Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Directing macromolecular assemblies by tailored surface functionalizations of nanoporous alumina

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is a nanoporous material with parallel, hexagonally-ordered, cylindrical pores running straight through the material s thickness. A method to deposit highly ordered AAO thin-films, with adjustable 1-10 mm thicknesses, on various surfaces was developed to allow the in-situ study of its dielectric response by optical waveguide spectroscopy (OWS). The Layer-by-Layer deposition within AAO of different types of macromolecules was studied: dendrimer polyelectrolytes, linear polyelectrolytes and proteins. Working at low ionic strength was found to inhibit macromolecular transport within the cylindrical nanopores due to electrostatic repulsion between macromolecules in solution and those adsorbed atop the AAO. Under optimal charge screening conditions, LbL proceeded in a similar fashion as on a planar surface, until multilayer growth became inhibited due to the confined cylindrical geometry that imposes a physical limit to macromolecular deposition and the pore diameter was reduced to 20-35 nm. The LbL growth was dependent on the physical structure of the LbL film, dictated by the size, shape and nature of the interaction between macromolecules. A method for the orthogonal functionalization of AAO was developed to selectively protect the silanized pore-rim AAO surface with a thin gold layer. Subsequent plasma treatments remove the unprotected silanization, such that AAO with different pore-rim and pore-interior surface chemistries were produced. This method was used to direct the formation of both hybrid and fluid pore-spanning membranes on the AAO surface by giant liposome rupture. These lipid membranes effectively encapsulate the AAO pore-interior liquid environment and act as real physical barriers. We demonstrated that these membranes could exclude proteins from entering the nanopores, or alternatively, that they can prevent encapsulated fluorescent dyes from escaping the nanopores. Finally, the homogeneous modification of AAO with a laterally mobile lipid monolayer in three-dimension s was achieved in order to control the amount of protein deposition within the AAO pores.
Application of fermionic marginal constraints to hybrid quantum algorithms

Many quantum algorithms, including recently proposed hybrid classical/quantum algorithms, make use of restricted tomography of the quantum state that measures the reduced density matrices, or marginals, of the full state. The most straightforward approach to this algorithmic step estimates each component of the marginal independently without making use of the algebraic and geometric structure of the marginals. Within the field of quantum chemistry, this structure is termed the fermionic n-representability conditions, and is supported by a vast amount of literature on both theoretical and practical results related to their approximations. In this work, we introduce these conditions in the language of quantum computation, and utilize them to develop several techniques to accelerate and improve practical applications for quantum chemistry on quantum computers. As a general result, we demonstrate how these marginals concentrate to diagonal quantities when measured on random quantum states. We also show that one can use fermionic n-representability conditions to reduce the total number of measurements required by more than an order of magnitude for medium sized systems in chemistry. As a practical demonstration, we simulate an efficient restoration of the physicality of energy curves for the dilation of a four qubit diatomic hydrogen system in the presence of three distinct one qubit error channels, providing evidence these techniques are useful for pre-fault tolerant quantum chemistry experiments.
Favorable Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes Among Patients With Prior History of Malignancy Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

BACKGROUND Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is now the treatment of choice for high-surgical risk patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis. Little is known regarding the outcome of TAVR in patients with previous malignancy. METHODS We investigated 477 patients who underwent TAVR in a tertiary medical center. Subjects were divided into two groups according to malignancy status: no history of malignancy (n = 386) and positive history of malignancy (n = 91). RESULTS Mean age of the study population was 81 ± 7 years, and 52% were men. No major differences in baseline characteristics were found between groups. All-cause mortality was 24% for both malignancy and non-malignancy groups at a mean follow-up of 851 ± 629 days. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated no difference in all-cause mortality between groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that malignancy status did not affect prognosis regarding overall mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5-1.4; P=.46). However, cancer therapy administered within 12-months of TAVR was significantly associated with increased total mortality among patients undergoing TAVR (HR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.14-16.77; P=.03). CONCLUSIONS Malignancy is a common comorbidity among TAVR candidates. Mere history of malignancy among elderly patients does not adversely affect short-term or long-term outcomes after TAVR; however, history of recent (<1 year) cancer-related treatment increases the risk for long-term mortality after TAVR. Decisions regarding TAVR among oncological patients should be individualized according to their malignancy status and anticipated life expectancy.
Linking Globalization, Economic Growth and Poverty: Impacts of Agribusiness Strategies on Sub-Saharan Africa

AbstractThe following sections are included:Agribusiness Strategies in Emerging Economies: Forces and OutcomesDistributional effects of contracts in emerging economies: Lessons from AfricaDistributional effects of joint venturesDistributional impacts of foreign direct investmentNegotiating an enabling environment: The role of the public sectorPrivate sector initiatives in emerging marketsConclusionsReferences
MicroRNA-202 induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in lung cancer cells through targeting cyclin D1.

OBJECTIVE MicroRNAs are critical regulators in tumorigenesis. This study is aimed at investigating the function of miR-202 in the proliferation of human lung cancer cells. PATIENTS AND METHODS Lung cancer tissues and paired adjacent normal tissues were collected from 20 patients; the expression of miR-202 was tested by Realtime PCR; cell proliferation and cell cycle distribution were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively; apoptosis was determined by TUNEL assay and Western blot analysis of cleaved-PARP; the relationship between miR-202 and cyclin D1 mRNA 3'UTR was determined by luciferase activity assay. RESULTS MiR-202 was significantly reduced in lung cancer tissues compared with the adjacent normal tissues. Overexpression of miR-202 inhibited cell proliferation and induced a G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Luciferase activity assay and Western blot analysis together showed that miR-202 can bind to the 3'UTR of cyclin D1 mRNA directly and inhibits cyclin D1 expression at the protein level. In addition, restoration of cyclin D1 expression partially abolished cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induced by miR-202. CONCLUSIONS MiR-202 is constantly downregulated in lung cancer and functions as a tumor suppressive gene via targeting cyclin D1. Modulating the level of miR-202 may be a novel therapeutic method for lung cancer.
Age at First Viral Infection Determines the Pattern of T Cell–mediated Disease during Reinfection in Adulthood

Infants experiencing severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis have an increased frequency of wheeze and asthma in later childhood. Since most severe RSV infections occur between the 8th and 24th postnatal week, we examined whether age at first infection determines the balance of cytokine production and lung pathology during subsequent rechallenge. Primary RSV infection in newborn mice followed the same viral kinetics as in adults but was associated with reduced and delayed IFN-γ responses. To study rechallenge, mice were infected at 1 day or 1, 4, or 8 weeks of age and reinfected at 12 weeks. Neonatal priming produced more severe weight loss and increased inflammatory cell recruitment (including T helper 2 cells and eosinophils) during reinfection, whereas delayed priming led to enhanced interferon γ production and less severe disease during reinfection. These results show the crucial importance of age at first infection in determining the outcome of reinfection and suggest that the environment of the neonatal lung is a major determinant of cytokine production and disease patterns in later life. Thus, simply delaying RSV infection beyond infancy might reduce subsequent respiratory morbidity in later childhood.
NMR detection of intermolecular interaction sites in the dimeric 5′-leader of the HIV-1 genome

Significance A nucleotide-specific 2H-edited NMR approach was used to determine the nature of the intermolecular interface in the intact, dimeric HIV type-1 (HIV-1) 5′-leader RNA (230 kD). The studies distinguish between previously proposed extended duplex and kissing hairpin models and identify additional intermolecular interaction sites. A one-dimensional 2H-edited NMR method that allows temporal monitoring of intermolecular base-pair formation revealed that the observed “extended dimer interface” forms rapidly, even in the absence of RNA chaperones. In addition to addressing long-standing questions about retroviral genome dimerization, these studies illustrate the utility of 2H-edited NMR for determining the structures and folding kinetics of relatively large RNAs. HIV type-1 (HIV-1) contains a pseudodiploid RNA genome that is selected for packaging and maintained in virions as a noncovalently linked dimer. Genome dimerization is mediated by conserved elements within the 5′-leader of the RNA, including a palindromic dimer initiation signal (DIS) that has been proposed to form kissing hairpin and/or extended duplex intermolecular contacts. Here, we have applied a 2H-edited NMR approach to directly probe for intermolecular interactions in the full-length, dimeric HIV-1 5′-leader (688 nucleotides; 230 kDa). The interface is extensive and includes DIS:DIS base pairing in an extended duplex state as well as intermolecular pairing between elements of the upstream Unique-5′ (U5) sequence and those near the gag start site (AUG). Other pseudopalindromic regions of the leader, including the transcription activation (TAR), polyadenylation (PolyA), and primer binding (PBS) elements, do not participate in intermolecular base pairing. Using a 2H-edited one-dimensional NMR approach, we also show that the extended interface structure forms on a time scale similar to that of overall RNA dimerization. Our studies indicate that a kissing dimer-mediated structure, if formed, exists only transiently and readily converts to the extended interface structure, even in the absence of the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein or other RNA chaperones.
Follicle‐Stimulating Hormone β‐Subunit Potentiates Bone Morphogenetic Protein 9‐Induced Osteogenic Differentiation in Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts

Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP)‐related fractures usually result in morbidity and mortality in aging women, so it remains a global public health concern, and new effective safe treatments are urgently needed recently. Efficient osteogenesis from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) would have the clinical application potential in treating multiple osteal disorders. Follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH), a pituitary glycoprotein hormone highly associated with menopausal bone turnover, whose peculiar part of receptor binding is follicle‐stimulating hormone β‐subunit (FSHβ). Bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9), a potent osteogenic factor, can up‐regulate FSHβ in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). However, it is unclear, whether extrapituitary FSHβ affects BMP9‐induced osteogenesis in MEFs. In this study, we investigated the role of FSHβ in BMP9‐induced osteogenesis in MEFs. We found that exogenous expression of FSHβ significantly increased BMP9‐induced alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), the expression of osteogenic transcriptional factors, Runx2 and Osx, and the established late osteogenic markers, osteopontin (OPN) and osteocalcin (OCN), so does the ectopic bone formation. Mechanistically, FSHβ dramatically enhanced BMP9‐induced BMP/Smad signal transduction, presenting the augment phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8, whereas treatment with anti‐FSHβ antibodies suppressed these effects. An adenylate cyclase inhibitor obviously suppressed ALP and BMP/Smad signal transduction induced by BMP9 or the combination of BMP9 and FSHβ in MEFs. Collectively, our findings suggested that FSHβ may promote BMP9‐induced activation of BMP/Smad signaling through a FSH/FSH receptor (FSHR)/cAMP dependent pathway in MEFs partly. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 1792–1802, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Real time driver body pose estimation for novel assistance systems

The trend towards increasing automation turns the drivers of modern cars more and more into passengers. This increases the scope of potential secondary tasks and increases distraction. For safety reasons cars should therefore be aware of the situation in their interior to be able to evaluate the drivers readiness to assume control. We present an algorithm that can accurately detect the 3D upper body pose of the driver in real time with a single depth camera. We show that it can determine the upper body pose in various real driving situations and with different secondary tasks. We propose that our algorithm can be a building block for various advanced driver observation systems for automated cars.
Patterns of Genetic Variation across Altitude in Three Plant Species of Semi-Dry Grasslands

Background Environmental gradients caused by altitudinal gradients may affect genetic variation within and among plant populations and inbreeding within populations. Populations in the upper range periphery of a species may be important source populations for range shifts to higher altitude in response to climate change. In this study we investigate patterns of population genetic variation at upper peripheral and lower more central altitudes in three common plant species of semi-dry grasslands in montane landscapes. Methodology/Principal Findings In Briza media, Trifolium montanum and Ranunculus bulbosus genetic diversity, inbreeding and genetic relatedness of individuals within populations and genetic differentiation among populations was characterized using AFLP markers. Populations were sampled in the Swiss Alps at 1800 (upper periphery of the study organisms) and at 1200 m a.s. l. Genetic diversity was not affected by altitude and only in B. media inbreeding was greater at higher altitudes. Genetic differentiation was slightly greater among populations at higher altitudes in B. media and individuals within populations were more related to each other compared to individuals in lower altitude populations. A similar but less strong pattern of differentiation and relatedness was observed in T. montanum, while in R. bulbosus there was no effect of altitude. Estimations of population size and isolation of populations were similar, both at higher and lower altitudes. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that altitude does not affect genetic diversity in the grassland species under study. Genetic differentiation of populations increased only slightly at higher elevation, probably due to extensive (historic) gene flow among altitudes. Potentially pre-adapted genes might therefore spread easily across altitudes. Our study indicates that populations at the upper periphery are not genetically depauperate or isolated and thus may be important source populations for migration under climate change.
The Effect of On-Pump and Off-Pump Bypass Operations on Oxidative Damage and Antioxidant Parameters

Objective The aim of the study is to determine the oxidative status in on-pump and off-pump coronary artery surgery and contribute to possible surgical choices in clinical practices in accordance with the information obtained as a result of this study. Methods 52 patients undergoing open heart surgery (26 patients in on-pump group and 26 patients in off-pump group) were included in the study. MDA, GPx, GSH, CAT, and SOD were investigated in blood samples. Results In the on-pump group, it was determined that there were a significant increase in MDA level in the peroperative period compared to the preoperative and postoperative periods and a significant increase in GSH level in the postoperative period than in the preoperative period. Additionally, while there was a significant decrease in CAT activity in the postoperative period than in the peroperative period, there was a statistically significant increase in SOD enzyme activity in the postoperative period compared to the preoperative and peroperative periods. A statistically significant increase was observed in SOD enzyme activity in the postoperative period in on-pump compared to off-pump group. Conclusion It is thought that this oxidative damage can be suppressed by administering a suitable antioxidant supplement in the preoperative and peroperative periods among patients undergoing the on-pump operation.
Slip planes and the energy of dislocations

It is shown that the characteristic slip directions and planes in metal crystals can be explained and predicted by taking into account the dependence of the energy of a dislocation on its plane. The energy of a dislocation is considered as a function of the parameter β, which is defined as the ratio of the Burgers vector to the interplanar spacing, and it is shown that the observed slip systems correspond to the lowest possible values of β in all the crystal types that have been studied. The reason for the existence of alternative slip systems, particularly at high temperatures, is also discussed in terms of this concept.
A phylogenetic perspective on the association between ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and black yeasts (Ascomycota: Chaetothyriales)

The frequency and the geographical extent of symbiotic associations between ants and fungi of the order Chaetothyriales have been highlighted only recently. Using a phylogenetic approach based on seven molecular markers, we showed that ant-associated Chaetothyriales are scattered through the phylogeny of this order. There was no clustering according to geographical origin or to the taxonomy of the ant host. However, strains tended to be clustered according to the type of association with ants: strains from ant-made carton and strains from plant cavities occupied by ants (‘domatia’) rarely clustered together. Defining molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) with an internal transcribed spacer sequence similarity cut-off of 99% revealed that a single MOTU could be composed of strains collected from various ant species and from several continents. Some ant-associated MOTUs also contained strains isolated from habitats other than ant-associated structures. Altogether, our results suggest that the degree of specialization of the interactions between ants and their fungal partners is highly variable. A better knowledge of the ecology of these interactions and a more comprehensive sampling of the fungal order are needed to elucidate the evolutionary history of mutualistic symbioses between ants and Chaetothyriales.
Mouse Y-Linked Zfy1 and Zfy2 Are Expressed during the Male-Specific Interphase between Meiosis I and Meiosis II and Promote the 2nd Meiotic Division

Mouse Zfy1 and Zfy2 encode zinc finger transcription factors that map to the short arm of the Y chromosome (Yp). They have previously been shown to promote meiotic quality control during pachytene (Zfy1 and Zfy2) and at the first meiotic metaphase (Zfy2). However, from these previous studies additional roles for genes encoded on Yp during meiotic progression were inferred. In order to identify these genes and investigate their function in later stages of meiosis, we created three models with diminishing Yp and Zfy gene complements (but lacking the Y-long-arm). Since the Y-long-arm mediates pairing and exchange with the X via their pseudoautosomal regions (PARs) we added a minute PAR-bearing X chromosome derivative to enable formation of a sex bivalent, thus avoiding Zfy2-mediated meiotic metaphase I (MI) checkpoint responses to the unpaired (univalent) X chromosome. Using these models we obtained definitive evidence that genetic information on Yp promotes meiosis II, and by transgene addition identified Zfy1 and Zfy2 as the genes responsible. Zfy2 was substantially more effective and proved to have a much more potent transactivation domain than Zfy1. We previously established that only Zfy2 is required for the robust apoptotic elimination of MI spermatocytes in response to a univalent X; the finding that both genes potentiate meiosis II led us to ask whether there was de novo Zfy1 and Zfy2 transcription in the interphase between meiosis I and meiosis II, and this proved to be the case. X-encoded Zfx was also expressed at this stage and Zfx over-expression also potentiated meiosis II. An interphase between the meiotic divisions is male-specific and we previously hypothesised that this allows meiosis II critical X and Y gene reactivation following sex chromosome silencing in meiotic prophase. The interphase transcription and meiosis II function of Zfx, Zfy1 and Zfy2 validate this hypothesis.
Varying velocity hopping gait planning of a one-legged robot

For the one-legged robot, a modified SLIP model is studied in this paper and dynamical characteristics of flight phase, impact phase and stance phase in hopping gait are analyzed. A hybrid dynamics correspond to these phases are derived by Newton-Euler Recursive Approach. Through dynamics, the gait planning of stable hopping and different forwarding velocities transition are mathematically described. Based on the Serial Elastic Actuator (SEA) mounted in joints, one formulation of system actuated force/torque is proposed from the point of energy injection. Then a planning procedure of the stable hopping and transition between different forwarding velocities are described respectively by this formulation. Feasibilities of the proposed gait planning method in this paper are verified by simulations.
Titanium Alloys for Aerospace Applications

There is probably no other material more closely related to aerospace than titanium and its alloys. With a density of 4.5g/cm3, titanium alloys are only about half as heavy as steel or Ni‐based superalloys, yielding an excellent strength‐to‐weight ratio. Furthermore, they have exceptional corrosion resistance. The use of titanium alloys in the aerospace sector will be highlighted including airframe, engine, helicopter, and space applications.