Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compositional and immunobiological analyses of extracellular vesicles released by Candida albicans

The release of extracellular vesicles (EV) by fungal organisms is considered an alternative transport mechanism to trans‐cell wall passage of macromolecules. Previous studies have revealed the presence of EV in culture supernatants from fungal pathogens, such as Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, Sporothrix schenckii, Malassezia sympodialis and Candida albicans. Here we investigated the size, composition, kinetics of internalization by bone marrow‐derived murine macrophages (MO) and dendritic cells (DC), and the immunomodulatory activity of C. albicans EV. We also evaluated the impact of EV on fungal virulence using the Galleria mellonella larvae model. By transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, we identified two populations ranging from 50 to 100 nm and 350 to 850 nm. Two predominant seroreactive proteins (27 kDa and 37 kDa) and a group of polydispersed mannoproteins were observed in EV by immunoblotting analysis. Proteomic analysis of C. albicans EV revealed proteins related to pathogenesis, cell organization, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, response to stress, and several other functions. The major lipids detected by thin‐layer chromatography were ergosterol, lanosterol and glucosylceramide. Short exposure of MO to EV resulted in internalization of these vesicles and production of nitric oxide, interleukin (IL)‐12, transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β) and IL‐10. Similarly, EV‐treated DC produced IL‐12p40, IL‐10 and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha. In addition, EV treatment induced the up‐regulation of CD86 and major histocompatibility complex class‐II (MHC‐II). Inoculation of G. mellonella larvae with EV followed by challenge with C. albicans reduced the number of recovered viable yeasts in comparison with infected larvae control. Taken together, our results demonstrate that C. albicans EV were immunologically active and could potentially interfere with the host responses in the setting of invasive candidiasis.
Wiretap channels with random states non-causally available at the encoder

We study the state-dependent (SD) wiretap channel (WTC) with non-causal channel state information (CSI) at the encoder. This model subsumes all other instances of CSI availability as special cases, and calls for an efficient utilization of the state sequence both for reliability and security purposes. A lower bound on the secrecy-capacity, that improves upon the previously best known result by Chen and Han Vinck, is derived based on a novel superposition coding scheme. The improvement over the Chen and Han Vinck result is strict for some SD-WTCs. Specializing the lower bound to the case where CSI is also available to the decoder reveals that it is at least as good as the achievable formula by Chia and El-Gamal, which is already known to outperform the adaptation of the Chen and Han Vinck code to the encoder and decoder CSI scenario. The results are derived under the strict semantic-security metric that requires negligible information leakage for all message distributions.
Four kinds of models of Emergent Representations resulting from the decomposition individual/collective and internal/external

In this paper we introduce the concept of emergent representations issued from a decomposition along two axis: individual/collective and internal/external. In a collective/internal composition, emergent representations are seen as internal stable and non-reactive complex adaptive systems. Based on natural optimization algorithms, like Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), we show how representations can emerge from Schelling's segregation model. Selection, building blocks and "inert" information requirements concerning emergence of representations are illustrated.
Incorporation of Evolutionary Computation For Implementing The Benefit Of Inconvenience

The present paper discusses the relationship between evolutionary computation (EC) and further benefit of a kind of inconvenience (FUBEN-EKI), which is a research project to explore methods by which to design artifacts while appreciating the benefits of inconvenience. Evolutionary computation contributes to FUBEN-EKI both theoretically and practically. The design theory for implementing the benefits of inconvenience suggests that there are desirable systems between “a stick, a stone, or a handkerchief” and “an optimal system for a certain task. ” Similarly, exploration vs. exploitation is a key issue in EC, which performs well when the balance between exploration and exploitation is desirable. The present paper also describes how EC contributes, in practice, to the implementation of an explanatory example of a FUBEN-EKI system that uses covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES), which is a type of EC, to extract features from multi-dimensional time-series data.
Development of a Dryer with a Heat Exchanger to Recover Energy for Drying Agricultural Produce

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a heat recovery by guiding the exhaust air through a heat exchanger in a hot air dryer. The temperature of inlet air could be increased by the developed heat recovery device to achieve energy saving. Experimental results indicated that the heat recovery device could increase the inlet fresh temperature 11℃, the effectiveness ratio of the heat exchanger was up to 70-80%, and heating efficiency of the heater was 50% through the analysis of inlet and outlet temperature, airflow rate as well as fuel consumption of the heater. In addition, the maximum temperature difference in the drying chamber was in the range of 0.6-1.2℃, indicating that the airflow in the drying was uniform, thus the uniform quality of agricultural produce could be obtained. In order to analyse the optimum operation conditions, the effect of fan speed on the temperature and airflow distribution was investigated in the drying system. The results showed that the optimum fan speed should be faster during start-up period and lower during a steady stage.
Photoreactive composite coating with composition dependent wetting properties

Photoreactive composite thin layers with tunable wetting properties from superhydrophilic to superhydrophobic nature were prepared. To achieve extreme wetting properties, the adequate surface roughness is a crucial factor, which was achieved by the incorporation of plasmonic Ag-TiO2 particles, as polymer filler, into the smooth polymer film with adjusted hydrophilicity. The initial copolymer films were synthesized from hydrophilic 2-hydroxyethyl-acrylate (HEA) and hydrophobic perfluorodecyl-acrylate (PFDAc) monomers. In the case of hydrophobic PFDAc, the photocatalyst-roughened thin films displayed superhydrophobic behavior (gamma(tot)(s) similar to 2.3 +/- 1.7 mJ/m(2), Theta > 150 degrees), while the roughened hydrophilic pHEA layers possessed superhydrophilicity (gamma(tot)(s) similar to 72.1 +/- 0.2 mJ/m(2), Theta similar to 0 degrees). The photoactivity of the composites was presented both in solid/gas (S/G) and solid/liquid (S/L) interfaces. According to the light-emitting diode (LED) light photodegradation tests on ethanol (EtOH) as volatile organic compound (VOC) model-molecules at the S/L interface, the superhydrophobic hybrid layer was photooxidized 88.3% of the initial EtOH (0.36 mM). At S/L interface the photocatalytic efficiency was depended on the polarity of the model pollutant molecules: the photooxidation of hydrophobic SUDAN IV (c(0) = 0.25 mg/mL) dye reached 80%, while in the case of the hydrophilic Methylene Blue dye (c(0) = 0.002 mg/mL) it was only 17.3% after 90 min blue LED light (lambda = 405 nm) illumination.
Vinculin network–mediated cytoskeletal remodeling regulates contractile function in the aging heart

Cardiac vinculin overexpression is a conserved aging response that is associated with enhanced myocardial performance and extended organismal life span. Sending in vinculin reinforcements A common charge for graceful aging is to stay “young at heart. ” With age, the heart undergoes necessary remodeling to keep it functioning—or young—even though the heart experiences relatively little regeneration in the human lifetime. The mechanisms of remodeling in mammals remain unclear but, if known, could help develop new therapies to treat heart failure, a leading killer in the developed world. Kaushik et al. therefore performed a proteomic analysis in old and young monkeys and rats, and identified one protein at the heart of it all: vinculin. Vinculin is conserved across species, being present at cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesions and also anchoring the cardiomyocyte membrane to its actin cytoskeleton. Thus, Kaushik et al. hypothesized that vinculin accumulates with age to regulate cytoskeletal stiffening and heart cell contractility. This mechanism was confirmed in rats and in different strains of Drosophila, supporting the notion that particular aspects of heart remodeling are beneficial and prolong life span, rather than being maladaptive. By using several models and producing a large proteomic network centered on vinculin and other cytoskeletal proteins, the authors have put forth a valuable resource for better understanding cardiac aging and for selecting therapeutic targets to prevent heart failure and also keep the heart young and beating as we age. The human heart is capable of functioning for decades despite minimal cell turnover or regeneration, suggesting that molecular alterations help sustain heart function with age. However, identification of compensatory remodeling events in the aging heart remains elusive. We present the cardiac proteomes of young and old rhesus monkeys and rats, from which we show that certain age-associated remodeling events within the cardiomyocyte cytoskeleton are highly conserved and beneficial rather than deleterious. Targeted transcriptomic analysis in Drosophila confirmed conservation and implicated vinculin as a unique molecular regulator of cardiac function during aging. Cardiac-restricted vinculin overexpression reinforced the cortical cytoskeleton and enhanced myofilament organization, leading to improved contractility and hemodynamic stress tolerance in healthy and myosin-deficient fly hearts. Moreover, cardiac-specific vinculin overexpression increased median life span by more than 150% in flies. A broad array of potential therapeutic targets and regulators of age-associated modifications, specifically for vinculin, are presented. These findings suggest that the heart has molecular mechanisms to sustain performance and promote longevity, which may be assisted by therapeutic intervention to ameliorate the decline of function in aging patient hearts.
Subthalamic nucleus stimulation affects incentive salience attribution in Parkinson's disease

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) can induce nonmotor side effects such as behavioral and mood disturbances or body weight gain in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. We hypothesized that some of these problems could be related to an altered attribution of incentive salience (ie, emotional relevance) to rewarding and aversive stimuli. Twenty PD patients (all men; mean age ± SD, 58.3 ± 6 years) in bilateral STN DBS switched ON and OFF conditions and 18 matched controls rated pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System according to emotional valence (unpleasantness/pleasantness) and arousal on 2 independent visual scales ranging from 1 to 9. Eighty‐four pictures depicting primary rewarding (erotica and food) and aversive fearful (victims and threat) and neutral stimuli were selected for this study. In the STN DBS ON condition, the PD patients attributed lower valence scores to the aversive pictures compared with the OFF condition (P < .01) and compared with controls (P < .01). The difference between the OFF condition and controls was less pronounced (P < .05). Furthermore, postoperative weight gain correlated with arousal ratings from the food pictures in the STN DBS ON condition (P < .05 compensated for OFF condition). Our results suggest that STN DBS increases activation of the aversive motivational system so that more relevance is attributed to aversive fearful stimuli. In addition, STN DBS–related sensitivity to food reward stimuli cues might drive DBS‐treated patients to higher food intake and subsequent weight gain. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society
10-millisecond Computing

Despite computation becomes much complex on data with unprecedented large-scale, we argue computers or smart devices should and will consistently provide information and knowledge to human being in the order of a few tens milliseconds. We coin a new term 10-millisecond computing to call attention to this class of workloads. Public reports indicate that internet service users are sensitive to the service or job-level response time outliers, so we propose a very simple but powerful metric-outlier proportion to characterize the system behaviors.The outlier proportion is defined as follows: for N completed requests or jobs, if M jobs or requests' latencies exceed the outlier limit t, e.g. 10 milliseconds, the outlier proportion is M/N. 10-millisecond computing raises many challenges for both software and hardware stacks. In this paper, as a case study we investigate the challenges raised for conventional operating systems. For typical latency-critical services running with Linux on a 40-core server - a main-stream server hardware system in near future, we found, when the outlier limit decreases, the outlier proportion of a single server will significantly deteriorate. Meanwhile, the outlier proportion is further amplified by the system scale, including the system core number. For a 1K-scale system, we surprisingly find that to reduce the service or job-level outlier proportion to 10%, running Linux (version 2.6.32) or LXC (version 0.7.5 ) or XEN (version 4.0.0), respectively, the outlier proportion of a single server needs to be reduced by 871X, 2372X, 2372X accordingly. We also conducted a list of experiments to reveal the current Linux systems still suffer from poor outlier performance, including Linux kernel version 3.17. 4, Linux kernel version 2.6. 35M, a modified version of 2.6. 35 integrated with sloppy counters and two representative real time schedulers.
An upper bound for 3D slicing floorplans

As the impact of interconnect on IC performance and chip area in deep submicron design increases, research activities on technologies for three-dimensional integrated circuits intensify. Nevertheless, there has not been much work done on the automation of 3D-layout design. In this paper we survey slicing structures for 3D floorplans. We present an upper bound for the volume of such floorplans, which shows the usability of slicing structures for three-dimensional floorplanning.
Phylogeography and Taxonomy of Trypanosoma brucei

Background Characterizing the evolutionary relationships and population structure of parasites can provide important insights into the epidemiology of human disease. Methodology/Principal Findings We examined 142 isolates of Trypanosoma brucei from all over sub-Saharan Africa using three distinct classes of genetic markers (kinetoplast CO1 sequence, nuclear SRA gene sequence, eight nuclear microsatellites) to clarify the evolutionary history of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (Tbr) and T. b. gambiense (Tbg), the causative agents of human African trypanosomosis (sleeping sickness) in sub-Saharan Africa, and to examine the relationship between Tbr and the non-human infective parasite T. b. brucei (Tbb) in eastern and southern Africa. A Bayesian phylogeny and haplotype network based on CO1 sequences confirmed the taxonomic distinctness of Tbg group 1. Limited diversity combined with a wide geographical distribution suggested that this parasite has recently and rapidly colonized hosts across its current range. The more virulent Tbg group 2 exhibited diverse origins and was more closely allied with Tbb based on COI sequence and microsatellite genotypes. Four of five COI haplotypes obtained from Tbr were shared with isolates of Tbb, suggesting a close relationship between these taxa. Bayesian clustering of microsatellite genotypes confirmed this relationship and indicated that Tbr and Tbb isolates were often more closely related to each other than they were to other members of the same subspecies. Among isolates of Tbr for which data were available, we detected just two variants of the SRA gene responsible for human infectivity. These variants exhibited distinct geographical ranges, except in Tanzania, where both types co-occurred. Here, isolates possessing distinct SRA types were associated with identical COI haplotypes, but divergent microsatellite signatures. Conclusions/Significance Our data provide strong evidence that Tbr is only a phenotypic variant of Tbb; while relevant from a medical perspective, Tbr is not a reproductively isolated taxon. The wide distribution of the SRA gene across diverse trypanosome genetic backgrounds suggests that a large amount of genetic diversity is potentially available with which human-infective trypanosomes may respond to selective forces such as those exerted by drugs.
Role of the Asialoglycoprotein Receptor in Binding and Entry of Hepatitis C Virus Structural Proteins in Cultured Human Hepatocytes

ABSTRACT We used a baculovirus-based system to prepare structural proteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1a. Binding of this preparation to cultured human hepatic cells was both dose dependent and saturable. This binding was decreased by calcium depletion and was partially prevented by ligands of the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R), thyroglobulin, asialothyroglobulin, and antibody against a peptide in the carbohydrate recognition domain of ASGP-R but not preimmune antibody. Uptake by hepatocytes was observed with both radiolabeled and dye-labeled HCV structural proteins. With hepatocytes expressing the hH1 subunit of the ASGP-R fused to green fluorescent protein, we could show by confocal microscopy that dye stain cointernalized with the fusion protein in an area surrounding the nucleus. Internalization was more efficient with a preparation containing p7 than with one that did not. The two preparations bound to transfected 3T3-L1 cells expressing either both (hH1 and hH2) subunits of the ASGP-R (3T3-22Z cells) or both hH1 and a functionally defective variant of hH2 (3T3-24X cells) but not to parental cells. Additionally, uptake of dye-labeled preparation containing p7 was observed with 3T3-22Z cells but not with 3T3-L1 or 3T3-24X cells or with the preparation lacking p7, suggesting that p7 regulates the internalization properties of HCV structural proteins. Our observations suggest that HCV structural proteins bind to and cointernalize with the ASGP-R in cultured human hepatocytes.
PBK/TOPK expression in non‐small‐cell lung cancer: its correlation and prognostic significance with Ki67 and p53 expression

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of PBK/TOPK (PDZ‐binding kinase/T‐LAK cell‐originated protein kinase) expression, and explore the prognostic significance of PBK/TOPK expression alone and in combination with Ki67 and p53 expression in non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Targeted thrombolysis strategies for neuroprotective effect

Stroke is usually treated by systemic thrombolytic therapy if the patient presents within an appropriate time window. There is also widespread interest in the development of thrombolytic agents that can be used in cases of delayed presentation. Current agents that can be used in cases of delayed presentation of nerve damage by thrombus. Current systemic thrombolytic therapy is associated with adverse effects such as fibrinogenolysis and bleeding. In an attempt to increase the efficacy, safety, and specificity of thrombolytic therapy, a number of targeted thrombolytic agents have been studied in recent years. This review focuses on the concepts underlying targeted thrombolytic therapy and describes recent drug developments in this field.
Cyclosporine in patients with severe steroid refractory ulcerative colitis in the era of infliximab. Review article.

Abstract Corticosteroids are the mainstay of therapy for severe ulcerative colitis. However, at least a third of patients fail to respond and face a colectomy. In these, rescue therapy with cyclosporine or infliximab (IFX), aimed at avoiding surgery, has been used in recent years. Of the two options, infliximab is largely preferred in both Sweden and Norway, whereas cyclosporine (CyA) is generally regarded as difficult to use, rather toxic and showing limited long-term efficacy. In light of some new recent data, herein, we provide an update of the literature in the field. It appears that there are theoretical and practical arguments on each side, and as of today, the choice between IFX or CyA for rescue therapy cannot be made on strong evidence. Thus, the best choice of medical rescue therapy will depend on the results of ongoing RCTs as well as future research in the field.
Classification of Pelvic Ring Fractures in Skeletonized Human Remains

Pelvic ring fractures are associated with high rates of mortality and thus can provide key information about circumstances surrounding death. These injuries can be particularly informative in skeletonized remains, yet difficult to diagnose and interpret. This study adapted a clinical system of classifying pelvic ring fractures according to their resultant degree of pelvic stability for application to gross human skeletal remains. The modified Tile criteria were applied to the skeletal remains of 22 individuals from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México that displayed evidence of pelvic injury. Because these categories are tied directly to clinical assessments concerning the severity and treatment of injuries, this approach can aid in the identification of manner and cause of death, as well as interpretations of possible mechanisms of injury, such as those typical in car‐to‐pedestrian and motor vehicle accidents.
Simulation of the surgical manipulation involved in clipping a basilar artery aneurysm: concepts of virtual clipping. Technical note.

Despite recent advances in three-dimensional imaging based on a voxel-rendering method, these techniques do not simulate the morphological changes that occur during surgery. The authors' goal was to develop a computer-graphics model to simulate the manipulation that occurs during surgery when clipping a cerebral aneurysm. The authors developed an application program to interpolate the contours of models of an artery and an aneurysm clip. The center of displacement was determined inside the arterial model. The directions of displacement were changed to simulate saccular and broad-neck aneurysms, and the intensity of displacement was calculated by using a cosine-based formula. The morphological changes in a saccular aneurysm that may occur during clipping were calculated in x, y, and z coordinates by using sine- and cosine-based formulas. Clip movement was integrated with the aneurysm model, thus simulating the manipulation used during clipping of a cerebral aneurysm. Surgery performed to clip a basilar artery (BA) aneurysm via the transsylvian approach was simulated, in which displacement of the internal carotid artery and clipping of the BA aneurysm were necessary. The movements of an aneurysm clip and clip applicator were designed to represent those occurring when a surgeon actually manipulates a BA aneurysm. The authors have named this methodological tool "virtual clipping. " Use of this tool would assist the preoperative choice of clipping style and selection of the best clip.