Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
OMIP‐014: Validated multifunctional characterization of antigen‐specific human T cells by intracellular cytokine staining

PURPOSE AND APPROPRIATE SAMPLE TYPES This panel was developed, optimized, and validated for assessment of CD41 and CD81 T-cell responses to various peptide pools for antigens of interest in cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from adult humans (Table 1). The panel has been used to evaluate HIVand TB-specific responses to candidate vaccines for these pathogens, although the panel can be used with peptide pools for any proteins. The panel has not been tested with freshly-isolated PBMC or with whole blood.
Mona, a novel hematopoietic‐specific adaptor interacting with the macrophage colony‐stimulating factor receptor, is implicated in monocyte/macrophage development

The production, survival and function of monocytes and macrophages are regulated by the macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (M‐CSF or CSF‐1) through its tyrosine kinase receptor Fms. Binding of M‐CSF results in Fms autophosphorylation on specific tyrosines that act as docking sites for intracellular signaling molecules containing SH2 domains. Using a yeast two‐hybrid screen, we cloned a novel adaptor protein which we called ‘Mona’ for monocytic adaptor. Mona contains one SH2 domain and two SH3 domains related to the Grb2 adaptor. Accordingly, Mona interacts with activated Fms on phosphorylated Tyr697, which is also the Grb2‐binding site. Furthermore, Mona contains a unique proline‐rich region located between the SH2 domain and the C‐terminal SH3 domain, and is apparently devoid of any catalytic domain. Mona expression is restricted to two hematopoietic tissues: the spleen and the peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and is induced rapidly during monocytic differentiation of the myeloid NFS‐60 cell line in response to M‐CSF. Strikingly, overexpression of Mona in bone marrow cells results in strong reduction of M‐CSF‐dependent macrophage production in vitro. Taken together, our results suggest an important role for Mona in the regulation of monocyte/macrophage development as controlled by M‐CSF.
Efficient search and design procedures for robust multi-stage VQ of LPC parameters for 4 kb/s speech coding

A tree-searched multistage vector quantization (VQ) scheme for linear prediction coding (LPC) parameters which achieves spectral distortion lower than 1 dB with low complexity and good robustness using rates as low as 22 b/frame is presented. The M-L search is used, and it is shown that it achieves performance close to that of the optimal search for a relatively small M. A joint codebook design strategy for multistage VQ which improves convergence speed and the VQ performance measures is presented. The best performance/complexity tradeoffs are obtained with relatively small size codebooks cascaded in a 3-6 stage configuration. It is shown experimentally that as the number of stages is increased above the optimal performance/complexity tradeoff, the quantizer robustness and outlier performance can be improved at the expense of a slight increase in rate. Results for log area ratio (LAR) and line spectral pairs (LSPs) parameters are presented. A training technique that reduces outliers at the expense of a slight average performance degradation is introduced. The method significantly outperforms the split codebook approach. >
Distinct Structural Changes in a G Protein-coupled Receptor Caused by Different Classes of Agonist Ligands*

The activity of G protein-coupled receptors can be modulated by different classes of ligands, including agonists that promote receptor signaling and inverse agonists that reduce basal receptor activity. The conformational changes in receptor structure induced by different agonist ligands are not well understood at present. In this study, we employed an in situ disulfide cross-linking strategy to monitor ligand-induced conformational changes in a series of cysteine-substituted mutant M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. The observed disulfide cross-linking patterns indicated that muscarinic agonists trigger a separation of the N-terminal segment of the cytoplasmic tail (helix 8) from the cytoplasmic end of transmembrane domain I. In contrast, inverse muscarinic agonists were found to increase the proximity between these two receptor regions. These findings provide a structural basis for the opposing biological effects of muscarinic agonists and inverse agonists. This study also provides the first piece of direct structural information as to how the conformations induced by these two functionally different classes of ligands differ at the molecular level. Given the high degree of structural homology found among most G protein-coupled receptors, our findings should be of broad general relevance.
Quantifying Frailty in Post-Lung Transplant Patients-Can We Predict Who Will Need Readmission?

A t our institution, the practice for recent lung transplant patients is that they can be transferred out of the intensive care unit when they are able to complete two laps around the nurse’s station. Once on the medical floor, we chart the distance they walk on a white board, marking off laps and total number of sessions covered. Covering a cumulative distance of two miles generally indicates suitability for discharge. If our patients pass this crude “eyeball test” we let them go home. Unfortunately, no evidence really informs our policy, rather we are doing what seems to make sense. Our current practice likely represents the current state of the art in lung transplantation. We, like many programs, are keenly aware of the downsides of patients being readmitted to the hospital after lung transplantation. Yet there remains a knowledge gap with respect to how to quantify fitness for discharge. Similarly, the lung transplant community recognizes an unmet need for studies which can enhance our ability to predict which patients are likely to require readmission. In this edition of Transplantation, the team from the University of Pennsylvania report on their experience of measuring the preventability of unplanned readmissions (UR) after lung transplantation. These investigators set out to determine to what extent early readmissions after transplantation could actually be prevented. They hypothesized that both frailty and anxiety would increase the chances of readmission. With this starting assumption, they prospectively enrolled a relatively large number of patients (90) into the study. At the time of listing for lung transplant and just before discharge, their patients underwent the modified Short Physical Performance Battery (mSPPB) test, which is a well-validated performance test used in geriatric medicine. The patients also completed the state-trait anxiety inventory before discharge. Among the 90 patients prospectively enrolled, 30 had an unplanned early readmission, a rate that is similar to that previously reported. The investigators had 2 team members score each readmission for potential preventability. Despite
Effect of the correction for noncompliance and contamination on the estimated reduction of metastatic prostate cancer within a randomized screening trial (ERSPC section Rotterdam)

The European Randomized study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) has recently reported a 20% reduction in death from prostate cancer in a population‐based prostate cancer screening (core age group: 55–69 years of age). The effect of screening may be diluted by noncompliance in the screening arm and contamination by PSA testing in the control arm. The purpose is to analyze the effect of prostate cancer screening on the incidence of metastatic prostate cancer, both with and without adjustment for noncompliance and contamination. We analyzed the occurrence of metastases in 42,376 men aged 55–75 years who were randomized in the Rotterdam section of the ERSPC between 1993 and 1999. Contamination adjustment was based on follow‐up findings and questionnaire data from all men in the control group who developed prostate cancer and from a random sample of 291 men without cancer who had a PSA test. Prostate cancer screening significantly reduced the occurrence of metastatic prostate cancer in the intention‐to‐screen analysis [RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.59–0.95, p = 0.02] and more so in adjusted analyses; contamination adjusted RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.56–0.96; noncompliance adjusted RR 0.72, 95% CI 0.55–0.95 and fully adjusted analysis RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.49–0.94, p = 0.02. In the population of ERSPC Rotterdam (N = 42,376 men), screening reduces the risk to be diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer considerably on population level, an effect which is even more pronounced in men who are in fact screened.
Cut-off bandwidth of metamaterial-based parallel plate gap waveguide with one textured metal pin surface

This work explores the possibilities of creating stop bands (or bandgaps) for TEM mode in parallel plate waveguides by using artificial surfaces in one of the plates. Particularly, as artificial surface a textured periodic surface made of metal pins has been selected. The present paper reports a parametric study of the “Fakir's bed of nails” structure in terms of the size of the achieved bandgap when the structure is placed within a parallel plate waveguide. Bandwidths larger than 2:1 are seen to be possible. The proposed structure could be used for the design of the new type of waveguides named gap waveguides.
Behavioral Dimensions and Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor-related Effect in Alzheimer Disease Over Time: A Latent Trajectory Modeling

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether treatment with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) exerts a favorable effect on the behavioral dimensions in Alzheimer disease (AD) over time. MethodsTwo hundred AD patients entered the study and underwent clinical and neuropsychologic examination. Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI) total scores and 4 behavioral factor scores, termed “psychosis,” “moods,” “apathy,” and “frontal” were also evaluated. Of this large sample, 107 completed the 6-month follow-up and 83 were followed through for 1 year. Latent Trajectory Modeling analysis was applied, which allows for the estimation of a developmental trajectory over time for each case in the sample adjusting for confounders. These trajectories can be modeled to better understand individual differences in rates of change of behavioral dimensions and the relationship with AChEIs dose therapy. ResultsThe behavioral phenotypes and NPI total scores were differently expressed, the most prevalent being the mood and the less prevalent being frontal endophenotype over time. The development relationship between the baseline and trend levels of behavioral phenotypes, or NPI total scores and the differences of AChEIs, adjusting for disease severity, concurrent drugs, and demographic data did not “travel together” through time, that is, the correlations of individual trajectories could be estimated equal to zeros. ConclusionsThese data confirm that behavioral dimensions are variably represented in AD and change over time. However, AChEIs could not influence the behavioral disturbance pattern, both measured as total behavioral abnormality burden or as behavioral defined clusters.
An Image Fusion Framework Based on Human Visual System in Framelet Domain

In this paper, a novel image fusion algorithm based on framelet transform is presented. The core idea is to decompose all the images to be fused into low and high-frequency bands using framelet transform. For fusion, two different selection strategies are developed and used for low and high-frequency bands. The first strategy is adaptive weighted average based on local energy and is applied to fuse the low-frequency bands. In order to fuse high-frequency bands, a new strategy is developed based on texture while exploiting the human visual system characteristics, which can preserve more details in source images and further improve the quality of fused image. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and better performance than existing image fusion methods both in visual inspection and objective evaluation criteria.
Topology Control Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks: an Overview

The main goal of a topology control scheme in wireless sensor networks is to reduce node power consumption in order to extend network lifetime. In this paper we present an overview of a range of topology control algorithms proposed in literature for wireless sensor networks. The topology control schemes in most of the existing works can be categorized into two classes: Either multi-state or power-control. We believe that most energy savings might come from turning off redundant nodes rather than by minimizing node transmit power. However, both classes of schemes could be combined for further energy savings. Each algorithm is described in depth and compared against each other to capture their uniqueness. The most important design issues of topology control are also highlighted.
Finding the “Right-Size” Physical Therapy Workforce: International Perspective Across 4 Countries

Finding the “right-size” physical therapy workforce is an increasingly important issue, but it has had limited study, particularly across nations. This perspective article provides a comprehensive examination of physical therapy workforce issues across 4 countries (United States, Singapore, Portugal, and Bangladesh), which were deliberately selected to allow consideration of key contextual factors. This investigation provides a theoretical model uniquely adapted to focus on variables most likely to affect physical therapy workforce needs. This theoretical model was used to guide acquisition of public domain data across the respective countries. The data then were used to provide a contextualized interpretation about the physical therapy workforce supply (ie, physical therapists per capita) across the 4 countries in light of the following factors: indicators of physical therapy need, financial and administrative barriers affecting physical therapy access and demand, the proportion of physical therapy graduates (with varying trends over time across the countries), and the role of emigration/immigration in supply inequalities among countries of lower and higher income. In addition, both the physical therapy workforce supply and scope of practice were analyzed in the context of other related professions across the 4 countries. This international comparison indicated that there may not be a “one-size-fits-all” recommendation for physical therapy workforce supply across countries or an ideal formula for its determination. The optimal, country-specific physical therapy workforce supply appears to be affected by discipline-specific health care and contextual factors that may vary across countries, and even within the same country. This article provides a conceptual framework and basis for such contextualized evaluations of the physical therapy workforce.
Online process monitoring scheme for fault detection based on Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Local Outlier Factor (LOF)

Process monitoring in manufacturing field such as chemistry and pharmacy is valuable to reduce the risk of the accidents and to improve the efficiency of the process. Due to the increased size and complicated technology of the modern plants, computer-aided process monitoring has been introduced. Nevertheless, the existing methods for computer-aided process monitoring such as Multivariate Statistical Process Control (MSPC) based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) or Independent Component Analysis (ICA) present several limits in accurate fault detection of process. To overcome these limits, we introduce a novel online computer-aided process monitoring scheme based on ICA with Local Outlier Factor (LOF). The proposed scheme adopts LOF as the monitoring statistic. By utilizing LOF, the limits of existing related works using MSPC were successfully resolved. The scheme was tested by widely used benchmark dataset of Tennessee Eastman process. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Formation of a Pt12 cluster by single-atom control that leads to enhanced reactivity: hydrogenation of unreactive olefins.

A platinum subnanocluster catalyst composed of 12 atoms was synthesized using a phenylazomethine dendrimer, which can assemble twelve PtCl4 units by stepwise complexation, followed by reduction to Pt(0). Unreactive olefins that were not activated by conventional 2 nm Pt nanoparticles were successfully hydrogenated by the subnanocluster. EWG = electron-withdrawing group.
A Case of Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome with Clozapine and Risperidone

I suggest that there is one more situation in which continuous variables are better categorized: when the values obtained are “guesstimates. ” In India, for example, many patients who belong to lower socioeconomic strata, and some rural patients, do not know their exact age. They provide approximations that are usually a multiple of 5, and thus, a data set might contain a large number of patients aged 30, 35, or 40 years. When using such data, it may make more sense to analyze age as a categorical variable. Expressed otherwise, it might be a good idea to categorize continuous variables when there is reason to believe that the variable cannot be, or has not been, accurately measured.
Gross Motor Skills and Sports Participation of Children With Visual Impairments

Gross motor skill performance of children with visual impairments and its association with the degree of visual impairment and sports participation was examined. Twenty children with visual impairments (M age = 9.2 years, SD =1.5) and 100 sighted children (M age = 9.1 years, SD = 1.5) from mainstream schools participated. The results showed that children with visual impairments had significantly lower object control but not locomotor skill scores than the sighted children. No significant differences were found between children with a moderate and severe visual impairment. Children with visual impairments who participated in sports had significantly higher object control skill scores than those who did not. No significant associations between motor skills and sports participation were found in the sighted children.
Folic acid supplements in pregnancy and severe language delay in children.

CONTEXT Prenatal folic acid supplements reduce the risk of neural tube defects and may have beneficial effects on other aspects of neurodevelopment. OBJECTIVE To examine associations between mothers' use of prenatal folic acid supplements and risk of severe language delay in their children at age 3 years. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS The prospective observational Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study recruited pregnant women between 1999 and December 2008. Data on children born before 2008 whose mothers returned the 3-year follow-up questionnaire by June 16, 2010, were used. Maternal use of folic acid supplements within the interval from 4 weeks before to 8 weeks after conception was the exposure. Relative risks were approximated by estimating odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs in a logistic regression analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Children's language competency at age 3 years measured by maternal report on a 6-point ordinal language grammar scale. Children with minimal expressive language (only 1-word or unintelligible utterances) were rated as having severe language delay. RESULTS Among 38,954 children, 204 (0.5%) had severe language delay. Children whose mothers took no dietary supplements in the specified exposure interval were the reference group (n = 9052 [24.0%], with severe language delay in 81 children [0.9%]). Adjusted ORs for 3 patterns of exposure to maternal dietary supplements were (1) other supplements, but no folic acid (n = 2480 [6.6%], with severe language delay in 22 children [0.9%]; OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.62-1.74); (2) folic acid only (n = 7127 [18.9%], with severe language delay in 28 children [0.4%]; OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.86); and (3) folic acid in combination with other supplements (n = 19,005 [50.5%], with severe language delay in 73 children [0.4%]; OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.39-0.78). CONCLUSION Among this Norwegian cohort of mothers and children, maternal use of folic acid supplements in early pregnancy was associated with a reduced risk of severe language delay in children at age 3 years.
Distribution, status and conservation of the bats of the Fiji Islands

Abstract The poorly studied bat fauna of the Fiji Islands is of notable conservation importance because it includes one endemic species, several near endemics, and the best global populations of several threatened species. In addition, some of the species play a keystone role as pollinators and seed dispersers in valuable forest ecosystems. We visited 30 islands of the archipelago to survey bats and assess their conservation status and the potential threats to their continued existence. The Vulnerable Notopteris macdonaldi occurs on the three main islands but may only have nurseries on one of them. The Critically Endangered, endemic Mirimiri acrodonta appears to be restricted to a small montane area on a single island. Pteropus tonganus is consumed throughout rural Fiji but remains common and is not currently threatened by the harvest. The Near Threatened Pteropus samoensis is locally common on the largest islands but threatened on some smaller islands. The Endangered Chaerephon bregullae exists only on two islands and appears to concentrate in a single large colony to nurse young. The Endangered Emballonura semicaudata has declined dramatically in Fiji, as across most of its range, although a few substantial populations remain on some small islands. Factors threatening these species are variable but include small ranges, concentration in a reduced number of colonies, deforestation, over-harvesting, and introduced predators. We propose conservation measures and indicate a number of priority sites.
Hepatocyte growth factor induces branching tubulogenesis in MDCK cells by modulating the activin-follistatin system.

BACKGROUND The activin-follistatin system is expressed in tubular cells of the kidney. The present study was conducted to examine the role of the activin-follistatin system in tubulogenesis using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells as a model system. METHODS Tubulogenesis was assessed using MDCK cells cultured in collagen gel. The effect of recombinant human activin A on tubulogenesis was examined. Blockade of the action of endogenous activin was achieved by either adding follistatin or transfection of dominant-negative mutant of the type II activin receptor. The production of activin A was examined by Northern blotting, in situ hybridization, and Western blotting. RESULTS MDCK cells expressed mRNA for the betaA subunit of activin. These cells formed spherical cysts when cultured in collagen gel. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) added to the spherical cysts induced branching tubulogenesis. When activin A was added together with HGF, activin A blocked the branching tubulogenesis induced by HGF, and the activin-treated cells were scattered. Conversely, follistatin, an antagonist of activin A, induced branching tubulogenesis qualitatively similar to that induced by HGF. Adenovirus vector-mediated transfer of the gene encoding truncated type II activin receptor, which acts as a dominant negative mutant, also induced branching tubulogenesis. Finally, HGF markedly inhibited the production of activin A in MDCK cells cultured in collagen gel. CONCLUSION Activin A produced in MDCK cells tonically inhibits branching tubulogenesis, and HGF induced branching tubulogenesis mainly by blocking the production of activin A.