Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A histological and immunohistochemical study of the subsynovial connective tissue in idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.

BACKGROUND The most common histological finding in carpal tunnel syndrome is noninflammatory synovial fibrosis. The accumulated effect of minor injuries is believed to be an important etiologic factor in some cases of carpal tunnel syndrome. We sought evidence of such injuries in the synovial tissue of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome and in cadaver controls. METHODS We compared synovial specimens from thirty patients who had idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome with specimens from a control group of ten fresh-frozen cadavers of individuals who had not had an antemortem diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome and who met the same exclusion criteria. Analysis included histological and immunohistochemical examination for the distribution of collagen types I, II, III, and VI and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) RI, RII, and RIII. RESULTS Histological examination showed a marked increase in fibroblast density, collagen fiber size, and vascular proliferation in the specimens from the patients compared with the control specimens (p < 0.001). Collagen types I and II were not found in the synovium of either the patients or the controls, but collagen type VI was a major component of both. Collagen type-III fibers were more abundant in the patients than in the controls (p < 0.001). Expression of TGF-beta RI was found in the endothelial cells and fibroblasts in the patient and control specimens, with a marked increase in expression in the fibroblasts of the patients compared with that in the control tissue (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS These findings are similar to those after injury to skin, tendon, and ligament and suggest that patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome may have sustained an injury to the subsynovial connective tissue.
Host CD40 Ligand Deficiency Induces Long-Term Allograft Survival and Donor-Specific Tolerance in Mouse Cardiac Transplantation But Does Not Prevent Graft Arteriosclerosis1

Although interruption of CD40-CD40L interactions via their respective mAbs yields prolonged allograft survival, the relative importance of CD40 or CD40L on donor or host cells remains unknown. Moreover, it is uncertain whether any allospecific tolerance occurring with CD40-CD40L blockade will also prevent allograft arteriopathy, the major long-term limitation to transplantation. Therefore, we performed cardiac transplantations using CD40L-deficient (CD40L−/−) mice to investigate the mechanisms underlying prolonged allograft survival. Without immunosuppression, wild-type (WT) hosts rejected allo-mismatched WT or CD40L−/− heart allografts within 2 wk. Conversely, allografts in CD40L−/− hosts beat vigorously for 12 wk. Anti-CD40 treatment did not induce graft failure in CD40L−/− recipients. Although graft-infiltrating cells were reduced ∼50% in CD40L−/− hosts, the relative percentages of macrophages and T cell subsets were comparable to WT. IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-10 were diminished commensurate with the reduced cellular infiltrate; IL-4 was not detected. CD40L−/− recipients did not develop IgG alloantibodies and showed diminished B7 and CD28 expression on subsets of graft-infiltrating cells. CD40L−/− transplant recipients developed allospecific tolerance to the donor haplotype; second set donor skin grafts engrafted well, whereas third-party skin grafts were vigorously rejected. By MLR, splenocytes from CD40L−/− allograft recipients also demonstrated allo-specific hyporesponsiveness. Nevertheless, allografts in CD40L−/− hosts developed significant graft arteriosclerosis by 8–12 wk posttransplant. Therefore, we propose that early alloresponses, without CD40-CD40L costimulation, induce allospecific tolerance but may trigger allo-independent mechanisms that ultimately result in graft vasculopathy.
Early stage detection of cancer in mammogram using statistical feature extraction

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality among women. Mammogram is the most effective method for early detection of breast cancer. In some cases, it is difficult for radiologists to detect the typical diagnostic signs such as masses and micro calcifications on the mammograms because the images are usually translucent and have low contrast. In our proposed method a filtering and multilevel wavelet decomposition method for noise suppression and enhancement in digital mammographic images is done by taking cancer detected image at initial stage as reference. The features extracted by mean, variance, standard deviation, entropy and mean of absolute deviation is calculated for the enhanced mammographic image and these values are taken as reference values. The mammographic image which is under test is taken and the process such as filtering, multilevel wavelet enhancement is done and the statistical values are calculated. Finally the process of detecting cancer is done by comparing the reference values and test values and the detection rate is calculated. Thus this method gives a better accuracy because even in the initial stage the cancer can be detected.
Adaptive Extended Kalman Filter designing based on Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode control for robotic manipulators

This paper presents a new method for position estimation of the robotic manipulators, based on the principles of the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The standard EKF suffers from performance depreciation and may even diverge from the true estimation in case the statistics of the noises which affect the system were unknown. Hence an Adaptive EKF has been proposed that has better outcome than conventional EKF in terms of robustness, convergence speed and estimation accuracy. Furthermore, the position of each joint is estimated to use in a Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode (NFTSM) controller. This controller will makes the states to reach in finite time. It also solves the singularity problem of Terminal sliding mode control. Computer simulations given for 2-DOF robot manipulator demonstrate the outperformance of the AEKF in compared with EKF. It has also been shown that the NFTSM controller has the ability to track the trajectory path properly and accurately.
Multivariate phenotypes and the potential for alternative phenotypic optima in wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) ventral colour morphs

A major goal in evolutionary biology is to determine how phenotypic variation arises and is maintained in natural populations. Recent studies examining the morphological, physiological and behavioural differences among discrete colour morphotypes (morphs) have revealed several mechanisms that maintain discrete variation within populations, including frequency‐dependence, density‐dependence and correlational selection. For example, trade‐offs over resource allocation to morphological, physiological and behavioural traits can drive correlational selection for morph‐specific phenotypic optima. Here, we describe a ventral colour polymorphism in the wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) and test the hypothesis that morphs differ along multivariate axes defined by trade‐offs in morphological, physiological, and immunological traits. We show that ventral colour is a discrete trait and that morphs differ in body size, prevalence of infection by parasites and infection intensity. We also find that morphs differ along multivariate phenotypic axes and experience different multivariate selection pressures. Our results suggest that multivariate selection pressures may favour alternative optimal morph‐specific phenotypes in P. muralis.
Hierarchical Cooperation in Ultra-Wide Band Ad Hoc Networks

We show an improved throughput scaling law for an ultrawide band (UWB) ad hoc network by using a modified hierarchical cooperation (HC) strategy; the n wireless nodes are assumed to be randomly sited. In a dense network of unit area, our result indicates that the derived throughput scaling depends on the path-loss exponent α for certain operating regimes due to the power-limited characteristics. It also turns out that the use of HC is helpful in improving the throughput scaling of our UWB network in some conditions. More specifically, assuming that the bandwidth scales faster than nα+1(log n)α/2, it is shown that the HC protocol outperforms nearest multi-hop routing for 2 < α < 3 while using nearest multi-hop routing leads to higher throughput for α ≥ 3. key words: hierarchical cooperation (HC), multi-hop, path-loss exponent, power-limited, throughput scaling, ultra-wide band (UWB)
EMT impairs breast carcinoma cell susceptibility to CTL-mediated lysis through autophagy induction

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) has become one of the most exciting fields in cancer biology. While its role in cancer cell invasion, metastasis and drug resistance is well established, the molecular basis of EMT-induced immune escape remains unknown. We recently reported that EMT coordinately regulates target cell recognition and sensitivity to specific lysis. In addition to the well-characterized role for EMT in tumor phenotypic change including a tumor-initiating cell phenotype, we provided evidence indicating that EMT-induced tumor cell resistance to cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) also correlates with autophagy induction. Silencing of BECN1 in target cells that have gone through the EMT restored CTL susceptibility to CTL-induced lysis. Although EMT may represent a critical target for the development of novel immunotherapy approaches, a more detailed understanding of the inter-relationship between EMT and autophagy and their reciprocal regulation will be a key determinant in the rational approach to future tumor immunotherapy design.
Pharmacodynamics of Oestrogens and Progestogens

The ovaries cyclically secrete estradiol and progesterone. Cyclic ovarian estradiol secretion is associated with a bone-saving and vascular protection effect. Endogenous progesterone does not modify the vasodilator effect of oestrogens. At physiological concentrations, the natural sex steroids have low antigonadotropic effects. More potent synthetic derivatives with more antigonadotropic effects were synthesized in the 1950s. After the menopause, there is no longer any need to use hormonal steroids as antigonadotropics. In addition, vascular contraindications are more common in an older population. Contraceptive steroids (particularly ethinyl estradiol) are therefore rarely used. The oestrogen that is most widely prescribed for post-menopausal replacement is a complex formulation of conjugated oestrogens of equine origin that is administered orally in a single daily dose. Improvements in hormone replacement therapy may result from the use of parenteral estradiol (providing sufficient doses are reached) and of a progestogen chemically more similar to progesterone.
Desensitization of Bacillus subtilis aspartokinase I to allosteric inhibition by meso-diaminopimelate allows aspartokinase I to function in amino acid biosynthesis during exponential growth

Strains of Bacillus subtilis deficient in aspartokinases II and III are unable to grow in the absence of lysine, methionine, and threonine, although they have normal levels of aspartokinase I (J.J. Zhang, F.M. Hu, N.Y. Chen, and H. Paulus, J. Bacteriol. 172:701-708, 1990). Revertants with the ability to grow in the absence of lysine and methionine had an altered aspartokinase I, which was insensitive to feedback inhibition by meso-diaminopimelate. This suggests that inhibition by meso-diaminopimelate limits the ability of aspartokinase I to function in amino acid biosynthesis.
Prevalence and risk factors for anal human papillomavirus infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and high-risk HIV-negative women.

Little is known about the epidemiology of anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in women. We studied 251 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and 68 HIV-negative women for the presence of anal HPV by use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybrid capture. Medical and behavioral risk factors were evaluated; 76% of HIV-positive and 42% of HIV-negative women were found to have anal HPV DNA via analysis by PCR (relative risk [RR], 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-2.5). Among 200 women for whom there were concurrent anal and cervical HPV data, anal HPV was more common than cervical HPV in both HIV-positive (79% vs. 53%) and HIV-negative women (43% vs. 24%). By multivariate analysis of HIV-positive women, CD4(+) cell counts </=200 cells/mm(3), compared with counts >500 cells/mm(3) (RR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5), and cervical HPV infection (RR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.4) were associated with anal HPV infection. Women >45 years old had reduced risk, compared with women <36 years old (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.50-0.99), as did African American women (RR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.72-1.0), compared with white women. Anal HPV infection is underrecognized in HIV-positive and high-risk HIV-negative women.
The Project MACULA Retinal Pigment Epithelium Grading System for Histology and Optical Coherence Tomography in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

PURPOSE To seek pathways of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) fate in age-related macular degeneration via a morphology grading system; provide nomenclature, visualization targets, and metrics for clinical imaging and model systems. METHODS Donor eyes with geographic atrophy (GA) or choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and one GA eye with previous clinical spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SDOCT) imaging were processed for histology, photodocumented, and annotated at predefined locations. Retinal pigment epithelial cells contained spindle-shaped melanosomes, apposed a basal lamina or basal laminar deposit (BLamD), and exhibited recognizable morphologies. Thicknesses and unbiased estimates of frequencies were obtained. RESULTS In 13 GA eyes (449 locations), 'Shedding,' 'Sloughed,' and 'Dissociated' morphologies were abundant; 22.2% of atrophic locations had 'Dissociated' RPE. In 39 CNV eyes (1363 locations), 37.3% of locations with fibrovascular/fibrocellular scar had 'Entombed' RPE; 'Sloughed,' 'Dissociated,' and 'Bilaminar' morphologies were abundant. Of abnormal RPE, CNV and GA both had ~35% 'Sloughed'/'Intraretinal,' with more Intraretinal in CNV (9.5% vs. 1.8%). 'Shedding' cells associated with granule aggregations in BLamD. The RPE layer did not thin, and BLamD remained thick, with progression. Granule-containing material consistent with three morphologies correlated to SDOCT hyperreflective foci in the previously examined GA patient. CONCLUSIONS Retinal pigment epithelium morphology indicates multiple pathways in GA and CNV. Atrophic/scarred areas have numerous cells capable of transcribing genes and generating imaging signals. Shed granule aggregates, possibly apoptotic, are visible in SDOCT, as are 'Dissociated' and 'Sloughed' cells. The significance of RPE phenotypes is addressable in longitudinal, high-resolution imaging in clinic populations. Data can motivate future molecular phenotyping studies.
Height and surfacing as risk factors for injury in falls from playground equipment: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVES: Despite the widespread promotion of safety standards no epidemiological studies have adequately evaluated their effectiveness in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard for playgrounds and playground equipment. SETTING: Early childhood education centres and schools in two major cities in the South Island of New Zealand. METHODS: Data were collected on 300 children aged 14 years or less who had fallen from playground equipment. Of these, 110 (cases) had sustained injury and received medical attention, while 190 (controls) had not sustained injury requiring medical attention. RESULTS: Logistic regression models fitted to the data indicated that the risk of injury being sustained in a fall was increased if the equipment failed to comply with the maximum fall height (odds ratio (OR) = 3.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7 to 13.1), surfacing (OR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.0 to 5.0), or safe fall height (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.0) requirements. Falls from heights in excess of 1.5 metres increased the risk of injury 4.1 times that of falls from 1.5 metres or less and it was estimated that a 45% reduction in children attending emergency departments could be achieved if the maximum fall height was lowered to 1.5 metres. CONCLUSIONS: Although the height and surfacing requirements of the New Zealand standard are effective in preventing injury in falls from playground equipment, consideration should be given to lowering the maximum permissible fall height to 1.5 metres.
pABC11 (Also Known as MOAT-C and MRP5), a Member of the ABC Family of Proteins, Has Anion Transporter Activity but Does Not Confer Multidrug Resistance When Overexpressed in Human Embryonic Kidney 293 Cells*

Several members of the ABC family of proteins have been implicated in multidrug resistance associated with cancer therapies. A novel member of this gene family, designated pABC11, has been identified using degenerate polymerase chain reaction. The full-length cDNA spans 5881 base pairs and encodes an open reading frame of 1437 amino acids predicted to contain two sets of transmembrane domains and two nucleotide binding domains characteristic of ABC proteins. The nucleotide sequence described herein extends that of three recently reported sequences, MRP5 (Kool, M., de Haas, M., Scheffer, G., Scheper, R., van Eijk, M., Juijn, J., Baas, F., and Borst, P. (1997) Cancer Res. 57, 3537–3547), SMRP (Suzuki, T., Nishio, K., Sasaki, H., Kurokawa, H., Saito-Ohara, F., Ikeuchi, T., Tanabe, S., Terada, M., and Saijo, N. (1997) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 238, 790–794), and MOAT-C (Belinsky, M., Bain, L., Balsara, B., Testa, J., and Kruh, G. (1998) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 90, 1735–1741), in the 5′ direction. Northern blot analysis detected five transcripts that were differentially expressed in several tissue types, and the gene encoding pABC11 was mapped to chromosome 3. Confocal imaging of HEK293 cells expressing a green fluorescent protein-pABC11 construct confirmed plasma membrane localization of the fusion protein. Overexpression of pABC11 resulted in reduced labeling with the fluorochromes 5-chloromethylfluorescein diacetate, fluorescein diacetate, and 2′,7′-bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5 (and-6)-carboxyfluorescein acetoxymethyl ester but not with calcein or rhodamine derivatives, consistent with pABC11 being an anion transporter. Fluorochrome export was ATP-dependent but glutathione-independent. We also show that this export pump does not confer resistance to various classes of cytotoxic drugs but does provide small but significant resistance to CdCl2 and potassium antimonyl tartrate.
Some remarks on stochastic H∞ control of linear and nonlinear Itô-type differential systems

This paper studies linear and nonlinear stochastic H<inf>∞</inf> control of Itô-type stochastic differential systems with all the state, control input and external disturbance-dependent noise. For general linear stochastic systems with random coefficients, it is shown that the mixed H<inf>2</inf>/H<inf>∞</inf> design as well as the sole H<inf>∞</inf> design is associated with the solvability of some coupled backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs). By means of Hamilton-Jacobi inequalities, the nonlinear stochastic H<inf>∞</inf> control with deterministic coefficients and (x, u, v)-dependent noise is extensively investigated.
Recognition of Escherichia coli attTn7 by transposon Tn7: lack of specific sequence requirements at the point of Tn7 insertion

Transposon Tn7 inserts at high frequency into a specific site in the Escherichia coli chromosome called attTn7. We show that the point of Tn7 insertion in attTn7 lies within the transcriptional terminator of the bacterial glmS gene. We have exploited the glmS transcription terminator to isolate mutants with altered sequences at the point of Tn7 insertion and have used these mutants to show that the nucleotide sequence at the point of Tn7 insertion is irrelevant to attTn7 target activity. Thus, the nucleotides which provide attTn7 target activity are distinct from the point of Tn7 insertion. We have also examined the effect of transcription on the capacity of attTn7 to act as a target for Tn7 transposition. Our results suggest that transcription of attTn7 does not modulate its Tn7 target activity.
Molecular targets and mechanisms in formation of chromosomal aberrations: contributions of Soviet scientists

Studies of mechanisms for formation of chromosomal aberrations (CAs) with special emphasis on data from Soviet/Russian investigations are reviewed that argue in favor of a minor fraction of genomic DNA that forms specific molecular targets/contacts for the formation of chromosomal exchanges. This DNA is presumably associated with matrix attachment sites of DNA loops, enriched with AT base pairs and repetitive DNA sequences. It is assumed that there are two main mechanisms in formation of chromosome aberrations: 1) mutually reciprocal recombination, resulting in formation of all kinds of chromosome exchanges; 2) the process of telomere formation, resulting in the generation of true deletions. A significant part of chromosomal breaks and apparently unrejoined ends in incomplete exchanges as seen with cytogenetic techniques reflect decondensation in the discrete units of chromatin organization such as the megabase-size DNA domains. The possible ways for further analysis of alternative theories with emerging technologies are also discussed.
Autobiographical Notes

I was born on Jan. 7, 1925 in Berlin-Biesdorf, a district in the North-East of Berlin. My parents, Franz Noll and Martha Noll, née Janßen, had lived in Berlin since about 1915. My father grew up in Thüringen in central Germany; his parents had immigrated from Rotterdam, Holland, to Germany in about 1890. My Mother grew up in a rural area near Varel in Northwest Germany. Both of my parents had only an 8-year grade-school education. My mother was employed as a maid until she got married. My father went to a trade school for two years and then became a tool-and-die maker. Most of his life he worked for "Jaroslaw's Erste Glimmerwarenfabrik" , later renamed "Scherb und Schwer G.m. b.H. ", in Berlin. He eventually became foreman and division manager. He originated 5 patents. My father was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from the time he was a young man. During the First World War, in 1917, he gave a speech at a rally of striking munitions workers. As a result, he had to spend the last nine months of the war in prison. Later, he became a very strong opponent of the Nazis. When the Nazis attained power in 1933, he predicted that there would be a second world war, that the U.S. would again fight against Germany, and that Germany would again be defeated. Even as a child, I never doubted that he was right. In fact, the thought that I might not survive the impending disaster was never far from my mind.
HBT Technology for High Power X Band and Broadband Amplification

For many applications like active phased array antennas for airborne radar, high power levels are required. To provide high performance and high manufacturing yield at a reduced coast, a MMIC solution is naturally very attractive. This can be achieved by choosing an efficient technology for active components. In this paper, a solution based on the HBT technology is presented. The 10W class, X band power amplifiers, and 1W, 4.5GHz-18GHz amplifiers were designed using the HBT technology HB20P from UMS. Based on the results obtained, this paper will discuss the capability and the technology improvements needed to reach the power and frequency bandwidth specifications with margin.