Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consensus HIV-1 FSU-A Integrase Gene Variants Electroporated into Mice Induce Polyfunctional Antigen-Specific CD4+ and CD8+ T Cells

Our objective is to create gene immunogens targeted against drug-resistant HIV-1, focusing on HIV-1 enzymes as critical components in viral replication and drug resistance. Consensus-based gene vaccines are specifically fit for variable pathogens such as HIV-1 and have many advantages over viral genes and their expression-optimized variants. With this in mind, we designed the consensus integrase (IN) of the HIV-1 clade A strain predominant in the territory of the former Soviet Union and its inactivated derivative with and without mutations conferring resistance to elvitegravir. Humanized IN gene was synthesized; and inactivated derivatives (with 64D in the active site mutated to V) with and without elvitegravir-resistance mutations were generated by site-mutagenesis. Activity tests of IN variants expressed in E coli showed the consensus IN to be active, while both D64V-variants were devoid of specific activities. IN genes cloned in the DNA-immunization vector pVax1 (pVaxIN plasmids) were highly expressed in human and murine cell lines (>0.7 ng/cell). Injection of BALB/c mice with pVaxIN plasmids followed by electroporation generated potent IFN-γ and IL-2 responses registered in PBMC by day 15 and in splenocytes by day 23 after immunization. Multiparametric FACS demonstrated that CD8+ and CD4+ T cells of gene-immunized mice stimulated with IN-derived peptides secreted IFN-γ, IL-2, and TNF-α. The multi-cytokine responses of CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells correlated with the loss of in vivo activity of the luciferase reporter gene co-delivered with pVaxIN plasmids. This indicated the capacity of IN-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells to clear IN/reporter co-expressing cells from the injection sites. Thus, the synthetic HIV-1 clade A integrase genes acted as potent immunogens generating polyfunctional Th1-type CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Generation of such response is highly desirable for an effective HIV-1 vaccine as it offers a possibility to attack virus-infected cells via both MHC class I and II pathways.
Successful treatment of erosive vulvar lichen sclerosus with methylaminolaevulinic acid and laser‐mediated photodynamic therapy

© 2008 The Authors JEADV 2009, 23 , 70–110 Journal compilation © 2008 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 9 Feliciani C, Toto P, Amerio P et al . In vitro and in vivo expression of interleukin-1 α and tumor necrosis factorα mRNA in pemphigus vulgaris: interleukin-1 α and tumor necrosis factorα are involved in acantholysis. J Invest Dermatol 2000; 114 : 71–77. 10 Brenner S, Ruocco V, Ruocco E, Srebrnik A, Goldberg I. A possible mechanism for phenol-induced pemphigus. Skinmed 2006; 5 : 25–26.
Efficient auction mechanisms for two-layer vehicle-to-grid energy trading in smart grid

One of the major advantages of smart grid is to allow a large number of electric vehicles (EVs) to participate in energy dispatch as elastic energy storage devices via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. As mechanism design for V2G energy trading can stimulate energy interaction between EVs and grids, it is really significant to V2G systems. This paper focuses on efficient mechanism design for energy trading in a two-layer V2G architecture, which includes a grid-aggregator layer and aggregator-EV layer. We propose two auction mechanisms for the two layers, respectively, and discuss three essential economic properties of the mechanisms, i.e., truthfulness, individual rationality, and efficiency. Then, based on these two mechanisms, we illustrate the detailed operation procedure of the two-layer V2G energy trading architecture. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed auction mechanisms greatly reduce social costs, i.e., enhance efficiency, while guaranteeing truthfulness and individual rationality.
Alternative Models of Neighborhood Change

Social scientists have long engaged in studying the racial transition of neighborhoods in urban areas. One aspect of such change that is often debated is the tipping point phenomenon. In this paper an attempt is made to formulate a model which captures this phenomenon and when it is tested against alternative models the results support the tipping point position. Furthermore, the model proposed is shown to be superior to simple extrapolation as a means, which would be useful to planners and others, for predicting the direction of future neighborhood change. Those engaged in urban studies have in recent years become increasingly concerned with the racial aspects of intraurban residential location. In the present paper I fix on one of these aspects-the changing of neighborhoods from white to Negro. Urban economists (Bailey; Ladd; Lapham; Laurenti; Muth) studying this phenomenon have been primarily interested in racial differentials and discrimination in the pricing of housing while sociologists (Duncan and Duncan; Taeuber and Taeuber; Wolf, a, b) have attempted to analyze the social and economic charactersitics of those groups, both Negro and white, involved in a neighborhood change. I shall develop in this paper a model, useful to planners and others, capable of predicting which areas (or neighborhoods) of a city will turn over racially from white to Negro and what the extent of this turnover will be in the intermediate (i.e., ten years) future. As will be explained in the next section the model is based primarily on economic variables and, in particular, the mobility of white residents will be treated in economic terms. This economic condition (mobility) of the white residents will offer a fuller explanation of racial turnover than that provided by a more mechanical procedure. I will characterize a mechanical procedure or naive model as one which would simply extrapolate present Negro areas. That is, over a ten-year period such an approach would suggest that a white area would turn Negro inversely in relationship to its distance from Negro areas at the beginning of the tenyear period. A variation of this sort of mechanical is the tipping point hypothesis or theory. ' According to this theory once a white area has attained a certain percentage (tipping point) of Negro, or other minority, residents the area will inevitably and at an acelerated rate turn completely Negro. The numerical value, or percentage, at which this tipping phenomenon occurs is usually suggested to be between 10 and 20 percent Negro in an area but can vary from city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood (Grodzins). As a part of this paper I intend to provide statistical tests of the validity of this tipping point theory.
Design of n-Tier Multilevel Interconnect Architectures by Using Carbon Nanotube Interconnects

In this paper, n-tier methodology is developed to design multilevel interconnect architecture of macrocells using single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundles. Upper limit of low-bias voltage of SWCNT bundle interconnects is derived and its dependence on temperature, SWCNTs' diameter, and interconnect length is studied. Possibility of using SWCNT bundles as local interconnects at 7.5-nm technology node is discussed, and it is shown that SWCNT bundles with 1 nm diameter cannot be used at the first interconnect metal level. Using Cu and SWCNT bundles, multilevel interconnect architecture of a 7.5-nm ASIC macrocell is designed which reduces the number of metal levels by 27% and power dissipation by 25% compared with the multilevel interconnect architecture designed with only Cu. The effect of aspect ratio (AR) on the n-tier design is studied. It is shown that decreasing AR of SWCNT bundle interconnects, decreases total power dissipation of the ASIC macrocell by 41%. The impact of temperature variation on the design of multilevel interconnect architecture is also investigated.
Influences of aging and caloric restriction on the transcriptional profile of skeletal muscle from rhesus monkeys

In laboratory rodents, caloric restriction (CR) retards several age-dependent physiological and biochemical changes in skeletal muscle, including increased steady-state levels of oxidative damage to lipids, DNA, and proteins. We have previously used high-density oligonucleotide arrays to show that CR can prevent or delay most of the major age-related transcriptional alterations in the gastrocnemius muscle of C57BL/6 mice. Here we report the effects of aging and adult-onset CR on the gene expression profile of 7,070 genes in the vastus lateralis muscle from rhesus monkeys. Gene expression analysis of aged rhesus monkeys (mean age of 26 years) was compared with that of young animals (mean age of 8 years). Aging resulted in a selective up-regulation of transcripts involved in inflammation and oxidative stress, and a down-regulation of genes involved in mitochondrial electron transport and oxidative phosphorylation. Middle-aged monkeys (mean age of 20 years) subjected to CR since early adulthood (mean age of 11 years) were studied to determine the gene expression profile induced by CR. CR resulted in an up-regulation of cytoskeletal protein-encoding genes, and also a decrease in the expression of genes involved in mitochondrial bioenergetics. Surprisingly, we did not observe any evidence for an inhibitory effect of adult-onset CR on age-related changes in gene expression. These results indicate that the induction of an oxidative stress-induced transcriptional response may be a common feature of aging in skeletal muscle of rodents and primates, but the extent to which CR modifies these responses may be species-specific.
Job Stress and Job Satisfaction among Health-Care Workers of Endoscopy Units in Korea

Background/Aims: The management of job-related stress among health-care workers is critical for the improvement of healthcare services; however, there is no existing research on endoscopy unit workers as a team. Korea has a unique health-care system for endoscopy unit workers. In this study, we aimed to estimate job stress and job satisfaction among health-care providers in endoscopy units in Korea. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey of health-care providers in the endoscopy units of three university-affiliated hospitals in Korea. We analyzed the job stress levels by using the Korean occupational stress scale, contributing factors, and job satisfaction. Results: Fifty-nine workers completed the self-administered questionnaires. The job stress scores for the endoscopy unit workers (46.39±7.81) were relatively lower compared to those of the national sample of Korean workers (51.23±8.83). Job stress differed across job positions, with nurses showing significantly higher levels of stress (48.92±7.97) compared to doctors (42.59±6.37). Job stress and job satisfaction were negatively correlated with each other (R2=0.340, p<0.001). Conclusions: An endoscopy unit is composed of a heterogeneous group of health-care professionals (i.e., nurses, fellows, and professors), and job stress and job satisfaction significantly differ according to job positions. Job demand, insufficient job control, and job insecurity are the most important stressors in the endoscopy unit.
Taking the U.S. Patent Office Criteria Seriously: A Quantitative Three-Criterion Creativity Definition and Its Implications

Although creativity has recently attracted considerable theoretical and empirical research, researchers have yet to reach a consensus on how best to define the phenomenon. To help establish a consensus, a definition is proposed that is based on the three criteria used by the United States Patent Office to evaluate applications for patent protection. The modified version uses the criteria of novelty, utility, and surprise. Moreover, creativity assessments based on these three criteria are quantitative and multiplicative rather than qualitative or additive. This three-criterion definition then leads to four implications regarding (a) the limitations to domain-specific expertise, (b) the varieties of comparable creativities, (c) the contrast between subjective and objective evaluations, and (d) the place of blind variation and selective retention in the creative process. These implications prove that adding the third criterion has critical consequences for understanding the phenomenon. Creativity is not only treated with superior sophistication, but also paradoxes that appear using the most common two-criterion definition readily disappear when the third criterion is included in the analysis. Hence, the conceptual differences between two- and three-criterion definitions are not trivial.
Placeholder Substructures I: The Road from NKS to Scale-Free Networks is Paved with Zero-Divisors

Zero-divisors (ZDs) derived by the Cayley–Dickson process (CDP) from N-dimensional hypercomplex numbers (N a power of 2, and at least 4) can represent singularities and, as N , fractals and thereby, scale-free networks. Any integer >8 and not a power of 2 generates a metafractal or sky when it is interpreted as the strut constant (S) of an ensemble of octahedral vertex figures called box-kites (the fundamental ZD building blocks). Remarkably simple bit-manipulation rules or recipes provide tools for transforming one fractal genus into others within the context of Wolfram’s Class 4 complexity.
COMMENTARIES: Why the Creative Process Is Not Darwinian: Comment on "The Creative Process in Picasso's Guernica Sketches: Monotonic Improvements versus Nonmonotonic Variants"

Simonton (2007) makes the unwarranted assumption that nonmonotonicity supports a Darwinian view of creativity. Darwin's theory of natural selection was motivated by a paradox that has no equivalent in creative thought: the paradox of how change accumulates when acquired traits are not inherited. To describe a process of cumulative change in which acquired traits are retained is outside of the scope of the theory of natural selection. Even the early evolution of life itself (prior to genetically mediated template replication) cannot be described by natural selection. Specifically, natural selection cannot describe change of state that involves horizontal (Lamarckian) exchange or occurs through interaction with an incompletely specified context. It cannot describe change wherein variants are evaluated sequentially, and wherein this evaluation can itself change the state space and/or fitness function, because no two variants are ever evaluated according to the same selection criterion. Concerns are also raised as to the methodology used in Simonton's study. There are few individuals whose contribution to the field of creativity studies is remotely comparable to that of Dean Keith Simonton. His extensive body of work commands and deserves the highest admiration. The single exception to this, in my opinion, is his espousal of a Darwinian view of creativity. In this commentary I show that the flaws in this theory of creativity are so serious that it is not only unlikely, it is impossible.
Improving the resilience in IP networks

Quality of service issues of IP networks are mostly related to guaranteeing bandwidth for flows. However, many interactive real-time applications also require this bandwidth in an uninterrupted fashion. The paper describes how multipath routing and local failure reaction can be employed to provide uninterrupted QoS to applications. We show how multipath route sets can be found in reasonably meshed networks and how multipath routing can be used to save on the spare capacity required in case of link failures.
Prévention, détection et traitement de l'information persuasive en situation de peur

Depuis plus de quarante ans, des recherches ont montre les effets de la peur sur les attitudes et les comportements. L'experience 1 montre que les messages utilisant un fort niveau de peur sont plus persuasifs lorsqu'il s'agit de recommander d'adopter un comportement de prevention que de detection. Cet effet est inverse lorsque les messages utilisent un faible niveau de peur. L'experience 2 montre que l'adhesion a un comportement de detection depend du niveau de peur et de la consigne de traitement ou d'elaboration de l'argumentation persuasive. Pour un fort niveau de peur, une consigne centree sur l'objectivite (par opp. a imagination) accroit la persuasion. Pour un faible niveau de peur, elle reduit la persuasion. La prise en compte de ces variables permet de contribuer a la mise sur pied de campagnes de persuasion efficaces.
Multidimensional screening: online computation and limited information

Optimal screening has been studied in economics, game theory, and recently computer science. We study the problem in a nonlinear pricing application, where a monopoly designs a price schedule from which the buyers self-select the quality they wish to consume. We formulate a multidimensional model with buyers' utility functions that need not satisfy the standard single-crossing assumption. We characterize the solution with the first-order optimality conditions and present a framework for analyzing the solution. With the framework, the structure of the solution is easily illustrated and the sensitivity analysis can be done. We give numerical examples that demonstrate the properties of the solution. With these observations, we discuss the complexity of the problem and solving the problem under limited information. We examine what information the monopoly needs when adjusting the price schedule to increase the profit. This paper applies, e.g., to pricing situations in electronic commerce where the seller may have limited information available, and the seller learns about the buyers' preferences online when doing the business.
Highly diverse recombining populations of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in French Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio cholerae are ubiquitous to estuarine and marine environments. These two species found in Mediterranean coastal systems can induce infections in humans. Environmental isolates of V. cholerae (n = 109) and V. parahaemolyticus (n = 89) sampled at different dates, stations and water salinities were investigated for virulence genes and by a multilocus sequence-based analysis (MLSA). V. cholerae isolates were all ctxA negative and only one isolate of V. parahaemolyticus displayed trh2 gene. Most Sequence Types (ST) corresponded to unique ST isolated at one date or one station. Frequent recombination events were detected among different pathogenic species, V. parahaemolyticus, V. cholerae, Vibrio mimicus, and Vibrio metoecus. Recombination had a major impact on the diversification of lineages. The genetic diversity assessed by the number of ST/strain was higher in low salinity condition for V. parahaemolyticus and V. cholerae whereas the frequency of recombination events in V. cholerae was lower in low salinity condition. Mediterranean coastal lagoon systems housed V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus with genetic diversities equivalent to the worldwide diversity described so far. The presence of STs found in human infections as well as the frequency of recombination events in environmental vibrios populations could predict a potential epidemiological risk.
Real-time prognosis for metastatic thyroid carcinoma based on 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography scanning.

CONTEXT/OBJECTIVE Approximately 15% of thyroid cancer patients develop subsequent metastases. The clinical course of patients with metastatic thyroid carcinoma is highly variable. We hypothesized that the metabolic activity of metastatic lesions, as defined by retention of 2-[(18)F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG), would correlate with prognosis. DESIGN/PATIENTS The initial FDG-positron emission tomography (PET) scans from 400 thyroid cancer patients were retrospectively reviewed and compared with overall survival (median follow-up, 7.9 yr). We examined the prognostic value of clinical information such as gender, age, serum thyroglobulin, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, histology, radioiodine avidity, FDG-PET positivity, number of FDG-avid lesions, and the glycolytic rate of the most active lesion. RESULTS Age, initial stage, histology, thyroglobulin, radioiodine uptake, and PET outcomes all correlated with survival by univariate analysis. However, only age and PET results continued to be strong predictors of survival under multivariate analysis. The initial American Joint Committee on Cancer stage was not a significant predictor of survival by multivariate analysis. There were significant inverse relationships between survival and both the glycolytic rate of the most active lesion and the number of FDG-avid lesions. CONCLUSIONS FDG-PET scanning is a simple, expensive, but powerful means to restage thyroid cancer patients who develop subsequent metastases, assigning them to groups that are either at low (FDG negative) or high (FDG positive) risk of cancer-associated mortality. We propose that the aggressiveness of therapy for metastases should match the FDG-PET status.
Uric Acid Promotes Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction in Mice Fed a Western Diet

The rising obesity rates parallel increased consumption of a Western diet, high in fat and fructose, which is associated with increased uric acid. Population-based data support that elevated serum uric acids are associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. However, the mechanism by which excess uric acid promotes these maladaptive cardiac effects has not been explored. In assessing the role of Western diet–induced increases in uric acid, we hypothesized that reductions in uric acid would prevent Western diet–induced development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, cardiac stiffness, and impaired diastolic relaxation by reducing growth and profibrotic signaling pathways. Four-weeks-old C57BL6/J male mice were fed excess fat (46%) and fructose (17.5%) with or without allopurinol (125 mg/L), a xanthine oxidase inhibitor, for 16 weeks. The Western diet–induced increases in serum uric acid along with increases in cardiac tissue xanthine oxidase activity temporally related to increases in body weight, fat mass, and insulin resistance without changes in blood pressure. The Western diet induced cardiomyocte hypertrophy, myocardial oxidative stress, interstitial fibrosis, and impaired diastolic relaxation. Further, the Western diet enhanced activation of the S6 kinase-1 growth pathway and the profibrotic transforming growth factor-&bgr;1/Smad2/3 signaling pathway and macrophage proinflammatory polarization. All results improved with allopurinol treatment, which lowered cardiac xanthine oxidase as well as serum uric acid levels. These findings support the notion that increased production of uric acid with intake of a Western diet promotes cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, inflammation, and oxidative stress that lead to myocardial fibrosis and associated impaired diastolic relaxation.
A 12.5-Gb/s near-GND transceiver for wire-line UHD video interfaces

This paper demonstrates a 12.5-Gb/s complete transceiver with near-ground and voltage-mode signaling. The output stage of the transmitter has two types of equalization methods: 2-tap FIR, AC-coupled equalization. The receiver equalizes the attenuation of the cable with a continuous time linear equalizer which includes a level-up shifter for receiving near-ground input signal. A dual-loop clock and data recovery circuit using a bang-bang phase detector is implemented for a receiver clock generation. The test-chips are fabricated in a 45-nm CMOS technology, and successfully perform data communication through -27 dB loss video cables. The entire transmitter and receiver test-chips respectively consume 92 mW and 138 mW from a 1.2 V supply while operating at 12.5 Gb/s.