Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HLA-G Inhibits Rolling Adhesion of Activated Human NK Cells on Porcine Endothelial Cells1

Human NK cells adhere to and lyse porcine endothelial cells (pEC) and therefore may contribute to the cell-mediated rejection of vascularized pig-to-human xenografts. Since MHC class I molecules inhibit the cytotoxic activity of NK cells, the expression of HLA genes in pEC has been proposed as a potential solution to overcome NK cell-mediated xenogeneic cytotoxicity. HLA-G, a minimally polymorphic HLA class I molecule that can inhibit a wide range of NK cells, is an especially attractive candidate for this purpose. In this study we tested whether the expression of HLA-G on pEC inhibits the molecular mechanisms that lead to adhesion of human NK cells to pEC and subsequent xenogeneic NK cytotoxicity. To this end two immortalized pEC lines (2A2 and PED) were stably transfected with HLA-G1. Rolling adhesion of activated human NK cells to pEC monolayers and xenogeneic cytotoxicity against pEC mediated by polyclonal human NK lines as well as NK clones were inhibited by the expression of HLA-G. The adhesion was partially reversed by masking HLA-G on pEC with anti-HLA mAbs or by masking the HLA-G-specific inhibitory receptor ILT-2 on NK cells with the mAb HP-F1. The inhibition of NK cytotoxicity by HLA-G was only partially mediated by ILT-2, indicating a role for other unknown NK receptors. In conclusion, transgenic expression of HLA-G may be useful to prevent human NK cell responses to porcine xenografts, but is probably not sufficient on its own. Moreover, the blocking of rolling adhesion by HLA-G provides evidence for a novel biological function of HLA molecules.
Augmented text character proposals and convolutional neural networks for text spotting from scene images

In this work we propose a novel method for text spotting from scene images based on augmented Multi-resolution Maximally Stable Extremal Regions and Convolutional Neural Networks. The goal of this work is augmenting text character proposals to maximize their coverage rate over text elements in scene images, to obtain satisfying text detection rates without the need of using very deep architectures nor large amount of training data. Using simple and fast geometric transformations on multi-resolution proposals our system achieves good results for several challenging datasets while also being computationally efficient to train and test on a desktop computer.
Integration of the Old and New Lake Suigetsu (Japan) Terrestrial Radiocarbon Calibration Data Sets

The varved sediment profile of Lake Suigetsu, central Japan, offers an ideal opportunity from which to derive a terrestrial record of atmospheric radiocarbon across the entire range of the 14C dating method. Previous work by Kitagawa and van der Plicht (1998a,b, 2000) provided such a data set; however, problems with the varve-based age scale of their SG93 sediment core precluded the use of this data set for 14C calibration purposes. Lake Suigetsu was re-cored in summer 2006, with the retrieval of overlapping sediment cores from 4 parallel boreholes enabling complete recovery of the sediment profile for the present “Suigetsu Varves 2006” project (Nakagawa et al. 2012). Over 550 14C determinations have been obtained from terrestrial plant macrofossils picked from the latter SG06 composite sediment core, which, coupled with the core's independent varve chronology, provides the only non-reservoir-corrected 14C calibration data set across the 14C dating range. Here, physical matching of archive U-channel sediment from SG93 to the continuous SG06 sediment profile is presented. We show the excellent agreement between the respective projects' 14C data sets, allowing the integration of 243 14C determinations from the original SG93 project into a composite Lake Suigetsu 14C calibration data set comprising 808 individual 14C determinations, spanning the last 52,800 cal yr.
Adsorption of Selected Pesticides from Aqueous Solutions Using Cost effective Walnut Shells

In the present studies efforts are made to develop a low cost method to remove pesticides from water streams. Low cost walnut shells after chemical and thermal treatment are used to remove carbofuran and Chloropyriphos pesticides from aqueous solutions. The adsorption parameters i.e. pH, contact time, shaking speed and initial concentration have been studied. The adsorption was found to be rapid 97-99% within 30 min. The adsorption of pesticides on the adsorbent surface was found to be pH dependent. The adsorbent material was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. Elution experiments were performed to recover the adsorbed pesticide from the adsorbent surface. The Freundlich, Langmuir, D-R and Thomas models were used to study the partitioning behavior for the adsorption system along with kinetic and thermodynamic studies. The proposed adsorption method was utilized to remove carbofuran and Chloropyriphos pesticides from environmental water samples. Key word: Adsorption; pesticides; Walnut shell; Isotherms, Kinetics; thermodynamics.
Cardiovascular risk prediction method based on CFS subset evaluation and random forest classification framework

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is a highly significant contributor to loss of quality and quantity of life all over the world. Early detection and risk prediction is very important for patients' treatment and doctors' diagnose. This paper focus on establishing a more accurate and practical risk prediction system based on data mining techniques to provide auxiliary medical service. In order to be practically used for collecting and analyzing patients' data in healthcare industries, the system consists of four parts: data interface, data preparation, feature selection and classification. Data interface response to obtain hospitals' raw data from hospital; data preprocessing is needed for data integration, data cleaning and rating mapping etc. Key features were then selected by CFS Subset Evaluation combined with Best-First-Search method to reduce dimensionality. Random forest was inducted as basic classifier to identify risk level, which is a prior trial in CVD risk prediction field. Cleveland Heart-Disease Database (CHDD) and Cardiology inpatient dataset of PKU People's Hospital were both tested to confirm accuracy as well as practicality. In CHDD test, our system has a significantly higher accuracy of 91.6% than other methods. In People's Hospital dataset test, it achieves an accuracy of 97%, which is better than most of other classifiers except SVM (98.9%), however random forest only take half of time than SVM. Comprehensively considering the risk prediction system shows great significance in accuracy and practical use for patients' treatment and doctors' diagnose.
Improved method for high efficiency transformation of intact yeast cells.

Daniel Gietz, Andrew St. Jean' Robin A.Woods2 and Robert H.Schiestl2* Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, T250-770 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E OW3, 'Department of Biology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9, Canada and 2Department of Molecular and Cellular Toxicology, Harvard University, School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Regulatory Annotation of Human Genome Huy Vu

Annotation of a gene is the process of defining its biological functions and using this knowledge in studying relevant gene products that are encoded by genomes. This process includes extraction, definition, and interpretation of features on the genome sequence derived by integrating computational tools and biological knowledge. It is notable that many annotations describe features that constitute a gene, but other annotations do not, e.g., an STS, or sequence overlap. Annotation of human genome is a central problem in bioinformatics of this century due to the demands from other areas, such as medicine. Lander has reviewed the development of sequencing human genome and its applications [Lan11]. There are currently a number of approaches and efficient algorithms for annotation of human genome, such as the ones in the projects ENCODE [Con04], modeENCODE [CSB+11], and 1000 genomes [Con10]. The ENCODE project provides a comprehensive picture of functional elements in 44 human genomes, which can support a global analysis of the genomic distribution of transcriptional regulatory elements. Wright et al. use combine and conquer techniques to create a better gene map and functional annotation [WLZ+01]. These techniques combine the major public cDNA, EST and protein databases, and then resolve redundancies in these databases. Although annotation of human genes includes structures, constraints, and regulatory signals, in this project we will focus on the identification and the characterization of regulatory elements of human genes. Zhang et al. analyze the distribution of regulatory elements through a number of ChIP-chip experiments on a 10-100 Kb scale [ZPF+07]. They show that the distribution is nonuniform, and is associated with the location of known genes. When looking at single-gene scale, we notice that regulatory elements occur more near the start and end sites of transcriptions. There is a lot of research on the distribution of regulatory elements in the human genome and methods used to identify transcriptional regulatory elements, such as [MEG06, WS04]. The regulation of transcription and subsequent gene splicing is crucial to gene experiments. Although we have knowledge about a number of regulatory involved in these processes, their distribution throughout the genome is not clear [RMT02]. Moreover, we do not know their function in the genome context.
A simple salting out procedure for extracting DNA from human nucleated cells.

One of the obstacles encountered when extracting DNA from a large number of samples is the cumbersome method of deprotein-izing cell digests with the hazardous organic solvents phenol and isochloroform. Several other non-toxic extraction procedures have been published, but require either extensive dialysis (1) or the use of filters (2). A rapid, safe and inexpensive method was developed to simplify the deprotein-ization procedure. This method involves salting out of the cellular proteins by dehydration and precipitation with a saturated NaCl solution. Buffy coats of nucleated cells obtained from anticoagulated blood (ACD or EDTA) were resuspended in 15 ml polypropylene centrifugation tubes with 3 ml of nuclei lysis buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl t 400 mM NaCl and 2 mM Na 2 EDTA, pH 8.2). The cell lysates were digested overnight at 37°C with 0.2 ml of 10Z SDS and 0.5 ml of a protease K solution (1 mg protease K in 1Z SDS and 2 mM Na2EDTA). After digestion was complete, 1 ml of saturated NaCl (approximately 6M) was added to each tube and shaken vigorously for 15 seconds, followed by centrifugation at 2500 rpm for 15 minutes. The precipitated protein pellet was left at the bottom of the tube and the supernatant containing the DNA was transferred to another 15 ml polypropylene tube. Exactly 2 volumes of room temperature absolute ethanol was added and the tubes inverted several times until the DNA precipitated. The precipitated DNA strands were removed with a plastic spatula or pipette and transferred to a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube containing 100-200 pi TE buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, 0.2 mM Na 2 EDTA, pH 7.5). The DNA was allowed to dissolve 2 hours at 37°C before quantitating. The DNA obtained from this simple technique yielded quantities comparable to those obtained from phenol-chloroform extractions. The 260/280 ratios were consistently 1.8-2.0, demonstrating good deproteinization. Restrictions were performed using a number of different enzymes requiring high, medium or low salt concentrations, all resulting in complete restriction. This procedure has been used in our laboratory on several thousand blood samples for parentage, population and forensic studies. This technique is used with our non-isotopic hybridization procedures (3) rendering the entire process of RFLP analysis free of toxic materials.
Fractional CO2 lasers contribute to the treatment of stable non-segmental vitiligo

BackgroundStable non-segmental vitiligo is often resistant to conventional therapies.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of three types of fractional lasers in the treatment of stable nonsegmental vitiligo.Materials & methodsTwenty patients were enrolled in the study. The vitiligo lesions of each patient were divided into four treatment parts, and all parts were treated with narrowband ultraviolet-B (NB-UVB). Three of the four parts were respectively treated with three types of fractional lasers (two ablative 10,600-nm CO2 lasers and one non-ablative 1,565-nm laser), followed by topical betamethasone solution application. The treatment period lasted six months. Efficacy and satisfaction were respectively assessed by dermatologists and patients.ResultsThe ablative CO2 lasers, in combination with topical betamethasone solution and NB-UVB, achieved marked to excellent improvement on white patches assessed by dermatologists. Patients showed high satisfaction scores for the treatments. The non-ablative 1,565-nm fractional laser did not provide any further benefit in the treatment of vitiligo. No severe adverse events developed for any of the treatments.ConclusionThe treatment protocol with ablative CO2 lasers, in combination with topical betamethasone solution and NB-UVB, was suitable for stable non-segmental vitiligo. For vitiligo, the ablative fractional CO2 laser is more effective than the non-ablative fractional laser.
Finished Genome Sequence of Escherichia coli K-12 Strain HMS174 (ATCC 47011)

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli strain K-12 substrain HMS174 is an engineered descendant of the E. coli K-12 wild-type strain. Like its ancestor, it is an important organism in biotechnological research and is used in fermentation processes for heterologous protein production. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of E. coli HMS174 (ATCC 47011).
"We've got a better situation": the life and afterlife of virtual communities in Google Lively

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of unsustainable community platforms from community and information sharing perspectives using Google Lively as an example. The aim is to analyse what happens when a community platform is not sustainable and explore the reasons why Lively failed or succeeded as an arena of participation and information sharing. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on an ethnographically informed analysis of texts on Google Lively mined from the web and gathered using two small qualitative surveys. Findings – The findings show that Lively fostered the emergence of several virtual communities that outlived the platform. Shared experience, experience of crisis and a distinct identity appeared to be significant factors that seemed to contribute to the success of analysed Livelian communities. Research limitations/implications – The study is based on a convenience sample and an analysis of one virtual community platform. Practical implications – The resul.
Synchronized Phasor and Frequency Measurement Under Transient Conditions

Synchronized phasor measurements are becoming an important element of wide area measurement systems used in advanced power system monitoring, protection, and control applications. The recently issued revised standard C37.118 for synchrophasors has facilitated interoperability of phasor measurement units (PMUs) from different manufacturers. This standard defines performance for compliance when the input signals are in steady state. The performance of PMUs under transient conditions is not considered by the standard at this time, although clearly PMUs will be subjected to inputs under transient conditions. This paper is an attempt to provide the authors' views on how one may approach the question of standardizing PMU response under transient conditions.
Detecting collision-free paths by observing walking people

This paper presents a vision-based method for mobile robots to detect collision-free paths by observing walking people. The method extracts person's regions from each image frame by background subtraction, and recovers paths from the trajectories of persons in successive frames. Due to the uncertainties inherent in the processes, many possible paths may be obtained. To cope with the problem, the obtained paths are classified according to their reliabilities, and are recorded on a set of maps with different levels of reliabilities, called hierarchical reliability maps (HRM). We describe the methods for estimating uncertainty in the image processing, quickly updating HRM, as well as robust path planning by using HRM.
Mixed treatment comparison of repeated measurements of a continuous endpoint: an example using topical treatments for primary open‐angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension

Mixed treatment comparison (MTC) meta‐analyses estimate relative treatment effects from networks of evidence while preserving randomisation. We extend the MTC framework to allow for repeated measurements of a continuous endpoint that varies over time. We used, as a case study, a systematic review and meta‐analysis of intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements from randomised controlled trials evaluating topical ocular hypotensives in primary open‐angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension because IOP varies over the day and over the treatment course, and repeated measurements are frequently reported. We adopted models for conducting MTC in WinBUGS (The BUGS Project, Cambridge, UK) to allow for repeated IOP measurements and to impute missing standard deviations of the raw data using the predictive distribution from observations with standard deviations. A flexible model with an unconstrained baseline for IOP variations over time and time‐invariant random treatment effects fitted the data well. We also adopted repeated measures models to allow for class effects; assuming treatment effects to be exchangeable within classes slightly improved model fit but could bias estimated treatment effects if exchangeability assumptions were not valid. We enabled all timepoints to be included in the analysis, allowing for repeated measures to increase precision around treatment effects and avoid bias associated with selecting timepoints for meta‐analysis.The methods we developed for modelling repeated measures and allowing for missing data may be adapted for use in other MTC meta‐analyses. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effects of sucking and skin-to-skin contact on maternal ACTH and cortisol levels during the second day postpartum-influence of epidural analgesia and oxytocin in the perinatal period.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In this study we made a detailed analysis of the mothers' release pattern of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol during a breastfeeding session during the second day postpartum and related these patterns to maternal oxytocin levels as well to the duration of sucking and the duration of skin-to-skin contact before sucking the breast. Furthermore, we investigated if epidural analgesia and oxytocin administration during and after labor influenced the release pattern of ACTH and cortisol. METHODS Sixty-three primiparae were included in the study. Fourteen received oxytocin intramuscularly postpartum, nine received oxytocin infusion, 14 received epidural analgesia combined with oxytocin infusion, and six received epidural analgesia alone. Twenty mothers did not receive any of these medical interventions. Blood samples were analyzed for ACTH and cortisol by enzyme-linked immunoassay. RESULTS Both ACTH and cortisol levels fell significantly during the breastfeeding session. A significant negative relationship was found between oxytocin and ACTH levels, but not between oxytocin and cortisol levels. A positive and significant relationship was found between ACTH and cortisol levels. The duration of skin-to-skin contact before onset of sucking was significantly and negatively associated with lower cortisol levels, but not with ACTH levels. Cortisol levels differed significantly between mothers having received epidural analgesia with and without oxytocin. CONCLUSIONS Breastfeeding is associated with a decrease of ACTH and cortisol levels. Skin-to-skin contact contributes to this effect. ACTH correlated negatively with the duration of sucking and with median oxytocin levels, whereas cortisol levels correlated inversely with the duration of skin-to-skin contact preceding sucking, suggesting a partial dissociation between the mechanisms regulating ACTH and cortisol release. In addition, medical interventions in connection with birth influence the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis 2 days after birth.
Health and persistent functional late effects in adult survivors of childhood CNS tumours : A population-based cohort study

Survivors of central nervous system (CNS) tumours are particularly vulnerable to tumourand treatment-related disability. We present the incidence of specific and overall functional and health-related late effects in a national adult survivor cohort. Diagnostic subgroups at particular risk for persistent sequels are identified. Data collection targeted 708 eligible >18 years old survivors, 708 parent proxies and 1000 general population controls. Functional disability including sensory and cognitive impairment, emotional status and pain was assessed using the Health Utilities Index Mark 2/3 (HUI2/3). Survivors and controls, and diagnostic subgroups were contrasted to identify the general and relative risk for late effects by sub-diagnosis. Survivors had persistent late effects in sensation, mobility, self-care and cognition. Deficits in these domains indicated clinically important disability in overall health, although indices of emotion and pain were unaffected compared to controls. Late effects tended to aggravate with time, and female survivors had poorer health. Oligodendroglioma, mixed/ unspecified glioma, intracranial germ cell tumour and medulloblastoma survivors had poorest overall health. Least late effects were found for other specified/unspecified CNS tumours (including meningeoma and nerve sheath tumours), and for astrocytoma. An impact on educational, vocational and family-related outcomes, and higher utilisation of social insurance or government subsidies validated health-related sequelae in adulthood. Comparisons with controls confirm persistent disability in multiple functional domains in adult CNS tumour survivors. The heightened proportion of survivors presenting severe disability is a factor that specifically differentiates survivors from controls, although diagnostic subgroups differ significantly regarding the amount and severity of late effects. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A QoS-aware congestion control mechanism for DCCP

The Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) was designed to provide congestion control for unreliable applications, such as voice-over-IP and IPTV. But the current congestion control mechanisms of DCCP do not have the ability to support Quality of Service (QoS) features. This paper aims to design an end-to-end QoS-aware congestion control mechanism for DCCP based on theory. In particular, we design an end-to-end traffic control mechanism to support Real-time Delay Adaptive and Real-time Rate Adaptive applications. The mechanism possesses several provable properties, including friendliness to TCP, stability, and optimality. The experimental results show that the proposed mechanism can provide minimum rate guarantee for real-time applications and maintain a lower packet drop ratio.