Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Rapid Induction of HLA-E Is Essential for the Survival of Antigen-Activated Naive CD4 T Cells from Attack by NK Cells

Increasing evidence shows that NK cells regulate adaptive immunity, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we show that activated human NK cells suppress autologous naive CD4 T cell proliferation in response to allogeneic dendritic cells (DCs) by selectively killing Ag-activated T cells. Naive CD4 T cells, which were initially resistant to NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity, became substantially susceptible to NK cells within a day after priming with DCs. Ag-activated T cells showed various degrees of susceptibility to NK cells. After 1 d of priming with LPS-matured DCs, T cells were less susceptible to NK cells than were T cells primed with TNF-α–matured DCs. Subsequently at day 3, Ag-activated T cells regained resistance to NK cells. The level of HLA-E expression on Ag-activated T cells was closely correlated with resistance to NK cells. HLA-E was highly expressed at day 1 by T cells primed with LPS-matured DCs but not by T cells primed with TNF-α–matured DCs. An Ab blockade revealed a critical role for the HLA-E–NKG2A interaction in the protection of Ag-activated T cells from NK cells. Collectively, this study demonstrates that NK cells impact adaptive immunity through the finely controlled kinetics of HLA-E expression on T cells. Thus, HLA-E may be a new target for immunoregulation.
Presence of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus in Breeding Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea: Parulidae): Temporal and Spatial Trends in Infection Prevalence

abstract: Prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) has shown a long-term decline in abundance in the United States. As a long-range migrant, these warblers are exposed to parasites in both tropical and temperate regions. The focus of this study was to use molecular techniques to examine the temporal prevalence patterns of heamosopridian parasites Plasmodium and Haemoproteus in breeding prothonotary warblers. The prevalence (presence or absence) of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus species was assayed using primer sets for the cytochrome b gene of the mitochondrial DNA. Blood samples were obtained from 187 adult prothonotary warblers collected at 3 central Virginia, U.S.A. , breeding sites. The relationship between haemosporidian parasite infections and reproductive success also was examined. We found that 71% of captured prothonotary warblers were infected with haemosporidian parasites, specifically, with 36% prevalence for Haemoproteus spp. and 44% prevalence for Plasmodium spp. , during the 2008 breeding season; for both parasites, prevalence increased throughout the season. We found significant variation in haemosporidian parasite prevalence across the breeding season that was strongly site specific. Conversely, we found no significant effects of haemosporidian parasite infections on the reproductive success of prothonotary warblers. This is in sharp contrast to recent reports suggesting considerable effects of these parasites on the reproductive success of wild birds.
A report on the current status of European research on the use of human papillomavirus testing for primary cervical cancer screening

Cervical cancer remains a significant public health concern, both at a global and a European level. A number of new technologies such as diagnostic tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) have a potential to assist with the reduction of this disease. However, both the efficacy and the cost‐effectiveness of these new technologies must be established in properly designed trials before they can be implemented within national public health programs. Our study reviews the randomized controlled trials that are currently being conducted in Europe to establish the performance of HPV testing as a primary cervical cancer screening test. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Linguistic Model for Terminology Extraction based Conditional Random Fields

In this paper, we show the possibility of using a linear Conditional Random Fields (CRF) model for terminology extraction from a specialized text corpus. Also, we prove the ability of a Conditional Random Field to model linguistic knowledge by incorporating grammatical observations in the CRF's features. Keywords-Terminology Extraction; Term; CRF model; Linguistic knowledge; Features
High prevalence of nasal carriage of β-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant Haemophilus influenzae in healthy children in Korea

SUMMARY This study investigated the carriage of antimicrobial resistant Haemophilus influenzae in 582 healthy children attending kindergarten or elementary school at four intervals over a 9-month period in Seoul, Korea. Diverse colonization patterns and a lower level of long-term persistent carriage by H. influenzae status were evident in this study. Colonizing H. influenzae isolates showed a high rate of resistance to β-lactams including ampicillin (51·9%), cefaclor (52·1%), and amoxicillin/clavulanate (16·3%). Based on the ampicillin resistance mechanism, H. influenzae isolates were categorized as β-lactamase-negative, ampicillin-susceptible (BLNAS) (48·1%), β-lactamase-positive, ampicillin-resistant (BLPAR) (22·6%), β-lactamase-negative, ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) (22·8%), and β-lactamase-positive, amoxicillin/clavulanate-resistant (BLPACR) strains (6·5%). This study provides the first evidence of a high prevalence (22·8%) of BLNAR strains of H. influenzae nasal carriage in healthy children attending kindergarten or the first 2 years of elementary school in Korea. The high carriage of these resistant strains in overcrowded urban settings may create reservoirs for development of H. influenzae-resistant strains.
A Qualitative Study of Teenagers’ Decisions to Undergo Orthodontic Treatment with Fixed Appliance

Objective The aim of this study was to describe thoughts and values influencing young people's choices to undergo orthodontic treatment. Subjects and methods Twenty-eight patients (11 boys), aged 13–19 years, at an orthodontic clinic in the western part of Sweden participated. Open, taped interviews, lasting about 1 hour, were conducted with each subject and analysed by the grounded theory method. Five descriptive categories, each related to several subcategories, were generated in the analysis and labelled: ‘being like everyone else’, ‘being diagnosed’, ‘focusing on the mouth’, ‘obeying social norms’ and ‘forced decision-making’. Outcome Category forced decision-making was identified as a core category, describing the power in the social process, resulting in the decision to undergo orthodontic treatment. Conclusions Motivation for the decision to undergo orthodontic treatment seemed to be social norms, and the beauty culture in their reference group and in society in general. The teenagers were not fully conscious of these external influences. Their opinion, as a group, was that they had made an independent decision to undergo orthodontic treatment.
Cooperative functioning between phenylalanine ammonia lyase and isochorismate synthase activities contributes to salicylic acid biosynthesis in soybean.

Salicylic acid (SA), an essential regulator of plant defense, is derived from chorismate via either the phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) or the isochorismate synthase (ICS) catalyzed steps. The ICS pathway is thought to be the primary contributor of defense-related SA, at least in Arabidopsis. We investigated the relative contributions of PAL and ICS to defense-related SA accumulation in soybean (Glycine max). Soybean plants silenced for five PAL isoforms or two ICS isoforms were analyzed for SA concentrations and SA-derived defense responses to the hemibiotrophic pathogens Pseudomonas syringae and Phytophthora sojae. We show that, unlike in Arabidopsis, PAL and ICS pathways are equally important for pathogen-induced SA biosynthesis in soybean. Knock-down of either pathway shuts down SA biosynthesis and abrogates pathogen resistance. Moreover, unlike in Arabidopsis, pathogen infection is associated with the suppression of ICS gene expression. Pathogen-induced biosynthesis of SA via the PAL pathway correlates inversely with phenylalanine concentrations. Although infections with either virulent or avirulent strains of the pathogens increase SA concentrations, resistance protein-mediated response to avirulent P. sojae strains may function in an SA-independent manner. These results show that PAL- and ICS-catalyzed reactions function cooperatively in soybean defense and highlight the importance of PAL in pathogen-induced SA biosynthesis.
Benzene Transformation in Nitrifying Batch Cultures

The effect of benzene on the nitrifying activity of a sludge produced in steady‐state nitrification was evaluated in batch cultures. Benzene at 10 mg/L inhibited nitrate formation by 53%, whereas at 5 mg/L there was no inhibition. For initial benzene concentrations of 0, 7, and 10 mg/L, the specific rates of NO3‐‐N production were 0.545 ± 0.101, 0.306 ± 0.024, and 0.141 ± 0.010 g NO3‐‐N/g microbial protein‐N·h, respectively. The specific rates of benzene consumption at 7, 12, and 20 mg/L were 0.034 ± 0.003, 0.050 ± 0.006, and 0.027 ± 0.002 g/g microbial protein‐N·h, respectively. Up to a concentration of 10 mg/L, benzene was first oxidized to phenol, which was later totally oxidized to acetate. Benzene at higher concentrations (20 and 30 mg/L) was converted to intermediates other than acetate, phenol, or catechol. These results suggest that this type of nitrifying consortium coupled with a denitrification system may have promising applications for complete removal of nitrogen and benzene from wastewaters.
Validation of the Concurrent Atomistic-Continuum Method on Screw Dislocation/Stacking Fault Interactions

Dislocation/stacking fault interactions play an important role in the plastic deformation of metallic nanocrystals and polycrystals. These interactions have been explored in atomistic models, which are limited in scale length by high computational cost. In contrast, multiscale material modeling approaches have the potential to simulate the same systems at a fraction of the computational cost. In this paper, we validate the concurrent atomistic-continuum (CAC) method on the interactions between a lattice screw dislocation and a stacking fault (SF) in three face-centered cubic metallic materials—Ni, Al, and Ag. Two types of SFs are considered: intrinsic SF (ISF) and extrinsic SF (ESF). For the three materials at different strain levels, two screw dislocation/ISF interaction modes (annihilation of the ISF and transmission of the dislocation across the ISF) and three screw dislocation/ESF interaction modes (transformation of the ESF into a three-layer twin, transformation of the ESF into an ISF, and transmission of the dislocation across the ESF) are identified. Our results show that CAC is capable of accurately predicting the dislocation/SF interaction modes with greatly reduced DOFs compared to fully-resolved atomistic simulations.
Plasma Lysozyme in Drug‐induced and Spontaneous Cyclic Neutropenia

Summary. In order to evaluate how well the plasma lysozyme concentration reflects changes in the neutrophil status in a non‐steady state system, six patients, treated with bone‐marrow depressing agents, were followed with neutrophil counts and plasma lysozyme determinations. In all patients, plasma lysozyme rather accurately mirrored changes in the neutrophil counts. The minimum change in neutrophil counts detectable by sequential studies of plasma lysozyme concentration was about 1000 neutrophils per μl blood, corresponding to a change in the granulocyte turnover rate of 30 × 107 neutrophils per kg per day. No time lag was found between changes in the neutrophil counts and plasma lysozyme concentrations, which suggests that the life span of the neutrophilic granulocytes in the tissues is less than 24 hr. In the neutrophil nadir phases the plasma lysozyme concentration was consistently higher than expected from the neutrophil counts. This was probably to a large extent due to ‘background’ lysozyme from non‐neutrophilic sources, but might in addition suggest a reduced life span in the neutropenic phases.
Perceived quality in Consumer Electronics - From Quality of Service to Quality of Experience

Estimation of perceived quality of multimedia content is a significant issue in Consumer Electronics (CE). The increased complexity and functionality many CE devices offer nowadays provokes a change in paradigm: from a Quality of Service approach to a Quality of Experience approach that includes “soft factors” formerly not regarded as relevant. This paper gives an overview, explains the main influence factors, and suggests a combined salience-based model.
Patella Fracture After Post Total Knee Replacements

A retrospective study was done to determine the incidence, clinical function, and complications of treatment in a large series of patella fractures after total knee replacement (TKR). Between 1983 and 1996, 4583 primary AGC TKRs done at our institution. One hundred seventy-seven fractures were identified in 135 patients for a fracture incidence of 3.8%. Twenty-two fractures were vertical and had a stable implant and intact extension mechanism (Type 1). Twenty-one fractures had disruption of the extensor mechanism of less than 1 cm (Type 2A). Seventeen fractures had disruption of the extensor mechanism of 1 cm or more (Type 2B). One hundred fourteen fractures had a loose component and an intact extension mechanism (Type 3). Patients treated nonoperatively generally had no extensor lag and had adequate pain and function scores. Patients treated operatively had a high complication rate. Four of nine patients treated with excision of an extruded patella button developed a deep infection. Both patients treated with open reduction internal fixation (ORIF)had a nonunion develop. Surgery on patients with patella fractures has a high complication rate and should be avoided if possible.
Trajectory Length Prediction for Intelligent Traffic Signaling: A Data-Driven Approach

Ship trajectory length prediction is vital for intelligent traffic signaling in the controlled waterways of the Yangtze River. In current intelligent traffic signaling systems (ITSSs), ships are supposed to travel exactly along the central line of the Yangtze River, which is often not a valid assumption and has caused a number of problems. Over the past few years, traffic data have been accumulated exponentially, leading to the big data era. This trend allows more accurate prediction of ships’ travel trajectory length based on historical data. In this paper, ships’ historical trajectories are first grouped by using the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. The relationship between some known factors (i.e., ship speed, loading capacity, self-weight, maximum power, ship length, ship width, ship type, and water level) and the resultant memberships are then modeled using artificial neural networks. The trajectory length is then estimated by the sum of the predicted probabilities multiplied by the trajectory cluster centers’ length. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to predict the overall trajectory length of manually controlled ships. The experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the probability of generating incorrect traffic control signals by 74.68% over existing ITSSs. This will significantly improve the efficiency of the Yangtze River traffic management system and increase the traffic capacity by reducing the traveling time.
Genetic studies indicate a potential target 5‐HTR3B for Drug Therapy in Schizophrenia Patients

Genetic Studies Indicate a Potential Target 5-HTR3B for Drug Therapy in Schizophrenia Patients Meenal Gupta, Sanjeev Jain, Nagaraj Moily, Harpreet Kaur, Ajay Jajodia, Meera Purushottam, and Ritushree Kukreti* Genomics and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Delhi, India Molecular Genetic Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India
[Paper] Throughput Characteristics in Densely Deployed Wireless LANs with Various Channel Assignments and Differing Numbers of Terminals

Mobile wireless local area networks (WLANs) are becoming popular. Mobile WLANs can be composed of WiFi devices such as portable access points (APs) and portable terminals such as smartphones, tablets and any tethering devices. Several mobile WLANs are densely deployed in a conference room or cafe. In this case, the WLANs have to share available channels even though they suffer from interference. The interferences coming from the same channel (intra-channel contention) or a different channel (inter-channel interference) reduce the total throughput of the WLANs. This paper investigates the throughput characteristics of several densely deployed WLANs for multimedia communications. For experiments using real machines, for example, 18 sets of WLANs, the relationship among the number of WLANs, distance of WLANs, channel assignment and total throughput was revealed. Moreover, it is shown that the number of terminals in each WLAN substantially affects the total throughput because of the nature of the multi-rate and sending opportunity fairness in CSMA/CA or a performance anomaly.
Wire-bonds used as matching inductor in RF energy harvesting applications

This document presents an alternative antenna matching strategy for RF Harvesting circuits, based on the use of wire-bonds as external matching inductors. In the following, the electrical characteristics of the bond-wires are evaluated in terms of inductance, quality factor and UHF behavior. Pad de-embedding techniques are applied to reduce parasitic influence. A HFSS model is built as well in order to provide a predictive tool for further improvements. The measurements and simulations are compared and a real-case application is presented.
Transcriptional, Proteomic, and Metabolic Responses to Lithium in Galactose-grown Yeast Cells*

Lithium is highly toxic to yeast when grown in galactose medium mainly because phosphoglucomutase, a key enzyme of galactose metabolism, is inhibited. We studied the global protein and gene expression profiles of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown in galactose in different time intervals after addition of lithium. These results were related to physiological studies where both secreted and intracellular metabolites were determined. Microarray analysis showed that 664 open reading frames were down-regulated and 725 up-regulated in response to addition of lithium. Genes involved in transcription, translation, and nucleotide metabolism were down-regulated at the transcriptional level, whereas genes responsive to different stresses as well as genes from energy reserve metabolism and monosaccharide metabolism were up-regulated. Compared with the proteomic data, 26% of the down-regulated and 48% of the up-regulated proteins were also identified as being changed on the mRNA level. Functional clusters obtained from proteome data were coincident with transcriptional clusters. Physiological studies showed that acetate, glycerol, and glycogen accumulate in response to lithium, as reflected in expression data, whereas a change from respiro-fermentative to respiratory growth could not be predicted from the expression analyses.
Paradoxic effect of anti-CD4 therapy on lacrimal gland disease in MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice.

PURPOSE MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice (MRL/lpr) spontaneously develop lacrimal gland inflammatory lesions and are a model for the human disease Sjögren's syndrome. Therapy with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to CD4 ameliorates the autoimmune renal, vasculitic, and intraocular inflammatory lesions in MRL/lpr mice. The effect of anti-CD4 mAb therapy on lacrimal gland immunopathology was evaluated. METHODS From 1 to 5 months of age, MRL/lpr mice were treated with weekly intraperitoneal injections of 2 mg anti-CD4 mAb, after which they were killed and their lacrimal glands were removed for histologic evaluation and immunocytochemistry. Control mice were administered weekly intraperitoneal injections of either saline or normal rat immunoglobulin. RESULTS Anti-CD4 mAb treatment produced no reduction in lacrimal gland inflammation but did change its morphology. In control mice, there were multiple sharply delineated foci of inflammatory cells in the lacrimal gland, whereas in anti-CD4 mAb-treated mice, there was a more diffuse inflammation surrounding ill-defined foci that spread throughout the gland. Immunocytochemistry revealed that in control mice, lesions were composed predominantly of CD4+ T cells, but in anti-CD4 mAb-treated mice, CD8+ T cells predominated. CONCLUSIONS Although anti-CD4 mAb therapy of MRL/lpr mice eliminated autoimmune renal disease, autoantibody formation, and ocular inflammatory disease, it had a paradoxic effect on lacrimal gland lesions. Lacrimal gland lesions in the anti-CD4 mAb-treated mice were not decreased, but they had a different morphology and a different immunocytochemical profile.
Spectrum trading for non-identical channel allocation in cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we investigate spectrum trading via auction approach for cognitive radio networks. We consider a realistic valuation function in terms of different parameters for secondary users (SUs), and propose an efficient concurrent Vickrey-Clarke-Grove mechanism for non-identical channel allocation in two different scenarios. In the first scenario, SUs can bid for a single channel while in the other one, SUs can bid for a bundle of two channels. Our numerical results demonstrate significant revenue increase for the auctioneer and bidders in comparison with the conventional auction mechanisms.
FY1 doctors’ ethicolegal challenges in their first year of clinical practice: an interview study

Background There is little evidence of junior trainee perspectives in the design and implementation of medical ethics and law (MEL) curriculum in UK medical schools. Aim To determine the ethical issues the foundation year 1 (FY1) doctors (first year after graduation) encountered during clinical practice and the skills and knowledge of MEL, which were useful in informing MEL curriculum development. Method The National Research Ethics Service gave ethical approval. Eighteen one-to-one interviews were conducted in each school with FY1 doctors. Analysis Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim; a thematic analysis was undertaken with the transcriptions and saturation of themes was achieved. Key findings Themes closely overlapped between the two study sites. (1) Knowing my place as an FY1 (this theme consisted of four subthemes: challenging the hierarchy, being honest when the team is titrating the truth, taking consent for unfamiliar procedures and personal safety vs competing considerations); (2) Do not attempt resuscitation)/end-of-life pathway and its implications; (3) ‘You have to be there’ (contextualising ethics and law teaching through cases or role plays to allow students to explore future work situations); and (4) advanced interpersonal skills competency for ethical clinical practice. Conclusions The data provide a snapshot of the real challenges faced by MEL FY1 doctors in early clinical practice: they may feel ill-prepared and sometimes unsupported by senior members of the team. The key themes suggest areas for development of undergraduate and postgraduate MEL curricula. We will work to develop our own curriculum accordingly. We intend to further investigate the applicability of our findings to UK medical ethics and law curriculum.