Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eye rotation induced dynamics of a Newtonian fluid within the vitreous cavity: the effect of the chamber shape

The dynamics of the vitreous body induced by eye rotations is studied experimentally. In particular, we consider the case in which the vitreous cavity is filled by a Newtonian fluid, either because the vitreous is liquefied or because it has been replaced, after vitrectomy, by a viscous fluid. We employ a rigid Perspex container which models, in a magnified scale, the vitreous cavity of the human eye. The shape of the cavity closely resembles that of the real vitreous chamber; in particular, the anterior part of the container is concave in order to model the presence of the eye lens. The container is filled with glycerol and is mounted on the shaft of a computer-controlled motor which rotates according to a periodic time law. PIV (particle image velocimetry) measurements are taken on the equatorial plane orthogonal to the axis of rotation. The experimental measurements show that the velocity field is strongly influenced by the deformed geometry of the domain. In particular, the formation of a vortex in the vicinity of the lens, which migrates in time towards the core of the domain, is invariably observed. The vortex path is tracked in time by means of a vortex identification technique and it is found that it is significantly influenced by the Womersley number of the flow. Particle trajectories are computed from the PIV measurements. Particles initially located at different positions on the equatorial horizontal plane (perpendicular to the axis of rotation) tend to concentrate in narrow regions adjacent to the lens, thus suggesting the existence, in such regions, of a vertical fluid ejection. Such a strong flow three-dimensionality, which is essentially induced by the irregular shape of the domain, may play a significant role in the mixing processes taking place inside the eye globe. The tangential stresses acting on the rigid boundary of the domain are also computed from the experimental measurements showing that regions subject to particularly intense stresses exist along the boundary close to the lens.
Central venous catheters and biofilms: where do we stand in 2017?

The use of central venous catheters (CVC) is associated with a risk of microbial colonization and subsequent potentially severe infection. Microbial contamination of the catheter leads to the development of a microbial consortia associated with the CVC surface and embedded in an extracellular matrix, named biofilm. This biofilm provides bacterial cells the ability to survive antimicrobial agents and the host immune system and to disseminate to other sites of the body. The best preventive strategy is to avoid any unnecessary catheterization or to reduce indwelling duration when a CVC is required. Beside aseptic care and antibiotic‐impregnated catheters (like minocycline/rifampin), preventive locks can be proposed in some cases, whereas non‐biocidal approaches are under active research like anti‐adhesive or competitive interactions strategies. When the diagnosis of catheter‐related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) is suspected on clinical symptoms, it requires a microbiological confirmation by paired blood cultures in order to avoid unnecessary catheter removal. The treatment of CRBSI relies on catheter removal and systemic antimicrobials. However, antibiotic lock technique (ALT) can be used as an attempt to eradicate biofilm formed on the inside lumen of the catheter in case of uncomplicated long‐term catheter‐related BSI caused by coagulase‐negative staphylococci (CoNS) or Enterobacteriaceae. Recently, promising strategies have been developed to improve biofilm eradication; they rely on matrix degradation or destabilization or the development of anti‐persister compounds, targeting the most tolerant bacterial cells inside the biofilm. Understanding biofilm formation at the molecular level may help us to develop new approaches to prevent or treat these frequent infections.
Thermoplastic polypropylene/aluminum nitride nanocomposites with enhanced thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss

Polymer dielectrics with high thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss are highly attractive for applications in electric and electronic industry. In this paper, surface modified aluminum nitride (AlN) nanoparticles were introduced into polypropylene (PP) matrix via melt blending to prepare thermoplastic dielectrics with enhanced thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss. The microstructure, DC conductivity, dielectric properties, breakdown strength, space charge behavior, thermal conductivity and thermal stability of the nanocomposites were investigated. It is found that the inclusion of surface modified AlN nanoparticles results in improved thermal conductivity and thermal stability of PP/AlN nanocomposites. The dielectric constant shows a slight increase with AlN nanofiller content, and the dielectric loss remains at very low level of below 0.003. DC conductivity of PP/AlN nanocomposites increases but shows desirable weak dependence on electric field. DC and AC breakdown strength slightly decrease with the AlN nanoparticle content but it is still high enough for dielectric applications. More importantly, the PP/AlN nanocomposites is a thermoplastic material which is potential to be recycled and has less impact on the environment.
Flourishing in love and work

Sigmund Freud believed that two areas contributed to individual happiness and fulfilment – love and work, ‘lieben und arbeiten’. But Freud did not think that work was satisfying to most people; most worked out of necessity. We have broadened ‘love’ to include family, relationships with others, and extrawork activities. We have also broadened ‘work’ to include careers and lifelong contribution, to better reflect present day realities. In addition, more women and men today are raising the issue of ‘happiness’. Thus, a central question becomes, how can they flourish in their lives, work and careers (Keyes and Haidt, 2003; Sheldon, 2004)? Why is flourishing in life, work and careers important? Let us first consider levels of flourishing in life and work. Keyes (2002) examined a mental health continuum, with languishing and flourishing in life at each end, in a sample of 3032 US adults. The findings indicated that 17 percent of respondents were flourishing, 57 percent were moderately mentally healthy, 12 percent were languishing, and 14 percent met criteria for depression. Flourishing individuals, not surprisingly, scored higher on psychosocial functioning; flourishing was associated with the presence of mental health while languishing was associated with the absence of mental health. Ryff and Keyes (1995) developed a theoretical model of psychological wellbeing with six dimensions:
Effect of palm oil on plasma lipoprotein concentrations and plasma low-density lipoprotein composition in non-human primates

Palm oil (PO) contains ˜43% of palmitic acid. It is the most abundant saturated fatty acid in the diet and it is generally considered the primary cholesterol (C)-raising fatty acid. However, the effect of palmitic acid on plasma cholesterol appears to depend on the cholesterol content of the diet. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of PO with either a high-fat, high-C or moderate-fat, moderate-C diet on lipoprotein C and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) composition. Fifty adult, male vervet monkeys were randomly assigned to the high-fat diet group (HFD: 35%E fat, ˜0.106mg C/kJ; n = 20) and the moderate-fat diet group (MFD: 30%E fat, ˜0.027mg C/kJ; n = 30). Baseline LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-C and body weight were used to stratify the vervets into comparable experimental groups within each dietary group. The HFD group was divided into two groups of 10 each: one group continued with the HFD in which 8.1%E was derived from lard (AF); in the other group, AF was substituted isocalorically with PO. The MFD group was divided into three groups of 10 each: one group continued with the MFD in which 11.8%E was derived from AF; in the other two groups, the AF was substituted isocalorically with either sunflower oil (SO) or PO. This article presents preliminary results on plasma lipoproteins and LDL composition after 6 months of dietary intervention. Plasma total and LDL-C was higher in all the groups, but the mean changes elicited by PO with either the HFD or MFD were no different from that observed with AF and SO. There was no difference in the mean change of LDL molecular weight within the HFD and MFD. It is concluded that PO is no different from AF (HFD and MFD) or SO (MFD) in its cholesterolaemic effect.
Implementation and Evaluation of One-Sided PGAS Communication in XcalableACC for Accelerated Clusters

Clusters equipped with accelerators such as graphics processing unit (GPU) and Many Integrated Core (MIC) are widely used. For such clusters, programmers write programs for their applications by combining MPI with one of the available accelerator programming models. In particular, OpenACC enables programmers to develop their applications easily, but with lower productivity owing to complex MPI programming. XcalableACC (XACC) is a new programming model, which is an "orthogonal" integration of a partitioned global address space (PGAS) language XcalableMP (XMP) and OpenACC. While XMP enables distributed-memory programming on both global-view and local-view models, OpenACC allows operations to be offloaded to a set of accelerators. In the local-view model, programmers can describe communication with the coarray features adopted from Fortran 2008, and we extend them to communication between accelerators. We have designed and implemented an XACC compiler for NVIDIA GPU and evaluated its performance and productivity by using two benchmarks, Himeno benchmark and NAS Parallel Benchmarks CG (NPB-CG). The performance of the XACC version with the Himeno benchmark and NPB-CG are over 85% and 97% in the local-view model against the MPI+OpenACC version, respectively. Moreover, using non-blocking communication makes the performance of local-view version over 89% with the Himeno benchmark. From the viewpoint of productivity, the local-view model provides an intuitive form of array assignment statement for communication.
PiB Fails to Map Amyloid Deposits in Cerebral Cortex of Aged Dogs with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction

Dogs with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD) accumulate amyloid beta (Aβ) in the brain. As the cognitive decline and neuropathology of these old dogs share features with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the relation between Aβ and cognitive decline in animal models of cognitive decline is of interest to the understanding of AD. However, the sensitivity of the biomarker Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) to the presence of Aβ in humans and in other mammalian species is in doubt. To test the sensitivity and assess the distribution of Aβ in dog brain, we mapped the brains of dogs with signs of CCD (n = 16) and a control group (n = 4) of healthy dogs with radioactively labeled PiB ([11C]PiB). Structural magnetic resonance imaging brain scans were obtained from each dog. Tracer washout analysis yielded parametric maps of PiB retention in brain. In the CCD group, dogs had significant retention of [11C]PiB in the cerebellum, compared to the cerebral cortex. Retention in the cerebellum is at variance with evidence from brains of humans with AD. To confirm the lack of sensitivity, we stained two dog brains with the immunohistochemical marker 6E10, which is sensitive to the presence of both Aβ and Aβ precursor protein (AβPP). The 6E10 stain revealed intracellular material positive for Aβ or AβPP, or both, in Purkinje cells. The brains of the two groups of dogs did not have significantly different patterns of [11C]PiB binding, suggesting that the material detected with 6E10 is AβPP rather than Aβ. As the comparison with the histological images revealed no correlation between the [11C]PiB and Aβ and AβPP deposits in post-mortem brain, the marked intracellular staining implies intracellular involvement of amyloid processing in the dog brain. We conclude that PET maps of [11C]PiB retention in brain of dogs with CCD fundamentally differ from the images obtained in most humans with AD.
Comparison of the Modeling Approach between Membrane Bioreactor and Conventional Activated Sludge Processes

Activated sludge models (ASM) have been developed and largely applied in conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems. The applicability of ASM to model membrane bioreactors (MBR) and the differences in modeling approaches have not been studied in detail. A laboratory‐scale MBR was modeled using ASM2d. It was found that the ASM2d model structure can still be used for MBR modeling. There are significant differences related to ASM modeling. First, a lower maximum specific growth rate for MBR nitrifiers was estimated. Independent experiments demonstrated that this might be attributed to the inhibition effect of soluble microbial products (SMP) at elevated concentration. Second, a greater biomass affinity to oxygen and ammonium was found, which was probably related to smaller MBR sludge flocs. Finally, the membrane throughput during membrane backwashing/relaxation can be normalized and the membrane can be modeled as a continuous flow‐through point separator. This simplicity has only a minor effect on ASM simulation results; however, it significantly improved simulation speed.
The Early Secretory Pathway Contributes to the Growth of the Coxiella-Replicative Niche

ABSTRACT Coxiella burnetii is a Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacterium. After internalization, this bacterium replicates in a large parasitophorous vacuole that has features of both phagolysosomes and autophagosomal compartments. We have previously demonstrated that early after internalization Coxiella phagosomes interact with both the endocytic and the autophagic pathways. In this report, we present evidence that the Coxiella-replicative vacuoles (CRVs) also interact with the secretory pathway. Rab1b is a small GTPase responsible for the anterograde transport between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. We present evidence that Rab1b is recruited to the CRV at later infection times (i.e., after 6 h of infection). Interestingly, knockdown of Rab1b altered vacuole growth, indicating that this protein was required for the proper biogenesis of the CRV. In addition, overexpression of the active GTPase-defective mutant (GFP-Rab1b Q67L) affected the development of the Coxiella-replicative compartment inhibiting bacterial growth. On the other hand, disruption of the secretory pathway by brefeldin A treatment or by overexpression of Sar1 T39N, a defective dominant-negative mutant of Sar1, affected the typical spaciousness of the CRVs. Taken together, our results show for the first time that the Coxiella-replicative niche also intercepts the early secretory pathway.
Galectin‐4, a novel neuronal regulator of myelination

Myelination of axons by oligodendrocytes (OLGs) is essential for proper saltatory nerve conduction, i.e., rapid transmission of nerve impulses. Among others, extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules, neuronal signaling, and axonal adhesion regulate the biogenesis and maintenance of myelin membranes, driven by polarized transport of myelin‐specific proteins and lipids. Galectin‐4, a tandem‐repeat‐type lectin with affinity to sulfatide and nonsialylated termini of N‐glycans, has the ability to regulate adhesion of cells to ECM components and is also involved in polarized membrane trafficking. We, therefore, anticipated that galectin‐4 might play a role in myelination. Here, we show that in developing postnatal rat brains galectin‐4 expression is downregulated just before the onset of myelination. Intriguingly, when immature OLGs were treated with galectin‐4, OLG maturation was retarded, while a subset of the immature OLGs reverted to a morphologically less complex progenitor stage, displaying concomitantly an increase in proliferation. Similarly, myelination was inhibited when galectin‐4 or anti‐galectin‐4 antibodies were added to co‐cultures of dorsal root ganglion neurons and OLGs. Neurons and OLGs were identified as a possible source of galectin‐4, both in vitro and in vivo. In culture, neurons but not OLGs released galectin‐4. Interestingly, in co‐cultures, a reduced release of endogenous galectin‐4 correlated with the onset of myelination. Moreover, galectin‐4‐reactive sites are transiently expressed on processes of premyelinating primary OLGs, but not on neurons. Taken together, these results identify neuronal galectin‐4 as a candidate for a soluble regulator of OLG differentiation and, hence, myelination. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Does Actual Taxable Income Contain Valuable Information For Shareholders? Evidence From Finland

There is much discussion about usefulness of book-tax differences in evaluating firm performance. This study contributes to this discussion assessing the information content of estimated and actual taxable income for Finnish corporate data from 2012-2013. The findings for year 2012 show that book income has higher explanation power of stock returns than other income concepts. However, estimated taxable income does not bring any incremental explanatory power to book income whereas actual taxable income contains more relative and also incremental information. The findings show that the explanation power of estimated taxable income in high earnings quality firms is comparable with that of book income but insignificant in low earnings quality firms. On the contrary, the explanation power of actual taxable income is lower in high earnings quality firms and higher in low earnings quality firms. For high earnings quality firms, neither of the taxable income concepts brings incremental information to book income. For low earnings quality firms, estimated taxable income does not bring any incremental information to book income whereas actual taxable income does. For these firms, actual taxable income brings significant incremental information also to estimated taxable income. For year 2013, anticipated significant tax rate reduction largely mitigated the relevant relationships between returns and income concepts.
Closed-loop baroreflex control of total peripheral resistance in the cat: identification of gains by aid of a model.

The baroreflex regulation of total peripheral resistance was quantified in closed-loop conditions. To vary arterial pressure cardiac output was reduced by graded inferior caval vein occlusion or by arterial bleeding. In eight lightly anaesthetised cats the static relation between mean arteriovenous pressure gradient and mean flow could be described by a curve that was convex to the pressure axis and had zero intercept. The ratio of the change in resistance to a given change in arterial pressure was taken as resistance gain (GR). The value of this gain was estimated with the aid of a model which predicts pressure from flow when the right parameter value for gain is filled in. It consists of a non-linear negative-feedback control system with control pressure as reference point and with a constant gain. The estimation was carried out with the aid of an automatic identification procedure. GR varied from 0.002 to 0.010 min . ml-1 in different animals under light anaesthesia. With deeper anaesthesia gain decreased by 35 to 50% and became zero with very deep anaesthesia or barodenervation. Assuming that the reflex is a linear system about control pressure and flow we linearised our model and computed the static overall open-loop gain (GO). Within this narrow range GO varied from 0.64 to 2.30 for different cats under light anaesthesia and decreased by the same percentage as GR with deeper anaesthesia.
Conserved Motifs in a Tombusvirus Polymerase Modulate Genome Replication, Subgenomic Transcription, and Amplification of Defective Interfering RNAs

ABSTRACT The replication of plus-strand RNA virus genomes is mediated by virally encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRps). We have investigated the role of the C-proximal region in the RdRp of tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) in mediating viral RNA synthesis. TBSV is the prototype species in the genus Tombusvirus, family Tombusviridae, and its RdRp is responsible for replicating the viral genome, transcribing two subgenomic mRNAs, and supporting replication of defective interfering RNAs. Comparative sequence analysis of the RdRps of tombusvirids identified three highly conserved motifs in their C-proximal regions, and these sequences were subsequently targeted for mutational analysis in TBSV. The results revealed that these motifs are important for (i) synthesizing viral genomic RNA and subgenomic mRNAs, (ii) facilitating plus- and/or minus-strand synthesis, and (iii) modulating trans-replication of a defective interfering RNA. These motifs were also found to be conserved in other plant viruses as well as in a fungal and insect virus. The collective findings are discussed in relation to viral RNA synthesis and taxonomy. IMPORTANCE Little is currently known about the structure and function of the viral polymerases that replicate the genomes of RNA plant viruses. Tombusviruses, the prototype of the tombusvirids, have been used as model plus-strand RNA plant viruses for understanding many of the steps in the infectious process; however, their polymerases remain poorly characterized. To help address this issue, the function of the C-terminal region of the polymerase of a tombusvirus was investigated. Three conserved motifs were identified and targeted for mutational analysis. The results revealed that these polymerase motifs are important for determining what type of viral RNA is produced, facilitating different steps in viral RNA production, and amplifying subgenomic RNA replicons. Accordingly, the C-terminal region of the tombusvirus polymerase is needed for a variety of fundamental activities. Furthermore, as these motifs are also present in distantly related viruses, the significance of these results extends beyond tombusvirids.
Mesiodens: a clinical and radiographic study in children.

BACKGROUND A mesiodens is a supernumerary tooth located in the palatal midline between the two maxillary central incisors. The overall prevalence varies between 0.15 and 1.9%. The present study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of mesiodens in the pediatric population. MATERIALS AND METHODS A longitudinal prospective study was carried out in 7932 children to determine the prevalence of mesiodens. The following data were also recorded: age, sex, shape, sagittal position, orientation, eruption status, number and complications caused by mesiodens. RESULTS The prevalence of mesiodens in the present study was 0.8%. The sex ratio was 1.78:1, favoring boys. The majority of mesiodens (67.9%) were conical in shape, followed by the supplemental (17.9) and tuberculate (14.1%) types. 71.8% of the mesiodens were palatally placed, 25.6% erupted on the arch and 2.6% were labially positioned. A majority of the mesiodens (62.8%) were vertically aligned. Inverted and horizontal positions were observed in 30.8% and 6.4% of the cases. Most of the mesiodens (53.8%) were impacted, and 14 children had two mesiodens. Most of the mesiodens were associated with complications, and only 26.9% were asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of mesiodens was 0.8% . Conical shape, palatal position and vertical orientation were common characteristic observations in the study.