Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Renal denervation and heart failure

Renal denervation has been developed in order to lower systolic blood pressure in resistant hypertension by a reduction in renal afferent and efferent sympathetic nerve activity. In heart failure sympathetic activation, in particular, renal norepinephrine release is closely associated with morbidity and mortality. Initial studies have shown that renal denervation is able to reduce not only blood pressure but also heart rate, and is associated with a reduction in myocardial hypertrophy, improved glucose tolerance, and ameliorated microalbuminuria. Since some experimental and observational data suggest an antiarrhythmic effect, it is possible that renal denervation might also play a therapeutic role in arrhythmias often occurring in chronic heart failure. The first proof‐of‐concept studies are planned to evaluate the clinical effect of this pathophysiologically plausible method, which might be able to change clinical practice.
Striving Towards R&D Collaboration Performance: The Effect of Asymmetry, Trust and Contracting

This paper examines the effects of trust, asymmetry and contracting in R&D collaboration. At best, asymmetry brings major benefits to collaborating firms, but it may also become the basis of dissimilar orientation towards informal and formal governance methods, which makes managing the collaboration and reaching goals more complex. These issues are studied among 87 small Finnish ICT firms and the findings indicate that drawing overly straight generalizations on the roles of trust, contracting and asymmetry in R&D collaboration is risky. They all are closely bound together, affect each other differently, and have multiple dimensions.
HLA-Promiscuous Th1-Cell Reactivity of MPT64 (Rv1980c), a Major Secreted Antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in Healthy Subjects

Objective: To determine HLA-promiscuous Th1-cell reactivity of MPT64 (Rv1980c) in healthy humans. Materials and Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained from healthy subjects (n = 61) and HLA typed genomically. PBMCs were tested for Th1-cell reactivity (antigen-induced proliferation and interferon-γ secretion) with complex antigens (whole cells, culture filtrate and cell walls) and single secreted antigens (Ag85B, MPT64 and MPB70) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In addition, culture-filtrate-induced T-cell lines were established from PBMCs of 14 donors and tested with the above antigens in Th1-cell assays. Furthermore, 3 T-cell lines were tested for cytotoxic activity against MPT64-pulsed monocytes/macrophages, and a T-cell line was analysed for HLA restriction in antigen presentation using anti-HLA class I and class II monoclonal antibodies and HLA-DR-typed antigen-presenting cells. Results: PBMCs showed strong Th1-cell reactivity with all of the complex mycobacterial antigens, whereas MPT64 induced moderate Th1-cell reactivity, which was comparable to the reactivity induced by other previously characterized secreted antigens of M. tuberculosis, i.e. Ag85B and MBP70. Furthermore, HLA heterogeneity of the responding donors suggested that MPT64 was presented to Th1 cells promiscuously. Testing of the T-cell lines confirmed that Th1 cells contributed to the promiscuous antigen-specific reactivity observed with PBMCs and exhibited cytotoxic activity against MPT64-pulsed monocytes/macrophages. In addition, a T-cell line investigated for HLA restriction analysis showed that MPT64 was presented to T cells in association with HLA-DR molecules in a promiscuous manner. Conclusion: MPT64 is promiscuously recognized by human Th1 cells with cytotoxic activity and therefore deserves consideration as a candidate vaccine against tuberculosis in humans.
Winds of Change: East Asia's Sustainable Energy Future

This report focuses on East Asia's sustainable energy development in its middle-income countries: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. This report suggests the strategic direction for the region to get onto a sustainable energy path over the next two decades, and presents policy tools and financing mechanisms to get there. The main conclusion is that such a path of maintaining economic growth, mitigating climate change, and improving energy security is within reach of the region's countries. However, what is required is a paradigm shift to a new low-carbon development model. Countries need to act now to transform the energy sector toward much higher energy efficiency and more widespread deployment of low-carbon technologies. At the same time, the speed and scale of urbanization in the region presents an unrivalled opportunity to build low-carbon cities by integrating sustainable energy technologies, compact urban planning, water management, and public transport. While many countries in the region are already taking steps in this direction, accelerating the speed and scaling up the efforts are needed to reach a sustainable energy path. To move the region to a sustainable energy path, the commitment of the respective governments and communities is essential. The governments will need energy-pricing reforms that no longer encourage the use of fossil fuels, and put in place regulations and incentives that improve energy efficiency and support low-carbon technologies. The governments also will need to ramp up research and development for new technologies to leapfrog to the clean energy revolution.
Human activity recognition based on kinematic features

This paper proposes a new approach to recognize human actions in 2D sequences, based on real‐time visual tracking and simple feature extraction of human activities in video sequences. The proposed method emphasizes the simplicity of the strategies used, in an attempt to describe human actions as precisely as other more sophisticated (and more computationally demanding) methods in the literature. Specifically, we propose three complementary modules for the following: (a) tracking; (b) feature extraction; and (c) action recognition. The first module is based on the hybridization of a particle filter and a local search procedure and makes use of a reduced integral image to speed up the weight computation. The feature extraction module characterizes the silhouette of the tracked person by dividing it into rectangular boxes. Then, the system computes statistics on the evolution of these rectangular boxes over time. Finally, the action recognition module passes these statistics to a support vector machine to classify the actions. Experimental results show that the proposed method works in real‐time, and its performance is competitive against other state‐of‐the‐art methods.
The first observation of p-type electromigration failure in full ruthenium interconnects

We show the first electromigration (EM) failures of full ruthenium interconnects with a cross sectional area of 60nm2. The void is observed at the anode, which demonstrates that in p-type metals, such as Ru, the electromigration force acts in the direction of the electric field. The conventional representation of electromigration as electrons transferring their momentum onto the metal ions, thus has to be adapted for such metals. Moreover, we find that diffusion at the Ru-SiO2 interface is the dominant diffusion mechanism for EM failure in these specific Ru lines.
Do Franchise Systems Advertise Enough? U.S. Restaurant Expenditures and Performance 1989 to 1998

Abstract A recent article has raised the question “Do Franchised Systems Advertise Enough? ” (Michael 1999), showing that franchised restaurant and hotel systems expend a significantly lower amount of advertising as a percent of sales than do corporate chains. This article examines this concern by using longitudinal data from franchised restaurant chains' advertising expenditures from 1989 through 1998. First, the article examines the proportions of expenditures recorded in Ad $ Summary, showing that the amounts expressed as percentage of sales, are quite variable both within and across franchise systems, in contrast to how the advertising budgets are established. Second, an analysis shows a substantial amount of variance in these expenditures can be attributed to the size, ownership, and contractual nature of the franchise system. Last, a withinsystem analysis of advertising expenditures and store performance indicates the majority of franchises systems are at a stage with few returns to advertising. While the proportion of franchisee ownership in franchised systems is associated with lower advertising expenditures, the results show that advertising within franchised chains are at a level of competitive parity with corporate restaurant chains and finds no evidence to support gains from increasing expenditures.
Face recognition based on fractional Fourier transform and PCA

Energy distribution over fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) can represent more characters of face images in different angles, which can improve recognition accuracy. This paper presents a novel method for face recognition based on FRFT and Principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, the face images are transformed into FRFT domain. Then PCA is adopted to reduce the dimension of face images. In the end, Mahalanobis distance is used for classifying. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms traditional method. This provides new insights into the role that preprocessing methods play in dealing with images.
Development of Signature-Tagged Mutagenesis in Burkholderia pseudomallei To Identify Genes Important in Survival and Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is an important human pathogen in Southeast Asia and northern Australia for which a vaccine is unavailable. A panel of 892 double signature-tagged mutants was screened for virulence using an intranasal BALB/c mouse model of infection. A novel DNA tag microarray identified 33 mutants as being attenuated in spleens, while 6 were attenuated in both lungs and spleens. The transposon insertion sites in spleen-attenuated mutants revealed genes involved in several stages of capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis and DNA replication and repair, a putative oxidoreductase, ABC transporters, and a lipoprotein that may be important in intercellular spreading. The six mutants identified as missing in both lungs and spleens were found to have insertions in recA involved in the SOS response and DNA repair; putative auxotrophs of leucine, threonine, p-aminobenzoic acid, and a mutant with an insertion in aroB causing auxotrophy for aromatic compounds were also found. Murine challenge studies revealed partial protection in BALB/c mice vaccinated with the aroB mutant. The refined signature-tagged mutagenesis approach developed in this study was used to efficiently identify attenuating mutants from this highly pathogenic species and could be applied to other organisms.
Underscreening in ionic liquids: a first principles analysis

An attempt is made to understand the underscreening effect, observed in concentrated electrolyte solutions or melts, on the basis of simple, admittedly crude models involving charged (for the ions) and neutral (for the solvent molecules) hard spheres. The thermodynamic and structural properties of these ‘primitive’ and ‘semi-primitive’ models are calculated within mean spherical approximation, which provides the basic input required to determine the partial density response functions. The screening length λS, which is unambiguously defined in terms of the wave-number-dependent response functions, exhibits a cross-over from a low density, Debye-like regime, to a regime where λS increases with density beyond a critical density at which the Debye length λD becomes comparable to the ion diameter. In this high density regime the ratio λS/λD increases according to a power law, in qualitative agreement with experimental measurements, albeit at a much slower rate.
Effect of Power-Frequency Magnetic Fields on Genome-Scale Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract Nakasono, S. , Laramee, C. , Saiki, H. and McLeod, K. J. Effect of Power-Frequency Magnetic Fields on Genome-Scale Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Radiat. Res. 160, 25–37 (2003). To estimate the effect of 50 Hz magnetic-field exposure on genome-wide gene expression, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used as a model for eukaryotes. 2D PAGE (about 1,000 spots) for protein and cDNA microarray (about 5,900 genes) analysis for mRNA were performed. The cells were exposed to 50 Hz vertical magnetic fields at 10, 150 or 300 mT r.m.s. for 24 h. As positive controls, the cells were exposed to aerobic conditions, heat (40°C) or minimal medium. The 2D PAGE and microarray analyses for the positive controls showed high-confidence differential expression of many genes including those for known or unknown proteins and mRNAs. For magnetic-field exposure, no high-confidence changes in expression were observed for proteins or genes that were related to heat-shock response, DNA repair, respiration, protein synthesis and the cell cycle. Principal component analysis showed no statistically significant difference in principal components, with only insignificant differences between the magnetic-field intensities studied. In contrast, the principal components for the positive controls were significantly different. The results indicate that a 50 Hz magnetic field below 300 mT did not act as a general stress factor like heat shock or DNA damage, as had been reported previously by others. This study failed to find a plausible differential gene expression that would point to a possible mechanism of an effect of magnetic fields. The findings provide no evidence that the magnetic-field exposure alters the fundamental mechanism of translation and transcription in eukaryotic cells.
Evaluating Québec's preference for Alberta beef versus US beef

This study evaluates the preferences for beef quality and beef origin in the Quebec wholesaler|retailer trade and in those restaurants serving or specializing in higher quality beef cuts. Stated preference survey questions, questions that simulate the purchase decision, were asked of managers and owners of beef wholesalers|retailers and restaurateurs in the Montreal and Quebec city areas. If given a choice of Alberta beef or US beef, restaurateurs will choose Alberta beef. Wholesalers|retailers are less sensitive to price than are the restaurateurs. Beef from the United States is not preferred to Alberta beef but US beef is preferred to local Quebec beef supplies. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Email network analysis for leadership

Seventy two middle managers' performance evaluation of a case global TQM manufacturer were statistically compared with the email network centralities. Betweenness and In-degree network centralities of the middle managers are correlated with their leadership performance, and, on the other hand, PageRank is a negative indicator of leadership. Genuine leaders are trusted in their communities as a hub of information channel of the communication network.
Hyperthermia: a failure of the motor cortex and the muscle

Fatigue is increased during hyperthermia, and torque declines more rapidly in sustained maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs). This can be caused by a greater decline in voluntary activation of muscle (i.e. ‘central fatigue’). The present study aimed to localize the site of failure of voluntary drive during hyperthermia. Seven subjects made brief (2–3 s) and sustained (2 min) MVCs of elbow flexor muscles in two experiments. Core temperature was normal (∼37°C) in the first experiment, and elevated (∼38.5°C) by passive heating in the second. During some MVCs, transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex (TMS) was delivered, and the evoked torque (superimposed twitch) and EMG responses were measured. During hyperthermia, voluntary torque was reduced by ∼2.4% during brief MVCs (P= 0.03), and decreased further (∼12%) during sustained MVCs (P= 0.01). The superimposed twitch amplitude in the sustained MVC was ∼50% larger (P= 0.01). Thus, the ability to drive the muscle maximally in a sustained fashion was decreased, and some motor cortical output, which could have increased torque, remained untapped by voluntary drive. The additional central fatigue was not associated with altered motor cortical ‘excitability’, as EMG responses produced by TMS were similar at the two temperatures. However, the peak relaxation rate of muscle increased by ∼20% (P= 0.005) during hyperthermia. Hence, faster motor unit firing rates would be required to produce fusion of force. The increased central fatigue during hyperthermia may represent a failure of descending voluntary drive to compensate for changed muscle properties, despite the availability of additional cortical output.
Multiple-system atrophy.

n engl j med 372;14 nejm.org april 2, 2015 1374 were excluded (7177 patients were included). Significant reductions in stent thrombosis with continued thienopyridine, as compared with placebo, were observed within 3 months after randomization (0% vs. 0.23%, P = 0.01), and the difference increased over the 12-to-30-month treatment period (0.23% vs. 0.72%; hazard ratio, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.15 to 0.72; P = 0.004). Furthermore, in this subgroup analysis, as in the primary analysis, continued thienopyridine was associated with a larger absolute risk reduction for myocardial infarction that was not related to stent thrombosis (absolute difference, 0.81 percentage points), as compared with the risk reduction for the end point of stent thrombosis. These findings highlight the relevance of the study results to current coronary procedures and secondary prevention of myocardial infarction. Laura Mauri, M.D.
Squamous cell carcinoma–related oncogene (SCCRO) neddylates Cul3 protein to selectively promote midbody localization and activity of Cul3KLHL21 protein complex during abscission

Squamous cell carcinoma–related oncogene (SCCRO)/DCUN1D1, a component of the neddylation E3 complex, regulates the activity of the cullin–RING–ligase type of ubiquitination E3s by promoting neddylation of cullin family members. Studies have shown that SCCRO regulates proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Here we show that inactivation of SCCRO results in prolonged mitotic time because of delayed and/or failed abscission. The effects of SCCRO on abscission involve its role in neddylation and localization of Cul3 to the midbody. The Cul3 adaptor KLHL21 mediates the effects of SCCRO on abscission, as it fails to localize to the midbody in SCCRO-deficient cells during abscission, and its inactivation resulted in phenotypic changes identical to SCCRO inactivation. Ubiquitination-promoted turnover of Aurora B at the midbody was deficient in SCCRO- and KLHL21-deficient cells, suggesting that it is the target of Cul3KLHL21 at the midbody. Correction of abscission delays in SCCRO-deficient cells with addition of an Aurora B inhibitor at the midbody stage suggests that Aurora B is the target of SCCRO-promoted Cul3KLHL21 activity. The activity of other Cul3-anchored complexes, including Cul3KLHL9/KLHL13, was intact in SCCRO-deficient cells, suggesting that SCCRO selectively, rather than collectively, neddylates cullins in vivo. Combined, these findings support a model in which the SCCRO, substrate, and substrate adaptors cooperatively provide tight control of neddylation and cullin–RING–ligase activity in vivo.
Comprehensive analysis of dengue virus-specific responses supports an HLA-linked protective role for CD8+ T cells

Significance Dengue virus is the etiologic agent of dengue fever, the most significant mosquito-borne viral disease in humans, affecting over 100 million individuals each year. Currently there is no licensed vaccine or effective antiviral therapy available, and treatment is largely supportive in nature. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of functional T-cell memory against dengue viruses and suggests an HLA-linked protective role for CD8+ T cells. This demonstration of the protective role of T-cell responses points the way forward to identifying robust correlates of protection in natural immunity and vaccination against dengue virus. The role of CD8+ T cells in dengue virus infection and subsequent disease manifestations is not fully understood. According to the original antigenic sin theory, skewing of T-cell responses induced by primary infection with one serotype causes less effective response upon secondary infection with a different serotype, predisposing individuals to severe disease. A comprehensive analysis of CD8+ responses in the general population from the Sri Lankan hyperendemic area, involving the measurement of ex vivo IFNγ responses associated with more than 400 epitopes, challenges the original antigenic sin theory. Although skewing of responses toward primary infecting viruses was detected, this was not associated with impairment of responses either qualitatively or quantitatively. Furthermore, we demonstrate higher magnitude and more polyfunctional responses for HLA alleles associated with decreased susceptibility to severe disease, suggesting that a vigorous response by multifunctional CD8+ T cells is associated with protection from dengue virus disease.
Backward Intergenerational Goods and Endogenous Fertility

This paper characterizes the consequences of introducing the public provision of intergenerational goods to the elderly in a model with endogenous fertility. With exogenous fertility, it has been shown that the government can mandate the first-best outcome by simply imposing the socially optimal transfer. By contrast, with endogenous fertility, the government can no longer enforce this outcome. This is due, in part, to the effects of mandatory provision on the birth rate. However, taxes may still have a salubrious effect on social welfare as they can eliminate particularly bad equilibria. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Synovial membrane inflammation and cytokine production in patients with early osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE To establish the presence of inflammation in and cytokine production by synovial membranes from patients with various stages of early osteoarthritis (OA), with knee pain, normal knee radiographs, and arthroscopic evidence of chondral damage. METHODS Synovial membrane samples were obtained from the knees of 63 patients at the time of arthroscopy for unexplained knee pain or at the time of joint replacement surgery. Evaluations of synovial membrane variables including thickness of lining layer, vascularity, and inflammatory cell infiltrate were by a blinded observer. In a subset of 20 patients, production of interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) at the mRNA and protein levels was determined using in situ hybridization with biotin labeled ribo-probes and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS There was evidence of thickening of the lining layer, increased vascularity, and inflammatory cell infiltration in synovial membranes from patients with all grades of OA, with the most marked changes seen in synovial tissue from patients with advanced grades of OA. Similarly, production of IL-1 alpha, IL-1 beta, and TNF-alpha was present in synovial membranes from all patients with OA, irrespective of the degree of articular cartilage damage. There was a trend to decreased levels of IL-1ra in synovial membranes from patients with OA that did not attain statistical significance. Similarly, there was a decrease in the ratio of IL-1ra to IL-1 alpha and beta with increasing grades of OA. CONCLUSION Chronic inflammatory changes with production of proinflammatory cytokines are a feature of synovial membranes from patients with early OA, with the most severe changes seen in patients at the time of joint replacement surgery resembling those seen in rheumatoid arthritis. This low grade synovitis results in the production of cytokines that may contribute to the pathogenesis of OA.