Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Habitat Types and Soil Physicochemical Properties in the Spread of a Non Native Shrub Lantana Camara in the Doon Valley, Western Himalaya, India

Abstract Invasive alien species colonize very aggressively and forcefully, menacing native biodiversity. The success of invasive alien plants is due to their opportunistic exploitation of anthropogenic disturbances, the absence of natural enemies, free from herbivory and frequently their allelopathic competition. Invasive species can have a significant impact on development, affecting sustainability of livelihood, food security and essential ecosystem services and dynamics. Lantana camara is a documented weed of worldwide significance; it is indigestible due to its toxic chemicals and highly competitive. In this study physicochemical properties of soil were analysed from different high and low Lantana infested areas. Significant site effect was frequently observed than effect due to invasion status. The present study tested the impact of soil properties in the measured and calculated attributes of Lantana by randomly sampling soil from the highly invaded and less invaded sites in different habitats using the Modified Whittaker plot design. Results indicated that edaphic factors such as soil pH, total nitrogen, soil organic carbon, phosphorus and potassium content positively influenced the growth of Lantana and helped in its own further invasion process. These factors were also positively influencing the measured and calculated attributes of Lantana such as canopy coverage, average crown diameter, shrub canopy area, phytovolume and biomass from all sites. However some attributes like shrub height and stem diameter were negatively influenced by these soil factors. The present results show that Lantana invasion can significantly improve the soil nutrient level but also positively increasing the chances of its further invasion with more copious plant attributes.
In vivo and in vitro studies to elucidate the hemodynamic differences of sodium nitroprusside, nitroglycerin, and two isosorbide nitrates.

In isolated renal veins of the rabbit, isosorbide dinitrate and isosorbide-5-mononitrate were seven to twenty times more potent as relaxants than in renal arteries which explains their predilection for the capacitance vascular bed in vivo. For sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and nitroglycerin (NTG), the sensitivity was slightly greater in veins at threshold concentrations (EC10), but similar in veins and arteries at higher concentrations (EC50). After 30 min of exposure, the relaxant effect to NTG faded partially in arteries, but not in veins, which may underlie its preference for the capacitance vessels in vivo. In anaesthetized rats, SNP and NTG were infused i.v. or into the femoral artery. The hypotensive response to NTG was the same by either route of infusion, whereas that to SNP was considerably lower on infusion into the femoral artery; a 34% inactivation of SNP on passage through the hind leg was calculated. The result decrease in venous over arterial blood levels of SNP at a somewhat greater sensitivity of veins than of arteries may account for the balanced effect of SNP on resistance and capacitance vessels in vivo.
In vivo plasmid electroporation induces tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell responses and delays tumor growth in a syngeneic mouse melanoma model.

Plasmid DNA-based molecular cancer vaccines generally suffer from suboptimal immunogenicity. One of the key limitations is insufficient level of gene expression, which was surmounted in our approach by using the novel technique of in vivo plasmid electroporation-enhanced vaccination (electrovaccination). Electrovaccination with plasmids encoding the full-length autologous melanocyte antigen tyrosinase-related protein-2 induced limited melanocyte destruction in a subset of mice. Despite examples of vitiligo, vaccinated mice were not protected from a subsequent challenge of B16F10M melanoma cells. Novel constructs were then designed and submitted to a functional screen. Best performance was obtained when the relevant H-2K(b)-restricted epitope SVYDFFVWL was placed into a context of sequences of the HLA-Cw3 molecule. After animals were electrovaccinated using this construct, direct enzyme-linked immunospot analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells indicated that very high numbers of T cells recognizing the specific tyrosinase-related protein-2 epitope were generated. CD8+ T cells isolated from the spleen also displayed a high degree of antigen-specific reactivity and vigorously reacted toward unmodified B16F10M cells. In vivo protective effects of this construct were demonstrated in mice using two different models; outgrowth of s.c. implanted B16F10M tumor cells was significantly delayed, and vaccinated mice developed no or only very few tumor nodules in an i.v. lung metastasis model. Thus, improved antigen vectors delivered by highly effective gene transfer methods may form the basis for future human applications.
Pogallo Line, South Alps, northern Italy: An intermediate crystal level, low-angle normal fault?

The Pogallo Line is a major crustal shear zone in the crystalline South Alps of northern Italy which separates middle amphibolite–granulite facies rocks of the Ivrea zone from lower–middle amphibolite facies rocks of the Strona-Ceneri zone. U-Pb, Rb-Sr, and K-Ar whole-rock and mineral ages for samples from this region indicate that the two zones pursued different time-temperature paths after Caledonian peak metamorphism. Cooling curves for the two terrains finally converge in the Late Triassic(? )–Early Jurassic, a time of large-scale crustal extension in the South Alps that anticipated the opening of the western Tethys. We suggest that the Pogallo Line may represent a low-angle normal fault that developed at intermediate crustal levels during this period of extension and attained its present subvertical orientation during Alpine deformation.
Breast cancer risk is increased in the years following false-positive breast cancer screening

A small number of studies have investigated breast cancer (BC) risk among women with a history of false-positive recall (FPR) in BC screening, but none of them has used time-to-event analysis while at the same time quantifying the effect of false-negative diagnostic assessment (FNDA). FNDA occurs when screening detects BC, but this BC is missed on diagnostic assessment (DA). As a result of FNDA, screenings that detected cancer are incorrectly classified as FPR. Our study linked data recorded in the Flemish BC screening program (women aged 50–69 years) to data from the national cancer registry. We used Cox proportional hazards models on a retrospective cohort of 298 738 women to assess the association between FPR and subsequent BC, while adjusting for potential confounders. The mean follow-up was 6.9 years. Compared with women without recall, women with a history of FPR were at an increased risk of developing BC [hazard ratio=2.10 (95% confidence interval: 1.92–2.31)]. However, 22% of BC after FPR was due to FNDA. The hazard ratio dropped to 1.69 (95% confidence interval: 1.52–1.87) when FNDA was excluded. Women with FPR have a subsequently increased BC risk compared with women without recall. The risk is higher for women who have a FPR BI-RADS 4 or 5 compared with FPR BI-RADS 3. There is room for improvement of diagnostic assessment: 41% of the excess risk is explained by FNDA after baseline screening.
Heterogeneous leukemic clones identified by NPM1 mutation analysis in patient with acute monocytic leukemia

Abstract NPM1 mutation is the most common molecular abnormality in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), especially normal karyotype AML (NK-AML), and is associated with a favorable prognosis in the absence of concomitant FLT3-ITD. Like other molecular abnormalities such as FLT3-ITD, C/EBPα and c-Kit mutation, NPM1 mutation normally presents as a recurrent molecular abnormality. The NPM1 mutation is generally used as a molecular marker in the prognosis evaluation of a patient with AML. Here, we report a different case. He was first diagnosed with NPM1 mutation-positive acute monocytic leukemia. However, he achieved no remission, but the NPM1 mutation dramatically became negative after induction chemotherapy. Finally, he achieved complete remission after salvage chemotherapy and the NPM1 mutation was still negative. To our knowledge, this is a rare case according to the worldwide published literature.
Adaptive testing: Conquering process variations

Increasing process variations result in increasing statistical diversity in manufactured devices. Test plans that are developed without this diversity in mind are bound to result in poor test quality/yield and/or long test times. Adaptive testing is a general term that is used to tailor the test strategy to accommodate a wide range of variation in the statistical characteristics of manufactured devices. In this paper, we provide a review of the key works in both digital and analog domains.
Supporting strategy from the inside

help in the practice of strategy making. Through focusing on working with managers/teams and actively working in organizations, OR addresses this gap, particularly in the area of PSMs, as there is a strong emphasis on action research and thus organizational relevance. Furthermore, as stated earlier, the emerging interest within OR in ‘mixing methods’ adds value as it concentrates on bringing together not only the qualitative and quantitative techniques/approaches, but also encourages the mix of both ‘back room’ and ‘interactional’ modes of working to support the strategy making effort. This combination balances precision with equivocality and helps increase the robustness of the resultant strategic direction. However, there are risks associated with it— ranging from demands on both strategy facilitators/analysts and group from having to deal with multiple modelling methods to concerns about paradigm incommensurability and inappropriate combinations. Nevertheless there are already a number of significant developments and an increasing interest to continue this work (Eden et al, 2008).
Localization of unconventional myosins V and VI in neuronal growth cones.

Class V and VI myosins, two of the six known classes of actin-based motor genes expressed in vertebrate brain (Class I, II, V, VI, IX, and XV), have been suggested to be organelle motors. In this report, the neuronal expression and subcellular localization of chicken brain myosin V and myosin VI is examined. Both myosins are expressed in brain during embryogenesis. In cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, immunolocalization of myosin V and myosin VI revealed a similar distribution for these two myosins. Both are present within cell bodies, neurites and growth cones. Both of these myosins exhibit punctate labeling patterns that are found in the same subcellular region as microtubules in growth cone central domains. In peripheral growth cone domains, where individual puncta are more readily resolved, we observe a similar number of myosin V and myosin VI puncta. However, less than 20% of myosin V and myosin VI puncta colocalize with each other in the peripheral domains. After live cell extraction, punctate staining of myosin V and myosin VI is reduced in peripheral domains. However, we do not detect such changes in the central domains, suggesting that these myosins are associated with cytoskeletal/organelle structures. In peripheral growth cone domains myosin VI exhibits a higher extractability than myosin V. This difference between myosin V and VI was also found in a biochemical growth cone particle preparation from brain, suggesting that a significant portion of these two motors has a distinct subcellular distribution.
Urban background aerosols: Negative correlations of particle modes and fragmentation mechanism

We demonstrate new powerful methods of statistical analysis of atmospheric aerosols on the example of urban background aerosol in the Brisbane area, Australia. It is shown that even in the absence of notable features on the size distribution, it is still possible to identify distinct particles modes and analyze their mutual interactions and transformations. The obtained unique anti‐symmetric correlation patterns between particle modes may serve as fingerprints of particular evolutionary processes in the background aerosols. The obtained results suggest that thermal fragmentation of nano‐particles may be one of the major physical mechanisms shaping urban background aerosols. In particular, based on the fragmentation theorem, we demonstrate possible existence of substantially different time scales for fragmentation of atmospheric aerosols. The proposed approaches and obtained results may also be important for the analysis of different types of atmospheric aerosols on local, regional and global scales.
Immune intervention for type 1 diabetes, 2012-2013.

BACKGROUND: Innate immunity contributes to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, but until now no randomised, controlled trials of blockade of the key innate immune mediator interleukin-1 have been done. We aimed to assess whether canakinumab, a human monoclonal anti-interleukin-1 antibody, or anakinra, a human interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, improved beta-cell function in recent-onset type 1 diabetes. METHODS: We did two randomised, placebo-controlled trials in two groups of patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes and mixed-meal-tolerance-test-stimulated C peptide of at least 0.2 nM. Patients in the canakinumab trial were aged 6-45 years and those in the anakinra trial were aged 18-35 years. Patients in the canakinumab trial were enrolled at 12 sites in the USA and Canada and those in the anakinra trial were enrolled at 14 sites across Europe. Participants were randomly assigned by computer-generated blocked randomisation to subcutaneous injection of either 2 mg/kg (maximum 300 mg) canakinumab or placebo monthly for 12 months or 100 mg anakinra or placebo daily for 9 months. Participants and carers were masked to treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was baseline-adjusted 2-h area under curve C-peptide response to the mixed meal tolerance test at 12 months (canakinumab trial) and 9 months (anakinra trial). Analyses were by intention to treat. These studies are registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, numbers NCT00947427 and NCT00711503, and EudraCT number 2007-007146-34. FINDINGS: Patients were enrolled in the canakinumab trial between Nov 12, 2010, and April 11, 2011, and in the anakinra trial between Jan 26, 2009, and May 25, 2011. 69 patients were randomly assigned to canakinumab (n=47) or placebo (n=22) monthly for 12 months and 69 were randomly assigned to anakinra (n=35) or placebo (n=34) daily for 9 months. No interim analyses were done. 45 canakinumab-treated and 21 placebo-treated patients in the canakinumab trial a 25 anakinra-treated and 26 placebo-treated patients in the anakinra trial were included in the primary analyses. The difference in C peptide area under curve between the canakinumab and placebo groups at 12 months was 0.01 nmol/L (95% CI -0.11 to 0.14; p=0.86), and between the anakinra and the placebo groups at 9 months was 0.02 nmol/L (-0.09 to 0.15; p=0.71). The number and severity of adverse events did not differ between groups in the canakinumab trial. In the anakinra trial, patients in the anakinra group had significantly higher grades of adverse events than the placebo group (p=0.018), which was mainly because of a higher number of injection site reactions in the anakinra group. INTERPRETATION: Canakinumab and anakinra were safe but were not effective as single immunomodulatory drugs in recent-onset type 1 diabetes. Interleukin-1 blockade might be more effective in combination with treatments that target adaptive immunity in organ-specific autoimmune disorders. FUNDING: National Institutes of Health and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The size distribution of microparticles from selected segments of the Greenland Ice Core Project ice core representing different climatic periods

The size distribution of insoluble microparticles (dust) in the particle size interval 0.4–6.0 μm radius has been measured in more than 1400 samples from the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) deep ice core from Summit, Greenland. The samples were taken from ice core segments representing 32 climatic periods including ice from the Eem interglacial and ice from below the Eemian ice. The mean dust volume distributions from the climatic periods are compared, and the relationship of total dust mass to the concentration of Ca2+ and to the stable isotopic composition (δ18O) is investigated. The dust volume distributions are found to be lognormal in the size interval 0.4–2.0 μm with nearly identical shapes. Changes of the lognormal part of the volume distributions are found to be connected to the total dust mass in a systematic way. The total dust mass is correlated to the Ca2+ concentration, and data do not show any enrichment in Ca2+ from exposed continental shelves due to lower sea levels during the last glacial maximum. The total dust mass is strongly connected to δ18O. The volume distribution of the particles in the size interval 2.0–6.0 μm is found to be almost the same in most periods. The exceptions are the “cold” periods in the last part of the last glacial period, where the volume of these particles is higher than in most periods, and the periods from the Eemian and just above the Eemian where the volume of these particles is lower. The volume distributions of both the Eemian “warm” periods and the “cold” Eemian events are different from the distributions in ice from both below and above the Eemian ice. Climate changes appear to have modified the processes of production, transport, modification, and deposition of the dust aerosol in the same way over the last 120,000 years or more.
Chaos and physiology: deterministic chaos in excitable cell assemblies.

In this review we examined the emerging science of deterministic chaos (nonlinear systems theory) and its application to selected physiological systems. Although many of the popular images of fractals represent fascination and beauty that by analogy corresponds to nature as we see it, the question remains as to its ultimate meaning for physiological processes. It was our intent to help clarify this somewhat popular, somewhat obscure area of nonlinear dynamics in the context of an ever-changing procedural base. We examined not only the basic concepts of chaos, but also its applications ranging from observations in single cells to the complexity of the EEG. We have not suggested that nonlinear dynamics will answer all of our questions; however, we did attempt to illustrate ways in which this approach may help us to answer new questions and to rearticulate old ones. Chaos is revolutionary in that the overall approach requires us to adopt a different frame of reference which, at times, may move us away from previous concerns and methods of data analysis. In sections I-IV, we summarized the nonlinear dynamics approach and described its application to physiology and neural systems. First, we presented a general overview of the application of nonlinear dynamical techniques to neural systems. We discussed the manner in which even apparently simple deterministic systems can behave in an unpredictable manner. Second, we described the principles of nonlinear dynamical systems including the derived analytical techniques. We now see a variety of procedures for delineating whether frenetic chaotic behavior results from a nonlinear dynamical system with a few degrees of freedom, or whether it is caused by an infinite number of variables, i.e., noise. Third, we approached the applications of nonlinear procedures to the cardiovascular systems and to the neurosciences. In terms of time series, we described initial studies which applied the now "traditional" measures of dimensionality (e.g., based on the algorithm by Grassberger and Procaccia) and information change (e.g., Lyapunov exponents). Examples include our own work and that of Pritchard et al., demonstrating that the dynamics of neural mass activity reflect psychopathological states. Today, however, the trend has expanded to include the use of surrogate data and statistical null hypotheses testing to examine whether a given time series can be considered different from that of white or colored noise (cf. Ref. 262). One of the most important potential applications is that of quantifying changes in nonlinear dynamics to predict future states of the system. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Acoustic Sensor Based Road Congestion Detection in Developing Regions

Road congestion is a common problem worldwide. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), in developed countries, se ek to alleviate this problem using technology. But such ITS are mostly inapplicable in developing regions due to high cost and assumptions of orderly traffic. Efforts in developing re gions have been few. We seek to develop low-cost ITS techniques to detect road congestion which will work in disorderly road conditions. We propose techniques based on road noise, especially vehicular honks, a characteristic featu re of Indian roads. We take Indian traffic conditions as an example for our analysis but we believe that most of our claims and experimental results can be extended to other developing countries too. Our system comprises a pair of road side acoustic sensors, separated by a known distance. If a vehicle honks between the two sensors, its speed can be estimated from the Doppler shift of the honk frequency. In this context, we have developed algorithms for honk detection, honk matching across sensors, and speed estimation. We have done extensive experiments in semi-controlled settings as well as three different real road scenarios under different traffic conditions. From the road-side record ings, we have identified five possible metrics to characteriz e traffic state: 70th percentile of vehicle speed, percentile of speeds below 10 Kmph, number of honks, duration of honks and noise level. Statistical divergence of congested and fr ee flowing traffic data, based on these five metrics, is verified at 99% confidence using the two sample KS and MWU tests. We have designed a threshold based technique to classify traffi c state into congested and free flowing. n-fold cross validati on of this technique gives minimum classification accuracy of 75% for all five metrics.
Microglial Dynamics and Role in the Healthy and Diseased Brain

The study of the dynamics and functions of microglia in the healthy and diseased brain is a matter of intense scientific activity. The application of new techniques and new experimental approaches has allowed the identification of novel microglial functions and the redefinition of classic ones. In this review, we propose the study of microglial functions, rather than their molecular profiles, to better understand and define the roles of these cells in the brain. We review current knowledge on the role of surveillant microglia, proliferating microglia, pruning/neuromodulatory microglia, phagocytic microglia, and inflammatory microglia and the molecular profiles that are associated with these functions. In the remodeling scenario of microglial biology, the analysis of microglial functional states will inform about the roles in health and disease and will guide us to a more precise understanding of the multifaceted roles of this never-resting cells.