Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T cell tolerance induced by therapeutic antibodies

Ever since the discovery of Medawar, over 50 years ago, that immunological tolerance was an acquired phenomenon that could be manipulated in neonatal mice, the ability to induce therapeutic tolerance against autoantigens, allergens and organ grafts has been a major driving force in immunology. Within the last 20 years we have found that a brief treatment with monoclonal antibodies that block certain functional molecules on the surface of the T cell is able to reprogramme the established immune repertoire of the adult mouse, allowing indefinite acceptance of allografts or effective curing of autoimmune diseases. We are only now just beginning to define many of the regulatory mechanisms that induce and maintain the tolerant state with the aim of being able to safely and reliably apply these technologies to human clinical situations.
‘THESE SNAPS ARE MADE FOR TALKING’: VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND INSTANT EXPRESSION ON SNAPCHAT

This study analyses Snapchat in the context of digital photography and new socio-cultural visual communication practices through three main themes: Temporality, Sharing and Self. By contextualising personal photography on Snapchat within current research on these three main themes, this study addresses the key research question: in what ways does Snapchat represent a shift in image sharing and visual communication practices in the contexts of digital photography and social media cultures? Since the emergence of digital photography, there is widespread agreement that photography’s main function has shifted from memory preservation to communication. This research project finds that Snapchat both extends and intensifies this trajectory. The ephemerality of the photos shared on Snapchat places greater emphasis on visual communication in the _present_ moment. Based on semi-structured interviews, this research explores young adults’ use of Snapchat in the contexts of digital photography, photo sharing cultures and the social media landscape. This research offers a preliminary qualitative analysis of how Snapchat’s temporal affordances have allowed new kinds of visual communication practices to emerge, along with an understanding of motives for Snapchat communication, and Snapchat’s utility as a platform for self-presentation, communicating affect and maintaining social ties.
A brief history of methadone in the treatment of opioid dependence: a personal perspective.

Starting at the latter part of the nineteenth century and through the early twentieth century, events are reviewed to provide a sense of the climate and setting in which early methadone research was conducted. The discovery of methadone by the Germans in the later stages of World War II is described. At that time, methadone was not recognized to be a narcotic analgesic. The first report of the properties of methadone published in the United States in 1947 is summarized, and its early use in the treatment of the opioid abstinence syndrome is noted. However, the utility of methadone as a maintenance drug was not recognized until 14 years later. Despite strong resistance from the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, research progressed from the recognition of the unique properties of methadone to substantial clinical application. Finally, methadone is placed in a current context describing a second wave of acceptance based not solely on the reduction of crime but on the prevention of the spread of AIDS.
Cytoplasmic organization in cerebellar dendritic spines

Three sets of filamentous structures were found to be associated with synaptic junctions in slices of cerebellar tissue prepared by rapid- freezing and freeze-etch techniques. The electron-dense fuzz subjacent to postsynaptic membranes corresponds to a web of 4-6-nm-diam filaments that were clearly visualized in rapid-frozen, freeze-etched preparations. Purkinje cell dendritic spines are filled with a meshwork of 5-7-nm filaments that were found to contact the spine membrane everywhere except at the synaptic junction, and extend through the neck of the spine into the parent dendrite. In addition, 8-10-nm microfilaments, possibly actin, were seen to be associated with the postsynaptic web and to extend into the body and neck of the spine. The arrangements and attachments of the filamentous elements in the Purkinje cell dendritic spine may account for its shape.
High-performance metal-clad multimode interference devices for low-index-contrast material systems

Metal cladding is proposed for enhancing performance of multimode interference (MMI) devices for low-index-contrast material systems and numerically investigated by the beam propagation method (BPM). Metal-cladding eliminates spurious phase errors due to the Goos-Hahnchen shift and thus yields improved imaging. The application of this concept is demonstrated by the simulation of a 1/spl times/8 MMI-based wavelength router using a typical low-index-contrast polymer channel waveguide and the results show that the crosstalk is significantly improved.
Deformation Analysis of East Mediterranean with using SSPX software

Global Positioning System (GPS) is an advanced method for determining horizontal and vertical displacement. With the developing technology and data processing techniques, GPS can be used to determine the related/relative position and velocity of a point in millimeter accuracy. Deformation, which is the gradient of the displacement field, can be calculated by using GPS displacement vectors obtained from the measurements made in the interplate and plate boundaries and reveals important information about regional tectonics. Eastern Mediterranean, which has a very active tectonism, was chosen as study area within the scope of this study. In order to be able to examine the tectonic elements in the region, analysis was done in three stages. Deformation analysis was performed for three different areas by using GPS velocities of previous studies. The deformation analysis of the Eastern Mediterranean, which is a larger area, was firstly carried out, and then the area was reduced and the regional results of Cyprus and its surroundings were tried to be reached. Extension, shortening, dilatation and rotation maps of the study area were performed. Obtained deformation analysis results and the relationship between tectonics were interpreted together.
Wildfire impact on Boreal hydrology: empirical study of the Västmanland fire 2014 (Sweden)

Abstract. Land cover changes at watershed scale constitute key issues in general hydrology. Wildfires are one of the drivers of the changes in vegetation, which might affect hydrological fluxes and the water balance. The Västmanland fire in central Sweden burned 14 000 hectares and removed the Boreal forest in this area during the summer 2014. In here, we have studied the change in flow signatures during 3 years after the wildfire. In the empirical experiment we used a paired catchment methodology to compared 2 catchments highly affected by the wildfire with 2 unaffected catchments nearby, of similar character and climate to avoid the impact of natural variability in the analysis of wildfire impact. The average size of the catchments is 20 km2 and a total of 23 catchment characteristics of flow and physiography were defined, trying to isolate each of the hydrological processes affected by the wildfire. We used both in situ flow measurements and remote sensing information (e.g. yearly volume at the outlet of the subbasins, fraction of vegetation or fraction of snow). The results show a change in the snow dynamics over the burnt areas with shorter duration of the snow season and a higher stream flow during autumn. This is probably related to an earlier snowmelt due to an increase indecent solar radiation over the snow cover without the canopy and the change in interception and transpiration from vegetation after the wildfire, respectively.
On the interaction of bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor with maxi Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels. A model system for analysis of peptide- induced subconductance states

Bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) is a 58-residue basic peptide that is a representative member of a widely distributed class of serine protease inhibitors known as Kunitz inhibitors. BPTI is also homologous to dendrotoxin peptides from mamba snake venom that have been characterized as inhibitors of various types of voltage-dependent K+ channels. In this study we compared the effect of DTX-I, a dendrotoxin peptide, and BPTI on large conductance Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels from rat skeletal muscle using planar bilayer methodology. As previously found for DTX-I (1990. Neuron. 2:141-148), BPTI induces the appearance of distinct subconductance events when present on the internal side of maxi K(Ca) channels. The single channel kinetics of substate formation follow the predictions of reversible binding of the peptide to a single site or class of sites with a Kd of 4.6 microM at 0 mV and 50 mM symmetrical KCl. The apparent association rate of BPTI binding decreases approximately 1,000-fold per 10-fold increase in ionic strength, suggestive of a strong electrostatic interaction between the basic peptide and negative surface charge in the vicinity of the binding site. The equilibrium Kd for BPTI and DTX-I is also voltage dependent, decreasing e-fold per 30 mV of depolarization. The unitary subconductance current produced by BPTI binding exhibits strong inward rectification in the presence of symmetrical KCl, corresponding to 15% of open channel current at +60 mV and 70% of open state at -40 mV. In competition experiments, the internal pore-blocking ions, Ba2+ and TEA+, readily block the substate with the same affinity as that for blocking the normal open state. These results suggest that BPTI does not bind near the inner mouth of the channel so as to directly interfere with cation entry to the channel. Rather, the mechanism of substate production appears to involve a conformational change that affects the energetics of K+ permeation.
An automated classroom attendance system using video based face recognition

This paper proposes and compares the methodologies for an automated attendance system using video-based face recognition. Here input to the system is a video and output is an excel sheet with attendance of the students in the video. Automated attendance system can be implemented using various techniques of biometrics. Face recognition is one of them which does not involve human intervention. In this paper, attendance is registered from a video of students of a class by first performing Face Detection which separates faces from non-faces, and then Face Recognition is carried out which finds the match of the detected face from the face database (collection of student's name and images). If it is a valid match then attendance is registered to an excel sheet. Face recognition is performed and compared on the basis of the accuracy of recognition using Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithms.
Amastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi escape destruction by the terminal complement components

We studied the effect of complement on two life cycle stages of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi: epimastigotes, found in the insect vector, and amastigotes, found in the mammalian host. We found that while both stages activate vigorously the alternative pathway, only epimastigotes are destroyed. The amounts of C3 and C5b-7 deposited on the amastigotes were similar to those bound to the much larger epimastigotes. Binding of C9 to amastigotes was four to six times less than binding to epimastigotes, resulting in a lower C9/C5b-7 ratio. Although a fairly large amount of C9 bound stably to amastigotes, no functional channels were formed as measured by release of incorporated 86Rb. The bound C9 had the characteristic properties of poly-C9, that is, it expressed a neo-antigen unique to poly-C9, and migrated in SDS- PAGE with an apparent Mr greater than 10(5). The poly-C9 was removed from the surface of amastigotes by treatment with trypsin, indicating that it was not inserted in the lipid bilayer. Modification of amastigote surface by pronase treatment rendered the parasites susceptible to complement attack. These results suggest that amastigotes have a surface protein that binds to the C5b-9 complex and inhibits membrane insertion, thus protecting the parasites from complement-mediated lysis.
From Sylvester-Gallai Configurations to Rank Bounds: Improved Black-Box Identity Test for Depth-3 Circuits

We study the problem of identity testing for depth-3 circuits of top fanin k and degree d. We give a new structure theorem for such identities. A direct application of our theorem improves the known deterministic d^{k^k}-time black-box identity test over rationals (Kayal & Saraf, FOCS 2009) to one that takes d^{k^2}-time. Our structure theorem essentially says that the number of independent variables in a real depth-3 identity is very small. This theorem affirmatively settles the strong rank conjecture posed by Dvir & Shpilka (STOC 2005). We devise a powerful algebraic framework and develop tools to study depth-3 identities. We use these tools to show that any depth-3 identity contains a much smaller nucleus identity that contains most of the "complexity" of the main identity. The special properties of this nucleus allow us to get almost optimal rank bounds for depth-3 identities.
OBSERVATION OF CORRELATED OPTICAL AND GAMMA EMISSIONS FROM GRB 081126

We present an analysis of time-resolved optical emissions observed from the gamma-ray burst GRB 081126 during the prompt phase. The analysis employed time-resolved photometry using optical data obtained by the TAROT telescope, using BAT data from the Swift spacecraft, and time-resolved spectroscopy at high energies from the GBM instrument onboard the Fermi spacecraft. The optical emission of GRB 081126 is found to be compatible with the second gamma emission pulse shifted by a positive time lag of 8.4 ± 3.9 s. This is the first well-resolved observation of a time lag between optical and gamma emissions during a gamma-ray burst. Our observations could potentially provide new constraints on the fireball model for gamma-ray burst early emissions. Furthermore, observations of time lags between optical and gamma ray photons provides an exciting opportunity to constrain quantum gravity theories.
Downlink Capacity of Hybrid Cellular Ad Hoc Networks

Augmenting cellular networks with shorter multihop wireless links that carry traffic to/from a base station can be expected to facilitate higher rates and improved spatial reuse, therefore potentially yielding increased wireless capacity. The resulting network is referred to as a hybrid network. However, while this approach can result in shorter range higher rate links and improved spatial reuse, which together favor a capacity increase, it relies on multihop forwarding, which is detrimental to the overall capacity. In this paper, our objective is to evaluate the impact of these conflicting factors on the overall capacity of the hybrid network. We formally define the capacity of the network as the maximum possible downlink throughput under the constraint of max-min fairness. We analytically compute the capacity of both one- and two-dimensional hybrid networks with regular placement of base stations and users. While almost no capacity benefits are possible with linear networks due to poor spatial reuse, significant capacity improvements with two-dimensional networks are possible in certain parametric regimes. Our simulations also demonstrate that in both cases, if the users are placed randomly, the behavioral results are similar to those with regular placement of users.
A tradição Tupiguarani na porção central da planície costeira do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

A posicao geografica da Planicie Costeira Central e dos 30o 15’ aos 32o 15’ e 50o 15’ a 52o 05’, de formacao Quaternaria, solo arenoso, vegetacao rasteira sobre dunas e matas litorâneas, hidrografia composta de lagoas, laguna e arroios. Os sitios arqueologicos da tradicao cerâmica Tupiguarani encontram-se, na sua maioria, erodidos sobre dunas (31), bem como nos “cerritos” (01), sambaquis marinhos (03) e lacustres (04), alem dos de campo aberto (09) (Mentz Ribeiro, 1994-1998). Ao estabelecermos um quadro comparativo, obtivemos os seguintes resultados: 1. O material encontrado na planicie costeira central assemelha-se nas tecnicas de confeccao ao material encontrado no restante do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, o material cerâmico tem como caracteristicas principais a decoracao predominante do corrugado. Alem destes aspectos, existe a ocorrencia de fragmentos com pintura interna, externa e em ambas as faces, predominando o vermelho sobre branco; outros tipos de decoracao: raspada, riscada, impressao de cestaria
Pantothenate Kinase Regulation of the Intracellular Concentration of Coenzyme A*

Pantothenate kinase (PanK) is the key regulatory enzyme in the CoA biosynthetic pathway in bacteria and is thought to play a similar role in mammalian cells. We examined this hypothesis by identifying and characterizing two murine cDNAs that encoded PanK. The two cDNAs were predicted to arise from alternate splicing of the same gene to yield different mRNAs that encode two isoforms (mPanK1α and mPanK1β) with distinct amino termini. The predicted protein sequence of mPanK1 was not related to bacterial PanK but exhibited significant similarity to Aspergillus nidulansPanK. mPanK1α was most highly expressed in heart and kidney, whereas mPanK1β mRNA was detected primarily in liver and kidney. Pantothenate was the most abundant pathway component (42.8%) in normal cells providing clear evidence that pantothenate phosphorylation was a rate-controlling step in CoA biosynthesis. Enhanced mPanK1β expression eliminated the intracellular pantothenate pool and triggered a 13-fold increase in intracellular CoA content. mPanK1β activityin vitro was stimulated by CoA and strongly inhibited by acetyl-CoA illustrating that differential modulation of mPanK1β activity by pathway end products also contributed to the management of CoA levels. These data support the concept that the expression and/or activity of PanK is a determining factor in the physiological regulation of the intracellular CoA concentration.
The four-electrode resistivity technique in anisotropic media: theoretical analysis and application on myocardial tissue in vivo

Several aspects of the 4-electrode resistivity technique were studied with special emphasis on the theoretical determination of penetration depth and sample volume in anisotropic media such as (cardiac) muscle. Moreover, the presence of a thin disturbing layer on top of the medium under study was analyzed. A 4-electrode sensor was developed for the measurement of local myocardial resistivity in 2 orthogonal directions. The sensor was applied to the epicardium of anesthetized open chest dogs and, as an example, results are given on the frequency dependence (5-60 kHz) and the changes during the cardiac cycle of longitudinal and transverse myocardial resistivity. <<ETX>>
PAIRED AND COUPLED ELECTRICAL STIMULATION OF THE HEART.

R ECENT REPORTS and communications'6 show that paired electrical stimuli repetitively applied to the mammalian myocardium can slow the effective mechanical rate of the heart and/or bring about a sustained potentiation of its contractile performance. The techniqueintroducing a highly premature extrasystole into each cycle-creates a bigeminal rhythm in which mechanically ineffective beats alternate with potentiated effective contractions. The extrasystolic depolarization is induced shortly after the termination of the absolute refractory period and produces a barely perceptible pressure event or only a slight prolongation of the downstroke of the ventricular pressure trace. In "paired pulse pacemaking,"2 "paired electrical stimulation,"5 or "paired stimulation" for short, both mechanically effective and ineffective beats are "driven," and the rate can be adjusted continuously over a wide range down to approximately 50 to 6o per c.nt of the prevailing control rate. The interval between the first stimuli of succeeding pairs determines the driven "basal rate," and the interval between the first and second stimuli of each pair sets the time in the cycle at which the extrasystole is introduced. In "R-wave coupled pacing,"3 or "coupled stimulation"1 a spontaneous depolarization is permitted to occur, and the artificial extrasystole, triggered by the R wave of the preceding normal QRS, is introduced into the cycle with an appropriate delay. This technique cuts the effective ventricular rate in half. Stimuli can be delivered to the myocardium by endocavitary catheter electrodes, intramyocardially placed wire electrodes, or epicardial surface electrodes. Either of the ventricles or auricles can be used as a
Apolipoprotein B (apoB) more closely related to subclinical atherosclerosis than non‐HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol

Hypertension, smoking, diabetes and obesity are common risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis and its complications like myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke (S). Dyslipidemia, especially high levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), is also strongly related to cardiovascular (CV) risk. The higher the values, the higher the risk, and conversely, the lower the values, especially during statin treatment, the lower the risk. Therefore, virtually all patients who have a high CV risk or have suffered a MI or S are prescribed a statin based on their LDL-C values as recommended in all guidelines worldwide.
A hydrodynamic study of pleural drainage systems: some practical consequences.

BACKGROUND A pleural drainage system must be capable of efficiently evacuating the air or fluids from the pleural cavity so that adequate lung reexpansion can take place. The air flow and negative pressure of the system will depend on the particular design of each model. This experimental study analyzes the specifications and performance of the pleural drainage systems currently on the market. METHODS Thirteen models of pleural drainage systems connected to wall suction were examined. The models were classified into the following three groups: dry systems; wet systems; and single-chamber systems. We determined the ambient air flow and the negative pressure generated according to the suction level. The components of each model are also described. RESULTS Under normal conditions, dry (except for the Sentinel Seal; Sherwood Medical; Tullamore, Ireland), wet, and single-chamber systems reach similar air flow rates (17 to 30, 24 to 27, and 22 to 28 L/min, respectively). With higher wall suction levels, wet systems increase the air flow (26 to 49 L/min) but the negative pressure becomes unstable because of the water loss phenomenon, dry systems increase the air flow (29 to 50 L/min) without modifying the regulator pressure, and single-chamber systems also raise the air flow (45 to 51 L/min) but increase the negative pressure. When there is an air leak, dry systems (except for the Sentinel Seal) lose less negative pressure than the other systems. CONCLUSIONS The functioning of these systems can be optimized only by applying a suitable wall suction level adjusted to each case. Although the three types of systems are capable of evacuating adequate air flow rates, the negative pressure and the capacity to maintain it in the presence of an air leak are different in each system. Being fitted with valves and not water compartments makes the dry systems the safest and the ideal for use when the patient has to be moved.