells was observed in 5/7 patients vaccinated with mature DCs but in only 1/7 using immature DCs. However, these functional data did not correlate with the tetramer staining. Herein, immature DCs also showed expansion of peptide‐specific T cells. In 2/4 patients vaccinated with mature DCs, we observed induction of peptide‐specific cytotoxic T cells, as monitored by chromium‐release assays, whereas immature DCs failed to induce peptide‐specific cytotoxic T cells in the same patients. Instead, FCS‐cultured immature DCs induced FCS‐specific IgE responses in 1 patient. Our data demonstrate that this novel vaccination protocol is an efficient approach to compare different immunization strategies within the same patient. Thus, our data define FCS‐free cultured mature DCs as superior inducers of T‐cell responses in melanoma patients. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Generation of Multimillion-Sequence 16S rRNA Gene Libraries from Complex Microbial Communities by Assembling Paired-End Illumina Reads

ABSTRACT Microbial communities host unparalleled taxonomic diversity. Adequate characterization of environmental and host-associated samples remains a challenge for microbiologists, despite the advent of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In order to increase the depth of sampling for diverse bacterial communities, we developed a method for sequencing and assembling millions of paired-end reads from the 16S rRNA gene (spanning the V3 region; ∼200 nucleotides) by using an Illumina genome analyzer. To confirm reproducibility and to identify a suitable computational pipeline for data analysis, sequence libraries were prepared in duplicate for both a defined mixture of DNAs from known cultured bacterial isolates (>1 million postassembly sequences) and an Arctic tundra soil sample (>6 million postassembly sequences). The Illumina 16S rRNA gene libraries represent a substantial increase in number of sequences over all extant next-generation sequencing approaches (e.g., 454 pyrosequencing), while the assembly of paired-end 125-base reads offers a methodological advantage by incorporating an initial quality control step for each 16S rRNA gene sequence. This method incorporates indexed primers to enable the characterization of multiple microbial communities in a single flow cell lane, may be modified readily to target other variable regions or genes, and demonstrates unprecedented and economical access to DNAs from organisms that exist at low relative abundances.
Dynamic Contention Window Adaptation (DCWA) in IEEE 802.11e wireless local area networks

The Wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) protocol is responsible for an efficient sharing of the limited communication bandwidth. With the demand for Quality of Service (QoS), which is supported by different traffic classes in 802.11e, this task becomes even more complex. In this paper, we present a dynamic contention window adaptation (DCWA) algorithm which adapts the contention window parameters for a single traffic class such that they are as small as possible to meet realtime conditions and large enough to cope with the current network load. The results reveal that the DCWA increases the overall cell capacity significantly compared to the fixed IEEE standard settings, it adaptively minimizes the contention delay when possible and maximizes the throughput when needed. Furthermore, we extended the method to handle competing high and low priority traffic and showed that the new mechanism can effectively protect voice from best effort traffic.