Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discordant Treatment Responses to Combination Antiretroviral Therapy in Rwanda: A Prospective Cohort Study

Introduction Some antiretroviral therapy naïve patients starting combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) experience a limited CD4 count rise despite virological suppression, or vice versa. We assessed the prevalence and determinants of discordant treatment responses in a Rwandan cohort. Methods A discordant immunological cART response was defined as an increase of <100 CD4 cells/mm3 at 12 months compared to baseline despite virological suppression (viral load [VL] <40 copies/mL). A discordant virological cART response was defined as detectable VL at 12 months with an increase in CD4 count ≥100 cells/mm3. The prevalence of, and independent predictors for these two types of discordant responses were analysed in two cohorts nested in a 12-month prospective study of cART-naïve HIV patients treated at nine rural health facilities in two regions in Rwanda. Results Among 382 patients with an undetectable VL at 12 months, 112 (29%) had a CD4 rise of <100 cells/mm3. Age ≥35 years and longer travel to the clinic were independent determinants of an immunological discordant response, but sex, baseline CD4 count, body mass index and WHO HIV clinical stage were not. Among 326 patients with a CD4 rise of ≥100 cells/mm3, 56 (17%) had a detectable viral load at 12 months. Male sex was associated with a virological discordant treatment response (P = 0.05), but age, baseline CD4 count, BMI, WHO HIV clinical stage, and travel time to the clinic were not. Conclusions Discordant treatment responses were common in cART-naïve HIV patients in Rwanda. Small CD4 increases could be misinterpreted as a (virological) treatment failure and lead to unnecessary treatment changes.
Chronos: Meeting coflow deadlines in data center networks

Guaranteed performance for data-parallel applications is important for both service providers and cloud data centers that host such services. A job of data-parallel applications involves communication among multiple machines to transmit intermediate results. Such communication comprises a collection of parallel flows, which is abstracted as a coflow in recent proposals. In this paper, we study the problem of meeting deadlines for coflows in data center networks. Existing flow-level scheduling schemes are insufficient to guarantee the coflow-level performance, since a coflow can meet its deadline only when all its constituent flows finish on time. Due to the scarce bandwidth on the network bottleneck, it is vital to coordinate concurrent coflows to meet as many deadlines as possible. We present Chronos, a scheduling framework that captures the correlation of flows belonging to a coflow, and handles the resource allocation among multiple concurrent coflows. Chronos is work-conserving and starvation-free without integrating complicated admission control mechanisms. We show via extensive simulations on ns3 that Chronos can make 1.6× more coflows meet their deadlines compared to flow-level schemes.
Dissection of the c-Kit signaling pathway in mouse primordial germ cells by retroviral-mediated gene transfer

Establishment of the mammalian germ line is a prerequisite for fertility of the adult animal but we know surprisingly little about the molecular mechanisms regulating germ-line development in mammals. Signaling from the c-Kit receptor tyrosine kinase is essential for primordial germ cell (PGC) growth both in vivo and in vitro. Many downstream effectors of the c-Kit signaling pathway have been identified in other cell types but how these molecules control PGC survival and proliferation are unknown. Determination of the c-Kit effectors acting in PGCs has been hampered by the lack of effective methods to easily manipulate gene expression in these cells. We overcame this problem by testing the efficacy of retroviral-mediated gene transfer for manipulating gene expression in mammalian germ cells. We found that PGCs can be successfully infected with a variety of types of retroviruses. We used this method to demonstrate an important role for the AKT kinase in regulating PGC growth. Such technology for manipulating gene expression in PGCs will allow many of the molecular mechanisms regulating germ cell growth, behavior, and differentiation to be comprehensively analyzed.
A Prototype of Knowledge Base System for Weather Monitoring and Forecasting

We present the model of both structured and unstructured knowledge of weather features in this paper. An inference engine that simulates the model which is empowered to dynamically acquire knowledge is proposed. The output of the inference engine serves as input to the user-friendly, interactive, intelligent and menu-driven decision support engine. The decision support engine is characterized by a cognitive filter and an emotional filter and it is built to objectively and subjectively access and evaluate the alternative weather forecasts produced by the inference enigine with a view to arriving at the 'best' weather forecast. The case study of the system has been carried out using the data collected from the Meteorological Data Distribution (MDD) system installed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. The results obtained from the weather forecast for Lagos are presented. The objective of the study is to provide an intelligent, symbiotic and convivial system that would combine the skill of human experts in meteorology and the power of computing system in the bid to carry out the task of weather monitoring and forecasting. Moreover, the proposed framework can serve as a Computer Aided Learning (CAL) system for weather monitoring and forecasting by the students of meteorology.
Acute Intravenous Injection of Serelaxin (Recombinant Human Relaxin‐2) Causes Rapid and Sustained Bradykinin‐Mediated Vasorelaxation

Background A recent clinical trial (RELAXin in Acute Heart Failure [RELAX‐AHF]) demonstrated that 48 hours of continuous intravenous infusion of the vasorelaxant peptide serelaxin (recombinant human relaxin‐2) to patients with acute heart failure reduced cardiovascular mortality at 180 days. The persistence of a vasorelaxant response as a potential mechanism for this long‐term benefit and the vascular effects of a bolus intravenous injection of serelaxin have not been examined. This study investigates changes in resistance artery reactivity and passive mechanical wall properties following an intravenous serelaxin injection and whether these vascular effects persist in the absence of detectable circulating serelaxin. Methods and Results Male rats were injected with 13.3 μg/kg serelaxin into the tail vein; mesenteric arteries were assessed 3 and 24 hours after treatment by using wire‐myography. Serelaxin increased basal nitric oxide synthase activity and reduced maximal contraction to endothelin‐1 at 3 hours after administration. Serelaxin treatment also selectively enhanced bradykinin‐mediated endothelium‐dependent relaxation. This effect was sustained for 24 hours in the absence of circulating serelaxin. Serelaxin‐mediated augmentation of bradykinin‐evoked relaxation involved endothelium‐derived hyperpolarization after 3 hours and prostacyclin‐mediated relaxation after 24 hours. Furthermore, upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase, phosphorylation of protein kinase B at Ser473 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase at Ser1177 was observed at 24 hours after serelaxin injection. There were no effects of serelaxin on passive arterial wall stiffness. Conclusion Our data show that a bolus intravenous injection of serelaxin modulates endothelial vasodilator function 3 hours after administration, an effect that was sustained for 24 hours. The prolonged bradykinin‐mediated vasorelaxation is principally mediated through prostacyclin.
The influence of employees' and line managers' attributions on job performance : a quantitative study on employee HR attributions, HRM co-production and line manager implementation attributions at Benchmark Electronics.

This thesis uses attribution theory to investigate how the perceived motivation behind HR practices influences employee behavior. By looking at what employees perceived as the reason why certain HR practices are implemented, the influence on HRM co-production will be studied. HRM co-production is defined as the active involvement of employees in HR practices. When employees perceive that an HR practice is executed for reasons not beneficial for employees, but because of reasons of cost cutting, exploiting employees or because the organization is ordered to do so by its foreign headquarters, the level of active involvement in these HR practices will be low for employees. Using social exchange theory it is argued that the level of HRM co-production further determines the perceived HR intensity and eventually job performance. Such that when employees are actively involved in the delivery of HR practices, their perceived HRM intensity will be higher. And when employees perceive a strong HRM intensity, they will feel obligated to reciprocate to the organization by increasing their job performance. Next to these individual measures, a line manager perspective will be used with internal and external HR implementation attributions as moderator between employee HR attributions and HRM co-production. The research question to be answered with the help of these hypothesized relations is: “To what extent do employees’ and line managers’ HR attributions influence co-production and job performance? ” The research methods that are used are mostly quantitative and for small part qualitative. The analyses are performed on an individual and line manager level. Employees and line managers were asked to fill in questionnaires. Line managers of each department were also asked to take part in focus group sessions which had HR implementation attributions as topic. The data analysis showed support for the hypothesized relation between HRM co-production, perceived HR intensity and job performance, such that a high level of HRM co-production leads to a high level of perceived HR intensity. In turn a high level of perceived HR intensity leads to a higher job performance. Unfortunately there was no support found for the relation between employee HR attributions and HRM co-production. There was also no support for HR implementation attributions as moderator between this relationship. The main implication of this thesis is the significant relation of HRM co-production with perceived HR intensity. This construct proved to be a viable concept for further research. Research on other predecessors and antecedents is strongly recommended. Other theoretical and practical implications, limitations and future research possibilities are discussed the final section of this thesis.
Printed 3-D stacked chipless RFID tag with spectral and polarization encoding capacity

A fully printable 3D stacked chipless RFID tag on a 50-μm thin polyimide film is presented. The tag consists of multi-layer cross-polarized dipole resonators which overlap. The data encoding is performed in the multiresonating circuit which is comprised of multiple stop band resonators. The resonators are printed using screen printing technology using a silver based conductive paste. The chipless RFID tag is designed specifically for security applications which are suitable for mass deployment for low cost items in trillions.
NMR-Based Metabolomic Investigations on the Differential Responses in Adductor Muscles from Two Pedigrees of Manila Clam Ruditapes philippinarum to Cadmium and Zinc

Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is one of the most important economic species in shellfishery in China due to its wide geographic distribution and high tolerance to environmental changes (e.g., salinity, temperature). In addition, Manila clam is a good biomonitor/bioindicator in “Mussel Watch Programs” and marine environmental toxicology. However, there are several pedigrees of R. philippinarum distributed in the marine environment in China. No attention has been paid to the biological differences between various pedigrees of Manila clams, which may introduce undesirable biological variation in toxicology studies. In this study, we applied NMR-based metabolomics to detect the biological differences in two main pedigrees (White and Zebra) of R. philippinarum and their differential responses to heavy metal exposures (Cadmium and Zinc) using adductor muscle as a target tissue to define one sensitive pedigree of R. philippinarum as biomonitor for heavy metals. Our results indicated that there were significant metabolic differences in adductor muscle tissues between White and Zebra clams, including higher levels of alanine, glutamine, hypotaurine, phosphocholine and homarine in White clam muscles and higher levels of branched chain amino acids (valine, leucine and isoleucine), succinate and 4-aminobutyrate in Zebra clam muscles, respectively. Differential metabolic responses to heavy metals between White and Zebra clams were also found. Overall, we concluded that White pedigree of clam could be a preferable bioindicator/biomonitor in marine toxicology studies and for marine heavy metals based on the relatively high sensitivity to heavy metals.
Translational Immunoimaging and Neuroimaging Demonstrate Corneal Neuroimmune Crosstalk

Abstract: Corneal immunoimaging and neuroimaging approaches facilitate in vivo analyses of the cornea, including high-resolution imaging of corneal immune cells and nerves. This approach facilitates the analyses of underlying immune and nerve alterations not detected by clinical slit-lamp examination alone. In this review, we describe recent work performed in our translational ocular immunology center with a focus on “bench-to-bedside” and “bedside-to-bench” research. The ability to visualize dendritiform immune cells (DCs) in patients with laser in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), recently discovered in the central murine cornea, has allowed us to demonstrate their utility as a potential surrogate biomarker for inflammatory ocular surface diseases. This biomarker for inflammation allows the measurement of therapeutic efficacy of anti-inflammatory drugs and its utility as an endpoint in clinical trials with high interobserver agreement. IVCM image analyses from our studies has demonstrated a significant increase in DC density and size in ocular disease, a positive correlation between DC density and clinical signs and symptoms of disease and pro-inflammatory tear cytokines, and a strong negative correlation between DC density and subbasal nerve density. In conjunction with preclinical research investigating the inflammatory state in a partial or fully denervated cornea, our results indicated that corneal nerves are directly involved in the regulation of homeostasis and immune privilege in the cornea.
A calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase from mammalian brain that phosphorylates Synapsin I: partial purification and characterization

A calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, which phosphorylates a synaptic vesicle-associated protein designated Synapsin I, has been shown to be present in both soluble and particulate fractions of rat brain homogenates. In the present study, the particulate activity was solubilized by washing with a low ionic strength solution, and the enzymes from the two fractions were partially purified by ion exchange chromatography and calmodulin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. By each of several criteria, the partially purified enzymes from the two sources were indistinguishable. These criteria included specificity for various substrate proteins, concentration dependence of activation by calcium and calmodulin, pH dependence, and apparent affinities for the substrates Synapsin I and ATP. The mild conditions that released the particulate enzyme indicated that it was not tightly bound to the membrane and suggested that it may exist in a dynamic equilibrium between soluble and particulate-bound states. The partially purified enzyme preparations from both the soluble and particulate fractions contained three proteins that were phosphorylated in the presence of calcium and calmodulin, a 50-kilodalton (Kd) protein and two proteins in the 60-Kd region. When compared by phosphopeptide mapping and two- dimensional gel electrophoresis, the proteins were indistinguishable from three proteins of corresponding molecular weights that were shown by Schulman and Greengard (Schulman, H., and P. Greengard (1978) Nature 271: 478–479) to be prominent substrates for calcium/calmodulin- dependent protein kinase in a crude particulate preparation from rat brain. The 50-Kd substrate was the major Coomassie blue staining protein in both partially purified enzyme preparations. The peak of this protein coincided with that of enzyme activity during DEAE- cellulose and calmodulin-Sepharose chromatography. These results suggest that the 50-Kd phosphoprotein may be an autophosphorylatable subunit of the Synapsin I Kinase or may exist in a complex with it.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity the Quality of Girls' Diets Declines and Tracks across Middle Childhood

Background: Food group intakes by US children are below recommendations and micronutrient inadequacies have been reported. There are few longitudinal data that focus on developmental changes in food and nutrient intake from early to middle childhood. We examined changes in nutrient and food group intakes over time and the tracking of intakes across middle childhood in a longitudinal sample of girls.
Atrophic Gastritis: A Related Factor for Osteoporosis in Elderly Women

Purpose Osteoporosis poses a great threat to the aging society. Hypochlorhydric or achlorhydric conditions are risk factors for osteoporosis. Atrophic gastritis also decreases gastric acid production; however, the role of atrophic gastritis as a related factor for osteoporosis is unclear. We investigated the relationship between atrophic gastritis and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women over 60 years of age. Subjects and Methods A total of 401 postmenopausal women were included in this cross-sectional study, which was conducted during their medical check-ups. Bone mineral densitometry was measured using a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Atrophic gastritis was defined endoscopically if gastric mucosa in the antrum and the body were found to be atrophied and thinned and submucosal vessels could be well visualized. Results The proportion of people with atrophic gastritis was higher in the osteoporotic group than in the group without osteoporosis. A linear relationship was observed in the proportion of atrophic gastritis according to the categories of normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis at the lumbar spine (p for trend = 0.039) and femur (p for trend = 0.001). A multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the presence of atrophic gastritis was associated with an increased odds of osteoporosis after adjusting for age, body mass index, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, alcohol consumption, and smoking status (odds ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval 1.15–3.11). Conclusions Atrophic gastritis is associated with an increased likelihood of osteoporosis in Korean elderly women.
Hotel assets: an analysis of brand attributes, franchise fees, hotel age and performance

The selection of a hotel brand is an important consideration for asset managers and others. This study explored factors shaping the relationship between hotel asset managers and the brands with which they affiliate in an attempt to better understand the attributes that hotel brands bring to hotel assets. The particular attributes studied included how long a brand has existed, the franchise fees it exacts from property owners, guest satisfaction with the brand, and, at the individual property asset level, the age of the hotel facilities. By including franchise fees in the analyses of relationships between these attributes, we have broken new ground in this exploratory study, shedding light on the crux of the relationship between franchisees and the brands whose names they carry. To explore these relationships, we analysed a variety of data regarding the abovementioned variables to identify attributes that distinguish one hotel brand from another in terms of financial performance. Our results suggest that hotel property age, brand size, and guest satisfaction may be primary drivers of hotel performance, although the relationships between the factors are not all positive. On the other hand, brand age and franchise fees appear to have a much weaker relationship with hotel performance.
A protocol for distributed collision detection

Scalability of multiplayer games can be improved by client-side processing of game actions. Consistency becomes a concern, however, in the case of unpredictable but important events such as object interactions. We propose here a new motion-lock protocol for distributed collision detection and resolution. The motion-lock protocol improves performance of motion prediction by giving stations time to communicate and agree on the detected collisions. This reduces the divergence of distributed object states and post-collision trajectories. Offline and online simulation results show the motion-lock protocol results in qualitative and quantitative improvements to consistency, with negligible network impact and a minimal sacrifice in the responsiveness of player controls. Our design can be used to hide latency and reduce server load in current multiplayer online games, improving scalability and furthering fully distributed designs.
Opportunistic relay protocol for IEEE 802.11 WLANs

In IEEE802.11,it is the general case that the further away the stations from the access point (AP), the slower the data rate is to transmit to the AP. With the existing IEEE 802.11 MAC, in the long run all stations end up with the same amount of throughput, no matter if they transmit slow or fast. When one host captures the channel for a long time because its bit rate is low, it penalizes other hosts that use the higher rate. As a solution, a novel MAC layer relay protocol, Opportunistic Relay Protocol (ORP) is proposed, to improve the performance of IEEE 802.11. The ORP suggests two hops technique to enable slow transmitting stations to speed up their transmission rates. The simplest explanation is: A single 2 Mbps transmission path is replaced with two 11 Mbps transmissions where an intermediate node is used as a relayer. This way relay protocol offers 5.5 Mbps (ignoring overhead) effective bitrate instead of 2 Mbps. In this thesis, ORP was formalized and analyzed through theoretical work and implemented within a simulation environment to evaluate the performance improvement that ORP offers. It is showed that with ORP, the overall throughput of the BSS improves up to %25. Moreover, ORP inserts negligible amount of overhead to the system while maintaining backward compatibility with IEEE 802.11.