Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution to study the glycoprotein ligands of the cerebellar soluble lectin in human K562 tumour cells

Many cancer cells over-express significantly the glycoproteins specific to the endogenous cerebellar soluble lectin or CSL. These ligands may present the same electrophoretic profiles regardless of the specie or tissue. We purified a large amount of the active CSL using an immuno-affinity chromatography, which was used to isolate the CSL ligands from human tumour K562 cell lines. After protease digestion of these ligands, we analyzed the obtained peptides using reverse phase chromatography and isolated an overrepresented group that carried N-glycans and was relatively hydrophobic. Thus, we suggested that the CSL ligands have a common pepetide sequence specifically recognized by the CSL, who could direct the production of these CSL-recognized N-glycans. Moreover, we speculated that the expression deregulation of a specific exon encoding this peptide sequence alters the glycosylation in K562 tumour cells. Keywords: CSL; glycoprotein ligands; tumour K562 cells; N-glycosylation; peptide signal
ETA-receptor antagonist prevents and reverses chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in rat.

The selective endothelin-A (ETA)-receptor antagonist BQ-123 has been shown to prevent chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in the rat. Therefore in the current study we utilized BQ-123 to test the hypothesis that blockade of the ETA receptor can reverse as well as prevent the increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure, right ventricle-to-left ventricle plus septum ratio, and percent wall thickness in small (50-100 microns) pulmonary arteries observed in male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to normobaric hypoxia (10% O2, 2 wk). Infusion of BQ-123 (0.4 mg.0.5 microliter-1.h-1 for 2 wk in 10% O2) begun after 2 wk of hypoxia significantly reversed the established pulmonary hypertension and prevented further progression of right ventricular hypertrophy during the third and fourth week of hypoxia. BQ-123 infusion instituted before exposure to hypoxia completely prevented the hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension, right ventricular hypertrophy, and pulmonary vascular remodeling. These findings suggest that, in the lung, hypoxia induced an increase synthesis of endothelin-1, which acts locally on ETA receptors to cause pulmonary hypertension, right heart hypertrophy, and pulmonary vascular remodeling, while ETA-receptor blockade can both prevent and reverse these processes.
Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Measurement Repeatability in Scanning Laser Polarimetry With Enhanced Corneal Compensation

ObjectiveTo investigate the measurement repeatability of the various standard retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) parameters in scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) with enhanced corneal compensation (ECC, released for investigational use on the commercially available GDx with variable corneal compensation, Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, Dublin, CA) in healthy eyes, eyes with ocular hypertension (OHT), and glaucomatous eyes. DesignCross-sectional observational study. ParticipantsSixteen healthy subjects, 32 subjects with OHT, and 35 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. MethodsEighty-three eyes of eighty-three white participants were imaged with SLP ECC 3 times on a same day. We determined the intraeye RNFL measurement repeatability. Main Outcome MeasuresIntraeye within-subject standard deviation (Sw), repeatability coefficient, and the 2-way mixed intraclass correlation coefficient for various standard RNFL parameters in SLP ECC. ResultsThe repeatability of the RNFL measurements was generally good. In glaucomatous eyes, the Sw and repeatability coefficient for the nerve fiber indicator and temporal-superior-nasal-inferior-temporal average were statistically significantly higher than in healthy eyes and eyes with OHT. In each group, the intraclass correlation coefficient values were generally similar across the parameters, except for the intereye symmetry. The Sw values for various parameters were generally considerably less than 9% of the measurement spectrum. ConclusionsRNFL measurements by SLP ECC had, in general, a good measurement repeatability, although some parameters seemed to be less stable in glaucomatous eyes than in healthy eyes and eyes with OHT. SLP ECC may therefore probably be employed for the detection of glaucomatous progression.
Fitness feedback based particles swarm optimization

Inertia weight w and acceleration coefficients c are the most effective ways of improving the performance of particle swarm optimization (PSO). A improved PSO was proposed, in which w and c were set to be the function of fitness value and adapted itself in the way of fitness feedback at each iteration. In order to reduce the probability of trapping into a local minimum value, w was recalculated according to the number of iterations, when w equaled to zero during successive M iterations. The proposed adaptive strategy has been implemented and compares with fixed inertia weight PSO (FIWPSO), linearly decreasing inertia weight PSO (LDIWPSO) and nonlinearly decreasing inertia weight PSO (NDIWPSO) employing three global minimum problems. The experimental results establish the supremacy of the proposed variants over the existing ones in terms of convergence speed, robustness and computational precision.
Physical design of a fourth-generation POWER GHz microprocessor

The fourth-generation POWER processor chip contains 170M transistors and includes 2 microprocessor cores, shared L2, directory for an off-chip L3, and all logic needed to interconnect multiple chips to form an SMP. It is implemented in a 0.18 /spl mu/m SOI technology, with 7 layers of Cu interconnect, and functions in systems at 1.1 GHz, and dissipates 115 W at 1.5 V.
Hemorrhagic blood failure: Oxygen debt, coagulopathy, and endothelial damage

Our understanding of the events taking place within the blood following severe injury with hemorrhagic shock is quickly evolving. Traditional concepts have given way to a detailed and nuanced understanding of coagulopathy, bleeding, and shock at the cellular and biochemical levels. In doing so, the tremendous complexity of events taking place within the blood have been illuminated and present an additional challenge. In this review, we seek to understand shock, endotheliopathy, and coagulopathy not as isolated events, but rather as the result of changes taking place within a single dynamic organ system. This review will highlight the key linkages existing between blood and endothelium and how these processes are perturbed by hemorrhagic shock to produce a syndrome that we call “hemorrhagic blood failure. ” From this perspective, it may be regarded that the blood organ system fails in providing its vital functions predictably after injury. We review how accumulation of oxygen debt during shock leads to endotheliopathy and coagulopathy, and how current transfusion strategies may impact the syndrome of hemorrhagic blood failure.
A survey on mobile data offloading: technical and business perspectives

Over the last few years, data traffic over cellular networks has seen an exponential rise, primarily due to the explosion of smartphones, tablets, and laptops. This increase in data traffic on cellular networks has caused an immediate need for offloading traffic for optimum performance of both voice and data services. As a result, different innovative solutions have emerged to manage data traffic. Some of the key technologies include Wi-Fi, femtocells, and IP flow mobility. The growth of data traffic is also creating challenges for the backhaul of cellular networks; therefore, solutions such as core network offloading and media optimization are also gaining popularity. This article aims to provide a survey of mobile data offloading technologies including insights from the business perspective as well.
A Self-Report Borderline Scale: Discriminative Validity and Preliminary Norms

On the basis of a selected review of some important theoretical discussions and empirical investigations of patients characterized as borderline, a self-report questionnaire, the Borderline Syndrome Index (BSI), was constructed. Its purpose was to provide an assessment of the borderline syndrome that would increase the amount of information rapidly available to the clinician. The items reflect criteria cited in the literature as important characteristics of borderline patients and also incorporate the criteria for the borderline personality organization as listed in the DSM-III draft. The BSI was completed by 50 normal individuals, 36 nonpsychotic depressed outpatients, 35 patients diagnosed as borderline, and 20 inpatients diagnosed as schizophrenic. The internal consistency of the 52-item BSI was . 92. It significantly discriminated the borderline patients from the normal individuals, from the depressed outpatients, and from the schizophrenic inpatients, thereby providing a measure of discriminative validity. An item analysis indicated that the most discriminating items were concerned with impaired object relations, impulsivity, emptiness and depression, depersonalization, and lack of self-identity. Cross-validation of the BSI was carried out on independent samples of borderline and nonborderline patients, and it was found to discriminate significantly between the two. Preliminary percentile norms are presented in order to provide clinicians with additional information to assist them in their diagnostic assessments.
Isolation and genetic characterization of an Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serovar K12:O3 strain

An atypical Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serovar 12 strain, termed QAS106, was isolated from a clinical case of porcine pleuropneumonia in Japan. An immunodiffusion (ID) test identified the strain as serovar 12. However, the ID test also demonstrated that strain QAS106 shared antigenic determinants with both the serovar 3 and 15 reference strains. Strain QAS106 was positive in the capsular serovar 12–specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, while the PCR toxin gene profiling and omlA PCR typing assays indicated that strain QAS106 was similar to serovar 3. The nucleotide sequence of the 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of strain QAS106 was identical with that of serovars 3 and 12, but it showed 99.7% identity with that of serovar 15. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that genes involved in biosynthesis of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) of strain QAS106 were identical to those of serovar 12 at the amino acid level. On the other hand, strain QAS106 would express putative proteins involved in the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) O-polysaccharide (O-PS), the amino acid sequences of which were identical or nearly identical to those of serovars 3 and 15. In conclusion, strain QAS106 should be recognized as K12:O3, even though typical serovar 12 strains are K12:O12. The emergence of an atypical A. pleuropneumoniae serovar 12 strain expressing a rare combination of CPS and O-PS antigens would hamper precise serodiagnosis by the use of either CPS- or LPS-based serodiagnostic methodology alone.
Occurrence of bacteriuria in 18 catheterised cats with obstructive lower urinary tract disease: a pilot study

The incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections in cats catheterised for an obstructive lower urinary tract disease (LUTD) has not previously been evaluated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of significant bacteriuria in cats with obstructive LUTD managed for 48 h with a closed urine collection system. Eighteen male cats admitted for a non-infectious obstructive LUTD were evaluated. This was a prospective study. A standard protocol was used for aseptic catheter placement and maintenance. Three urine samples were collected from each animal through the catheter immediately after placement, 24 h after placement and just before removal. All samples underwent complete urinalysis, including bacterial culture. Catheter tips were tested by bacterial culture. Six cats (33.3%) developed significant bacteriuria during catheterisation. The causative bacteria were common feline uropathogens (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus species) in five cases, and Streptococcus bovis in one. One cat developed a fungal infection. The presence of bacteria in urinary sediment was correlated strongly with positive urine culture results. The catheter tips from 10/18 cats (55.5%) were positive for culture. The positive predictive value of a positive culture from the urinary catheter tip was 87.5%. The specificity was 53.8%. The same infectious agents were cultured from both urine and catheter tip in six cases. In summary, one-third of cats developed significant bacteriuria during catheterisation. Silent bacteriuria could not be clearly differentiated from true urinary tract infection. The presence of bacteria in the urinary sediment was strongly indicative of bacteriuria. The specificity of urinary catheter tip culture was low.
The medical service increment for teaching (SIFT): a £400m anachronism for the English NHS?

In 1997-8, over £400m ($640m) of NHS money was designated as the medical service increment for teaching (SIFT). 1 The manifest purpose of SIFT is to ensure that the NHS supports quality and innovation in undergraduate medical education. This includes supporting the increasing role of teaching in hospitals other than the main university hospital affiliated with each medical school, general practices, and other community settings.2 3 SIFT is designed to be paid in addition to income gained by medical schools for teaching medical students. The latent purpose of SIFT, which paradoxically dominates its distribution, is to ensure a “level playing field” in the healthcare market by covering “historic infrastructure costs, whether or not they are currently required for education. ”2 As designed, SIFT is thus in conflict with one of the aims of the government's white paper, The New NHS , which sought to end the way in which instability in the healthcare market resulted in “shoring up the status quo rather than creating the space to plan and implement major improvement. ”4 Allocations of SIFT are based on the product of the annual SIFT rate (about £36 000 for institutions outside London and £39 000 in London) and the number of whole time equivalent students who are in the last three years of the five year curriculum, which are traditionally the years of clinical teaching.2 Thus a medical school that has an annual intake of 150 students will have about £16m in SIFT funding available for distribution to healthcare trusts and general practices that teach students. In 1996-7, nearly 90% of SIFT funds were allocated to the main acute teaching trusts (or teaching hospitals); most of the £170m allocated to the Thames regions is spent in London.1 Details are not published, but income from SIFT for …
Impact of Pre-Anthesis Drought Stress on Physiology, Yield-Related Traits, and Drought-Responsive Genes in Green Super Rice

Optimum soil water availability is vital for maximum yield production in rice which is challenged by increasing spells of drought. The reproductive stage drought is among the main limiting factors leading to the drastic reduction in grain yield. The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular and morphophysiological responses of pre-anthesis stage drought stress in green super rice. The study assessed the performance of 26 rice lines under irrigated and drought conditions. Irrigated treatment was allowed to grow normally, while drought stress was imposed for 30 days at the pre-anthesis stage. Three important physiological traits including pollen fertility percentage (PFP), cell membrane stability (CMS), and normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) were recorded at anthesis stage during the last week of drought stress. Agronomic traits of economic importance including grain yield were recorded at maturity stage. The analysis of variance demonstrated significant variation among the genotypes for most of the studied traits. Correlation and principal component analyses demonstrated highly significant associations of particular agronomic traits with grain yield, and genetic diversity among genotypes, respectively. Our study demonstrated a higher drought tolerance potential of GSR lines compared with local cultivars, mainly by higher pollen viability, plant biomass, CMS, and harvest index under drought. In addition, the molecular basis of drought tolerance in GSR lines was related to upregulation of certain drought-responsive genes including OsSADRI, OsDSM1, OsDT11, but not the DREB genes. Our study identified novel drought-responsive genes (LOC_Os11g36190, LOC_Os12g04500, LOC_Os12g26290, and LOC_Os02g11960) that could be further characterized using reverse genetics to be utilized in molecular breeding for drought tolerance.
Efficient mapping of multiple VoIP vocoders in WiMAX systems

This paper addresses the problem of efficient mapping and allocation of voice over IP (VoIP) traffic with multiple VoIP vocoders in WiMAX systems. We show that by taking advantage of the periodicity of VoIP frames, generated by multiple vocoder types, and by applying semi-fixed allocations in the existing resource allocation process, the mapping overhead can be reduced substantially. We present a system model that allows the evaluation of the proposed solutions for the problem at hand. Using this model, we show that the problem is NP hard and present a set of observations on the resource allocation process leading to good mapping decisions from the perspective of mapping overhead. We present a new mapping algorithm that implement the decisions and show by extensive simulations that the proposed mapping algorithm can reduce the overhead down to 25% of the overhead experienced in orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA)-based systems such as WiMAX and IEEE802.16, while retaining a low computational complexity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Successive Emergence of Enterobacter aerogenes Strains Resistant to Imipenem and Colistin in a Patient

ABSTRACT Enterobacter aerogenes is an agent of hospital-acquired infection that exhibits a remarkable resistance to β-lactam antibiotics during therapy. Five successive isolates of E. aerogenes infecting a patient and exhibiting a multiresistance phenotype to β-lactam antibiotics and fluoroquinolones were investigated. Among these clinical strains, four presented resistant phenotypes during successive imipenem and colistin treatments. The involved resistance mechanisms exhibited by the successive isolates were associated with alterations of the outer membrane that caused a porin decrease and lipopolysaccharide modifications.
Wireless Telemedicine Physiological Monitoring Center Based on Virtual Instruments

This paper presents a new model of wireless telemedicine physiological monitoring center, which is developed by the Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) and integrates current general packet radio service (GPRS) technology and signal processing with DSP processor. At the patient's location, a wireless PDA-based monitor is used to continuously acquire the patient's vital signs, including heart rate, ECG, SpO2 and so on. Through the internet, the patient's physiological signals can be transmitted in real-time to a telemedicine monitoring central management unit, and the unit can access the data and the case history of the patient, either by the central management unit or the wireless devices. This paper presents our prototype implementation of signal processing based on a high-performance DSP-based personal server. The results also show that the wireless telemedicine physiological monitoring center model is superior to the currently used monitors both in mobility and in usability, and, therefore, is better suited to patient transport.
Context-dependent search in a context-independent network

This paper introduces a search algorithm for continuous speech recognition, working on a network that integrates both lexical and linguistic constraints. It differs from traditional Viterbi beam-search in that it does not assume that the network includes any information regarding context dependency of the acoustic models. Phonetic context dependency is instead taken into account by the search procedure itself, in a way that uniformly deals with within-word and cross-word contexts. In the paper the algorithm is described in detail, and results are given on two representative tasks: American English dictation and Italian broadcast news.
Residential Change as a Turning Point in the Life Course of Crime: Desistance or Temporary Cessation?

Many former prisoners return home to the same residential environment, with the same criminal opportunities and criminal peers, where they resided before incarceration. If the path to desistance from crime largely requires knifing-off from past situations and establishing a new set of routine activities, then returning to one’s old environment and routines may drastically limit an ex-prisoner’s already dismal chances of desisting from crime. This study tests these ideas by examining how forced residential migration caused by Hurricane Katrina affected the likelihood of reincarceration among a sample of ex-prisoners originally from New Orleans. Property damage from the hurricane induced some ex-prisoners to move to new neighborhoods who otherwise would have moved back to their former neighborhoods. Findings from an instrumental variables survival analysis reveal that those parolees who moved to a new parish following release were substantially less likely to be reincarcerated during the first 3 years after release than ex-offenders who moved back to the parish where they were originally convicted. Moreover, at no point in the 3-year time period was the hazard of reincarceration greater for those parolees who moved than for those who returned to the same parish.