Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Selenoprotein K is required for palmitoylation of CD36 in macrophages: implications in foam cell formation and atherogenesis

Selk is an ER transmembrane protein important for calcium flux and macrophage activation, but its role in foam cell formation and atherosclerosis has not been evaluated. BMDMs from Selk−/− mice exhibited decreased uptake of modLDL and foam cell formation compared with WT controls, and the differences were eliminated with anti‐CD36 blocking antibody. CD36 expression was decreased in TNF‐α‐stimulated Selk−/− BMDMs compared with WT controls. Fluorescence microscopy revealed TNF‐α‐induced clustering of CD36 in WT BMDMs indicative of lipid raft localization, which was absent in Selk−/− BMDMs. Fractionation revealed lower levels of CD36 reaching lipid rafts in TNF‐α‐stimulated Selk−/− BMDMs. Immunoprecipitation showed that Selk−/− BMDMs have decreased CD36 palmitoylation, which occurs at the ER membrane and is crucial for stabilizing CD36 expression and directing its localization to lipid rafts. To assess if this phenomenon had a role in atherogenesis, a HFD was fed to irradiated Ldlr−/− mice reconstituted with BM from Selk−/− or WT mice. Selk was detected in aortic plaques of controls, particularly in macrophages. Selk−/− in immune cells led to reduction in atherosclerotic lesion formation without affecting leukocyte migration into the arterial wall. These findings suggest that Selk is important for stable, localized expression of CD36 in macrophages during inflammation, thereby contributing to foam cell formation and atherogenesis.
High and uneven levels of 45S rDNA site-number variation across wild populations of a diploid plant genus (Anacyclus, Asteraceae)

The nuclear genome harbours hundreds to several thousand copies of ribosomal DNA. Despite their essential role in cellular ribogenesis few studies have addressed intrapopulation, interpopulation and interspecific levels of rDNA variability in wild plants. Some studies have assessed the extent of rDNA variation at the sequence and copy-number level with large sampling in several species. However, comparable studies on rDNA site number variation in plants, assessed with extensive hierarchical sampling at several levels (individuals, populations, species) are lacking. In exploring the possible causes for ribosomal loci dynamism, we have used the diploid genus Anacyclus (Asteraceae) as a suitable system to examine the evolution of ribosomal loci. To this end, the number and chromosomal position of 45S rDNA sites have been determined in 196 individuals from 47 populations in all Anacyclus species using FISH. The 45S rDNA site-number has been assessed in a significant sample of seed plants, which usually exhibit rather consistent features, except for polyploid plants. In contrast, the level of rDNA site-number variation detected in Anacyclus is outstanding in the context of angiosperms particularly regarding populations of the same species. The number of 45S rDNA sites ranged from four to 11, accounting for 14 karyological ribosomal phenotypes. Our results are not even across species and geographical areas, and show that there is no clear association between the number of 45S rDNA loci and the life cycle in Anacyclus. A single rDNA phenotype was detected in several species, but a more complex pattern that included intra-specific and intra-population polymorphisms was recorded in A. homogamos, A. clavatus and A. valentinus, three weedy species showing large and overlapping distribution ranges. It is likely that part of the cytogenetic changes and inferred dynamism found in these species have been triggered by genomic rearrangements resulting from contemporary hybridisation.
An experimental mechatronic design and control of a 5 DOF Robotic arm for identification and sorting of different sized objects

The purpose of this paper is to present the construction and programming of a five degrees of freedom robotic arm which interacts with an infrared sensor for the identification and sorting of different sized objects. The main axis of the construction design will be up to the three main branches of science that make up the Mechatronics: Mechanical Engineering, Electronic-Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. The methods that have been used for the construction are presented as well as the methods for the programming of the arm in cooperation with the sensor. The aim is to present the manual and automatic control of the arm for the recognition and the installation of the objects through a simple (in operation) and low in cost sensor like the one that was used by this paper. Furthermore, this paper presents the significance of this robotic arm design and its further applications in contemporary industrial forms of production.
Investigations into Operation of Single- and Multi-Layer Configurations of Planar Inverted-F Antenna

The paper presents a tradeoff analysis between single- and multi-layer (stacked) configurations of a planar inverted-F antenna (PFIA) of fixed overall height, with respect to achieving multi-band operation. The investigations focus on two bands, 800 to 1000 MHz and 1700 to 2600 MHz, which cover a frequency spectrum allocated to most of the present-day wireless systems operating below 2600 MHz. Folding and tapering of a conducting patch in the single-layer configuration, and increasing the number of conducting patches in the multi-layer layer (stacked) configuration, are used to achieve multi-band operation. The results obtained show that the stacked PIFA is able to generate many (four or more) bands within the investigated frequency spectrum. However, it faces difficulty in broadening them, as the coupling of upper plates to the ground is weakened by the presence of middle plates. At the same time, the tuning of one band adversely affects the other bands' performance. For the single-layer PIFA, the multi-band impedance characteristics are easier to adjust. A significant band widening can be obtained by proper arrangement of a conducting patch, and by introducing cuts or slits in the ground plane. In the designs presented, the antenna volume, measured by its outline, fell under 3 cm3. The resulting radiation efficiencies were 95% at the lower band (900 MHz), and 89% at the upper frequency range (2020 MHz).
The Evaluation of the Role of the Office for Protection of Competition of the Czech Republic in Regulating Public Procurement

Abstract Our study offers additional insight into the Office for Protection of Competition. It examines the Office for Protection of Competition in terms of an input-process-output model, defines the inputs needed for its activities and examines the outputs of its control activities. It also identifies external factors (in the environment) that affect the performance and behavior of the Office for Protection of Competition and have an impact on inspection activities. The theoretical background as well as assumptions are then subjected to empirical scrutiny. Theoretical conclusions and recommendations for more effective control of public contracts are drawn from the conclusions which are established.
AN ITERATIVE METHOD FOR REGISTRATION OF HIGH-RESOLUTION CARDIAC HISTOANATOMICAL AND MRI IMAGES

Cardiac computational models of electrical conduction, mechanical activation, hemodynamics and metabolism require detailed information about the structural arrangement of functionally heterogeneous cardiac cell types. However, current state-of-the-art models lack anatomically accurate cell type localization, which limits their utility. Histological sections combine unique resolution with discrimination of tissues and anatomical structures, but they suffer from alignment and deformation problems. On the other hand, MRI datasets preserve the correct geometry, but provide less micro structural detail. This paper presents a method for aligning MRI and histological datasets to obtain a highly detailed, geometrically correct anatomical description of the heart. An iterative process is used to correct the various 2D and 3D, rigid and non-rigid transforms, introduced in the histology preparation and acquisition. Validation is performed by calculating distances between anatomical landmarks in both datasets, and by quantifying tissue overlap. Results illustrate the suitability of the proposed algorithm to produce detailed, accurate cardiac models.
Optimal Haloperidol Dosage in First-Episode Psychosis

Objective: To determine optimal doses of haloperidol for the treatment of a first episode of psychosis. Method: A 4-week prospective controlled clinical trial with “optimal dose” defined as the dose at which either of the following occurs: 1) significant improvement, defined as a 15% or greater decrease in scores on the Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), or 2) the onset of extrapyramidal symptoms. Beginning with 2 mg daily, haloperidol was increased weekly to 5 mg, 10 mg, and finally 20 mg daily until either 1) or 2) occurred. Results: Optimal doses for the 36 subjects were 2 mg daily for 15 subjects, 5 mg daily for 11, 10 mg daily for 7, and 20 mg daily for 3. On average, subjects whose optimal dose was 2 mg daily showed the greatest improvement. Among the 27 subjects evidencing clinical response to treatment, 20 had plasma haloperidol levels below 5 ng/ml. Conclusion: Many people suffering a first psychotic episode respond to haloperidol doses well below levels in common use.
Power-Efficient Transceiver Design for Full-Duplex MIMO Multi-Cell Systems With CSI Uncertainty

With increasing emphasis on incorporating energy awareness in future communication systems, it is desirable to explore power-efficient resource allocation techniques. Therefore, in this paper, we consider the sum-power minimization of base stations (BSs) and users in a full-duplex (FD) multiple-input multiple-output multi-cell system. In particular, we assume that BSs operating in FD transmission mode serve multiple FD mobile users at the same time over the same frequency band. To guarantee a certain quality of service (QoS), we enforce the maintenance of a minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio for each user. Concerning these design constraints together with realistic FD self-interference models, we investigate the transmit and receive beamforming designs that minimize the joint transmission power of BSs and users. However, the resulting optimization problem is NP-hard. We therefore divide this optimization problem into separate receive and transmit beamforming design steps, which can be solved iteratively. In addition, the non-convex precoder design problem is posed as a difference of convex function programming, which can be efficiently solved via successive convex approximation. In order to account for practical aspects in our design, we also take into account imperfect channel state information by way of stochastic and bounded uncertainties. Numerical results suggest that the FD systems generally outperform the half-duplex ones under a wide range of QoS constraints and transceiver distortions.
Framing measures for accountability in complex enterprises

To consider the question of whether or not a complex enterprise is achieving its best possible performance, a system of measures helps a CEO to reach into her enterprise to understand how well it and its parts are performing in the real world. If a CEO can devise an appropriate framework of measures, she has the capacity to ask the right questions from any level in the organisation that drive the desired behaviours and actions across the main human activities of the enterprise, but not limit their actions. Most socio-technical organisations will have a hierarchy of primary inter-related functions. This paper examines the question of how to structure the crucial measures to achieve this outcome? It presents a theoretic viewpoint to begin with followed by a brief insight to how this was applied in developing a first-principles approach to capability management in the Royal Australian Navy.
Complex carbohydrate digestion and large bowel fermentation in rats given wholemeal bread and cooked haricot beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) fed in mixed diets

The digestion of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and of resistant starch (RS) by rats fed on wholemeal-bread-based diets containing 0-450 g cooked, freeze-dried haricot beans (Phaseolus vulgavis)/kg diet was measured over the final 14 d of a 21 d feeding experiment. The bread and beans provided all the dietary polysaccharide. RS could not be detected consistently in faeces and it was assumed that this fraction was entirely fermented in the large bowel (LB). NSP digestibilities were 0.56 and 0.86 for wholemeal bread and beans respectively with no evidence that the dietary presence of beans affected digestibility of bread NSP. Bean non-cellulosic polysaccharides were highly digestible with values of 0.98, 0.88 and 0.99 for arabinose, xylose and uronic acids components respectively. There were large increases in organic matter flow to the LB when beans were fed which was associated with marked caecal hypertrophy and alterations in caecal volatile fatty acids (VFA) pattern. Calculated VFA absorption from the LB was 5-fold higher with the highest level of beans and this was reflected in higher concentrations of VFA in portal and heart blood.
The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 UL3 Transcript Starts within the UL3 Open Reading Frame and Encodes a 224-Amino-Acid Protein

ABSTRACT Several different herpes simplex viruses (HSVs) and vectors are being explored as therapeutic products for use in the treatment of cancer and neurological disorders. The viral strain and the combination of mutant viral genes that ultimately may serve as a safe and optimal backbone for such products are still being explored. The large genome size and complexity of the viral life cycle make such determinations difficult, because the significance of differences between proposed products is difficult to evaluate. For example, we previously reported that two lineages of γ34. 5-deleted HSVs used in clinical studies differ from each other in the size of the UL3 protein expressed (M. J. Dambach et al., Mol. Ther. 13:891-898, 2006). Because the function of UL3 is not known and UL3 gene expression is poorly understood, the significance of such a difference cannot be predicted. Here, I begin to address the function of UL3 by investigating UL3 gene expression. I report that the transcript start site of UL3 mRNA isolated from HSV type 1 (HSV-1)-infected cells maps to a position downstream of the predicted translation start site. By constructing and characterizing the recombinant virus CB8116, which has a mutation in the first in-frame start codon of this UL3 transcript, I demonstrated that UL3 protein translation initiates at the second in-frame start codon of the UL3 open reading frame. This information adds to the body of basic knowledge of HSV-1 biology that forms the foundation for our current understanding of HSV-based products. Future research on HSV-1 biology will facilitate the rational design and evaluation of future generations of therapeutic viruses.
Interference Mitigation with Dual Antenna Users in Massive MIMO Systems

In massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, the effect of small-scale fading and noise disappear when the number of base station antennas goes to infinity. The only remaining impairment is pilot contamination. In this paper, interference mitigation method is proposed by leveraging the dual antenna user equipments. Given the antenna correlation matrix at the user side, the optimal beamforming weight is obtained explicitly. Using the proposed beamforming weight, the interference are reduced during both the uplink pilot transmission and the downlink data transmission, thus the cell capacity is improved. Simulations under various environmental configurations verify the capacity improvements.
Plant-to-Plant Movement of Striacosta albicosta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Maize (Zea mays)

Abstract Integrated pest management (IPM) and insect resistance management (IRM) in various cropping systems demand a comprehensive understanding of insect behavior. Among the needed information is basic charaterizations of larval movement and dispersion of some insect-pests, such as the noctuids Striacosta albicosta (Smith) and Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith). We investigated the plant-to-plant movement of western bean cutworm and fall armyworm larvae in field of maize. Experiments on S. albicosta were conducted between 2008 and 2010. A main study with this pest was performed in 2012 in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with nine replications. An S. frugiperda study was performed in 2013 in an RCBD with eight replications. The plant-to-plant movement and larval survival were measured in plots with maize nontoxic to the insects. The larval survival of S. albicosta presented high variety throughout the years. Although S. frugiperda survival was relatively low during 2013, it did not compromise the larval assessment. Larvae of both species dispersed governed by nondirectional sensory information, and presented aggregated and symmetrical distribution; however, fall armyworm remained nearer the release point. These results may help the IPM components, such as scouting and economic threshold, as well as the implementation of refuge and seed mixture strategies for IRM.
Macro Economic overview of growth and inequality in Assam using time series analysis

Background/Objective: Concentrating on Assam, this study makes an attempt to investigate the growth-inequality dynamics of the state taking account of factors like government expenditure on health and education. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The study adopts time series analysis to test the relationship among income inequality, economic growth and social sector variables like education and health in Assam. The data over the period 1981-82 to 2011-12 is used in an ARDL framework to look into co integration and error correction mechanism. Findings: The results derived are suggestive of the presence of a long term relationship between income inequality and economic growth, given the government expenditure on education and health. The findings show that government expenditure on education in Assam have the desired redistributive effect in narrowing the inequalities with time, but the results for government expenditure on health are alarming. Further, the results support the validity of Kuznet's 'Inverted U hypothesis' in case of Assam. Application/Improvement: Government commitment towards provision of social services like government expenditure on education and health should be further streamlined to ensure that the expenditure is redistributive in dealing with income inequalities in the state.
VLSI layout hotspot detection based on discriminative feature extraction

Feature extraction is a key stage in machine learning based VLSI layout hotspot detection flow. Conventional machine learning based methods apply various feature extraction techniques to approximate an original layout structure at nanometer level. However, some important layout pattern information is missed during the approximation process, resulting in performance degradation. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study on layout feature extraction and propose a new method that can preserve discriminative layout pattern information to improve the detection performance in terms of accuracy and extra. Experiments were conducted on an industrial benchmark and ICCAD benchmark suite to study the effectiveness of our proposed methods.
A very low phase noise fully integrated quadrature LC oscillator for 2.4 GHz band applications

This paper presents a quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) based on the coupling of two LC-tank VCOs. The QVCO could be tuned between 2.41 and 2.64 GHz, and showed a phase noise of -139 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency from the carrier across the whole tuning range, for a current consumption of 20 mA with 2.5-V power supply. A figure-of-merit of -190 dBc/Hz is observed.
Late vascular occlusion of central lines in pediatric malignancies.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether thrombi or vascular occlusion represent a late complication persisting several years after removal of central venous lines (CVLs) in children and adolescents treated for childhood cancer. METHODS Children whose treatment for malignancy included placement of a CVL that had been removed at least 2 months previously were studied during scheduled follow-up that included contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Spiral volume acquisition was used to obtain 3-mm images from the chest apices through the right hilum, and three-dimensional reconstruction of angiograms was performed. Thrombosis/occlusion was defined as narrowing, obstruction, or filling defect of the deep venous system, with or without the formation of collateral veins. Charts were reviewed to document patient characteristics, previous CVL complications, administration of hyperalimentation, use of urokinase, and family history of venous thrombosis. RESULTS Twenty-three patients treated for solid tumors and 2 treated for B-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia or lymphoma were studied. Lines had been in place from 0.2 to 36 months (median, 7.4) and were removed at 2.3 to 121.8 months (median, 32.5) before study. Nine patients received hyperalimentation for periods ranging from 2 to 38 weeks (median, 12). Four patients had required urokinase instillations, and one developed superior vena cava syndrome; 4 had a CVL-related infection (two superficial and two Candida line infections). Occlusion was seen on computed tomography angiograms in 3 of the 25 patients (12%; 95% confidence interval: 4.5-31%). One of the patients with occlusion had superior vena cava syndrome; none had a family history of thrombosis, use of a double lumen CVL, or multiple instillations of urokinase. CONCLUSIONS Persistent asymptomatic vascular occlusion does occur as a late complication of CVL placement for treatment of childhood malignancies, although the frequency appears low among patients treated primarily for solid tumors. Prospective studies of large numbers of patients with a broader spectrum of diagnoses are necessary to define the incidence of and risk factors for this complication and to assess the need for prevention with anticoagulation or other therapy. Pediatricians caring for patients with a history of cancer and CVLs should be aware that these patients may have persistent vascular occlusion that could predispose them to recurrent thrombosis or postphlebitic syndrome.
Long‐term survival after acute myocardial infarction in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is associated with poor prognosis. It has been reported that there is no difference in in‐hospital mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) between patients with and without HCM. However, whether there is a difference in long‐term survival after AMI between patients with and without HCM remains unclear.
Normal G1/S transition and prolonged S phase within one cell cycle after seeding cells in the presence of an ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor

Abstract. We have previously found that DNA replication was affected within one cell cycle after seeding Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in the presence of the polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor 2‐difluoromethylornithine (DFMO). We could, however, not rule out if this was due to an effect on the G1/S transition and/or on DNA synthesis elongation. In the present paper, we use a bromodeoxyuridine‐flow cytometric method to more specifically study the G1/S transition, the S phase length, and the progression of cells from S phase through G2+ M and into G1, after seeding plateau phase CHO cells at low density in the absence or presence of 5 mM DFMO. We report here that DFMO‐induced polyamine depletion increased the length of the S phase within one cell cycle after seeding of CHO cells in the presence of the inhibitor. No effect on the G1/S transition was observed until 2 days after seeding, suggesting that a DFMO‐induced lengthening of the G1 phase occurred later than the effect on S phase progression. These results imply that the G2+ M phase was not prolonged until 2 days after seeding CHO cells in the presence of DFMO.