Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-Standing Stability of Silver Nanorod Array Substrates Functionalized Using a Series of Thiols for a SERS-Based Sensing Application

Silver nanorod (AgNR) array substrates were fabricated using an oblique angle thermal evaporation technique; their long-term stability, surface uniformity and reproducibility, which are primary requirements for their widespread realistic application and commercialization, were assessed using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The nanorod surfaces were functionalized using a series of organic thiols, which range from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, to mimic various conditions that often arise during detection of hydrophilic/phobic analytes in a realistic application field. A group of these functionalized substrates was stored in ambient laboratory atmosphere; another in light minimized, moisture-free vacuum; while another was stowed carefully and neatly in water to mimic realistic conditions. The effects of these storing conditions were studied. A surfactant was added to the water to maintain consistent surface wetting in the third group. SERS spectra of nanorod substrates prior to functionalization were also recorded to investigate the effect of adventitious carbonaceous contaminants. A meticulous systematic study on the reproducibility of SERS signals was carried out: spot-to-spot, substrate-to-substrate, batch-to-batch, day-to-day. The relative standard deviation (RSD) shown by the SERS signals acquired from various spots of a single substrate was less than 3%, which is very similar to the only account reported so far, in which RSD is reported as 2%. The wetting behavior of these thiol functionalized AgNR substrates are investigated using static contact angle measurements. The functionalized substrates have exhibited excellent long-standing stability over a period of six months when stored appropriately; hence, they are highly suitable for mass production towards realistic application.
Feature analysis of tool wear states based on best wavelet packet and Hilbert-huang transform

According to the characteristics of the tool wear states, Acoustic Emission (AE) signals of different tool wear states were collected. First of all, AE signals were decomposed by wavelet packet and filtered by selecting appropriate threshold. Second, the filtered signals were reconstructed by wavelet packet. Third, they were analyzed by Hilbert-huang transform (HHT). By comparing the filtered and unfiltered energy figure of all the Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) components which obtain from empirical mode decomposition (EMD), it shows that filtering can reduce the noise in the low frequency part. After observing HHT three dimensional time-frequency diagram of three signals which tool flank wear vb value are 0.11mm, 0.25mm and 0.35mm, signals in the high frequency part become more and more much along with the increase of vb value; Then, by contrasting marginal spectrum of three signals, result indicates that the distinct fault signal appears around 510KHZ, it proves that HHT can be used for fault diagnosis.
L'importance biologique des ARN non codants : perspectives historique et philosophique.

Les recherches sur les ARN non codants et leurs roles biologiques ont transforme la conception des proprietes des genomes et de la regulation de l'expression genetique. Ces recherches sont ici analysees dans une perspective historique et philosophique. Elles permettent de caracteriser certaines transformations theoriques, conceptuelles et methodologiques affectant la biologie moleculaire contemporaine. La diversite des demarches d'investigation employees dans les travaux sur les ARN non codants est soulignee. Parmi ces demarches, les experiences exploratoires occupent une place importante, et sont a l'origine de bouleversements conceptuels et theoriques majeurs. L'affirmation selon laquelle la decouverte des ARN non codants constitue une revolution scientifique est nuancee, et les apports de cette decouverte sont caracterises dans toute leur diversite. Les limites rencontrees par le concept de gene dans la biologie post-genomique sont precisees, et reliees a l'histoire de ce concept. Un statut possible pour le gene est alors propose ; il reconnait la diversite des elements genetiques fonctionnels, la dimension historique des genomes, et les differents niveaux d'etude de la relation entre genotype et phenotype. Les recherches sur les ARN non codants affaiblissent par ailleurs la pertinence theorique du discours informationnel pour decrire la diversite des fonctions assurees par les acides nucleiques. Enfin, ce travail montre que les explications du role regulateur des ARN mettent en jeu differents types explicatifs, depassant le cadre mecaniste. Un pluralisme explicatif est defendu, et le statut du concept de mecanisme dans la biologie moleculaire contemporaine est clarifie.
Implementation of Secure Force (64-bit) on low cost 8-bit microcontroller

As the devices in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are small in size, and have resource constraints such as memory utilization, power consumption, and processing speed that needs to be taken in consideration. The security and life span of sensor nodes is compromised with these restraints. The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of the Secure Force algorithm on an 8-bit microcontroller and analyze its execution time for variable data size. As compared to existing symmetric cryptographic algorithms, SF has simple architecture, and consists of basic mathematical operations that reduce the computational complexity. The proposed implementation is then compared with various microcontroller implementations of Advanced Encryption Algorithm (AES) on the basis of encryption time and memory utilization for variable data size.
Systemic strategies for chemoprevention of skin cancers in transplant recipients

Abstract: Background: Solid organ transplant recipients (OTRs) are a growing population at high risk for cutaneous neoplasms, resulting in significant post‐transplant morbidity and mortality. Management of malignant and pre‐malignant cutaneous lesions in transplant recipients is challenging, making prevention of such neoplasms paramount. The objectives of the present study are to review and analyze systemic strategies for chemoprevention of malignant and pre‐malignant cutaneous neoplasms in OTRs.
Enhancement of antitumor immunity following depletion of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells.

2506 Background: The recent discovery of human CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) has made it feasible to develop strategies that modulate the immunosuppressive effects of Treg in a vaccination setting. In this study we hypothesized that in vivo elimination of Treg using the fusion protein denileukin diftitox, ONTAK can enhance the efficacy of tumor RNA-transfected DC vaccines to stimulate a tumor-specific T cell response. METHODS In order to test this hypothesis, we initiated a phase I clinical trial in which patients received a single dose of denileukin diftitox, followed by vaccination with total tumor RNA transfected DC. The RNA loaded DC were administered intradermally using three cycles of 1x107 cells applied in weekly intervals. The levels of regulatory T cell subsets and tumor specific T cell responses were monitored at baseline, during and after vaccination. RESULTS We show that CD4+/CD25high Treg can be effectively eliminated in a dose-dependent manner, without bystander toxicity to CD25negative cells. We further demonstrate that denileukin diftitox treatment resulted in the selective elimination of Treg without negatively impacting on the CD4+/CD25intermed memory/effector T cell pool as evidenced by ELISPOT and proliferation assays. Finally, we show, as hypothesized, that Treg depletion followed by vaccination reproducibly led to improved stimulation of tumor-specific T-cells when compared to vaccination alone. Denileukin diftitox-mediated Treg depletion resulted not only in increased frequencies of tumor-specific T cells, but also in an increased proliferative and cytotoxic response against renal tumor targets suggesting the functional intactness of the vaccine-induced T cells. CONCLUSIONS In summary, we present the first 'clinical proof of principle' that Denileukin diftitox-mediated elimination of Treg is capable of enhancing the magnitude of renal tumor specific T-cell responses in a vaccination setting. No significant financial relationships to disclose.
Rituximab induction therapy in highly sensitized kidney transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND The number of highly sensitized patients is rising, and sensitization can lead to renal transplant failure. The present study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of renal transplantation following induction therapy with rituximab in highly sensitized kidney transplant recipients. METHODS Seven highly sensitized kidney transplant recipients who underwent rituximab therapy from December 2008 to December 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 3 men and 4 women, with a mean age of 38.5 years (range, 21-47 years). The duration of hemodialysis was 3-12 months, with a mean duration of 11 months. For 4 patients, this was the second transplant; the previous graft survival time was 2-11 years, with a mean survival time of 5.8 years. All the female recipients had history of multiple pregnancies, and all patients had previously received blood transfusions. All donors were men, with a mean age of 32.5 years (range, 25-37 years). In 2 of the 7 patients, both class I and class II of panel reactive antibody were high; the remaining 5 patients showed either high in class I or in class II of panel reactive antibody. The mean panel reactive antibody value was 31% for class I and 51% for class II respectively. The donors and the recipients had the same blood type, with low lymphocyte cytotoxicity ranging from 2% to 5%. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch numbers were from 2 to 4. All patients received tacrolimus (0.1 mg × kg(-1) × d(-1)) and mycophenolate mofetil (750 mg twice per day) orally 3 days prior to surgery. All patients received a single dose of 600 mg rituximab (375 mg/m(2)) infusion on the day before surgery and polyclonal antibody (antithymocyte globulin) on the day of surgery. Postoperative creatinine, creatinine clearance rate, and occurrence of rejection by pathological biopsy confirmation were monitored. RESULTS No patient had delayed graft function after surgery. Two patients had acute rejection, one on day 7 and the other on day 13 post-surgery. Diagnosis of acute rejections was based on the clinical assessments and pathological biopsy results. According to the Banff 07 classification of renal allograft pathology, one of the patients was Ia and the other was IIa; the C4d staining was negative in both patients. One patient received methylprednisolone plus cyclophosphamide and the other received antithymocyte globulin (ATG) therapy, both leading to successful reversion of the acute rejection. All patients were discharged postoperatively and all had normal renal function during the 7th to 12th month follow-up. Pulmonary infection occurred in 1 patient 4 months after surgery and was successfully cured. CONCLUSION Rituximab induction therapy can reduce the occurrence of postoperative humoral rejection in highly sensitized renal transplant recipients, suggesting that kidney transplantation may be safe and effective for these patients.
Adaptive Compressed Sensing Using Intra-Scale Variable Density Sampling

Adaptive sensing has the potential to achieve near optimal performance by using current measurements to design subsequential sensing vectors. Existing adaptive sensing methods are usually based on recursive bisection or known structures of certain sparse representations. They suffer from either wasting extra measurements for detecting large coefficients, or missing these coefficients because of violations of these structures. In this paper, intra-scale variable density sampling (InVDS) is presented to capture the heterogeneous property of coefficients. First, Latin hypercube sampling with good uniformity is employed to find areas containing large coefficients. Then, the neighborhoods of $K$ largest coefficients are measured according to the block-sparsity or clustering property. Finally, the denoising-based approximate message passing algorithm is introduced to enhance the performance of image reconstruction. The probability that our sampling method fails to obtain large coefficients is analyzed. The superiority of InVDS is validated by numerical experiments with wavelet, discrete cosine, and Hadamard transforms.
Chondrocyte Repopulation of Allograft Cartilage: A Preliminary Investigation and Strategy for Developing Cartilage Matrices for Reconstruction

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of devitalized cartilage to sustain repopulation by allogenic chondrocytes and to use 2-photon microscopy to assess cultured chondrocyte viability. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: At an academic medical center, we conducted experimental analysis of lagomorph nasal septa devitalized by subjecting them to either 1) chemical dehydration in ethanol, 2) lyophilization (freeze dry), or 3) repeated freeze-thaw (12 cycles) in liquid nitrogen. The processed cartilages were seeded with chondrocytes isolated from the septa of either the same rabbit or another rabbit and cultured for 4 weeks. They were assessed with a variety of techniques. RESULTS: The seeded chondrocytes maintained viability on the devitalized cartilage throughout the study period. Two-photon microscopy was effective in assessing the viability of cultured chondrocytes. CONCLUSION: Isolated lagomorph chondrocytes can be maintained in allogenic cartilage grafts devitalized using conventional physicochemical techniques. SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first experimental study to demonstrate that cultured chondrocytes can be maintained on devitalized cartilage.
Planar Cell Orientation Control System Using a Rotating Electric Field

In this paper, an automated cell orientation control system is proposed to reorient suspended cells in the plane, about a single axis of rotation. The system consists of a vision system, which images the suspended cell, a software system which estimates the cell orientation angle, and a rotating electric field, applied to rotate the suspended cell. The angular coordinate of the cell is used as a feedback in a closed-loop system to reorient the cell, rotating it to its desired angle. The closed-loop feedback system permits the suspended cell orientation to track reference input signals. A microscale device, energized with sinusoidal voltages, is used to generate a rotating electric field. This device was designed and fabricated using MEMS fabrication techniques. A vision-tracking algorithm to image and estimate cell orientation in real time was designed and implemented, based on the circular Hough transform. The cell is driven to its desired orientation angle with a PID controller using the estimated cell rotation angle as a feedback. Experiments have been carried out which demonstrate that the cell orientation control system performs well. A variety of tests have been performed, including step response and trajectory following. Cell orientation control may be used as one step in the general process of orienting cells for cell surgery.
Review: Neurorehabilitation With Neural Transplantation

Cell replacement therapy has been tested clinically in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Huntington’s disease (HD), epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and stroke. The clinical outcomes have been variable, perhaps partly because of the differing levels of preclinical, basic experimental evidence that was available prior to the trials. The most promising results have been seen in PD trials, with encouraging ones in HD. A common feature of most trials is that they have concentrated on the biological and technical aspects of transplantation without presupposing that the outcomes might be influenced by events after the surgery. The growing evidence of plasticity demonstrated by the brain and grafts in response to environmental and training stimuli such as rehabilitation interventions has been mostly neglected throughout the clinical application of cell therapy. This review suggests that a different approach may be required to maximize recovery: postoperative experiences, including rehabilitation with explicit behavioral retraining, could have marked direct as well as positive secondary effects on the integration and function of grafted cells in the host neural system. The knowledge gained about brain plasticity following brain damage needs to be linked with what we know about promoting intrinsic recovery processes and how this can boost neurobiological and surgical strategies for repair at the clinical level. With proof of principle now established, a rich area for innovative research with profound therapeutic application is open for investigation.
Direct triggers for ulceration in patients with venous insufficiency

Background More than 80% of leg ulcers are caused by venous insufficiency. The actual causes of venous ulcers, beyond the presence of venous insufficiency, are rarely referred to in the literature. This study evaluates the direct triggers for ulceration in patients with venous insufficiency.
Major Histocompatibility Complex and T Cell Interactions of a Universal T Cell Epitope from Plasmodium falciparum Circumsporozoite Protein*

A 20-residue sequence from the C-terminal region of the circumsporozoite protein of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is considered a universal helper T cell epitope because it is immunogenic in individuals of many major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes. Subunit vaccines containing T* and the major B cell epitope of the circumsporozoite protein induce high antibody titers to the malaria parasite and significant T cell responses in humans. In this study we have evaluated the specificity of the T* sequence with regard to its binding to the human class II MHC protein DR4 (HLA-DRB1*0401), its interactions with antigen receptors on T cells, and the effect of natural variants of this sequence on its immunogenicity. Computational approaches identified multiple potential DR4-binding epitopes within T*, and experimental binding studies confirmed the following two tight binding epitopes: one located toward the N terminus (the T*-1 epitope) and one at the C terminus (the T*-5 epitope). Immunization of a human DR4 volunteer with a peptide-based vaccine containing the T* sequence elicited CD4+ T cells that recognize each of these epitopes. Here we present an analysis of the immunodominant N-terminal epitope T*-1. T*-1 residues important for interaction with DR4 and with antigen receptors on T*-specific T cells were mapped. MHC tetramers carrying DR4/T*-1 MHC-peptide complexes stained and efficiently stimulated these cells in vitro. T*-1 overlaps a region of the protein that has been described as highly polymorphic; however, the particular T*-1 residues required for anchoring to DR4 were highly conserved in Plasmodium sequences described to date.
Epsilon-dominance based multiobjective genetic algorithm for economic emission load dispatch optimization problem

In this paper, a novel multiobjective genetic algorithm approach for economic emission load dispatch (EELD) optimization problem is presented. TheEELD problem is formulated as a nonlinear constrained multiobjective optimization problem with both equality and inequality constraints. A new optimization algorithm which is based on concept of co-evolution and repair algorithm for handling nonlinear constraints is presented. The algorithm maintains a finite-sized archive of non-dominated solutions which gets iteratively updated in the presence of new solutions based on the concept of ¿-dominance. The use of ¿-dominance also makes the algorithms practical by allowing a decision maker to control the resolution of the Pareto set approximation by choosing an appropriate ¿ value. The results demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach to generate true and well-distributed Pareto-optimal nondominated solutions of the multiobjective EELD problem in one single run. Simulation results with the proposed approach have been compared to those, reported in the literature. The comparison demonstrates the superiority of the proposed approach and confirms its potential to solve the multiobjective EELD problem.
Motivational factors predict quit attempts but not maintenance of smoking cessation: findings from the International Tobacco Control Four country project.

AIM To explore whether measures of motivation to quit smoking have different predictive relationships with making quit attempts and the maintenance of those attempts. METHODS Data are from three wave-to-wave transitions of the International Tobacco Control Four (ITC-4) country project. Smokers' responses at one wave were used to predict the likelihood of making an attempt and among those trying the likelihood of maintaining an attempt for at least a month at the next wave. For both outcomes, hierarchical logistic regressions were used to explore the predictive capacity of seven measures of motivation to quit smoking, controlling for a range of other known or possible predictors. RESULTS Bivariate analyses indicate that measures of motivation to quit are predictive of making quit attempts, but they predict relapse among those making attempts. Multivariate analyses identified wanting to quit and frequency of prematurely butting out cigarettes as the main positive predictors of making attempts, but this was reduced by intention and recency of last attempt. For maintenance, premature butting out was the main motivation variable predicting relapse and was essentially unaffected by other measures. DISCUSSION The findings show that it is wrong to suggest that all one needs to quit is to be motivated to do so. The reality is that one needs to be motivated to prompt action to stop smoking, but this is not sufficient in and of itself to ensure that cessation is maintained. These findings call attention to the importance of understanding the differential roles that prequit and postquit experiences play in smoking cessation and of providing help to smokers to stay off cigarettes.
Memory self-efficacy predicts responsiveness to inductive reasoning training in older adults.

OBJECTIVES In the current study, we assessed the relationship between memory self-efficacy at pretest and responsiveness to inductive reasoning training in a sample of older adults. METHODS Participants completed a measure of self-efficacy assessing beliefs about memory capacity. Participants were then randomly assigned to a waitlist control group or an inductive reasoning training intervention. Latent change score models were used to examine the moderators of change in inductive reasoning. RESULTS Inductive reasoning showed clear improvements in the training group compared with the control. Within the training group, initial memory capacity beliefs significantly predicted change in inductive reasoning such that those with higher levels of capacity beliefs showed greater responsiveness to the intervention. Further analyses revealed that self-efficacy had effects on how trainees allocated time to the training materials over the course of the intervention. DISCUSSION Results indicate that self-referential beliefs about cognitive potential may be an important factor contributing to plasticity in adulthood.