Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of the Stereochemistry of (−)-Koninginin A by an X-ray Analysis of Its Synthetic Sample

The absolute configuration of (−)-koninginin A {10-hexyl-11,12-dioxatricyclo[7.2. 1.0<1,6>]dodecane- 2,5-diol (1)}, the antibiotic metabolite of Trichoderma koningii and T. harzianum, was determined as 1S, 2R, 5S, 6S, 9S, 10S by an X-ray crystallographic analysis of its synthetic sample coupled with the established stereochemical outcome of Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation used as the key reaction to prepare intermediate 4.
Tetrahydrofolate and other growth requirements of certain strains of Ruminococcus flavefaciens

Two strains of Ruminococcus flavefaciens were studied. Each grew in a chemically defined minimal medium containing: minerals; ammonium sulfate as a nitrogen source; amino acids as a nitrogen source, a growth promotant(s) or as both; cellobiose as an energy and carbon source; isobutyric acid, isovaleric acid, carbonic acid, and bicarbonate as additional carbon sources; and biotin, thiamine, and tetrahydrofolic acid as vitamins. Tetrahydrofolic acid (5 ng/ml) served as a replacement for rumen fluid that was required in previous media tested for the growth of these bacteria. The present bacteria differ from many of the ruminococci previously studied in that they do not require either p-amino-benzoic acid or folic acid but do require tetrahydrofolic acid for maximum growth. Dihydrofolic acid and 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid can substitute for tetrahydrofolic acid in minimal chemically defined medium. Thus, there must be extensive metabolic interaction between the microbes inhabitating the rumen, because the R. flavefaciens isolated had complex requirements for growth and yet was among the predominant bacteria in the rumen of cattle fed a simple vitamin B-deficient, nonprotein nitrogen, high-fiber, purified diet.
Important immunoregulatory role of interleukin-11 in the inflammatory process in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the possible immunoregulatory role of interleukin-11 (IL-11) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS IL-11 protein was assayed in RA tissue, and the effect of exogenous IL-11 on neutralization of endogenous IL-11 was investigated with respect to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) production. RESULTS IL-11 was found in RA synovial membranes, synovial fluids, and blood sera. Blockade of endogenous IL-11 resulted in a 2-fold increase in TNFalpha levels, which increased to 22-fold if endogenous IL-10 was also blocked. Addition of exogenous IL-11 inhibited spontaneous TNFalpha production in RA synovium only in the presence of soluble IL-11 receptor. However, exogenous IL-11 directly inhibited spontaneous MMP-1 and MMP-3 production, and up-regulated TIMP-1 in RA synovial tissue. CONCLUSION IL-11 has important endogenous immunoregulatory effects in RA synovium, which suggests that exogenous IL-11 may have therapeutic activity in RA.
Fasting practices in Tamil Nadu and their importance for patients with diabetes

Religious practices and cultural customs related to eating habits have a significant impact on lifestyle and health of the community. The Ramadan fasting in Muslims and its influence on various metabolic parameters such as diabetes have been reasonably studied. However, literature related to Hindu religious customs related to fasting and food patterns during various festivals and its effect on diabetes are scarce. This article is an attempt to describe the Hindu religious customs related to fasting and food practices from the State of Tamil Nadu (South India) and to raise the awareness among physicians about its relationship with diabetes which may help in managing their diabetic patients in a better way.
An Analysis of Deductive-Query Processing Approaches for Logic Macroprograms in Wireless Sensor Networks

Logic macroprogramming paradigms for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are rule-based abstractions for programming a network as a whole. Programmers only focus on the main objective of the network rather than the low-level implementation details on each node. Therefore, the low-level details are automatically handled by underlying middleware of the paradigms. To be viable, the middleware must efficiently handle the underlying issues as well as effectively minimize energy consumption and communication overhead. Not surprisingly, one major underlying issue in logic macroprogramming systems is deductive-query processing. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of deductive-query processing and identify what have been overlooked in those previous approaches. Furthermore, we overview, analyze, and compare several recent approaches for deductive-query processing of logic macroprograms in WSNs. Our analysis reveals several important aspects that should be considered when designing such systems.
Supervisory control of a humanoid robot in microgravity for manipulation tasks

Teleoperation is the dominant form of dexterous robotic tasks in the field. However, there are many use cases in which direct teleoperation is not feasible such as disaster areas with poor communication as posed in the DARPA Robotics Challenge or robot operations on spacecraft far from Earth. Presented is a solution that combines the Affordance Template Framework for object interaction with TaskForce for supervisory control in order to accomplish high-level task objectives with basic autonomous behavior from the robot. This framework has allowed the robot to take corrective actions before requesting assistance from the user. This work is demonstrated with Robonaut 2 removing a Cargo Transfer Bag from a simulated logistics resupply vehicle for spaceflight using a single operator command. This was executed with 80% success with no human involvement and 95% success with limited human interaction. This technology sets the stage to do any number of high-level tasks using a similar framework, allowing the robot to accomplish tasks with minimal to no human interaction.
IMMUNOBIOLOGY Glycoengineered CD 20 antibody obinutuzumab activates neutrophils and mediates phagocytosis through CD 16 B more ef fi ciently than rituximab

• Phagocytosis of CLL targets by neutrophils is a novel mechanism of action of the glycoengineered anti-CD20 antibody obinutuzumab. • This mechanism takes place in physiological conditions and requires CD16B and CD32A. Obinutuzumab (GA101) is a glycoengineered type 2CD20antibodywith enhancedCD16Abinding and natural killer–mediated cytotoxicity. CD16B is highly homologous to CD16A and a major FcgR on human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). We show here that glycoengineered obinutuzumab or rituximab boundCD16Bwith approximately sevenfold higher affinity, compared with nonglycoengineered wild-type parental antibodies. Furthermore, glycoengineered obinutuzumab activated PMNs, either purified or in chronic lymphoblastic leukemiawhole blood,more efficiently thanwild-type rituximab. Activation resulted in a 50% increase in CD11b expression and 70% down-modulation of CD62L on neutrophils and in releaseof tumor necrosis factor alpha, IL-6, and IL-8.Activationwasnot accompanied by generation of reactive oxygen species or antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity activity, but led to up to 47% phagocytosis of glycoengineered anti-CD20 opsonized chronic lymphoblastic leukemia targets by purified PMNs. Significant phagocytosiswasobserved inwholeblood,but only in thepresenceof glycoengineeredantibodies, andwas followed by up to 50%PMNdeath. Finallywe show, using anti-CD16B and anti-CD32AFab and F(ab’)2 fragments, that both of these receptors are involved in PMN activation, phagocytosis, and cell death induced by glycoengineered antibodies. We conclude that phagocytosis by PMNs is an additional mechanism of action of obinutuzumab mediated through its higher binding affinity for CD16B. (Blood. 2013;122(20):3482-3491)
The Logarithmic Nature of QoE and the Role of the Weber-Fechner Law in QoE Assessment

The Weber-Fechner Law (WFL) is an important principle in psychophysics which describes the relationship be- tween the magnitude of a physical stimulus and its perceived intensity. With the sensory system of the human body, in many cases this dependency turns out to be of logarithmic nature. Re- cent quantitative QoE research shows that in several different scenarios a similar logarithmic relationship can be observed be- tween the size of a certain QoS parameter of the communication system and the resulting QoE on the user side as observed during appropriate user trials. In this paper, we discuss this surprising link in more detail. After a brief survey on the background of the WFL, we review its basic implications with respect to related work on QoE assessment for VoIP, most notably the recently published IQX hypothesis, before we present results of our own trials on QoE assessment for mobile broadband scenarios which confirm this dependency also for data services. Finally, we point out some conclusions and directions for further research.
Cross-Layer Solutions for Cooperative Medium Access Control Protocols

Recent studies have shown that designing a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol combined with a cooperative approach may improve the attainable network throughput, despite reducing the mean packet delay. In this paper we design a MAC scheme adopting cooperative physical layer aided cross-layer techniques. We consider a popular cooperative MAC protocol, namely the CoopMAC technique of Liu et al., which is improved by facilitating cooperative signal combining at the destination and employing two relays in the context of a successive relaying technique. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated by Monte-Carlo simulations. We demonstrate that a cross-layer design further improves the performance gain provided by the CoopMAC protocol over that of the legacy 802.11 Distributed Coordination Function (DCF), enhancing both the achievable network throughput and the outage probability.
Scrub Typhus Vaccine Candidate Kp r56 Induces Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses in Cynomolgus Monkeys

ABSTRACT A truncated recombinant 56-kDa outer membrane protein of the Karp strain of Orientia tsutsugamushi (Kp r56) was evaluated in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) for immunogenicity and safety as a vaccine candidate for the prevention of scrub typhus. This recombinant antigen induced strong humoral and cellular immune responses in two monkeys and was found to be well tolerated. Antigen-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG were produced to almost maximal levels within 1 week of a single immunization. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from vaccinated animals showed an induction of antigen-specific proliferation and gamma interferon production. The Kp r56 was not as efficient as infection with live organisms in preventing reinfection but was able to reduce the inflammation produced at the site of challenge. This report describes the results of the first systematic study of the immunogenicity of a recombinant scrub typhus vaccine candidate in a nonhuman primate model.
Impaired bone health and asymptomatic vertebral compressions in fracture‐prone children: A case‐control study

Frequent fractures in children may be a sign of impaired bone health, but it remains unestablished when and how fracture‐prone children should be assessed. This prospective study elucidated skeletal characteristics and predisposing factors in children with recurrent fractures. Findings were used to establish guidelines for screening. During a 12‐month period we recorded fracture history for all children (n = 1412) treated for an acute fracture at a large university hospital. All apparently healthy children over 4 years of age, who had sustained: (1) at least one vertebral fracture; (2) two long‐bone fractures before age 10 years; or (3) three long‐bone fractures before age 16 years, were recruited. They underwent dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), laboratory tests, and spinal radiography. Information regarding family history and lifestyle factors were collected. Findings were compared with healthy controls. Sixty‐six fracture‐prone children (44 males, mean age 10.7 years; 5% of all children with fractures) were identified. Altogether, they had sustained 183 long‐bone fractures (median 3, range 0–7); 11 children had sustained vertebral fracture(s). Patients had significantly lower bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine (p < 0.001), hip (p = 0.007), and whole body (p < 0.001) than the controls; only 5 children (8%) had a BMD Z‐score < −2.0. Asymptomatic vertebral compressions were prevalent, especially in those under 10 years of age. Hypercalciuria (11%) and hyperphosphaturia (22%) were significantly more prevalent than in controls. Serum concentration of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (S‐25OHD) was below 50 nmol/L in 55%; low levels were associated with low BMD and vertebral compressions. The fracture‐prone children had lower calcium intake, less physical activity, and more often had siblings with fractures than the controls. The findings suggest that a thorough pediatric evaluation, including DXA and spinal radiography, is often indicated already after a second significant low‐energy fracture in children, in order to detect potentially preventable adverse lifestyle factors and nutritional deficits and to identify those with compromised overall bone health. © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Impaired Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle Activity in Mouse Livers Lacking Cytosolic Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase*

Liver-specific phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) null mice, when fasted, maintain normal whole body glucose kinetics but develop dramatic hepatic steatosis. To identify the abnormalities of hepatic energy generation that lead to steatosis during fasting, we studied metabolic fluxes in livers lacking hepatic cytosolic PEPCK by NMR using 2H and 13C tracers. After a 4-h fast, glucose production from glycogenolysis and conversion of glycerol to glucose remains normal, whereas gluconeogenesis from tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates was nearly absent. Upon an extended 24-h fast, livers that lack PEPCK exhibit both 2-fold lower glucose production and oxygen consumption, compared with the controls, with all glucose production being derived only from glycerol. The mitochondrial reduction-oxidation (red-ox) state, as indicated by the NADH/NAD+ ratio, is 5-fold higher, and hepatic TCA cycle intermediate concentrations are dramatically increased in the PEPCK null livers. Consistent with this, flux through the TCA cycle and pyruvate cycling pathways is 10- and 40-fold lower, respectively. Disruption of hepatic cataplerosis due to loss of PEPCK leads to the accumulation of TCA cycle intermediates and a nearly complete blockage of gluconeogenesis from amino acids and lactate (an energy demanding process) but intact gluconeogenesis from glycerol (which contributes to net NADH production). Inhibition of the TCA cycle and fatty acid oxidation due to increased TCA cycle intermediate concentrations and reduced mitochondrial red-ox state lead to the development of steatosis.
Characterization of the protease and other products of amino-terminus-proximal cleavage of the herpes simplex virus 1 UL26 protein

The herpes simplex virus 1 UL26 open reading frame encodes a protease which cleaves a small carboxyl-terminal peptide of itself and its substrate encoded by an overlapping, 3'-coterminal transcriptional unit, designated UL26.5. The translational product of UL26.5 is infected-cell protein 35c,d (ICP35c,d) (F. Liu and B. Roizman, J. Virol. 65:206-212, 1991; F. Liu and B. Roizman, J. Virol. 65:5149-5156, 1991). The protease activity maps at the amino terminus of UL26 translation product designated Pra. Cleavage of Pra to remove the carboxyl-terminal 25 amino acids converts the protein to Prb (F. Liu and B. Roizman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:2076-2080, 1992). Other studies reported a second, amino-terminus-proximal cleavage in UL26 gene products made in Escherichia coli (I. C. Deckman, M. Hagen, and P. J. McCann III, J. Virol 66:7362-7367, 1992; C. L. DiIanni, D. A. Drier, I. C. Deckman, P.J. McCann III, F. Liu, B. Roizman, R. J. Colonno, and M. G. Cordingley, J. Biol. Chem., 368:2048-2051, 1993). We report the following results. (i) The amino-terminus-proximal cleavage of UL26 protein in eukaryotic cells generates two polypeptides, an apparent M(r)-25,000 amino-terminal polypeptide designated Prn and a carboxyl-terminal polypeptide which corresponds in electrophoretic mobility to ICP35a. Cleavage of the carboxyl-terminal 25 amino acids by the UL26 protease converted ICP35a to ICP35b. (ii) Replacement of Ala-247-Ser-248 with Arg-Pro precluded the amino-terminus-proximal cleavage. (iii) Prn, the amino-terminal product of the cleavage reaction at amino acid 247 functions as a protease. (iv) Additional amino acid substitutions in the putative domain of the protease yielded results consistent with the hypothesis that UL26 encodes a serine protease. (v) The domain of the UL26 protein whose modification confers the formation of double bands for all products (Pra, Prb, ICP35a, ICP35b, ICP35c,d, and ICP35e,f) except Prn maps in the domain shared by UL26 and UL26.5, between codons 307 and 417.
Easy-disassembly bonding of PDMS used for leak-tight encapsulation of microfluidic devices

Microfluidic chips are widely used in the field of biopharmaceuticals, chemical synthesis, separation, and purification. Different requirements are asserted by different applications on the bonding processes of the microfluidic chips. In this paper, the easy-disassembly leak-tight encapsulation of the PDMS microfluidic chip was studied. A bonding method based on selective oxygen plasma treatment of PDMS was proposed. The size and distribution of the oxygen plasma treated area on the bonding surface could be controlled by shadow masks with certain patterns. Oxygen plasma treated and activated PDMS surface was irreversibly bonded to the substrate while the untreated bonding surface was mainly reversibly bonded through the Van der Waals force. Leak-tight encapsulation with high bonding strength has been realized with rather small irreversibly bonded area. Chips made by such method can not only be used with high-pressure fluid but also be disassembled easily without destroying the internal products in the microchannels afterwards. The failure mode and reliability of chips with different irreversibly bonded area were evaluated by the shear test and the pressure withstand test. During the shear test, peeling occurred first on the force-loaded side of the irreversibly bonded area of the PDMS. Cracks were then generated here and there through the edges of the bonded area. Propagation of the cracks finally resulted in the failure of the bond. The shape and size of the fracture surface resembled those of the irreversibly bonded area controlled by the shadow masks. The withstand pressure value tended to increase with the irreversibly bonded area under a rather large fluctuation. A more effective way to increase the withstand pressure was to enhance the uniformity of the irreversibly bonded area. With a proper treatment of substrates, the withstand pressure was increased by about 3 times. It was as large as 560 kPa when the irreversibly bonded area only accounted for 2% of the total bonded area. This met the requirements for pressure withstanding of most microfluidic chips. The uniformity rather than the irreversibly bonded area was the dominant factor in fabricating leak-tight microfluidic chips.
A novel HBV recombinant (genotype I) similar to Vietnam/Laos in a primitive tribe in eastern India

Summary. Genotyping of 20 strains of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) from the Idu Mishmi primitive tribe of northeast India identified multiple genotypes and the presence of a unique cluster grouping with strains from Vietnam and Laos identified as novel recombinants/genotype I. Sequence analysis (similarity and bootscan plots) of three complete HBV genomes from the tribe provided evidence of recombination. Phylogenetic analyses supported recombination between genotypes A, G and C. The Pre‐S gene between nt 2943 and 397 was clearly of genotype A origin, whereas nt 397–1397 represented genotype G and nt 1397–2943 represented genotype C. Percentage divergence from genotypes B, D, E, F, G and H varied from 9.2 ± 0.45% to 13.8 ± 0.53%, whereas genotype A and C differed by 7.9 ± 0.42% and 7.4 ± 0.39% respectively. The identification of similar recombinant viruses in three countries, especially in a primitive tribe with no contact with the outside world suggests that these viruses do not represent recent recombination events, but circulation of closely related viruses highly divergent from known HBV genotypes and should be classified as members of genotype ‘I’.
ICA based decoding for a multi-cell massive MIMO uplink system

Pilot signal reuse in neighboring cells causes the pilot contamination, and performance will degrade significantly in a multi-cell, massive MIMO uplink system. In this paper, based on Principle Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and a few pilot signals, a new decoding method is proposed. In this method, we implement the PCA to reduce the dimension of the received signals from both inter-cell and intra-cell, carry out the ICA to separate the transmitted signals from the received signals, and make use of the pilot signals to overcome the ambiguity of the ICA so that the order of the transmitted signals can be determined. Therefore, channel estimation is not necessary in this method, and moreover, the information about path-loss and shadowing factor of channel can be unknown. Simulations show that, the stronger the interference from the inter-cell or the intra-cell, the better the performance of the proposed decoding method.
Current sensorless direct predictive control for induction motor drives

This paper presents a direct predictive control scheme without current sensor for induction motor drives. The control scheme includes a double-loop system with a speed loop controller adopting proportional-integral algorithm and a current loop controller adopting direct predictive control algorithm. The future values of stator currents are predicted by motor model. Then, the voltage vector which minimizes a designed cost function is selected and applied to the inverter. This scheme can reduce the cost by replacing the actual sampled current by current sensor with the predicted current. A simulation study is performed in order to verify the feasibility and the performance with external disturbances of the proposed method. Furthermore, the scheme is successfully implemented on the experimental platform.