Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treating Viral Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Insights from a Mouse Model of Cigarette Smoke and H1N1 Influenza Infection

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a progressive lung disease that is punctuated by periods of exacerbations (worsening of symptoms) that are attributable to viral infections. While rhinoviruses are most commonly isolated viruses during episodes of exacerbation, influenza viruses have the potential to become even more problematic with the increased likelihood of an epidemic. Methodology and Principal Findings This study examined the impact of current and potential pharmacological targets namely the systemic corticosteroid dexamethasone and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor- gamma agonist pioglitazone on the outcome of infection in smoke-exposed mice. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to room air or cigarette smoke for 4 days and subsequently inoculated with an H1N1 influenza A virus. Interventions were delivered daily during the course of infection. We show that smoke-exposed mice have an exacerbated inflammatory response following infection. While smoke exposure did not compromise viral clearance, precision cut lung slices from smoke-exposed mice showed greater expression of CC (MCP-1, -3), and CXC (KC, MIP-2, GCP-2) chemokines compared to controls when stimulated with a viral mimic or influenza A virus. While dexamethasone treatment partially attenuated the inflammatory response in the broncho-alveolar lavage of smoke-exposed, virally-infected animals, viral-induced neutrophilia was steroid insensitive. In contrast to controls, dexamethasone-treated smoke-exposed influenza-infected mice had a worsened health status. Pioglitazone treatment of virally-infected smoke-exposed mice proved more efficacious than the steroid intervention. Further mechanistic evaluation revealed that a deficiency in CCR2 did not improve the inflammatory outcome in smoke-exposed, virally-infected animals. Conclusions and Significance This animal model of cigarette smoke and H1N1 influenza infection demonstrates that smoke-exposed animals are differentially primed to respond to viral insult. While providing a platform to test pharmacological interventions, this model demonstrates that treating viral exacerbations with alternative anti-inflammatory drugs, such as PPAR-gamma agonists should be further explored since they showed greater efficacy than systemic corticosteroids.
Dynamic Studies of Semiconductor Growth Processes Using In Situ Electron Microscopy

The following is an edited transcript from the 2000 MRS Outstanding Young Investigator presentation given by Frances M. Ross at the 2000 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in San Francisco. Ross was cited for her “innovative and powerful experimental studies, based upon development of novel in situ electron microscopy techniques, that have provided fundamental new understanding of nucleation, growth, oxidation, and etching processes in a wide range of materials systems. ” AWebcast of Ross’ presentation in Real Media format can be viewed via the MRSWeb site, www.mrs.org/multimedia/spring2000/.
Error-free multi-valued consensus with byzantine failures

In this paper, we present an efficient deterministic algorithm for consensus in presence of Byzantine failures. Our algorithm achieves consensus on an L-bit value with communication complexity O(nL + n4L0.5 + n6) bits, in a network consisting of n processors with up to t Byzantine failures, such that t<<i>n/3. For large enough L, communication complexity of the proposed algorithm becomes O(nL) bits, linear in the number of processors. To achieve this goal, the algorithm performs consensus on a long message (L bits), in multiple generations, each generation performing consensus on a part of the input message. The failure-free execution of each generation is made efficient by using a combination of two techniques: error detection coding, and processor clique formation based on matching input values proposed by the processors. By keeping track of faulty behavior over the different generations, the algorithm can ensure that most generations of the algorithm are failure-free. With parameterization, our algorithm is able to achieve a large class of validity conditions for consensus, while maintaining linear communication complexity. With a suitable choice of the error detection code, and using a clique of an appropriate size, the communication cost can be traded off with the strength of the validity condition. The proposed algorithm requires no cryptographic techniques.
Improved p-Value Tests for Comparing Two Independent Binomial Proportions

In the comparison of two independent binomial proportions for small or moderate sample sizes, Fisher's exact test can be conservative in the sense of its actual significance level (or size) being much less than the nominal level. Boschloo (1970) proposed a procedure, which raises the significance level used for the p-value test derived from Fisher's exact test, such that the size of the p-value test is closer to and below the nominal level. Röhmel and Mansmann (1999) used the unconditional approach, called the supremum procedure, to a valid p-value to obtain a modified p-value test, and showed that the modified p-value test is always better than the original one. In this article, we show that Röhmel and Mansmann's procedure is equivalent to Boschloo's procedure. The supremum procedure will then be applied to some well-known p-value procedures appeared in the literature. Numerical studies including two real cases are given to illustrate the advantages of the proposed modified p-value tests. Numerical results also show that the sizes of modified p-value tests are closer to nominal levels than those of the original p-value tests for many cases, especially in case of unbalanced sample sizes.
CONDITION DEPENDENCE, QUANTITATIVE GENETICS, AND THE POTENTIAL SIGNAL CONTENT OF IRIDESCENT ULTRAVIOLET BUTTERFLY COLORATION

Abstract Structural colors result from an interaction between light and the fine-scale physical structure of a surface, and are often extremely bright, chromatic, and iridescent. Given that these visual features depend upon the aggregate abundance and architectural precision of photonic structures, structurally colored sexual ornaments seem well placed to indicate a range of mate quality characteristics. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the signaling potential of structural coloration in the sexually dimorphic butterfly Colias eurytheme. Males of this species display iridescent ultraviolet (UV) markings (arising from multilayer thin films) that overlay a broad area of yellowish-orange pigmentation on their dorsal wing surface. Only the structural UV has demonstrated function as a sexual signal; hence we predicted that it should contain more reliable phenotypic and/or genetic quality information, which would be indicated by phenotypic and/or genetically mediated condition dependence. In two split-family breeding experiments we manipulated condition by exposing full siblings to different stressors at two different juvenile life-history stages: (1) reduced larval host-plant quality and (2) transient heat/cold shocks during metamorphosis. Both stressors had profound effects on key developmental and life-history traits. Each stressor also significantly affected male dorsal coloration; thus, the expression of both structural and pigmentary coloration is phenotypically condition dependent. As predicted, the strongest condition dependence was evident in the brightness and angular visibility (i.e., iridescence) of the UV. Characteristics of both the iridescent UV and pigmentary orange also exhibited moderate-high and significant heritability (H2~h2~ 0.4–0.9). However, genetic and residual variances did not increase under stress; thus, the observed condition dependence was not genetically mediated as predicted if wing color trait signals “good” genes for the ability to either withstand or circumvent developmental stress. The heightened stress sensitivity of the iridescent UV suggests that it offers an informative lifetime indicator of juvenile environments and, henceforth, adult male phenotypic condition, which may be salient to females seeking a highly fertile and/or nutritious male ejaculate.
Contrast-enhanced echo-planar MR imaging of myocardial perfusion: preliminary study in humans.

PURPOSE To evaluate the usefulness of T1- and T2*-weighted echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the assessment of cardiac perfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixteen subjects underwent MR imaging. Fifteen subjects were healthy volunteers and one had coronary artery disease. T2*-weighted echo-planar imaging with free induction decay was performed in 11 subjects and T1-weighted inversion-recovery spin-echo echo-planar imaging was performed in five. Images were obtained before and after administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine. RESULTS The contrast-to-noise ratio for pre- and postcontrast T2*-weighted images obtained with an echo time of 16 msec (n = 8) was -9.9 +/- 3.4, and the contrast enhancement ratio was -0.37 +/- 0.07. The values for T2*-weighted images obtained with an echo time of 30 msec (n = 3) were -9.5 +/- 6.8 and 0.44 +/- 0.02, respectively. For T1-weighted echo-planar imaging, the values were 26.7 +/- 8.0 and 4.6 +/- 2.8, respectively. CONCLUSION Inversion-recovery spin-echo echo-planar imaging provides excellent temporal resolution, myocardial detail, and myocardium-blood pool contrast, with minimal artifact. It is presently the technique of choice for the MR imaging evaluation of myocardial perfusion.
7 Production of Insecticidal Baculoviruses in Insect Cell Cultures : Potential and Limitations

The potential of baculoviruses to be employed as insecticides is known since more than 75 years ago (Benz, 1986). To date, over 30 different baculoviruses are used to control several insect plagues in agriculture, horticulture and forestry (Moscardi, 1999). The use of baculovirus as insecticides is based on a set of useful properties, such as pathogenicity, specificity, narrow host range, environmental persistence, ability to act synergistically with other natural enemies of the pest and ability to induce artificial epizootics. Despite these advantages, very few baculoviruses have become widely used as insecticides, standing out as some successful examples the use of the Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) to control the velvetbean caterpillar in soybean crops in Latin America, Cidia pommonella granulovirus (CpGV) to fight the codling moth attacks in fruit orchards, and Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) to control the armyworm in vegetable crops under cover in Europe (Moscardi, 1999). The causes of the limited acceptance of baculoviruses as insecticides are diverse, including slow speed of action, problems to register and market these biological insecticides and difficulties to produce them at an appropriate scale. The technologies currently used to produce insecticidal baculoviruses are based on the infection of susceptible insect larvae (Black et al., 1997). However, the implementation of processes to produce baculovirus in insect larvae is hampered by several limitations: high labour requirements, lack of expertise in standardization and validation of such processes, difficulties in scaling production to levels consistent with the profitability of the process and difficulties to properly control both the process production and product quality. While several improvements in production systems in insect larvae have been described in the last years which could help overcome some of the problems described above (van Beek & Davis, 2007), it has been also proposed that the adoption of an alternative technology based on the viral propagation in insect cell cultures could enable the development of well standardized, controlled and scalable production processes for insecticidal baculoviruses (Szewczyk et al., 2006).
Epidemiologic and therapeutic aspects of refractory coeliac disease - a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION Refractory coeliac disease (RCD) is a rare and severe malabsorptive disease. The condition has two subtypes: RCDI and RCDII. Different treatments have been tested: and because RCD has a poor prognosis due to progress to enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma, the aim was to review the epidemiologic aspects and the therapeutic options for RCD. METHODS A systematic literature search was performed in 18 databases, and 122 records were identified. Incidence, prevalence, treatment methods and their efficacy were evaluated. RESULTS Among coeliac disease patients, the cumulative incidence of RCD is 1-4% per ten-year period and the prevalence is 0.31-0.38%. In the general population, the prevalence of RCD is 0.002%. Treatment of RCDI is azathioprine (effect 100%), mesalamine (effect 60%) or tioguanine (effect 83%). Treatment for RCDII is the antimetabolite cladribine (effect 81%) and autologous haematopoetic stem cell transplantation (effect 85%). CONCLUSION RCD is a very rare disease. The current evidence for RCDI treatment includes prednisolone in combination with the immunosuppressants azathioprine, mesalamine or tioguanine. The current evidence for RCDII treatment documents use of the antimetabolite cladribine, and if there is no effect, autologous haematopoetic stem cell transplantation may be attempted. In the future, there is a need for more effective treatments which will also prevent further progression to enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma.
Dynamic Monte Carlo Simulation of Atom‐Transfer Radical Polymerization

A dynamic Monte Carlo model was developed to simulate atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The algorithm used to describe the polymerization includes activation, deactivation, propagation, chain transfer, and termination by combination and disproportionation reactions. Model probabilities are calculated from polymerization kinetic parameters and reactor conditions. The model was used to predict monomer conversion, average molecular weight, polydispersity and the complete molecular weight distribution at any polymerization time or monomer conversion. The model was validated with experimental results for styrene polymerization and compared with simulation results from a mathematical model that uses population balances and the method of moments. The simulations agree well with experimental and theoretical results reported in the literature. We also investigated the control volume size and number of iterations to reduce computation time while keeping an acceptable noise level in the Monte Carlo results.
Loss differentiation: Moving onto high-speed wireless LANs

A fundamental problem in 802.11 wireless networks is to accurately determine the cause of packet losses. This becomes increasingly important as wireless data rates scale to Gbps, where lack of loss differentiation leads to higher loss in throughput. Recent and upcoming high-speed WLAN standards, such as 802.11n and 802.11ac, use frame aggregation and block acknowledgements for achieving efficient communication. This paper presents BLMon, a framework for loss differentiation, that uses loss patterns within aggregate frames and aggregate frame retries to achieve accurate and low overhead loss differentiation. Towards this end, we carry out a detailed measurement study on a real testbed to ascertain the differences in loss patterns due to noise, collisions, and hidden nodes. We then devise metrics to quantitatively capture these differences. Finally, we design BLMon, which collectively uses these metrics to infer the cause of loss without requiring any out-of-band communication, protocol changes, or customized hardware support. BLMon can be readily deployed on commodity devices using only driver-level changes at the sender-side. We implement BLMon in the ath9k driver and using real testbed experiments, show that it can provide up to 5× improvement in throughput.
Facile approach to obtain individual‐nanotube dispersion at high loading in carbon nanotubes/polyimide composites

A big challenge in making a composite lies in achieving individual-nanotube dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in a polymer matrix, without aggregation and entanglement and excellent interfacial adhesion between the CNTs and the polymers matrix. In this communication, using polyethylene glycol-200, we successfully prepared CNT-reinforced polyimide composites that exhibit individual-nanotube dispertion in the matrix at high-loading CNT's. The content of CNTs in a composite can reach 43 wt%. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
X-Linked Recessive form of Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus in a 7-Year-Old Boy

Abstract Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is caused by the inability of renal collecting duct cells to respond to arginine vasopressin (AVP)/antidiuretic hormone (ADH). We present the case of a 7-year-old boy with a history of excretion of large amounts of dilute urine and polydipsia since infancy. The boy had several vomiting episodes with mild dehydration during the first 3 years of life. There was no evidence of headaches, dizziness or visual problems. He drinks between 2 and 3 L/day and has 24-hour diuresis of 2 liters, now. He has prepubertal appearance with appropriate weight [+0.85 standard deviation score (SDS)] and height (+0.15 SDS) for his age. His intelligence was also normal. The water deprivation test showed low urine osmolality after 8 hours of dehydration. After desmopressin administration, urine osmolality remained low. Serum osmolality was in the normal range for sex and age before and after desmopressin administration. This indicated a nephrogenic form of diabetes insipidus. Molecular analyses revealed a P286L [p.Pro(CCC)286Leu(CTC)] mutation in the AVPR2 gene, that was inherited from his mother. This patient is the first case with genetically confirmed X-linked inherited form of NDI in the Republic of Macedonia. Molecular analysis confirmed the clinical diagnosis and enabled genetic advice for this family.
HPV-targeted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for cervical cancer.

LBA3008 Background: Adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) is a promising cancer treatment modality with potentially broad application. It is not known if ACT can mediate regression of carcinomas, the most common solid tumors in humans. We studied carcinoma of the uterine cervix, a virally induced malignancy that constitutively expresses the HPV E6 and E7 oncoproteins, as a model cancer to test if ACT can mediate regression of an epithelial malignancy. METHODS We initiated a clinical trial to treat metastatic HPV+ cancers with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) selected for HPV E6- and E7-reactivity (HPV-TIL). Patients from the cervical cancer cohort are reported here. HPV-TIL infusion was preceded b y non-myeloablative conditioning and followed by high-dose bolus aldesleukin. HPV-reactivity was assessed by ELISPOT, IFN-gamma production, and CD137 expression assays. RESULTS Nine patients were treated on the study. They received a median of 81 x 109 T cells (range 33 to 159 x 109) as a single infusion. The infused cells possessed reactivity against high-risk HPV E6 and/or E7 in 6/8 patients. The two patients with no HPV reactivity did not respond to treatment. 3/6 patients with HPV reactivity demonstrated objective tumor responses by RECIST (1 PR and 2 CR). One patient had a 39% best response. Two patients with widespread metastases had complete tumor responses that are ongoing 18 and 11 months after treatment. One patient with a complete response had a chemotherapy-refractory HPV-16+ squamous cell carcinoma and the other a chemoradiation-refractory HPV-18+ adenocarcinoma. Both patients demonstrated prolonged repopulation with HPV-reactive T cells following treatment. Increased frequencies of HPV-specific T cells were detectable after 13 months in one patient and 6 months in the other. Two patients with HPV-reactive TIL that did not respond to treatment did not display repopulation with HPV-reactive T cells. CONCLUSIONS HPV-TIL can mediate durable, complete regression of metastatic cervical cancer. Continued investigation of HPV-TIL for cervical cancer, and possibly other HPV+ malignancies, is warranted. Cellular therapy can mediate complete regression of an epithelial malignancy. CLINICAL TRIAL INFORMATION NCT01585428.
Towards Digitally enhanced ADC's

Analog-to-Digital converters operating at gigasamples per second are often required in nowadays communication systems. One effective way to achieve high sampling rates at low power consumption is time-interleaving. However, time-interleaved converters suffer from well known problems like offset, gain and sample time mismatch which degrade the performance of the ADC system as a whole. The designer can make use of available digital functionality to cope with these problems. This article discusses ways to improve the performance of time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters by making use of the possibilities (and tradeoffs) of added digital resources.
Long‐term isolation and recent range expansion from glacial refugia revealed for the endemic springtail Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni from Victoria Land, Antarctica

We examined the phylogeography of the endemic Antarctic collembolan Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni using allozymes and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA; COI) to determine if potentially limited dispersal and long‐term habitat fragmentation have promoted regional genetic differentiation. Allozyme analyses showed that differentiation among 21 populations within the Ross Dependency was high (FST = 0.55) with two main groups each representing a distinct geographical region: (1) Ross Island and Beaufort Island; and (2) all continental sites. Ross Island populations showed low levels of differentiation (FST = 0.05) and no correlation with geographical distance, suggesting their derivation from a single glacial refuge. By contrast, continental regions revealed moderate levels of differentiation (FST = 0.27) and a strong correlation with geographical distance, indicating a much older history with several refugia likely. Two sympatric allozyme genotypes were found at three continental sites from Taylor Valley and were congruent with two mtDNA haplotypes, implying nonrandom breeding groups. Although haplotype sharing between one Ross Island site (Cape Bird) and one continental site (Granite Harbour) was identified, the clades showed mostly fragmented allopatric distributions. The extensive Pleistocene glaciations, in conjunction with limited dispersal opportunities, appear to have promoted isolation and divergence among the fragmented habitats. Furthermore, the McMurdo Sound appears to be an effective isolating barrier to dispersal. However, we suggest that the unaided dispersal capacity of G. hodgsoni is unlikely to account for the limited mixing of haplotypes across the McMurdo Sound and recent human‐ or bird‐mediated dispersal is highly probable.