Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increased bacterial invasion and differential expression of tight-junction proteins, growth factors, and growth factor receptors in periodontal lesions.

BACKGROUND Many pathogens are known to modulate epithelial physical barriers, particularly tight-junction (TJ) proteins, to enter host cells and/or tissues. Growth factors have been implicated in the regulation of TJ proteins. The aim of this study is to determine differences in the levels of TJ proteins, growth factors, and their receptors in relation to bacterial invasion in diseased gingival tissues obtained from patients with periodontitis. METHODS The presence of bacteria and expression of junctional adhesion molecule (JAM)-A, occludin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), EGF receptor, KGF receptor, and IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) were evaluated in gingival tissues from healthy (n = 10) and diseased (n = 10) sites in patients with periodontitis by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS The bacterial invasion of gingival tissue was increased in periodontal lesions compared with healthy sites. Although the levels of JAM-A and occludin were not significantly different between the healthy and diseased sites, aberrant cytoplasmic expression of JAM-A and occluding was often observed in the lesions. In addition, more leukocytes expressing JAM-A or occludin were observed within the disease-associated epithelia. Compared with the healthy sites, the differential expression of KGF, IGF-I, and IGF-1R was observed in the periodontal lesions. The levels of TJ proteins showed positive correlations with those of growth factors. CONCLUSION The aberrant expression of growth factors and TJ proteins may contribute to increased bacterial invasion and disease progression in periodontal lesions.
Brg1, the ATPase subunit of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, is required for myeloid differentiation to granulocytes

Many mammalian SWI/SNF complexes use Brahma‐related gene 1 (Brg1) as a catalytic subunit to remodel nucleosomes for transcription regulation. In several mesenchymal cells and tissues, expression of a defective Brg1 protein negates the normal activity of the SWI/SNF complex and delays or blocks differentiation. To investigate the role of SWI/SNF complexes during myelopoiesis, we stably expressed a dominant negative (dn) Brg1 mutant in the myeloid lineage. Forced expression of dnBrg1 in IL‐3‐dependent murine 32Dcl3 myeloid progenitor cells results in a profound delay in the granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor (G‐CSF) induced granulocytic maturation. These cells also exhibit a significant decrease in the expression of both CD11b and Gr‐1 surface receptors, which are normally upregulated during granulopoiesis, and show sustained expression of myeloperoxidase, which is synthesized primarily during the promyelocytic (blast) stage of myeloid development. Thus, dnBrg1 expression causes a developmental block at the promyelocytic/metamyelocytic stage of myeloid differentiation. Our findings indicate that the normal chromatin remodeling function of Brg1 is necessary for the G‐CSF dependent differentiation of myeloid cells towards the granulocytic lineage. This dependency on Brg1 may reflect a stringent requirement for chromatin remodeling at a critical stage of hematopoietic cell maturation. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Joint Blind Equalization & Carrier Phase Recovery based on Adaptively Varying Modulus Algorithm (AVMA)

The blind adaptive equalization and identification of communication channels is an important theoretical and practical problem which attracts much attention in recent years. Due to its robustness and easy implementation, constant modulus algorithm (CMA) is an excellent choice to correct the distortions caused by transmission channels. In two dimensional communication systems, however, phase recovery is a serious issue which can not be handled by conventional CMA due to its phase blind nature. In this paper, a new algorithm that jointly performs the blind channel equalization and carrier phase recovery simultaneously based on adaptively varying the real and imaginary components of the modulus of the received signal is proposed. The results obtained by simulation confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in clustering the equalized signals, recovering and correcting the carrier phase shift and removing LSI for the case of 16-QAM signal constellation
No evidence for systematic white matter correlates of dyslexia: An Activation Likelihood Estimation meta-analysis

Dyslexia is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by reading and spelling difficulties. Beyond the behavioral and functional correlates of this condition, a growing number of studies have explored structural differences between individuals with dyslexia and typically developing individuals. To date, findings remain disparate – some studies suggest differences in fractional anisotropy (FA), an indirect measure of white matter integrity, whereas others do not identify significant disparities. Here, we synthesized the existing literature on this topic by conducting a meta-analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) studies investigating white matter correlates of dyslexia via voxel-based analyses (VBA) of FA. Our results showed no reliable clusters underlying differences between dyslexics and typical individuals, after correcting for multiple comparisons (false discovery rate correction). Because group comparisons might be too coarse to yield subtle differences, we further explored differences in FA as a function of reading ability, measured on a continuous scale. Consistent with our initial findings, reading ability was not associated with reliable differences in white matter integrity. These findings nuance the current view of profound, structural differences underlying reading ability and its associated disorders, and suggest that their neural correlates might be more subtle than previously thought.
Doubly Sparsifying Network

We propose the doubly sparsifying network (DSN), by drawing inspirations from the double sparsity model for dictionary learning. DSN emphasizes the joint utilization of both the problem structure and the parameter structure. It simultaneously sparsifies the output features and the learned model parameters, under one unified framework. DSN enjoys intuitive model interpretation, compact model size and low complexity. We compare DSN against a few carefully-designed baselines, and verify its consistently superior performance in a wide range of settings. Encouraged by its robustness to insufficient training data, we explore the applicability of DSN in brain signal processing that has been a challenging interdisciplinary area. DSN is evaluated for two mainstream tasks: electroencephalographic (EEG) signal classification and blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response prediction, and achieves promising results in both cases.
Long-term health-related quality of life, growth, and spiritual well-being after hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

PURPOSE To examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and growth, and spiritual well-being in adult survivors of hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) for a malignant disease. METHODS HSCT survivors (n = 662) were recruited through the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry/Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry and were drawn from 40 transplantation centers. HSCT survivors completed a telephone interview and a set of questionnaires a mean of 7.0 years post-HSCT (range, 1.8 to 22.6 years). Study measures included a variety of standardized measures of HRQOL and growth and spiritual well-being. An age- and sex-matched healthy comparison (HC) group (n = 158) was recruited using a peer nomination method. The HC group completed a parallel telephone interview and set of questionnaires. RESULTS Multivariate analysis of variance analyses found the HSCT survivor group reported poorer status relative to the HC group for all HRQOL outcome clusters including physical health, physical functioning, social functioning, psychological adjustment, and dyadic adjustment. In contrast, the HSCT survivor group reported more psychological and interpersonal growth. Mean effect size for the 24 outcome indices examined was 0.36 standard deviations, an effect size often considered clinically meaningful or important. The largest group differences were found for measures of general health, physical function and well-being, depression, cognitive function, and fatigue. CONCLUSION The experience of HSCT for a malignant disease has a wide-ranging, longstanding, and profound impact on adult recipients. Relative to healthy controls, HSCT survivors reported poorer physical, psychological, and social functioning but, conversely, more psychological and interpersonal growth, differences that appeared to persist many years after HSCT.
Integrating urban energy simulation in a parametric environment: a Grasshopper interface for CitySim

The increasing popularity of parametric design tools goes hand in hand with the use of building performance simulation (BPS) tools from the early design phase. However, current methods require a significant computational time and a high number of parameters as input, as they are based on traditional BPS tools conceived for detailed building design phase. Their application to the urban scale is hence difficult. As an alternative to the existing approaches, we developed an interface to CitySim, a validated building simulation tool adapted to urban scale assessments, bundled as a plug-in for Grasshopper, a popular parametric design platform. On the one hand, CitySim allows faster simulations and requires fewer parameters than traditional BPS tools, as it is based on algorithms providing a good trade-off between the simulations requirements and their accuracy at the urban scale; on the other hand, Grasshopper allows the easy manipulation of building masses and energy simulation parameters through semi-automated parametric workflows. In this paper, we present a preliminary version of the developed plug-in and a typical design workflow for the simulation and visualization of building performance at the neighbourhood scale. We conclude by discussing its scalability to larger urban areas using 3D geodata as input and the coupling with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and optimization algorithms.
Accelerating reinforcement learning through imitation

Imitation can be viewed as a means of enhancing learning in multiagent environments. It augments an agent's ability to learn useful behaviours by making intelligent use of the knowledge implicit in behaviors demonstrated by cooperative teachers or other more experienced agents. Using reinforcement learning theory, we construct a new, formal framework for imitation that permits agents to combine prior knowledge, learned knowledge and knowledge extracted from observations of other agents. This framework, which we call implicit imitation, uses observations of other agents to provide an observer agent with information about its action capabilities in unexperienced situations. Efficient algorithms are derived from this framework for agents with both similar and dissimilar action capabilities and a series of experiments demonstrate that implicit imitation can dramatically accelerate reinforcement learning in certain cases. Further experiments demonstrate that the framework can handle transfer between agents with different reward structures, learning from multiple mentors, and selecting relevant portions of examples. A Bayesian version of implicit imitation is then derived and several experiments are used to illustrate how it smoothly integrates model extraction with prior knowledge and optimal exploration. Initial work is also presented to illustrate how extensions to implicit imitation can be derived for continuous domains, partially observable environments and multi-agent Markov games. The derivation of algorithms and experimental results are supplemented with an analysis of relevant domain features for imitating agents and some performance metrics for predicting imitation gains are suggested.
Do's and Don'ts in Evaluating Textbooks

Krause is a reading consultant at Howell (Michigan) High School. ■ Suppose your school bought 200 copies of a new textbook for woodshop last spring, and this fall your new teacher decided the books don't have enough projects and wants the school to spend $2,000 on new texts. Or, your freshman geography teachers refuse to use their present text and want to spend $5,000 on new materials. If these two unhappy situations or others like them have happened in your school, perhaps you can do something that can make such occurrences less common in the future.
Analysis of the body composition of Paralympic athletes: Comparison of two methods

Abstract Body composition is a physiological variable associated with physical activity and, in some cases, is related to athletic performance. Our objectives were to describe the body composition of participants in three distinct Paralympic sports and to compare the values of body density and estimated body fat obtained from the Paralympic athletes on the National Team by air-displacement plethysmography (ADP) and by the anthropometric method (skinfolds (SFs)). The sample consisted of 70 volunteers of both genders. The body composition of the volunteers was evaluated using the ADP in a Bod Pod® and seven SFs. There were no significant differences between the values obtained by ADP and SF for body fat percentage (p = .58) and body density (p = .49). Analysis by Bland–Altman plots showed mean differences of 0.56 ± 4.94 (−9.12–10.23) and −0.0017 ± 0.0113 (−0.024–0.020) for body fat percentage and body density, respectively. In conclusion, body composition analyses of Paralympic athletes by the ADP and SF methods show similar results, and ADP should be used as the first option when available. When the use of ADP is not possible, estimating body density and fat percentage by SF is a viable alternative for Paralympic athletes when future comparisons will use the same analysis method.
TUNNELING VIA INDIVIDUAL ELECTRONIC STATES IN FERROMAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES

We measure electron tunneling via discrete energy levels in ferromagnetic cobalt particles less than 4 nm in diameter, using non-magnetic electrodes. Due to magnetic anisotropy, the energy of each tunneling resonance shifts as an applied magnetic field rotates the particle's magnetic moment. We see both spin-increasing and decreasing tunneling transitions, but we do not observe the spin degeneracy at small magnetic fields seen previously in non-magnetic materials. The tunneling spectrum is denser than predicted for independent electrons, possibly due to spin-wave excitations.
A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Effects of Diosmin in the Treatment of Radicular Pain

Diosmin has been widely used to treat patients with vascular pain for its potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. To evaluate the therapeutic effects of Diosmin in the treatment of radicular pain, we conducted an investigator-initiated, randomized, active-controlled noninferiority trial between January 1, 2009, and December 1, 2010. Diosmin (50 mg/kg/day) was orally administered to treat the radicular pain in 150 patients for one month. Another 150 patients with the same symptom were given 20% 250 ml mannitol (1 g/kg/day) for 7 days and dexamethasone (10 mg/day) for 3 days intravenously guttae. Short-term relief and long-term relief were measured. Secondary outcomes include improvement in functional and psychological status, return to work, and reduction in anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs intake. Patients treated with oral Diosmin achieved reduction in radicular pain. The total satisfaction rate of Diosmin group was 84.7% [95% confidence interval (CI): 77.9%, 90.0%], and the complete satisfaction rate was 50.7% (95% CI: 42.4%, 58.9%). No statistically significant difference was found between the Diosmin group and the active-control group regarding patient satisfaction. No adverse effects were found during the study period. Our study suggests that clinical application of Diosmin with a dose of 50 mg/kg/day might reduce the radicular pain. This trial is registered with ISRCTN97157037.
Determination of tissue, airway and total resistance to respiration in cats.

Tissue resistance has been directly measured in a group of cats and found to vary from 1.3 to 3.3 cm H2O/l/sec. The average value of 2.55 cm H2O/l/sec. amounted to an average of 28% of the total resistance. This agrees well with the figure of 69% for airway resistance obtained using a different method. Neither method depends on changing the viscosity or the density of the gases breathed. Submitted on April 9, 1956
Quantitation of DNA and RNA with Absorption and Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Quantitation of nucleic acids is a fundamental tool in molecular biology that requires accuracy, reliability, and the use of increasingly smaller sample volumes. This unit describes the traditional absorbance measurement at 260 nm and three more sensitive fluorescence techniques employing Hoechst 33258, ethidium bromide, and PicoGreen. The range of the assays covers 25 pg/ml to 50 µg/ml. Absorbance at 260 nm has an effective range from 1 to 50 µg/ml; Hoechst 33258 from 0.01 to 15 µg/ml; ethidium bromide from 0.1 to 10 µg/ml; and PicoGreen from 25 to 1000 pg/ml. Curr. Protoc. Neurosci. 56:A.1K. 1‐A.1K. 14. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Primary prevention trials in Alzheimer disease

Many new treatments under development for Alzheimer disease (AD) will be disease-modifying rather than symptomatic. Clinical evaluation of these treatments will require primary and secondary prevention trials. We describe some of the methodologic challenges in designing primary prevention trials for AD and illustrate these with examples from the ADAPT (Alzheimer Disease Anti-Inflammatory Prevention Trial) Study and GEM (Ginkgo in Evaluation of Memory) Study. Primary prevention trials for AD present many design challenges. In most situations, secondary prevention trials provide the most feasible first step toward primary prevention.
Identification of ZNF217, hnRNP‐K, VEGF‐A and IPO7 as targets for microRNAs that are downregulated in prostate carcinoma

In primary prostate cancer (PCa), a major cause of cancer‐related death in men, the expression of various microRNAs (miRNAs) is deregulated. We previously detected several miRNAs, for example, miR‐24 and miR‐22, as significantly downregulated in PCa (Szczyrba et al., Mol Cancer Res 2010;8:529‐38). An in silico search predicted that zinc finger protein 217 (ZNF217) and importin 7 (IPO7) were potential target genes of these miRNAs. Additionally, for two genes that are deregulated in PCa (heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K, hnRNP‐K, and vascular endothelial growth factor A, VEGF‐A), we identified two regulatory miRNAs, miR‐205 and miR‐29b. The regulation of the 3′‐untranslated regions of the four genes by their respective miRNAs was confirmed by luciferase assays. As expected, the upregulation of ZNF217, hnRNP‐K, VEGF‐A and IPO7 could be verified at the protein level in the PCa cell lines LNCaP and DU145. ZNF217 and IPO7, which had not yet been studied in PCa, were analyzed in more detail. ZNF217 mRNA is overexpressed in primary PCa samples, and this overexpression translates to an elevated protein level. However, IPO7 was upregulated at the protein level alone. The inhibition of ZNF217 and IPO7 by siRNA resulted in reduced proliferation of the PCa cell lines. ZNF217 could thus be identified as an oncogene that is overexpressed in PCa and affects the growth of PCa cell lines, whereas the function of IPO7 remains to be elucidated in greater detail.
Single linear integral action control for closed-loop positioning of a biomimetic actuator with artificial muscles

Artificial muscle is a new type of biomimetic actuator particularly promising for naturally compliant mechatronic and robotic systems. Due to their highly non-linear character, their accurate closed-loop positioning control is a true challenge. We report the design and the control of a wire-cable driven artificial muscle actuator inspired by the elbow natural musculature. We propose an original linear control approach deriving benefit from natural stiffness and damping of any artificial muscle. We show how a single I-linear controller can be a practical simple way for an accurate and robust closed-loop positioning control. Experimental results have been performed by using hand-made pneumatic McKibben artificial muscles.
Role of Adult Attachment in the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence: Mediator, Moderator, or Independent Predictor?

Abstract : The present study examined the role of adult attachment in the intergenerational transmission of violence. We assessed the effects of exposure to several forms of childhood violence (child physical abuse [CPA], child sexual abuse [CSA], domestic violence [DV]) on adult CPA risk and examined whether adult attachment serves as a mediator or moderator of these relationships, or as an independent predictor of CPA risk. During their first week of basic training, U.S. Navy recruits (N=11,195) completed a package of questionnaires assessing childhood violence, adult attachment, and adult CPA risk. Childhood violence (especially parental CPA and DV) and adult attachment (especially the self-attitude dimension) were both predictive of increased adult CPA risk. Effects of childhood violence on CPA risk were partially but not entirely mediated by adult attachment. In contrast, there was no evidence that adult attachment or demographic factors moderated the relationship between childhood violence and adult CPA risk.
Influence of Magnetic Materials on Claw Pole Machines Behavior

This paper presents a study on magnetic materials for claw pole machines which are widely used nowadays in the automobile industry for their simple manufacturing and cost reasons. The finite element analysis with the loss surface model is used to evaluate the iron losses for three categories of material: M800-50A, M330-35A, and AFK502. Comparisons are made in terms of output current, efficiency, as well as iron loss as main characteristics of the machine. On the other hand, the experimental method of loss separation provides a clear idea of the loss distribution in the machines, from which the iron loss can be deduced. A qualitative comparison is made between the two methods, which proves to be coherent.
Generalized short step transformers for multi-band impedance matching

The use and synthesis of stepped impedance transformers for multi-band applications is revisited from a new point of view. A short step commensurate transformer can be used for impedance matching simultaneously at several frequencies/bands, even for the important first harmonic frequency 2 f0. An automated synthesis procedure borrowed from the lowpass filter theory is fully described. This procedure can provide reflection zeros at arbitrary frequency locations, thus leading to general responses in terms of return losses and matching frequencies. Finally, to validate the theory a microstrip prototype has been manufactured and measured.
Strategies for HIRF simulations using FDTD

Preparing the 3D-geometry models needed to perform computational electromagnetics simulations can be very tedious and time consuming. Furthermore, the need to include the test setup in the models in order to validate the software by comparing the numerical results with the measured data often makes the models extremely big and, therefore, the computational cost of the simulation becomes unaffordable. A test case from the European FP7 HIRF-SE project intended to provide the aeronautics industry with an integrated electromagnetic compatibility simulation tool set has been used in the present study in order to identify the unnecessary elements for the simulation while retaining the essential physics of the problem. Strategies for optimizing the modeling process and guidelines for achieving the worst possible level so as to use the simulation in a certification process can be drawn from this study.