Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating Engineered Ribonucleoprotein Particles to Improve Oral RNAi Delivery in Crop Insect Pests

Genetically modified (GM) crops producing double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are being investigated largely as an RNA interference (RNAi)-based resistance strategy against crop insect pests. However, limitations of this strategy include the sensitivity of dsRNA to insect gut nucleases and its poor insect cell membrane penetration. Working with the insect pest cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis), we showed that the chimeric protein PTD-DRBD (peptide transduction domain—dsRNA binding domain) combined with dsRNA forms a ribonucleoprotein particle (RNP) that improves the effectiveness of the RNAi mechanism in the insect. The RNP slows down nuclease activity, probably by masking the dsRNA. Furthermore, PTD-mediated internalization in insect gut cells is achieved within minutes after plasma membrane contact, limiting the exposure time of the RNPs to gut nucleases. Therefore, the RNP provides an approximately 2-fold increase in the efficiency of insect gene silencing upon oral delivery when compared to naked dsRNA. Taken together, these data demonstrate the role of engineered RNPs in improving dsRNA stability and cellular entry, representing a path toward the design of enhanced RNAi strategies in GM plants against crop insect pests.
Exchange Rate Misalignment Estimates - Sources of Differences

We study the differences of currency misalignment estimates obtained from alternative datasets derived from two International Comparison Program (ICP) surveys. A decomposition exercise reveals that the year 2005 misalignment estimates are substantially affected by the ICP price revision. Further, we find that differences in misalignment estimates are systematically affected by a country’s participation status in the ICP survey and its data quality – a finding that casts doubt on the economic and policy relevance of these misalignment estimates. The patterns of changes in the estimated degree of misalignment across individual countries, as illustrated by the BRIC economies, are quite variable.
Behavioral Development for a Humanoid Robot - Towards Life-Long Human-Robot Partnerships

A significant research effort was conducted at Sony's Intelligence Dynamics Laboratory (SIDL), involving personnel from Georgia Tech, MIT, CMU, Osaka University, and SIDL, working towards the implementation of a theory of designed development for a humanoid robot. This research involves numerous insights gleaned from cognitive psychology (drawn from both new and old theories of behavior) and integrating these techniques into Sony's humanoid robot QRIO architecture with the long-term goal of providing highly satisfying longterm interaction and attachment formation by a human partner. Included are models of deliberative (willed) reasoning and its interfacing with a reactive (automatic) controller (Glasspool 00, Shallice and Burgess 96, Ulam and Arkin 07). In particular aspects of skill transference from planned to routine activity are incorporated (Cooper and Glasspool 01, Cooper and Shallice 97, Chernova and Arkin 07). In addition, a multi-method learning technique inspired by assimilation models of Piaget provides for runtime incorporation of disparate learned skills into the existing behavioral substrate (Takamuku and Arkin 07). Finally non-verbal communication mechanisms that overlay ongoing behavior performance and utilize both proxemics (spatial separation) and kinesics (body language) are described (Brooks and Arkin 07). All of the underlying models, their implementation and the results obtained on QRIO are presented.
The extraction of hippocampus from MRI of human brain using morphological and image binarization techniques

Segmentation of hippocampus (Hc) from the human brain is a significant task in the medical field for the identification of abnormalities in the brain functions. In this paper, we propose a method to segment the hippocampus from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of human brain scans. The pipeline of the proposed method makes use of filters such as trimmed mean and top-hat to blur and highlight the hippocampal edges respectively. The K-means clustering is used to find the threshold value in order to convert the filtered image into a binary one. The jaccard (J) and dice (D) indices are used to quantify the performance of the proposed method as well as the semi-automatic method ITK-SNAP. The results show that the proposed method works better than the existing ITK-SNAP.
A Novel Quick Response of RBCOT With VIC Ripple for Buck Converter

A novel quick response of ripple-based constant on-time with virtual inductor current ripple for Buck converter is proposed in this paper. The concept uses the capacitor and the resistor in a series to filter out the output voltage at load transient to dynamically change the width of on-time to prevent the Vout from dropping markedly. Finally, 12-V input voltage, 3.3-V output voltage, and 60-W output power with the novel quick response circuit for the IC of the proposed Buck converter are implemented to verify its viability and superiority.
High-index dielectric Huygens metasurface

We describe a dielectric Huygens metasurfaces capable to manipulate light in the visible regime with 100% transmission efficiency. The metasurface is comprised of TiO2 cylindrical nanoparticles embedded in a medium with lower refraction index. The interaction between dielectric disks is considered and it is used as a parameter to optimize the optical properties of the metasurface.
A Short History of Randomized Experiments in Criminology

This article discusses advantages of randomized experiments and key issues raised in the following articles. The main concern is the growth and decrease in the use of randomized experiments by the California Youth Authority, the U.S. National Institute of Justice, and the British Home Office, although other experiments are also discussed. It is concluded that feast and famine periods are influenced by key individuals. It is recommended that policy makers, practitioners, funders, the mass media, and the general public need better education in research quality so that they can tell the difference between good and poor evaluation studies. They might then demand better evaluations using randomized experiments.
Human Lactoferrin Interacts with Soluble CD14 and Inhibits Expression of Endothelial Adhesion Molecules, E-Selectin and ICAM-1, Induced by the CD14-Lipopolysaccharide Complex

ABSTRACT Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), either in the free form or complexed to CD14, a LPS receptor, are elicitors of the immune system. Lactoferrin (Lf), a LPS-chelating glycoprotein, protects animals against septic shock. Since optimal protection requires administration of Lf prior to lethal doses of LPS, we hypothesized that interactions between Lf and soluble CD14 (sCD14) exist. In a first step, human sCD14 and human Lf (hLf) were used to determine the kinetic binding parameters of hLf to free sCD14 in an optical biosensor. The results demonstrated that hLf bound specifically and with a high affinity (Kd= 16 ± 7 nM) to sCD14. Affinity chromatography studies showed that hLf interacted not only with free sCD14 but also, though with different binding properties, with sCD14 complexed to LPS or lipid A–2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid–heptose. In a second step, we have investigated whether the capacity of hLf to interact with sCD14 could modulate the expression of endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule 1 (E-selectin) or intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) induced by the sCD14-LPS complex on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Our experiments show that hLf significantly inhibited both E-selectin and ICAM-1 expressions at the surface of HUVEC. In conclusion, these observations suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of hLf are due not only to the ability of the molecule to chelate LPS but also to its ability to interact with sCD14 and with the sCD14 complexed to LPS, thus modifying the activation of endothelial cells.
Traffic lights-an AutoFocus case study

In this paper, we present a case study on AutoFocus, a prototype tool for the development of distributed and concurrent systems based on the concepts of the formal method Focus. We develop (specify, consistency-check and simulate) the controller of a set of pedestrian traffic lights using different graphical description techniques to illustrate an engineering process for concurrent systems.
The epidemiology of spondylodiscitis in ankylosing spondylitis--a controlled study.

UNLABELLED Spondylodiscitis is well recognized in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), but little is known about its epidemiology. We therefore reviewed 147 consecutive patients with AS using lumbar and thoracic spine radiographs. For each patient with spondylodiscitis, two age- and sex-matched controls were selected. Twelve individuals (8%) had spondylodiscitis, affecting a total of 32 disc spaces: 10 thoracic, 22 lumbar. The mean age at onset was 21 +/- 4.1 yr, significantly younger than that of the controls (28.5 +/- 10.1 yr, P = 0.004). Half of the 12 patients had multiple lesions (between two and six levels). The most common site was the lower thoracic spine with additional lumbar spine involvement. Only two of the 12 patients (17%) had symptoms localized to the lesions. Neither trauma nor infection were considered to be causes of the spondylodiscitis. IN CONCLUSION (1) spondylodiscitis occurs in approximately 8% of patients with AS; (2) these patients have early onset of disease; (3) multiple-level lesions in the spine are not uncommon among those with spondylodiscitis; (4) lesions are usually asymptomatic.
The application self-tuning PID control based on fuzzy parameter in compensation for DUPS

In view of the influence of band-pass filter on realtime performance of voltage compensation signal detection and compensation accuracy, a direct compensation signal detection method for dynamic uninterruptible power supply (DUPS) based on fuzzy parameter and self-tuning PID control is proposed. Based on the proposed method, the fundamental component can be rapidly extracted from fault signal, and then the positive sequence component in fundamental component can also be extracted by means of instantaneous decomposition link, on this basis the voltage compensation can be solved by direct-detection algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed detection method that integrates fuzzy based self-tuning PID control with direct-detection algorithm is easy to implement and possesses good real-time performance, so it is suitable to the direct detection of the compensation of DUPS.
Dyslipidemia and its correlation with type 2 diabetic patients at differentstages of proteinuria.

Diabetic nephropathy is the consequence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and it is characterized by continuous albuminuria. The aim of the study was to investigate and correlate the lipid profile abnormalities in different stages of albuminuria to understand the checkpoint before progression to end stage renal disease (ESRD). A total of 154 type 2 diabetic patients were included in the study. Urine samples of all patients were subject to biochemical analysis and divided into diabetes with normoalbuminuria (n=52), diabetes with microalbuminuria (n=51), and diabetes with overt proteinuria (n=51) groups, depending upon urinary albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) of 300 mg/24 hours respectively. Statistical analysis was done by using One Way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. All lipid profile parameters, such as total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (Tg), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) mean values except high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were increased in all the three groups i.e. diabetes with normoalbuminuria, diabetes with microalbuminuria, diabetes with overt proteinuria, were significantly increased at P<0.005 and found to be in positive correlation with ACR. Dyslipidemia concurrently with microalbuminuria should be considered as alarming signal for both cardiovascular disease (CVD) and ESRD. Therefore, detection of dyslipidemia with a corresponding microalbuminuria in the beginning of DM and accordingly therapeutic intervention could control the resulting cardiovascular or renal complications.
Current Therapeutics for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by a progressive rise in pulmonary vascular resistance resulting from vascular remodeling, vasoconstriction, and cellular proliferation. For patients diagnosed with PAH, the prognosis is poor, with an approximate 9-15% annual mortality rate. The goal of medical therapy is to improve survival and patients' quality of life. Although PAH is an incurable orphan disease with a high mortality rate, current treatment strategies have led to considerable gains, including exercise capacity, hemodynamic and time to clinical worsening. General disease management options include avoidance of salt in the diet, oxygen, appropriate vaccinations and routine health maintenance, and avoidance of pregnancy. Traditional treatments include warfarin, diuretics, and calcium channel blockers (if patients are deemed ”responders” during cardiac catheterization). Currently, three classes of drugs are approved for the treatment of PAH based on results from clinical trials-prostacyclin analogues, endothelin receptor antagonists, and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors. Clinical practice patterns have shifted in favor of earlier diagnosis, aggressive front line treatment, and upfront versus stepwise combination therapy. Future drug development targeting other molecular pathways of pulmonary vascular disease is essential for advancing our understanding of this disease. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent guidelines for the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension, and highlight clinical topics for the primary care physician.
Source Localization of Subtopographic Brain Maps for Event Related Potentials (ERP)

Localization of the cognitive activity in the brain is one of the major problems in neuroscience. Current techniques for neuro-imaging are based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and event related potential (ERP) recordings. The highest temporal resolution is achieved by ERP, which is crucial for temporal localization of activities. However, the spatial resolution of scalp topography for ERP is low. There is a severe limitation for the parametric inverse solution algorithms that they can only perform well for the temporally uncorrelated sources. In this study, a spatial decomposition method is proposed to separate the temporally correlated sources using their topographies prior to their localization
ActivationofNod 1 andNod 2 Induces Innate Immune Responsesof Prostate Epithelial Cells

Min-Jung Kang, Sook-Kyoung Heo, Eun-Jung Song, Dong-Jae Kim, Seung-Yun Han, Ju-Hee Han, Bo-Yeon Kim, and Jong-Hwan Park* Departmentof Biochemistry,College ofMedicine,KonyangUniversity,Daejeon,Korea WorldClass Institute,Korea Research Institute of BioscienceandBiotechnology,Ochang-Eup,Cheongwon-Gun, Choongbuk,Korea Departmentof Pathology,UniversityofMichiganMedical School, Ann Arbor,Michigan Departmentof Anatomy,College ofMedicine,KonyangUniversity,Daejeon,Korea Laboratory AnimalMedicine,College of VeterinaryMedicine, SeoulNational University, Seoul,Korea
Urinary excretion of interstitial-cell stimulating hormone by normal males and females of various ages.

ICSH activity in the urine of normal males and females of various ages has been determined semi-quantitatively by means of an assay which depends upon the repair of ventral prostatic atrophy in the hypophysectomizod immature male rat. The testicular weights of the animals were also recorded as an index of FSH activity. The findings were as follows: (a) In 12 pre-pubertal children, urinary ICSH activity was barely detectable in 3 instances, (b) In 5 adult females, ICSH activity was detectable in mid-cycle, and in 3 of the 5 subjects it was detectable during the follicular and luteal phases as well. There was no appreciable difference between the excretion rates of ICSH during the follicular and luteal phases. However, during mid-cycle a twofold to fourfold increase in ICSH activity occurred, (c) In 17 adult males, ICSH activity was detectable in 16 instances. The excretion of ICSH in hospital patients appeared to be lower than in healthy volunteers. Although the results were variable, it appeared that male.
Reaction-path calculations and crystal structures of 1,1'-(ethylene-1,2-diyl)dipyridinium dichloride dihydrate and 1,1'-(ethylene-1,2-diyl)dipyridinium dibromide.

The design of new organic-inorganic hybrid ionic materials is of interest for various applications, particularly in the areas of crystal engineering, supramolecular chemistry and materials science. The monohalogenated intermediates 1-(2-chloroethyl)pyridinium chloride, C5H5NCH2CH2Cl(+)·Cl(-), (I'), and 1-(2-bromoethyl)pyridinium bromide, C5H5NCH2CH2Br(+)·Br(-), (II'), and the ionic disubstituted products 1,1'-(ethylene-1,2-diyl)dipyridinium dichloride dihydrate, C12H14N2(2+)·2Cl(-)·2H2O, (I), and 1,1'-(ethylene-1,2-diyl)dipyridinium dibromide, C12H14N2(2+)·2Br(-), (II), have been isolated as powders from the reactions of pyridine with the appropriate 1,2-dihaloethanes. The monohalogenated intermediates (I') and (II') were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, while (I) and (II) were structurally characterized using powder X-ray diffraction. Both (I) and (II) crystallize with half the empirical formula in the asymmetric unit in the triclinic space group P-1. The organic 1,1'-(ethylene-1,2-diyl)dipyridinium dications, which display approximate C2h symmetry in both structures, are situated on inversion centres. The components in (I) are linked via intermolecular O-H.Cl, C-H.Cl and C-H.O hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional framework, while for (II), they are connected via weak intermolecular C-H.Br hydrogen bonds into one-dimensional chains in the [110] direction. The nucleophilic substitution reactions of 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,2-dibromoethane with pyridine have been investigated by ab initio quantum chemical calculations using the 6-31G** basis. In both cases, the reactions occur in two exothermic stages involving consecutive SN2 nucleophilic substitutions. The isolation of the monosubstituted intermediate in each case is strong evidence that the second step is not fast relative to the first.
Beneficial effect of coronary artery bypass grafting as assessed by quantitative gated single-photon emission computed tomography.

The development of quantitative gated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) has enabled the assessment of left ventricular perfusion, function and wall thickness in a single examination. Accordingly, the present study used gated SPECT to assess the benefit of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with coronary artery disease; 47 of those patients were evaluated before and 5 months after CABG. As a result of coronary revascularization, a significant improvement was observed in global ejection fraction (50+/-12 --> 53+/-11%; p<0.05). In 107 revascularized territories, the average regional reversible defect score (0.8+/-0.5 --> 0.2 +/-0.3; p<0.0001), average regional perfusion score at rest (0.6+/-0.6 --> 0.3+/-0.4; p<0.0001), average regional wall motion score (0.9+/-0.7 --> 0.7+/-0.5; p<0.05), and end-diastolic wall thickness (8.1+/-1.3 --> 8.6+/-1.5 mm; p<0.0005) all improved significantly. Even in 34 non-revascularized territories, the average regional reversible defect score (0.5+/-0.7 --> 0.2+/-0.5; p<0.03), average regional wall motion score (0.8+/-1.1 --> 0.5 +/-1.0; p<0.03) and end-diastolic wall thickness (8.0+/-1.4 --> 9.1+/-2.0 mm; p<0.03) all improved significantly. These results indicate that improvement in myocardial ischemia, hibernation and left ventricular function with CABG can be assessed in detail with gated SPECT.
Multi-cloud and Multi-data Stores - The Challenges Behind Heterogeneous Data Models

The support to cloud enabled databases varies from one cloud provider to another. Developers face the task of supporting applications living in different clouds, and therefore of supporting different database management systems. To them, the challenge lies in understanding the differences in expressivity between different data stores and their impact on the application. The advent of the NoSQL movement increased the complexity of this task by leveraging the creation of a large number of cloud enabled database management systems employing slightly different data models. In this paper, we will present a model the will allow us to compare the differences in expressivity of the features supported by different databases and consider the impact of these features to different concrete deployment scenarios in multiple clouds. This model is based on the underlying data models adopted by the most used cloud database management systems. It has been developed on the FP7 XXX project and will be the basis of our approach for dealing with these issues.
Retrospective assessment of exposure through modeling in a study on cancer risks among workers exposed to phenoxy herbicides, chlorophenols and dioxins.

OBJECTIVES The study aimed at developing a model for the retrospective assessment of exposures in epidemiologic studies when little or no data on past exposures are available. METHODS A deterministic model was developed for the level of exposure by industrial hygienists involved in an international study on cancer risks among phenoxy herbicide or chlorophenol manufacturing workers and pesticide sprayers. The general source-receptor model was used as the conceptual framework for the model. RESULTS The model included variables related to job, the emission of chemicals, contact with chemicals, personal protection, and other relevant determinants of exposure. Cumulative dose indices were calculated from the duration of exposure (from the work histories) and the level of exposure (from the model). CONCLUSIONS Deterministic modeling in complex exposure situations may provide more valid and reliable results than its conventional alternative, subjective assessment by an expert.
Amylase Production Using Bacillus cereus Isolated from a Vermicompost Site

Bacillus cereus strain isolated from a vermicompost site was tested for its abilities to hydrolyze the structural polysaccharides. The effect of different production parameters such as pH, temperature, carbon source, nitrogen source (Organic and inorganic) incubation time inoculum sizes and surfactants on amylase production by the isolated bacterial strain was studied. The enzyme production was assayed in submerge d fermentation (SmF) condition. The maximum amylase production was observed with maltose (216±2.6 U/ml), yeast extract (163±3.6U/ml), ammonium sulphate (70±3.0U/ml), pH 7.0 (263±4.1), temperature 40°C (152±9.1), Tween-80 (165±2.8U/ml), inoculum size level 0.5% (132±2.0U/ml) and incubation time 48 hours (172.01± 0.56U/ml) in the production medium.
Racial Democracy in the Americas

The “racial democracy” (Iberian exceptionalism) thesis claims that racial prejudice in Latin America is not only lower than that found in the United States but is essentially absent altogether. We explored the plausibility of this thesis by the use of both explicit and implicit prejudice measures among Blacks and Whites from the United States and three Caribbean nations. In general, the results showed significant racial prejudice against Blacks and in favor of Whites in all four nations. African Americans were the only participants not to show significant implicit prejudice either in favor of or against Blacks. In addition, North Americans (i.e., participants from the United States) displayed lower implicit and explicit racial prejudice than participants in each of the three Latino nations. Overall, the results clearly contradicted the thesis of racial democracy and suggest that Latin America may not be nearly as egalitarian as some have argued.