Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Multicistronic DNA Vaccine Induces Significant Protection against Tuberculosis in Mice and Offers Flexibility in the Expressed Antigen Repertoire

ABSTRACT Concerns about the safety and efficacy of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) emphasize the need for alternative tuberculosis (TB) vaccines. DNA vaccines are interesting candidates but are limited by the restricted antigen repertoire that they express. Traditional polycistronic vectors are large and have imbalanced expression. Recent advances in molecular genetics and cellular immunology have paved the way toward the rational design of an efficacious vaccine. We exploited self-cleaving peptide 2A from the foot-and-mouth disease virus, because of its small size and high cleavage activity, to generate an efficient TB DNA vaccine (V-2A). V-2A expresses three mycobacterial antigens, Rv3407, Ag85A, and HspX, in a single open reading frame joined by the 2A sequences, which lead to the segmentation of the long translated polypeptide into individual proteins by posttranslational modification. Our in vitro measurements revealed no differences at the transcriptional or translational level between V-2A and the monocistronic expression of the individual antigens. Mice vaccinated with V-2A developed antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses against all three antigens, imparting protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis aerosol challenge equivalent to that imparted by BCG. These results have important implications for the rational design and development of efficacious recombinant subunit vaccines.
Notes on the Structure of Wages

N EITHER wage rates nor hourly earnings represent the price of labor that is, the amount which the employer pays for a given amount and kind of service or the amount which employees receive for doing a given kind of work under given conditions. ' Consequently, it is not surprising that there are large variations both in the rates paid by different plants within the same locality for jobs nominally at least within the same occupation, and in the hourly earnings of employees doing apparently similar work in different plants. A good illustration of the spread of rates within an occupation in a city is given by the hiring rates for common labor paid by 85 plants in Cleveland. In February I947, these rates were as follows:2
Kinetic and kinematic evaluation of compensatory movements of the head, pelvis and thoracolumbar spine associated with asymmetric weight bearing of the pelvic limbs in trotting dogs

Summary Objectives: To determine ground reaction forces, head and pelvis vertical motion (HVM and PVM, respectively), and thoraco-lumbar lateral angular motion (LAM) of the spine using kinematic gait analysis in dogs with mild asymmetric weight-bearing of the pelvic limbs while trotting. Methods: Twenty-seven hound-type dogs were fitted with reflective markers placed on the sagittal crest of the skull, the ischiatic tuberosity, and thoracolumbar spine of dogs to track motion while trotting. Kinetic and kinematic data were used to characterize asymmetry between the left and right pelvic limbs, and to describe HVM, PVM and thoraco-lumbar LAM. Maximum and minimum position and total motion values were determined for each measured variable. Results: Dogs with asymmetric weight bearing of the pelvic limbs had greater PVM on the side with a greater peak vertical force (PVF), and greater thoraco-lumbar LAM toward the side with a lower PVF while trotting. No differences in mean HVM were detected, and there were no significant correlations between the magnitude of HVM, PVM and thoraco-lumbar LAM and the degree of asymmetric weight bearing. Clinical significance: Dogs with subtle asymmetric weight bearing of a pelvic limb had patterns of body motion that may be useful in identifying subtle lameness in dogs; greater PVM on the side with greater weight bearing and greater thoraco-lumbar LAM toward the side with less weight bearing while trotting. Description of these compensatory movements is valuable when evaluating dogs with subtle weight bearing asymmetry in the pelvic limbs and may improve the sensitivity of lameness detection during subjective clinical lameness examination.
Benign and malignant thyroid nodules: US differentiation--multicenter retrospective study.

PURPOSE To retrospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonographic (US) criteria for the depiction of benign and malignant thyroid nodules by using tissue diagnosis as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study had institutional review board approval, and informed consent was waived. From January 2003 through June 2003, 8024 consecutive patients had undergone thyroid US at nine affiliated hospitals. A total of 831 patients (716 women, 115 men; mean age, 49.5 years +/- 13.8 [standard deviation]) with 849 nodules (360 malignant, 489 benign) that were diagnosed at surgery or biopsy were included in this study. Three radiologists retrospectively evaluated the following characteristics on US images: nodule size, presence of spongiform appearance, shape, margin, echotexture, echogenicity, and presence of microcalcification, macrocalcification, or rim calcification. A chi(2) test and multiple regression analysis were performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were obtained. RESULTS Statistically significant (P < .05) findings of malignancy were a taller-than-wide shape (sensitivity, 40.0%; specificity, 91.4%), a spiculated margin (sensitivity, 48.3%; specificity, 91.8%), marked hypoechogenicity (sensitivity, 41.4%; specificity, 92.2%), microcalcification (sensitivity, 44.2%; specificity, 90.8%), and macrocalcification (sensitivity, 9.7%; specificity, 96.1%). The US findings for benign nodules were isoechogenicity (sensitivity, 56.6%; specificity, 88.1%; P < .001) and a spongiform appearance (sensitivity, 10.4%; specificity, 99.7%; P < .001). The presence of at least one malignant US finding had a sensitivity of 83.3%, a specificity of 74.0%, and a diagnostic accuracy of 78.0%. For thyroid nodules with a diameter of 1 cm or less, the sensitivity of microcalcifications was lower than that in larger nodules (36.6% vs 51.4%, P < .05). CONCLUSION Shape, margin, echogenicity, and presence of calcification are helpful criteria for the discrimination of malignant from benign nodules; the diagnostic accuracy of US criteria is dependent on tumor size.
Large capacity terahertz tag using photonic crystal slabs

The Internet of Everything (IoE) has attracted a great deal of interest. To realize the IoE concept, information tags which directly attach to objects are one of the keys to date. However, in terms of security or their uniqueness issues, today's information tags are still not satisfactory. Here, we propose the use of large capacity terahertz (THz) tags; by utilizing both frequency and spatial domains. This approach is expected to reduce our security concerns towards future IoE applications. In place of usual small capacity THz tag techniques, we introduced a new approach by large capacity THz tags using two dimensional (2D) photonic-crystal slabs in a matrix. As a result, we successfully demonstrated a THz tag of 48 bits/cm2 at 600-GHz band. In conclusion, we anticipate that this work will contribute to the further development of the capacity enhancement of the THz tag: over 128 bits/cm2 suitable for various IoE applications.
Air pollution and particulate matter detector using raspberry Pi with IoT based notification

Air Pollution in the Philippines is already a serious problem especially to the people living in the cities. The factors such as smoke coming from vehicles and factories as well as dust and debris contribute to air pollution which also leads to people having health problems. This design aims to create a prototype which will detect the air pollution and particulate matter in a barangay at Pandacan, Manila. The design hardware will send an email notification to the registered email addresses of barangay officials whenever the sensors detect high reading on either the particulate matter or carbon monoxide. The components included in the hardware is a Dust Sensor which will measure the particulate matter in the area, Carbon Monoxide Sensor for measuring the gas detected, microcontroller, and a Raspberry Pi in order to send the data through email.
Hammer and Roller Milling of Yellow Split Pea

Incorporating pulse flours into cereal-based foods is of interest due to demand for healthful convenience foods. A hammer mill is a simple and inexpensive machine that can facilitate pulse flour production when processing capacity is limited. The goal of this research was to evaluate relationships among hammer mill parameters, seed moisture, and pea flour quality that are not yet extensively described in the literature. Yellow split pea at 9 and 11 % moisture was hammer-milled at two rotor speeds (34 and 102 m/s) and with nine mill screen apertures (0.84 to 9.53 mm). Although reduction in flour moisture and protein was observed following milling, flour composition differences appeared to be due to the drying process rather than to milling. Median particle size was lowest (98 μm) and peak and final viscosities highest (2,108 and 4,240 cP, respectively) when milling at 102 m/s rotor speed with 0.84 mm screen aperture. Flour particle size was negatively related to bulk density, redness, yellowness, and pasting properties and positively correlated with brightness. Damaged starch ranged from 0.11. 4 % and was highest at 102 m/s rotor speed and small screen aperture. Results indicated that 1 The material in this chapter was co-authored by Amber Kaiser, Natsuki Barber, Frank Manthey, and Clifford Hall. Amber Kaiser had primary responsibility for data collection and analysis, was the primary developer of the conclusions advanced here, and drafted and revised all versions of this chapter. Natsuki Barber assisted with sample processing and data collection. Frank Manthey assisted with the experimental design. Clifford Hall served as proofreader. 48 seed moisture and hammer mill settings are important parameters in particle size reduction of yellow split pea and that particle size is a predictor of flour functional quality.
P2P Botnet Detection Based on Nodes Correlation by the Mahalanobis Distance

Botnets are a common and serious threat to the Internet. The search for the infected nodes of a P2P botnet is affected by the number of commonly connected nodes, with a lower detection accuracy rate for cases with fewer commonly connected nodes. However, this paper calculates the Mahalanobis distance—which can express correlations between data—between indirectly connected nodes through traffic with commonly connected nodes, and establishes a relationship evaluation model among nodes. An iterative algorithm is used to obtain the correlation coefficient between the nodes, and the threshold is set to detect P2P botnets. The experimental results show that this method can effectively detect P2P botnets with an accuracy of >85% when the correlation coefficient is high, even in cases with fewer commonly connected nodes.
Manufacturing of prestressed piezoelectric unimorphs using a postfired biasing layer

A novel manufacturing method for prestressed piezoelectric unimorphs is introduced and the actuator properties are examined. Prestressed PZT 5A and PZT 5H unimorphs with piezo material thickness of 250 /spl mu/m and 375 /spl mu/m were manufactured by using sintering and thermal shrinkage of the prestressing material. The process was carried out by screen printing a layer of AgPd paste on one side of the sintered bulk ceramic. As an alternative method, dielectric low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) tape was used as the prestressing material. Different configurations were tested to obtain high displacements and to make a comparison between materials. After firing, the samples were poled, and the displacement versus load characteristics of the resulting actuators were investigated. A maximum displacement of 118 /spl mu/m was obtained from a 250 /spl mu/m thick, prestressed PZT 5H actuator with a diameter of 25 mm, in which LTCC tape was used as the prestressing layer. Similarly, the PZT 5H material provided a maximum displacement of 63 /spl mu/m with a screen-printed AgPd prestressing layer. The manufacturing method described offers a novel approach for the production of a wide range of integrated active structures on, for instance, an LTCC circuit board. This is especially important because piezoelectric bulk materials with high piezoelectric coefficients can be used to produce high displacements.
Methylation‐induced G2/M arrest requires a full complement of the mismatch repair protein hMLH1

The mismatch repair (MMR) gene hMLH1 is mutated in ∼50% of hereditary non‐polyposis colon cancers and transcriptionally silenced in ∼25% of sporadic tumours of the right colon. Cells lacking hMLH1 display microsatellite instability and resistance to killing by methylating agents. In an attempt to study the phenotypic effects of hMLH1 downregulation in greater detail, we designed an isogenic system, in which hMLH1 expression is regulated by doxycycline. We now report that human embryonic kidney 293T cells expressing high amounts of hMLH1 were MMR‐proficient and arrested at the G2/M cell cycle checkpoint following treatment with the DNA methylating agent N‐methyl‐N′‐nitro‐N‐nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), while cells not expressing hMLH1 displayed a MMR defect and failed to arrest upon MNNG treatment. Interestingly, MMR proficiency was restored even at low hMLH1 concentrations, while checkpoint activation required a full complement of hMLH1. In the MMR‐proficient cells, activation of the MNNG‐induced G2/M checkpoint was accompanied by phosphorylation of p53, but the cell death pathway was p53 independent, as the latter polypeptide is functionally inactivated in these cells by SV40 large T antigen.
PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX are the most frequent defect in a Spanish cohort of Léri‐Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) probands

Léri‐Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) is a skeletal dysplasia characterized by disproportionate short stature and Madelung deformity. Mutations or deletions of the SHOX gene have been previously identified as the main cause of LWD. We recently identified the existence of a second class of pseudoautosomal region 1 (PAR1) deletions which do not include SHOX, implicated in the etiopathogenesis of LWD. The deletions map at least 30‐250 kb downstream of SHOX, are variable in size and clearly cosegregate with the LWD phenotype. In order to determine the frequency of this new type of deletions in the Spanish population we analyzed the distribution of PAR1 defects, including the screening of SHOX deletions, mutations, and PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX, in a total of 26 LWD probands by a combination of MLPA, microsatellite analysis, SNP genotyping, dHPLC, and DNA sequencing. A molecular defect was identified in 16/26 LWD patients (61.5%): 10 PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX, four SHOX encompassing deletions, and two SHOX mutations. No apparent phenotypic differences were observed between patients with SHOX defects and those with PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX. In the examined cohort of Spanish LWD probands, PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX represent the highest proportion of identified mutations (38%) compared to SHOX deletions (15%) and mutations (8%). As a consequence of our findings, the screening of this region should be included in the routine genetic testing of LWD. Also, LWD patients who tested negative for SHOX defects should be re‐evaluated for PAR1 deletions downstream of SHOX. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Beneficial Use, Waste, and Forfeiture: the Inefficient Search for Efficiency in Western Water Use

Near the turn of the last century, many of the western states adopted the requirement of continuous beneficial use without waste in their water codes. These laws provided that unused water, or water that was used wastefully, would no longer be part of the user's water right and would be available for appropriation by others. Professor Neuman conducts a comprehensive critique of how well the beneficial use doctrine has performed since its universal adoption one hundred years ago, and assesses its potential for helping to meet the water demands of the next century. She reviews the slow evolution of the common law of beneficial use, highlighting the doctrine's ineffectiveness in curbing wasteful uses of water. She also explores legislative and administrative treatment of beneficial use and waste, again with attention to whether efficiency improvements have been obtained. Professor Neuman probes historical reasons for the failure of the beneficial use doctrine to foster greater efficiency, and she compares current needs to the purposes for adopting the doctrine in the first place. Professor Neuman further argues that contemporary water demands require a more systematic approach to improving efficiency in western water use. She outlines an agenda of proposed reforms for western courts, legislatures, and administrative agencies to make the beneficial use doctrine more responsive in order to stretch scarce western water resources to meet twenty-first century water needs.
Only If You Pay Me More: Field Experiments Support Compensating Wage Differentials Theory

Compensating wage differentials is Adam Smith’s idea that wage differences equalize differences in job and worker characteristics. Other than risk of death, however, no job characteristics have consistently been found to affect wages, likely because of problems with self-selection and unobservable job characteristics. We run experiments in an online labor market, randomizing offered pay and job characteristics, thereby overcoming both problems. We find, as predicted by our model, that increasing job disamenities significantly reduces both likelihood of working and amount of work supplied. Correspondingly, the wage increases necessary to compensate workers for worse job disamenities are substantial, supporting the theory.
ISO-1 Binding to the Tautomerase Active Site of MIF Inhibits Its Pro-inflammatory Activity and Increases Survival in Severe Sepsis*

MIF is a proinflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis, arthritis, and other inflammatory diseases. Antibodies against MIF are effective in experimental models of inflammation, and there is interest in strategies to inhibit its deleterious cytokine activities. Here we identify a mechanism of inhibiting MIF pro-inflammatory activities by targeting MIF tautomerase activity. We designed small molecules to inhibit this tautomerase activity; a lead molecule, “ISO-1 ((S,R)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazole acetic acid methyl ester),” significantly inhibits the cytokine activity in vitro. Moreover, ISO-1 inhibits tumor necrosis factor release from macrophages isolated from LPStreated wild type mice but has no effect on cytokine release from MIFdeficient macrophages. The therapeutic importance of the MIF inhibition by ISO-1 is demonstrated by the significant protection from sepsis, induced by cecal ligation and puncture in a clinically relevant time frame. These results identify ISO-1 as the first small molecule inhibitor of MIF proinflammatory activities with therapeutic implications and indicate the potential of the MIF active site as a novel target for therapeutic interventions in human sepsis.
Climate change adaptation of the tourism sector in the Bolivian Andes

ABSTRACT Over the last 40 years, warmer temperatures have caused a considerable decrease in snow cover on glaciers and high rates of glacial melt, particularly in tropical mountains. In the Bolivian Andes, the Chacaltaya glacier (5400 masl) had been a tourist destination known as the highest ski slope in the world since 1939. As a result of climate change, skiing has not been possible after 1987 and the glacier definitely disappeared in 2009. However, since 2005, the place has become a new attraction for tourists. Travel agencies in La Paz now offer day trips to the Chacaltaya site. In order to understand the present attraction of the site and its potential for reproduction elsewhere, 25 semi-structured interviews were conducted with various categories of stakeholders involved in the tourism industry in La Paz, and archives and images were analysed. Our results show that the multifunctional character of this tourist site, including easy access to a summit, beautiful views, acclimatisation to altitude and opportunity to experience snow, are key factors in its renewed attraction for visitors, together with, to a lesser extent, the incentive of being able to watch a famous and evident full disappearance of a glacier and former ski slope. The stakeholders' groups share general views and perceptions about environmental changes and about the qualities of the site, but they also differ in terms of projects and evaluation of potential attractiveness. In particular, the development of the visibility of climate change impacts on mountain environment is valued by experts or by members of the Andean Club, but not by travel agencies. The example of Chacaltaya shows that multifunctional tourist sites may still be attractive in the future.
New Nanometric Opportunities with High Mobility Semiconductors such as InAs

One-dimensioned electron gas (1DEG) structures can be fabricated from suitable hetero-structure sandwiches by using nano-technology Schottky- or MOS lithography. We have grown by MBE InAs sandwiched nearly lattice matched between AlSb and GaSb layers and obtained for InAs thicknesses of around 15 nm a room temperature mobility of up to 32000cm2/Vs, provided that the heterojunction was of InSb type. At 77K the electron gas has a mobility of up to 225000 cm2/Vs. Si-Nanowires are found to have an interesting band structure, which is different from Si bulk material. The InAs 1DEG exhibits a quantum-physical behaviour at low temperatures of a reasonable well defined quantized staircase conductance of a ballistic electron wave with increasing applied voltage. InAs is a material where such behaviour is expected to occur at not too low temperature. If two such 1DEG structures of slightly different geometry in parallel are applied with a triangular voltage, the difference potential between each of these two 1DEG’s is a pulse sequence. The number of pulses obtained then depends on the amplitude of the triangular voltage. This can be considered as a basic unit for an Analogue-Digital Converter. These concepts were initially outlined by us at one of the European workshops, intended for discussion of new ideas. Such nano-conductance lines and zero-DEG quantum dot electronic structures can be interconnected in such a manner that various types of signal processing can be achieved.