Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum antibody levels against Porphyromonas gingivalis extract and its chromatographic fraction in chronic and aggressive periodontitis.

UNLABELLED Periodontitis is an inflammatory oral disease caused by multifactorial intrinsic and extrinsic agents, including Gram-negative bacteria such as Porphyromonas gingivalis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate if there is difference in the serum levels of IgA, IgG and IgG subclasses reactive to Porphyromonas gingivalis in subjects with different periodontal conditions. METHODS The study included 89 patients divided into four groups: 29 subjects with moderate or severe chronic periodontitis (CP), 12 with aggressive periodontitis (AP), 22 with gingivitis or mild periodontitis (GP), and 26 healthy controls (HC). Humoral response was assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to verify serum levels of IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4 and IgA serum levels reacting to crude P. gingivalis ATCC 33277 sonicate extract and fraction IV, an enrichment of the immunoreactive bands of the crude extract obtained by chromatography. RESULTS IgA, IgG (p < 0.01), IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 serum level reactions to fraction IV were higher in the CP group compared with the healthy control. The CP group had higher levels of IgG and IgG4 to both antigens than the GP group, and higher levels of IgG and IgG4 to sonicate extract than the AP group. There were statistically significant differences in serum levels of IgG to both antigens (p < 0.01), IgG2 to fraction IV (p < 0.01), IgG3 to fraction IV (p < 0.05) and IgG4 to both antigens (p < 0.05) between AP and HC groups. IgG1 titers to sonicate extract were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the GP group in comparison to the AP group. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study suggest that there are differences in the serum levels of IgA, IgG and IgG subclasses in patients with different periodontal conditions.
Experimental Study on the Filling of Nano Structures with Infrared Mold Surface Heating

Abstract In the fabrication of plastic components with micro or nano structures, injection molding is one of the simple and most cost-effective processes. In the injection molding process, a complete filling of the micro or nano structures is necessary to fabricate a successful product. However, it is difficult to fully fill nano structures with an aspect ratio close to one or higher by the conventional molding process. In this study, mold inserts with nano channels were constructed by a LIGA-like process. The effects of the processing parameters and infrared heating on the filling of the nano structures were explored experimentally. Increasing the mold temperature, pressure, or filling rate did not improve the filling distance in nano channels with the conventional molding process significantly. Thus, an infrared mold surface heating system was introduced to assist the molding of the nano structures. To enhance the heating efficiency and reduce the cycle time, a heat-resistant layer was inserted under the mold cavity. The heat resistant plate led the heating system to work more efficiently. It easily increased the surface temperature over the glass transition temperature of plastic, thus fully filling the nano structures.
Electrostatics of partially gated carbon nanotube FETs

The finite-element method is used to solve Poisson's equation, under equilibrium conditions, for coaxial carbon nanotube field-effect transistors in which the gate electrode does not entirely cover the nanotube channel between the source- and drain-end contacts. A conformal transformation is applied to overcome the problems that arise in this open structure of specifying boundary conditions and of terminating the model space. The effect on the potential distribution within the transistor of changing various geometrical properties of the device is investigated, and some special conditions under which appropriate boundary conditions may be defined a priori are identified. The effects on the potential energy profile along the nanotube of varying the work function of the end contacts, and of introducing charge into the gate dielectric, are also investigated. The latter is shown to be effective in suppressing the otherwise dominant role that the end contacts play in determining the barrier to charge flow in the nanotube, thereby allowing bulk control to occur.
A new study of critical layer thickness, stability and strain relaxation in pseudomorphic gexsi1-x strained epilayers

Abstract The predicted energy of an array of dislocations in semiconductor epilayers is considerably reduced due to interactions between the dislocations. It is found that when the effects of interactions are taken into account, the existing expression for critical layer thickness hc becomes invalid. A method to calculate the correct critical layer thickness hci' taking into account the interactions, is given. Values of hci are always smaller than hc but the difference hc—hci is small. The concentration of dislocations present in thick epilayers (i.e. with hhci) in stable equilibrium increases considerably due to interactions. The rates of plastic flow and strain relaxation on annealing the metastable epilayers also increase. The values of phenomenological constants present in the plastic flow theories which are used to interpret experiments are much reduced when interactions are properly taken into account.
Pyocycanin, a Contributory Factor in Haem Acquisition and Virulence Enhancement of Porphyromonas gingivalis in the Lung

Several recent studies show that the lungs infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are often co-colonised by oral bacteria including black-pigmenting anaerobic (BPA) Porphyromonas species. The BPAs have an absolute haem requirement and their presence in the infected lung indicates that sufficient haem, a virulence up-regulator in BPAs, must be present to support growth. Haemoglobin from micro-bleeds occurring during infection is the most likely source of haem in the lung. Porphyromonas gingivalis displays a novel haem acquisition paradigm whereby haemoglobin must be firstly oxidised to methaemoglobin, facilitating haem release, either by gingipain proteolysis or capture via the haem-binding haemophore HmuY. P. aeruginosa produces the blue phenazine redox compound, pyocyanin. Since phenazines can oxidise haemoglobin, it follows that pyocyanin may also facilitate haem acquisition by promoting methaemoglobin production. Here we show that pyocyanin at concentrations found in the CF lung during P. aeruginosa infections rapidly oxidises oxyhaemoglobin in a dose-dependent manner. We demonstrate that methaemoglobin formed by pyocyanin is also susceptible to proteolysis by P. gingivalis Kgp gingipain and neutrophil elastase, thus releasing haem. Importantly, co-incubation of oxyhaemoglobin with pyocyanin facilitates haem pickup from the resulting methemoglobin by the P. gingivalis HmuY haemophore. Mice intra-tracheally challenged with viable P. gingivalis cells plus pyocyanin displayed increased mortality compared to those administered P. gingivalis alone. Pyocyanin significantly elevated both methaemoglobin and total haem levels in homogenates of mouse lungs and increased the level of arginine-specific gingipain activity from mice inoculated with viable P. gingivalis cells plus pyocyanin compared with mice inoculated with P. gingivalis only. These findings indicate that pyocyanin, by promoting haem availability through methaemoglobin formation and stimulating of gingipain production, may contribute to virulence of P. gingivalis and disease severity when co-infecting with P. aeruginosa in the lung.
Neutrophil-related factors as biomarkers in EAE and MS

Using a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), the authors show that neutrophils expand in the bone marrow and accumulate in the circulation before clinical onset of disease. Early in disease development, neutrophils infiltrate the CNS, which is suppressed by G-CSF receptor deficiency and blockade of CXCL1 to ameliorate disease. In patients with MS, systemic expression of neutrophil-related mediators correlates with new lesion formation, lesion burden, and clinical disability.
Mapping Repair in Ontology-based Data Access Evolving Systems (Extended Abstract)

In this paper we study the evolution of ontology based data access (OBDA) specifications, and focus on the case in which the ontology and/or the data source schema change, which may require a modification to the mapping between them to preserve both consistency and knowledge. Our approach is based on the idea of repairing the mapping according to the usual principle of minimal change and on a recent, mapping-based notion of consistency of the specification. We define and analyze two notions of mapping repair under ontology and source schema update. We then present a set of results on the complexity of query answering in the above framework, when the ontology is expressed in DL-LiteR.
Double Gaussian based feature normalization for robust speech recognition

In this paper, a new feature normalization approach, based on the cumulative density function (CDF) matching principle, is proposed. Since speech features in noisy environments usually follow bimodal distributions, we fully utilize this characteristic by representing the CDF of the features with a double Gaussian model. A feature normalization process is performed according to the estimated CDF. The experimental results on the Aurora2 database show that the performance of our method is much better than that of the conventional mean and variance normalization (MVN) method, and comparable to that of the method combining spectral subtraction and histogram equalization (HE). Moreover, further improvement has been gained by combining our method with a simple temporal feature smoothing process. This result suggests that our new method has the potential to be integrated with other techniques to provide even better performance.
Polycystic kidney disease: inheritance, pathophysiology, prognosis, and treatment

Both autosomal dominant and recessive polycystic kidney disease are conditions with severe associated morbidity and mortality. Recent advances in the understanding of the genetic and molecular pathogenesis of both ADPKD and ARPKD have resulted in new, targeted therapies designed to disrupt cell signaling pathways responsible for the abnormal cell proliferation, dedifferentiation, apoptosis, and fluid secretion characteristic of the disease. Herein we review the current understanding of the pathophysiology of these conditions, as well as the current treatments derived from our understanding of the mechanisms of these diseases.
Assembly and characterization of a fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy system for skin lesions diagnostic

The fluorescence spectra and fluorescence lifetime analysis in biological tissues has been presented as a technique of a great potential for tissue characterization for diagnostic purposes. The objective of this study is to assemble and characterize a fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy system for diagnostic of clinically similar skin lesions in vivo. The fluorescence lifetime measurements were performed using the Time Correlated Single Photon Counting (Becker & Hickl, Berlin, Germany) technique. Two lasers, one emitting at 378 nm and another at 445 nm, are used for excitation with 20, 50 and 80 MHz repetition rate. A bifurcated optical fiber probe conducts the excitation light to the sample, the collected light is transmitted through bandpass filters and delivered to a hybrid photomultiplier tube detector. The fluorescence spectra were obtained by using a portable spectrometer (Ocean Optics USB-2000-FLG) with the same excitation sources. An instrument response function of about 300 ps was obtained and the spectrum and fluorescence lifetime of a standard fluorescent molecule (Rhodamine 6G) was measured for the calibration of the system ((4.1 ± 0.3) ns). The assembled system was considered robust, well calibrated and will be used for clinical measurements of skin lesions.
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION: IS THERE SILENT OBSTRUCTIVE CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE?

Erectile dysfunction (ED) has long been ascribed to the ageing process. Patients presenting with ED often have their symptoms ignored in terms of both underlying aetiology and treatment. It is now clear that, in many cases, the pathological processes in ED are common to those involved in vascular disease. Men with proven coronary artery disease (CAD) have a high incidence of ED when directly questioned. In some, the onset of ED pre‐dates the symptoms and diagnosis of CAD as exemplified in our two cases. Patient 1 developed ED two months before an acute anterior myocardial infarction. Patient 2 had several cardiovascular risk factors but only the presence of ED prompted investigations which eventually led to an angiographic diagnosis of three‐vessel disease. The presence of silent co‐existing myocardial ischaemia should be considered in men who present with ED, particularly when they have other cardiovascular risk factors.
Landmark localization in images with variable Field-Of-View

The goal of this work is to accurately localize anatomical structures in 3D Computed Tomography (CT) scans. Clinical protocols vary greatly in the scanned Field-Of-View (FOV), hence a typical scan may contain only a subset of a larger group of anatomical landmarks learned from the whole body. We extend parts-based graphical models for landmark localization in such partial FOV scans, by augmenting the state space with extra states with learnt penalties, which account for placements of each invisible landmark outside of the FOV. The resulting algorithm maintains the attractive computational properties of the original approach, whilst achieving accurate localization of the visible landmarks. We report results for localizing 11 standard anatomical landmarks (skeletal and soft tissue), using 3,000 truncated 3D CT images from a database of lung cancer patients. We compare our method against a baseline graphical model and report landmark localization error reduced on average by 54%, for a wide range of previously unknown FOV sizes.
A COTS Selection Method and Experiences of Its Use

This paper presents the OTSO method for reusable component selection. The OTSO method has been developed to provide a basis for evaluating and selecting reusable components for software development. The main characteristics of the OTSO method include (i) a well-defined, documented process, (ii) hierarchical and detailed evaluation criteria decomposition and definition, (iii) a model for making alternatives comparable in terms of cost and added value they produce, and (iv) use of appropriate techniques for consolidating evaluation data. The OTSO method has been evaluated in two real-world case studies. The case studies indicated that a well-defined process allows the selection process to take place efficiently, the overhead of formal criteria definition is marginal, and the use of different data consolidation methods may influence the results. * This work has been sponsored by the Hughes Information Technology Corporation.
Certain Physical Properties and Applications of Nitinol.

Abstract : Experimental investigations have been performed of a number of physical properties of the nickel-titanium alloy known as Nitinol. The program was limited to wires and tapes of two specific compositions. Four types of tests were undertaken to characterize some of the thermomechanical memory effects observed in this alloy: 1) Stress-strain, for repeated load applications at constant temperature. 2) Temperature-elongation, for repeated temperature cycles at constant stress level. 3) Temperature-elongation for repeated temperature cycles at discontinuously variable stress levels simulating a thermodynamic power generation cycle. 4) Differential thermal analysis of unstressed samples for the complete transition temperature range during repeated cooling and heating cycles. Based upon evaluation of the data obtained, a hypothesis of the deformation mechanism is postulated. Several engineering models demonstrating different applications of Nitinol were designed, fabricated, and tested. Descriptions of the physical properties characterized in the tests and of the various models and devices are presented in this report.
Synthesis and Peptide‐Induced Degradation of Biocompatible Fibers Based on Highly Branched Poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)

Electrospinning is a potentially attractive approach for the production of scaffolds for tissue engineering, since it can produce very fine polymer fibers in the form of open, macropo-rous, nonwoven mats. [1–6] This technique utilizes an electric field that can deform a droplet sufficiently to eject a charged jet of polymer solution that is subsequently collected in the form of dry fibers. The high surface-to-volume ratio of nanofibers, combined with a sufficiently high polymer concentration in a suitably volatile solvent, ensures that stable spinning conditions can be found for a wide range of polymers. Appropriate spinning conditions are usually established empirically by systematic variation of the polymer concentration, choice of solvent, electric-field strength, and collector distance. Recent theoretical work indicates that at least 3.5 entanglements per chain are required for the formation of stable fibers. [5] This approach has been confirmed experimentally: electrospraying, rather than genuine fiber formation, is usually observed if the number of entanglements per chain is less than this critical value. The physical characteristics of the electrospun fibers depend on such parameters as fiber diameter, fiber orientation, elastic modulus, strain to failure, and porosity. [4–10] There has been much interest in the electrospinning of hydrogels, but there is an intrinsic dichotomy in using electrospinning (which requires polymer solubility) and the crosslinked nature of most hydrogels. One way to address this problem is to crosslink the polymer after fiber formation; recent work [11] illustrates this methodology using UV-initiated polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) oligomers. This method produces nanometer-scale fibers with diameters that depend on both the degree of polymerization and viscosity of the prepolymer
The Synonym Processing Mechanism in Web Index

Web Index (WIX) is a hyperlink generation system that achieves joining information resources on the web. The WIX system takes a set of pairs of keywords and URLs written in XML (called WIX Files) and join it to the text content of a web page in order to transform keywords into hyperlinks to a specific web page group of the user's choice. In the previous WIX system, synonymous expressions of the same entity had to be directly added to the WIX File in order to generate hyperlinks for such expressions. In this paper, we propose a synonym processing mechanism, which generates the hyperlink for synonyms without adding them to the WIX File directly. We collected synonymous relations from the redirection function of the Japanese version of Wikipedia and constructed a synonym database for our system. We incorporated the information of the Synonym database into the automaton based on the Aho-Corasick algorithm used for the lexicographic matching process of the WIX system, and achieved to generate hyperlinks on synonymous expressions without barely changing the size of our WIX File database.
Constraint data mining using apriori algorithm with AND operation

Data mining is one of the most important steps in knowledge discovery. Apriori algorithm is the most used one in this process. The major drawback with Apriori algorithm is of time and space. It generates numerous uninteresting itemsets which lead to generate various rules which are of completely of no use. The two factors considered for association rules generation are Minimum Support Threshold and Minimum Confidence Threshold. However, constraint mining reduces these two limitations of Apriori algorithm to a considerable extent. This paper uses constraint mining and AND operation between MST and MCT to prune itemsets generated in each iteration. The overall performance has been increased and simulated in this paper through various figures from simulation result.
A Two-Phase Commit Protocol for Mobile Wireless Environment

The challenges of wireless and mobile computing environments have attracted the attention of researchers to revisit the conventional implementation of distributed computing paradigms. In this paper we propose to revisit the conventional implementation of the Two Phase Commit (2PC) protocol which is a fundamental asset of transactional technology for ensuring the consistent commitment of distributed transactions. We propose a new execution framework providing an efficient extension that is aware of the mobility. The proposed M2PC (Mobile 2PC) protocol preserves the 2PC principle and the freedom of the mobile clients and servers while it minimizes the impact of unreliable wireless communications.
Image-Based Measurement of Light Sources With Correct Filtering

In this document we explore the theory and potential experimental setups for measuring the near field of a complex luminary. This work extends on near field photometry by taking filtering issues into account. The physical measurement setups described here have not been tested at the time of writing this document, we simply describe several possibilities here. Once actual tests have been performed, the results will be published elsewhere.
MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PORCINE AORTA USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

Determination of aortic mechanical properties in a non-invasive way would be an important step in predicting the onset and development of one of the most fatal degenerative cardiovascular diseases: abdominal aortic aneurysm(AAA). The approach presented in this work to achieve this goal couples Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) with Finite Element (FE) analysis to define a model of aortic mechanical behaviour. In particular, the aortic fibrous structure was analysed using Diffusion Tensor MRI, the results of which showed that fibres could be tracked in the aortic tissue, and that their angles measured ( 15◦) are in accordance with the angles reported in literature. DTI was also applied to a frozen aorta, where the structural parameters obtained were different from those for fresh tissue thus indicating the potential of DTI to measure damage in aortic tissue. MRI was also used for characterization of aortic tissue deformation, using Phase Contrast MRI (PC MRI). With this technique circumferential strains were measured in an aorta, which on average ranged between 0.95-4.7%, in accordance with the range found in vivo from literature. A mechanical constitutive model was implemented, initially based on the structural information from DTI and uniaxial test data, in a finite element (FE) model. Strains estimated in the model under applied physiological pressure were compared with the strains measured using PC MRI. Material parameters of the constitutive model were changed iteratively until the strains matched, thus obtaining the material constants necessary to characterize the behaviour of the aorta non-invasively. This thesis clearly demonstrates the feasibility of a novel approach to mechanical characterization of aortas, based on the use of innovative MRI techniques. Moreover, the application of DTI to both fresh and frozen tissue, which clearly identified differences in the tissues at the fibre level, demonstrates the potential of DTI as a diagnostic tool for degenerative arterial diseases such as AAAs.
Update in pulmonary hypertension 2005.

This article summarizes and puts into perspective the most important advances made in 2005 in the field of pulmonary vascular disease. The focuswill be entirely on pathogenetic and therapeutic aspects of pulmonary hypertension, although important articles have also been published in other areas of pulmonary vascular disease, including pulmonary embolism (1, 2) and high-altitude pulmonary edema (3, 4).