Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Equine hepatocytes: isolation, cryopreservation, and applications to in vitro drug metabolism studies

Despite reports of the successful isolation of primary equine hepatocytes, there are no published data regarding the successful cryopreservation of these isolated cells. In this study, a detailed description of the procedures for isolation, cryopreservation, and recovery of equine hepatocytes are presented. Furthermore, the intrinsic clearance (Clint) and production of metabolites for three drugs were compared between freshly isolated and recovered cryopreserved hepatocytes. Primary equine hepatocytes were isolated using a two‐step collagenase perfusion method, with an average cell yield of 2.47 ± 2.62 × 106 cells/g of perfused liver tissue and viability of 84.1 ± 2.62%. These cells were cryopreserved with William's medium E containing 10% fetal bovine serum with 10% DMSO. The viability of recovered cells, after a 30% Percoll gradient, was 77 ± 11% and estimated recovery rate was approximately 27%. These purified cells were used to determine the in vitro Clint of three drugs used in equine medicine; omeprazole, flunixin, and phenylbutazone, via the substrate depletion method. Cryopreserved suspensions gave a comparable estimation of Clint compared to fresh cells for these three drugs as well as producing the same metabolites. This work paves the way for establishing a bank of cryopreserved equine hepatocytes that can be used for estimating pharmacokinetic parameters such as the hepatic metabolic in vivo clearance of a drug as well as producing horse‐specific drug metabolites.
Delay constraint encoding algorithm in MANETs

Based on the information of the received packets of neighbors, a node transmits encoding packets of some native data packets by using network coding to reduce the number of transmissions. Therefore, network coding can improve network throughput and decrease energy consumption. This paper studies the delay constraint encoding problem in a router. The problem is proved as a NP-Completed problem. A heuristic minimum delay-constraint first encoding algorithm (MDCFEA) is proposed. The main idea of MDCFEA is sorting the packets to be a queue based their delay constraint in increasing order and then choose the maximum number of packets to be an encode packet from the head of the queue. The experimental results show that MDCFEA can dramatically increase the delay ratio of packets which is received by all the required clients within the delay threshold (up to 149.2%) compared with the representative of the delay aware encoding scheme greedy algorithm (GA).
Role of Threshold Voltage Shift in Highly Accelerated Power Cycling Tests for SiC MOSFET Modules

In silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs, threshold voltage instability under high-temperature conditions has potential reliability threats to long-term operation. In this paper, the threshold voltage shifts caused by the instability mechanisms in accelerated power cycling tests for SiC MOSFETs are investigated. In conventional power cycling tests, the positive threshold voltage shift can cause successive ON-state resistance increases, which can sequentially increase junction temperature variations gradually under fixed test conditions. In order to distinguish the increased die voltage drop from the bond wire resistance degradation, an independent measurement method is used during the power cycling tests. As the number of cycle increases, SiC die degradation can be observed independently of bond wire increases during the tests. It is studied that the SiC die degradation is associated with the threshold voltage instability mechanisms. Unlike the bond wire lift-off failure, the die degradation and the related die resistance increase can stop the power cycling test earlier than expected. In addition, a new test protocol considering the die degradation is proposed for the power cycling test. By means of power device analyzer, the failure mechanism and the degradation performance of SiC MOSFETs before and after the power cycling test are compared and discussed. Finally, experimental results confirm the role of threshold voltage shifting and identify different failure mechanisms.
GeSn p-i-n photodetector for all telecommunication bands detection.

Using a 820 nm-thick high-quality Ge0.97Sn0. 03 alloy film grown on Si(001) by molecular beam epitaxy, GeSn p-i-n photodectectors have been fabricated. The detectors have relatively high responsivities, such as 0.52 A/W, 0.23 A/W, and 0.12 A/W at 1310 nm, 1540 nm, and 1640 nm, respectively, under a 1 V reverse bias. With a broad detection spectrum (800-1800 nm) covering the whole telecommunication windows and compatibility with conventional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) technology, the GeSn devices are attractive for applications in both optical communications and optical interconnects.
The Minadept Clustering Approach for Discovering Reference Process Models Out of Process Variants

During the last years a new generation of adaptive Process-Aware Information Systems (PAIS) has emerged, which enables dynamic process changes at runtime, while preserving PAIS robustness and consistency. Such adaptive PAIS allow authorized users to add new process activities, to delete existing activities, or to change pre-defined activity sequences during runtime. Both this runtime flexibility and process configurations at build-time, lead to a large number of process variants being derived from the same process model, but slightly differing in structure due to the applied changes. Generally, process variants are expensive to configure and difficult to maintain. This paper presents selected results from our MinAdept project. In particular, we provide a clustering algorithm that fosters learning from past process changes by mining a collection of process variants. As mining result we obtain a process model for which average distance to the process variant models becomes minimal. By adopting this process model as reference model in the PAIS, need for future process configuration and adaptation decreases. We have validated our clustering algorithm by means of a case study as well as comprehensive simulations. Altogether, our vision is to enable full process lifecycle support in adaptive PAIS.
Cognitive deficits in mild Parkinson's disease are associated with distinct areas of grey matter atrophy

Background and objectives The neuroanatomical substrates underlying cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we compared the grey matter atrophy patterns in PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) with PD patients having no cognitive impairment (PD-NCI), and examined relationships between atrophic regions and cognitive performance in specific domains. Methods 90 non-demented PD patients (64.95±7.54 years, Hoehn and Yahr=1.88±0.39) were classified using formal diagnostic criteria as PD-MCI (n=23) or PD-NCI (n=67). Grey matter volume differences were examined using voxel-based morphometry on structural MRI, and multivariate linear regressions were employed to assess the relationships between cognitive performance in specific domains and atrophic regions. Results Patients with PD-MCI had lower global cognition scores compared with PD-NCI (Mini Mental State Examination: 26.9 vs28.4, p=0.011; Montreal Cognitive Assessment: 24.5 vs 27.0, p<0.001). The PD-MCI group demonstrated significantly poorer performance on executive function, attention, memory and language abilities. Patients with PD-MCI had reductions in grey matter volumes in the left insular, left superior frontal and left middle temporal areas compared to PD-NCI. Multiple regressions controlling for age, education and cardiovascular risk factors revealed significant positive correlations between left insular atrophy and executive–attention dysfunction. Conclusions Domain specific cognitive impairment in mild PD is associated with distinct areas of grey matter atrophy. These regions of atrophy are demonstrable early in the disease course and may serve as a biomarker for dementia in PD.
Ray trace modeling in a solar secondary concentrator with various inlet shapes

Renewable energies are turning into a necessity instead of an alternative, and solar energy is the major future source of inexhaustible free energy. This thesis is focused on Concentrated Solar Power plants, which use heliostats to concentrate solar radiation in a relatively small area to heat a fluid; finally, this fluid directly or indirectly drives a turbine to generate electricity. In the past, the radiation entered the receiver directly through a quartz window. In this research a secondary concentrator (SC) is added to the system to concentrate the sunlight through the Small Particle Heat Exchanger (SPHER) quartz glass window. The radius of the SC inlet is bigger than the domed window radius, so the receiver area for the solar irradiation is increased. Therefore, if the SC is added, the size of the window can be reduced (to obtain the same amount of energy incident in the window) and the heat losses will also decrease. MIRVAL (a Monte Carlo Ray Tracing software) is used for the ray tracing from the sun to the Secondary Concentrator (SC), including the interaction with a real heliostat field. Once the rays reach the inlet of the Secondary Concentrator (SC), a FORTRAN code is used to study the interaction between the rays and the SC shape, which will be defined first as a shape in SOLIDWORKS and finally as a mesh in ANSYS. The FORTRAN output will be graphed in MATLAB in order to get the spatial distribution of the power absorbed in the SC. In addition, a new SC shape will be added to the code and tested in order to get a polyvalent code that can be used to test with different SC shapes for different heliostat field designs. With several SC shapes we will be able to optimize both parameters, SC shape and heliostat field design. In this thesis a method to graph the distribution of power absorbed for different secondary concentrator shapes has been developed. The main variables in the simulations (number of rays and number of cells) will be studied and several simulations will be graphed at different times of the day and year.
Enzymatic synthesis of lipid II and analogues.

The emergence of antibiotic resistance has prompted active research in the development of antibiotics with new modes of action. Among all essential bacterial proteins, transglycosylase polymerizes lipid II into peptidoglycan and is one of the most favorable targets because of its vital role in peptidoglycan synthesis. Described in this study is a practical enzymatic method for the synthesis of lipid II, coupled with cofactor regeneration, to give the product in a 50-70% yield. This development depends on two key steps: the overexpression of MraY for the synthesis of lipid I and the use of undecaprenol kinase for the preparation of polyprenol phosphates. This method was further applied to the synthesis of lipid II analogues. It was found that MraY and undecaprenol kinase can accept a wide range of lipids containing various lengths and configurations. The activity of lipid II analogues for bacterial transglycolase was also evaluated.
Rational design of a high-strength bone scaffold platform based on in situ hybridization of bacterial cellulose/nano-hydroxyapatite framework and silk fibroin reinforcing phase

Abstract Bacterial cellulose/hydroxyapatite (BC/HAp) composite had favourable bioaffinity but its poor mechanical strength limited its widespread applications in bone tissue engineering (BTE). Silk fibroin, which possesses special crystalline structure, has been widely used as organic reinforcing material, and different SFs have different amino acid sequences, which exhibit different bioaffinity and mechanical properties. In this regard, bacterial cellulose-Antheraea yamamai silk fibroin/hydroxyapatite (BC-AYSF/HAp), bacterial cellulose-Bombyx mori silk fibroin/hydroxyapatite (BC-BMSF/HAp), and BC/HAp nano-composites were synthesized via a novel in situ hybridization method. Compared with BC/HAp and BC-BMSF/HAp, the BC-AYSF/HAp exhibited better interpenetration, which may benefit for the transportation of nutrients and wastes, the adhesion of cells as well. Additionally, the BC-AYSF/HAp also presented superior thermal stability than the other two composites revealed by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Compression testing indicated that the mechanical strength of BC-BMSF/HAp was greatly reinforced compared with BC/HAp and was even a little higher than that of BC-AYSF/HAp. Tensile testing showed that BC-AYSF/HAp possesses extraordinary mechanical properties with a higher elastic modulus at low strain and higher fracture strength simultaneously than the other two composites. In vitro cell culture exhibited that MC3T3-E1 cells on the BC-AYSF/HAp membrane took on higher proliferative potential than those on the BC-BMSF/HAp membrane. These results suggested that compared with BC-BMSF/HAp, the BC-AYSF/HAp composite was more appropriate as an ideal bone scaffold platform or biomedical membrane to be used in BTE.
Migration of a self-expandable metallic stent into a drained pseudocyst after endoscopic pseudocystogastrostomy and its endoscopic extraction

Souhrn: Pankreatická pseudocysta a ohraničená pankreatická nekróza patří mezi lokální komplikace akutní a chronické pankreatitidy. Jejich léčba, pokud je indikovaná, spočívá v provedení perkután ní, chirurgické nebo endoskopické drenáže. V posledních letech je stále více upřednostňována endosonograficky navigovaná transmurální drenáž těchto tekutinových kolekcí. Mezi relativně vzácnou komplikaci řadíme migraci zavedeného stentu po provedené endoskopické drenáži. V naší kazuistice prezentujeme 52letého pa cienta s chronickou pankreatitidou a symp tomatickou pseudocystou, u kterého bylo indikováno provedení endoskopické pseudocystogastrostomie pomocí celopotaženého samoexpandibilního metalického stentu, která byla komplikována rozvojem pneumoperitonea. Po chirurgické revizi byla pomocí zobrazovacích metod zjištěna přítomnost původně zavedeného stentu v reziduální pseudocystě, který byl následně endoskopicky, skrze nově zavedený metalický stent, úspěšně extrahován.
The underlying aetiologies of coma in febrile Sudanese children.

BACKGROUND Cerebral malaria, acute bacterial meningitis and viral encephalitis are the main causes of fever and altered consciousness in the tropics. In areas where reliable laboratory testing is unavailable, over diagnosis and misdiagnosis of these conditions is likely. In malaria endemic countries non-malarial contributors to coma may be overlooked, overburdening available resources. The aim of this study is to evaluate the underlying causes of altered mental state in children presenting with fever and coma to tertiary medical facilities in Sudan. METHODS Children over one month of age admitted to the emergency departments of three main hospitals in Khartoum with fever and coma were investigated for cerebral malaria, acute bacterial meningitis and Herpes simplex encephalitis during April to November 2011. RESULTS One hundred and four children presenting with fever and coma were evaluated. Cerebral malaria was clinically suspected in 38 patients and 5 were confirmed. Acute bacterial meningitis was suspected in 63 patients and confirmed in 15. Herpes encephalitis was confirmed in only one case. There were five cases of mixed infection and the remainder were unknown. CONCLUSION The clinical diagnoses of cerebral malaria, acute bacterial meningitis and viral encephalitis are unreliable. Further studies to evaluate the underlying causes of coma in febrile Sudanese children are warranted.
HerMES: dust attenuation and star formation activity in ultraviolet-selected samples from z ∼ 4 to ∼ 1.5

We study the link between observed ultraviolet (UV) luminosity, stellar mass and dust attenuation within rest-frame UV-selected samples at z ∼ 4, ∼ 3 and ∼1.5. We measure by stacking at 250, 350 and 500 μm in the Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver images from the Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) program the average infrared luminosity as a function of stellar mass and UV luminosity. We find that dust attenuation is mostly correlated with stellar mass. There is also a secondary dependence with UV luminosity: at a given UV luminosity, dust attenuation increases with stellar mass, while at a given stellar mass it decreases with UV luminosity. We provide new empirical recipes to correct for dust attenuation given the observed UV luminosity and the stellar mass. Our results also enable us to put new constraints on the average relation between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass at z ∼ 4, ∼3 and ∼1.5. The SFR–stellar mass relations are well described by power laws (SFR∝M^(0.7__∗), with the amplitudes being similar at z ∼ 4 and ∼3, and decreasing by a factor of 4 at z ∼ 1.5 at a given stellar mass. We further investigate the evolution with redshift of the specific SFR. Our results are in the upper range of previous measurements, in particular at z ∼ 3, and are consistent with a plateau at 3 < z < 4. Current model predictions (either analytic, semi-analytic or hydrodynamic) are inconsistent with these values, as they yield lower predictions than the observations in the redshift range we explore. We use these results to discuss the star formation histories of galaxies in the framework of the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. Our results suggest that galaxies at high redshift (2.5 < z < 4) stay around 1 Gyr on the main sequence. With decreasing redshift, this time increases such that z = 1 main-sequence galaxies with 108
Some reflections on directed lattice paths

This article analyzes directed lattice paths, when a boundary reflecting or absorbing condition is added to the classical models. The lattice paths are characterized by two time-independent sets of rules (also called steps) which have a privileged direction of increase and are therefore essentially one-dimensional objects. Depending on the spatial coordinate, one of the two sets of rules applies, namely one for altitude 0 and one for altitude bigger than 0. The abscissa y=0 thus acts as a border which either absorbs or reflects steps. The absorption model corresponds to the model analyzed by Banderier and Flajolet ("Analytic combinatorics of directed lattice paths"), while the reflecting model leads to a more complicated situation. We show how the generating functions are then modified: the kernel method strikes again but here it unfortunately does not give a nice product formula. This makes the analysis more challenging, and, in the case of {\L}ukasiewicz walks, we give the asymptotics for the number of excursions, arches and meanders. Limit laws for the number of returns to 0 of excursions are given. We also compute the limit laws of the final altitude of meanders. The full analytic situation is more complicated than the Banderier-Flajolet model (partly because new "critical compositions" appear, forcing us to introduce new key quantities, like the drift at 0), and we quantify to what extent the global drift, and the drift at 0 play a role in the "universal" behavior of such walks.
Prolonged Endoplasmic Reticulum–Stressed Hepatocytes Drive an Alternative Macrophage Polarization

ABSTRACT Relatively little is known about the effects of hepatocytes on hepatic macrophages, particularly under the situation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We examined the effects of hepatocytes conditioned media (CM) from HepG2 treated with ER stress inducers, tunicamycin or thapsigargin, on the secretion of cytokines, expression of ER stress markers, and polarization of phorbol myristate acetate–activated THP-1 cells (pTHP-1). We found that CM decreased the production of the proinflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor &agr;, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and IL-1&bgr; as well as other cytokines and chemokines from pTHP-1 cells. These effects are mediated by the inhibition of TLR4 expression and nuclear factor &kgr;B signaling pathway. In addition, hepatocytes CM increased the expression of binding immunoglobulin protein and the transcription factor C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) in pTHP-1 cells. Preconditioning with ER stress inhibitor, small molecular chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate before addition of ER stressors, attenuated the ER stress in macrophages, the property of hepatocytes CM to alter tumor necrosis factor &agr; production and nuclear factor &kgr;B expression by macrophages. Remarkably, treatment of macrophage with these CM leads to an alternative activation of macrophages mediated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor &ggr; signaling pathway, which might be resulted from the secretion of IL-10 and IL-4 as well as releasing apoptotic bodies from hepatocytes under ER stress. Our results highlight a mechanism of ER stress transmission from hepatocytes to macrophage that drives an alternative activation of macrophages, which depends on the exposure of hepatocytes to severe and prolonged ER stress.
Prospective Nationwide Study of Aeromonas Infections in France

ABSTRACT We report a systematic prospective multicenter nationwide study of clinical Aeromonas infections in France. During 6 months (May to October 2006), 78 cases of aeromonosis were reviewed for risk factors and clinical, microbiological, and antimicrobial susceptibility data. They included wound infections (44%), bacteremia (26%), enteritis (19%), respiratory tract infections (6%), and miscellaneous (5%) infections.
Cascaded face alignment via intimacy definition feature

Abstract. Recent years have witnessed the emerging popularity of regression-based face aligners, which directly learn mappings between facial appearance and shape-increment manifolds. We propose a random-forest based, cascaded regression model for face alignment by using a locally lightweight feature, namely intimacy definition feature. This feature is more discriminative than the pose-indexed feature, more efficient than the histogram of oriented gradients feature and the scale-invariant feature transform feature, and more compact than the local binary feature (LBF). Experimental validation of our algorithm shows that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance when testing on some challenging datasets. Compared with the LBF-based algorithm, our method achieves about twice the speed, 20% improvement in terms of alignment accuracy and saves an order of magnitude on memory requirement.
Distribution, level, pharmacology, regulation, and signaling of 5‐HT6 receptors in rats and marmosets with special reference to an experimental model of parkinsonism

Serotonin 5‐HT6 receptors have been implicated in the regulation of cognition, locomotion, and mood, but the elucidation of their functions is complicated by conflicting data using various animal models. Here, a systematic evaluation showed that autoradiographic binding with the selective 5‐HT6 receptor antagonist [125I]SB‐258585 was similar in marmosets and rats. In both species, [125I]SB‐258585 binding was enriched in the caudate‐putamen. Various recently developed agonists and antagonists toward 5‐HT6 receptors exhibited similarities in their abilities to displace [125I]SB‐258585 binding in marmosets and rats. The rank order of pEC50 values were as follows: (+)EMDT‐CR = EMD386088>MS‐245 = 5‐HT>EMDT>>(−)EMDT‐CR; and (+)EMDT‐CR = EMD386088>5‐HT = MS‐245 = EMDT>>(−)EMDT‐CR, in marmosets and rats, respectively. Unilateral 6‐hydroxydopamine lesioning of dopaminergic axons caused a significant decrease of [125I]SB‐258585 binding in the caudate‐putamen of both marmosets and rats. Nonetheless, acute administration of the 5‐HT6 receptor agonist EMDT to unilaterally 6‐hydroxydopamine‐lesioned rats, caused an induction of egr‐1, homer, and enkephalin mRNAs in the dopamine‐depleted hemisphere, indicating a supersensitization of 5‐HT6 receptors following dopamine depletion. In conclusion, this study provides evidence for significant similarities in the distribution, level, pharmacology, and regulation of 5‐HT6 receptors between rats and marmosets. J. Comp. Neurol. 519:1815–1827, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.