Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roentgenographic Findings of the Cervical Spine in Asymptomatic People

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence and severity of degenerative changes seen on lateral roentgenograms in 200 asymptomatic men and women in five age groups with an age range of 20-65 years and to determine the normal values of cervical lordosis and spinal canal sagittal diameters and their relationship to degenerative changes. It was found that by age 60-65,95% of the men and 70% of the women had at least one degenerative change on their roentgenograms. A small sagittal diameter correlated with the presence of degenerative changes at the same disc level, and the strongest correlation was with the size of the posterior osteophytes at C5-6 (r = 0.52) Cervical lordosis measurements did not relate to degenerative changes except for subjects over age 50 with moderate or severe intervertebral narrowing. It is important to realize that although roentgenographic abnormalities represent structural changes in the spine, they do not necessarily cause symptoms.
Theoretical estimators and lower-bounds for receiver-to-receiver time synchronization in multi-hop wireless networks

Maximum likelihood estimators (MLE) for time synchronization parameters of receiver-to-receiver protocols are derived. The MLE are first provided for a single-hop model, then generalized to a multi-hop model. The appropriate Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) for the estimators are then derived, which serves as a theoretical lower bound to any unbiased estimator. The proposed estimators are compared with their respective CRLB through simulation in multi-hop scenarios of up-to eight hops. The results show fast convergence of the estimation precision to the CRLB and demonstrate a high precision, where the mean square error (MSE) does not exceed 10-6 for the skew, and 10-5 for the offset. (6 pages)
Broad-band matching network using band-pass filter with device parasitic absorption

A novel and a robust synthesis technique for designing broad-band matching network is described. Such a matching network will be designed as a band-pass filter that provides broad-band match while absorbing device parasitic within the matching network. This matching network is used in designing a broad-band class AB power amplifier with a flat large signal gain of 12 dB with ±1 dB variation at saturation and output power of 39 dBm over the band from 1.6 GHz to 2.4 GHz with 800 MHz bandwidth. The drain efficiency over 65% is achieved in this entire band of operation corresponding to 40% fractional bandwidth.
Disturbances of biomarkers of iron and oxidant-antioxidant homeostasis in patients with beta-thalassemia intermedia.

BACKGROUND Disturbances of oxidative stress and antioxidant status have been reported in patients with Β-ThM and in a limited number of patients with ThI. OBJECTIVES To I) study relevant biomarkers of iron metabolism, oxidative stress and antioxidant status, in untransfused patients with ThI and II) evaluate the relation of changes in biomarkers to the clinicalhematological phenotype and genotype. DESIGN Biomarkers of iron metabolism (ferritin, NTBI, sTfR), of oxidant activity (MDA, GSSG, GSSC/GSHT, NO) and of antioxidant enzymes (GR, GPx, SOD) and Vitamins (E, C, A) were estimated and analyzed in 20 controls and 33 patients with ThI, sub-classified into mild (17) and severe (16) types. All but five were untransfused. RESULTS Clinical phenotypes of mild and severe ThI were related to distinct genotypes, 11 for mild and 14 for severe. The three iron biomarkers were significantly increased in both ThI types compared to controls and in severe compared to mild types. The ferritin levels (total iron load) had a highly significant positive correlation with age (p〈0.001) and sTfR. Biomarkers with oxidant activity were also significantly increased in ThI patients compared to controls; significantly higher levels for MDA, NTBI, and GSSG/GSHT were found in severe ThI. The activity of antioxidant enzymes GR, GP and SOD, was significantly significantly reduced in patients, especially in the severe type. Vitamin C was mildly reduced in both types of ThI. CONCLUSIONS Activity of relevant biomarkers of iron and oxidant-antioxidant homeostasis was significantly increased in untransfused patients with ThI. These changes coincide with the severity of clinical phenotype, genotype and bone marrow erythroid activity evaluated by sTfR levels.
Dual Layered Architecture for Multi Agent Based Islanding and Load Management for Microgrids

This paper proposes a novel dual layered multi agent system (MAS) based control system for the use in microgrid operations. In developing a smarter grid capable of withstanding disturbances and/or outages and providing quality service to the consumers, reliable microgrid control architecture is vital. The innovative microgrid control system proposed, makes the microgrid capable of isolating the local grid from effects of any upstream disturbances in the main utility grid by operating disconnected from the main utility via islanding, and it allows the most critical local loads to be supplied by any, available, local power source during such islanded operation. The proposed MAS control architecture is developed using the JADE platform and it is used to control a test network simulated in MATLAB. The results of these simulations show the capability of developing MAS based reliable control mechanism for islanding and load management of microgrids based on the proposed concept.
Breakthrough Technologies Immunopurification of Polyribosomal Complexes of Arabidopsis for Global Analysis of Gene Expression 1 [ w ]

Immunoaffinity purification of polyribosomes (polysomes) from crude leaf extracts of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was achieved with transgenic genotypes that overexpress a translational fusion of a ribosomal protein (RP) with a His6-FLAG dual epitope tag. In plants with a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S:HF-RPL18 transgene immunopurification with anti-FLAG agarose beads yielded 60-Svedberg ribosomal subunits, intact 80-Svedberg monosomes and polysomes. Sucrose density gradient fractionation of the purified complexes demonstrated that the distribution of polysome size was similar in crude cell extracts and the purified complexes. The immunopurified complexes included putative cytosolic RPs of Arabidopsis and ribosomeassociated proteins, as well as full-length transcripts of high and low abundance. Whole-genome profiling using long DNA oligonucleotide-based microarrays provided a high level of reproducibility between polysomal mRNA samples immunopurified from two independent biological replicates (r approximately 0.90). Comparison of immunopurified and total cellular RNA samples revealed that for most of the genes, the mRNAs were associated with the epitope-tagged polysomal complexes, with an average relative level of association of 62.06% 6 4.39%. The results demonstrate that the immunopurification of polysomes can be a valuable tool for the quantification of mRNAs present in translation complexes in plant cells. This technology can be extended to evaluation of mRNA populations at the cellor tissue-specific level by regulation of the tagged RP with distinct promoters.
Stretchable Hydrogel Electronics and Devices

Stretchable hydrogel electronics and devices are designed by integrating stretchable conductors, functional chips, drug-delivery channels, and reservoirs into stretchable, robust, and biocompatible hydrogel matrices. Novel applications include a smart wound dressing capable of sensing the temperatures of various locations on the skin, delivering different drugs to these locations, and subsequently maintaining sustained release of drugs.
Extreme Learning Machines with Simple Cascades

We compare extreme learning machines with cascade correlation on a standard benchmark dataset for comparing cascade networks along with another commonly used dataset. We introduce a number of hybrid cascade extreme learning machine topologies ranging from simple shallow cascade ELM networks to full cascade ELM networks. We found that the simplest cascade topology provided surprising benefit with a cascade correlation style cascade for small extreme learning machine layers. Our full cascade ELM architecture achieved high performance with even a single neuron per ELM cascade, suggesting that our approach may have general utility, though further work needs to be done using more datasets. We suggest extensions of our cascade ELM approach, with the use of network analysis, addition of noise, and unfreezing of weights.
Mice lacking both mixed-lineage kinase genes Mlk1 and Mlk2 retain a wild type phenotype

The mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinases of the mixed-lineage kinase (MLK) family have been shown to activate the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, and to regulate the other two principal MAPK cascades, p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Although there is growing evidence for their involvement in neuronal cell death leading to neurodegenerative disorders, little in vivo data is available for the members of this family of kinases. Here, we report that the inactivation of mouse Mlk1 and Mlk2 genes. Mlk1-/- and Mlk2-/- mice were found to be viable and healthy. Surprisingly, mice carrying the compound Mlk1/Mlk2 null mutations were also found to be viable, fertile and to have a normal life span. The nervous system, testis and kidney, the major sites of MLK1 and 2 expression, all appear normal, as do other organs where these kinases were found to be more weakly expressed. Surprisingly, developmental neuronal programmed cell death, another potential target for MLK family members, was also found to be unaffected. Our results suggest that there is extensive functional redundancy between MLK1/MLK2 and the other member of the family, MLK3, which is also not required for survival in mouse.
Screening and identification of proteins interacting with nucleostemin.

AIM To identify the proteins interacting with nucleostemin (NS), thereby gaining an insight into the function of NS. METHODS Yeast two-hybrid assay was performed to screen a human placenta cDNA library with the full length of NS as a bait. X-Gal assay and beta-galactosidase filter assay were subsequently conducted to check the positive clones and the gene was identified by DNA sequencing. To further confirm the interaction of two proteins, the DNA fragment coding NS and the DNA fragment isolated from the positive clone were inserted into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3 and pcDNA3-myc, respectively. Then, two plasmids were cotransfected into the COS-7 cells by DEAE-dextron. The total protein from the cotransfected cells was extracted and coimmunoprecipitation and Western blot were performed with suitable antibodies sequentially. RESULTS Two positive clones that interacted with NS were obtained from human placenta cDNA library. One was an alpha isoform of human protein phosphatase 2 regulatory subunit B (B56) (PPP2R5A) and the other was a novel gene being highly homologous to the gene associated with spondylo paralysis. The co-immunoprecipitation also showed that NS specifically interacted with PPP2R5A. CONCLUSION NS and PPP2R5A interact in yeast and mammalian cells, respectively, which is helpful for addressing the function of NS in cancer development and progression.
Draft Genome Sequences of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium LT2 with Deleted Chitinases That Are Emerging Virulence Factors

ABSTRACT Chitinases are glycosyl hydrolases that catalyze the hydrolysis of the β-1,4 linkages in complex carbohydrates and those that contain GlcNAc. These enzymes are considered emerging virulence factors during infection because the host glycan changes. This is the release of four single chitinase deletion mutants in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2.
Combinatorial complexity bounds for arrangements of curves and surfaces

The authors study both the incidence counting and the many-faces problem for various kinds of curves, including lines, pseudolines, unit circles, general circles, and pseudocircles. They also extend the analysis to three dimensions, where they concentrate on the case of spheres, which is relevant for the three-dimensional unit-distance problem. They obtain upper bounds for certain quantities. The authors believe that the techniques they use are of independent interest. <<ETX>>
Characterization of novel microsatellites from Drosophila transversa

We investigated a partial genomic library of Drosophila transversa for microsatellites and developed 12 markers for genetic analyses. This is the first time that microsatellite primers from the quinaria species group have been described. Four loci were cross‐amplified in D. phalerata. Nine out of the 12 microsatellite markers developed are likely to be on the X chromosome.
Interleukin-4 Signaling in B Lymphocytes from Patients with X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency*

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) is an important cytokine for B and T lymphocyte function and mediates its effects via a receptor that contains γc. B cells derived from patients with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-SCID) are deficient in γc and provide a useful model in which to dissect the role of this subunit in IL-4-mediated signaling. We found that although IL-4 stimulation of X-SCID B cells did not result in Janus tyrosine kinase-3 (JAK3) phosphorylation, other IL-4 substrates including JAK1 and IRS-1 were phosphorylated. Additionally, we detected signal transducers and activators of transcription 6 (STAT6) tyrosine phosphorylation and DNA binding activity in X-SCID B cells with a wide range of γc mutations. However, reconstitution of these X-SCID B cells with γc enhanced IL-4-mediated responses including STAT6 phosphorylation and DNA binding activity and resulted in increased CD23 expression. Thus, γc is not necessary to trigger IL-4-mediated responses in B cells, but its presence is important for optimal IL-4-signaling. These results suggest that two distinct IL-4 signaling pathways exist.
Effect of branching on the channel tortuosity of positive leader

Experiments on leader development were carried out in 10 m and 6 m rod-plane gaps under positive impulse. Leader propagation was recorded by high speed CCD camera. Effect of branching on its channel tortuosity was studied based on these high speed photographs. Over 70% of turning points along the 2-D leader channel are accompanied with leader branching in the experiment. That is branching makes an important contribution to the channel tortuosity of positive leader.
Correlation between BCG Genomics and Protective Efficacy

Between the derivation of bacille Calmette? Gue´rin (BCG) vaccine in 1921 and the lyophilization of BCG daughter strains in the 1960s, a number of clinical trials were performed looking at the protective efficacy of BCG vaccination against tuberculosis. These trials differed from one another in a number of ways: they employed different methodologies for delivering the vaccine and interpreting outcomes; they were performed on populations with different genetic backgrounds and different levels of exposure to environmental Mycobacteria; and, finally, they used different BCG vaccine strains. The results of these trials were estimates of protective efficacy against pulmonary tuberculosis ranging from about 80% to nil. Because of the differences in outcomes and confounding variables, it is difficult to conclude whether differences in interventions alone may have contributed to the remarkably variable results. Analysis of BCG vaccines used in clinical trials suggests a trend towards decreasing efficacy with increased passage in the laboratory; however, trials that used relatively ''older'' BCG strains were generally performed at different sites than trials which used ''younger'' BCG strains. Genomic analysis of BCG vaccines demonstrates that during the half-century of ongoing passage of BCG vaccines in vitro there have been numerous genetic changes, comprising single nucleotide polymorphisms, duplications and deletions. The impact of these changes in the BCG genome on the protective efficacy observed in field trials remains to be determined.
Interference alignment for multi-user MIMO interference channels via a Riemannian optimization approach

Interference alignment (IA) is a technique shown to be able to achieve a significant overall throughput in a μ - user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference channel (IC). In this paper, we try to modify the conventional IA designs to achieve enhanced sum-rate performance. We jointly design transmit and receive IA filters (precoding and suppression filters) at a central unit (CU) to reduce the channel state information (CSI) feedback/sharing overhead. At the CU, in a one-way iterative strategy (left `L' to right `R', see Fig. 1), the precoding filters are optimized (on side `L') in the direction of the gradient of the sum-rate, and the suppression filters are chosen (on side `R') to minimize the leakage interferences. Then, in a two-way iterative strategy, the proposed scheme alternates between `L' and `R' sides to design the IA filters through the joint sum-rate maximization and interference leakage minimization on each side. Finally, a modified version of the two-way iterative strategy is proposed to design the IA filters on the basis of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) (instead of the interference minimization) and the sum-rate maximization techniques. Comparing to other conventional IA designs, the proposed designs with provable convergence show a significant sum-rate performance improvement and often outperform other widely used algorithms, as shown in the simulation examples.
A Rapid and effective method for RNA extraction from different tissues of grapevine and other woody plants.

INTRODUCTION RNA quality and integrity are critical for many studies in plant molecular biology. High-quality RNA extraction from grapevine and other woody plants is problematic due to the presence of polysaccharides, polyphenolics and other compounds that bind or co-precipitate with the RNA. OBJECTIVE To develop an optimised cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-based protocol, to reduce the time and cost of extraction without reducing quality and yield of RNA extracted from polysaccharide-rich tissues of several plants. METHODOLOGY Several changes were introduced to the original CTAB protocol. All centrifugation steps were carried out at 4 degrees C, the sample weight was decreased and the concentrations of PVP-40 and LiCl were increased reducing incubation time prior to RNA precipitation. This rapid CTAB protocol was compared with six different RNA extraction methods from three grapevine tissues, namely, in vitro plantlets, and leaves and mature canes from actively growing field vines. RESULTS The rapid CTAB method gave high-quality RNA in only 3 h at low cost with efficiency equal to or higher than that obtained with other time-consuming and expensive protocols. The procedure was applied to RNA extraction from other grapevine tissues and other woody species including olive, lemon, poplar, chestnut, apple, pear, peach, cherry, apricot, plum and kiwi fruit. RNA of high quality could be isolated from all tissues and from all species. CONCLUSION The study has shown that the improvement of a CTAB-based protocol allows the rapid isolation of high-quality RNA from grapevine and many woody species.
A novel task-oriented optimal design for P300-based brain–computer interfaces

Objective. The number of items of a P300-based brain–computer interface (BCI) should be adjustable in accordance with the requirements of the specific tasks. To address this issue, we propose a novel task-oriented optimal approach aimed at increasing the performance of general P300 BCIs with different numbers of items. Approach. First, we proposed a stimulus presentation with variable dimensions (VD) paradigm as a generalization of the conventional single-character (SC) and row-column (RC) stimulus paradigms. Furthermore, an embedding design approach was employed for any given number of items. Finally, based on the score-P model of each subject, the VD flash pattern was selected by a linear interpolation approach for a certain task. Main results. The results indicate that the optimal BCI design consistently outperforms the conventional approaches, i.e., the SC and RC paradigms. Specifically, there is significant improvement in the practical information transfer rate for a large number of items. Significance. The results suggest that the proposed optimal approach would provide useful guidance in the practical design of general P300-based BCIs.
Assessment of Ambiguous Base Calls in HIV-1 pol Population Sequences as a Biomarker for Identification of Recent Infections in HIV-1 Incidence Studies

ABSTRACT An increase in the proportion of ambiguous base calls in HIV-1 pol population sequences during the course of infection has been demonstrated in different study populations, and sequence ambiguity thresholds to classify infections as recent or nonrecent have been suggested. The aim of our study was to evaluate sequence ambiguities as a candidate biomarker for use in an HIV-1 incidence assay using samples from antiretroviral treatment-naive seroconverters with known durations of infection (German HIV-1 Seroconverter Study). We used 2,203 HIV-1 pol population sequences derived from 1,334 seroconverters to assess the sequence ambiguity method (SAM). We then compared the serological incidence BED capture enzyme immunoassay (BED-CEIA) with the SAM for a subset of 723 samples from 495 seroconverters and evaluated a multianalyte algorithm that includes BED-CEIA results, SAM results, viral loads, and CD4 cell counts for 453 samples from 325 seroconverters. We observed a significant increase in the proportion of sequence ambiguities with the duration of infection. A sequence ambiguity threshold of 0.5% best identified recent infections with 76.7% accuracy. The mean duration of recency was determined to be 208 (95% confidence interval, 196 to 221) days. In the subset analysis, BED-CEIA achieved a significantly higher accuracy than the SAM (84.6 versus 75.5%, P < 0.001) and results were concordant for 64.2% (464/723) of the samples. Also, the multianalyte algorithm did not show better accuracy than the BED-CEIA (83.4 versus 84.3%, P = 0.786). In conclusion, the SAM and the multianalyte algorithm including SAM were inferior to the BED-CEIA, and the proportion of sequence ambiguities is therefore not a preferable biomarker for HIV-1 incidence testing.
Children's opinions about smoking.

A survey of the smoking habits and opinions of over 15,000 children aged 8-19 years, in full or part-time education, was carried out in northern England in December 1982. Highly significant differences were observed between the opinions of smokers and non-smokers on the reasons for and against smoking. There were dramatic variations with age: the youngest children, smokers and non-smokers, tended to support the visual aspects of smoking, while the older ones were largely in favour of the supposed psychological and physiological benefits to smokers themselves. Non-smokers showed less variation with age than smokers did. Compared with earlier surveys, the main changes were the increase in admission of the health risks and loss of the ;tough' image for the older children. In antismoking education it is important to know what beliefs children of different ages hold in order to make the message relevant to them. It is also important to counteract the forces that may be creating their concepts about smoking.