Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Control of cell proliferation in the rat adrenal gland in vivo by the renin-angiotensin system.

Adrenal cytogenesis was investigated in response to 1) subcutaneous infusions of angiotensin (ANG) II (200 ng.kg-1.min-1); 2) high and low sodium intake; and 3) captopril treatment (10 mg.kg-1.day-1). Cell proliferation was assessed as uptake of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdUrd) into nuclei. BrdUrd, infused continuously throughout 2 wk of treatment, was detected immunocytochemically. ANG II and sodium restriction caused hypertrophy of the zona glomerulosa with two- to threefold increases in BrdUrd indexes. After captopril, the glomerulosa appeared atrophied with pyknotic nuclei, but the BrdUrd index was unchanged. Zonae intermedia and fasciculata were unaffected by any treatment. Zona reticularis epithelial cells proliferated in response to ANG II and sodium restriction but were unaffected by captopril. In the medulla, captopril increased BrdUrd uptake, whereas ANG II, but not low sodium, caused a decrease. In conclusion, 1) proliferation of the glomerulosa and reticularis cells is specifically controlled by ANG II, 2) captopril may cause glomerulosa cells to die, and 3) blood pressure may control proliferation of the medulla.
Potential impact of a nonavalent HPV vaccine on HPV related low-and high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesions: A referral hospital-based study in Sicily

ABSTRACT While bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines have been used for about 10 years, a nonavalent vaccine against HPV types 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52 and 58 has been recently approved by FDA and EMA and is now commercially available. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential impact of the nonavalent vaccine on HPV infection and related low- and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL, HSIL), compared to the impact of the quadrivalent vaccine, in a female population living in Sicily (Italy). Low estimates of HPV vaccine impact were calculated as prevalence of HPV 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52 and 58 genotypes, alone or in association, but excluding presence of other HPV types; high estimates were calculated as prevalence of HPV 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52 and 58 genotypes alone or in association, in the presence of other HPV types. The nonavalent HPV vaccine showed increased impact, compared to the quadrivalent vaccine. Estimates of potential impact varied from 30.9% (low estimate) to 53.3% (high estimate) for LSIL, and from 56.9% to 81,0% for HSIL. The proportion of additional cases potentially prevented by the nonavalent vaccine was 14.4%–23.8% for LSIL, and 19.0%–32.8% for HSIL. The benefit of the nonavalent vaccine compared to the quadrivalent vaccine was more than 80% for both low and high impact estimates for LSIL and more than 50% for both low and high impact estimates for HSIL. The present study confirms that the switch from a first generation HPV vaccines to a nonavalent vaccine would increase the prevention of cervical HSIL in up to 90% of cases.
Inhibition of hematopoietic progenitor cell proliferation by ethanol in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 tat-expressing transgenic mice.

BACKGROUND A number of hematological abnormalities are associated with both human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection and alcohol abuse. There is little information on how alcohol abuse might further influence the survival and growth of hematopoietic progenitors in HIV-infected individuals in the presence of immune system abnormalities and anti-HIV drugs. Because there is evidence that viral transactivator Tat itself can induce hematopoietic suppression, in this study we examined the role of ethanol as a cofactor in transgenic mice that expressed HIV-1 Tat protein. METHODS Tat transgenic mice and nontransgenic littermates were given ethanol (20% v/v) and the anti-HIV drug 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT; 1 mg/ml) in drinking water. Immunosuppression in mice was induced by weekly intraperitoneal injections of anti-CD4 antibody. Hematopoiesis was examined by erythroid colony forming unit (CFU-E) and granulocyte/macrophage colony-forming unit (CFU-GM) assays of the bone marrow progenitor cells. RESULTS Administration of ethanol for 7 weeks resulted in a 50% decrease in the proliferative capacity of CFU-E- and CFU-GM-derived progenitors from transgenic mice compared with that of ethanol-treated nontransgenic controls. Similar decreases also were observed in transgenic mice treated with AZT or a combination of AZT and ethanol. Furthermore, ethanol and AZT were significantly more toxic to the granulopoietic progenitors (40-50% inhibition) than to the erythropoietic progenitors (10-20% inhibition) in Tat transgenic mice. Although a 10 day exposure of Tat transgenic and nontransgenic mice to a combination of ethanol and AZT had no suppressive effect on the erythropoietic and granulopoietic progenitor cells, there was a marked decrease (40-60%) in CFU-GM in mice made immunodeficient by CD4+ T-lymphocyte depletion. The ethanol-treated Tat transgenic mice but not the nontransgenic litter-mates also showed a significant decrease (25%) in CFU-GM. CONCLUSION Our in vivo study strongly suggests that ethanol ingestion in HIV-1-infected individuals, particularly those on antiretroviral drugs, might increase bone marrow toxicity and contribute to HIV-1-associated hematopoietic impairment.
Effects of JNJ‐38431055, a novel GPR119 receptor agonist, in randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled studies in subjects with type 2 diabetes

Aim: G‐protein coupled receptor agonists are currently under investigation for their potential utility in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The objective was to determine the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety and tolerability of GPR119 agonist, JNJ‐38431055 in T2DM subjects.
Locomotion and navigation of a Planar Walker based on binary actuation

Locomotion and navigation of a surface walking/climbing robot - Planar Walker, based on a novel planar 8-bar mechanism are studied. The robot moves on a surface through decoupled transverse gaits and turning gaits with finite lengths and finite rotation angles. Motions of the gaits are modeled using planar rigid motion group. Three point-to-point navigation methods are developed for various situations: simple line of sight (SLS), simulated annealing accurate planning (SAAP), and localized hybrid accurate planning (LHAP) algorithms. Computer simulation shows that SAAP produces accurate gait sequences and LHAP saves computation time and resources for long-range targets. However, experiment shows that SLS outperforms SAAP and LHAP as the number of gaits becomes the major criteria in evaluating the gait performance due to imprecision of individual gait movements.
Assessing risks and benefits of nonhormonal treatments for vasomotor symptoms in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND Vasomotor symptoms (VMS); (hot flushes and night sweats) are the most common menopausal complaint for which women seek treatment. Several therapies can be considered to help manage these complaints. The objective of this review is to assess the risks and benefits of available and emerging therapeutic options for the management of menopausal VMS. METHODS A review of the literature was conducted based on relevant publications identified through a PubMed search for clinical trials of agents used in the treatment of VMS. RESULTS Hormone therapy (HT) remains the most effective treatment available, but there will always remain a need for nonhormonal options. Evidence does not support the efficacy of alternative or over-the-counter products, such as phytoestrogens and black cohosh, and their long-term safety is largely unknown. There is evidence supporting the efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) for the management of VMS from clinical trials of paroxetine, venlafaxine, and desvenlafaxine. Gabapentin appears to be effective, but the doses required may cause poor tolerability and reduced patient adherence. Data also suggest that clonidine has a modest effect at the expense of considerable adverse effects. CONCLUSIONS Choosing an appropriate treatment approach for the management of VMS requires careful assessment of the riskbenefit ratio of each alternative, as well as individual patient preference.
Mechanical properties of fiber coatings by dynamic mechanical analysis of optical fibers

The long-term performance of optical fibers strongly depends on the mechanical properties of fiber coatings. A dynamic mechanical analysis technique, commonly used for polymeric materials, was adapted to optical fibers for direct measurements of storage modules (E')/loss tangent (tan (delta) ) - temperature profiles of coatings. This technique involved testing a parallel array of optical fibers in single cantilever bending. The measured fiber modulus profiles showed only a 50% drop through a glass transition region that was centered at about 30 degree(s)C, intermediate between the coating transitions measured on free films in tension. The fiber modulus profiles calculated from individual coating profiles are in agreement with the measured profiles. The dynamic mechanical analysis technique demonstrated in this report allows one to measure coating properties directly on fibers for failure analysis and investigations of aging effects.
Optimal Decision Making with CP-nets and PCP-nets

Probabilistic conditional preference networks (PCP-nets) are a generalization of CP-nets for compactly representing preferences over multi-attribute domains. We introduce the notion of a loss function whose inputs are a CP-net and an outcome. We focus on the optimal decision-making problem for acyclic and cyclic CP-nets and PCP-nets. Our motivations are three-fold: (1) our framework naturally extends to allow reasoning on cyclic CP-nets and PCP-nets for full generality, (2) in the multi-agent setting, we place no restriction on agents' preferences structure and voting rules under our framework have desirable axiomatic properties, (3) we generalize several previous approaches to finding the optimum outcome in individual and multi-agent contexts. We characterize the computational complexity of computing the loss of a given outcome and computing the outcomes with minimum loss for three natural loss functions: 0-1 loss, neighborhood loss, and global loss. While the optimal decision is NP-hard to compute for many cases, we give a polynomial-time algorithm for computing the optimal decision for tree-structured PCP-nets and profiles of CP-net preferences with a shared dependency structure, w.r. t. neighborhood loss function.
Targeting of Human p 53-overexpressing Tumor Cells by an HLA A * 0201-restricted Murine T-Cell Receptor Expressed in Jurkat T Cells 1

A potent anti-human (hu) p53 CD8 CTL response develops in HLA A*0201 transgenic (Tg) mice after immunization with peptides corresponding to HLA A*0201 motifs from hu p53. Mice immunized with the hu p53149–157peptide develop a CTL response that is of moderately high affinity and is capable of recognizing hu tumor cells expressing mutated p53. In this report, the mRNAs encoding the predominantly expressed T-cell receptor (TCR) sequences were molecularly cloned from a murine (mu) CTL clone derived from immunized Tg mice, which recognized endogenously processed hu p53 restricted by HLA A*0201. The separate A and B chain TCR cDNAs were transfected in the corresponding TCR A and B Jurkat-CD3 mutant T-cell lines, and each rescued CD3 surface expression. Both TCR chains were simultaneously introduced into Jurkat-CD3 cells, and the transfected Jurkat cells recognized hu T2 cells sensitized with the p53149–157CTL epitope but not T2 cells sensitized with a nonspecific CTL epitope. Breast, pancreatic, and sarcoma tumor cell lines, which overexpress endogenous mutated p53, were recognized in the presence of anti-CD28 costimulation, only if they also expressed HLA A*0201. Normal hu fibroblasts established from skin cultures were not recognized. These results represent the first time that a p53-specific TCR capable of recognizing hu cancer cells was heterologously expressed in a naive recipient cell, converting that cell to one recognizing hu tumor cells with mutated p53. This TCR represents a candidate molecule for a genetic strategy in combating hu cancer by an adoptive immunotherapy approach, which uses the strong xenorecognition of hu p53 in mice.
Elektronischer Transport in nanostrukturierten ferromagnetischen Leiterbahnen

Within the present thesis the influence of the magnetization on the resistance behavior of ferromagnetic nanowires is investigated. Special emphasis lies on the quantitative determination of the domain wall resistance (DWR) of single domain walls and the analysis of quantum transport phenomena. For this, two systems of in-plane magnetized Co-nanowires and out-of-plane magnetized (Co/Pt)_n-multilayer-nanowires are investigated. The nanowires are fabricated using a combination of both high-resolution multi-step electron beam lithography with lift-off-technique and electron beam evaporation. Some of the wires are capped in situ with insulating carbon to protect them from oxidation. The magnetoresistance at low temperatures is dominated by the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR). Upon variation of the orientation of the magnetic field both the characterization of the magnetic configuration and the relevant magnetization reversal processes as a function of the wire thickness and width are obtained. For in-plane magnetized cobalt nanowires domain wall pinning is accomplished by means of lateral nanostructuring. However, the resistance of a single domain wall can be mainly attributed to the AMR. For (Co/Pt)_n-multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy contributions from the AMR can be excluded and the resistance of a single domain wall at T = 4,2 K is positive with DWR ~ 2,5%. The positive MR is explained quantitatively within a model incorporating spin-dependent scattering, whereas a negative MR resulting from delocalization of electrons is not observed. The low temperature resistance behavior of the ferromagnetic nanowires shows deviations from the classical resistance behavior of a typical metal such that the resistance exhibits a logarithmic increase with decreasing temperature, which can be attributed to quantum corrections due to enhanced electron-electron interactions (EEI) in two dimensions. Upon reduction of the wire width down to 32 nm a cross-over from two- to one-dimensional behavior with respect to EEI-contributions is observed. The data analysis does not yield corresponding resistance corrections due to weak electron localization (WEL). Even by systematic variations of both the wire thickness and the material as well as the degree of disorder WEL-effects remain undetected. Moreover, quantum corrections for ferromagnetic (Co/Pt)_n-multilayer-wires with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy are analyzed for the first time, for which also only contributions from enhanced electron-electron interactions are found. The absence of weak localization effects in polycrystalline nanowires is explained by local inhomogeneities of the magnetization.
A Model of Grid Cells Based on a Twisted Torus Topology

The grid cells of the rat medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) show an increased firing frequency when the position of the animal correlates with multiple regions of the environment that are arranged in regular triangular grids. Here, we describe an artificial neural network based on a twisted torus topology, which allows for the generation of regular triangular grids. The association of the activity of pre-defined hippocampal place cells with entorhinal grid cells allows for a highly robust-to-noise calibration mechanism, suggesting a role for the hippocampal back-projections to the entorhinal cortex.
An Observer-Based Indirect Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Rolling Cart Systems

Rolling cart system is a highly nonlinear phenomenon in which links undergo tipping and rolling with no fixed base. This in turn requires that the system running states be predicted correctly. This paper makes a full analysis of the rolling cart states by applying observer-based adaptive tracking control scheme based on fuzzy system and variable structure system (VSS) with system uncertainties, multiple time delayed state uncertainties, and external disturbances. A fuzzy modeling is used to approximate the dynamics of the rolling cart. The observer-based fuzzy adaptive control scheme is developed to override the nonlinearities, time delays, and external disturbances such that the H∞ tracking performance is achieved. The advantage of employing adaptive fuzzy system is that we can utilize the linguistic information by setting the membership functions of fuzzy logical system and the adaptation parameters to estimate the model uncertainties directly for using linear analytical results instead of estimating nonlinear system functions. Based on Lyapunov criterion and Riccati-inequality, some sufficient conditions are derived so that all states of the system are uniformly ultimately bounded and the effect of the external disturbances on the tracking error can be attenuated to any prescribed level to achieve H∞ tracking performance. Finally, a numerical example of a two-links rolling cart is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
PADReH - a framework for the design and implementation of dynamically and partially reconfigurable systems

Dynamically and partially reconfigurable systems (DRS) are those where any portion of the hardware behavior can be altered at application execution time. These systems have the potential to provide hardware with flexibility similar to that of software, while leading to better performance and smaller system size. However, the widespread acceptance of DRSs depends on adequate support to design and implement them. This work proposes a framework for DRS design and implementation named PADReH. The approach is compared to other propositions available in the literature. The first steps of the framework implementation are described, involving methods and tools to control the hardware reconfiguration process and the generation of partial bitstreams. The main contribution of the work is to provide means to systematically reduce the lack of support currently hampering the adoption of DRSs as a mainstream technology.
Perplexities of pertussis: recent global epidemiological trends and their potential causes

SUMMARY Recent much-publicized increases in pertussis case reports in some countries with high vaccine coverage have raised concerns about its current and future control. The ubiquity of this trend, however, remains unexamined. In an attempt to paint a global picture, we used case counts to determine which countries experienced statistically significant trends in incidence over the past two decades and to map changes in incidence during this period. These data reveal that pertussis resurgence is not a universal phenomenon. The heterogeneity in incidence trends, even in countries with superficially similar demography, socioeconomic conditions and vaccination programmes, is striking and requires explanation. In this opinion piece, we review and assess the multifaceted proposed explanations incorporating evolution, population dynamics, and the details of immunization programmes. While we do not solve the riddle that is pertussis epidemiology, we highlight critical aspects that are likely to hold the key to understanding its worldwide epidemiology.
Accuracy of the Subchondral Smile and Surface Referencing Techniques in Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty.

Inferior glenoid baseplate tilt relative to the coronal axis of the scapular body has been associated with improved results and fewer postoperative complications in reverse shoulder arthroplasty. However, the native glenoid surface is not always a reliable reference for the true scapular axis. Digital preoperative planning software and advanced imaging now allow surgeons to more precisely determine optimal glenoid placement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the subchondral smile and cannulated surface guide techniques in achieving inferior glenoid baseplate tilt by using 3-dimensional preoperative planning software. Virtual glenoid baseplate preparation and implantation was performed using computed tomography scans of 16 shoulders with rotator cuff deficiency. Two techniques were used: a subchondral smile technique that preferentially reams the interior glenoid, resulting in the appearance of a smile, and a cannulated surface guide technique that references the native glenoid face to place the baseplate in 10° of inferior tilt. Using the subchondral smile technique, the glenoid baseplate was implanted at a mean of 8.9° of superior tilt relative to the transverse scapular axis. Using the surface guide technique, the glenoid baseplate was implanted at a mean of 2.8° of superior tilt. Neither the subchondral smile technique nor the 10° cannulated surface guide technique is a reliable method to produce inferior glenoid tilt relative to the transverse axis of the scapula. Three-dimensional preoperative planning software is a useful tool when attempting to achieve optimal glenoid baseplate positioning in reverse shoulder arthroplasty. [Orthopedics. 2016; 39(4):e615-e620. ].
Evolutionary algorithms and multi-objectivization for the travelling salesman problem

This paper studies the multi-objectivization of single-objective optimization problems (SOOP) using evolutionary multi-objective algorithms (EMOAs). In contrast to the single-objective case, diversity can be introduced by the multi-objective view of the algorithm and the dynamic use of objectives. Using the travelling salesman problem as an example we illustrate that two basic approaches, a) the addition of new objectives to the existing problem and b) the decomposition of the primary objective into sub-objectives, can improve performance compared to a single-objective genetic algorithm when objectives are used dynamically. Based on decomposition we propose the concept "Multi-Objectivization via Segmentation" (MOS), at which the original problem is reassembled. Experiments reveal that this new strategy clearly outperforms both the traditional genetic algorithm (GA) and the algorithms based on existing multiobjective approaches even without changing objectives.
HOW ECCENTRIC ORBITAL SOLUTIONS CAN HIDE PLANETARY SYSTEMS IN 2:1 RESONANT ORBITS

The Doppler technique measures the reflex radial motion of a star induced by the presence of companions and is the most successful method to detect exoplanets. If several planets are present, their signals will appear combined in the radial motion of the star, leading to potential misinterpretations of the data. Specifically, two planets in 2:1 resonant orbits can mimic the signal of a single planet in an eccentric orbit. We quantify the implications of this statistical degeneracy for a representative sample of the reported single exoplanets with available data sets, finding that (1) around 35% of the published eccentric one-planet solutions are statistically indistinguishable from planetary systems in 2:1 orbital resonance, (2) another 40% cannot be statistically distinguished from a circular orbital solution, and (3) planets with masses comparable to Earth could be hidden in known orbital solutions of eccentric super-Earths and Neptune mass planets.