Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential response of cumulus cell‐enclosed and denuded mouse oocytes in a meiotic induction model system

In this study we have examined the effects of denuded oocyte coculture with dissociated cumulus cells (CC) or intact oocyte‐CC complexes on meiotic resumption. When denuded oocytes (DO) or cumulus cell‐enclosed oocytes (CEO) were cultured in 40‐µl drops of medium under oil, and held in meiotic arrest with 4 mM hypoxanthine plus 25 µM dbcAMP, they underwent germinal vesicle breakdown (GVB) at similar frequencies (34%–35%). Coculture of DO with complexes or dissociated CCs stimulated maturation (50% and 61% GVB, respectively), with no effect of DO on maturation of cocultured CEO (32% GVB). This coculture effect was increased with the number of CCs added to the culture drop. When either glucose or glutamine was eliminated from the medium, no meiotic induction resulted from cocultured CCs. When CEO were cultured alone in microdrops, increasing their number from 10 to 50 significantly lowered the percentage resuming maturation, an effect also reduced by removing glucose and/or glutamine from the medium. This effect was not observed with DO. When inhibitory medium was conditioned overnight with complexes, subsequent culture with DO led to higher maturation percentages than culture in unconditioned medium; however, when CEO were cultured in conditioned medium, there was either no effect or increased inhibition of maturation. Assay of glucose and pyruvate in spent medium showed that DO cultured alone consumed glucose and pyruvate, but under CC coculture conditions more glucose was consumed and significant amounts of pyruvate accumulated in the medium, changes that led to an increase in the maturation of DO. Further experiments showed that DO were more sensitive than CEO to the meiosis‐inducing effect of pyruvate. These results demonstrate different responsiveness of DO and CEO to coculture conditions and question the physiological relevance of denuded oocyte/CC coculture to study meiotic induction. Mol. Reprod. Dev. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Minocycline attenuates HIV‐1 infection and suppresses chronic immune activation in humanized NOD/LtsZ‐scidIL‐2Rγnull mice

More than a quarter of a century of research has established chronic immune activation and dysfunctional T cells as central features of chronic HIV infection and subsequent immunodeficiency. Consequently, the search for a new immunomodulatory therapy that could reduce immune activation and improve T‐cell function has been increased. However, the lack of small animal models for in vivo HIV study has hampered progress. In the current study, we have investigated a model of cord blood haematopoietic progenitor cells (CB‐HPCs) ‐transplanted humanized NOD/LtsZ‐scidIL‐2Rγnull mice in which progression of HIV infection is associated with widespread chronic immune activation and inflammation. Indeed, HIV infection in humanized NSG mice caused up‐regulation of several T‐cell immune activation markers such as CD38, HLA‐DR, CD69 and co‐receptor CCR5. T‐cell exhaustion markers PD‐1 and CTLA‐4 were found to be significantly up‐regulated on T cells. Moreover, increased plasmatic levels of lipopolysaccharide, sCD14 and interleukin‐10 were also observed in infected mice. Treatment with minocycline resulted in a significant decrease of expression of cellular and plasma immune activation markers, inhibition of HIV replication and improved T‐cell counts in HIV‐infected humanized NSG mice. The study demonstrates that minocycline could be an effective, low‐cost adjunctive treatment to regulate chronic immune activation and replication of HIV.
Neurovascular considerations in surgery of glomus tumors with intracranial extensions

Paragangliomas of the skull base, by virtue of their location, locally infiltrative behavior, and vascular nature, are difficult tumors to resect. Surgical removal is especially complicated when intracranial extensions are encountered. Our experience with a one-stage resection of intracranial extensions of glomus tumors in 20 patients is presented. These 20 patients had a total of 29 paragangliomas: 23 glomus jugulare or tympanicum tumors, 5 carotid body tumors, and 1 pterygopalatine lesion. Ten patients had intradural extension; the other 10 had intracranial extradural tumors. The primary complicating treatment factor was the loss of surgical planes in 6 patients with prior surgery and or radiotherapy. The presence of multiple paragangliomas (20%) and catecholamine secretion by the tumors (15%) complicated surgical treatment as well. Surgical morbidity was primarily related to deficits of lower cranial nerves (50%).
A Viscoelastic Model for Glioma Growth

In this paper we propose a mathematical model to describe the evolution of glioma cells in the brain taking into account the viscoelastic properties of brain tissue. The mathematical model is established considering that the glioma cells are of two phenotypes: migratory and proliferative. The evolution of the migratory cells is described by a diffusion-reaction equation of non Fickian type deduced considering a mass conservation law with a non Fickian migratory mass flux. The evolution of the proliferation cells is described by a reaction equation. Numerical simulations that illustrate the behaviour of the mathematical model are included.
Performance Guarantees for Approximation Algorithms Depending on Parametrized Triangle Inequalities

The worst-case analyses of heuristics in combinatorial optimization are often far too pessimistic when confronted with performance on real-world problems. One approach to partially overcome this discrepancy is to resort to average-case analyses by stipulating realistic distributions of input data. Another way is to incorporate a priori information on the potential domain of the input data, for instance, assuming the triangle inequality for input matrices is in some cases instrumental for establishing approximation algorithms with fixed performance guarantee. Now, a parametrized form of the triangle inequality has a considerably larger range of applicability and allows the prediction of the heuristics performance, where otherwise no bound could be provided. For example, it is interesting to observe that two well-known approximation algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), assuming the triangle inequality, behave differently when one relaxes the imposed triangle inequality. The double-spanning-tree heuristic can be adjusted (by suitably extracting a Hamilton circuit from a Eulerian walk) to yield an approximation algorithm with performance guarantee increasing quadratically with the parameter governing the relaxed triangle inequality. The Christofides algorithm cannot be modified in this way and hence does not tolerate a relaxation of the standard triangle inequality without loosing the bound on its relative performance.
The Germline-Specific Factor OEF-1 Facilitates Coordinated Progression Through Germ Cell Development in Caenorhabditis elegans

The purpose of germ cells is to ensure the faithful transmission of genetic material to the next generation. To develop into mature gametes, germ cells must pass through cell cycle checkpoints while maintaining totipotency and genomic integrity. How germ cells coordinate developmental events while simultaneously protecting their unique fate is not well understood. Here, we characterize a novel nuclear protein, Oocyte-Excluded Factor-1 (OEF-1), with highly specific germline expression in Caenorhabditis elegans. OEF-1 is initially detected early in embryogenesis and is expressed in the nuclei of all germ cells during larval stages. In adults, OEF-1 expression abruptly decreases just prior to oocyte differentiation. In oef-1 mutants, the developmental progression of germ cells is accelerated, resulting in subtle defects at multiple stages of germ cell development. Lastly, OEF-1 is primarily associated with the bodies of germline-expressed genes, and as such is excluded from the X chromosome. We hypothesize that OEF-1 may regulate the rate of progression through germ cell development, providing insight into how these critical maturation events are coordinated.
Direct observation of the infinite percolation cluster in thin films: Evidence for a double percolation process.

Direct observation of the infinite percolation cluster at the percolation threshold is shown. We use crystallization propagation in an amorphous thin film. The morphological analysis of the infinite cluster shows good agreement with that predicted by percolation theory. The crystallization process can be described using an invasion percolation model in a fractal network. At the macroscopic scale, crystallization induces a double percolation.
Influence of Smoking Charcoal Filter Tipped Cigarettes on Various Biomarkers of Exposure

Charcoal (CC) filters of cigarettes are known to significantly reduce a series of volatile constituents in mainstream smoke, including reactive α,β-unsaturated aldehydes such as acrolein and crotonaldehyde. We performed a randomized, crossover, 2-wk brand-switching study with 39 smokers. Twenty of the subjects smoked cellulose acetate (CA) filter tipped cigarettes during wk 1 of the study; the remaining 19 subjects smoked CC filter tipped cigarettes during wk 1. In wk 2, the subjects switched to the corresponding brand with the other filter type, with similar smoking machine-derived tar and nicotine yields. Daily cigarette consumption, carbon monoxide in exhaled breath, salivary cotinine, and urinary nicotine equivalents (molar sum of nicotine plus five major metabolites) did not change significantly when switching to the cigarettes with the other filter type. Urinary excretion rates of 3-hydroxy-1-methylpropylmercapturic acid (metabolite of crotonaldehyde), monohydroxybutenylmercapturic acid (metabolite of 1,3-butadiene), and S-phenylmercapturic acid (metabolite of benzene) were significantly lower when smoking CC compared to CA filter tipped cigarettes. The reduction in amount of 3-hydroxypropylmercapturic acid (metabolite of acrolein) was of borderline significance. Other mercapturic acids and thioethers (the latter is a summary parameter that indicates the exposure to electrophilic compounds) were not or were only slightly reduced upon smoking CC filter tipped cigarettes. We conclude that smoking CC filter tipped cigarettes does not change the uptake of carbon monoxide and nicotine when compared to CA filter tipped cigarettes with similar tar and nicotine yields, but significantly reduces the exposure to toxicologically relevant smoke constituents such as acrolein, crotonaldehyde, 1,3-butadiene, and benzene.
Word and Face Recognition in Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism: An Event-Related Potential Study

The repetition paradigm offers a useful technique for assessing recognition memory by evaluating how an individual responds to new versus old stimuli. While this paradigm has been extensively used in adults with and without clinical conditions, it has not, to our knowledge, been studied in a clinical pediatric population. Children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) identified by newborn screening and treated early in life have normal intelligence but demonstrate residual cognitive deficits including selective memory problems that are attributed to their loss of thyroid hormone during hippocampal formation. Since the hippocampus is integral for recognition memory, we hypothesized that children with CH would perform atypically on the repetition paradigm. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during word and face recognition in nine children aged 11 to 13 years with CH and nine typically developing children matched for age. Results revealed that while the groups did not differ in accuracy or reaction time, they did differ significantly on selective ERP components. Like normal adults, the comparison children showed a positive elevation in P3 amplitude for repeated relative to new words at the parietal electrodes, whereas children with CH did not. Both groups produced weak repetition effects when viewing faces, although the amplitudes of children with CH were somewhat smaller. It is proposed that the dampened neurophysiological response to repeated verbal stimuli by children with CH may explain some of their clinically observed difficulties in short-term recognition memory. We would like to thank Margot Taylor for her initial assistance and guidance in this project, Hélène Chevalier and Michael Mueller for their help in testing, Laura Kenton for editorial revisions, and the children and their parents for their participation in this project. This project was supported by a Canadian Institute of Health Research grant (MT12856) to Joanne Rovet and by studentships from the Medical Research Council of Canada and The Hospital for Sick Children Research Training Centre to Sandra Hepworth. Portions of this paper were presented as posters at the annual meetings of the American Thyroid Association (Los Angeles, October 2002) and the International Neuropsychological Society (Hawaii, February 2003).
Multiterminal HVDC With Thyristor Power-Flow Controller

This paper presents the concept of a dc transmission controller integrated in a multiterminal HVDC system. The controller is based on a thyristor-based converter topology and it is inserted in series on a dc transmission line. A three-terminal voltage-source converter-based dc grid is modeled in PSCAD/EMTDC to demonstrate the operation and the stability of such a system. Simulation test cases include terminal loss and bidirectional ability of the thyristor power-flow controller. It is concluded that such a controller enhanced the performance and controllability of a dc grid.
Robot Perception of Human Groups in the Real World: State of the Art

As robots enter human spaces and begin to work proximately with people, it is important that they understand human social interaction. They must be able to perceive human social signals and understand how to adapt to groups. The goal of our work is to design robot perception algorithms that allow robots to understand human group dynamics via social cues, and understand how to behave collaboratively in groups. In this paper, we discuss the current state-of-the-art of two ﬁelds that have contributed methods to achieve this goal, social signal processing and computer vision. We describe recent advances in these ﬁelds, as well as some of the challenges faced when adapting them to mobile robots.
Exposure model analysis of streptococcal acquisitions.

It is the purpose of this report to describe a new statistical approach, the exposure model, to the analysis of prospective epidemiological data. The model can be applied to any process which may be conceptualized in terms of susceptibility, risk, and exposure; it should be especially useful in coping with the problem of censored observations that arise from losses to followup. This exposure model was devised to facilitate the analysis of data collected during a long-term study of the natural occurrence of streptococci of various groups and types in a circumscribed population of families. Briefly, the study design was as follows. In 1958, families with at least 1 child in kindergarten through the third grade, and residing in Pioneer Homes, a low-cost housing development in Syracuse, New York, were invited to participate in a long-term study of bacterial and viral respiratory diseases. Bi-weekly throat swabbings were performed on each member of every participating family from November, 1958, until July, 1962, or until the family dropped out of the study. All cultures positive for streptococci were serologically grouped and typed.1 Only the data on group A, type 2, will be presented at this time. The principal analyses will be restricted further to the preschool age group. This will facilitate the presentation of
Analyzing gangbuster frequency selective surface using improved spectral domain method

In this paper, an improved spectral domain method is given. Although the spatial domain element current and unit current are quite different, their spectral domain current are identical. The improved spectral domain method is developed based on the concept of array element. It is very convenient to analyze gangbuster frequency selective surface for element current is continuous in spatial domain. This method has been successfully used in analyzing experiment. A comparison of numerical results with mentioned previously data is given, perfect agreement is observed.
Temporal Distribution and Parasite Load Kinetics in Blood and Tissues during Neospora caninum Infection in Mice

ABSTRACT The kinetics of Neospora caninum loads in mice inoculated with NC-Liv or NC-1 isolates were studied. The acute phase was characterized by parasitemia and the detection of parasite DNA in several organs, whereas during the chronic phase, the parasite was detected mainly in the brain. Mice infected with NC-Liv developed clinical signs, showing higher brain parasite burdens than NC-1-infected mice.
Knowledge and Process for Routine Decision Making

sity of Manchester, "The Home of Computing," in Manchster, UK. As a part of that celebration, The Society for Computer Simulation International organized the European Simulation Multiconference 1998, and this Editor was invited to participate. When logistics prevented my attendance it was suggested that I prepare a videotape as my contribution. With the aid of a friend who furnished equipment and acted as interviewer, we made a very amateurish videotape. In lieu of being able to show it to you here, a slightly modified text follows—JM
Novel image inpainting algorithm based on adaptive fourth-order partial differential equation

Image inpainting is used to restore some damaged or missing information regions of an image based on the surrounding information. Inspired by the fourth-order partial differential equation (PDE), this study presents two adaptive variational functionals for image inpainting, shows a stable variational scheme and investigates existence and uniqueness of solution for the minimising functionals. A consistent numerical discretisation scheme is also constructed for the derived fourth-order PDEs. The proposed models can simultaneously restore the missing, corrupted or undesirable regions and remove noise. Some successful image inpainting experiments and method comparisons are also provided in this study.
Response of Regional Seismicity to the Static Stress Change Produced by the Loma Prieta Earthquake

The 1989 Loma Prieta, California, earthquake perturbed the static stress field over a large area of central California. The pattern of stress changes on major faults in the region predicted by models of the earthquake's dislocation agrees closely with changes in the regional seismicity rate after the earthquake. The agreement is best for models with low values of the coefficient of friction (0.1 ≤ � ≤ 0.3) on Bay Area faults. Both the stress models and measurements suggest that stresses were increased on the San Andreas fault north of the Loma Prieta rupture, but decreased slightly on the Hayward fault. This relaxation does not warrant lower probability estimates for large earthquakes on the Hayward fault in the next 30 years, however.
Infectivity of Salmonella typhimurium for mice in relation to fimbriae.

When mice were inoculated orally with 100-104 cells of mouse-passage descendants of Salmonella typhimurium derived from a carrier-dog feces, the large-intestinal descendant showed the smallest ID&lt50> value and was followed by the descendants of the mesenteric lymph node, liver and spleen. A descendant giving a smaller ID&lt50> value yielded a large number of colonies having hemagglutinating activity on the blood agar plate. From the colonies, 7 fimbriate and 3 non-fimbriate descendants were selected. The fimbriate descendants having 19 to 91% of fimbriate cells showed various degrees of agglutination with 8 kinds of erythrocytes. The non-fimbriate destendants did not agglutinate the given erythrocytes. There was a tendency among the fimbriate descendants that a descendant with a large number of fimbriate cells gave a smaller ID&lt50> value by oral administration against mice (101-104 cells/mouse). The non-fimbriate descendants were capable of infecting mice rarely by oral administration with 101-104 cells/mouse. On the contrary, both fimbriate and non-fimbriate descendants gave almost the same LD&lt50> value by intraperitoneal inoculation. From statistical analysis on ID&lt50> value, it was shown that the infectivity of the large-intestinal descendant was higher than that of a fimbriate descendant with 91% of fimbriate cells isolated from the intestine. The descendants of the mesenteric lymph node and liver were higher in infectivity than any other fimbriate descendant with 50 to 77% of fimbriate cells.
Lymphatic endothelial cells adapt their barrier function in response to changes in shear stress.

BACKGROUND Lymphatic endothelial cells form an important barrier necessary for normal lymph formation and propulsion. However, little is known about how physical forces within lymphatic vessels affect endothelial barrier function. The purpose of this study was to characterize how laminar flow affects lymphatic endothelial barrier function and to test whether endothelial cells respond to flow changes by activating the intracellular actin cytoskeleton to enhance barrier function. METHODS AND RESULTS Cultured adult human dermal microlymphatic endothelial cells (HMLEC-d) were grown on small gold electrodes arranged within a flow channel, and transendothelial electrical resistance (TER), an index of barrier function, was determined. Laminar flow was applied to the cells at a baseline shear stress of 0.5 dynes/cm(2), and was increased to 2.5, 5.0, or 9.0 dynes/cm(2), causing a magnitude-dependent increase in barrier function that was reversed 30 min later when the shear stress was returned to baseline. This response was abolished by blockade of actin dynamics with 10 microM phalloidin, and significantly inhibited by blockade of Rac1 activity with 50 microM NSC23766. Blockade of protein kinase A (10 microM H-89) did not inhibit the response. Mathematical modeling based on our impedance data showed that the flow-induced changes in TER were primarily due to altered current flow between cells and not beneath cells. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that lymphatic endothelial cells dynamically alter their morphology and barrier function in response to changes in shear stress by a mechanism dependent upon Rac1-mediated actin dynamics.
Identification of B Cell and T Cell Epitopes Using Synthetic Peptide Combinatorial Libraries

This unit presents a combinatorial library method that consists of the synthesis and screening of mixture‐based synthetic combinatorial libraries of peptide molecules. The protocols employ peptide libraries to identify peptides recognized by MAbs and T cells. The first protocol uses a positional scanning peptide library made up of hexapeptides to identify antigenic determinants recognized by MAbs. The 120 mixtures in the hexapeptide library are tested for their inhibitory activity in a competitive ELISA. The second protocol uses a decapeptide library to identify T cell peptide ligands. The 200 mixtures of the decapeptide library are tested for their ability to induce T cell activation. Support protocols cover optimization of the assay conditions for each MAb or T cell, to achieve the best level of sensitivity and reproducibility, and preparation of a hexapeptide library, along with deconvolution approaches. Curr. Protoc. Immunol. 99:9.5. 1‐9.5. 16. © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
T Lymphocyte-Directed Gene Therapy for ADA− SCID: Initial Trial Results After 4 Years

In 1990, a clinical trial was started using retroviral-mediated transfer of the adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene into the T cells of two children with severe combined immunodeficiency (ADA− SCID). The number of blood T cells normalized as did many cellular and humoral immune responses. Gene treatment ended after 2 years, but integrated vector and ADA gene expression in T cells persisted. Although many components remain to be perfected, it is concluded here that gene therapy can be a safe and effective addition to treatment for some patients with this severe immunodeficiency disease.