Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Leukemic predisposition of mice transplanted with gene-modified hematopoietic precursors expressing flt3 ligand.

flt3/flk-2 ligand (FL) is a cytokine that exhibits synergistic activities in combination with other early acting factors on subpopulations of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. In addition to normal hematopoietic precursors, expression of the FL receptor, flt3R, has been frequently demonstrated on the blast cells from patients with acute B-lineage lymphoblastic, myeloid, and biphenotypic (also known as hybrid or mixed) leukemias. Because many of these leukemic cell types express FL, the possibility has been raised that altered regulation of FL-mediated signaling might contribute to malignant transformation or expansion of the leukemic clone. In humans, FL is predominantly synthesized as a transmembrane protein that must undergo proteolytic cleavage to generate a soluble form. To investigate the consequences of constitutively expressing the analogous murine FL isoform in murine hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, lethally irradiated syngeneic mice (18 total) were engrafted with post-5-fluorouracil-treated bone marrow cells transduced ex vivo with a recombinant retroviral vector (MSCV-FL) encoding murine transmembrane FL. Compared with control mice (8 total), MSCV-FL mice presented with a mild macrocytic anemia but were otherwise healthy for more than 5 months posttransplant (until 22 weeks). Subsequently, all primary MSCV-FL recipients observed for up to 1 year plus 83% (20 of 24) of secondary MSCV-FL animals that had received bone marrow from asymptomatic primary hosts reconstituted for 4 to 5 months developed transplantable hematologic malignancies (with mean latency periods of 30 and 23 weeks, respectively). Phenotypic and molecular analyses indicated that the tumor cells expressed flt3R and displayed B-cell and/or myeloid markers. These data, establishing that dysregulated expression of FL in primitive hematopoietic cells predisposes flt3R+ precursors to leukemic transformation, underscore a potential role of this cytokine/receptor combination in certain human leukemias.
Building a High Serviceability Model by Checkpointing and Replication Strategy in Cloud Computing Environments

High fault tolerance issue is one of the major obstacles for opening up the new era of high serviceability cloud computing as fault tolerance plays a key role in order to ensure cloud serviceability. In most current clouds, check pointing, the process of saving application states, and replication, the process of replicating hot data, usually to stable storage, have been the two most common fault tolerance strategies. However, when, where, and how often to insert check pointing or to replicate hot data have become challenges and are ignored in clouds. In this paper, the definitions of fault, error, and failure in a cloud are given, a high serviceability model by check pointing and replication strategy HSCR is put forward. It includes: (1) analyzing the mathematical relationship between different failure rates and two different fault tolerance strategies, which are check pointing fault tolerance strategy and data replication fault tolerance strategy, (2) building a high serviceability check pointing fault tolerance model and a high serviceability replication fault tolerance model by combining the two fault tolerance models together to maximize the serviceability and meet the SLOs. Experimental results conclusively demonstrate that the high serviceability model HSCR has high potential as it provides efficient fault tolerance enhancements, significant cloud serviceability improvement, and great SLOs satisfaction.
Exploring the use of type-2 fuzzy sets in multi-criteria decision making based on TOPSIS

Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problems are a well known category of decision making problem that has received much attention in the literature, with a key approach being the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). While TOPSIS has been developed towards the use of Type-2 Fuzzy Sets (T2FS), to date, the additional information provided by T2FSs in TOPSIS has been largely ignored since the final output, the Closeness Coefficient (CC), has remained a crisp value. In this paper, we develop an alternative approach to T2 fuzzy TOPSIS, where the final CC values adopt an interval-valued form. We show in a series of systematically designed experiments, how increasing uncertainty in the T2 membership functions affects the interval-valued CC outputs. Specifically, we highlight the complex behaviour in terms of the relationship of the uncertainty levels and the outputs, including non-symmetric and non-linear growth in the CC intervals in response to linearly growing levels of uncertainty. As the first TOPSIS approach which provides an interval-valued output to capture output uncertainty, the proposed method is designed to reduce the loss of information and to maximize the benefit of using T2FSs. The initial results indicate substantial potential in the further development and exploration of the proposed and similar approaches and the paper highlights promising next steps.
Alternative Sigma Factor σH Modulates Prophage Integration and Excision in Staphylococcus aureus

The prophage is one of the most important components of variable regions in bacterial genomes. Some prophages carry additional genes that may enhance the toxicity and survival ability of their host bacteria. This phenomenon is predominant in Staphylococcus aureus, a very common human pathogen. Bioinformatics analysis of several staphylococcal prophages revealed a highly conserved 40-bp untranslated region upstream of the int gene. A small transcript encoding phage integrase was identified to be initiated from the region, demonstrating that the untranslated region contained a promoter for int. No typical recognition sequence for either σA or σB was identified in the 40-bp region. Experiments both in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that σH recognized the promoter and directed transcription. Genetic deletion of sigH altered the int expression, and subsequently, the excision proportion of prophage DNAs. Phage assays further showed that sigH affected the ability of spontaneous lysis and lysogenization in S. aureus, suggesting that sigH plays a role in stabilizing the lysogenic state. These findings revealed a novel mechanism of prophage integration specifically regulated by a host-source alternative sigma factor. This mechanism suggests a co-evolution strategy of staphylococcal prophages and their host bacteria.
Social Experience-Dependent Myelination: An Implication for Psychiatric Disorders

Myelination is one of the strategies to promote the conduction velocity of axons in order to adjust to evolving environment in vertebrates. It has been shown that myelin formation depends on genetic programing and experience, including multiple factors, intracellular and extracellular molecules, and neuronal activities. Recently, accumulating studies have shown that myelination in the central nervous system changes more dynamically in response to neuronal activities and experience than expected. Among experiences, social experience-dependent myelination draws attention as one of the critical pathobiologies of psychiatric disorders. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms of neuronal activity-dependent and social experience-dependent myelination and discuss the contribution of social experience-dependent myelination to the pathology of psychiatric disorders.
Expression of Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels in Human and Mouse Colonic Carcinoma

Purpose: Voltage-gated Kv potassium channels, like ether a go-go (EAG) channels, have been recognized for their oncogenic potential in breast cancer and other malignant tumors. Experimental Design: We examined the molecular and functional expression of Kv channels in human colonic cancers and colon of mice treated with the chemical carcinogens dimethylhydrazine and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. The data were compared with results from control mice and animals with chemically induced DSS colitis. Results: Electrogenic salt transport by amiloride-sensitive Na+ channels and cyclic AMP–activated cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator Cl− channels were attenuated during tumor development and colitis, whereas Ca2+-dependent transport remained unchanged. Kv channels, in particular Eag-1, were enhanced during carcinogenesis. Multiplex reverse transcription-PCR showed increased mRNA expression for Kv1.3, Kv1.5, Kv3.1, and members of the Eag channel family, after dimethylhydrazine and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea treatment. Eag-1 protein was detected in the malignant mouse colon and human colonic cancers. Genomic amplification of Eag-1 was found in 3.4% of all human colorectal adenocarcinoma and was an independent marker of adverse prognosis. Conclusions: The study predicts an oncogenic role of Kv and Eag channels for the development of colonic cancer. These channels may represent an important target for a novel pharmacotherapy of colonic cancer.
Depressive Symptoms and Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in Young Adults: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Objective: Depression and coronary heart disease are often comorbid conditions, but the mechanism behind this link is largely unknown. We tested the hypothesis that a high level of depressive symptoms in healthy young adults would be related to more prevalent preclinical atherosclerosis. Methods: We studied the association between depressive symptoms and carotid atherosclerosis in 1126 young adults (410 men and 716 women) as part of the ongoing population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. The participants responded to a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory in 1992, 1997, and 2001. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by measuring the thickness of the common carotid artery intima-media complex with ultrasound in 2001. Cardiovascular risk factors were measured in childhood/adolescence (1980) and in adulthood (2001). Results: In men, high scorers of depressive symptoms in 2001 had higher carotid artery intima-media thickness (0.63 mm) compared with those with low or moderate scores on depressive symptoms (0.57 mm). This relationship (B = 0.08, F[1, 405] = 9.24, p = .003) persisted after adjustment for age and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescence and adulthood. Depression scores in 1992 and 1997 were not predictive of intima-media thickness. In women, no association was found between depressive symptoms and intima-media thickness. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms during early adulthood seem to be associated with higher levels of carotid intima-media thickness in men, but not in women. LDL = low-density lipoprotein; HDL = high-density lipoprotein; CHD = cardiovascular heart disease; CRYF = Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns; IMT = intima-media thickness; BDI = Beck's Depression Inventory.
THE STUDY OF MS USING MRI, IMAGE PROCESSING, AND VISUALIZATION

iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank all those that made his education at the University of Louisville possible, including the many contributors to the scholarship funds of which he was profoundly honored to be a recipient. valuable time guiding this work, commenting on its quality, and for many suggestions on how to make the tools developed more applicable in the setting of medical research and clinical use. The author would also like to thank the additional members of his thesis committee for their review and critique of his work, including Dr. Stephen Hushek of Last but not least, the author would like to sincerely thank his parents, Michael and Kathy Nett, for putting up with him, and his grandmother, Agnita Nett, for a place to stay. Without their support, this work would have not been possible. iv ABSTRACT Multiple sclerosis (MS), a well known disease of the nervous system in which the myelin sheaths of axons are damaged, may be imaged using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modalities. In this research, image analysis, volume registration, and scientific visualization techniques are applied for quantitative and qualitative analysis of the response of the disease to a proposed treatment regimen. Image analysis techniques are applied, with the objective of automated and reliable quantitative evaluation of MS lesions in the brain, through segmentation and classification of the brain and MS lesions. To facilitate a time-series analysis of lesions, a volume registration technique is applied to geometrically align MRI scans taken at different times over the course of treatment. Additionally, scientific visualization techniques are utilized to facilitate three-dimensional analysis of the disease pathology, and evaluation of changes in the structure of lesions over a period of treatment. The result of these efforts is a preliminary system for the study of MS using MRI.
Stem Cell-Based Approaches for the Treatment of Diabetes

The incidence of diabetes and the associated debilitating complications are increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Current therapies for type 1 diabetes focus primarily on administration of exogenous insulin to help restore glucose homeostasis. However, such treatment rarely prevents the long-term complications of this serious metabolic disorder, including neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease. Whole pancreas or islet transplantations have enjoyed limited success in some individuals, but these approaches are hampered by the shortage of suitable donors and the burden of lifelong immunosuppression. Here, we review current approaches to differentiate nonislet cell types towards an islet-cell phenotype which may be used for larger-scale cell replacement strategies. In particular, the differentiation protocols used to direct embryonic stem cells, progenitor cells of both endocrine and nonendocrine origin, and induced pluripotent stem cells towards an islet-cell phenotype are discussed.
Integrating computer-mediated tools into the language curriculum

The study reported in this paper investigated second-year junior college students' attitudes and perceptions towards the web as an educational resource. The students in southern Taiwan were given an introduction to Internet use for research projects. Study data was collected using surveys and observation. Factor analysis was employed to identify six areas for further t-test analysis: cognitive disorientation, learning anxiety, perceived enhancement of language ability, perceived enhancement of cultural under-standing, the web considered as a useful search tool and the overall perception of language learning on the web. The study showed that computer networks have the potential to empower students when they are implemented appropriately. Some pedagogical suggestions are made for the effective use of computer networking for second and foreign language learning.
The URREF ontology for semantic wide area motion imagery exploitation

Current advances operational information fusion systems (IFSs) require common semantic ontologies for collection, storage, and access to multi intelligence information. One example is the connections between physics-based (e.g. video) and text-based (e.g. reports) describing the same situation. Situation, user, and mission awareness are enabled through a common ontology. In this paper, we utilize the uncertainty representation and reasoning evaluation framework (URREF) ontology as a basis for describing wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) analysis to determine uncertainty attributes. As part of the Evaluation of Technologies for Uncertainty Representation Working Group (ETURWG), both the URREF and a WAMI challenge problem are available for research purposes from which we provide an exemplar schema to link physics-based and text-based uncertainty representations to explore a common uncertainty demonstration.
Automatic generation of plant topologies by analysing operations data

This paper introduces an algorithm to construct a plant topology from analyzing correlations in operations data and iteratively combining pieces of information to the final result. Selected domain specific rules are given in detail and applied to a feeder unit example of a continuous process plant. The final result is good in accordance with the initial example P&ID. Benefits of the method and further research fields are discussed.
Changing Mad2 Levels Affects Chromosome Segregation and Spindle Assembly Checkpoint Control in Female Mouse Meiosis I

The spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) ensures correct separation of sister chromatids in somatic cells and provokes a cell cycle arrest in metaphase if one chromatid is not correctly attached to the bipolar spindle. Prolonged metaphase arrest due to overexpression of Mad2 has been shown to be deleterious to the ensuing anaphase, leading to the generation of aneuploidies and tumorigenesis. Additionally, some SAC components are essential for correct timing of prometaphase. In meiosis, we and others have shown previously that the Mad2-dependent SAC is functional during the first meiotic division in mouse oocytes. Expression of a dominant-negative form of Mad2 interferes with the SAC in metaphase I, and a knock-down approach using RNA interference accelerates anaphase onset in meiosis I. To prove unambigiously the importance of SAC control for mammalian female meiosis I we analyzed oocyte maturation in Mad2 heterozygote mice, and in oocytes overexpressing a GFP-tagged version of Mad2. In this study we show for the first time that loss of one Mad2 allele, as well as overexpression of Mad2 lead to chromosome missegregation events in meiosis I, and therefore the generation of aneuploid metaphase II oocytes. Furthermore, SAC control is impaired in mad2+/- oocytes, also leading to the generation of aneuploidies in meiosis I.
Extension of the Hall-Petch relation to two-ductile-phase alloys

Abstract The Hall-Petch relation, developed originally for single-phase alloys, has been extended to alloys containing two ductile phases. The extended Hall-Petch relation can separate the contributions from the different kinds of boundary to the overall efficiency of grain and phase boundaries as obstacles to dislocation motion. The overall friction stress and the overall Hall-Petch coefficient for the two-ductile-phase alloys have been derived as functions of the Hall-Petch constants of the different constituent phases and their microstructural parameters. The extended Hall-Petch relation has been applied to α-β Ti-Mn alloys, α-β Cu-Zn alloys and α-γ Fe-Cr-Ni stainless steels to evaluate the efficiency of the phase boundaries as obstacles to dislocation motion. It is concluded that phase boundaries are not always the strongest obstacles to dislocation motion as in the case of α-γ Fe-Cr-Ni stainless steels.
Management of Severe Equinovalgus in Patients With Cerebral Palsy by Naviculectomy in Combination With Midfoot Arthrodesis

Background: Equinovalgus deformity is the second most common deformity in cerebral palsy and may be flexible or rigid. Several operative methods from joint sparing to arthrodesis have been described with varying success rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of naviculectomy in combination with midfoot arthrodesis (talo-cuneiform and calcaneocuboid arthrodesis) in the correction of a rigid equinovalgus foot deformity in cerebral palsy. Methods: Forty-eight rigid equinovalgus feet were operated upon in 30 patients from 2008 to 2013. Of these, 44 feet in 26 patients with cerebral palsy (Gross Motor Function Classification System III, IV, or V) with follow-up of more than 2 years were included in the study. The mean age at surgery was 18.1 years. The outcomes were measured objectively using radiographic angles and subjectively using 5 questions to be answered by the caregiver. The feet were then graded into excellent, good, fair, and poor. The mean follow-up was 5.0 ± 1.7 years. Results: Excellent to good results were obtained in 81% of the feet. Both objective and subjective outcomes improved significantly postoperatively (P < .001). Three feet in 2 patients were graded as poor and underwent a revision operation for pain and recurrence. Conclusions: Naviculectomy in combination with midfoot arthrodesis enabled a good 3-dimensional correction of the forefoot. However, the procedure did not necessarily correct the fixed subtalar joint deformity. Several additional bony and soft-tissue procedures were necessary to achieve a complete correction in these difficult feet. Level of Evidence: Level IV, retrospective case series.
A Digital-Calibrated Transmitter-to-Receiver Isolator in Radar Applications

A digital-calibrated isolator for radar is proposed to improve transmitter-to-receiver isolation in this letter. The proposed isolator consists of feedforward and digital-calibrated circuits to cancel the transmitter-to-receiver leakage power. The proposed isolator is implemented in 0.18-<formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">$\mu$</tex></formula>m CMOS technology which shows 27.3 dB isolation while consuming 13.5 mW dc power. The <formula formulatype="inline"> <tex Notation="TeX">${\rm OP}_{1\,{\rm dB}}$</tex></formula> of the transmitter-to-antenna is better than <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${+}13.5$</tex> </formula> dBm.
Non-Convex Decoding for Σ ∆-Quantized Compressed Sensing

Recently Güntürk et al. showed that Σ∆ quantization is more effective than memoryless scalar quantization (MSQ) when applied to compressed sensing measurements of sparse signals. MSQ with the l decoder recovers an approximation to the original sparse signal with an error proportional to the quantization step size δQ. For an r-th order Σ∆ scheme the reconstruction accuracy can be improved by a factor of (m/k) for any 0 < α < 1 if m & k(logN), with high probability on the measurement matrix. The method requires a preliminary support recovery stage for which r cannot be too large and δQ must be sufficiently small. In this paper, we remove this requirement, showing that the constrained l and l (for sufficiently small τ ) minimization problems subject to a Σ∆-type quantization constraint would approximate the original signal from the Σ∆ quantized measurements with a comparable reconstruction accuracy. We note that these results allow us to achieve root-exponential reconstruction accuracy while using a fixed quantization alphabet.