Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dendritic Cell-Mediated Phagocytosis but Not Immune Activation Is Enhanced by Plasmin

Removal of dead cells in the absence of concomitant immune stimulation is essential for tissue homeostasis. We recently identified an injury-induced protein misfolding event that orchestrates the plasmin-dependent proteolytic degradation of necrotic cells. As impaired clearance of dead cells by the innate immune system predisposes to autoimmunity, we determined whether plasmin could influence endocytosis and immune cell stimulation by dendritic cells – a critical cell that links the innate and adaptive immune systems. We find that plasmin generated on the surface of necrotic cells enhances their phagocytic removal by human monocyte-derived dendritic cells. Plasmin also promoted phagocytosis of protease-resistant microparticles by diverse mouse dendritic cell sub-types both in vitro and in vivo. Together with an increased phagocytic capacity, plasmin-treated dendritic cells maintain an immature phenotype, exhibit reduced migration to lymph nodes, increase their expression/release of the immunosuppressive cytokine TGF-β, and lose their capacity to mount an allogeneic response. Collectively, our findings support a novel role for plasmin formed on dead cells and other phagocytic targets in maintaining tissue homeostasis by increasing the phagocytic function of dendritic cells while simultaneously decreasing their immunostimulatory capacity consistent with producing an immunosuppressive state.
Privacy Loss in Classical Multiagent Planning

Privacy is often cited as the main reason to adopt a multiagent approach for a certain problem. This also holds true for multiagent planning. Still, papers on multiagent planning hardly ever make explicit in what ways their systems protect their users' privacy, nor do they give a quantitative analysis. The reason for this is that a theory of privacy loss in multiagent planning is virtually non-existent so far. This paper proposes a measure for privacy loss based on Shannon's theory of information. To illustrate our approach, we apply this metric to an existing multiagent planning system to assess its merits when it comes to privacy on two domains. For this, we compare its plans to centrally generated solutions (by a trusted third party) for the same problems. The results clearly establish the need for such an analysis: even though the multiagent planner seemingly exchanges little information, its overall performance with respect to privacy is less than that of the centralised system (not taking into account the privacy loss with respect to the central planner, of course).
Frequency of Bacteriocin Resistance Development and Associated Fitness Costs in Listeria monocytogenes

ABSTRACT Bacteriocin-producing starter cultures have been suggested as natural food preservatives; however, development of resistance in the target organism is a major concern. We investigated the development of resistance in Listeria monocytogenes to the two major bacteriocins pediocin PA-1 and nisin A, with a focus on the variations between strains and the influence of environmental conditions. While considerable strain-specific variations in the frequency of resistance development and associated fitness costs were observed, the influence of environmental stress seemed to be bacteriocin specific. Pediocin resistance frequencies were determined for 20 strains and were in most cases ca. 10−6. However, two strains with intermediate pediocin sensitivity had 100-fold-higher pediocin resistance frequencies. Nisin resistance frequencies (14 strains) were in the range of 10−7 to 10−2. Strains with intermediate nisin sensitivity were among those with the highest frequencies. Environmental stress in the form of low temperature (10°C), reduced pH (5.5), or the presence of NaCl (6.5%) did not influence the frequency of pediocin resistance development; in contrast, the nisin resistance frequency was considerably reduced (<5 × 10−8). Pediocin resistance in all spontaneous mutants was very stable, but the stability of nisin resistance varied. Pediocin-resistant mutants had fitness costs in the form of reduction down to 44% of the maximum specific growth rate of the wild-type strain. Nisin-resistant mutants had fewer and less-pronounced growth rate reductions. The fitness costs were not increased upon applying environmental stress (5°C, 6.5% NaCl, or pH 5.5), indicating that the bacteriocin-resistant mutants were not more stress sensitive than the wild-type strains. In a saveloy-type meat model at 5°C, however, the growth differences seemed to be negligible. The applicational perspectives of the results are discussed.
Bridging the gap between research and education reintegration: Direct instruction on processing connected discourse

Abstract Professionals in rehabilitation and school settings have long been aware of the inadequacies in the continuum of care to meet the social and educational needs of children and adolescents with acquired brain injury. Sohlberg, Todis, and Glang, in separate bodies of work, have contributed to our understanding of the cognitive and social problems associated with brain injury and the implications for rehabilitation. In their lead article of this clinical forum they describe their current efforts to develop a framework to guide professionals, families, and the brain-injured students in establishing an integrated intervention plan.
The Developmental Trajectory from Amodal Perception to Empathy and Communication: The Role of Mirror Neurons in This Process

In a recent paper entitled “Mirror Neurons. Procedural Learning and the Positive New Experience” (Wolf et al., 2000), data were presented about a special type of neuron, the mirror neuron, originally located by Rizzolatti and his colleagues (1995). These neurons were discussed as they related to a particular developmental view of psychoanalysis, developmental systems self psychology (Shane, Shane, and Gales. 1997). In this paper, we focus on how this mirror neuron system might contribute to the development of communicative abilities in humans. First we summarize the research findings about mirror neurons and how they apply to humans. We then attempt to demonstrate how the mirror neuron system might be involved in a developmental sequence hypothesized by Kohut (1984), Stern (1985), and others to begin in infancy. We postulate that this trajectory starts with the onset of “amodal perception” (Stern, 1985) and then proceeds to affect resonance, joint attention, and ultimately to symbolization of language. In this paper, we attempt to integrate these concepts with a formulation of empathy and demonstrate what might go awry in developmental disorders when the normative sequence of development described above does not take place.
Microarray Probe Expression Measures, Data Normalization and Statistical Validation

DNA microarray technology is a high-throughput method for gaining information on gene function. Microarray technology is based on deposition/synthesis, in an ordered manner, on a solid surface, of thousands of EST sequences/genes/oligonucleotides. Due to the high number of generated datapoints, computational tools are essential in microarray data analysis and mining to grasp knowledge from experimental results. In this review, we will focus on some of the methodologies actually available to define gene expression intensity measures, microarray data normalization, and statistical validation of differential expression.
Stabilization of networked systems under computational power constraints

The paper considers stabilization under communication errors and limited data rate by means of realistic controllers with bounded (as time progresses) computational powers. Discrete-time partially observed noisy linear systems are studied for which the sensor signals are communicated to the controller over a finite capacity stochastic digital link. Addressed is stabilization in probability. It is shown that stability cannot typically be achieved by means of a finite memory decoder-controller so far as the boundary of the corresponding stabilizability domain is given by the zero-error capacity of the channel, which is typically zero. At the same time, stability can be achieved with keeping the expected values of the consumed computational resources bounded: the boundary of the domain where stabilization can be ensured by a coder and decoder with bounded expected computational powers is given by the ordinary Shannon capacity of the noisy channel.
Multilingual speaker recognition on Indian languages

In this paper we explore the performance of multilingual speaker recognition systems developed on the IITKGP-MLILSC speech corpus. Closed-set speaker identification and speaker verification experiments are individually conducted on 13 widely spoken Indian languages. In particular, we focus on the effect of language mismatch in the speaker recognition performance of individual languages and all languages together. The standard GMM-based speaker recognition framework is used. While the average language-independent speaker identification rate is as high as 95.21%, an average equal error rate of 11.71% shows scope for further improvement in speaker verification performance.
Insulin glargine: the first clinically useful extended-action insulin analogue

Insulin glargine is a new extended-action insulin analogue, created by recombinant DNA modification of human insulin. Extension of the C-terminal of the B-chain with two arginine residues and the substitution of glycine for asparagine at position A-21 increases the isoelectric point, resulting in precipitation of the insulin at the injection site and a protracted absorption. Pharmacodynamic studies have demonstrated a prolonged metabolic profile without a pronounced peak and with a duration of action of 20 - 30 h. In clinical studies in people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, insulin glargine has demonstrated improved pre-breakfast blood glucose control and a reduction in the frequency of hypoglycaemia, especially nocturnal hypoglycaemia, in comparison with neutral protamine hagedorn (NPH) insulin. In addition, 24 h glycaemic control in Type 2 diabetes and treatment satisfaction may also be improved. However, whilst appearing achievable, insulin glargine has not yet demonstrated the ability to improve HbA1c, though this may relate to inexperience in the use of the new compound. In order to fully exploit its metabolic advantages, it appears vital that the dose of insulin glargine should be titrated to achieve aggressive pre-breakfast blood glucose targets beyond those achievable with NPH in the absence of nocturnal hypoglycaemia. Insulin glargine appears to be a promising new addition to the insulin family and with increased experience in its use, especially in combination with rapid-acting insulin analogues, its full benefits may be realised. The use of insulin glargine with a rapid-acting insulin analogue brings us the closest we have ever been to providing the physiological insulin replacement that has long been awaited.
Changing pattern of childhood blindness in Maharashtra, India

Aim: To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Maharashtra, India. Methods: Children aged <16 years with a visual acuity of <6/60 in the better eye, attending 35 schools for the blind were examined between 2002 and 2005, and causes were classified using the World Health Organization’s system. Results: 1985 students were examined, 1778 of whom fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The major causes of visual loss were congenital anomalies (microphthalmos or anophthalmos; 735, 41.3%), corneal conditions (mainly scarring; 395, 22.2%), cataract or aphakia (n = 107, 6%), and retinal disorders (mainly dystrophies; n = 199, 11.2%). More than one third of children (34.5%) were blind from conditions which could have been prevented or treated, 139 of whom were referred for surgery. Low vision devices improved near-acuity in 79 (4.4%) children, and 72 (4%) benefited from refraction. No variation in causes by sex or region was observed. Conclusions: Congenital anomalies accounted for 41% of blindness, which is higher than in a similar study conducted 10 years ago. Corneal scarring seems to be declining in importance, low vision and optical services need to be improved, and research is needed to determine the aetiology of congenital anomalies.
Redox regulation of mammalian sperm capacitation

Capacitation is a series of morphological and metabolic changes necessary for the spermatozoon to achieve fertilizing ability. One of the earlier happenings during mammalian sperm capacitation is the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that will trigger and regulate a series of events including protein phosphorylation, in a time-dependent fashion. The identity of the sperm oxidase responsible for the production of ROS involved in capacitation is still elusive, and several candidates are discussed in this review. Interestingly, ROS-induced ROS formation has been described during human sperm capacitation. Redox signaling during capacitation is associated with changes in thiol groups of proteins located on the plasma membrane and subcellular compartments of the spermatozoon. Both, oxidation of thiols forming disulfide bridges and the increase on thiol content are necessary to regulate different sperm proteins associated with capacitation. Reducing equivalents such as NADH and NADPH are necessary to support capacitation in many species including humans. Lactate dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phospohate dehydrogenase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase are responsible in supplying NAD (P) H for sperm capacitation. Peroxiredoxins (PRDXs) are newly described enzymes with antioxidant properties that can protect mammalian spermatozoa; however, they are also candidates for assuring the regulation of redox signaling required for sperm capacitation. The dysregulation of PRDXs and of enzymes needed for their reactivation such as thioredoxin/thioredoxin reductase system and glutathione-S-transferases impairs sperm motility, capacitation, and promotes DNA damage in spermatozoa leading to male infertility.
La evolución de la apreciación estética

Resumen La concepción de los mecanismos cognitivos y neuronales que subyacen a la apreciación de la belleza como dedicados exclusivamente a esa capacidad, así como la suposición que son patrimonio sólo del ser humano, representan serios obstáculos para la comprensión de la evolución de la apreciación estética. En este trabajo revisamos conocimientos de diversos campos del saber para superar las limitaciones tradicionales y esbozar un modelo de evolución de la apreciación estética. Concebimos la apreciación estética como resultado de la interacción de procesos cognitivos y afectivos. Algunos de estos procesos, como el análisis visual temprano, el reconocimiento de objetos en un contexto afectivo y mnemónico, la representación de su valor reforzador, y algunas funciones ejecutivas, parecen haber sido heredados de antiguos antepasados, mientras que otros, incluyendo la integración de información multisensorial, el análisis espacial, y la monitorización del propio estado afectivo, parecen resultar de significativas transformaciones a lo largo del linaje humano.
Chemical Composition and Antioxidative Properties of Seeds of Moringa oleifera and Pulps of Parkia biglobosa and Adansonia digitata Commonly used in Food Fortification in Burkina Faso

This study aimed to identify the nutrient composition and antioxidant properties of seeds of Moringa oleifera and pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa. Crude proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, crude fibers, ashes and mineral elements were determined. Total phenols, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins of seeds and pulps were reported. The seeds of Moringa oleifera are particularly rich in proteins (35.37±0.07g/100g), lipids (43.56±0.03g/100g), and minerals (Mg^(2+) and Zn^(2+)). Pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa have a relatively high carbohydrates content (67.8±0.05g/100g and 67.66±0.05g/100g, respectively). Glucose, fructose and sucrose were the main carbohydrates of seeds of Moringa oleifera and pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa. Seeds of Moringa oleifera have the highest proanthocyanidin and flavonoid content whereas pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa were characterized by the highest total phenol content. Seeds of Moringa oleifera had the strongest MBTH radicals scavenging activity (99.74%) compared to the pulps of Adansonia digitata and Parkia biglobosa 94.98 and 79.40%, respectively. This study indicated that these pulps and seeds have a good potential in macro and micronutrients content and for its valorization they can be effectively used to fortify staple food particularly for children and contribute to eradicate malnutrition due to micronutrients deficiencies.
Community-Acquired Klebsiella pneumoniae Bacteremia: Global Differences in Clinical Patterns

We initiated a worldwide collaborative study, including 455 episodes of bacteremia, to elucidate the clinical patterns of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Historically, community-acquired pneumonia has been consistently associated with K. pneumoniae. Only four cases of community-acquired bacteremic K. pneumoniae pneumonia were seen in the 2-year study period in the United States, Argentina, Europe, or Australia; none were in alcoholics. In contrast, 53 cases of bacteremic K. pneumoniae pneumonia were observed in South Africa and Taiwan, where an association with alcoholism persisted (p=0.007). Twenty-five cases of a distinctive syndrome consisting of K. pneumoniae bacteremia in conjunction with community-acquired liver abscess, meningitis, or endophthalmitis were observed. A distinctive form of K. pneumoniae infection, often causing liver abscess, was identified, almost exclusively in Taiwan.
Novelty detection: Unlabeled data definitely help

In machine learning, one formulation of the novelty detection problem is to build a detector based on a training sample consisting of only nominal data. The standard (inductive) approach to this problem has been to declare novelties where the nominal density is low, which reduces the problem to density level set estimation. In this talk we consider the setting where an unlabeled and possibly contaminated sample is also available at learning time. We argue that novelty detection in this semi-supervised setting is naturally solved by a general reduction to a binary classification problem. In particular, a detector with a desired false positive rate can be achieved through a reduction to Neyman-Pearson classification. Unlike the inductive approach, our approach yields detectors that are optimal (e.g., statistically consistent) regardless of the distribution on novelties. Therefore, in novelty detection, unlabeled data have a substantial impact on the theoretical properties of the decision rule.
Effect of hyperglycemia on stroke outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To review published data about the relationship between hyperglycemia and the outcome of patients with stroke. RESULTS Stroke is the most frequent cause of permanent disability in the Western world and the third leading cause of death among Americans. Each year, more than 500,000 Americans have a cerebrovascular accident. In the medical literature, numerous reports have discussed how hyperglycemia during acute stroke, regardless of a patient's prior diabetes status, has been associated with significantly higher morbidity, higher mortality, longer hospital stays, reduced long-term recovery, and diminished ability to return to work. In the United States alone, an estimated $300 million in additional health-care costs are incurred among hospitalized patients with stroke who also have high blood glucose levels. Treatment of hyperglycemia has safely, successfully, and effectively yielded glucose levels in the normal range in the hospital setting under the direction of specialty physicians and should be implemented in patients with stroke. CONCLUSION Until convincing randomized prospective trials prove that tight glycemic control does not improve stroke outcomes, the overwhelming preponderance of data suggests that aggressive glucose management should be the standard care in all patients with stroke and hyperglycemia.
Digital Ecosystems Technology and Distributed Nature of Information Section Three

Introduction S ince the Internet (IP network) inception in 969, it has been assumed that servers (and therefore services) are unmovable. The IP network was designed as a static network, with the ability of dynamic routing. It is precisely its ability of dynamic routing (only possible if IP nodes are fixed in place) which is the key to its success. The IP network is self-reconfigurable by construction (i.e. highly adaptable). Thirty years later we have a great quantity of networks in which the nodes that form them (potential servers) are moving constantly (or changing its IP address by means of DHCP). In spite of this, we have tried to maintain the paradigm which gave so good results: the server and service are bound to an IP address. If it is assumed, though, that users change their location, that devices are portable (laptops, PDAs, etc), that networks do no longer need fixed infrastructures (there are wireless networks like Bluetooth, GPRS, UMTS, 802.a/b/g/n, WiMax, etc), why not suppose that servers can change their location (say their IP addresses) without the need to interrupt the service they provide? Coming back to our problem: if the mobile device changes its IP address, is the service it provides the same? Obviously so. It is not so, however, at the network level. The idea must be, therefore, to get rid of the transport level, so as to add mobility to the service. How to tackle disappearing services? To provide usable services, in spite of the mobility of the service which supports them, we need an infrastructure that relates the service (which we perceive as fixed) with the device that provides it (which we suppose intrinsically mobile) making it appear as fixed when in fact it is moving. In this way, what remains unmovable is the service provided to the network, not the physical location from which the service is provided.
Modular interpreted systems

We propose a new class of representations that can be used for modeling (and model checking) temporal, strategic and epistemic properties of agents and their teams. Our representations borrow the main ideas from interpreted systems of Halpern, Fagin et al.; however, they are also modular and compact in the way concurrent programs are. We also mention preliminary results on model checking alternating-time temporal logic for this natural class of models.
NFM/sup i/: an inner-domain network fault management system

Network fault management has been an active research area for a long period of time because of its complexity, and the returns it generates for service providers. However, most fault management systems are currently custom-developed for a particular domain. As communication service providers continuously add greater capabilities and sophistication to their systems in order to meet demands of a growing user population, these systems have to manage a multi-layered network along with its built-in legacy logical processing procedure. Stream processing has been receiving a lot of attention to deal with applications that generate large amounts of data in real-time at varying input rates and to compute functions over multiple streams, such as network fault management. In this paper, we propose an integrated inter-domain network fault management system for such a multi-layered network based on data stream and event processing techniques. We discuss various components in our system and how data stream processing techniques are used to build a flexible system for a sophisticated real-world application. We further identify a number of important issues related to data stream processing during the course of the discussion of our proposed system, which will further extend the boundaries of data stream processing.