Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neutrophil extracellular traps: Is immunity the second function of chromatin?

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are made of processed chromatin bound to granular and selected cytoplasmic proteins. NETs are released by white blood cells called neutrophils, maybe as a last resort, to control microbial infections. This release of chromatin is the result of a unique form of cell death, dubbed “NETosis. ” Here we review our understanding of how NETs are made, their function in infections and as danger signals, and their emerging importance in autoimmunity and coagulation.
Genomic and Immunological Tumor Pro fi ling Identi fi es Targetable Pathways and Extensive CD 8 þ / PDL 1 þ Immune In fi ltration in In fl ammatory Breast Cancer Tumors

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Comprehensive tumor profiling was performed to understand clinically actionable alterations in IBC. Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) and IHC were performed to identify activated pathways in IBC tumor tissues. siRNA studies examined the impact of IBC genomic variants in cellular models. IBC tumor tissues were further characterized for immune infiltration and immune checkpoint expression by IHC. Genomic analysis identified recurrent alterations in core biologic pathways, including activating and targetable variants in HER/PI3K/mTOR signaling. High rates of activating HER3 pointmutations were discovered in IBC tumors. Cell line studies confirmed a role formutant HER3 in IBC cell proliferation. Immunologic analysis revealed a subset of IBC tumors associated with high CD8þ/PD-L1þ lymphocyte infiltration. Immune infiltration positively correlated with an NGS-based estimate of neoantigen exposure derived from the somatic mutation rate and mutant allele frequency, iScore. Additionally, DNAmismatch repair alterations, whichmay contribute to higher iScores, occurred at greater frequency in tumors with higher immune infiltration. Our study identifies genomic alterations that mechanistically contribute to oncogenic signaling in IBC and provides a genetic basis for the selection of clinically relevant targeted and combination therapeutic strategies. Furthermore, an NGS-based estimate of neoantigen exposure developed in this study (iScore) may be a useful biomarker to predict immune infiltration in IBC and other cancers. The iScore may be associated with greater levels of response to immunotherapies, such as PD-L1/PD-1–targeted therapies. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(7);
Abnormal CTLA‐4 function in T cells from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

CTLA‐4 is a critical gatekeeper of T‐cell activation and immunological tolerance and has been implicated in patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases through genetic association. Since T cells from patients with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) display a characteristic hyperactive phenotype, we investigated the function of CTLA‐4 in SLE. Our results reveal increased CTLA‐4 expression in FOXP3− responder T cells from patients with SLE compared with other autoimmune rheumatic diseases and healthy controls. However, CTLA‐4 was unable to regulate T‐cell proliferation, lipid microdomain formation and phosphorylation of TCR‐ζ following CD3/CD28 co‐stimulation, in contrast to healthy T cells. Although lupus T cells responded in vitro to CD3/CD28 co‐stimulation, there was no parallel increase in CTLA‐4 expression, which would normally provide a break on T‐cell proliferation. These defects were associated with exclusion of CTLA‐4 from lipid microdomains providing an anatomical basis for its loss of function. Collectively our data identify CTLA‐4 dysfunction as a potential cause for abnormal T‐cell activation in patients with SLE, which could be targeted for therapy.
Aggregation of derivatives of benz[C, D]indole dyes: Effect of the side group and ambient temperatures

Two pairs of benz[c, d]indole dyes with the same chromophore in each pair have been studied in respect to their ability to form thin films through thermal evaporation in vacuum. Electronic absorption spectra of the films revealed that despite very slight variations in molecular structure different aggregate structures can be formed in the films. It has been shown that substitution of one carbon atom in the dye structure by a sulfur atom leads to crucial sensitivity of the aggregate structure to film thickness and substrate temperature. On the other hand, dye with bulky side groups was less sensitive to the changes in the deposition conditions.
Symptom Improvement in Co-Occurring PTSD and Alcohol Dependence

This study investigated the temporal course of improvement in PTSD and alcohol dependence symptoms among individuals participating in a 12-week outpatient treatment study. Participants were 94 individuals with comorbid PTSD and alcohol dependence enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled medication trial. Outcome measures included PTSD symptoms (as measured by the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale, Impact of Events Scale, and Civilian Mississippi Scale for PTSD) and alcohol use severity (as measured by the Time Line Follow Back). Study completion rates were significantly higher for individuals who demonstrated improvement in both disorders. Improvements in PTSD had a greater impact on improvement in alcohol dependence symptoms than the reciprocal relationship. Improvement in hyperarousal PTSD symptoms, in particular, was related to substantially improved alcohol use. Examination of the temporal course of symptom improvement revealed that alcohol symptoms tended to start improving either before or in conjunction with PTSD symptoms. Although preliminary in nature, these findings suggest that co-occurring PTSD symptoms may have a strong impact on alcohol dependence treatment outcome, and that PTSD treatment may be important to optimizing outcomes for patients with comorbid PTSD and alcohol dependence.
Origins of the breast milk‐derived cells; an endeavor to find the cell sources

Fresh human breast milk consists of a heterogeneous population of cells that may offer a non‐invasive source of cells for therapeutic proposes. The aims of this study were to characterize the breast milk‐derived cells cultured in vitro. To do this, the cells from human breast milk were cultured and the expression of the CD markers along with the embryonic stem cell markers, endothelial and luminal mammary epithelial cell markers was evaluated by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence. The presence of fetal microchimerism among the isolated cells was also determined by the presence of SRY gene. They were also differentiated into adipocytes and osteoblasts. The results showed that a remarkable number of cells expressed the mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) markers such as CD90, CD44, CD271, and CD146. A subpopulation of the human breast milk‐derived cells (HBMDC) also expressed the embryonic stem cell markers, such as TRA 60–1, Oct4, Nanog and Sox2 but not SSEA1 or 4. The frequencies of the cells which expressed the endothelial, hematopoietic cell markers were negligible. SRY gene was not detected in the breast milk isolated cells. A subpopulation of the cells also expressed cytokeratin 18, the marker of luminal mammary epithelial cells. These cells showed the capability to differentiate into adipocytes and osteoblasts. In conclusion, these finding highlighted the presence of cells with various sources in the breast milk. Different stem cells including MSCs or embryonic stem cell‐like cell along with the exfoliated cells from luminal epithelial cells were found among the isolated cells. The breast milk‐derived stem cells might be considered as a non‐invasive source of the stem cells for therapeutic purpose.
Durable remissions of myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia after reduced-intensity allografting.

PURPOSE To evaluate the use of reduced-intensity (RI) conditioning with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from HLA-identical family donors in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute myeloid leukemia (AML). PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixteen patients (median age, 54 years; range, 37 to 66 years) underwent RI-HSCT using a conditioning regimen of fludarabine 25 mg/m2 daily for 5 days and either cyclophosphamide 1 g/m2 daily for 2 days (14 patients) or melphalan 140 mg/m2 for 1 day (two patients). The median number of CD34+ cells and CD3+ cells infused per kilogram of recipient weight was 4.5 x 106 (range, 1.8 to 7.3 x 106 cells) and 2.9 x 108 (range, 0.1 to 9.6 x 108 cells), respectively. RESULTS There was no transplant-related mortality (TRM) within 100 days of HSCT. Grade 1 to 2 acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) occurred in three patients, but neither grade 3 nor grade 4 disease was observed. Chronic GVHD occurred in 10 patients. One patient had cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation but did not develop CMV disease. With a median follow-up of 26 months (range, 15 to 45 months), 11 patients are alive (nine in continuous complete remission and one in complete remission after a second transplantation), and five have died (four from disease progression and one from bone-marrow aplasia induced by cyclosporine withdrawal). The 2-year actuarial overall and event-free survival rates were 69% (95% confidence interval [CI], 40% to 86%) and 56% (95% CI, 30% to 68%), respectively. CONCLUSION This strategy of RI-HSCT resulted in reliable engraftment with low incidence of acute GVHD and TRM. Durable remissions were observed in patients with MDS and AML consistent with a graft-versus-leukemia effect.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease: New Recommendations From the American Heart Association

Since the original American Heart Association (AHA) Science Advisory was published in 1996,1 important new findings have been reported about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Omega-3 fatty acids are obtained from two dietary sources: seafood and certain nut and plant oils. Fish and fish oils contain the 20-carbon eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the 22-carbon docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), whereas canola, walnut, soybean, and flaxseed oils contain the 18-carbon α-linolenic acid (ALA). ALA appears to be less potent than EPA and DHA. The evidence supporting the clinical benefits of omega-3 fatty acids derive from population studies and randomized, controlled trials, and new information has emerged regarding the mechanisms of action of these nutrients. These are outlined in a recent Scientific Statement, “Fish Consumption, Fish Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease. ”2 See page e20 Large-scale epidemiologic studies suggest that people at risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) benefit from consuming omega-3 fatty acids from plants and marine sources. Although the ideal amount to take is not firmly established, evidence from prospective secondary prevention studies suggests that intakes of EPA+DHA ranging from 0.5 …
Forecast bankruptcy using a blend of clustering and MARS model: case of US banks

In this paper, we compare the performance of two non-parametric methods of classification and regression trees (CART) and the newly multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) models, in forecasting bankruptcy. Models are tested on a large universe of US banks over a complete market cycle and run under a K-fold cross validation. Then, a hybrid model which combines K-means clustering and MARS is tested as well. Our findings highlight that (i) Either in training or testing sample, MARS provides, in average, better correct classification rate than CART model (ii) Hybrid approach significantly increases the classification accuracy rate in the training sample (iii) MARS prediction underperforms when the misclassification of the bankrupt banks rate is adopted as a criteria (iv) Finally, results prove that non-parametric models are more suitable for bank failure prediction than the corresponding Logit model.
p38β MAP Kinase as a Therapeutic Target for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is very difficult to diagnose in its early stage. Molecular marker and imaging have not proven to be accurate modalities for screening of pancreatic cancer. This study aims to develop p38β as a protein marker for pancreatic cancer and to design peptide inhibitor against the same. The serum p38β level of pancreatic cancer (n = 35; 5.06 μg/mL) was twofold higher compared to that of the chronic pancreatitis (n = 10; 2.92 μg/mL) and matched normal control (n = 10; 2.86 μg/ml) (p < 0.0005). Peptide inhibitors were designed to inhibit the activity of p38β and the kinetic assay had shown the dissociation constant, (KD) to be 3.16 × 10−8 M and IC50, 25 nM by Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and Enzyme ‐Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), respectively. The peptide inhibitor also significantly reduced viability and induced cytotoxicity in Human Pancreatic carcinoma epithelial‐like cell line (PANC‐1) cells.
ÉTUDE SUR LES CAUSES POSSIBLES DU RALENTISSEMENT DU PROGRÈS AGRONOMIQUE EN COLZA D'HIVER ET EN TOURNESOL

Comme d'autres especes de grande culture en France, les oleagineux sont confrontes depuis deux decennies a un tassement des rendements moyens obtenus en parcelles agricoles. Pour le tournesol, on observe dans les essais de pre-inscription une progression de 0,47 q.ha -1 an -1 pour les varietes inscrites, qui ne se retrouve pas dans la moyenne du rendement national. Un des elements essentiels est l'evolution de l'aire de culture, puisque, depuis 1992, la surface en tournesol a diminue de 40 % et s'est concentree sur des sols a potentiel plus faible. Tant pour le colza que pour le tournesol, l'evolution des pratiques culturales au cours des 20 dernieres annees se traduit par une baisse des intrants dont il est difficile de caracteriser l'impact sur l'evolution des rendements moyens. L'analyse de parametres climatiques permet de confirmer l'importance du rapport photothermique (rayonnement / temperature) pour le colza, tant en periode de floraison qu'en periode de remplissage des graines. Ce rapport ne presente pas d'evolution remarquable depuis 1989. Pour le tournesol, l'augmentation du deficit hydrique au cours du temps semble contribuer de facon significative a la stagnation des rendements. Enfin la comparaison de l'evolution des rendements entre la France et l'Allemagne pour le colza, ainsi que la caracterisation des interactions entre varietes et sites experimentaux, nous permet de conclure a la necessite d'etudes a differentes echelles, de la plante (modeles d'ecophysiologie) a la region agricole, pour mieux comprendre les causes du ralentissement du progres agronomique.
1-[4-Fluoro-2-(2-nitrovinyl)phenyl]pyrrolidine Suppresses Toll-Like Receptor 4 Dimerization Induced by Lipopolysaccharide

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) recognizes LPS and triggers the activation of the myeloid differential factor 88 (MyD88)- and toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adapter, inducing interferon-β (TRIF)-dependent major downstream signaling pathways. Previously, we presented biochemical evidence that 1-[4-Fluoro-2-(2-nitrovinyl)phenyl]pyrrolidine (FPP), which was synthesized in our laboratory, inhibits NF-κB activation induced by LPS. Here, we investigated whether FPP modulates the TLR4 downstream signaling pathways and what anti-inflammatory target in TLR4 signaling is regulated by FPP. FPP inhibited LPS-induced NF-κB activation by targeting TLR4 dimerization. These results suggest that FPP can modulate the TLR4 signaling pathway at the receptor level to decrease inflammatory gene expression.
A simulation study on airfoils using VAWT design for low wind speed application

This paper presents the simulation study on the airfoil based on the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) for low wind speed application ranging 2 to 8 meter per seconds. The main advantage VAWT compared to the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) is the ability to capture wind from any direction. Therefore, the yaw system is not required to turn the rotor towards the wind direction. Furthermore, the noise level produced during the rotation making it suitable to be installed on residential and urban environment. However, the major drawbacks of VAWT over HAWT are less efficient due to drag and turbulent force that the blade produces and low starting torque. The aim of this study is to develop a VAWT design equipped with the advantages mentioned and to overcome the VAWT drawbacks. The National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA) for both airfoil series 0012 and 0015 were analyzed using simulation provided in the Qblade software. The graphical relation between optimal angles of attack (AoA) and the Reynolds number which predicts the flow patterns of the wind is analyzed. Based on this, the AoA that generate high lift over drag ratio (Cl/Cd) can be identified. The ratio of Cl/Cd for the airfoils; NACA 0012 and NACA 0015 are used to analyze the relationship between Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) and the Power Coefficient (Cp) performance. The number of blades is also tested to justify the effect on the power produced in low wind speed condition. Comparison of the simulated airfoils is presented in this paper. A simulated design of small scale size VAWT is made to test the effect of the blades number and their respective Cp and TSR versus wind speed. With the proper airfoils design that suits the low wind speed condition, the turbine can functions efficiently as well as maximize the power produced by turbine.
Charge accumulation at InAs surfaces.

Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to directly prove the existence of a charge accumulation layer at clean InAs surfaces. The formation of an accumulation layer is shown to be a common property of polar InAs surfaces, with the precise surface Fermi level position above the conduction band minimum determined by the surface geometry. The emission from states in the accumulation layer is studied with respect to its photon energy and angular dependence.
Statistical characterization of rolling stock magnetic field emissions

In this paper, the statistical analysis of a measurement procedure for magnetic flux density (MFD) emissions on board of rolling stock is addressed. The measurement system is based on analog-to-digital conversion of the MFD signals in the time-domain and numerical evaluation of the frequency content via fast Fourier transform (FFT). In line with safety assessment, results are aimed to predict a safety parameter defined in the ICNIRP guidelines and to de-embed noise effects due to the measurement system and the external environment.
Shape and Boundary Similarity Features for Accurate HCC Image Recognition

Nucleus morphology is of great importance in conventional cancer pathological diagnosis, which could provide information difference between normal and abnormal nuclei visually. Therefore, this paper proposes two novel kinds of features for normal and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nucleus recognition, including shape and boundary similarity. First, each individual nucleus patch with the fixed size is obtained using center-proliferation segmentation (CPS) method. Then, nucleus shape library is constructed based on manual selection by pathologists, which is utilized to measure nucleus shape similarity via Dice, Jaccard, precision, and recall coefficients. Meanwhile, boundary similarity is evaluated through triangles composed of some boundary feature points for each nucleus. Finally, the conventional random forest (RF) is used to train and test the classification model for HCC nucleus recognition. Extensive cross-validation tests could facilitate the selection of the optimal feature set and the experiment comparison results demonstrate that our proposed morphological features are more beneficial for classification compared with other traditional characteristics.
Depresión en el embarazo y el puerperio Depression in pregnancy and the puerperium

Resumen Antecedentes: La depresion, un trastorno que afecta principalmente a mujeres fertiles, es la primera causa de discapacidad en mujeres chilenas. Objetivo: Destacar los conocimientos actuales mas importantes acerca de la depresion en el embarazo y el puerperio. Metodo: Se resumen los resultados de varios estudios en el contexto de una revision de la literatura. Resultados: Un tercio de las mujeres chilenas presenta sintomas de depresion y/o ansiedad durante el embarazo, mientras que la prevalencia en el posparto supera el 40%. Si se utilizan criterios operacionales estrictos, se encuentra que una de cada diez embarazadas/puerperas esta deprimida. Se ha visto que la depresion persistente en mujeres embarazadas se asocia a retraso en el desarrollo de sus nino(a)s y a un riesgo de depresion 4,7 veces mayor en la adolescencia. La depresion posparto se asocia a coeﬁ cientes intelectuales mas bajos en la preadolescencia, y a conductas violentas. En la actualidad se dispone de diferentes tipos de psicoterapia y medicamentos que pueden ser utilizados en este periodo de la vida. Entre los antidepresivos, los inhibidores de la recaptura de serotonina son los mas usados. Conclusiones: La depresion pre y posparto son altamente prevalentes y debe considerarse tanto el impacto de no tratar, como de tratar, la depresion gravido/puerperal.Palabras clave: Depresion, embarazo, puerperio, post parto.
Whole-Genome Sequence of Listeria monocytogenes Type Strain 53 XXIII

ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes causes the food-borne illness listeriosis that primarily infects “vulnerable” groups (e.g., elderly adults, pregnant women, very young children, and the immunocompromised). We sequenced the genome of L. monocytogenes XXIII (ATCC 15313) and assembled it into a single scaffold (three contigs) and deposited the annotated assembly into GenBank as accession no. JOOX00000000.
Comparative effectiveness analysis of different salvage therapy intensities used for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in Northern or Southern Alberta: an instrumental variable analysis

Abstract To date, no clinical trial has addressed salvage therapy intensity for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We sought to determine whether the more intensive salvage chemotherapy approach used in Southern Alberta (SAB) compared to the conventional dose salvage approach used in Northern Alberta (NAB) affects the rates of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) and survival in patients with relapsed DLBCL. Using instrumental variable analysis, we examined 147 consecutive patients with relapsed/refractory DLBCL from 2004 to 2010 who received salvage therapy in SAB (n = 70) or NAB (n = 77). Patients treated in SAB had higher rates of: salvage chemotherapy response (85.0% vs. 54.0%, p = 0.001), ASCT (61.4% vs. 41.6%, p = 0.016) and 4-year overall survival (41% vs. 20%, p = 0.002) than those in NAB, respectively. This study supports the hypothesis that selective use of intensive salvage chemotherapy leads to higher rates of ASCT and survival in this population.
Checkpoint and Replication Oriented Fault Tolerant Mechanism for MapReduce Framework

MapReduce is an emerging programming paradigm and an associated implementation for processing and generating big data which has been widely applied in data-intensive systems. In cloud environment, node and task failure is no longer accidental but a common feature of large-scale systems. In MapReduce framework, although the rescheduling based fault-tolerant method is simple to implement, it failed to fully consider the location of distributed data, the computation and storage overhead. Thus, a single node failure will increase the completion time dramatically. In this paper, a Checkpoint and Replication Oriented Fault Tolerant scheduling algorithm (CROFT) is proposed, which takes both task and node failure into consideration. Preliminary experiments show that with less storage and network overhead . CROFT will significantly reduce the completion time at failure time, and the overall performance of MapReduce can be improved at least over 30% than original mechanism in Hadoop. DOI : http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/telkomnika.v12i2. 4324