Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soluble pIasma IL‐2 receptors and maIaria

PIasma levels of soluble IL‐2 receptor (sIL‐2R) were measured by immunoassay in 180 individuals, aged 1–70 years, living in a maIaria‐endemic community in West Africa. slL‐2R levels were compared with age. maIaria parasitacmia. maIaria‐associated morbidity and cellular immune responses to PIasmodium falciparum antigens. PIasma levels ofsIL‐2R were independently associated with both age and patent maIaria parasitacmia. No significant association was observed between IL‐2R levels and concurrent maIaria morbidity (i.e. Fever associated with maIaria), but the number of individuals with clinical maIaria at the time of sampling was small. Although there was no association between pIasma sIL‐2R levels and in vitro proliferativc responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to a number of defined maIaria antigens, we did find a significant negative association between sIL‐2R and in vitro proliferation of unslimulatcd PBMC. High levels of sIL‐2R (up to 5500 U ml) were detected in the pIasma of maIaria‐infected individuals: this is indicative of a vigorous cellular immune response to malaria antigens in vivo and does not support the notion that maIaria infections are generally immunosuppressive. Indeed, we found that, at the low levels of parasitacmia present in study subjects, there was no significant difference in the mean prolifcrative response to maIaria antigens in infected subjects when compared with uninfected subjects.
To breed or not to breed: an analysis of the social and density-dependent constraints on the fecundity of female badgers (Meles meles).

Data from post-mortem examinations, population density estimates and long term capture-mark-recapture studies have been combined to look at the pattern of reproductive behaviour and the social factors leading to reproductive failure in badgers in Britain. The results are used to evaluate whether the hypothesis that the defence of oestrous females (as opposed to defence of food resources) best explains territorial behaviour and the social organization of badgers. Badgers in Britain have two peaks of reproductive activity, one immediately post partum and one in the summer/autumn. These coincide with two peaks of ovulation, and in the late winter/spring there is a steep rise in the number of sows carrying blastocysts, to reach an asymptote in June for yearling sows and April in older sows. Measured by their contribution to overall productivity, winter/spring matings were much more important than summer/autumn matings, contributing 65% of total autumn blastocysts in yearling sows and 71% of autumn blastocysts in older sows. The relative importance of the two mating periods is reflected in the seasonal pattern of bite wounding in adult male badgers; minor bite wounding in January-March was 2.3 times as frequent as in August-October, and moderate-extensive bite wounding was 3.1 times more frequent. In the populations studied, pre- and post-natal losses were high, with reproductive failure occurring at all stages of the breeding cycle, so that less than 30% of potential productivity was achieved. Indeed 22% of sows failed to develop blastocysts; these had a lower body mass, less body fat, larger adrenal glands, poorer health and higher bite wound scores than sows with blastocysts. Only 44% of adult sows implanted their blastocysts and proceeded to the end of pregnancy. However, it was less easy to identify features characteristic of sows that did or did not go on to implant their blastocysts. Finally, 35% of sows that produced cubs ceased lactation early, and this loss of entire litters was thought to be due to infanticide by dominant sows. The presence of annexe setts correlates with increased productivity in younger sows, and this is thought to be because annexe setts enable younger sows and their cubs to avoid the aggression of older, more dominant sows. Living in large social groups has no net reproductive gain for adult males or females, and there was a decline in productivity (per adult) with increasing group size. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A new content distribution model with path probing mechanism for P2P overlay networks

Comparing to the traditional communication mechanism overlay networks offer an enhanced alternative for content delivery in terms of flexibility, scalability, and ease of deployment. In order to maximize the benefits of overlay networks flexible and scalable methods for content transmission and content representation are needed. This paper proposes a new content distribution model with overlay path probing mechanism for fast and efficient data dissemination in P2P overlay networks with heterogeneous overlay nodes. The proposed overlay path probing is an in-band approach whereby the actual content, sent over TCP, is exploited for probing purpose instead of injecting extra dummy packets into the native network. The proposed mechanism is capable of providing accurate and up-to-date estimation of the end-to-end capacity and the available bandwidth of overlay paths continuously. Therefore, the content distribution model will be able to dynamically adjust the transmission rate of the content to downstream links according to the available bandwidth along each overlay path to achieve better resource utilization. Several P2P applications such as P2P file sharing and CDNs can benefit from the enhanced content distribution model which can support simultaneous parallel downloads from multiple sources with multiple rates.
Two-Year Results of Burch Compared With Midurethral Sling With Sacrocolpopexy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate 1- and 2-year urinary continence rates after Burch retropubic urethropexy compared with a retropubic midurethral sling for women with urinary incontinence undergoing sacrocolpopexy. METHODS We conducted a planned secondary analysis of a multicenter, randomized, single-blind trial comparing Burch with a sling that enrolled participants from June 2009 to August 2013. Objective outcome measures of continence were assessed at 1- and 2-year follow-up through office visits and validated questionnaires. Overall continence was defined as a negative stress test, no retreatment for stress incontinence, and no self-reported urinary incontinence (International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire, Short Form, score, 0). Stress-specific continence was defined as fulfillment of the first two criteria and no self-reported stress-related incontinence. Primary outcomes were assessed with intention-to-treat and within-protocol analyses. Comparisons between groups were evaluated using χ or Fisher exact test. RESULTS The two groups were similar in all measured baseline features. Outcome assessments at 2 years were available for 48 of 57 patients (84%) in the sling group and 45 of 56 patients (80%) in the Burch group. With intention-to-treat analysis, the sling group had significantly higher rates of overall continence than the Burch group (49% [28/57] vs 29% [16/56]; 95% CI for absolute risk difference 3.0-38.1; P=.03) at 1- but not 2-year follow-up (47% [27/57] vs 32% [18/56]; 95% CI for absolute risk difference -2.6 to 33.1; P=.10). The sling group had significantly higher rates of stress-specific continence than the Burch group at 1-year (70% [40/57] vs 46% [26/56]; 95% CI for absolute risk difference 6.1-41.4; P=.01) and 2-year (70% [40/57] vs 45% [25/56]; 95% CI for absolute risk difference 7.9-43.2; P=.006) follow-up. No difference was detected in prolapse recurrence, voiding dysfunction, antimuscarinic medication use, urgency incontinence, or patient satisfaction. CONCLUSION Among women with baseline urinary incontinence undergoing sacrocolpopexy, the retropubic midurethral sling resulted in higher stress-specific continence rates than Burch retropubic urethropexy at 1- and 2-year follow-up.
Mutual interaction of 17beta-estradiol and progesterone: electron emission. Free radical effect studied by experiments in vitro.

BACKGROUND Based on the different behaviour of 17beta-estradiol (17betaE(2)) and progesterone (PRG), it was of interest to investigate the interaction of both hormones in respect of their electron emission and cytotoxicity by experiments in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS The studies include determination of emitted electrons (e(-)(aq)) by the individual hormones as well as by their mixtures, all complexed with cyclodextrin (HBC). Experiments in vitro (Escherichia coli bacteria) were performed for a better understanding of the mechanisms involved. Survival ratios, DeltaD(37)(Gy), were calculated. RESULTS Aqueous HBC as well as 17betaE(2) and PRG, individually as well as in mixtures, are able to emit e(-)(aq). The resulting transients can lead to the formation of metabolites, some of which can initiate cancer. It was established that both hormones, 17betaE(2) and PRG, interact in respect to their electron emission property. In the frame of experiments in vitro, it was found that oxidizing radicals (OH, O(2)(-)) lead to negative DeltaD(37)(Gy) values, indicating cytostatic properties. On the other hand, the primary reducing radicals (e(-)(aq), H) lead to positive DeltaD(37)(Gy) values, indicating a radical-scavenging effect. CONCLUSION The main outcome of this work is that PRG in combination with 17betaE(2) can strongly reduce the number of carcinogenic 17betaE(2)-metabolites. This fact offers a new pathway for application of hormones in medical treatment of patients.
Development of a universal CTL-based vaccine for influenza

In pursuit of better influenza vaccines, many strategies are being studied worldwide. An attractive alternative is the generation of a broadly cross-reactive vaccine based on the induction of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) directed against conserved internal antigens of influenza A virus. The feasibility of this approach using recombinant viral vectors has recently been demonstrated in mice and humans by several research groups. However, similar results might also be achieved through immunization with viral proteins expressed in a prokaryotic system formulated with the appropriate adjuvants and delivery systems. This approach would be much simpler and less expensive. Recent results from several laboratories seem to confirm this is as a valid option to be considered.
Expression of ras proto‐oncogenes in the dunning R3327 rat prostatic adenocarcinoma system

Steady‐state levels of c‐Ha‐ras mRNA were measured in eight sublines of the Dunning R3327 rat prostatic adenocarcinoma. As a control, normal dorsal prostate tissue was studied. Increased expression of c‐Ha‐ras is associated with tumor progression in one lineage of the Dunning R3327 system (H to AT1 to MAT‐Lu and MAT‐Ly‐Lu). Here ras mRNA increases as the tumor advances from androgen dependence and a high degree of differentiation to an anaplastic aneuploid phenotype with high metastatic potential. However, in the other Dunning lineage (H to HI to HI‐F to AT3), expression of c‐Ha‐ras is variable and does not correlate with tumor progression. Immunocytochemistry showed that levels of the c‐Ha‐ras p21 protein paralleled steady‐state mRNA levels in all variants. Transfection assays, using NIH/3T3 cells, suggested that the ras loci were not activated in the R3327 tumors. Levels of c‐Ki‐ras mRNA were also measured in the Dunning tumors; these did not correlate with tumor progression in either lineage. Expression of N‐ras mRNA was not detected in the Dunning tumors.
Effects of resistance training and walking on cardiovascular disease risk in African-American women.

PURPOSE The study's purpose was to evaluate the effects of walking (W) and walking plus resistance training (WRT) on cardiovascular disease risk factors in inactive middle-aged (49.0 ± 5.5 yr) African-American women (body mass index = 34.7 ± 6.4 kg·m(-2)). METHODS Body composition, blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen were measured before and after a 12-wk exercise intervention. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two training groups. The W group (n = 25) was instructed to increase daily pedometer-measured walking to ≥10,000 steps per day, whereas the WRT group (n = 19) was given the same walking prescription plus supervised resistance training 2 d·wk(-1). A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with an intention-to-treat analysis was performed to examine changes between groups. Significance was accepted at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS Both groups significantly (P < 0.001) increased walking (W = 5453 ± 2119 to 6845 ± 2279 steps per day, WRT = 4823 ± 1758 to 6859 ± 2012 steps per day). WRT significantly (P < 0.001) increased both upper (100 ± 15 to 113 ± 18 kg) and lower (102 ± 20 to 116 ± 25 kg) body strength compared with W. WRT significantly decreased waist circumference (94.8 ± 12.3 to 92.9 ± 12.0 cm, P = 0.021) and total fat mass (42.6 ± 11.1 to 41.8 ± 10.8 kg, P = 0.036) compared with W. WRT also significantly decreased pre- to postintervention body fat (45.8% ± 6.2% to 45.3% ± 6.2%, P = 0.018), HbA1c (5.9% ± 1.2% to 5.6% ± 1.0%, P = 0.028), and mean glucose calculated from HbA1c (122 ± 39 to 114 ± 32 mg·dL(-1), P = 0.028), whereas W showed no changes. Blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein were not affected by either intervention. CONCLUSIONS Although both interventions increased steps per day, WRT was more effective in improving several body composition measures and glucose control in 12 wk. WRT may be an important addition to a lifestyle intervention aiming to facilitate reductions in cardiovascular disease risk factors in overweight and obese African-American women.
Narratives of psychiatric malingering in works of fiction

This paper argues that the representation of psychiatric malingering in literary and cinematographic narratives informs societal stereotypes, and thus influences the clinical phenomenology of malingering. The study aims to identify sociocultural models of malingering in contemporary Western society based on the narrative analysis of about 60 fictional and non-fiction texts. Two behavioural patterns derived from the Foucauldian categories folly and madness are recognisable in naïve conceptualisations of fake insanity. Fabricated significations of deviation originate in grand societal narratives rather than in medical discourse, and construct characters such as animal like underdeveloped simpletons or detached, irrational, violent madmen. Each pattern stems from its own archaic conceptual basis and dictates a distinct framework for strategies of malingering. The semiotic structure of artistic narratives of malingering is discussed in comparison with the symptomatology of existing psychiatric models.
The reference plane by BEMD for 3D roughness evaluation of micromilling surface

Surface roughness evaluation of a micro-milling surface using a 3D method can compensate for the deficiencies of the traditional 2D evaluation method, and improve the consistency and unity of the surface topography analysis. In order to obtain the reference plane for 3D roughness evaluation of a micro-milling surface, this study investigated the use of a bidimensional empirical mode decomposition algorithm (BEMD) to process the original surface data, and then use the frequency and energy information obtained by the data decomposition to determine the threshold for the evaluation criterion method. The simulation results showed that the method can effectively extract the reference plane, so that this approach can be extended to the evaluation of other machined surfaces.
A Dynamic Role for HDAC7 in MEF2-mediated Muscle Differentiation*

The overlapping expression profile of MEF2 and the class-II histone deacetylase, HDAC7, led us to investigate the functional interaction and relationship between these regulatory proteins. HDAC7 expression inhibits the activity of MEF2 (-A, -C, and -D), and in contrast MyoD and Myogenin activities are not affected. Glutathione S-transferase pulldown and immunoprecipitation demonstrate that the repression mechanism involves direct interactions between MEF2 proteins and HDAC7 and is associated with the ability of MEF2 to interact with the N-terminal 121 amino acids of HDAC7 that encode repression domain 1. The MADS domain of MEF2 mediates the direct interaction of MEF2 with HDAC7. MEF2 inhibition by HDAC7 is dependent on the N-terminal repression domain and surprisingly does not involve the C-terminal deacetylase domain. HDAC7 interacts with CtBP and other class-I and -II HDACs suggesting that silencing of MEF2 activity involves corepressor recruitment. Furthermore, we show that induction of muscle differentiation by serum withdrawal leads to the translocation of HDAC7 from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. This work demonstrates that HDAC7 regulates the function of MEF2 proteins and suggests that this class-II HDAC regulates this important transcriptional (and pathophysiological) target in heart and muscle tissue. The nucleocytoplasmic trafficking of HDAC7 and other class-II HDACs during myogenesis provides an ideal mechanism for the regulation of HDAC targets during mammalian development and differentiation.
Plasma-Induced Damage in High-$k$/Metal Gate Stack Dry Etch

Plasma-based dry etch is used as the industry standard gate etch in conventional CMOS fabrication flow. However, past studies indicate that plasma-induced dry etch may impact device performance. The current research trend toward replacing conventional silicon dioxide and polysilicon gate stacks with high-k/metal gate stacks introduces a new challenge: development of new dry etch processes for critical new metals and their alloys. In this letter, a comparative study in the context of device performance has been conducted to compare dry etch versus wet etch for gate stack etch of hafnium oxide/tantalum silicon nitride gate stack. It has been found that the dry-etched gate stack exhibit significantly more gate leakage current and poorer uniformity in threshold-voltage distribution
Efficacy and safety of fulranumab as monotherapy in patients with moderate to severe, chronic knee pain of primary osteoarthritis: a randomised, placebo‐ and active‐controlled trial

The efficacy and safety of monotherapy with fulranumab, a monoclonal antibody that neutralises human nerve growth factor (NGF), was evaluated compared with placebo and an active comparator, controlled‐release (CR) oxycodone, in patients with moderate to severe chronic knee pain of primary osteoarthritis (OA).
Does incomplete recovery from first lifetime major depressive episode herald a chronic course of illness?

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the influence of incomplete recovery from first lifetime major depressive episodes on long-term outcome. METHOD After their first lifetime major depressive episode, patients were divided into asymptomatic (N=70) and residual subthreshold depressive symptom (N=26) recovery groups and compared on longitudinal course during up to 12 years of prospective naturalistic follow-up. RESULTS Patients with residual subthreshold depressive symptoms during recovery had significantly more severe and chronic future courses. Those with residual symptoms relapsed to major and minor depressive episodes faster and had more recurrences, shorter well intervals, and fewer symptom-free weeks during follow-up than asymptomatic patients. CONCLUSIONS Resolution of major depressive episodes with residual subthreshold depressive symptoms, even the first lifetime episode, appears to be the first step of a more severe, relapsing, and chronic future course. When ongoing subthreshold symptoms continue after major depressive episodes, the illness is still active, and continued treatment is strongly recommended.
Impact of angular spread and number of multipath clusters on MIMO channels

This work studies the dependency of MIMO performance figures on two characteristic multipath cluster parameters, the innercluster Angular Spread of Arrival (ASA) and the number of clusters. Both these parameters play a vital role in geometric based stochastic channel models as from the WINNER or COST families. Our motivation to the study these parameters is two-fold. First, we study their impact on the changing statistics of channel transmit and receive side correlations. Second, we will investigate their impact on the single user MIMO channel capacity. We present a detailed analysis for different MIMO order setups with both single as well as dual polarized antenna elements under Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Non-LOS (NLOS) propagation conditions. One key result is, that the number of clusters is more dominant than the angular spread of it. This empirical investigation considered a 3D extension of the WINNER channel model and the urban macro cell scenario at a center frequency of 2.53 GHz.
Sub-Trees Modification of Huffman Coding for Stuffing Bits Reduction and Efficient NRZI Data Transmission

In recent decades, image and video compression was widely used on network access. However, there are few researches focused on the behavior between data transmission and multimedia compression. Therefore, this paper considers this problem between the encoding of compression and transmission to develop a low bit rate transmission scheme based on Huffman encoding. The proposed method can balance “0” and “1” bits to save the issue by analyzing the probability of the miss match in the typical Huffman tree. Moreover, the proposed method also can modify the transitional tree under the same compression ratio. Experimental results show that the proposed method can reduce the stuffing bits to 51.13% of standard JPEG compression. Besides, the file size after the proposed encoding is the same with the original one. It is observed that the proposed method provides a way to reduce the transmitted bits under the same compression ratio.
Telomere-maintenance mechanisms in soft-tissue malignant fibrous histiocytomas.

BACKGROUND Sarcomas are distinct from carcinomas in that a substantial portion of them use the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) mechanism to maintain their telomeres. The present study clarifies the prevalence of the ALT mechanism and examines the prognostic importance of telomere factors in soft-tissue malignant fibrous histiocytomas. METHODS We investigated a series of forty-three soft-tissue malignant fibrous histiocytoma samples from forty-three patients with regard to telomere length, telomerase activity, and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) mRNA expression. Tumor samples were obtained from surgical specimens and were stored at -80 degrees C until use. Univariate analysis of the tumor samples from patients for whom data were available on age, sex, histological grade, tumor size, surgical margin, recurrence, and telomere factors was performed with use of the log-rank test. Multivariate analysis with only significant variables was then performed. RESULTS Telomerase activity was detectable in 79.1% of the tumor samples, hTERT expression was demonstrated in 90.7% of the tumor samples, and evidence of engagement of the ALT mechanism of telomere length maintenance was observed in 32.6% of the tumor samples. Among the variables tested, ALT-positive status emerged as the only independent prognostic factor for death of the patient (hazard ratio, 0.275; 95% confidence interval, 0.104 to 0.724; p=0.0089). There were no significant differences in survival rates between patients with ALT-positive, telomerase-positive tumors and those with ALT-positive, telomerase-negative tumors (p=0.301) or between patients with ALT-positive tumors that showed above-average telomerase activity and those with ALT-positive tumors that showed below-average telomerase activity (p=0.900). Therefore, telomerase activity does not affect the prognosis in patients with ALT-positive malignant fibrous histiocytoma. High telomerase expression is associated with a poor prognosis in patients with ALT-negative malignant fibrous histiocytoma (p=0.0027). CONCLUSIONS More detailed analysis will be needed to identify the most valuable prognostic factor in patients with malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and a more thorough understanding of telomere biology may give an indication of telomere-targeting therapy in the future.