Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative immunocytochemical characterization of mononuclear phagocytes. II. Monocytes and tissue macrophages.

The purpose of the present study was to compare the monoclonal antibody (Mab) binding patterns of various tissue macrophages with each other and with blood monocytes. To allow recovery from the effects of the isolation procedure, or to obtain purified populations, macrophages were cultured for 24 hr and 48 hr. For comparison, blood monocytes were also cultured for 24 hr and 48 hr. Mab binding to individual cells, detected by the biotin avidin immunoperoxidase method, was quantified cytophotometrically and the results expressed as the median of the specific mean absorbance per 0.25 micron2 cell surface area or as specific integrated absorbance per cell. Analysis of the quantitative data in relation to the results of subjective evaluation of the peroxidase reaction product, demonstrating Mab binding to cells, yielded three classes for description of the intensity of antigen expression by cells: weak (specific mean absorbance per unit cell surface less than 0.07), moderate (values between 0.07 and 0.14), and intense (values more than 0.14). No matter how the results were expressed, comparison of the Mab binding patterns of macrophages with those of blood monocytes showed that spleen macrophages bound significantly less F4/80 and more M5/114 (Ia antigen). Kupffer cells and skin macrophages bound either approximately the same amount or considerably less of the various Mabs than monocytes did. Pulmonary tissue and alveolar macrophages bound significantly more 30.G. 12 (leucocyte antigen), M3/38 (Mac-2 antigen), and M3/84 (Mac-3 antigen) and comparable amounts or considerably less of the other Mabs than the monocytes did. Peritoneal macrophages bound significantly more F4/80, M1/70 (complement receptor III), and 2.4. G.2. (Fc receptor II) and comparable amounts or considerably less of the other Mabs than monocytes did. It is concluded that macrophages from different organs and different anatomical sites within one organ differ from one another, for example, peritoneal macrophages do not resemble any other population of macrophages and alveolar macrophages do not resemble pulmonary tissue macrophages, and differentiation of blood monocytes into tissue macrophages does not show a distinct pattern.
Compressed Air Energy Storage for Offshore Wind Turbines

Integrating renewable energy sources, such as offshore wind turbines, into the electric grid is challenging due to the variations between demand and generation and the high cost of transmission cables for transmitting peak power levels. A solution to these issues is a novel highefficiency compressed air energy storage system (CAES), which differs in a transformative way from conventional CAES approaches as it employs nearisothermal compression/expansion and energy storage prior to conversion to electrical power. This approach utilizes seawater as a liquid piston for air compression. The liquid piston creates a positive gas seal, enables a high surface area compression space for increased heat transfer, and utilizes the ocean as a thermal source/sink. The compressed air is stored in an “open accumulator,” where the air volume is modified through displacement of a liquid. The ability to exchange energy in the open accumulator by addition or subtraction of the gas or the liquid provides system control advantages, including storage of high power transients and direct control of air pressure independent of the energy storage level. Following a presentation of the system, the authors present a sizing example and a discussion of future work required for realization of this promising technology.
Bayesian network ensemble as a multivariate strategy to predict radiation pneumonitis risk.

PURPOSE Prediction of radiation pneumonitis (RP) has been shown to be challenging due to the involvement of a variety of factors including dose-volume metrics and radiosensitivity biomarkers. Some of these factors are highly correlated and might affect prediction results when combined. Bayesian network (BN) provides a probabilistic framework to represent variable dependencies in a directed acyclic graph. The aim of this study is to integrate the BN framework and a systems' biology approach to detect possible interactions among RP risk factors and exploit these relationships to enhance both the understanding and prediction of RP. METHODS The authors studied 54 nonsmall-cell lung cancer patients who received curative 3D-conformal radiotherapy. Nineteen RP events were observed (common toxicity criteria for adverse events grade 2 or higher). Serum concentration of the following four candidate biomarkers were measured at baseline and midtreatment: alpha-2-macroglobulin, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), transforming growth factor, interleukin-6. Dose-volumetric and clinical parameters were also included as covariates. Feature selection was performed using a Markov blanket approach based on the Koller-Sahami filter. The Markov chain Monte Carlo technique estimated the posterior distribution of BN graphs built from the observed data of the selected variables and causality constraints. RP probability was estimated using a limited number of high posterior graphs (ensemble) and was averaged for the final RP estimate using Bayes' rule. A resampling method based on bootstrapping was applied to model training and validation in order to control under- and overfit pitfalls. RESULTS RP prediction power of the BN ensemble approach reached its optimum at a size of 200. The optimized performance of the BN model recorded an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.83, which was significantly higher than multivariate logistic regression (0.77), mean heart dose (0.69), and a pre-to-midtreatment change in ACE (0.66). When RP prediction was made only with pretreatment information, the AUC ranged from 0.76 to 0.81 depending on the ensemble size. Bootstrap validation of graph features in the ensemble quantified confidence of association between variables in the graphs where ten interactions were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS The presented BN methodology provides the flexibility to model hierarchical interactions between RP covariates, which is applied to probabilistic inference on RP. The authors' preliminary results demonstrate that such framework combined with an ensemble method can possibly improve prediction of RP under real-life clinical circumstances such as missing data or treatment plan adaptation.
The Isolation of Human Lung Mast Cells by Affinity Chromatography

A method of isolation has. been developed to purify mast cells from human lung tissue. The purification steps are: (1) dispersion of human lung tissue in single‐cell suspensions by enzymatic digestion, (2) partial purification by counterflow centrifugal elutriation, (3) Percoll gradient centrifugation, and (4) enrichment of the mast cells by affinity chromatography using anti‐human IgE‐Sepharose. Enzymatic dispersion yielded 0.6±0.2×106 mast cells per gram wet tissue with purities of 3.3±1.0% (mean ±SIM n=3). Elutriation and gradient centrifugation yielded 0.36±0.05×10% mast cells per gram lung tissue in fractions with purities of 30.8±10.7%. Enriched mast cell Fractions were combined, and disposed of contaminating cells by affinity chromatography, thereby yielding 0.25±0.03×106 mast cells per gram lung tissue, and improving the purity to 75.3±8.3%. The purified mast cells were intact and vitality exceeded this way from 1 g wet lung tissue 0.25±0.03×106 mast cells may be isolated with a mean recovery of 41.7±2.4% and a mean purity of 75.3±8.3%.
Mutations that alter the primary structure of type I collagen. The perils of a system for generating large structures by the principle of nucleated growth.

As has been known for some time, genetic mutations provide a powerful tool for exploring biology. Recent studies on mutations that alter the primary structure of fibril-forming collagens (for reviews, see Refs. 1 and 2) have dramatically illustrated the extent to which the function of the most abundant structural proteins in higher organisms depends on the principle of nucleated growth. At the same time, they have demonstrated that because the biological function of the proteins depends so heavily on nucleated growth, the geneprotein systems for fibril-forming collagens may be the most vulnerable systems in nature to mutations that change primary structure. Assembly of large structures by nucleated growth is well known in the crystallization of inorganic and organic materials. Also, it is the basic principle for the polymerization of many proteins (3) such as the well studied examples of actin (4), tubulin (5), and hemoglobin S (6). The self-assembly of collagen into fibrils is a classical example of the principle (712). In the case of collagen, however, nucleated growth is also involved in folding of the protein into the triple helical conformation (13,14) that is the unique and characteristic feature of all collagens (15).
Postilla Number 207 14 August 1991 A : v * New Observations on the Skull of Hesperornis with Reconstructions of the Bony Palate and Otic Region

The skull of Hesperornis proves to be neognathous in the majority of diagnostic characters including the presence of the intrapterygoid joint. Most of the remaining characters, including those shared with the paleognaths, are primitive for Neomithes or all birds. In details of the braincase structure, Hesperornis is most similar to Enaliomis, Procellariiformes, Phaethon, and Fregata. A new reconstruction of the palate predicts the presence of the lacrimopalatine (uncinate) and the vomer,
Arcs in finite projective spaces

This is an expository article detailing results concerning large arcs in finite projective spaces, which attempts to cover the most relevant results on arcs, simplifying and unifying proofs of known old and more recent theorems. The article is mostly self-contained and includes a proof of the most general form of Segre's lemma of tangents and a short proof of the MDS conjecture over prime fields based on this lemma.
Anaerobic growth of Rhodopseudomonas palustris on 4-hydroxybenzoate is dependent on AadR, a member of the cyclic AMP receptor protein family of transcriptional regulators

The purple nonsulfur phototrophic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris converts structurally diverse aromatic carboxylic acids, including lignin monomers, to benzoate and 4-hydroxybenzoate under anaerobic conditions. These compounds are then further degraded via aromatic ring-fission pathways. A gene termed aadR, for anaerobic aromatic degradation regulator, was identified by complementation of mutants unable to grow anaerobically on 4-hydroxybenzoate. The deduced amino acid sequence of the aadR product is similar to a family of transcriptional regulators which includes Escherichia coli Fnr and Crp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa Anr, and rhizobial FixK and FixK-like proteins. A mutant with a deletion in aadR failed to grow on 4-hydroxybenzoate under anaerobic conditions and grew very slowly on benzoate. It also did not express aromatic acid-coenzyme A ligase II, an enzyme that catalyzes the first step of 4-hydroxybenzoate degradation, and it was defective in 4-hydroxybenzoate-induced expression of benzoate-coenzyme A ligase. The aadR deletion mutant was unaffected in other aspects of anaerobic growth. It grew normally on nonaromatic carbon sources and also under nitrogen-fixing conditions. In addition, aerobic growth on 4-hydroxybenzoate was indistinguishable from that of the wild type. These results indicate that AadR functions as a transcriptional activator of anaerobic aromatic acid degradation.
Code coalescing unit: a mechanism to facilitate load store data communication

Program behavior studies demonstrate that a significant fraction of load instructions in a program read the data stored by an instruction in the immediate past. In this paper, we propose a scheme entitled the Code Coalescing Unit that eliminates several of the memory access instructions by buffering the data in a Store Register Rename Buffer (SRRB) which is similar to the store buffer and renaming the instructions that use the data to access it directly from the buffer. The Code Coalescing Unit (CCU) can be considered as an extension to the fill unit proposed by S.W. Melvin et al. (1988). Their fill unit groups together micro-operations into larger atomic units and stores them into the decoded instruction cache (DIC) which are later executed directly from the DIC. The original fill unit grouped together micro-operations into larger atomic units, but the proposed Code Coalescing Unit goes further by eliminating particular load operations in the process of grouping together micro-operations. Experiments on eight applications including Microsoft Word for Windows, Microsoft C++ compiler and two SPEC programs demonstrate that approximately 25%, 34% or 42% of all load operations performed by these applications could have been eliminated using a Code Coalescing Unit in conjunction with a Store Register Rename Buffer of 8, 16 or 32 entries respectively.
Assessment of the Postural Stability of Female and Male Athletes

Objective: Postural stability is often affected by sport-related injuries and subsequently evaluated during postinjury examinations. Intrinsic factors, however, may also affect postural control. We sought to compare the postural control of female and male athletes as measured simultaneously by (1) the modified balance error scoring system (mBESS) and (2) a video-force plate system. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Sports injury prevention center. Participants: Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult athletes who performed mBESS during an injury prevention evaluation. Independent Variables: We compared the postural control of female and male athletes. We also accounted for independent variables associated with postural stability, including age, body mass index, and history of ankle injury, concussion, and migraine headache. Main Outcome Measures: Total errors committed during the mBESS and measurements derived from integrated kinematic and kinetic data obtained by a video-force plate system. Differences between males and females were tested using analysis of covariance. Results: Participants (n = 409) ranged in age from 10 to 29 years (mean = 14.6 ± 2.8); 60% were female. No significant differences on mBESS were detected between females and males; however, female athletes demonstrated significantly better postural stability on the video-force plate analysis during double-leg (P = 0.03, d = 0.28), single-leg (P < 0.001, d = 0.62), and tandem stances (P < 0.001, d = 0.53) when compared with males. Conclusions: Uninjured female athletes demonstrate better postural stability on video-force plate analysis than their uninjured male counterparts. These findings provide an important information assistive to clinicians during interpretation of postinjury balance tests.
Augmented Pulmonary Vascular and Venous Constrictions to NG-Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester in Rats with Monocrotaline-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension

The hemodynamic effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase) were examined in thiobutabarbital-anesthetized controlrats and rats with monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension. L-NAME (1–16 mg/kg i.v.) increased mean arterial pressure, systemic vascular resistance, venous resistance and pulmonary vascular resistance, and decreased cardiac output in both the control and pulmonary hypertensive rats. Relative to the controls, L-NAME (16 mg/kg) caused a smaller increase (≈50% of control) in mean arterial pressure in the pulmonary hypertensive rats, but greater increases in venous (≈200%) as well as pulmonary vascular (≈400%) resistances and a greater decrease in cardiac output (≈140%). The results show that NO is an important dilator within the arterial, venous and pulmonary circulation; its pulmonary and venous dilator roles are augmented in pulmonary hypertension.
Supramolecular Arrangements of an Organometallic Forming Nanostructured Films

Drganometallic materials have become subject of intensive research on distinct technological applications. The Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and Langmuir-Schaefer (LS) techniques have proven to be suitable to address challenges inherent to organic devices, in which the film properties can be tuned at molecular level. Here, we report on the supramolecular arrangement of zinc(OO)-protoporphyrin(OX) dimethyl ester (ZnPPOX-DME) using the Langmuir, LB and LS techniques, leading to nanostructured films. The π-A isotherms showed that π-π stacking interaction among ZnPPOX-DME molecules takes place at the air/water interface, favoring the formation of Langmuir films closely packed. The controlled growth of the LB and LS films was monitored via UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, with the thickness per monolayer within 1.3 and 1.7 nm. The homogeneous topography found at microscale is no longer preserved at nanoscale, which is found rougher according to AFM data. The FTOR indicated that the ZnPPOX-DME is isotropically arranged on both LB and LS films.
Preventing excess sun exposure: it is time for a national policy.

It is now well established that childhood sun exposure is the primary risk factor for melanoma. The seminal observation linking age at exposure to risk was the finding that the incidence of melanoma increased among people who had migrated from northern latitudes to more equatorial latitudes but only among the immigrants who were children at the time of the migration (1–3). Individuals more than 15 years of age who emigrated from England and Ireland to Australia had substantially reduced risk of melanoma compared with those born in Australia. It has been confirmed that sunburns during childhood and adolescence are associated with an increased risk of melanoma (4). Lifetime exposure to ultraviolet radiation, including that incurred during adulthood, appears to play a major role in nonmelanoma skin cancer (5). To reduce the risk of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, reduction of exposure to the sun throughout life is warranted. The article by Autier et al. (6) in this issue of the Journal raises important questions about the use of sunscreen to reduce the risk of skin cancer. Using a rigorous double-blind, randomized, controlled design, the authors observed that participants who received high sun-protection factor (SPF) sunscreen spent more time in the sun compared with those who received lower SPF sunscreen, despite the fact that all participants were blinded to the SPF formulation that they received. This finding may help us interpret previous epidemiologic studies (5) that have suggested that individuals who use sunscreen actually have higher rates of skin cancer than those who do not use sunscreen. It is likely that individuals whose skin type and/or genetic background place them at high risk for skin cancer have a propensity to burn when they are exposed to the sun and they are thus more likely to use sunscreen. The results of this trial add further evidence to the debate regarding recommendations for use of sunscreen. This trial suggests that the use of sunscreen alone will not lead to lower exposure but rather may result in longer time spent in the sun. Furthermore, study participants used only about one quarter the amount of sunscreen that is recommended for adequate coverage. This finding suggests that the increased skin cancer rates found among sunscreen users might also be associated with inadequate use of sunscreen. The results of this study may have a substantial impact on the public’s efforts regarding sun protection, particularly since sunscreen is widely considered by the public to provide adequate sun protection. Sunscreen use is the most common sun protection behavior currently performed in the United States, particularly by children (7). In considering the results of this study, it is important to remember that, until the second half of this century, sun exposure was avoided and at the beach clothing covered the
Nowhere-Zero Flows in Signed Series-Parallel Graphs

Bouchet conjectured in 1983 that each signed graph that admits a nowhere-zero flow has a nowhere-zero 6-flow. We prove that the conjecture is true for all signed series-parallel graphs. Unlike the unsigned case, the restriction to series-parallel graphs is nontrivial; in fact, the result is tight for infinitely many graphs.
cDNA cloning of human R-type pyruvate kinase and identification of a single amino acid substitution (Thr384----Met) affecting enzymatic stability in a pyruvate kinase variant (PK Tokyo) associated with hereditary hemolytic anemia.

cDNA clones for human R-type pyruvate kinase (PK) were isolated from a human reticulocyte cDNA library, constructed by PCR with a single gene-specific primer. The full-length cDNA was 2060 base pairs long, and the cDNA encoded 574 amino acids, the same number as that by rat R-type PK. Compared with human L-type PK, R-type PK was 31 amino acids longer at the amino terminus. We also cloned and characterized R-type PK cDNA clones from patients with hereditary hemolytic anemia from a PK deficiency, PK Tokyo. A single nucleotide substitution (ACG to ATG) was found at nucleotide 1151 of the coding sequence of the R-type PK, which caused an amino acid substitution, Thr384----Met. Dot blot hybridization of PCR-amplified genomic DNA from patients and their parents by allele-specific oligonucleotide probes showed that the parents, who were second cousins, were heterozygous. To confirm that the nucleotide change was responsible for the variant phenotype, we expressed the L-type PK with the single amino acid change in Escherichia coli and characterized the enzyme. The variant PK was thermolabile and moved slowly in the polyacrylamide gel buffered in 10 mM Tris.HCl, pH 8.3; these characteristics were fully compatible with data obtained from the patient's PK. From these results, we concluded that enzymatic stability of the variant was affected by the point mutation of the PK-encoding gene.
Prospect for an Entamoeba histolytica Gal‐lectin‐based vaccine

Entamoeba histolytica is the aetiological agent of invasive amoebiasis, the third leading parasitic cause of mortality in the world. The disease can be easily cured by chemotherapy; however, prevention, mainly in the form of vaccination, could greatly decrease the incidence of the disease, and possibly help in its eradication. The parasite's surface galactose and N‐acetyl‐d‐galactosamine‐inhibitable adherence lectin (Gal‐lectin) is highly antigenic and is the most promising subunit vaccine candidate. We have generated a Gal‐lectin‐based DNA vaccine and tested its immunogenicity in mice. Although further optimization will probably be required, this vaccine could help in the generation of an amoebiasis DNA vaccine for use in humans.
High-Conversion-Ratio Bidirectional DC-DC Converter with Ultra Capacitors

In this paper, a high-conversion-ratio bidirectional dc–dc converter with coupled inductor is proposed. In the boost mode, two capacitors are parallel charged and series discharged by the coupled inductor. Thus, high step-up voltage gain can be achieved with an appropriate duty ratio. The voltage stress on the main switch is reduced by a passive clamp circuit. Therefore, the low resistance RDS(ON) of the main switch can be adopted to reduce conduction loss. In the buckmode, two capacitors are series charged and parallel discharged by the coupled inductor. The bidirectional converter can have high step-down gain. Aside from that, all of the switches achieve zero voltage-switching turn-on, and the switching loss can be improved. Due to two active clamp circuits, the energy of the leakage inductor of the coupled inductor is recycled. The efficiency can be further improved. The operating principle and the steady-state analyses of the voltage gain are discussed. Finally, a 24-V-input-voltage, 400-V-output-voltage, and 200-W-output-power prototype circuit is implemented in the laboratory to verify the performance.