Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A CD44-like endothelial cell transmembrane glycoprotein (GP116) interacts with extracellular matrix and ankyrin

We used complementary biochemical and immunological techniques to establish that an endothelial cell transmembrane glycoprotein, GP116, is a CD44-like molecule and binds directly both to extracellular matrix components (e.g., hyaluronic acid) and to ankyrin. The specific characteristics of GP116 are as follows: (i) GP116 can be surface labeled with Na 125I and contains a wheat germ agglutinin-binding site(s), indicating that it has an extracellular domain; (ii) GP116 displays immunological cross-reactivity with a panel of CD44 antibodies, shares some peptide similarity with CD44, and has a similar 52-kDa precursor molecule, indicating that it is a CD44-like molecule; (iii) GP116 displays specific hyaluronic acid-binding properties, indicating that it is a hyaluronic acid receptor; (iv) GP116 can be phosphorylated by endogenous protein kinase C activated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and by exogenously added protein kinase C; and (v) GP116 and a 20-kDa tryptic polypeptide fragment of GP116 from the intracellular domain are capable of binding the membrane-cytoskeleton linker molecule, ankyrin. Furthermore, phosphorylation of GP116 by protein kinase C significantly enhances GP116 binding to ankyrin. Together, these findings strongly suggest that phosphorylation of the transmembrane glycoprotein GP116 (a CD44-like molecule) by protein kinase C is required for effective GP116-ankyrin interaction during endothelial cell adhesion events.
Conversion of Mature Human β-Cells Into Glucagon-Producing α-Cells

Conversion of one terminally differentiated cell type into another (or transdifferentiation) usually requires the forced expression of key transcription factors. We examined the plasticity of human insulin-producing β-cells in a model of islet cell aggregate formation. Here, we show that primary human β-cells can undergo a conversion into glucagon-producing α-cells without introduction of any genetic modification. The process occurs within days as revealed by lentivirus-mediated β-cell lineage tracing. Converted cells are indistinguishable from native α-cells based on ultrastructural morphology and maintain their α-cell phenotype after transplantation in vivo. Transition of β-cells into α-cells occurs after β-cell degranulation and is characterized by the presence of β-cell–specific transcription factors Pdx1 and Nkx6.1 in glucagon+ cells. Finally, we show that lentivirus-mediated knockdown of Arx, a determinant of the α-cell lineage, inhibits the conversion. Our findings reveal an unknown plasticity of human adult endocrine cells that can be modulated. This endocrine cell plasticity could have implications for islet development, (patho)physiology, and regeneration.
A Two‐Step Model Updating Algorithm for Parameter Identification of Linear Elastic Damped Structures

A Frequency Response Functions (FRFs)‐based two‐step algorithm to identify stiffness, mass, and viscous damping matrices is developed in this work. The proposed technique uses the difference between the experimentally recorded FRF and their analytical counterparts by minimizing the resultant error function at selected frequency points. In the first step, only mass and stiffness matrices are updated while keeping the uncalibrated viscous damping matrix constant. In the second step, the damping matrix is updated via changes on the selected unknown modal damping ratios. By using a stacking procedure of the presented error function that combines multiple data sets, adverse effects of noise on the estimated modal damping ratios are decreased by averaging the FRF amplitudes at resonant peaks. The application of this methodology is presented utilizing experimentally obtained data. The presented algorithm can perform an accurate structural identification via model updating, with a viscous damping matrix that captures the variation of the modal damping ratios with natural frequencies as opposed to other conventional proportional damping matrix formulations.
Difference in body weight between American and Italian women with polycystic ovary syndrome: influence of the diet.

BACKGROUND The study aim was to determine differences in body mass in two populations of women (USA and Italy) with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and to assess the effect of diet on body mass and cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS Pools of women with PCOS from the USA (n = 343) and Italy (n = 301), seen between 1993 and 2001, were available for assessment. From these populations, 20 women who were seen consecutively in 2001 at each site had detailed analyses of diet and cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS In the entire group, American women had a significantly higher body mass compared with Italian women (P < 0.01). Also, the 20 women consecutively evaluated in the USA had a significantly higher mean (+/- SD) body mass index (40.3 +/- 1.0 kg/m(2)) than in Italy (29.7 +/- 1.0 kg/m(2)). US women had worse insulin resistance, lower levels of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) (P < 0.01) and higher levels of triglycerides (P < 0.01). Dietary analysis in the two groups indicated that the total daily calorific intake was similar (USA 2277 +/- 109; Italy 2325 +/- 68 Kcal), with no appreciable differences in dietary content of protein, carbohydrate and fat. However, the dietary saturated fat content was significantly higher in US women (31.9 +/- 3 versus 18.2 +/- 2 g/day, P < 0.01). Saturated fat intake correlated negatively with HDL-C (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Among women with PCOS, body mass was significantly higher in US women compared with Italian women. However, total calorie intake and dietary constituents were similar, except for a higher saturated fat in US women. It is hypothesized that diet alone does not explain differences in body mass; genetic and lifestyle factors likely contribute. An increased saturated fat intake may worsen the cardiovascular risk profile.
An algorithm to optimise the load distribution of fog environments

Internet of things, a trend of the following years, makes it possible to develop new applications and services as well as creates a huge amount of data to be processed. In order to support this new paradigm, an extension of cloud computing, named Fog Computing, has been developed. Fog computing improves the cloud security, availability and performance by providing a distributed and powerful communication environment with short delay. Therefore, this new paradigm complements the cloud computing. However, the fog faces several issues such as quality of service (QoS) and multi-tenancy optimisation and load balancing. This paper proposes the algorithm called Multi-tenant Load Distribution Algorithm for Fog Environments (MtLDF) to optimise the load balancing in Fogs environments considering specific multi-tenancy requirements (delay and priority). Finally, we present case studies to show the applicability of the proposed algorithm in comparison to a Delay-Driven Load Distribution (DDLD) strategy.
Building a Classification Model for Enrollment In Higher Educational Courses using Data Mining Techniques

Data Mining is the process of extracting useful patterns from the huge amount of database and many data mining techniques are used for mining these patterns. Recently, one of the remarkable facts in higher educational institute is the rapid growth data and this educational data is expanding quickly without any advantage to the educational management. The main aim of the management is to refine the education standard; therefore by applying the various data mining techniques on this data one can get valuable information. This research study proposed the "classification model for the student's enrollment process in higher educational courses using data mining techniques". Additionally, this study contributes to finding some patterns that are meaningful to management.
Outcome of myocardial infarction in Veterans Health Administration patients as compared with medicare patients.

BACKGROUND Some have the opinion that patients cared for in Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals receive care of poorer quality than those cared for in non-VHA institutions. To assess the quality of care in VHA hospitals, we compared the outcome of acute myocardial infarction among patients in VHA and non-VHA institutions while controlling for potential confounders, including coexisting conditions and severity of illness. METHODS We studied 2486 veterans discharged from 81 VHA hospitals and 29,249 Medicare patients discharged from 1530 non-VHA hospitals, restricting our samples to men at least 65 years of age who were discharged with confirmed acute myocardial infarction. We compared coexisting conditions, severity of illness, and 30-day and 1-year mortality in the two samples. RESULTS VHA patients were significantly more likely than Medicare patients to have a recorded history of hypertension (64.3 percent vs. 57.3 percent), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma (30.9 percent vs. 23.5 percent), diabetes (34.8 percent vs. 29.0 percent), stroke (20.4 percent vs. 14.2 percent), or dementia (7.2 percent vs. 4.8 percent) (P<0.001 for all comparisons). According to both multivariate logistic regression and an analysis using 2265 matched pairs of VHA and Medicare patients, there were no significant differences in 30-day or 1-year mortality. The matched-pairs analysis found that the difference in mortality at 30 days (the mortality rate among Medicare patients minus the mortality rate among VHA patients), averaged over the 5-year age groups, was -0.8 percent (95 percent confidence interval, -2.8 percent to 1.3 percent), and the difference in mortality at 1 year was -1.3 percent (95 percent confidence interval, -3.9 percent to 1.3 percent). CONCLUSIONS VHA patients had more coexisting conditions than Medicare patients. Nevertheless, we found no significant difference in mortality between VHA and Medicare patients, a result that suggests a similar quality of care for acute myocardial infarction.
Pupillary and cardiac activity during visual attention.

Thirty pictures, rated on 22 scales, were shown to 34 males, while pupillary diameters and heart rates were recorded, to test the prediction that attention to the environment leads to sympathetic-like dilatation and parasympathetic-like cardiac slowing, and to study the relationships of the responses to stimulus-attributes. The prediction was satisfied, demonstrating directional fractionation and situational stereotypy. Tonic levels changed significantly during the experiment and also showed directional fractionation. A few individuals and stimuli, however, yielded reliable pupillary constriction, demonstrating intra-stressor stereotypy. Four factors characterized the ratings, two of which were associated with the autonomic responses. Pupillary dilatation and cardiac slowing increased as the Attention-Interest value increased. Pupillary dilatation was greatest to pictures midway on the Pleasantness-Evaluation factor, and greater to unpleasant than to pleasant stimuli. Cardiac slowing was linearly related to pleasantness, with unpleasant stimuli provoking the greatest slowing. The two responses were correlated less than measurement reliability would have allowed, demonstrating quantitative dissociation. When base-corrected scores were used the correlations again were low and highly variable among subjects and stimuli, even in direction.
Diagnostic Performance of Alpha-Fetoprotein, Protein Induced by Vitamin K Absence, Osteopontin, Dickkopf-1 and Its Combinations for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background & Aims Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the most widely used serum biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), despite its limitations. As complementary biomarkers, protein induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA-II), osteopontin (OPN), and Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) have been proposed. This study aimed to perform a head-to-head comparison of the diagnostic performance of AFP, PIVKA-II, OPN and DKK-1 as single or in combination to seek the best biomarker or panel, and to investigate the clinical factors affecting their performance. Methods Using 401 stored plasma samples obtained from 208 HCC patients and 193 liver cirrhosis control patients, plasma AFP, PIVKA-II, OPN and DKK-1 levels were measured by ELISA, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed for each biomarker and for every combination of two to four markers. Results Of the four biomarkers, AFP showed the highest area under the curve (0.786). The sensitivity and specificity for each single biomarker was 62% and 90.2% (AFP>20 ng/mL), 51.0% and 91.2% (PIVKA-II>10 ng/mL), 46.2% and 80.3% (OPN>100 ng/mL), and 50.0% and 80.8% (DKK-1>500 pg/mL), respectively. Among the combinations of two biomarkers, AFP>20 ng/mL or DKK-1>500 pg/mL showed the best diagnostic performance (sensitivity 78.4%, specificity 72.5%). Triple or quadruple combination did not improve the diagnostic performance further. The patient’s age, etiology and tumor invasiveness of HCC affected the performance of each marker. Conclusions AFP was the most useful single biomarker for HCC diagnosis, and the combined measurement of AFP and DKK-1 could maximize the diagnostic yield. Clinical decision should be based on the consideration of various factors affecting the diagnostic performance of each biomarker. Efforts to seek novel HCC biomarkers should be continued.
Functional analysis of Mycoplasma arthritidis-derived mitogen interactions with class II molecules

The ability of superantigens (SAGs) to trigger various cellular events via major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules is largely mediated by their mode of interaction. Having two MHC class II binding sites, staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) is able to dimerize MHC class II molecules on the cell surface and consequently induces cytokine gene expression in human monocytes. In contrast, cross-linking with specific monoclonal antibodies or T-cell receptor is required for staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) to induce similar responses. In the present study, we report how Mycoplasma arthritidis-derived mitogen (MAM) may interact with MHC class II molecules to induce cytokine gene expression in human monocytes. The data presented indicate that MAM-induced cytokine gene expression in human monocytes is Zn2+ dependent. The MAM-induced response is completely abolished by pretreatment with SEA mutants that have lost their capacity to bind either the MHC class II alpha or beta chain, with wild-type SEB, or with wild-type TSST-1, suggesting that MAM induces cytokine gene expression most probably by inducing dimerization of class II molecules. In addition, it seems that SEA and MAM interact with the same or overlapping binding sites on the MHC class II beta chain and, on the other hand, that they bind to the alpha chain most probably through the regions that are involved in SEB and TSST-1 binding.
Passives design for a high performance W-band amplifier

A high performance W-band LNA is designed in 0.13 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology by firstly deploying SC-GCPW input matching network, shielded cascode stage and partition layout. Noise figure of the LNA, parasitic coupling of the cascode stage and reverse isolation are considerably reduced. The LNA achieved a measured gain of above 45 dB, noise figure of 7.2 dB at 95 GHz and 19 mW power consumption in 0.13 μm BiCMOS which is the state-of-the-art on silicon. This LNA performance could help the W-band total power radiometer obtain a 0.5-K NEΔT.
Monitoring of global cerebral ischemia using instantaneous phase variation plots

In this paper, the derivative of the instantaneous phase of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals is used as a basis for monitoring of global cerebral ischemia. Visual and quantitative results were obtained from six rodents that were subject to 3, 5 and 7 minutes of global ischemic brain injury by asphyxic cardiac arrest. Results show that the variations in the instantaneous phase are capable of amplifying the variations during the various stages of the recovery process and may serve as a novel analytical approach to grade and classify brain rhythms during global ischemic brain injury and recovery.
Can latent speech quality dimensions be quantiﬁed directly?

Previous studies revealed that the quality of transmitted speech can well be described by three perceptual dimensions: “discon-tinuity”, “noisiness”, and “coloration”. In this paper, a method is presented for quantifying these dimensions directly in subjective tests. Two experiments were conducted according to this method with large sets of test conditions. A detailed description of the test procedure and a thorough analysis of the results is presented. The proposed method is reliable and produces meaningful and orthogonal results for diverse stimuli sets, in particular for stimuli containing multi-dimensional degradations. The method might form the basis for collecting the data for future diagnostic speech quality estimators.
Evaluating a Deliberative Method for Ranking Environmental Risks in China

Previous research at Carnegie Mellon University introduced a systematic method for public participation in risk ranking. The method has been tested successfully with participants from the United States using school risks and environmental risks. To explore the viability of the method in another cultural setting, we tested it with Chinese participants, because previous research has shown that Americans and Chinese differ substantially along many dimensions of cognition and social organization relevant to decision making. Using 10 environmental hazards based on current environmental regulatory programs in a Chinese city as the risk domain, 5 groups of 8–9 participants ranked the hazards using both holistic and multiattribute approaches. Resulting judgment patterns for the Chinese participants were consistent with those observed in previous studies with Americans, providing additional evidence for the robustness of the method. Risk rankings from the holistic and multiattribute approaches were reasonably consistent, both for individuals and for groups. Explicit and implicit measures indicated that participants were satisfied with the procedures and resulting rankings. Results for Chinese participants were compared with previous results for Americans to look for cultural effects involving risk perception, deference to technical expertise and quantitative analysis, deference to senior group members, adherence to groups’ rankings because of collectivism, and skepticism toward public participation in policy making. Although there were some hints of cultural differences, no cultural effect had a substantial effect on measures of the method’s validity or replicability. Because the Carnegie Mellon method offers a scientifically sound and measured approach to legitimate public involvement, it may be attractive to Chinese leaders as they respond to growing demand for public participation in risk-management policy.
Lowloss planar bandpass filters for millimeter-wave application

A new printed planar technology is introduced for efficient TEM bandpass filters in millimeter band. The new technology is self-packaged and shows excellent insertion losses compared to microstrip filters. The designs are based on newly introduced ridge gap waveguide, which is composed of printed parallel plate waveguide surrounded by arrays of bed of mushrooms. Several example are designed and optimized. Sample measured results are presented.
Assessment of Mental Health Status of Senior Secondary School Children in Delhi

Background. Schoolchildren undergo rapid mental, emotional, and social changes and are susceptible to psychiatric disorders. Objectives. This study aimed to assess the mental health status and some determinants in senior secondary school children in Delhi. Methodology. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 458 children, selected by 2-stage sampling. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire containing 60 items (GHQ-60) was used for assessment of mental health. Results. GHQ was administered to 239 boys and 219 girls in the age group of 15 to 20 years. Of 458 students, 113 (24.7%) had a score ≥16, the cutoff score, indicating mental morbidity among them. Among boys and girls, 28.5% and 20.5%, respectively, had some component of mental morbidity. Morbidity was significantly higher in children hailing from nuclear families and among children who had either failed or those who had scored highest in the class. Conclusion. Mental health needs of schoolchildren need to be addressed by the school health services.
Car-Following Control Using Recurrent Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller

Car following for traffic safety has been an active area of research. However, when a human is driving, it involves reaction time, delay, and human error that adversely affects safe driving. One way to eliminate human error and delay in vehicle following is to integrate an automated car-following control system into the driving system. This paper presents a recurrent-cerebellar-model-articulation-controller (RCMAC)-based control system for the car-following control of a platoon of automated vehicles. In this control system, an RCMAC is the main controller that is used to mimic a perfect control law, and a compensation controller is designed to compensate for the difference between the perfect control law and the RCMAC. The online adaptive laws of the control system are derived from the Lyapunov stability theorem so that the stability of the system can be guaranteed. Finally, a comparison of a sliding-mode control (SMC), an intelligent adaptive SMC, and the proposed RCMAC-based control for the car-following control is made. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed RCMAC-based control system can achieve better control performance than other control systems.
Lossy audio signal compression via structured sparse decomposition and compressed sensing

In this paper, we propose a method for lossy audio signal compression via structured sparse decomposition and compressed sensing (CS). In this method, a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) is employed to sparse and structured decompose the audio signals into tonal and transient layers, and then, both resulting layers are compressed by a CS method. By employing a new penalty term, which takes advantage of the structure information of transform coefficients, the LASSO is able to achieve a better sparse approximation of the audio signal than traditional methods do. In addition, we propose a sparsity allocation algorithm, which adjusts the sparsity between the two resulting layers, thus improving the performance of CS. Experimental results showed that the new method provided a better compression performance than conventional methods did.
Identification, molecular cloning and sequence analysis of a gene cluster encoding the Class II fructose 1,6‐bisphosphate aldolase, 3‐phosphoglycerate kinase and a putative second glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase of Escherichia coli

To investigate a possible chromosomal clustering of glycolytic enzyme genes, the complete nucleotide sequence of the 8029 bp insert of Escherichia coli DNA in the ColE1 plasmid pLC33‐5 of the Clarke and Carbon collection (Clark and Carbon, 1976) was determined. Genes (pgk, fda) encoding the phosphoglycerate kinase and Class II fructose 1,6‐bisphosphate aldolase, respectively, of E. coli were identified. The phosphoglycerate kinase was found to be highly homologous in primary structure to the same enzyme from eukaryotic organisms. A further large open reading frame, designated gapB, was also identified, which on the basis of sequence homology, appears to encode another glycolytic enzyme, glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase. This putative gene differs significantly from that (designated gapA) already identified as coding for this enzyme in E. coli and which maps elsewhere on the chromosome. The products, if any, of several other open reading frames remain to be identified.