Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successful transplantation of human hepatic stem cells with restricted localization to liver using hyaluronan grafts †

Cell therapies are potential alternatives to organ transplantation for liver failure or dysfunction but are compromised by inefficient engraftment, cell dispersal to ectopic sites, and emboli formation. Grafting strategies have been devised for transplantation of human hepatic stem cells (hHpSCs) embedded into a mix of soluble signals and extracellular matrix biomaterials (hyaluronans, type III collagen, laminin) found in stem cell niches. The hHpSCs maintain a stable stem cell phenotype under the graft conditions. The grafts were transplanted into the livers of immunocompromised murine hosts with and without carbon tetrachloride treatment to assess the effects of quiescent versus injured liver conditions. Grafted cells remained localized to the livers, resulting in a larger bolus of engrafted cells in the host livers under quiescent conditions and with potential for more rapid expansion under injured liver conditions. By contrast, transplantation by direct injection or via a vascular route resulted in inefficient engraftment and cell dispersal to ectopic sites. Transplantation by grafting is proposed as a preferred strategy for cell therapies for solid organs such as the liver. (HEPATOLOGY 2013)
Micro and nano fluidic chips for biosensors

Micro and nanofluidics provide very controlled delivery of reagents and samples for highly sensitive biosensors. Two fluidic platforms are introduced in this paper, the microfluidic droplet emulsion and the electrical field-based microfluidics. Traditional issues in microfluidics such as mixing in low Reynolds numbers can be mitigated using some of our active microfluidic techniques
EFFECTS OF INGESTION OF CYCLOPROPENOID FATTY ACIDS ON REPRODUCTION IN THEFEMALE RAT

The ingestion of cyclopropenoid fatty acids by chicken and rats is known to produce several detrimental physiological effects. These effects are expressed as reduced growth, delayed sexual maturity, poor reproduction and a change in the makeup of the lipids in the body. In these studies albino rats were pair-fed purified diets to which various concentrations of S. foetida oil, a rich source of cyclopropenoid fatty acids, were added. Growth, fatty acid composition of various organs, sexual development and reproduction were studied. The cyclopropenoid fatty acids reduced growth when fed as 3$ of the oil~in the diet. Feed efficiency was reduced during the growing period of the rat; but when, body weight leveled off in adult rats, the feed efficiency approached that of the control group. Fatty acid composition was changed from the normal as reflected by a higher percentage of saturated fatty acids at the expense chiefly of the mono-unsaturated acids. There appeared to be an impairment in the fatty acyl desaturase enzyme system rather than an increased synthesis of saturated fatty acids. Sexual maturity, as determined by observing the age of perforation of the vaginal closure membrane, was significantly
Improving the function of liver grafts exposed to warm ischemia by the leuven drug protocol: Exploring the molecular basis by microarray

Livers exposed to warm ischemia (WI) before transplantation are at risk for primary nonfunction (PNF), graft dysfunction, and ischemic biliary strictures, all associated with ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). Our multifactorial approach, Leuven drug protocol (LDP), has been shown to reduce these effects and increase recipient survival in WI/IRI‐damaged porcine liver transplantation. The aim was the identification of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the hepatoprotective effects of the LDP. Porcine livers were exposed to 45 minutes of WI, cold‐stored for 4 hours, transplanted, and either modulated (LDP group; n = 3) or not modulated (control group; n = 4). In the LDP group, the donor livers were flushed with streptokinase and epoprostenol before cold perfusion; the recipients received intravenous glycine, a‐1‐acid‐glycoprotein, FR167653 (a mitogen‐activated protein kinase inhibitor), a‐tocopherol, glutathione, and apotransferrin. Liver samples were taken before WI and 1 hour after reperfusion. Gene expression was determined with microarrays and molecular pathways and key regulatory genes were identified. The number of genes changed between baseline and 1 hour after reperfusion was 686 in the LDP group and 325 in the control group. The extra genes in the LDP group belonged predominantly to pathways related to cytokine activity, apoptosis, and cell proliferation. We identified 7 genes that were suppressed in the LDP group. These genes could be linked in part to the administered drugs. New potential drug targets were identified on the basis of genes induced in the control group but unaffected in the LDP group and interactions predicted by the literature. In conclusion, the LDP primarily resulted in the suppression of inflammation‐regulating genes in IRI. Furthermore, the microarray technique helped us to identify additional gene targets. Liver Transpl 18:206–218, 2012. © 2011 AASLD.
Diagnostic Utility of Wireless Motility Capsule in Gastrointestinal Dysmotility

Goals To examine the diagnostic utility of wireless motility capsule (WMC) in patients with suspected gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility. Background Subjects with suspected GI motility disorders undergo invasive and expensive diagnostic tests. In these patients, whether WMC provides clinically useful information is unknown. Study Patients with symptoms of dysmotility and normal endoscopic/radiologic evaluations were assessed with WMC test and conventional motility tests (CMT). Diagnostic utility of WMC was assessed retrospectively by examining device agreement and new information compared with CMT. Results On the basis of predominant symptom(s), 86 patients were classified into 2 subgroups: lower GI (LGI=50) and upper GI (UGI=36). Clinical suspicion was confirmed in 52% and 66% of patients, respectively, and there was good device agreement between WMC and CMT in 76% and 81% in the LGI and UGI groups, respectively. There was new diagnostic information with the WMC test in 53% of the LGI (P=0.006) and 47% of the UGI group (P=0.001). WMC detected generalized motility disorder in 44 (51%) patients and influenced management in 30% of LGI and 50% of UGI subjects. Conclusions WMC confirmed clinical suspicion, provided new diagnostic information, influenced clinical management, and detected many patients with generalized motility disorder. It had good device agreement with conventional tests.
Biological passport parameters

For long time anti-doping authorities have tried to find a way to tackle the use of forbidden substances and methods (namely erythropoiesis stimulating agents and blood transfusion) which improve sport performance through an increase of red cells and therefore oxygen transfer. From the end of the ‘90s scientists have explored two different but complimentary ways to detect these substances/methods: direct detection, aiming to find the forbidden agent in an athlete's biological sample and indirect detection, through the measurement of hematological parameters which are modified by blood doping. The biological passport is the most recent and sophisticated tool in regard to indirect doping detection. Its principles rely on the monitoring of relevant biomarkers on a regular basis so as to constitute an individual and longitudinal profile for any given athlete, with the subject becoming his/her own reference. Standardized procedures in relation to blood sampling, transport and analysis have to be respected in order to decrease pre-analytical and analytical variability. A statistical adaptive model is applied to interpret all the gathered data. The evaluation of this information follows forensic principle, where multiple piece of evidence can be added in order to support the opinion that a doping offence has taken place. Finally, the biological passport experience of the International Cycling Union is presented.
2.8- $\mu \text{m}$  Pulsed Er3+: ZBLAN Fiber Laser Modulated by Topological Insulator

We demonstrated a passively Q-switched 2.8-μm Er<sup>3±</sup>-doped ZBLAN fiber laser with topological insulator Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> nanosheets prepared by the solvothermal method. Enabled by the gold mirror with self-assembled Bi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>3</sub> nanosheets film sandwiched by polymethyl methacrylate polymer, the Q-switched fiber laser can deliver a maximum average power of 856 mW with corresponding pulse energy of 9.3 μJ and a pulse width of 1.3 μs at a repetition rate of 92 kHz under the pump power 5.9 W. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power for the pulsed fluoride fiber laser around 2.8 μm modulated by the two-dimensional Dirac material. This letter reveals that the topological insulator can be a kind of promising nonlinear modulator for a mid-infrared laser.
Simulation Interface for Gesture-Based Remote Control of a Surgical Lighting Arm

Asepsis preservation is compulsory in operating rooms (ORs) for avoiding the spread of hospital-acquired diseases. It is enforced nowadays by drastic measures regulating the use of sterile devices by non-sterile staff and vice versa. Contact less computer vision-based interfaces may overcome such limitations. Our works relates to the development of an image processing chain aiming at giving surgeons remote control over OR equipment. In this paper, we introduce a simulation of a gesture-based remote control interface intended for ORs. The software processing chain and the choices made for each of its steps are described, and its performance is quantified. A virtual scene including a robotic lighting support is introduced. A graphical interface enables the coupling of both processing chain and virtual scene, enabling the user to control the virtual lighting support by performing various hand postures. Functionalities include 3-dimensional displacements, control of the lighting intensity and task-specific pre-programmed movements.
University of Southern California School of Dentistry.

So . What's the big deal about blood pressure? High blood pressure (HBP), or hypertension (HTN), affects about 1 in 6 people worldwide. That's a billion people, including approximately 50 million in the United States. Although there is ongoing discussion in the medical profession with respect to these values, blood pressure (BP) is considered normal with a systolic of up to 140 and a diastolic of up to 90 (mm Hg), and these values are consistent with the guidelines at the USC School of Dentistry.
A quad 0.6-3.2 Gb/s/channel interference-free CMOS transceiver for backplane serial link

A quad-channel 0.6-3.2 Gb/s/channnel transceiver using eight independent phase-locked loops (PLLs) shows a 1-ps rms random jitter performance without interchannel interference. The PLL employs a folded starved inverter with high supply/substrate noise immunity and an analog coarse-tuning scheme for both seamless frequency acquisition and N-fold voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) gain reduction. A fixed-interval charge pumping is adopted for wide pumping-current range and large jitter tolerance. A wide-range delayed-locked loop (DLL) is utilized as a clock and reset generator for an elastic buffer. The transceiver, implemented in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology, operates across a 30-in FR-4 backplane up to 3.2 Gb/s/ch with a bit-error rate of less than 10/sup -13/.
Fermion simulations in systems with negative weights.

We investigate the use of two methods - Langevin and molecular dynamics - for simulating fermion systems with real, non-positive definite probability functions. The methods are tested on a simple one-dimensional model. Both methods have difficulties associated with the nodes of the probability function. While the Langevin equation can cross the nodes even for time steps as small as 10/sup -10/, the crossing may be so violent that an equilibrium distribution is not readily achieved. The molecular dynamics system is trapped within regions bounded by the nodes, not sampling all of phase space. A hybrid Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics method is proposed which avoids these difficulties in the Langevin and molecular dynamics techniques. 16 refs.
Evidence from two genetic syndromes for the independence of spatial and visual working memory

This study aimed at investigating the possible dissociation between visual‐object and visual‐spatial working memory (WM) in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) and Down syndrome (DS). Four study groups were included: WS group (10 males, 5 females) with a mean chronological age (CA) of 19 years 8 months (SD 6y 1mo) and a mean mental age (MA)of 6 years 11 months (SD 1y 5mo); WS comparison group (7 males, 8 females) comprised of typically developing children with a mean CA of 6 years 10 months (SD 10mo) and a mean MA of 6 years 11 months (SD 8mo)matched as a group with the participants with WS on the basis of mental age; DS group (11 males, 7 females) with a mean CA of 15 years 10 months (SD 5y 8mo) and a mean MA of 5 years 2 months (SD 8mo); and DS comparison group (10 males, 8 females) with a mean CA of 5 years and 1 month (SD 7mo)and a mean MA of 5 years 2 months (SD 8mo) selected to match the DS group on the basis of mental age. They were all administered tests that explored visual perception (Visual Perception Test ‐ Subtest 4 and Line Orientation tests), visual imagery (imaging the colour of objects and the tail length of well‐known animals), spatial imagery (mental rotation of visually presented or verbally evoked objects), and WM for visual‐object and visual‐spatial information. Individuals with WS exhibited specific difficulties in the visual‐spatial, but not the visual‐object, WM task. Instead, people with DS showed reduced performance in both tests. However, whereas the observed deficit in individuals with DS persisted when perceptual abilities were taken into account, the deficit in individuals with DS was compensated when their scores were adjusted for performance on perceptual tasks. These results support the hypothesis of a dissociation within the sketch‐pad slave system in the WM model and reinforce the view of intellectual disability as a non‐unitary condition.
A novel dictionary based SRC for face recognition

The sparse representation based classification (SRC) performs not very well for small sample data. A discriminative common vector dictionary based SRC is introduced in this paper to address this issue. The contribution of this paper is that the dictionary of the proposed method is constructed by the discriminative common vector per class. The common vector represents the invariant property of each class, which is helpful to improve the performance of the proposed method for small sample database. Furthermore, the new dictionary has much less atoms than the original SRC based scheme, which reduces the computational cost. The experiments implemented on ORL, AR and LFW face databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Integer optimization and zero-temperature fixed point in Ising random-field systems.

Analyse de la transition de phase dans les modeles d'Ising ferromagnetiques 3D a champs aleatoires au point critique T=0 avec utilisation d'un nouvel algorithme d'optimisation pour l'etablissement du comportement critique. Mise en evidence d'une transition tontinue dans le cas de distribution gaussienne des champs; exposants critiques
Regeneration across cold preserved peripheral nerve allografts

The feasibility of peripheral nerve allograft pretreatment utilizing cold storage (5°C in the University of Wisconsin Cold Storage Solution) or freeze‐thawing to prevent rejection was investigated. Regeneration across cold‐stored (3 or 5 weeks) or freeze‐thawed (FT), 3.0‐cm sciatic nerve allografts were compared to fresh auto‐ and allografts in an inbred rat model. At 16‐week post‐engraftment, only FT allografts appeared similar to autografts on gross inspection; FT grafts were neither shrunken nor adherent to the surrounding tissue as seen in the other allograft groups. Qualitatively, the pattern of regeneration in the graft segments of the fresh allograft and to a lesser extent of pretreated allografts was inferior to that of autografts as evidenced by a disruption in the perineurium, more extrafascicular axons, smaller and fewer myelinated axons, increased intrafascicular collagen deposition, and the persistence of perineurial cell compartmentation and perivascular infiltrates. Distal to these grafts, the regeneration became more homogenous between groups, although areas of ongoing Wallerian degeneration, new regeneration as well as compartmentation, were more prevalent in fresh and pretreated allografts. Although the number of myelinated fibres was equivalent to autografts, the fibre diameters, the number of large diameter fibres, and the G‐ratio were significantly decreased in the allograft groups, which, in part, accounted for the significant decrease in conduction velocity in the 3‐week stored and fresh allograft, and the slight decrease in the 5‐week stored and FT allograft groups. There was a small return in the Sciatic Function Index towards normal, but no consistent differences between groups were found. Prolonged cold storage and freeze‐thawing of nerve allografts resulted in regeneration that was better than fresh allografts, but inferior to autografts. With the concomitant use of host immunosuppression or other immunotherapies, these storage techniques can provide a means of transporting nerve allografts between medical centres and for converting urgent into elective procedures. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. MICROSURGERY 19:115–127 1999
Peritoneal Culture Alters Streptococcus pneumoniae Protein Profiles and Virulence Properties

ABSTRACT We have examined the properties of Streptococcus pneumoniae cultured in the murine peritoneal cavity and compared its virulence-associated characteristics to those of cultures grown in vitro. Analysis of mRNA levels for specific virulence factors demonstrated a 2.8-fold increase in ply expression and a 2.2-fold increase in capA3 expression during murine peritoneal culture (MPC). Two-dimensional gels and immunoblots using convalescent-phase patient sera and murine sera revealed distinct differences in protein production in vivo (MPC). MPC-grown pneumococci adhered to A549 epithelial cell lines at levels 10-fold greater than those cultured in vitro.
PetCR46, a gene which is essential for respiration and integrity of the mitochondrial genome

In the frame of the European Pilot Project for the functional analysis of newly discovered open reading frames (ORFs) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae chromosome III, we have deleted entirely the YCR46C ORF by a one‐step polymerase chain reaction method and replaced it by the HIS3 marker in the strain W303. The deletion has been checked by meiotic segregation and Southern blot analyses. Characterization of the deleted strain indicates that YCR46C is essential for respiration and maintenance of the mitochondrial genome since its deletion leads to the appearance of 100% of cytoplasmic petites. Hybridization with molecular probes from mtDNA of individual clones of such petites showed that about 50% did hybridize (rho− clones) while others did not (possibly rho° clones). The wild‐type gene has been cloned and shown to complement the deletion. The gene, which probably codes for a mitochondrial ribosomal protein, has been called petCR46.
Calculation of Physical Optics Integrals Over NURBS Surface Using a Delaminating Quadrature Method

Physical optics (PO) is a widely used radar cross section (RCS) estimation approach for electrically large-scaled objects, and it is finally reduced to the calculation of highly oscillatory integrals. In this paper the PO integrals over non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surfaces is proposed to be calculated with a delaminating quadrature method. The method has the merits of being very stable, accurate, and fast, and its computation cost does not increase with frequency. Moreover, in order to keep these good properties for PO integrals involving critical points (stationary phase point, resonant point), a scheme of integral-subdividing is proposed, and new approaches for locating the critical points are also presented. Numerical examples of flat surface, cylindrical surface, and spherical surface well show the advantages of the new method.
Joint grooming capability and wavelength number optimization

In switched optical networks traffic grooming is a key factor in efficient bandwidth utilization. Without it a single traffic demand would occupy a full wavelength channel. However, it is not necessary to install grooming capability in all nodes of a network. Furthermore it is also unnecessary to equip all grooming nodes with full grooming capability. We can reduce the costs by deploying only the necessary grooming capacity. From a design point of view this means that not only the grooming capable nodes should be selected, but also the necessary grooming port number is to be determined. In our paper we propose algorithms which use iterative simulations to solve this problem.
Secretion of Human Serum Albumin by Kluyveromyces lactis Overexpressing KlPDI1 and KlERO1

ABSTRACT The control of protein conformation during translocation through the endoplasmic reticulum is often a bottleneck for heterologous protein production. The core pathway of the oxidative folding machinery includes two conserved proteins: Pdi1p and Ero1p. We increased the dosage of the genes encoding these proteins in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis and evaluated the secretion of heterologous proteins. KlERO1, an orthologue of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ERO1, was cloned by functional complementation of the ts phenotype of an Scero1 mutant. The expression of KlERO1 was induced by treatment of the cells with dithiothreitol and by overexpression of human serum albumin (HSA), a disulfide bond-rich protein. Duplication of either PDI1 or ERO1 led to a similar increase in HSA yield. Duplication of both genes accelerated the secretion of HSA and improved cell growth rate and yield. Increasing the dosage of KlERO1 did not affect the production of human interleukin 1β, a protein that has no disulfide bridges. The results confirm that the ERO1 genes of S. cerevisiae and K. lactis are functionally similar even though portions of their coding sequence are quite different and the phenotypes of mutants overexpressing the genes differ. The marked effects of KlERO1 copy number on the expression of heterologous proteins with a high number of disulfide bridges suggests that control of KlERO1 and KlPDI1 is important for the production of high levels of heterologous proteins of this type.
Model driven architecture for modeling of logical security based on RBAC approach

This paper presents an approach of role-based access control (RBAC) for information systems with the use of MDA (Model Driven Architecture). The main purpose is to join the concepts of MDA approach with the concepts of access control models, in particular with the concepts of access control based on roles and on usage concept. To reach this objectives the appropriate solution was created to model the extended RBAC model and URBAC model with the use of concepts and tools of software engineering, in particular MDA methodology and UML (Unified Modeling Language). The presented approach was developed for role engineering in the aspects of logical security of information systems.
Factor‐V expression in platelets from human megakaryocytic culture

The origin of platelet‐factor‐V has long been discussed. To elucidate whether and when human platelet‐factor‐V is synthesized by megakaryocytes, we utilized in vitro‐generated megakaryocytes capable of producing platelets. Factor‐V gene was silent in purified progenitors and megakaryocytic precursors but was expressed in late culture phase and maintained also in platelets. Similarly, factor‐V protein was expressed in mature proplatelet‐bearing megakaryocytes (immunofluorescence analysis); it was also detectable in cultured megakaryocytes and platelets (Western blotting) and within permeabilized cultured platelets (flow cytometry). The absence of other cells in our culture system indicates conclusively that human megakaryocytes synthesize factor‐V.