Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathogen Recognition and Inflammatory Signaling in Innate Immune Defenses

SUMMARY The innate immune system constitutes the first line of defense against invading microbial pathogens and relies on a large family of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which detect distinct evolutionarily conserved structures on pathogens, termed pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Among the PRRs, the Toll-like receptors have been studied most extensively. Upon PAMP engagement, PRRs trigger intracellular signaling cascades ultimately culminating in the expression of a variety of proinflammatory molecules, which together orchestrate the early host response to infection, and also is a prerequisite for the subsequent activation and shaping of adaptive immunity. In order to avoid immunopathology, this system is tightly regulated by a number of endogenous molecules that limit the magnitude and duration of the inflammatory response. Moreover, pathogenic microbes have developed sophisticated molecular strategies to subvert host defenses by interfering with molecules involved in inflammatory signaling. This review presents current knowledge on pathogen recognition through different families of PRRs and the increasingly complex signaling pathways responsible for activation of an inflammatory and antimicrobial response. Moreover, medical implications are discussed, including the role of PRRs in primary immunodeficiencies and in the pathogenesis of infectious and autoimmune diseases, as well as the possibilities for translation into clinical and therapeutic applications.
Bcl-2-Like Protein 11 Deletion Polymorphism Predicts Survival in Advanced Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Introduction: Germline Bcl-2-like protein 11 (BIM) deletion polymorphism in Asian is a poor predictive factor for treatment outcomes to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in malignancies. We explored the impact of BIM deletion polymorphism on treatment outcome of advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We prospectively collected tissue samples, blood, and clinical data from two cohorts of advanced NSCLC patients. BIM deletion polymorphism was correlated with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) TKIs and chemotherapy treatment. Results: BIM deletion polymorphism was detected in blood of 16.2% (33 of 204) patients. The PFS to first-line EGFR-TKIs in 153 patients were 8.6 and 4.6 months for patients with wild-type BIM and BIM deletion polymorphism, respectively (p = 0.004). Among 120 patients who received chemotherapies, the PFS to chemotherapies were 5.6 and 3.5 months for patients with wild-type BIM and BIM deletion polymorphism, respectively (p = 0.050). The OS of all 204 patients was 24.8 and 16.8 months for patients with wild-type BIM and BIM deletion polymorphism, respectively (p = 0.005). Multivariate analyses suggested that BIM deletion polymorphism was an independent predictor for shorter PFS to EGFR-TKIs (hazard ratio [HR] 2.15, p = 0.002), PFS to chemotherapy (HR 2.40, p = 0.016), and OS (HR 1.65, p = 0.039). Conclusions: BIM deletion polymorphism predicts shorter PFS to EGFR-TKIs and OS in advanced NSCLC.
Active Exploration and Parameterized Reinforcement Learning Applied to a Simulated Human-Robot Interaction Task

Online model-free reinforcement learning (RL) methods with continuous actions are playing a prominent role when dealing with real-world applications such as Robotics. However, when confronted to non-stationary environments, these methods crucially rely on an exploration-exploitation trade-off which is rarely dynamically and automatically adjusted to changes in the environment. Here we propose an active exploration algorithm for RL in structured (parameterized) continuous action space. This framework deals with a set of discrete actions, each of which is parameterized with continuous variables. Discrete exploration is controlled through a Boltzmann softmax function with an inverse temperature β parameter. In parallel, a Gaussian exploration is applied to the continuous action parameters. We apply a meta-learning algorithm based on the comparison between variations of short-term and long-term reward running averages to simultaneously tune β and the width of the Gaussian distribution from which continuous action parameters are drawn. We first show that this algorithm reaches state-of-the-art performance in the non-stationary multi-armed bandit paradigm, while also being generalizable to continuous actions and multi-step tasks. We then apply it to a simulated human-robot interaction task, and show that it outperforms continuous parameterized RL both without active exploration and with active exploration based on uncertainty variations measured by a Kalman-Q-learning algorithm.
Antegrade rapid prime displacement in elective coronary artery surgery is associated with lower perioperative blood transfusions and a shorter hospital stay.

OBJECTIVES Haemodilution during cardiopulmonary bypass is associated with increased perioperative blood transfusions and is thought to reduce intraoperative oxygen delivery to the brain. We sought to evaluate our method of rapid antegrade prime displacement in the context of the perioperative blood transfusion rate, intraoperative cerebral saturations and postoperative hospital stay. METHODS Retrospective analysis of 160 propensity-matched patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting was performed comparing different perfusion strategies on perioperative blood transfusion and length of postoperative stay. Eighty patients who had rapid antegrade prime displacement and vacuum-assisted venous drainage (RAD-VAD) were compared with 80 patients who had conventional cardiopulmonary bypass with gravity drainage (CB). RAD-VAD involved displacing all or most of the prime in the circuit with the patient's own blood prior to the initiation of cardiopulmonary bypass within a 15-20 s window. Within each group, 10 patients had intraoperative cerebral saturation measurements. RESULTS There were no differences in the baseline characteristics between the groups. Both groups had a significant fall (P < 0.05) in haematocrit during cardiopulmonary bypass from preoperative values, however, the fall in haematocrit was significantly less in the RAD-VAD group (P < 0.05). There was significantly (P < 0.05) less intraoperative and postoperative homologous blood transfusions in the RAD-VAD group (47.892 ml ± 8.14 and 76.58 ml ± 21.58) compared with the CB group (229.06 ml ± 105.03 and 199.91 ml ± 47.13). There was a significant fall in cerebral saturations within both groups (P < 0.05) but it was not significant between the groups. The postoperative stay was significantly (P < 0.05) shorter in the RAD-VAD group compared with the conventional group (7.74 days ± 0.51 vs 10.13 days ± 0.95). CONCLUSIONS RAD-VAD is associated with a significantly lower blood transfusion rate perioperatively and shorter hospital stays compared with CB.
Artificial oxygen carriers as a possible alternative to red cells in clinical practice

ABSTRACT Fluid resuscitation is intended to eliminate microcirculatory disorders and restore adequate tissue oxygenation. The safety limits for a restrictive transfusion policy are given by patients’ individual tolerance of acute normovolemic anemia. Artificial oxygen carriers based on perfluorocarbon or hemoglobin are attractive alternatives to allogenic red blood cells. There are many risks involved in allogenic blood transfusions and they include transmission of infections, delayed postoperative wound healing, transfusion reactions, immunomodulation and cancer recurrence. Regardless of whether artificial oxygen carriers are available for routine clinical use, further studies are needed in order to show the safety and efficacy of these substances for clinical practice.
Targets of protective antibodies to malaria during pregnancy.

Malaria during pregnancy remains a major global health problem with an extremely high burden of disease; the major complications are low birth weight and maternal anemia. Despite major advances in the understanding of malaria there are at present few measures that are effective against malaria during pregnancy and few chemotherapeutics available for use during pregnancy. Emerging findings are now being used to identify parasite proteins expressed in malaria-infected women during pregnancy that are likely targets of protective immunity and that have potential for vaccine development. Malaria is more prevalent and severe in pregnant women than in nonpregnant adults despite the substantial immunity acquired before pregnancy and most disease is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. P. vivax is increasingly recognized as a cause of substantial morbidity in pregnant women but there is presently little knowledge regarding the pathogenesis and immunology of P. vivax infection during pregnancy. In most settings the risk of maternal malaria and complications is highest among primigravidae. Reduced susceptibility occurs with an increasing number of pregnancies reflecting the acquisition of immunity specific tomaternalmalaria; this observation has provided opportunities to identify mechanisms and targets of protective responses. (excerpt)
High Energy Shock Waves (HESW) Increase Paclitaxel Efficacy in a Syngeneic Model of Breast Cancer

The combined effect of high energy shock waves (HESW), generated by a piezoelectric device, and paclitaxel on Mat B-III rat breast cancer cells in vitro and in an in vivo animal model is presented. A significant reduction of in vitro Mat B-III cell proliferation versus cells treated with paclitaxel alone was observed with the combined exposure to paclitaxel (0.1, 1, or 10 nM) and HESW (0.22 mJ/mm2, 1000 shots). Moreover earlier induction and enhanced apoptosis occurred in cells subjected to the combined treatment with paclitaxel and HESW at 1 and 10 nM versus paclitaxel alone (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively). The percentage of apoptotic cells along with BAD mRNA expression, confirm a significant enhancement of apoptosis in tumor tissues subjected to the combined treatment with paclitaxel (2.5 mg/kg on days 7 and 11) and HESW (0.50 mJ/mm2, 500 shots on day 11) in comparison with paclitaxel alone. In conclusion, these data suggest that HESW enhance paclitaxel cytotoxicity in the Mat B-III syngeneic model of breast cancer.
Investigation on 3-D-Printing Technologies for Millimeter- Wave and Terahertz Applications

Three-dimensional-printing technologies have been receiving great attention for a wide variety of applications in recent years for cost effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and process simplicity in complicated structures. This paper describes the challenges and solutions of applying 3-D-printing technologies in fabricating passive millimeter-wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) devices. First, we review the state-of-the-art dielectric 3-D-printed passive mmWave and THz devices. Then, we focus on our novel 3-D-printed metallic passive mmWave and THz devices such as horn antennas and waveguides. Next, we analyze the dimensional tolerance and surface roughness of various 3-D-printing technologies in order to provide a guide for choosing an appropriate technology for specific applications. Finally, we summarize the current work and identify the future studies in material powder refinement, surface treatment, optimization of the print process, development of hybrid dielectric and metallic 3-D-printing technology for realizing not only simple mmWave and THz devices but also sophisticated mmWave and THz systems.
Structure and motion from a sparse set of views

We address the problem of acquiring 3D information of an object from multiple images. While a long image sequence contains more clues about the motion of the object in the scene, it provides no more information about the object than a few images that show various aspect of the object. We propose an algorithm that uses nonlinear least squares fitting to compute structure and motion from a small number of images in which various aspect of an object is shown. The location of features that show up in different aspect of the object are computed with respected to a single reference frame. As with all other nonlinear problems, our algorithm requires initial guesses. While we adopted an analytical method in the initialization stage, experimental results on synthetic data and real images show that the quality of our solution does not degrade with the accuracy of the initial guesses.
Exploring Casino Special Events: An Empirical Analysis for Determining Which Themed Celebrations and Tournaments Have An Indirect Effect on Increasing Slot Volumes

This empirical study sheds light on the indirect effects of slot-player special events on casino revenues. Slot departments provide the largest gaming percentage profit for U.S. casinos, almost twice that of table-game departments, making it crucial to cultivate robust slot operations. Casino special events, which include culture-, recreation-, and sports-themed experiences as well as slot tournaments, are experiential marketing techniques used to sustain slot-player relationships and/or increase casino gaming volumes. This exploratory study uses multiple regression analysis to identify which special events, including the corresponding complimentary rooms, have significant indirect effects on slot machine wagers, providing a model for casino managers to predict their special events’ indirect effects on slot revenues.
Randomized placebo- and active-controlled study of desvenlafaxine for menopausal vasomotor symptoms

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of desvenlafaxine (administered as desvenlafaxine succinate) vs. tibolone and placebo for menopausal vasomotor symptoms and the incidence of uterine bleeding. Methods This 12-week, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial was conducted at 35 sites in Europe, two sites in South Africa, and one site in Mexico. Postmenopausal women with ≥50 moderate or severe hot flushes per week (n = 485) were randomized to desvenlafaxine 100 mg/day, tibolone 2.5 mg/day, or placebo. Reduction in the average daily number of moderate and severe hot flushes at weeks 4 and 12 (primary endpoint) was evaluated using analysis of covariance. Safety assessments included incidence of uterine bleeding, adverse events, laboratory values, and vital signs. Results At week 12, no statistically significant difference was observed in reduction of the average daily number of moderate and severe hot flushes for desvenlafaxine (−5.78) vs. placebo (−5.82; p = 0.921), although time to 50% reduction was significantly less than placebo (13 vs. 26 days, p = 0.006). Hot flush reduction with tibolone (−8.21) was significantly greater than placebo (p < 0.001). Nausea was the most common adverse event with desvenlafaxine, was generally mild to moderate, and resolved within the first 2 weeks. Significantly more subjects experienced bleeding with tibolone (23%) vs. desvenlafaxine (12%; p < 0.024) or placebo (9%; p < 0.001). Conclusions Desvenlafaxine did not separate from placebo in reducing the number of moderate to severe hot flushes at week 12, although it did allow women to achieve 50% reduction sooner than placebo. Tibolone did separate from placebo, but with smaller than expected effect. The placebo effect was high (57%). Adverse drug reactions were consistent with the known safety profile of desvenlafaxine, and significantly more women who received tibolone experienced episodes of bleeding compared with women who received desvenlafaxine or placebo.
A Study of Revisit Intentions, Customer Satisfaction, Corporate Image, Emotions and Service Quality in the Hot Spring Industry

This study aims at identifying the dimensions of service quality and examines the relationships among revisit intentions, customer satisfaction, corporate image, emotions and service quality in the hot spring industry. A multidimensional and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of service quality and emotions on customer satisfaction, which in turn results in revisit intentions along with corporate image, as perceived by hot spring customers. The results reveal that there are four primary dimensions and 13 subdimensions of service quality perceived by hot spring customers.
Method for controlling the angular extent of interrogation zones in RFID

A new broadcasting method for radio frequency identification (RFID) controls the reader's interrogation zone by using a two-element antenna to transmit a data signal with a directional sum pattern and a scramble signal with a complementary difference pattern. Only the data signal communicates with RFID tags, and the beam patterns are chosen so that the scramble signal dominates the data signal except in one angular sector. Simulations and experiments with a commercial reader and off-the-shelf RF components show that this method can create a narrow, adjustable interrogation zone for identifying and locating tags, even in complex indoor environments.
Assessment of template based protein structure predictions in CASP9

In the Ninth Edition of the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP9), 61,665 models submitted by 176 groups were assessed for their accuracy in the template based modeling category. The models were evaluated numerically in comparison to their experimental control structures using two global measures (GDT and GDC), and a novel local score evaluating the correct modeling of local interactions (lDDT). Overall, the state of the art of template based modeling in CASP9 is high, with many groups performing well. Among the methods registered as prediction “servers”, six independent groups are performing on average better than the rest. The submissions by “human” groups are dominated by meta‐predictors, with one group performing noticeably better than the others. Most of the participating groups failed to assign realistic confidence estimates to their predictions, and only a very small fraction of the assessed methods have provided highly accurate models and realistic error estimates at the same time. Also, the accuracy of predictions for homo‐oligomeric assemblies was overall poor, and only one group performed better than a naïve control predictor. Here, we present the results of our assessment of the CASP9 predictions in the category of template based modeling, documenting the state of the art and highlighting areas for future developments. Proteins 2011; © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Autonomously Replicating Transforming Vector forSulfolobus solfataricus

ABSTRACT A plasmid able to transform and to be stably maintained both inSulfolobus solfataricus and in Escherichia coliwas constructed by insertion into an E. coli plasmid of the autonomously replicating sequence of the virus particle SSV1 and a suitable mutant of the hph (hygromycin phosphotransferase) gene as the transformation marker. The vector suffered no rearrangement and/or chromosome integration, and its copy number inSulfolobus was increased by exposure of the cells to mitomycin C.
EEG classification in a single-trial basis for vowel speech perception using multivariate empirical mode decomposition

Objective. The objective of this study is to find components that might be related to phoneme representation in the brain and to discriminate EEG responses for each speech sound on a trial basis. Approach. We used multivariate empirical mode decomposition (MEMD) and common spatial pattern for feature extraction. We chose three vowel stimuli, /a/, /i/ and /u/, based on previous findings, such that the brain can detect change in formant frequency (F2) of vowels. EEG activity was recorded from seven native Korean speakers at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. We applied MEMD over EEG channels to extract speech-related brain signal sources, and looked for the intrinsic mode functions which were dominant in the alpha bands. After the MEMD procedure, we applied the common spatial pattern algorithm for enhancing the classification performance, and used linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as a classifier. Main results. The brain responses to the three vowels could be classified as one of the learned phonemes on a single-trial basis with our approach. Significance. The results of our study show that brain responses to vowels can be classified for single trials using MEMD and LDA. This approach may not only become a useful tool for the brain–computer interface but it could also be used for discriminating the neural correlates of categorical speech perception.
Knowledge translation of the American College of Emergency Physicians clinical policy on hypertension.

OBJECTIVES To determine if dissemination of the American College of Emergency Physicians clinical policy on hypertension to emergency physicians would lead to improvements in blood pressure reassessment and referral of emergency department (ED) patients with elevated blood pressure. METHODS Two academic centers implemented a pre-post intervention design, with independent samples at pre and post phases. ED staff were blinded to the investigation. A total of 377 medical records were reviewed before policy dissemination and 402 were reviewed after policy dissemination. Medical records were eligible for review if the patient was at least 18 years of age, was not pregnant, was discharged from the ED, and had a triage systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg. Patient records with a chief complaint of chest pain, shortness of breath, or neurologic complaints were excluded. Demographics, blood pressures, and evidence of discharge referral were abstracted from the medical record. The policy was disseminated after the initial medical record review. Post-policy dissemination medical record review was conducted within two weeks. RESULTS A total of 779 medical records were reviewed. The mean age of patients was 45 years, 55% were male, and 46% were white, 13% Hispanic, 35% African American, and 6% other. No differences in reassessment or referral rates were found between study phases. Blood pressure reassessments were low during both phases: 33% (pre) and 37% (post). Referral rates of patients with elevated blood pressure were very low: 13% (pre) and 7% (post). CONCLUSIONS Knowledge of guidelines did not translate into changes in physician practice. Additional systems-based approaches are necessary to effectively translate guidelines into clinical practice.
Spectrum Detection and Parameter Estimation with Compressive Sampling for mW Composite Sequence in Cognitive Radio System

In cognitive radio (CR), hybrid overlay/underlay spectrum access mechanism is a smart way for secondary users (SU) to coexist with primary users (PU) in the same frequency band. m-Walsh (mW) composite sequence spread spectrum technique is a strong candidate for hybrid overlay/underlay due to the low power spectral density (PSD) and spectral nulls. Benefit from the special spectral feature of mW composite sequence, it is available to reduce the complexity of receiver through spectrum detection and parameter estimation for mW composite sequence. In CR networks, secondary users access spectrum in a very wide frequency band range, so it requires high-rate sampling to detect the spectrum of mW composite sequence. By exploiting the sparsity property of transmit signals in frequency band, based on compressive sampling, the modulated wideband converter (MWC) is introduced to reconstruct the spectrum of secondary user from sub-Nyquist samples. Simulation results verify that the spectrum of mW composite sequence spread spectrum signal can be reconstructed accurately by using MWC, and then the spectrum detection and parameter estimation are also performed.