Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Virus-transformed pre-B cells show ordered activation but not inactivation of immunoglobulin gene rearrangement and transcription

Virus-transformed pre-B cells undergo ordered immunoglobulin (Ig) gene rearrangements during culture. We devised a series of highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction assays for Ig gene rearrangement and unrearranged Ig gene segment transcription to study both the possible relationship between these processes in cultured pre-B cells and the role played by heavy (H) chain (mu) protein in regulating gene rearrangement. Our analysis of pre-B cell cultures representing various stages of maturity revealed that transcription of each germline Ig locus precedes or is coincident with its rearrangement. Cell lines containing one functional rearranged H chain allele, however, continue to transcribe and to rearrange the allelic, unrearranged H chain locus. These cell lines appear to initiate but not terminate rearrangement events and therefore provide information about the requirements for activating rearrangement but not about allelic exclusion mechanisms.
Mapping Nonverbal Communication into Social Status: Automatic Recognition of Journalists and Non-journalists in Radio News

This work shows how features accounting for nonverbal speaking characteristics can be used to map people into predefined categories. In particular, the results of this paper show that the speakers participating in radio broadcast news can be classified into journalists and non-journalists with an accuracy higher than 80 percent. The results of the approach proposed for this task is compared with the effectiveness of 16 human assessors performing the same task. The assessors do not understand the language of the data and are thus forced to use mostly nonverbal features. The results of the comparison suggest that the assessors and the automatic system have a similar performance.
Bases neurofi siológicas da dependência do tabaco Neurophysiological Basis of Tobacco Dependence

It is generally accepted that nicotine is the major component in tobacco smoke responsible for addiction. Several studies have demonstrated that the neural mechanisms underlying nicotine addiction have much in common with those underlying the mechanisms of addiction to other drugs. Thus, it has been shown that nicotine induces conditioning place preference and self-administration across many species. Repeated treatment with nicotine also induces behavioral sensitization in rodents. These behavioral effects of nicotine seem to mediate through the meso limbic dopamine system. Smoke cessation results in an abstinence syndrome that seems to be mediated by both peripheral and central nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In addition, other neurotransmitters systems are involved in the mediation of
Voluntary associations governance and Volunteers' motivations

Le projet Gouvernance des Associations et Rapport de Pouvoir (GARP) est un projet de recherche pluridisciplinaire visant a comprendre comment les engagements au sein des associations s'articulent dans le fonctionnement interne de celles-ci et dans leur environnement externe. La premiere partie rapporte les travaux faits sur la motivation des benevoles dans une perspective de psychologie sociale classique examinant les motivations des benevoles sous leur angle fonctionnel. L'inventaire des fonctions du benevolat de Clary et al (1998) est traduit, et fait l'objet de plusieurs procedures de validation. Ces travaux de validation sont completes par une approche socionormative novatrice dans ce champ d'etude. Les experimentations conduites mettent en evidence qu'il existe des normes en ce qui concerne les motivations au benevolat, que les differents motifs ne se valent pas, et que les motivations pronormatives ne sont pas les memes selon les publics. La seconde partie rapporte une etude conduite par entretiens et analyse de documents portant sur 30 associations employeuses de petite taille, visant a comprendre les modes de fonctionnement de la decision dans ces organisations et la maniere dont elles sont influencees par des contraintes internes et externes. Les definitions classiques de la gouvernance associative et les typologies qui en resultent sont questionnees, et mises en relation avec les caracteristiques organisationnelles. Il est demontre qu'une vision statique de la gouvernance rend mal compte de certaines realites associatives. Une modelisation des rapports entre l'engagement des benevoles et le developpement du projet associatif est alors proposee. Les rapports de pouvoir au sein de l'association sont ensuite etudies afin de mieux comprendre les determinants de l'action associative et l'ideal de democratie associative est confronte a la realite fonctionnelle. Dans la troisieme partie, une modelisation de la ressource humaine associative dans une perspective economique est proposee. Cette modelisation permet de situer les differents statuts (benevoles, volontaires indemnises et salaries) dans une meme fonction d'indifference institutionnelle. Cette fonction illustre que les differents statuts permettent des satisfactions equivalentes mais avec des taux de substitution differents des motivations intrinseques et extrinseques. La volonte d'engagement et les contraintes economiques au niveau micro et macro permettent d'expliquer les formes institutionnelles du travail associatif. Cette approche amene a relativiser l'importance de la variable secteurs d'activites des associations dans les differences de mode de gouvernance, ceux-ci etant plus lies a la difference des modes de financement.
Speech Motor Adaptation Without Auditory Feedback

The nervous system receives both auditory and somatosensory information while we talk. Speech production entails sensorimotor control and as such relies on multiple sensory inputs. The role of somatosensory input in speech motor control is little understood. Previous studies seeking to identify a somatosensory basis to speech motor function have done so in the presence of auditory inp uts. Hence any effects that were observed there could be attributed to the presence of the auditory signal. Here we show that somatosensory input on its own may underlie speech production and speech motor learning. This is done by studying speech learning in cochlear implant recipients, tested with their implants turned off. Speech motor learning was assessed using a robotic device that applied forces and thus displaced the jaw and altered somatosensory feedback during speech. W e found that with training implant subjects gradually adapted to the mechanical perturbation. The observed corrections were for movement deviations that were rather small, in the range of a few millimetres. This indicates that speakers have precise somatosensory expectations independent of auditory goals.
Validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment as a Screen for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in African Americans

The validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a screen for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia was evaluated in African Americans attending an urban outpatient memory disorders clinic. Eighty one patients ≥50 years old were administered the MoCA and neuropsychological tests. Clinicians, blinded to the MoCA scores, reviewed the neuropsychological findings and reports of instrumental activities of daily living and they assigned a diagnosis of normal cognition (NC; N = 16), MCI (N = 38), or dementia (N = 27). The MoCA scores of the 3 groups were significantly different (NC > MCI > dementia). Using cutoff scores of ≤24 points for MCI and ≤22 points for dementia, the MoCA had . 95 sensitivity and . 63 specificity for MCI and . 96 sensitivity and . 88 specificity for dementia. The MoCA is a valid and cost-effective screen for cognitive impairment in African Americans but with a higher likelihood of falsely classifying persons with NC as having MCI.
Optimal Reactive Power Scheduling Using Cuckoo Search Algorithm

This paper solves an optimal reactive power scheduling problem in the deregulated power system using the evolutionary based Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA). Reactive power scheduling is a very important problem in the power system operation, which is a nonlinear and mixed integer programming problem. It optimizes a specific objective function while satisfying all the equality and inequality constraints. In this paper, CSA is used to determine the optimal settings of control variables such as generator voltages, transformer tap positions and the amount of reactive compensation required to optimize the certain objective functions. The CSA algorithm has been developed from the inspiration that the obligate brood parasitism of some Cuckoo species lay their eggs in nests of other host birds which are of other species. The performance of CSA for solving the proposed optimal reactive power scheduling problem is examined on standard Ward Hale 6 bus, IEEE 30 bus, 57 bus, 118 bus and 300 bus test systems. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is more suitable, effective and efficient compared to other optimization techniques presented in the literature.
WTCA: A Web text clustering algorithm based on DFSSM

A key challenge of data mining is to tackling the problem of mining richly structured datasets such as Web pages. In this paper, we propose a Web text clustering algorithm (WTCA) based on DFSSM, which is our original work. The algorithm includes the training stage of SOM and the clustering stage. It can distinguish the most meaningful features from the Concept Space without the evaluation function. We applied the algorithm to the Chinese Modern Long-distance Education Network, and compared our work with some popular clustering algorithms. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of WTCA is better than that of the other three algorithms.
Ultradeep Pyrosequencing of NS3 To Predict Response to Triple Therapy with Protease Inhibitors in Previously Treated Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

ABSTRACT Despite the gain in sustained virological responses (SVR) provided by protease inhibitors (PIs), failures still occur. The aim of this study was to determine if a baseline analysis of the NS3 region using ultradeep pyrosequencing (UDPS) can help to predict an SVR. Serum samples from 40 patients with previously nonresponding genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C who were retreated with triple therapy, including a PI, were analyzed. Baseline UDPS of the NS3 gene was performed on plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Mutations conferring resistance to PIs were sought. The overall diversity of the quasispecies was evaluated by calculating the Shannon entropy (SE). Resistance mutations were found in plasma and PBMC but were not discriminating enough to predict an SVR. NS3 quasispecies heterogeneity was significantly lower at baseline in patients achieving an SVR than in those not achieving an SVR (SE of 26.98 ± 16.64 × 10−3 versus 44.93 ± 19.58 × 10−3, P = 0.0047). With multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of an SVR were fibrosis of stage F ≤2 (odds ratio [OR], 13.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25 to 141.096; P < 0.03) and SE below the median (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 1.22 to 23.87; P < 0.03). More than the presence of minor mutations at the baseline in plasma or in PBMC, the NS3 viral heterogeneity determined by UDPS is an independent factor for an SVR in previously treated patients receiving triple therapy that includes a PI.
Effect of the Rigid Gas-Permeable Contact Lens Use on the Endothelial Cells in Patients With Keratoconus

Objectives: To compare the changes in the corneal endothelial cells of both the patients with keratoconus who use rigid gas-permeable (RGP) contact lens and who do not use any contact lens with healthy population. Methods: Thirty-three patients with keratoconus who use RGP contact lenses (group 1), 20 patients with keratoconus who do not use any contact lens (group 2), and 40 healthy controls were included in the study. Changes in the corneal endothelial cells of all patients were evaluated using a noncontact specular microscope. Endothelial cell density (ECD), coefficient of variability (CV), hexagonal cell percentage (%HEX), and central corneal thickness (CCT) of the patients were evaluated in the study. Results: In the groups 1, 2, and 3, the mean ECD was 2,420.8±247, 2,579.5±240, and 2,589.5±271 cells/mm2, the mean CV was 357±9, 34±7, and 34±6, the mean %HEX was 54.3±13, 59.1±14, and 57.4±10, and the mean CCT was 508±33, 504±43, and 561±34 &mgr;m, respectively. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of ECD, CV, and %HEX. Although significant differences between the groups 1 to 3 and groups 2 to 3 in terms of CCT were detected (P=0.001 and P=0.004, respectively), no significant difference was observed between the groups 1 and 2. Conclusions: Although significant difference was found between the groups 1 to 2 and normal population in terms of CCT, no difference was detected between all the groups in terms of the other parameters. In this study, we report that long-term use of RGP contact lens in patients with keratoconus had no effect on the corneal endothelial cells.
Nature of Amide Carbonyl−Carbonyl Interactions in Proteins

Noncovalent interactions define and modulate biomolecular structure, function, and dynamics. In many protein secondary structures, an intimate interaction exists between adjacent carbonyl groups of the main-chain amide bonds. As this short contact contributes to the energetics of protein conformational stability as well as protein−ligand interactions, understanding its nature is crucial. The intimacy of the carbonyl groups could arise from a charge−charge or dipole−dipole interaction, or n→π * electronic delocalization. This last putative origin, which is reminiscent of the Bürgi−Dunitz trajectory, involves delocalization of the lone pairs (n) of the oxygen (Oi−1) of a peptide bond over the antibonding orbital (π*) of the carbonyl group (Ci=Oi) of the subsequent peptide bond. By installing isosteric chemical substituents in a peptidic model system and using NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and ab initio calculations to analyze the consequences, the intimate interaction between adjacent carbonyl groups is shown to arise primarily from n→π* electronic delocalization. This finding has implications for organic, biological, and medicinal chemistry.
Nonlinear coding and estimation for correlated data in wireless sensor networks

The problem of designing simple and energy efficient nonlinear distributed source-channel codes is considered. By demonstrating similarities between this problem and the problem of bandwidth expansion, a structure for source-channel codes is presented and analyzed. Based on this analysis an understanding about desirable properties for such a system is gained and used to produce an explicit source-channel code which is then analyzed and simulated. One of the main advantages of the proposed scheme is that it is implementable for many sources, contrary to most existing nonlinear distributed source-channel coding systems.
Modified Reciprocal Teaching in a Regular Classroom

This study was designed to increase reading compre hension and academic achievement of students through the use of a modified reciprocal teaching program. Modified reciprocal teaching involved small groups of students working together to read and comprehend a portion of text. The students took turas "teaching" these groups by assisting the rest of the group in select ing key words and phrases, summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. Students were randomly as signed to one of three seventh-grade regular education social studies classes. One class used modified reciprocal teaching twice a week for 8 weeks. The other two classes received a traditional instructional program. All classes were taught by the same teacher. Significant differences included higher scores on comprehension tests and writ ing samples, improvement in second-quarter social studies grades, and better conduct records for students who par ticipated in modified reciprocal teaching. Several ex planations for the superior performance of the modified reciprocal teaching group are hypothesized.
Induction of Viral, 7-Methyl-Guanosine Cap-Independent Translation and Oncolysis by Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Interacting Kinase-Mediated Effects on the Serine/Arginine-Rich Protein Kinase

ABSTRACT Protein synthesis, the most energy-consuming process in cells, responds to changing physiologic priorities, e.g., upon mitogen- or stress-induced adaptations signaled through the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). The prevailing status of protein synthesis machinery is a viral pathogenesis factor, particularly for plus-strand RNA viruses, where immediate translation of incoming viral RNAs shapes host-virus interactions. In this study, we unraveled signaling pathways centered on the ERK1/2 and p38α MAPK-interacting kinases MNK1/2 and their role in controlling 7-methyl-guanosine (m7G) “cap”-independent translation at enterovirus type 1 internal ribosomal entry sites (IRESs). Activation of Raf-MEK-ERK1/2 signals induced viral IRES-mediated translation in a manner dependent on MNK1/2. This effect was not due to MNK's known functions as eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4G binding partner or eIF4E(S209) kinase. Rather, MNK catalytic activity enabled viral IRES-mediated translation/host cell cytotoxicity through negative regulation of the Ser/Arg (SR)-rich protein kinase (SRPK). Our investigations suggest that SRPK activity is a major determinant of type 1 IRES competency, host cell cytotoxicity, and viral proliferation in infected cells. IMPORTANCE We are targeting unfettered enterovirus IRES activity in cancer with PVSRIPO, the type 1 live-attenuated poliovirus (PV) (Sabin) vaccine containing a human rhinovirus type 2 (HRV2) IRES. A phase I clinical trial of PVSRIPO with intratumoral inoculation in patients with recurrent glioblastoma (GBM) is showing early promise. Viral translation proficiency in infected GBM cells is a core requirement for the antineoplastic efficacy of PVSRIPO. Therefore, it is critically important to understand the mechanisms controlling viral cap-independent translation in infected host cells.
Video content recommendation for group based on viewing history and viewer preference

This paper proposes an algorithm to estimate the useful content for known groups. The method makes it possible to recommend for the group such as friends, couple and family. As the first step, we focused on the preference between group members. Our algorithm estimates the preference using rating of individual for video genres and viewing history shared together. Then we judge that the content is useful for the group based on the preference. Evaluation tests show that our proposal algorithm is serendipitous.
On the benefits of applying experimental design to improve multipath TCP

Many scientific disciplines rely on "Experimental Design" to study various types of systems. Experimental design refers to a planned approach to experimentation that tries to provide statistical evidence to the outcome of experiments. The networking community rarely relies on such approaches, especially for real protocol implementations. Many improvements to protocols like TCP, including the recently proposed Multipath TCP, have been evaluated by considering a relatively limited set of simulations or experiments. Multipath TCP increases the goodput of a data transfer by simultaneously using multiple interfaces. It also improves load balancing thanks to dedicated congestion control. By applying experimental design, we conduct a large set of measurements inside Mininet with the Linux kernel Multipath TCP implementation, to measure its bandwidth aggregation and load balancing. Thanks to the experimental design approach, we are able to highlight several limitations of this implementation. We identify heuristics that lead to lower than expected performance and propose improvements.
The Situational Affordance of Anger and Shame in the US and Japan

Two studies tested the idea that the situations that people encounter frequently and the situations that they associate most strongly with an emotion differ across cultures in ways that can be understood from what a culture condones or condemns. In a questionnaire study, N=163 students from the US and Japan perceived situations as more frequent to the extent that they elicited condoned emotions (anger in the US, shame in Japan), and they perceived situations as less frequent to the extent that they elicited condemned emotions (shame in the US, anger in Japan). In a second study, N=160 students from the US and Japan free-sorted the same situations. For each emotion, the situations could be organized along two cross-culturally common dimensions. Those situations that touched upon central cultural concerns were perceived to elicit stronger emotions. The largest cultural differences were found for shame; smaller, yet meaningful, differences were found for anger. (150 words)
Partial imaginary precursor cancelling in DFE for BPSK and GMSK modulations

This paper examines the effect of partial imaginary precursor cancelling on the performance of a system which uses a DFE and employs a one dimensional modulation. As opposed to QAM, BPSK or GMSK (after proper manipulations) require minimization of the mean square (MS) of the error real part only. Therefore, a lower MSE is achieved if the DFE coefficients are computed taking this fact into account, by trying to minimize as few imaginary precursors as possible. However, this introduces a delay by the imaginary part of the feedback filter (FBF) which is no longer causal. In this paper we investigate the influence of the length of imaginary precursor cancelling on system performance, and its effect on carrier phase tracking. The equations for the computation of the DFE coefficients for none or partially cancelled imaginary precursors are derived and performance on GMSK channels is presented.
Circulating Angiopoietin-2 Is a Marker for Early Cardiovascular Disease in Children on Chronic Dialysis

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increasingly recognised as a complication of childhood chronic kidney disease (CKD) even in the absence of diabetes and hypertension. We hypothesized that an alteration in angiopoietin-1 and -2, growth factors which regulate endothelial and vascular function could be involved. We report that the endothelial survival factor, angiopoietin-1 is low in children with pre-dialysis CKD whereas the pro-inflammatory angiopoietin-2 is elevated in children on dialysis. In dialysis patients, angiopoietin-2 positively correlated with time on dialysis, systolic blood pressure, and carotid artery intima media thickness. Elevated angiopoietin-2 levels in dialysis versus pre-dialysis CKD patients were also associated with an anti-angiogenic (high soluble VEGFR-1 and low VEGF-A) and pro-inflammatory (high urate, E-selectin, P-selectin and VCAM-1) milieu. Ang-2 was immunodetected in arterial biopsy samples whilst the expression of VEGF-A was significantly downregulated in dialysis patients. Serum urate correlated with angiopoietin-2 levels in dialysis patients and addition of uric acid was able to induce rapid release of angiopoietin-2 from cultured endothelial cells. Thus, angiopoietin-2 is a marker for cardiovascular disease in children on chronic dialysis and may act as an anti-angiogenic and pro-inflammatory effector in this context. The possibility that the release of angiopoietin-2 from endothelia is mediated by urate should be explored further.
Transmission of an 8-PSK modulated 30 Gbit/s signal using an MMIC-based 240 GHz wireless link

The transmission of complex modulated data signals with data rates up to 30 Gbit/s is successfully realized using a 240 GHz wireless link based on active MMIC components. The paper presents the transmission of QPSK and 8-PSK modulated signals over a distance of 40 m as well as a characterization of the RF frontend based on S-parameter measurements and back-to-back signal transmission. The link quality is evaluated in terms of error vector magnitude (EVM) measurement. For a symbol rate of 10 GBd, the EVM measurement shows values of 10.3% and 15.2% for the QPSK and 8-PSK signal, respectively.