Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oral Immunization in Experimental Salmonellosis II. Characteristics of the Immune Response to Temperature-Sensitive Mutants Given by Oral and Parenteral Routes

A temperature-sensitive mutant of Salmonella enteritidis, selected because of its inability to proliferate normally at 37 C, has been used as a living vaccine in mice. When given parenterally or orally, it confers a high degree of resistance against otherwise lethal S. enteritidis infections given intraperitoneally or by mouth. In contrast to most other effective living Salmonella vaccines, the temperature-sensitive mutant survives for only short periods in mouse tissues. Although the vaccine provides protection against S. typhimurium infection, possibly because of antigenic relationships between the immunizing and challenge organisms, it is ineffective against the intracellular infection caused by Listeria monocytogenes. A study of the kinetics of S. enteritidis infection in the liver and spleen of normal and immunized mice has suggested that immunity is dependent upon development of a secondary immunological response which arises approximately 7 days after introduction of the challenge infection. Although humoral antibody production forms part of this secondary response, it is not necessarily responsible for control of the infection.
Fitness Costs of Fluoroquinolone Resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae

ABSTRACT The fitness cost of the genes responsible for resistance to fluoroquinolones in clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were estimated in vitro in a common genetic background. Naturally occurring parC, parE, and gyrA loci containing mutations in the quinolone-resistance-determining regions were introduced by transformation into S. pneumoniae strain R6 individually and in combinations. The fitness of these transformants was estimated by pairwise competition experiments with a common R6 strain. On average, single par and gyr mutants responsible for low-level MIC resistance (first-step resistance) impose a fitness burden of approximately 8%. Some of these mutants engender no measurable cost, while one, a parE mutant, reduces the fitness of these bacteria by more than 40%. Most interestingly, the addition of the second par or gyr mutations required for clinically significant, high-MIC fluoroquinolone resistance does not increase the fitness burden imposed by these single genes and can even reduce it. We discuss the implications of these results for the epidemiology of fluoroquinolone resistance and the evolution of acquired resistance in treated patients.
Breast Cancer Metastasis Suppressor 1 Functions as a Corepressor by Enhancing Histone Deacetylase 1-Mediated Deacetylation of RelA/p65 and Promoting Apoptosis

ABSTRACT The antiapoptotic transcription factor NF-κB is constitutively activated in many cancers and is important for cytokine-mediated progression and metastatic movement of tumors. Breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) is a metastasis suppressor gene whose mechanisms of action are poorly understood. In this report, we demonstrate that BRMS1 decreases the transactivation potential of RelA/p65 and ameliorates the expression of NF-κB-regulated antiapoptotic gene products. BRMS1 immunoprecipitates with the RelA/p65 subunit of NF-κB with protein-protein interactions occurring at the C terminus region of the rel homology domain but not at its known transactivation domains. Moreover, BRMS1 functions as a corepressor by promoting binding of HDAC1 to RelA/p65, where it deacetylates lysine K310 on RelA/p65, which suppresses RelA/p65 transcriptional activity. Selective small interfering RNA knockdown of BRMS1 confirms that chromatin-bound BRMS1 is required for deacetylation of RelA/p65, while enhancing chromatin occupancy of HDAC1 onto the NF-κB-regulated promoters cIAP2 and Bfl-1/A1. We observed in cells lacking BRMS1 a dramatic increase in cell viability after the loss of attachment from the extracellular matrix. Collectively, these results suggest that BRMS1 suppresses metastasis through its ability to function as a transcriptional corepressor of antiapoptotic genes regulated by NF-κB.
Antitumor effects of combined granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor and macrophage inflammatory protein‐3 alpha plasmid DNA

Dendritic cells (DC) are critical for priming adaptive immune responses to foreign antigens. However, the feasibility of harnessing these cells in vivo to optimize the antitumor effects has not been fully explored. The authors investigated a novel therapeutic approach that involves delivering synergistic signals that both recruit and expand DC populations at sites of intratumoral injection. More specifically, the authors examined whether the co‐administration of plasmids encoding the chemokine macrophage inflammatory protein‐3 alpha (pMIP3α) and plasmid encoding the granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (pGM‐CSF; a DC‐specific growth factor) can recruit, expand and activate large numbers of DC at sites of intratumoral injection. It was found that the administration of pGM‐CSF and pMIP3α resulted in dramatic recruitment and expansion of DC at these sites and in draining lymph nodes. Furthermore, treatment with pGM‐CSF and pMIP3α generated the strongest MUC1‐associated CD8+ T‐cell immune responses in draining lymph nodes and in tumors, produced the greatest antitumor effects and enhanced survival rates more than pcDNA3.1, pGM‐CSF alone and pMIP3α alone. It was also found that pGM‐CSF plus pMIP3α generated the strongest MUC1‐associated CD4+ T‐cell immune responses in draining lymph nodes and in tumors. The findings of the present study suggest that the recruitment and activation of DC in vivo due to the synergistic actions of pGM‐CSF and pMIP3α presents a potentially feasible means of controlling immunogenic malignancies and provides a basis for the development of novel immunotherapeutic treatments. (Cancer Sci 2010; 101: 2341–2350)
Where There's a Model, There's a Metaphor: Metaphorical Thinking in Students' Understanding of a Mathematical Model

The central question addressed in this article concerns the ways in which applied problem situations provide distinctive conditions to support the production of meaning and the understanding of mathematical topics. In theoretical terms, a first approach is rooted in C. S. Peirce's perspective on semiotic mediation, and it represents a standpoint from which the notion of interpretation is taken as essential to learning. A second route explores metaphorical thinking and undertakes the position according to which human understanding is metaphorical in its own nature. The connection between the two perspectives becomes a fundamental issue, and it entails the conception of some hybrid constructs. Finally, the analysis of empirical data suggests that the activity on applied situations, as it fosters metaphorical thinking, offer students' reasoning a double anchoring (or a duplication of references) for mathematical concepts.
A low-cost laboratory based research platform for mechanical faults diagnosis of Induction Motor using FFT

An effective and efficient diagnosing scheme is essential for mechanical fault detection. At the same instance simple, robust and cost effective platform is necessary for developing the diagnosing schemes. However, regardless of being expensive and not feasible to perform always, vibration measurement is widely used to detect the fault conditions. This paper presents a low-cost laboratory based research platform for induction motor mechanical fault diagnosis from stator current using fast Fourier transform (FFT). In this work normal, natural cage defective and natural ball defective bearings are considered to detect faults using spectral analysis and verified with the results of theoretical models proposed in literature. In addition, a comparative spectral analysis is performed for the signals acquired at different sampling rates. The bearing fault frequencies are defined to identify the faults at given load. Experimental results showed that amplitudes of harmonics in the side bands increase with respect to increase in load. The bearing fault frequencies are investigated with actual and theoretical frequencies to demonstrate actual frequencies could improve detection performances.
Allometric relationships between the pharmacokinetics of propofol in rats, children and adults.

AIMS Allometric equations have proven useful for the extrapolation of animal data to determine pharmacokinetic parameters in man. It has been proposed that these equations are also applicable over the human size range including the paediatric population. The aim of this work was to study the relationship between various pharmacokinetic parameters for propofol and body weight using data from rats, children and adults. Furthermore, the utility of allometric scaling is evaluated by the prediction of propofol concentrations in humans based on data obtained in the rat. METHODS The relationship between the pharmacokinetic parameters of propofol obtained in rats, children and adults was analyzed by plotting the logarithmically transformed parameters against the corresponding logarithmically transformed body weights. In addition, based on allometric equations, pharmacokinetic parameters obtained in rats were scaled to humans. These parameters were used to simulate propofol concentrations in long-term sedated critically ill patients using NONMEM. Simulated concentrations were then compared with actually observed concentrations in humans. RESULTS The relationship between pharmacokinetic parameters of propofol from rats, children and adults was in good agreement with those from the literature on allometric modelling. For clearance, intercompartmental clearance, central volume of distribution and peripheral volume of distribution, the power parameters were 0.78, 0.73, 0.98 and 1.1, respectively, and r2 values for the linear correlations were 0.990, 0.983, 0.977 and 0.994, respectively. On the basis of data obtained after a single bolus injection in the rat, adequate predictions of propofol concentrations in critically ill patients can be made using allometric equations, despite the long-term nature of the use of the drug, the large number of infusion changes per day and/or differences in state of health and age. CONCLUSIONS For propofol, allometric scaling has proved to be valuable for cross species extrapolation. Furthermore, the use of the allometric equation between adults and children seems to be an adequate tool for the development of rational dosing schemes for children of varying body weights, and requires further study.
Experience with the use of an investigational F(ab')2 heptavalent botulism immune globulin of equine origin during an outbreak of type E botulism in Egypt.

During an outbreak of type E foodborne botulism in Cairo in 1991, an investigational equine F(ab')2 "despeciated" heptavalent botulism immune globulin (dBIG) was provided to the Egyptian Ministry of Health by the U.S. Army. Of 54 patients known to have been treated with antitoxins, 4 received commercially available trivalent antitoxins, 45 received dBIG, and 5 received both commercial antitoxin and dBIG. Physicians recorded side effects in 10 (22%) of 45 patients who received dBIG; in nine cases, reactions were considered "mild," and in one case they were believed to be serum sickness. In contrast, possible serum sickness during hospitalization was recorded for two of four patients who were receiving commercial antitoxins. No complications of therapy were noted for any patient who was receiving both antitoxin types. In a separate study, 31 patients were contacted about their reactions to the antitoxin by telephone after discharge from the hospital. Seven (54%) of 13 patients attributed symptoms that they experienced while they were hospitalized to receipt of dBIG, while four (44%) of nine patients who indicated that they had received commercial antitoxins and one (20%) of five who received both commercial antitoxin and dBIG reported side effects before discharge. Data on the efficacy of the antitoxins were not obtained. In our experience, equine dBIG was at least as safe as commercially available antitoxins in treating type E foodborne botulism.
Evaluation of a Newly Developed Percutaneous Thrombectomy Basket Device in Sheep With Central Pulmonary Embolisms

Objective:The authors studied the development of a thrombectomy device that is adequately steerable and quickly placeable in case of extensive pulmonary embolism. Materials and Methods:The device consists of a self-expandable nitinol basket mounted at a catheter-tip, which allows suction and extraction of thrombus material. Five in vitro tests were performed followed by tests in 6 sheep. In vivo thrombus material was introduced through a jugular vein to produce pulmonary embolism. After catheter insertion over the right femoral vein, the basket was placed adjacent to the pulmonary embolus and the extraction procedure was performed. Results:In in vitro tests, the extracted thrombus amount varied between 60% and 95%. In animal experiments, the extracted amount varied between 30% and 95% as determined angiographically. Limiting factors were steerability and optimal positioning of the basket in relation to the embolus. Conclusions:Extraction of pulmonary embolism with the self-expanding suction basket is feasible. However, successful recanalization is limited by catheter maneuverability in the pulmonary arterial system.
Xilinx FPGA Based Multilevel PWM Single Phase Inverter

In this paper a XILINX FPGA based multilevel PWM single-phase inverter was constructed by adding a bidirectional switch to the conventional bridge topology. The inverter can produce three and five different output voltage levels across the load. XILINX FPGA is a programmable logic device developed by XILINX which is considered as an efficient hardware for rapid prototyping. It is used as a PWM generator to apply the appropriate signals to inverter switches. In addition to XILINX FPGA, Matlab/Simulink software was used for simulation and verification of the proposed circuit before implementation, Simulation and experimental results show that both are in close agreement.
Computation & Analysis of End Region EM Force for Electrical Rotating Machines using FEM

In the recent designs of electrical rotating machines, the emphasis are to have high capacity and electrical loading without comparable increase in size. Therefore the end-winding support structure becomes more significant to withstand with large stress developed due to electromagnetic forces. The end winding support structure of large rotating machine is designed to ensure that the stress in copper or insulation of the end windings do not exceed acceptable limits under steady state and transient conditions. The reliability of end-region structure is proportional to the EM forces therefore predetermination of the parameters of these forces may quit useful for the selection of end ring material and deciding the insulation level for the proposed structures. In this paper, 3-D finite element method has been used to compute and analyze the electromagnetic forces across the end region structure of rotating machines. The computed results are in good agreement with the reported results.
Classification of Relative Clauses Using Easily Obtainable Features

The detection of a gap in relative clauses is essential in syntactic and semantic analysis of natural language processing. However, it is difficult to recognize whether a relative clause has a gap or it is gapless. Previous work related to relative clauses has been focusing mostly on theoretic linguistics without practically automatic classification, or classifying relative clauses using deep-level knowledge only available for a specific language. So, this paper proposes automatic classification method of a relative clause — whether it has a gap or gapless —, using easily obtainable features from any language. Features are extracted from the lexical forms and POS-tags in a relative clause, its headnoun, and contexts around a relative clause. Based on Support Vector Machines learning algorithm, our proposed method outperformed the baseline system by 25.11 percent. We also analyze the contribution rate of each simple feature to the classification, and the effect of contexts around a relative clause on the classification performance.
Test structure failed node localization and analysis from die backside

In this work, backside failure analysis technique on test structure failed node isolation and analysis are presented. Compared to front side failure analysis method, backside failure analysis provides more significant information that is related to the root cause directly. Especially, in the failure situations such as failure related to interface between contact top and metal in the contact chain structure or failure due to high resistance stacked via connected to n+ active P well structure, front side failure analysis isnpsilat effective to localize the failed site or clearly reveal root cause form investigation of defect due to sample preparation shortage. However, backside failure analysis overcomes the limitation of front side analysis. It was applied successfully on open contact chain observation and passive voltage contract (PVC) failed stacked via localization on the n+ active area. Combined with following cross-sectional TEM analysis, the root cause was firmly concluded.
Models for time coalescence in event logs

One heuristic for data reduction that is widely used in the literature is coalescence of events occurring close in time. The authors explore the validity of this heuristic by developing a model for the formation of the contents of an event log by multiple independent error processes. The probability of coalescing events from two or more error sources is formulated and compared with results from hand analysis of actual event logs taken from a Tandem TNS II system. Results indicate that the probability of coalescing events from more than one error source is a strong function of the time constant selected. The model can be used to select an appropriate time constant and also has implications in designing event logging systems. <<ETX>>
HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING APPROACH USING QUAD TREE DECOMPOSITION FOR SPATIAL DATA

Quad tree is used to describe a class of hierarchical data structure whose common property is that they are based on the principle of recursive decomposition. Spatial data decomposition and clustering is a descriptive task that seeks to identify homogeneous groups of objects on the values of their attributes. This paper specifically focuses on clustering on multidimensional mixed category data. With the gridded representation of a multidimensional dataset, the present paper progresses on spatial clustering techniques. The Quad tree, a prevalent spatial data structure for representing two dimensional data based on regional homogeneity, is used for decomposition.
Biweekly docetaxel as second-line chemotherapy of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a phase II study of the Galician Lung Cancer Group (GGCP 006-00)

This phase II trial assessed the antitumoral activity and toxicity of docetaxel 50 mg/m2 (1-h i.v. infusion) administered every 2 weeks as second-line treatment in 45 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A total of 251 infusions (median 4 per patient) were administered. The actual and relative median dose intensity values were 24.2 mg/m2/week and 0.97, respectively. Thirty-seven patients were evaluable for tumor response. The overall response rate was 20% [95% confidence interval (CI) 8–32%] and included one complete response (2%) and eight partial responses (18%). Stable disease was found in seven patients (16%). With a median follow-up of 4 months, the median time to disease progression was 2.8 months (95% CI 1.9–3.7), the median overall survival was 4.0 months (95% CI 3.4–4.6) and the 1-year survival rate was 23% (95% CI 9–37). The every-2-weeks docetaxel schedule was well tolerated. Grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicities showed rates of 5% or less of patients and 2% or less of cycles. The main grade 3/4 hematological toxicity was neutropenia (16% of patients and 8% of cycles). No febrile neutropenia was found. Nevertheless, one toxic death was reported. We conclude that the biweekly docetaxel schedule showed an antitumoral activity similar to that found with the every-3-weeks or weekly docetaxel schedule in a second-line setting for advanced NSCLC. This antitumoral effect was associated with a marked reduction in hematological toxicity, therefore suggesting that this new docetaxel schedule might be useful in the design of combined second-line schedules for treating NSCLC.
Glypican-3 as a tumor marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

This study aimed to detect the value of serum Glypican-3 (GPC3) in HCC Egyptian patients as a more specific, sensitive and accurate biomarker by comparing it with an established biomarker as AFP. Methods: This study was carried out on the following groups: group I: 50 healthy individuals served as control, group II: 100 HCV infection patients without any complications, group III: 100 HCV infected patients complicated with cirrhosis and group IV: 150HCVinfected patients complicatedwith (90 localized and 60 metastatic) HCC. Detection of serumGPC3 and alpha-fetoprotein using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were done to all subjects. Results: When analysis of variance was done between the four groups, a highly statistical significant difference was found between these groups regarding the mean serum levels of AFP and GPC-3 where the highest increase of three markers were found in the HCC group. The combined AFP and Glypican-3 improve the sensitivity and specificity of AFP alone. Conclusions: GPC-3 could be a sensitive, specific and accurate marker for early detection of HCC diagnosis.
Changes in gene expression and protein distribution at different stages of mechanically induced disc degeneration—an in vivo study on the New Zealand white rabbit

The objective of the study was to improve the biological understanding of degenerative disc disease using a rabbit model in which different stages of disc degeneration are induced by variation of the duration of loading with an external compression‐device applying 2.4 MPa. Gene expression and protein distribution were analyzed in controls and after 1, 28, and 56 days of hyperphysiologic loading. To evaluate extracellular matrix genes, quantitative real‐time reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was applied for collagen I, collagen II, biglycan, decorin, fibromodulin, fibronectin, aggrecan, and osteonectin. As representatives of catabolic, anticatabolic, and anabolic factors, matrix metalloproteinase‐13 (MMP‐13), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (TIMP‐1), and bone morphogenetic protein‐2 (BMP‐2) were chosen. To evaluate protein distribution, immunohistochemistry was performed for collagen I, collagen II, and BMP‐2/4. Matrix gene expression was characterized by two major developments: collagen I and II, biglycan, and decorin showed early elevation followed by later downregulation to control levels, whereas fibromodulin, fibronectin, aggrecan, and osteonectin showed continuous upregulation or remained at similar levels. Induction of MMP‐13 gene expression was found in degenerated discs. TIMP‐1 and BMP‐2 were elevated immediately after hyperphysiologic loading and presented highest levels in the 56‐day group. Immunohistochemistry showed less collagen II and BMP‐2/4 positive cells after compression. In conclusion, elevated matrix gene expression represents an early cellular response to hyperphysiologic loading. As degeneration progresses, some matrix genes increase upregulation, whereas others start downregulation. Continuous upregulation of catabolic, anticatabolic, and anabolic factors indicates their important role in the degeneration process. © 2005 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 24:385–392, 2006
A non-planar peptide bond in L-seryl-L-valine.

The C α -C'-N-C α (ω) torsion angle of the peptide bond in the crystal structure of the title compound, C 5 H 16 N 2 O 4 , is 157.37(15)°. This is the second-largest deviation from planarity observed for a small linear peptide.