Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Th17 cells differentiated with mycelial membranes of Candida albicans prevent oral candidiasis

Abstract Candida albicans is a human commensal that causes opportunistic infections. Th17 cells provide resistance against mucosal infection with C. albicans; however, the T cell antigens remain little known. Our final goal is to find effective T cell antigens of C. albicans that are responsible for immunotherapy against candidiasis. Here, we prepared fractions including cytosol, membrane and cell wall from yeast and mycelial cells. Proteins derived from a membrane fraction of mycelial cells effectively induced differentiation of CD4+ T cells into IL-17A-producing Th17 cells. To confirm the immunological response in vivo of proteins from mycelial membrane, we performed adoptive transfer experiments using ex vivo stimulated CD4+ T cells from IL-17A-GFP reporter mice. Mycelial membrane-differentiated CD4+ Th17 cells adoptively transferred intravenously prevented oral candidiasis by oral infection of C. albicans, compared with control anti-CD3-stimulated CD4+ T cells. This was confirmed by the clinical score and the number of neutrophils on the infected tissues. These data suggest that effective T cell antigens against candidiasis could be present in the membrane protein fraction of mycelial cells. The design of novel vaccination strategies against candidiasis will be our next step.
Strength and Erosion Characteristics of Earth Blocks and Earth Block Masonry

Initially, the paper describes methods currently used for strength and erosion resistance testing of earth blocks. Following this, an experimental study undertaken to assess the influence of test procedure and specimen geometry on strength and erosion characteristics is presented. Cement stabilized pressed earth blocks were fabricated using different blended soils and compacted using a constant volume manual press. The effects of specimen geometry on experimental compressive strength are described and aspect ratio correction factors for unconfined unit strength outlined. Proposals for a unified approach to compression strength testing are also suggested. Bending strength testing is commonly used as an indirect method of strength assessment, as it is more readily suited to in-situ quality control testing than compression testing. The experimental correlation between compressive and bending strengths is presented. Results of compression tests on masonry walls are also presented together recommendations for design. Finally, the influence of test method and specimen geometry on erosion resistance and the correlation with block strength is discussed.
Self-reported childhood maltreatment, lifelong traumatic events and mental disorders in American and Israeli rheumatoid arthritis patients.

OBJECTIVES Psychological stress is thought to play a major role in the development and exacerbation of autoimmune diseases in general, as well as in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in particular. The aims of the current study are to compare retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment and lifetime major life/traumatic experiences of American and Israeli RA patients, using standardised instruments, while adjusting for concomitant mental disorders and psychological distress, in order to rule out their part in the subjective reports, thus addressing the trans-cultural robustness of the association between childhood maltreatment, traumatic experiences and RA. METHODS RA patients at the participating study centres were recruited by their physicians, both in Israel and the USA. Patients filled out questionnaires regarding demographic data, disease activity, psychological distress, potential anxiety and potential depression. In addition, patients answered questions regarding pain and childhood maltreatment. RESULTS 83 RA patients were recruited in the US and 23 patients in Israel. The comparison of CTQ-subscales between the US and Israeli cohorts showed significant differences between the groups only in the subscales of emotional neglect (US 10.30±5.05, Israeli 22.67±3.68, p<0.05) and emotional abuse (US 10.46±5.77, Israeli 7.13±4.84, p<0.05). 87% of Israeli patients had severe emotional neglect. Severe emotional abuse was associated with probable depression (OR 7.778, CI [1.907-31.716]). Using Pain Disability Index (PDI) score, Americans reported more pain during sexual activity than Israelis (US PDI Score 5.64±3.70. Israeli 3.16±3.86, p<0.05). PDI score was also associated with a previous traumatic event (36.89±18.57 vs. 16.82±14.85, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS A high degree of similarity was demonstrated between American and Israeli populations of RA patients, regarding psychological stressors and previous traumatic events. As expected, the results indicated a link between emotional abuse and depression in these patients. In addition, a previous traumatic event was associated with more significant pain. Physicians caring for RA patients should be vigilant regarding the possible association with childhood adversity and should consider appropriate consultations when indicated. In addition, while dealing with pain management in RA patients, physicians should keep in mind the possible contribution of distant childhood adversity.
A 0.4-V 0.66-fJ/Cycle Retentive True-Single-Phase-Clock 18T Flip-Flop in 28-nm Fully-Depleted SOI CMOS

In this paper, we propose an 18-transistor true-single-phase-clock (TSPC) flip-flop (FF) with static data retention based on two forward-conditional feedback loops, without increasing the clock load, in comparison to the baseline TSPC architecture. The proposed FF was implemented for ultralow-voltage operation in 28-nm fully-depleted Silicon-on-Insulator (FDSOI) CMOS. The performance of the proposed FF extracted from measurements of clock dividers is compared with reference designs, including the conventional master–slave (M–S) FF, the baseline TSPC FF, and a recently proposed retentive TSPC FF. Compared with the conventional M–S FF, the proposed FF shows, respectively, 5%, 40%, and 30% improvements at 0.4 V in maximum frequency, energy/cycle, and leakage power.
Nutritional assessment: its role in the provision of nutritional support

Generalised undernutrition is common in hospital patients and in the community. It is frequently unrecognised and is associated with a range of adverse consequences that contribute to increased morbidity and mortality. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends that all individuals engaging with healthcare or admitted to residential homes in the community should be screened for undernutrition. Laboratory investigations have little place in the diagnosis of undernutrition: this is primarily a clinical process. In particular, the measurement of serum albumin concentration, though widely promulgated in the past as an index of nutritional status, is worthless for this purpose. Laboratory investigations are, however, of importance: to diagnose specific nutritional deficiencies (eg, of trace elements) and to monitor the provision of nutritional support, to detect metabolic complications and to assess its adequacy (for which the measurement of serum prealbumin concentrations, particularly in conjunction with measurements of C-reactive protein, may be of value).
Differential Inhibition of Water and Ion Channel Activities of Mammalian Aquaporin-1 by Two Structurally Related Bacopaside Compounds Derived from the Medicinal Plant Bacopa monnieri

Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) is a major intrinsic protein that facilitates flux of water and other small solutes across cell membranes. In addition to its function as a water channel in maintaining fluid homeostasis, AQP1 also acts as a nonselective cation channel gated by cGMP, a property shown previously to facilitate rapid cell migration in a AQP1-expressing colon cancer cell line. Here we report two new modulators of AQP1 channels, bacopaside I and bacopaside II, isolated from the medicinal plant Bacopa monnieri. Screening was conducted in the Xenopus oocyte expression system, using quantitative swelling and two-electrode voltage clamp techniques. Results showed bacopaside I blocked both the water (IC50 117 μM) and ion channel activities of AQP1 but did not alter AQP4 activity, whereas bacopaside II selectively blocked the AQP1 water channel (IC50 18 μM) without impairing the ionic conductance. These results fit with predictions from in silico molecular modeling. Both bacopasides were tested in migration assays using HT29 and SW480 colon cancer cell lines, with high and low levels of AQP1 expression, respectively. Bacopaside I (IC50 48 μM) and bacopaside II (IC50 14 μM) impaired migration of HT29 cells but had minimal effect on SW480 cell migration. Our results are the first to identify differential AQP1 modulators isolated from a medicinal plant. Bacopasides could serve as novel lead compounds for pharmaceutic development of selective aquaporin modulators.
In Silico Analysis of the Potential of the Active Compounds Fucoidan and Alginate Derived from Sargassum Sp. as Inhibitors of COX-1 and COX-2

Introduction: The enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX) is an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of one of the mediators of inflammation, the prostaglandins. Inhibition of COX allegedly can improve inflammation-induced pathological conditions. Aim: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the potential of Sargassum sp. components, Fucoidan and alginate, as COX inhibitors. Material and methods: The study was conducted by means of a computational (in silico) method. It was performed in two main stages, the docking between COX-1 and COX-2 with Fucoidan, alginate and aspirin (for comparison) and the analysis of the amount of interactions formed and the residues directly involved in the process of interaction. Results: Our results showed that both Fucoidan and alginate had an excellent potential as inhibitors of COX-1 and COX-2. Fucoidan had a better potential as an inhibitor of COX than alginate. COX inhibition was expected to provide a more favorable effect on inflammation-related pathological conditions. Conclusion: The active compounds Fucoidan and alginate derived from Sargassum sp. were suspected to possess a good potential as inhibitors of COX-1 and COX-2.
Blurry edge detection and sharpness measure using color line model with K-means clustering

We propose a scheme to detect blurry edge and compute sharpness measure. The key is color line model which models a pixel color is the linear mixture of two dominant colors in small patch. K-means clustering with principal component analysis is exploited to classify colors into two groups. Dominant color is defined as average color of group. Subsequently, weighting of color is computed. In this work, weighting is available for blurry edge detection, and color difference between synthesized color and original color is available for sharpness measure. The proposed scheme has better performance in blurry edge detection and sharpness measurement.
Design of a 0.01GHz–70 GHz high output power signal source module

A 0.01 GHz–70 GHz high output power signal source module is presented in this paper. This module has the advantages of ultra wide operating frequency band, high output power, high purity, small clutter, large power modulation range, and small size, etc. In order to obtain wideband amplitude-adjustable high purity signal, many advanced signal processing technologies are adopted in source module design, including wideband frequency multiplication technology, wideband amplification technology, switch filtering technology, power combining technology, loop control technology, wideband signal combining technology, etc. This source module has two input channels: frequency multiplication input channel and low-frequency input channel. Frequency doubling MMIC chip and amplifying MMIC chip used in this source module are designed by our research group, and their operating frequency ranges are 18GHz–36GHz and 37GHz–70 GHz respectively. In order to reduce harmonic wave and obtain high purity signal in frequency multiplication channel, microwave signal filtering in different frequency bands is adopted; in order to increase output power, dual-way power combining technology is adopted in this high power source module. The source module is designed, manufactured and tested. Test results show that: source module output power is higher than 20dBm in the whole operating frequency band of 0.01GHz–70 GHz; in frequency multiplication channel, sub-harmonic wave is better than 80dBc and harmonic wave is better than 60dBc; source module's power modulation range is larger than 70 dB; low-frequency straight-through channel's insertion loss is less than 3.9 dB. The 0.01 GHz–70 GHz ultra-wideband and high output power signal source module has been applied to RF and microwave test instruments, such as VNAs, signal generators and spectrum analyzers, etc.
A robust and low-power synchronization technique of coarse-and-fine conversion parts in ring-oscillator-based time-to-digital converters

A novel synchronization technique of coarse-and-fine conversion parts is proposed for low-power ring-oscillator-based time-to-digital converters (TDCs) by using a simple digital circuitry. A ring-oscillator-based TDC architecture, in which a ring oscillator takes fine conversion and a counter does coarse conversion, is suitable for wide-dynamic range measurement applications. However, such TDCs require synchronization between the fine and coarse conversion parts because the D-type flip flop (D-FF) array and the binary counter in the TDC operate asynchronously with each other. In this paper, a novel synchronization technique is proposed, that uses a ring oscillator phase, saving power consumption and chip area compared to previous works. The TDC using the proposed technique is designed and simulated in a 0. 18μm 1P6M CMOS process and it achieved 4.66 pJ/conv. energy consumption for logic circuits.
Prediction of Material Damping in Randomly Oriented Short Fiber Polymer Matrix Composites

The objective of this manuscript is to determine analytically the material damping of randomly oriented short fiber composites. The analytical solution was carried out by using the extension of a force-balance model established earlier by the authors [1-3] for undirectional aligned and off-axis aligned short fiber composites. We first applied an averaging procedure to the six off-axis reduced stiffnesses Qv with respect to the angle θ between the fiber orientation and the applied load. The result indicated that only two of the six moduli were independent. This implied, as expected, that randomly oriented short fiber composites are planar isotropic media in the macroscopic scale. The internal damping was then derived by applying the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle and separating the real and imaginary parts of the Young's and shear moduli ER and GR , respectively.
Neurocognitive profile of euthymic Japanese patients with bipolar disorder

Neurocognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD). The MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery (MCCB) is a potential consensus assessment tool to evaluate cognitive function in patients with BD. Here, we report on cognitive deficits evaluated using the MCCB Japanese version (MCCB‐J) in euthymic Japanese patients with BD, and compare them with scores in previous studies.
Human-in-the-Loop Mixed-Initiative Control Under Temporal Tasks

This paper considers the motion control and task planning problem of mobile robots under complex high-level tasks and human initiatives. The assigned task is specified as Linear Temporal Logic (LTL) formulas that consist of hard and soft constraints. The human initiative influences the robot autonomy in two explicit ways: with additive terms in the continuous controller and with contingent task assignments. We propose an online coordination scheme that encapsulates (i) a mixed-initiative continuous controller that ensures all-time safety despite of possible human errors, (ii) a plan adaptation scheme that accommodates new features discovered in the workspace and short-term tasks assigned by the operator during run time, and (iii) an iterative inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm that allows the robot to asymptotically learn the human preference on the parameters during the plan synthesis. The results are demonstrated by both realistic human-in-the-loop simulations and experiments.
Dual PHY Layer for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Transceiver in 5G Networks

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising multiple access technique, proposed in literature for the fifth generation (5G) mobile networks. The NOMA system model consists of the conventional orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), as a pulse shaping technique in conjunction with a variable power domain for various users, allocated in proportion to each user’s channel gain. OFDM technique based on wavelet filter banks, namely wavelet OFDM (WOFDM) has been utilized in digital communication to improve the system robustness to noise and adjacent channel interference, and is therefore anticipated to be adopted for the NOMA technique. WOFDM in NOMA (WNOMA) outperforms OFDM-based conventional NOMA (CNOMA) with reference to interference mitigation, bandwidth efficiency, spectral confinement, and multi-user capacity. Most of the fourth generation (4G) networks are based on OFDM and its variants. Therefore, in this paper, keeping in view the interoperability with the 4G networks and the latency requirements in 5G, a dual physical layer based on conventional OFDM and WOFDM as pulse shaping methods, is proposed for the NOMA transceiver. Performance of WNOMA and CNOMA is analyzed for bit error rate in the presence of channel impairments including additive noise and IQ imbalance and multiuser capacity is also computed. Comparison of various parameters indicates the advantage of adopting WNOMA over its conventional counterpart for relatively poor channel conditions.
Instrumental Method Suitable for the Detection of Polymers in Asphalt Binders

Superpave™ performance-graded asphalt binder technology continues to advance with some producers focusing on the use of additives to enhance the performance of asphalt binders. A common practice is to extend the high- and low-temperature range by modifying asphalt binder with a polymer. However, agencies require a method to verify the presence of the polymer in the mix. The method presented is not optimized for the separation required but serves to demonstrate that the gel-permeation chromatographic (GPC) method, which is synonymous with size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) can be used to detect the presence of polymers in asphalt binders. The goal of this study was to determine if polymer-modified asphalt binders could be distinguished from unmodified asphalt binders using the GPC technique. Typically, the polymers used in asphalt binders have a number average molecular weight ranging from 300 to 600 times larger than the number average molecular weight of asphalt binders. The GPC technique separates the polymer from the asphalt binder as a function of molecular size or volume. The analysis of eight unknown samples, some of which were reported to contain a polymer, was conducted. The results demonstrated that three of the asphalt binders were polymer modified; while the remaining five asphalt binders were not modified. After the results were reported, the actual composition of the asphalt binders was revealed and found to be in agreement with the GPC results. Thus, GPC can be used as a relatively simple screening test to identify when asphalt binder has been modified with a polymer.
Microstructure, hardness and residual stress distribution in maraging steel gas tungsten arc weldments

The distribution of residual stresses due to welding has been studied in maraging steel welds. Gas tungsten arc welding process was used and the effect of filler metal composition on the nature of residual stress distribution has been investigated using X-ray diffraction technique with Cr Kα radiation. Three types of filler materials were used, they include: maraging filler, austenitic stainless steel and medium alloy medium carbon steel filler metal. In the case of maraging steel weld, medium alloy medium carbon filler, the residual stress at the centre of the weld zone was more compressive while, less compressive stresses have been identified in the heat affected zone of the parent metal adjacent to the weld metal. But, in the case of austenitic stainless steel filler the residual stresses at the centre of the weld and heat affected zone were tensile. Post-weld aging treatment reduced the magnitude of stresses. The observed residual stress distribution across the weldments has been correlated with microstructure and hardness distribution across the weld.
Adaptive optimal control for a class of uncertain systems with saturating actuators and external disturbance using integral reinforcement learning

The problem of adaptive optimal control for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems with saturating actuators and external disturbance is investigated in this paper. Considering the saturating actuators, a non-quadratic cost function is adopted. The key of this optimal control problem is to find the solution to the Hamilton Jacobi Bellman equation (HJB). An online intergral reinforcement learning (IRL) algorithm based-Neural Network (NN) is given to approximate the solution. Unlike traditional integral reinforcement learning algorithms, data onto a period of time stored together with current data are used to update the neural network weights in place of persistence of excitation (PE) condition. This method overcomes the shortcomings of the PE condition which is not easy to be checked online. Finally, numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Process of Change in Pain-Related Fear: Clinical Insights From a Single Case Report of Persistent Back Pain Managed With Cognitive Functional Therapy.

Study Design Single case report with repeated measures over 18 months. Background Management of persistent low back pain (PLBP) associated with high pain-related fear is complex. This case report aims to provide clinicians with insight into the process of change in a person with PLBP and high bending-related fear, who was managed with an individualized behavioral approach of cognitive functional therapy. Case Description A retired manual worker with PLBP believed that his spine was degenerating, that bending would hurt him, and that avoidance was the only form of pain control. At baseline, he presented high levels of pain-related fear on the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (score, 47/68) and a high-risk profile on the Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire (score, 61/100). Unhelpful beliefs and behaviors led to a vicious cycle of fear and disengagement from valued life activities. Guided behavioral experiments were used to challenge his thoughts and protective responses, indicating that his behavior was modifiable and the pain controllable. Using a multidimensional clinical-reasoning framework, cognitive functional therapy management was tailored to target key drivers of PLBP and delivered over 6 sessions in a 3-month period. Outcomes Over an 18-month clinical journey, he demonstrated improvements in bending-related fear, pain expectancy, and pain experience, and substantial changes in pain-related fear (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia: 33/68; change, -14 points) and risk profile (Örebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire: 36/100; change, -25 points). Clinical interviews at 6 and 18 months revealed positive changes in mindset, understanding of pain, perceived pain control, and behavioral responses to pain. Discussion This case report provides clinicians with an insight to using a multidimensional clinical-reasoning framework to identify and target the key drivers of the disorder, and to using cognitive functional therapy to address unhelpful psychological and behavioral responses to pain in a person with PLBP and high pain-related fear. Level of Evidence Therapy, level 5. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(9):637-651. Epub 13 Jul 2017. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017. 7371.