Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tumor Mouse Model Confirms MAGE-A3 Cancer Immunotherapeutic As an Efficient Inducer of Long-Lasting Anti-Tumoral Responses

Purpose MAGE-A3 is a potential target for immunotherapy due to its tumor-specific nature and expression in several tumor types. Clinical data on MAGE-A3 immunotherapy have raised many questions that can only be addressed by using animal models. In the present study, different aspects of the murine anti-tumor immune responses induced by a recombinant MAGE-A3 protein (recMAGE-A3) in combination with different immunostimulants (AS01, AS02, CpG7909 or AS15) were investigated. Experimental Design and Results Based on cytokine profile analyses and protection against challenge with MAGE-A3-expressing tumor, the combination recMAGE-A3+AS15 was selected for further experimental work, in particular to study the mechanisms of anti-tumor responses. By using MHC class I-, MHC class II-, perforin-, B-cell- and IFN-γ- knock-out mice and CD4+ T cell-, CD8+ T cell- and NK cell- depleted mice, we demonstrated that CD4+ T cells and NK cells are the main anti-tumor effectors, and that IFN-γ is a major effector molecule. This mouse tumor model also established the need to repeat recMAGE-A3+AS15 injections to sustain efficient anti-tumor responses. Furthermore, our results indicated that the efficacy of tumor rejection by the elicited anti-MAGE-A3 responses depends on the proportion of tumor cells expressing MAGE-A3. Conclusions The recMAGE-A3+AS15 cancer immunotherapy efficiently induced an antigen-specific, functional and long-lasting immune response able to recognize and eliminate MAGE-A3-expressing tumor cells up to several months after the last immunization in mice. The data highlighted the importance of the immunostimulant to induce a Th1-type immune response, as well as the key role played by IFN-γ, CD4+ T cells and NK cells in the anti-tumoral effect.
German subordinate clause word order in dialogue-based CALL

We present a dialogue system for exercising the German subordinate clause word order. The pedagogical methodology we adopt is based on focused tasks: the targeted linguistic structure is embedded in a naturalistic scenario, “Making appointments”, in which the structure can be plausibly elicited. We report on the system we built and an experimental methodology which we use in order to investigate whether the computer-based conversational focused task we designed promotes acquisition of the form. Our goal is two-fold: First, learners should improve their overall communicative skills in the task scenario and, second, they should improve their mastery of the structure. In this paper, we present a methodology for evaluating learners' progress on the latter.
Communication Satisfaction in the Bank: An Audit Evaluation

This study sought to evaluate some structural influences on perceived commu nication adequacy in a multi-branch banking organization. Since communica tion satisfaction affects employee job satisfaction as well as productivity, this study explored factors which may impede effective information transmission. This study used a communication audit to determine which groups within the banking system were experiencing dissatisfaction with communication received. Analysis of variance showed that part-time employees were signifi cantly less satisfied than hourly workers. Explanations of rising expectations, as well as local interference with corporate-based communication efforts are explored, and the audit approach is recommended for similar eualuations.
Synapsin I (Protein I), a nerve terminal-specific phosphoprotein. II. Its specific association with synaptic vesicles demonstrated by immunocytochemistry in agarose-embedded synaptosomes

Synapsin I (protein I) is a major neuron-specific endogenous substrate for cAMP-dependent and Ca/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases that is widely distributed in synapses of the central and peripheral nervous system (De Camilli, P., R. Cameron, and P. Greengard, 1983, J. Cell Biol. 96:1337-1354). We have now carried out a detailed analysis of the ultrastructural localization of synapsin I in the synapse. For this purpose we have developed a novel immunocytochemical technique that involves the labeling of isolated synaptosomes immobilized in a thin agarose gel. Special fixation conditions were designed to maximize accessibility of synapsin I to marker molecules. Immunoferritin and immunoperoxidase studies of this preparation indicated that synapsin I is localized in the presynaptic compartment and that it is present in close to 100% of all nerve endings. Immunoferritin labeling also indicated that, inside the nerve ending, synapsin I is specifically associated with the cytoplasmic surface of synaptic vesicles. In agreement with these immunoferritin results, the labeling produced by immunoperoxidase was compatible with a specific association of synapsin I with synaptic vesicle membranes. However, at variance with the very specific distribution of immunoferritin, immunoperoxidase reaction product was also found on other membranes of the terminals, presumably as a result of its diffusion over a short distance from the synaptic vesicles. Anti-synapsin I immunoperoxidase staining of tissue sections for electron microscopy produced an uneven labeling of terminals of the neuropile, in agreement with results of a previous study (Bloom, F. E., T. Ueda, E. Battenberg, and P. Greengard, 1979, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 76:5982-5986). A comparison with results obtained in isolated synapses indicates that the limited labeling of nerve endings in tissue sections results from limited and uneven penetration by marker molecules. The specific association of synapsin 1 with synaptic vesicle membranes in the great majority of nerve terminals suggests a prominent role for this phosphoprotein in the regulation of synaptic vesicle function.
Second-Order Asymptotics of Visible Mixed Quantum Source Coding via Universal Codes

The simplest example of a quantum information source with memory is a mixed source, which emits signals entirely from one of two memoryless quantum sources with given a priori probabilities. Considering a mixed source consisting of a general one-parameter family of memoryless sources, we derive the second-order asymptotic rate for fixed-length visible source coding. Furthermore, we specialize our main result to a mixed source consisting of two memoryless sources. Our results provide the first example of the second-order asymptotics for a quantum information-processing task employing a resource with memory. For the case of a classical mixed source (using a finite alphabet), our results reduce to those obtained by Nomura and Han. To prove the achievability part of our main result, we introduce universal quantum source codes achieving the second-order asymptotic rates. These are obtained by an extension of Hayashi's construction of their classical counterparts.
Phylogenetic characterization of circulating Dengue and Alkhumra Hemorrhagic Fever viruses in western Saudi Arabia and lack of evidence of Zika virus in the region: A retrospective study, 2010‐2015

Flaviviruses represent a global public health concern. They consist of ∼70 viruses with almost half of them causing human diseases with unspecified febrile illnesses. Cities in western Saudi Arabia are endemic for viruses (DENV) with sporadic infections due to Alkhumra hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV). They also represent a major destination for travelers coming for annual religious pilgrimages (Hajj and Umrah) from all over the world. However, whether other flaviviruses are circulating is not known because of the limited number of surveillance studies. Here, we retrospectively screened 690 samples for flaviviruses in samples from patients with unexplained febrile illnesses between 2010 and 2015 in western Saudi Arabia using a pan‐flaviviruses RT‐PCR assay. Despite Zika virus RNA was not detected, this study confirms circulation and/or sporadic spread of DENV‐2, DENV‐3, and AHFV, higher prevalence of DENV‐2, and a role for visitors from DENV endemic countries in DENV importation into the Kingdom. Further analysis also showed very low genetic diversity of AHFV confirming its slow microevolution. Accordingly, continuous and prospective surveillance for flaviviruses using such assay are warranted in Saudi Arabia which receives millions of Muslims annually to implement effective control measures in light of the global widespread and outbreaks of several flaviviruses.
An improved approach of lung image segmentation based on watershed algorithm

As a preprocessing step of chest Computed Tomography (CT) images, lung segmentation is significant for the diagnosis of lung disease. The traditional watershed algorithm is sensitive to the noise and has the drawback of over-segmentation problem. This paper presents a novel image segmentation method to improve Watershed segmentation algorithm with the maximum between-class variance algorithm (OTSU). We adopt the OTSU method and mathematical morphology method in the period of the initial image segmentation and then compute a segmentation function. Finally, we compute the watershed transform of the segmentation function. The experimental results point out that this method is an effective segmentation method of lung parenchyma, which lessens the problem of the over-segmentation in the lung image effectively and runs faster.
DARE : Surviving the Inevitable Failure of Fault-Tolerance

A fault tolerant system is designed to operate correctly under a well-defined system model, but fails to provide any service when the assumptions in the system model are invalidated due to unexpected massive failures. We advocate a new paradigm for building systems by augmenting fault tolerance with the properties of graceful Degradation, self-Awareness, and self-REstoration (the DARE properties). In particular, we believe that a storage subsystem with DARE properties could be a new and fundamental building block for scalable and reliable distributed systems and sketch a design for one such system. I. INEVITABLE FAILURE OF FAULT TOLERANCE Reliable distributed systems are typically designed to be fault tolerant. Fault tolerance mechanisms provably ensure system correctness, but only with respect to a system model that specifies the type and extent of failures. Most of the time, the system exists in a normal state, with no faulty components or by tolerating the failures of some components. Unfortunately, systems can sometimes suffer excessive failures that go beyond what is allowed in the system model. In these cases, fault tolerance mechanisms enter an abnormal state, are unable to mask failures, and cause “reliable” systems to fail. Typical reliable distributed systems exhibit an availability cliff [15], where a system is available in any normal state, but becomes completely unavailable after transitioning to an abnormal state. For example, a system that adopts the replicated state machine approach [8], [14] tolerates a minority of machine failures, but makes no progress when a majority is unavailable. Figure I depicts the availability cliff. It might seem that with sufficient replication one could virtually eliminate the probability of a system entering an abnormal state. However, such an argument hinges on the assumption that failures are independent. This assumption is often invalidated in some unexpected ways in practice (e.g., due to subtle software bugs [5], a certain batch of disks being defective, or accidental triggering of the power off button [2].) Furthermore, excessive replication could incur prohibitively high resource cost Availability
Parental Height and the Sex Ratio

This paper tests the generalized Trivers Willard hypothesis, which predicts that parents with heritable traits that increase the relative reproductive success of males compared to females will have relatively more males than females. As in Kanazawa (2005) we test if taller mothers have relatively more sons in a pooled sample of Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) from 46 developing countries. Despite using a rich dataset and an array of statistical models that address some of the concerns raised by Gelman (2007), we provide further evidence against the hypothesis.
A constraint multi-objective artificial physics optimization algorithm

The use of evolutionary algorithms to solve unconstraint multi-objective problems (MOPs) has attracted much attention recently. However, research on constraint multi-objective algorithms is relatively less. The authors introduce a novel evolutionary paradigm of artificial physics optimization (APO) into constraint multi-objective optimization domain and modify the original mass function and virtual force rules in order to fit constraint multi-objective optimization problems. Moreover the authors present a method of virtual force decreasing to improve the efficiency. Finally, simulation tests show that the algorithm is effective.
Prevalence and distribution of non-AIDS causes of death among HIV-infected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The advent of antiretroviral therapy has significantly improved AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. Yet, among people living with HIV, deaths due to non-AIDS-defining illnesses have been on the rise. The objective of this study was to provide information about the global prevalence and distribution of non-AIDS causes of death in the last ten years among people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy, by income levels of countries. We used broad search terms in Google Scholar, PubMed, and EMBASE to identify all studies that investigated the cause of death among people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy, published after January 1, 2005. References were also identified from review articles and reference lists. Inclusion criteria were English language, the study’s end date was after 2005, all patients were HIV-positive, at least two-thirds of the patients were receiving antiretroviral therapy, at least one patient died of non-AIDS causes of death. Titles, abstracts, and articles were reviewed by at least two independent readers. Of 2951 titles identified in our original search, 151 articles were selected for further screening. We identified 19 studies meeting our full criteria, with patients from 55 different nations. Pooled non-AIDS causes of death prevalence estimates in high-income countries were 53.0% (95% confidence interval, 43.6–62.3), in developing countries 34.0% (95% confidence interval, 20.3–49.1), and in sub-Saharan countries 18.5% (95% confidence interval, 13.8–23.7). Statistically significant variation was noted within and between categories. Our findings show that a significant number of people living with HIV across the world die from cardiovascular disease, non-AIDS malignancies, and liver disease. There is a global need for further scrutiny in all regions to improve preventive measures and early detection according to distinct causes of death patterns.
Anti-Listerial Activity of Four Seaweed Essential Oils Against Listeria monocytogenes

Background Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most virulent types of bacteria and causes severe foodborne illness, such as listeriosis. Because this pathogen has become resistant to sanitizers and other disinfectants that are used to clean utensils and surfaces during food processing, it poses a serious threat to the food industry. Objectives The study was conducted to determine the anti-listerial potential of essential oils extracted from four edible seaweeds against L. monocytogenes. Materials and Methods Essential oil was extracted from four edible seaweeds (Enteromorpha linza, Undaria pinnatifida, Laminaria japonica, and Porphyra tenera) against L. monocytogenes using the microwave hydrodistillation method. The anti-listerial activity of the essential oil was determined using the standard disc diffusion method. Results Among the four essential oils, E. linza (ELEO) was most effective against all three strains of L. monocytogenes (11.3 - 16.0 mm). The other three essential oils were only effective against two strains, L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115 (10.0 - 10.5 mm) and L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 (11.0 - 15.0 mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration and the minimum bactericidal concentration of all four essential oils varied from 12.5 - 25.0 mg/mL. Further, the mode of action of ELEO against L. monocytogenes was investigated by examining its effect on cell viability, the release of 260-nm absorbing materials, the number of K+ ions, the relative electrical conductivity, and the salt tolerance capacity. The results indicated that the essential oils exhibited strong anti-listerial activity against multiple strains of L. monocytogenes. It displayed potential inhibitory effects on the viability of bacterial cells and loss of integrity as indicated by an increase in the relative electrical conductivity, leakage of K+ ions and other 260-nm absorbing materials, and a loss of the salt tolerance capacity. Conclusions The results presented herein provided insight into a possible explanation for the modes of action of essential oils on L. monocytogenes. The outcome of the present study may aid the food industry in locating the most promising potential anti-listerial agents from edible seaweed sources to control L. monocytogenes and also in facilitating their application in food processing and preservation techniques in a nontoxic and environmental friendly manner.
Image Modification Based on a Visual Saliency Map for Guiding Visual Attention

SUMMARY It is commonly believed that improved interaction be-tween humans and electronic device, it is e ﬀ ective to draw the viewer’s attention to a particular object. Augmented reality (AR) applications can call attention to real objects by overlaying highlight e ﬀ ects or visual stimuli (such as arrows) on a physical scene. Sometimes, more subtle e ﬀ ects would be desirable, in which case it would be necessary to smoothly and naturally guide the user’s gaze without external stimuli. Here, a novel image modiﬁ-cation method is proposed for directing a viewer’s gaze to speciﬁc regions of interest. The proposed method uses saliency analysis and color modulation to create modiﬁed images in which the region of interest is the most salient region in the entire image. The proposed saliency map model that is used during saliency analysis reduces computational costs and improves the naturalness of the image using the LAB color space and simpliﬁed normalization. During color modulation, the modulation value of each LAB component is determined in order to consider the relationship between the LAB components and the saliency value. With the image obtained in this manner, the viewer’s attention is smoothly attracted to a speciﬁc region very naturally. Gaze measurements as well as a subjective experiments were conducted to prove the e ﬀ ectiveness of the proposed method. These results show that a viewer’s visual attention is indeed attracted toward the speciﬁed region without any sense of discomfort or disruption when the proposed method is used.
Frequent Night Awakenings in Infants and Preschool Children Referred to a Sleep Disorders Clinic: The Role of Nonadaptive Sleep Associations

Thirty-two children (ages 6 months-4 years) with night awakenings recruited from a sleep disorders clinic were studied to determine if they had more exposure to nonadaptive sleep associations after adjusting for other known night awakening risk factors than 54 matched control children without night awakenings recruited from referring physicians. Data from a parent-report questionnaire assessing the status of night awakenings, sleep associations, and other potential causes for night awakenings were analyzed with a multiple logistic regression. The 2 most important risk variables for night awakenings reaching significance at the multivariate level were nonadaptive sleep associations (adjusted odds ratio = 21.83, 95% CI = 4.52-105.47, p = .0001) and maternal depression (adjusted odds ratio = 3.61, 95% CI = 1.03-12.62, p = .04).
Global stability of delayed Hopfield neural networks underdynamical thresholds

We study dynamical behavior of a class of cellular neural networks system with distributed delays under dynamical thresholds. By using topological degree theory and Lyapunov functions, some new criteria ensuring the existence, uniqueness, global asymptotic stability, and global exponential stability of equilibrium point are derived. In particular, our criteria generalize and improve some known results in the literature.
Genetics and population analysis The evolutionary forest algorithm Scotland

Motivation: Gene genealogies offer a powerful context for inferences about the evolutionary process based on presently segregating DNA variation. In many cases, it is the distribution of population parameters, marginalized over the effectively infinite-dimensional tree space, that is of interest. Our evolutionary forest (EF) algorithm uses Monte Carlo methods to generate posterior distributions of population parameters. A novel feature is the updating of parameter values based on a probability measure defined on an ensemble of histories (a forest of genealogies), rather than a single tree. Results: The EF algorithm generates samples from the correct marginal distribution of population parameters. Applied to actual data from closely related fruit fly species, it rapidly converged to posterior distributions that closely approximated the exact posteriors generated through massive computational effort. Applied to simulated data, it generated credible intervals that covered the actual parameter values in accordance with the nominal probabilities. Availability: A Cþþ implementation of this method is freely accessible at http://www.isds. duke.edu/scl13 Contact: scotland@stat.duke.edu
Critical Success Factors for ERP Projects

Over the past decade, Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) have become one of the most important developments in the corporate use of information technology. ERP implementations are usually large, complex projects, involving large groups of people and other resources, working together under considerable time pressure and facing many unforeseen developments. In order for an organization to compete in this rapidly expanding and integrated marketplace, ERP systems must be employed to ensure access to an efficient, effective, and highly reliable information infrastructure. Despite the benefits that can be achieved from a successful ERP system implementation, there is evidence of high failure in ERP implementation projects. Too frequently key development practices are ignored and early warn ing signs that lead to project failure are not understood. Identifying project success and failure factors and their consequences as early as possible can provide valuable clues to help project managers improve their chances of success. It is the long-lange goal of our research to shed light on these factors and to provide a tool that project managers can use to help better manage their software development projects. This paper will present a review of the general background to our work; the results from the current research and conclude with a discussion of the findings thus far. The findings will include a list of 23 unique Critical Success Factors identified throughout the literature, which we believe to be essential for Project Managers. The implications of these results will be discussed along with the lessons learnt.