Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tensile properties, void contents, dispersion and fracture behaviour of 3D printed carbon nanofiber reinforced composites

In this paper, additive manufacturing technology has been used in processing carbon nanofiber (CNF) reinforced thermoplastic composites through fused deposition modeling (FDM). The effects of nanofiber concentrations, nozzle geometries on void contents, and tensile properties of FDM printed nanocomposites have been studied. The contact angles and void geometries have been characterized as a function of bead spreading orientations. Such measurements were carried out using micrographs of optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examinations. The dispersion and orientation of nanofiber in polylactic acid (PLA) matrix have been studied using transmission electron microscopy observations. Finally, the fracture surfaces of both neat PLA and CNF/PLA nanocomposites have been investigated in order to understand the failure mechanism. The results show improved modulus, strength, and strain up to elastic limit in CNF/PLA nanocomposites in comparison to neat PLA matrix. The square nozzle geometry shows increased tensile strength and reduced void geometry in comparison to circular shaped nozzle. Three types of voids such as inter-bead, intra-bead, and interfacial bead were observed with total voids ranging from 24% to 30% with circular nozzle. The level of void content is reduced to about 7% for square nozzle. Contact angles and bead orientation play an important role in forming void contents. CNF/PLA nanocomposites exhibit decreased contact angle and higher void contents in comparison to neat PLA resin. Transmission electron microscopy study of CNF/PLA nanocomposites show uniform dispersion of carbon nanofibers with aligned orientation in both composite filament and three-dimensional printed specimen. Fractured surfaces of CNF/PLA nanocomposites show fiber pullout mechanism and comparatively coarse surface topography indicating higher fractured energy than neat polylactic acid resin.
Mutations in blaKPC-3 That Confer Ceftazidime-Avibactam Resistance Encode Novel KPC-3 Variants That Function as Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamases

ABSTRACT We identified four blaKPC-3 mutations in ceftazidime-avibactam-resistant clinical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates, corresponding to D179Y, T243M, D179Y/T243M, and EL165-166 KPC-3 variants. Using site-directed mutagenesis and transforming vectors into Escherichia coli, we conclusively demonstrated that mutant blaKPC-3 encoded enzymes that functioned as extended-spectrum β-lactamases; mutations directly conferred higher MICs of ceftazidime-avibactam and decreased the MICs of carbapenems and other β-lactams. Impact was strongest for the D179Y mutant, highlighting the importance of the KPC Ω-loop.
Membrane integration of an essential β-barrel protein prerequires burial of an extracellular loop

Significance Membrane proteins must be assembled to adopt a mature functional form. Integral membrane proteins with β-barrel structure are found in the outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. To understand the mechanism by which these proteins are assembled, intermediate states in the process must be accumulated and characterized. Here, we study assembly-defective mutants of the β-barrel protein BamA. Our findings reveal that a highly conserved, hydrophilic loop is buried within the β-barrel of BamA before membrane integration, suggesting that one barrier to assembly is the translocation of hydrophilic sequences across the membrane. The specific interactions we identify in this early assembly step could potentially be used for design of mechanism-based inhibitors with antibiotic activity. The Bam complex assembles β-barrel proteins into the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria. These proteins comprise cylindrical β-sheets with long extracellular loops and create pores to allow passage of nutrients and waste products across the membrane. Despite their functional importance, several questions remain about how these proteins are assembled into the OM after their synthesis in the cytoplasm and secretion across the inner membrane. To understand this process better, we studied the assembly of an essential β-barrel substrate for the Bam complex, BamA. By mutating conserved residues in the β-barrel domain of this protein, we generated three assembly-defective BamA substrates that stall early in the folding process in the periplasm. Two of the three defective substrates, which harbor mutations within β-strands, fail to associate productively with the Bam complex. The third substrate, which harbors mutations in a conserved extracellular loop, accumulates on BamD during assembly, but does not integrate efficiently into the membrane. The assembly of all three substrates can be restored by artificially tethering a region of the substrate, which ultimately becomes an extracellular loop, to the lumen of the forming β-barrel. These results imply that a critical step in the folding process involves the interaction of residues on the interior of the nascent β-barrel wall with residues in one of the extracellular loops. We conclude that a prerequisite for membrane integration of β-barrel proteins is burial of the extracellular loops within the forming β-barrel.
White/light white polyethylene joints obtained by diode laser welding process

ABSTRACT Diode laser source was successfully employed for the fabrication of joints comprising nanocomposites of biomedical-grade UHMWPE and small amounts of carbon nanoparticles. The joint with 0.016 wt% of filler exhibited mechanical shear strength of 169N and a light-white color, close to the typical milk-white color of polyethylene. A morphological study of the welded area had been performed. The laser energy produced a thermal effect on the heat-altered zone, thereby smoothening out the surface at a depth of about 1.5 mm. Moreover, surface roughness decreased and the permeability of the joint to biological fluids was enhanced.
Coronary intervention door-to-balloon time and outcomes in ST-elevation myocardial infarction: a meta-analysis

Objective This study aims to determine the relationship between door-to-balloon delay in primary percutaneous coronary intervention and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI) outcomes and examine for potential effect modifiers. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies that have investigated the relationship of door-to-balloon delay and clinical outcomes. The main outcomes include mortality and heart failure. Results 32 studies involving 299 320 patients contained adequate data for quantitative reporting. Patients with ST-elevation MI who experienced longer (>90 min) door-to-balloon delay had a higher risk of short-term mortality (pooled OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.40 to 1.65) and medium-term to long-term mortality (pooled OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.06). A non-linear time–risk relation was observed (P=0.004 for non-linearity). The association between longer door-to-balloon delay and short-term mortality differed between those presented early and late after symptom onset (Cochran’s Q 3.88, P value 0.049) with a stronger relationship among those with shorter prehospital delays. Conclusion Longer door-to-balloon delay in primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-elevation MI is related to higher risk of adverse outcomes. Prehospital delays modified this effect. The non-linearity of the time–risk relation might explain the lack of population effect despite an improved door-to-balloon time in the USA. Clinical trial registration PROSPERO (CRD42015026069).
A SIP-based Real-time Traffic Mobility Support Scheme in Named Data Networking

With the development of hardware and software technologies, mobile computing has become popular and pervasive. As a result, user-created mobile contents overwhelmingly increase, and cont sharing becomes the most popular application in communication networks. In order to accommodate this technical trend, a new networking architecture - named data networking (NDN) -was proposed to optimize the performance of content sharing. However, NDN has little design consideration for mobile applications, especially for the real-time multimedia applications which are very sensitive to the end-to-end network delay. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a SIP-based mobility-enabled scheme for supporting mobile multimedia applications in NDN. We will give a new description based on SIP message exchange to support mobility in NDN. Then, two enhanced approaches are proposed to further improve the handoff performance in NDN for fast handoff and the low complexity of terminal. We evaluate the proposed scheme with the OPNET simulator. The results show that the proposed SIP-based scheme can well support mobility in NDN.
Isolation and Characterization of Novosphingobium sp. Strain MT1, a Dominant Polychlorophenol-Degrading Strain in a Groundwater Bioremediation System

ABSTRACT A high-rate fluidized-bed bioreactor has been treating polychlorophenol-contaminated groundwater in southern Finland at 5 to 8°C for over 6 years. We examined the microbial diversity of the bioreactor using three 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA)-based methods: denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, length heterogeneity-PCR analysis, and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The molecular study revealed that the process was dependent on a stable bacterial community with low species diversity. The dominant organism, Novosphingobium sp. strain MT1, was isolated and characterized. Novosphingobium sp. strain MT1 degraded the main contaminants of the groundwater, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, and pentachlorophenol, at 8°C. The strain carried a homolog of the pcpB gene, coding for the pentachlorophenol-4-monooxygenase in Sphingobium chlorophenolicum. Spontaneous deletion of the pcpB gene homolog resulted in the loss of degradation ability. Phenotypic dimorphism (planktonic and sessile phenotypes), low growth rate (0.14 to 0.15 h−1), and low-copy-number 16S rDNA genes (single copy) were characteristic of strain MT1 and other MT1-like organisms isolated from the bioreactor.
Discrete element textures

A variety of phenomena can be characterized by repetitive small scale elements within a large scale domain. Examples include a stack of fresh produce, a plate of spaghetti, or a mosaic pattern. Although certain results can be produced via manual placement or procedural/physical simulation, these methods can be labor intensive, difficult to control, or limited to specific phenomena. We present discrete element textures, a data-driven method for synthesizing repetitive elements according to a small input exemplar and a large output domain. Our method preserves both individual element properties and their aggregate distributions. It is also general and applicable to a variety of phenomena, including different dimensionalities, different element properties and distributions, and different effects including both artistic and physically realistic ones. We represent each element by one or multiple samples whose positions encode relevant element attributes including position, size, shape, and orientation. We propose a sample-based neighborhood similarity metric and an energy optimization solver to synthesize desired outputs that observe not only input exemplars and output domains but also optional constraints such as physics, orientation fields, and boundary conditions. As a further benefit, our method can also be applied for editing existing element distributions.
In Vivo Delivery and Activation of Masked Fluorogenic Hydrolase Substrates by Endogenous Hydrolases in C. elegans

Protein expression and localization are often studied in vivo by tagging molecules with green fluorescent protein (GFP), yet subtle changes in protein levels are not easily detected. To develop a sensitive in vivo method to amplify fluorescence signals and allow cell‐specific quantification of protein abundance changes, we sought to apply an enzyme‐activated cellular fluorescence system in vivo by delivering ester‐masked fluorophores to Caenorhabditis elegans neurons expressing porcine liver esterase (PLE). To aid uptake into sensory neuron membranes, we synthesized two novel fluorogenic hydrolase substrates with long hydrocarbon tails. Recombinant PLE activated these fluorophores in vitro. In vivo activation occurred in sensory neurons, along with potent activation in intestinal lysosomes quantifiable by imaging and microplate and partially attributable to gut esterase 1 (GES‐1) activity. These data demonstrate the promise of biorthogonal hydrolases and their fluorogenic substrates as in vivo neuronal imaging tools and for characterizing endogenous C. elegans hydrolase substrate specificities.
Hippocampus NMDA receptors selectively mediate latent extinction of place learning

Extinction of maze learning may be achieved with or without the animal performing the previously acquired response. In typical “response extinction,” animals are given the opportunity to make the previously acquired approach response toward the goal location of the maze without reinforcement. In “latent extinction,” animals are not given the opportunity to make the previously acquired response and instead are confined to the previous goal location without reinforcement. Previous evidence indicates that the effectiveness of these protocols may depend on the type of memory being extinguished. Thus, one aim of the present study was to further examine the effectiveness of response and latent extinction protocols across dorsolateral striatum (DLS)‐dependent response learning and hippocampus‐dependent place learning tasks. In addition, previous neural inactivation experiments indicate a selective role for the hippocampus in latent extinction, but have not investigated the precise neurotransmitter mechanisms involved. Thus, the present study also examined whether latent extinction of place learning might depend on NMDA receptor activity in the hippocampus. In experiment 1, adult male Long‐Evans rats were trained in a response learning task in a water plus‐maze, in which animals were reinforced to make a consistent body‐turn response to reach an invisible escape platform. Results indicated that response extinction, but not latent extinction, was effective at extinguishing memory in the response learning task. In experiment 2, rats were trained in a place learning task, in which animals were reinforced to approach a consistent spatial location containing the hidden escape platform. In experiment 2, animals also received intra‐hippocampal infusions of the NMDA receptor antagonist 2‐amino‐5‐phosphopentanoic acid (AP5; 5.0 or 7.5 ug/0.5 µg) or saline vehicle immediately before response or latent extinction training. Results indicated that both extinction protocols were effective at extinguishing memory in the place learning task. In addition, intra‐hippocampal AP5 (7.5 µg) impaired latent extinction, but not response extinction, suggesting that hippocampal NMDA receptors are selectively involved in latent extinction. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
SiN-assisted polymer-to-SiPh adiabatic coupler optimization

A numerical study on the design and loss mechanisms of a Polymer-to-Silicon adiabatic coupling interface is demonstrated. The interface is composed of Silicon Photonics (SiPh) platform, assisted by Silicon Nitride layer (SiN), flip-chip bonded on Polymer optical board. The silicon taper design is based on the coupling strength maximization as well as the calculation of a Constant Loss Taper (CLT). The maximum calculated coupler efficiency value achieved is 87.6 %, for silicon taper length of 590 μm. The spectral behavior of the proposed coupler is investigated, while a fabrication and assembly tolerance study is conducted.
Sympathetic Overactivity in Chronic Kidney Disease: Consequences and Mechanisms

The incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing worldwide, with more than 26 million people suffering from CKD in the United States alone. More patients with CKD die of cardiovascular complications than progress to dialysis. Over 80% of CKD patients have hypertension, which is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Another common, perhaps underappreciated, feature of CKD is an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This elevation in sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) not only contributes to hypertension but also plays a detrimental role in the progression of CKD independent of any increase in blood pressure. Indeed, high SNA is associated with poor prognosis and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality independent of its effect on blood pressure. This brief review will discuss some of the consequences of sympathetic overactivity and highlight some of the potential pathways contributing to chronically elevated SNA in CKD. Mechanisms leading to chronic sympathoexcitation in CKD are complex, multifactorial and to date, not completely understood. Identification of the mechanisms and/or signals leading to sympathetic overactivity in CKD are crucial for development of effective therapeutic targets to reduce the increased cardiovascular risk in this patient group.
Tumour microenvironment on mitochondrial dynamics and chemoresistance in cancer

Abstract Mitochondria, evolutionally acquired symbionts of eukaryotic cells, are essential cytoplasmic organelles. They are structurally dynamic organelles that continually go through fission and fusion processes in response to various stimuli. Tumour tissue is composed of not just cancer cells but also various cell types like fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem and immune cells. Mitochondrial dynamics of cancer cells has been shown to be significantly affected by features of tumour microenvironment such as hypoxia, inflammation and energy deprivation. The interactions of cancer cells with tumour microenvironment like hypoxia give rise to the inter- and intratumoural heterogeneity, causing chemoresistance. In this review, we will focus on the chemoresistance by tumoural heterogeneity in relation to mitochondrial dynamics of cancer cells. Recent findings in molecular mechanisms involved in the control of mitochondrial dynamics as well as the impact of mitochondrial dynamics on drug sensitivity in cancer are highlighted in the current review.
Anti-enteroviral triple combination of viral replication inhibitors: activity against coxsackievirus B1 neuroinfection in mice

Background Chemotherapy is an important tool for controlling enterovirus infections, but clinically effective anti-enterovirus drugs do not currently exist, mainly due to the development of drug resistance. We investigated the combination effects of enterovirus replication inhibitors in order to limit this process. In previous studies, we showed the efficacy of consecutive alternating administration of the triple combinations disoxaril/guanidine/oxoglaucine and pleconaril/guanidine/oxoglaucine against coxsackievirus B1 infection in newborn mice. Drug sensitivity tests of the viral brain isolates showed that these drug combinations prevented the development of drug resistance. Methods In the current study, we replaced guanidine-HCl with enteroviral RNA synthesis inhibitor MDL-860 to test the effect of a new triple combination—pleconaril/MDL-860/oxoglaucine—applied via consecutive alternating administration in newborn mice infected subcutaneously with 20 MLD50 of coxsackievirus B1. Results The pleconaril/MDL-860/oxoglaucine combination via consecutive alternating administration showed high activity at the 75 mg/kg MDL-860 dose: a protective effect of 50% and a pronounced suppression of brain virus titers. Moreover, along with prevention of drug resistance, a phenomenon of increased drug sensitivity was established. MDL-860 sensitivity in pleconaril/MDL-860/oxoglaucine increased 8.2 times vs. placebo (29 times vs. monotherapy) on day 7 and oxoglaucine sensitivity—4.9 times vs. placebo (by 6.8 times vs. monotherapy) on day 13. As concerns pleconaril, a demonstrable prevention of drug resistance was registered without increase of drug sensitivity. Daily, simultaneous administration of pleconaril/MDL-860/oxoglaucine showed no protective effects and led to a rapid development of drug resistance. Conclusions These results add new support for using consecutive alternating administration treatment courses to achieve clinically effective chemotherapy of enterovirus infections.
Image Pair Analysis With Matrix-Value Operator

Image pair analysis provides significant image pair priori which describes the dependency between training image pairs for various learning-based image processing. For avoiding the information loss caused by vectorizing training images, a novel matrix-value operator learning method is proposed for image pair analysis. Sample-dependent operators, named image pair operators (IPOs) by us, are employed to represent the local image-to-image dependency defined by each of the training image pairs. A linear combination of IPOs is learned via operator regression for representing the global dependency between input and output images defined by all of the training image pairs. The proposed operator learning method enjoys the image-level information of training image pairs because IPOs enable training images to be used without vectorizing during the learning and testing process. By applying the proposed algorithm in learning-based super-resolution, the efficiency and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in learning image pair information is verified by experimental results.
Resolution-enhanced digital epiluminescence microscopy using deep computational optics

The standard practice employed by dermatologists for examining skin lesions is dermoscopy, where an epiluminesence microscope (ELM) is used to examine the skin chrominance and micro-structural characteristics for anomalies. Conventional ELM instruments are being replaced by digital ELM instruments that enable der- matologists and other health care practitioners to digitally capture, archive, and analyze skin lesions using computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) software. One of the limiting factors of digital ELM is the fundamental trade- off between spatial resolution and field-of-view (FOV), where a larger FOV (which is needed to allow for larger skin lesions to be examined in their entirety) can be achieved by reducing magnification at the cost of spatial resolution (leading to a loss of fine details that can be indicative of malignancy and disease). Here, we introduce deep computational optics (DCO) for the purpose of resolution-enhanced digital ELM to improve the balance between spatial resolution and FOV. More specifically, the multitude of parameters of a deep computational model for numerically magnifying digital ELM images are learned through a wealth of low-resolution and high- resolution digital ELM image pairs. The proposed DCO approach was experimentally validated, demonstrating improvements in the spatial resolution of the resolution-enhanced digital ELM by two-fold while maintaining FOV.