Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transfer of human serum IgG to nonobese diabetic Igmu null mice reveals a role for autoantibodies in the loss of secretory function of exocrine tissues in Sjögren's syndrome.

The NOD (nonobese diabetic) mouse has been studied as an animal model for autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes and Sjögren's syndrome. NOD.Igmu null mice, which lack functional B lymphocytes, develop progressive histopathologic lesions of the submandibular and lachrymal glands similar to NOD mice, but in the absence of autoimmune insulitis and diabetes. Despite the focal appearance of T cells in salivary and lachrymal tissues, NOD.Igmu null mice fail to lose secretory function as determined by stimulation of the muscarinic/cholinergic receptor by the agonist pilocarpine, suggesting a role for B cell autoantibodies in mediating exocrine dryness. Infusion of purified serum IgG or F(ab')2 fragments from parental NOD mice or human primary Sjögren's syndrome patients, but not serum IgG from healthy controls, alters stimulated saliva production, an observation consistent with antibody binding to neural receptors. Furthermore, human patient IgG fractions competitively inhibited the binding of the muscarinic receptor agonist, [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate, to salivary gland membranes. This autoantibody activity is lost after preadsorption with intact salivary cells. These findings indicate that autoantibodies play an important part in the functional impairment of secretory processes seen in connection with the autoimmune exocrinopathy of Sjögren's syndrome.
Antibody against V Antigen Prevents Yop-Dependent Growth of Yersinia pestis

ABSTRACT The V antigen (LcrV) of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis is a potent protective antigen that is under development as a vaccine component for humans. LcrV is multifunctional. On the bacterial surface it mediates delivery of a set of toxins called Yops into host cells, and as a released protein it can cause production of the immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) and can inhibit chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear neutrophils. It is not known how these mechanisms of LcrV operate, what their relative importance is, when they function during plague, and which are critical to protection by antibody. This study investigated several of these issues. C57BL/6 mice, mice unable to express IL-10, or mice with the macrophage lineage eliminated were treated with a protective anti-LcrV antibody or a nonprotective antibody against YopM and infected intravenously by Y. pestis KIM5 or a strain that lacked the genes encoding all six effector Yops. Viable bacterial numbers were determined at various times. The data indicated that Yops were necessary for Yersinia growth after the bacteria had seeded liver and spleen. Anti-LcrV antibody prevented this growth, even in IL-10−/− mice, demonstrating that one protective mechanism for anti-LcrV antibody is independent of IL-10. Anti-LcrV antibody had no effect on persistence in organs of Y. pestis lacking effector Yops, even though the yersiniae could strongly express LcrV, suggesting that Yops are necessary for building sufficient bacterial numbers to produce enough LcrV for its immunosuppressive effects. In vitro assays showed that anti-LcrV antibody could partially block delivery of Yops and downstream effects of Yops in infected macrophage-like J774A.1 cells. However, cells of the macrophage lineage were found to be dispensable for protection by anti-LcrV antibody in spleen, although they contributed to protection in liver. Taken together, the data support the hypothesis that one protective effect of the antibody is to block delivery of Yops to host cells and prevent early bacterial growth. The findings also identified the macrophage lineage as one host cell type that mediates protection.
A novel V-line Radon transform and its imaging applications

Conventional tomographies (e.g. X-ray scanner, Positron Emission Tomography), functioning on primary radiation are modeled by the Radon transform (RT) which is an integral transform defined on straight lines. In this paper, we consider a new RT defined on a pair of half-lines forming a letter V, which arises from modeling two-dimensional emission imaging process by Compton scattered gamma rays. We give its definition and establish its analytic inverse to support the feasibility of the reconstruction of a two-dimensional (2D) image from scattered radiation measured on a one-dimensional collimated camera. Moreover, a filtered back-projection inversion method is also constructed. Its main advantages are algorithmic efficiency and computational rapidity. We present numerical simulations to illustrate the working. To sum up, the V-line RT leads not only to a new imaging principle, but also to a new concept of detector with high energetic resolution capable to collect the scattered radiation.
Indicadores de Gestión Empresarial

Los inversionistas o accionistas de empresas requieren de dindicadores que permitan apreciar la evolucion, situacion actual y perspectivas de la marcha operativa, economico financiera y patrimonial del negocio en que han comprometido su capital. estos indicadores, que son indices o valores que relacionan las diversas actividades de la organizacion, permiten apreciart si la gestion de la empresa permite que esta cumpla de manera satisfatoria con las exigencias de sus clientes, de modo que se garantice que el neocio sea sostenible en el tiempo, asegurando asi al inversionista la recuperacion de su capital con un retorno o rentabilidad adecuada, segun el contexto en que se desenvuelve la empresa.
La consideración moral de los animales no humanos en los últimos cuarenta años: una bibliografía anotada

A lo largo de los ultimos cuarenta anos, toda una serie de autores han comenzadoa dar cuenta de la cuestion de la consideracion moral de los animales no humanosdesde las mas variadas teorias eticas. Este articulo repasa esta cuestion medianteuna bibliografia anotada que abarca las principales obras dedicadas a ella duranteel periodo indicado. Veremos que estas pueden caer en tres categorias distintas,en funcion de si tienen como objeto cuestionar las posiciones que han sido denominadasespecistas, oponerse al cuestionamiento de estas por motivos puramenteantropocentricos, o rechazarlo por razones de caracter ecologista.
Management control in audit firms

Audit firms face a constant conflict between the business of auditing and the profession of auditing, which is manifested at audit senior level in the pressure to perform quality work within specified time limits. Prior quantitative studies have reported high levels of quality‐threatening behaviour (QTB) at senior level and the importance of examining contributory factors has been highlighted. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with audit seniors in four of the (then) Big Five firms and findings suggest that key variables (time pressure, participative target setting, and style of performance evaluation) have been inadequately operationalised in previous studies and that two distinct forms of QTB exist: deliberate and inadvertent. Propositions are developed for variables associated with both forms of QTB, which provide direction and focus for future research.
Beamforming for Antenna Arrays BEE2 vs DSP Processors

We present an architecture for highly scalable and reusable time domain beam formers using general-purpose FPGA boards. We also present a comparable architecture for the same using DSP processors. The FPGA design is based on the BEE2[2] platform. System generality and reusability is the focus of our design, which assumes very little about the target antenna array and avoids any sort of tight coupling between subsystems. Our FPGA prototype, which we call BEEmformer is being deployed at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA)[8] in July 2007. At the core of our system is a single all-purpose design, which becomes a recurring motif replicated on all FPGAs across the system. On a single BEE2 board we provide a phasing engine for signals having up to 200MHz bandwidth from 32 antennas while forming 3 simultaneous beams. Multiple boards are connected together to further scale the system arbitrarily in bandwidth, polarization channels, number of simultaneous beams and up to a maximum of 256 antennas, which too is only a soft limit. The connection topology can be modied for any desired conguration
Microwave imaging of composite materials using image processing

This paper presents the results of application of a relatively simple microwave continuous wave reflectometer with an open-ended waveguide antenna for the purpose of nondestructive testing and evaluation of composite materials using their images. It is shown that the resulting original images could not reveal a desired amount of information about the interior of the sample under investigation and the proposed image processing techniques can improve the results in particular as it relates to detecting the targets located at different depths. This paper presents the results of this investigation and a discussion of these results.
Statistical multimodal integration for audio-visual speech processing

Sensory information is indispensable for living things. It is also important for living things to integrate multiple types of senses to understand their surroundings. In human communications, human beings must further integrate the multimodal senses of audition and vision to understand intention. In this paper, we describe speech related modalities since speech is the most important media to transmit human intention. To date, there have been a lot of studies concerning technologies in speech communications, but performance levels still have room for improvement. For instance, although speech recognition has achieved remarkable progress, the speech recognition performance still seriously degrades in acoustically adverse environments. On the other hand, perceptual research has proved the existence of the complementary integration of audio speech and visual face movements in human perception mechanisms. Such research has stimulated attempts to apply visual face information to speech recognition and synthesis. This paper introduces works on audio-visual speech recognition, speech to lip movement mapping for audio-visual speech synthesis, and audio-visual speech translation.
RELACIONAMENTOS INTERORGANIZACIONAIS E DESEMPENHO: UMA APLICAÇÃO PRÁTICA NA REDE DA CONSTRUÇÃO CIVIL NO BALNEÁRIO AÇORES

Os relacionamentos interorganizacionais tem sido tema de diversos estudos e hipoteses que dao conta da sua importância para o sucesso das organizacoes. Um modo de classificar a forma dos relacionamentos entre organizacoes e a proposta por Uzzi (1997),que classifica os relacionamentos em imersos socialmente ou de mercado. Estes relacionamentos interorganizacionais afetam a vida das organizacoes e sao de vital importância para o entendimento do mercado em que as organizacoes estao inseridas. Neste sentido, essa pesquisa teve como perguntas centrais: Qual o desempenho das organizacoes socialmente imersas? Seu desempenho e maior por conta desse relacionamento? Existe relacao entre o desempenho e o tipo de relacionamento? Para atingir tal objetivo, propomos um modelo de medicao de desempenho das organizacoes envolvidas baseado no MCDA-C, metodologia de apoio a decisao construtivista, aplicado a um conjunto de organizacoes da construcao civil do Balneario Acores, localizado em Florianopolis, Santa Catarina. Esse grupo de organizacoes foi escolhido por base estudo da imersao social, anterior a essa pesquisa, desenvolvido por Wehrle (2008). Como resultado, foi possivel verificar que os relacionamentos imersos afetam o desempenho das organizacoes, sendo beneficos para as organizacoes apenas quando essas conseguem gerencia-los. Portanto, ter muitos relacionamentos imersos pode prejudicar o desempenho das organizacoes.
Rare Manifestation of a c.290 C>T, p.Gly97Glu VCP Mutation

Introduction. The valosin-containing protein (VCP) regulates several distinct cellular processes. Consistent with this, VCP mutations manifest variable clinical phenotypes among and within families and are a diagnostic challenge. Methods. A 60-year-old man who played ice hockey into his 50's was evaluated by electrodiagnostics, muscle biopsy, and molecular genetics. Results. With long-standing pes cavus and toe walking, our patient developed progressive weakness, cramps, memory loss, and paresthesias at age 52. An axonal sensorimotor neuropathy was found upon repeated testing at age 58. Neuropathic histopathology was present in the quadriceps, and exome sequencing revealed the VCP mutation c.290 C>T, p.Gly97Glu. Conclusions. Our patient reflects the clinical heterogeneity of VCP mutations, as his neurological localization is a spectrum between a lower motor neuron disorder and a hereditary axonal peripheral neuropathy such as CMT2. Our case demonstrates a rare manifestation of the c.290 C>T, pGly97Glu VCP mutation.
Role of angiogenic factors in acute experimental Strongyloides venezuelensis infection

This study aims to investigate the role of angiogenic factors in the pathogenesis of experimental strongyloidiasis. Two complementary approaches were used: Firstly, CD1 mice were treated with endostatin, an angiogenesis inhibitor, and infected with Strongyloides venezuelensis. Also, the mechanisms involved in this process were studied. Parasitological examination revealed a significant decrease in egg per gram of faeces, number of collected larvae from lung tissue and number of collected adult females in mice treated with endostatin. Direct mechanisms with diminution of angiogenesis factors and an indirect mechanism with increase of eosinophil perhaps produced their effect. Secondly, the effect of the antigens responsible for stimulation of angiogenic factors [vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2)] from alveolar macrophages and the mechanisms involved in their production were investigated. Alveolar macrophage cells obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage were incubated at different concentrations of somatic and excretory/secretory antigens of S. venezuelensis. Also, mRNA levels of VEGF and FGF2 in macrophage cells were detected by RT‐PCR. L3‐PBS larvae antigens induced angiogenic factors. The relationship between angiogenesis factors and nitric oxide has been observed using nitric oxide synthase inhibitors.
Shigella sepsis.

It is generally believed that bacteremia rarely occurs with enteric Shigella infections. During a five-year period, 110 children were admitted to the University Hospital of the Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, with Shigella enteritis. Eight (7%) had Shigella bacteremia/septicemia, and four of the eight died. An analysis of these patients and their course disclosed clinical characteristics that were of potential prognostic importance. Some of these indicators are identifiable early and hence could be useful in management. The patients at greatest risk were afebrile; 10% or more dehydrated; malnourished, with a low serum albumin level; infected with ampicillin-resistant strains; had leukopenia during the course of the illness; and had persistent watery hemoglobin-positive stools.
Calibration-free camera hand-over for fast and reliable person tracking in multi-camera setups

Ensembles of multiple (active) cameras yield an important ingredient in modern tracking and surveillance applications. They overcome the limited fields-of-view of single cameras, however, require robust procedures for handing over tracking tasks from one camera to another. In this paper a calibration-free procedure is proposed that allows for fast and reliable camera hand-over in Ambient Intelligence (AmI) applications. The approach is based on online acquisition of scenario-specific target models and especially solves the problem of significant changes in object view during hand-over. Real-world results acquired in an AmI environment prove the effectiveness of our technique.
Pierre Robin Sequence

Abstract Pierre Robin sequence (PRS) is classically described as a triad of micrognathia, glossoptosis, and airway obstruction. Infants frequently present at birth with a hypoplastic mandible and difficulty breathing. The smaller mandible displaces the tongue posteriorly, resulting in obstruction of the airway. Typically, a wide U-shaped cleft palate is also associated with this phenomenon. PRS is not a syndrome in itself, but rather a sequence of disorders, with one abnormality resulting in the next. However, it is related to several other craniofacial anomalies and may appear in conjunction with a syndromic diagnosis, such as velocardiofacial and Stickler syndromes. Infants with PRS should be evaluated by a multidisciplinary team to assess the anatomic findings, delineate the source of airway obstruction, and address airway and feeding issues. Positioning will resolve the airway obstruction in ~70% of cases. In the correct position, most children will also be able to feed normally. If the infant continues to show evidence of desaturation, then placement of a nasopharyngeal tube is indicated. Early feeding via a nasogastric tube may also reduce the amount of energy needed and allow for early weight gain. A proportion of PRS infants do not respond to conservative measures and will require further intervention. Prior to considering any surgical procedure, the clinician should first rule out any sources of obstruction below the base of the tongue that would necessitate a tracheostomy. The two most common procedures for treatment, tongue–lip adhesion and distraction osteogenesis of the mandible, are discussed.
Towards Modeling the Social Layer of Emergent Knowledge Using Open Ontologies

In the context of open environments like Open Multiagent and Peer2Peer Systems, the Semantic Web and Communities of Practice, knowledge-based applications with self-interested, autonomous knowledge sources like information agents and humans have gained increased interest in recent times. For such environments, neither the consistency nor the reliability or the definiteness of the input knowledge can be ensured. Whereas there already exist promising approaches to the filtering, mapping and homogenization of inconsistent and dynamic knowledge, the modeling of knowledge heterogeneity and dynamics itself has been largely neglected so far. In this work, we propose Open Ontologies as a “social” approach to this issue. Open Ontologies are based on a distinct communication-oriented paradigm as they emerge from and evolve with communication processes, and allow for the modeling and processing of semantically heterogeneous, possibly conflicting conceptual knowledge by means of its reification according to its social (i.e. communicational) meaning, impact and relevance, and the probabilistic weighting of inconsistent knowledge facets.
Learning bilingual semantic frames: shallow semantic parsing vs. semantic role projection

To explore the potential application of semantic roles in structural machine translation, we propose to study the automatic learning of English-Chinese bilingual predicate argument structure mapping. We describe ARG ALIGN, a new model for learning bilingual semantic frames that employs monolingual Chinese and English semantic parsers to learn bilingual semantic role mappings with 72.45% Fscore, given an unannotated parallel corpus. We show that, contrary to a common preconception, our ARG ALIGN model is superior to a semantic role projection model, SYN ALIGN, which reaches only a 46.63% F-score by assuming semantic parallelism in bilingual sentences. We present experimental data explaining that this is due to crosslingual mismatches between argument structures in English and Chinese at 17.24% of the time. This suggests that, in any potential application to enhance machine translation with semantic structural mapping, it may be preferable to employ independent automatic semantic parsers on source and target languages, rather than assuming semantic role parallelism.
Melanoma-related mortality and productivity losses in the USA, 1990–2008

Melanoma remains among the deadliest cancers in the USA, ranking presently as the leading cause of death from skin disease in this country. The present analysis presents national statistics on the health burden (mortality) and productivity losses attributable to this cancer over a 19-year period. Melanoma-related deaths and mortality rates from 1990 through 2008 were identified and calculated using multiple-cause-of-death data and data from the 2000 US Census. Productivity losses were estimated using previously published methods that accounted for life expectancy, labor force participation, productivity growth, and the imputed values of caregiving and housekeeping activities. A total of 155 571 melanoma-related deaths occurred during 1990–2008, resulting in 1 811 701 years of potential life lost. Age-adjusted mortality rates stratified by sex and race/ethnicity revealed differences: whites had the highest rate (3.55 per 100 000 population; 95% confidence interval 3.54, 3.57) and male individuals were 2.21 times more likely than female individuals to succumb to the disease. Cumulatively, the numbers of death for blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives exceeded 6000 deaths. The total productivity losses attributable to melanoma-related mortality during the sampled period were ∼$66.9 billion. The burden and economic consequences of melanoma-related deaths in the USA are not inconsequential. Understanding the mortality trends and productivity losses attributed to this skin cancer is important for evaluating the feasibility and trade-offs of public health and behavioral counseling interventions that focus on promoting skin cancer prevention.
Mining Uncertain Data in Low-dimensional Subspace

Mining for clusters in a database with uncertain data is a hot topic in many application areas, such as sensor database, location database, face recognition system and so on. Since it is commonly assumed that most of the objects which are contained in a high-dimensional dataset are located in a low-dimensional sub-space, mining clusters in a subspace in an uncertain database is a new task. In this paper, we adopt and combine fractal correlation dimension with fuzzy distance function to find out the clusters in a low-dimensional subspace in an uncertain database. We also propose the fuzzy kth NN algorithm to retrieve the kth nearest neighbor which can accelerate the process of mining. The experiments show that the new algorithm works well in an uncertain database
Gene regulation mediated by interaction between HTLV-1 promoter elements and transcription factors Tax and CREB.

In this work we examine the role of three genetic control components in the regulation of HTLV-1 transcription: cyclic AMP-responsive element (CRE)-binding protein (CREB), the HTLV-1 trans-activator Tax, and the three Tax-responsive elements (TREs). We demonstrate that the in vivo efficiency of the HTLV-1 promoter basal expression in cell culture depends on the spacing between the three TRE elements, located at the HTLV-1 LTR (long terminal repeat), whereas the level of transcription activation mediated by Tax is affected by the number of TREs. In the presence of only one TRE, the enhancement of expression by Tax is affected by the distance between the single TRE and the transcription start site. Following CREB binding to the LTR, additional DNase I hypersensitive sites are generated in the region between the two distal TREs (I and II), while in the presence of Tax, such sites are generated also in the region between TREs II and III. Neither cooperative binding of CREB to the TREs nor preferential binding of CREB to a particular TRE was observed. Tax binding to the CREB/TRE complex does not change the DNase I protection pattern. Taken together, these results suggest that the basal CREB-mediated transcription is determined by the number and the position of the viral TREs relative to each other. Tax protein stabilizes the protein/DNA complex and suppresses the spacing limitations, probably by bridging between the CREB/TRE complexes and the basal initiation transcription complex.