Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Th17 Cells Undergo Fas-Mediated Activation-Induced Cell Death Independent of IFN-γ1

IL-17-secreting CD4+ T cells (Th17 cells) play a critical role in immune responses to certain infections and in the development of many autoimmune disorders. The mechanisms controlling homeostasis in this cell population are largely unknown. In this study, we show that murine Th17 cells undergo rapid apoptosis in vitro upon restimulation through the TCR. This activation-induced cell death (AICD), a common mechanism for elimination of activated T cells, required the Fas and FasL interaction: Fas was stably expressed, while FasL was up-regulated upon TCR reactivation of Th17 cells; Ab ligation of Fas induced Th17 cell death; and AICD was completely absent in Th17 cells differentiated from gld/gld CD4+ T cells. Thus, the Fas/FasL pathway is essential in regulating the AICD of Th17 cells. Interestingly, IFN-γ, a cytokine previously found to be important for the AICD of T cells, did not affect Th17 cell apoptosis. Furthermore, Th17 cells derived from mice deficient in IFN-γ receptor 1 (IFN-γR1−/−) underwent AICD similar to wild-type cells. Thus, AICD of Th17 cells occurs via the Fas pathway, but is independent of IFN-γ.
Inversion of short-time fourier transform magnitude spectrograms with adaptive window lengths

In this paper, we extend the Real-Time Iterative Spectrogram Inversion method (RTISI) for generating a time-domain audio signal from a magnitude spectrogram such that it can handle changing spectrogram window lengths. For each desired window length, we use a separate buffer structure and synchronize the buffers each time the window length changes. This way, the proposed method helps to improve the time/frequency-resolution trade-off for algorithms that operate on magnitude-only spectra.
Stress Corrosion Cracking and Corrosion Fatigue of Some Surgical Implant Materials in a Physiological Saline Environment

Abstract The results of slow strain rate tensile tests and concomitant fractography suggest that cast Vitallium and Type 316L stainless steel, which are widely used for surgical implants, are not susceptible to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in a physiological saline (Tyrode's) solution. Several high strength, high ductility stainless steels (TRIP steels), which are candidates for implant use, also appeared to be immune to SCC. Some combinations of TRIP steel composition and metallurgical condition showed significantly lower elongations to failure in Tyrode's solution than in air, but no fractographic evidence of SCC was obtained. The susceptibilities to corrosion fatigue of cold worked Type 316L and two TRIP steels were assessed by comparing the fatigue lives of smooth specimens tested in argon and Tyrode's solution. All three materials generally showed lower fatigue lives in the saline environment, the degree of life reduction being dependent on electrochemical potential. Although additional research i.
Co-Electrospinning of Microbial Polyester/Gelatin and their Interaction with Fibroblasts

Biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) nanofibrous matrix containing gelatin was fabricated by electrospinning method. The average diameter of electrospun PHBV/Gelatin (1:1) nanofibers was 600 nm determined by FE-SEM. ATR-FTIR and ESCA measurements were used to confirm the presence of gelatin in PHBV/Gelatin nanofibers. Human fibroblasts' behavior on PHBV/Gelatin nanofibrous matrix has been investigated. Fibroblasts were well attached on the surface of control PHBV and PHBV/Gelatin nanofibers. Initial cell attachment on PHBV/Gelatin nanofibers was higher than that of control PHBV nanofibers. Gelatin has many RGD moiety that mediate cell attachment. From this reason, initial cell attachment increased on the surface of PHBV/Gelatin nanofibers. From the results, coelectrospinning of PHBV and gelatin is a promising method for tissue engineering scaffold.
Neointima formation: a local affair.

Where do intimal smooth muscle cells (SMCs) come from? For many years, the idea that intimal SMCs originated from the underlying media went unchallenged.1 Then, reports2,3 began to appear that up to half of the SMCs in the intima of atherosclerotic plaques and injured arteries arose from circulating progenitor cells of bone marrow origin. This new view of intimal SMC formation was potentially important because it raised the possibility of a new class of therapeutic targets for intervention in the process of restenosis based on a bone marrow derivation of intimal SMCs. However, as other laboratories began to follow up on these intriguing initial reports, a long-term contribution of bone marrow–derived cells to intimal tissue became less tenable.4,5 In this issue of A rterio s clerosis , T hrombosis, and Vascular Biology , a careful and detailed study by Daniel et al6 seems to leave little or no room for a role of bone marrow–derived cells as progenitors for the intimal SMCs and endothelial cells that are stable residents of a mature neointima that forms after acute vascular injury. See accompanying article on page 1890 Daniel et al6 transplanted bone marrow from enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)–positive (EGFPpos) mice into lethally irradiated wild-type C57Bl/6 mice, allowed 12 weeks for stable engraftment, performed wire injury to the femoral artery, and then recovered injured tissues from 3 days to 16 weeks after injury. The extended time course is important because most studies of neointimal formation in this model usually stop at 4 weeks (occasionally at 8 weeks) after vascular injury. Daniel et al observed rapid accumulation of EGFPpos cells in neointimal tissue that peaked in the first 2 weeks after injury and accounted for up to 68% of the total cells in the neointima. However, …
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Upregulates Functional CXCR4 Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Coreceptors in U937 Minus Clones: NF-κB-Independent Enhancement of Viral Replication

ABSTRACT U937 cell clones which sustain efficient or poor replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) (referred to herein as plus clones and minus clones, respectively) have been previously described. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (vitamin D3) potently induced HIV-1 replication and proviral DNA accumulation in minus clones but not in plus clones. Vitamin D3 did not induce NF-κB activation but selectively upregulated CXCR4 expression in minus clones. The CXCR4 ligand stromal-cell derived factor-1 induced Ca2+ fluxes and inhibited both constitutive and vitamin D3-enhanced HIV replication in minus clones.
Electron field emission from a single carbon nanotube: effects of anode location

Electron field emission from an isolated carbon nanotube (CNT) were performed in-situ in a modified scanning electron microscope, over a range of anode to CNT tip separations, D, of 1 to 60 /spl mu/m. The CNT was exposed from a CNT-polymer composite which was physically broken and examined along the broken edge. The threshold field required for an emission of 100 nA was seen to decrease from a value of 45 V/spl mu/m/sup -1/ at an anode to CNT tip separation of 1 /spl mu/m, and asymptotically approaches 4 V/spl mu/m/sup -1/ at a separation of 60 /spl mu/m. By defining the separation as (D-h) rather than D, where h is the height of the CNT, our applied electric field is E=V/(D-h). Calculation of enhancement factor using the Fowler Nordheim equation shows an increase in enhancement factor with an increasing D, and ties in well with the decrease in threshold field with increasing D. Under "far field" conditions, where D > 3h, the CNT enhancement factor is no longer dependent on D as shown by the asymptotic behaviour of threshold field, and is purely a factor of the CNT height and radius. Fowler-Nordheim analysis allowed calculation of the emission currents for given CNT to tip separation. The calculated emission current, threshold field and enhancement are comparable to that found experimentally.
Evaluation of the effect of base station antenna polarization on the performance of CoMP transmission techniques based on synchronous multi-link measurements

In this paper, the effect of polarization on the downlink achievable sum-rate of multi-user Cooperative Multi-Point (CoMP) systems is studied using synchronous multi-link channel measurements with two different antenna arrangements. In the first setup, four dual-polarized antenna patches with inter-patch distance varied from half wavelength to 8 m are considered at the base station (BS). In the second setup, two BSs located 60 m apart are used, each is provided with dual-polarized antennas spaced half a wavelength apart. Based on the BS antenna element selection, scenarios with different antenna polarizations at the BSs are considered. We consider four virtual users each is equipped with two antennas (V and H-polarized) with half-wavelength inter-element distance. The users are equally spaced with inter-user distance of about 0.5 m and moving in different routes. For each setup, the 8 × 4 MIMO multi-user channels are used to evaluate the achievable sum-rate of the system, where the minimum mean square error (MMSE) beamforming at both the BS and the mobile station (MS) is used. It is found that the performance improvement gained from using dual-polarized antennas at the BS vanishes if the BS antenna elements are distributed over large distance (i.e., having a large antenna array aperture). However, in the measured environment, for the case of having two BSs each of which is provided with co-located antennas, using dual-polarized antennas provide about 40% improvement in the ergodic sum-rate compared to using single-polarized antennas.
Recrystallization and Grain Growth due to Annealing of an Ultrafine-Grained Al Alloy

The evolution of the recrystallization microstructure at different temperatures and the related change in the microhardness were studied in an Al-6061 alloy after 2 turns of high-pressure torsion (HPT) by means of Vickers microhardness and EBSD analysis. The corresponding results show that HPT processing introduces a significant grain size refinement for the deformed state by comparison with the 150 µm grain size in the initial material. The microstructure after annealing at 200°C is relatively close to the as-processed one and the distribution of misorientation angles remains essentially unchanged. However, significant microstructural changes are produced with increasing annealing temperature and at the highest temperature (400°C) there is an abnormal grain growth. The variation of Vickers microhardness (Hv) after the different annealing treatments show a gradual decrease when the temperature increases.
Material — Illumination Ambiguities and the Perception of Solid Objects

The appearance of objects depends on their material, shape, and on the illumination conditions. Conversely, object appearance provides us with cues about the illumination and the material. This so-called inverse problem is basically underdetermined and therefore we expect that material and illumination perception are confounded. To gain insight into the relevant mechanisms, we rendered a set of artificial spheres for vastly different canonical light fields and reflectance functions. We used four physics-based bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs) representing glossy, pitted, velvety, and matte material. The six illumination conditions were collimated illumination from four directions, hemispherical diffuse illumination, and fully diffuse (Ganzfeld) illumination. In three sub-experiments we presented pairs of stimuli and asked human observers to judge whether the material was the same, whether the illumination was the same, and for a subset in which either the illumination or the material was the same to judge which of the two was constant. We found that observers made many errors in all sub-experiments. In experiment 2 the illumination direction was chosen at random. Using an interactive interface, we asked human observers to match the illumination direction of a sphere of one of the four materials with that of a Lambertian sphere. We found systematical material-dependent deviations from veridical performance. Theoretical analysis of the radiance patterns suggests that judgments were based mainly on the position of the shadow edge. In conclusion, we found no evidence for ‘material constancy’ for perception of smooth rendered spheres despite vast quantitative and qualitative differences in illumination and in BRDF between the stimuli. Although human observers demonstrated some ‘illumination constancy’, they made systematic errors depending on the material reflectance, suggesting that they used mainly the location of the shadow edge. Our results suggest that material perception and light-field perception are basically confounded.
Real-Time Dynamic Imaging of Virus Distribution In Vivo

The distribution of viruses and gene therapy vectors is difficult to assess in a living organism. For instance, trafficking in murine models can usually only be assessed after sacrificing the animal for tissue sectioning or extraction. These assays are laborious requiring whole animal sectioning to ascertain tissue localization. They also obviate the ability to perform longitudinal or kinetic studies in one animal. To track viruses after systemic infection, we have labeled adenoviruses with a near-infrared (NIR) fluorophore and imaged these after intravenous injection in mice. Imaging was able to track and quantitate virus particles entering the jugular vein simultaneous with injection, appearing in the heart within 500 milliseconds, distributing in the bloodstream and throughout the animal within 7 seconds, and that the bulk of virus distribution was essentially complete within 3 minutes. These data provide the first in vivo real-time tracking of the rapid initial events of systemic virus infection.
Influence of Chitosan on Electrospun PVA Nanofiber Mat

Many efforts had been reported to modify the structure of electropun nanofibers in order to obtain superior functional properties of poly(vinyl-alcohol) (PVA). This paper discusses the influence of chitosan on the morphology of electropun PVA nanofibers and their related properties. Spider–net and fiber–bridging structured PVA nanofibers are successfully fabricated by blending with chitosan. Chitosan as natural cationic polysaccharide increases the excess charge of the host polymer PVA. Nanofibers are diverged into thinner nanofibers and a continuous web formed when electrical voltage applied. The presence of additional OH- groups from chitosan and larger surface area of the net structure for hydrogen bonding enhance the hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the nanofiber mat as compare to pure PVA which are evaluated through water contact angle and tensile testing respectively.
HDTV research in Japan

Research in the area of HDTV undertaken by the Japanese broadcast corporation NHK is reviewed. This includes research to develop high-quality systems for broadcast, transmission, and reception; 3-D technology; HARP technology; camera technology; image composition and picture quality packages; voice recognition systems; recording and tape technology; and displays. <<ETX>>
A Stochastic Framework to Model Extrinsic Noise in Gene Regulatory Networks

Stochastic modeling to represent intrinsic and extrinsic noise is an important challenge in molecular systems biology. There are numerous ways to model intrinsic noise. One framework for intrinsic noise in gene regulatory networks was recently proposed within the discrete setting. In contrast, extrinsic perturbations were rarely modeled due to the complex mechanisms that contribute to its emergence. Here a discrete framework to model extrinsic noise is proposed. The interacting species of the model are represented by discrete variables and are perturbed to represent extrinsic noise. In particular, they are subject to a discretized lognormal distribution. Additionally, a delay is imposed on the update with a certain probability. These two perturbations represent global extrinsic noise and pathway-specific extrinsic noise. It leads to large variations in the concentration of proteins, which is consistent with an existing continuous way of modeling extrinsic fluctuations. The framework is applied to three different published discrete models: the cell fate of lambda phage infection of bacteria, the lactose utilization system in E. coli, and a signaling network in melanoma cells. The framework captures factors that significantly contribute to the random decision between lysis and lysogeny as well as explains the bistable switch in the model of the lac operon. Finally, a feed-forward loop analysis is conducted by measuring and comparing the noise level in the target protein of feed-forward loops. This analysis reveals the ability of certain feed-forward loops to attenuate or amplify fluctuations, dependent upon various levels of noise. In conclusion, this thesis aims to resolve the question of how the extrinsic noise can be modeled and how biological systems are able to maintain functionality in the wake of such large variations.
Electronic structure and electrical properties of interfaces between metals and π-conjugated molecular films

The field of organic thin films and devices is progressing at an extremely rapid pace. Organic–metal and organic–organic interfaces play crucial roles in charge injection into, and transport through, these devices. Their electronic structure, chemical properties, and electrical behavior must be fully characterized and understood if the engineering and control of organic devices are to reach the levels obtained for inorganic semiconductor devices. This article provides an extensive, although admittedly nonexhaustive, review of experimental work done in our group on the electronic structure and electrical properties of interfaces between films of π-conjugated molecular films and metals. It introduces several mechanisms currently believed to affect the formation of metal–organic interface barriers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2529–2548, 2003
Solving Decision Problems with Limited Information

We present a new algorithm for exactly solving decision-making problems represented as an influence diagram. We do not require the usual assumptions of no forgetting and regularity, which allows us to solve problems with limited information. The algorithm, which implements a sophisticated variable elimination procedure, is empirically shown to outperform a state-of-the-art algorithm in randomly generated problems of up to 150 variables and 1064 strategies.
Iris liveness detection methods in mobile applications

Biometric systems are vulnerable to different kinds of attacks. Particularly, the systems based on iris are vulnerable to direct attacks consisting on the presentation of a fake iris to the sensor trying to access the system as it was from a legitimate user. The analysis of some countermeasures against this type of attacking scheme is the problem addressed in the present paper. Several state-of-the-art methods were implemented and included in a feature selection framework so as to determine the best cardinality and the best subset that conducts to the highest classification rate. Three different classifiers were used: Discriminant analysis, K nearest neighbours and Support Vector Machines. The implemented methods were tested in existing databases for iris liveness purposes (Biosec and Clarkson) and in a new fake database which was constructed for evaluation of iris liveness detection methods in the mobile scenario. The results suggest that this new database is more challenging than the others. Therefore, improvements are required in this line of research to achieve good performance in real world mobile applications.
Costs and Caregiver Consequences of Early Supported Discharge for Stroke Patients

Background and Purpose— Early supported discharge (ESD) for stroke has been shown to yield outcomes similar to or better than those of conventional care, but there is less information on the impact on costs and on the caregiver. The purpose of this study is to estimate the costs associated with an ESD program compared with those of usual care. Methods— We conducted a randomized controlled trial of stroke patients who required rehabilitation services and who had a caregiver at home. Results— Acute-care costs incurred before randomization when patients were medically ready for discharge averaged $3251 per person. The costs for the balance of the acute-care stay, from randomization to discharge, were $1383 for the home group and $2220 for the usual care group. The average cost of providing the 4-week home intervention service was $943 per person. The total cost generated by persons assigned to the home group averaged $7784 per person, significantly lower than the $11 065 per person for those assigned to usual care. A large proportion of the cost differential between the 2 groups arose from readmissions, for which the usual care group generated costs more than quadruple those of the home intervention group. Conclusions— Providing care at home was no more (or less) expensive for those with greater functional limitation than for those with less. Caregivers in the ESD group scored consistently lower on the Burden Index than caregivers with usual care, even caregivers of persons with major functional limitations. For persons recovering from stroke and their families, ESD provides a cost-effective alternative to usual care.
The irregular firing properties of thalamic head direction cells mediate turn-specific modulation of the directional tuning curve

Head direction cells encode an animal's heading in the horizontal plane. However, it is not clear why the directionality of a cell's mean firing rate differs for clockwise, compared with counterclockwise, head turns (this difference is known as the “separation angle”) in anterior thalamus. Here we investigated in freely behaving rats whether intrinsic neuronal firing properties are linked to this phenomenon. We found a positive correlation between the separation angle and the spiking variability of thalamic head direction cells. To test whether this link is driven by hyperpolarization-inducing currents, we investigated the effect of thalamic reticular inhibition during high-voltage spindles on directional spiking. While the selective directional firing of thalamic neurons was preserved, we found no evidence for entrainment of thalamic head direction cells by high-voltage spindle oscillations. We then examined the role of depolarization-inducing currents in the formation of separation angle. Using a single-compartment Hodgkin-Huxley model, we show that modeled neurons fire with higher frequencies during the ascending phase of sinusoidal current injection (mimicking the head direction tuning curve) when simulated with higher high-threshold calcium channel conductance. These findings demonstrate that the turn-specific encoding of directional signal strongly depends on the ability of thalamic neurons to fire irregularly in response to sinusoidal excitatory activation. Another crucial factor for inducing phase lead to sinusoidal current injection was the presence of spike-frequency adaptation current in the modeled neurons. Our data support a model in which intrinsic biophysical properties of thalamic neurons mediate the physiological encoding of directional information.